The World No Longer Needs a Hero

"Sigh."

Along the rather dim forest path, a sigh rang out with perfect clarity.

Shien walked down the path, taking aimless steps as he thought about the shocking new information he had just learned, unable to stop sighing.

"I thought I'd come to a world full of cliché plots."

But what was this now?

"Wasn't that twist a little too sudden?"

At least, Shien still had not recovered from the shock.

Because this meant one thing.

"Was I deceived?"

Wasn't that exactly it?

"The Demon King has already been defeated, and the world has enjoyed peace for over a thousand years. In that case, where exactly does it need a Hero to save it?"

Yet that Goddess had indeed used that very reason to revive Shien, who had already died once, awaken him as a Hero, and send him into this world.

"What the hell does that mean?"

Shien could not make sense of it at all.

More than that, he felt as though all of his efforts so far had been wasted.

"I became an adventurer specifically to defeat the Demon King."

That was right.

Shien had not chosen to become an adventurer merely because he wanted to make money.

If all he wanted was money, he could have done what he had before: hole up in a forest crawling with monsters for several days, defeat countless monsters, gather materials from their bodies, and sell them. He would never have had to worry about making a living that way.

Even leveling up and increasing his strength did not require Shien to deliberately become an adventurer. He only needed to keep fighting monsters, and his level would surely soar.

Yet Shien had ultimately chosen to become an adventurer not just because he was interested in this legendary dream job of Another World, but because he wanted to establish himself in this world and eventually achieve his goal of defeating the Demon King.

Otherwise, as an outsider who had only just arrived in this world, how was Shien supposed to find the Demon King and defeat him?

Thus, Shien needed information. More importantly, he needed a way to obtain all kinds of information about this world without obstruction.

Becoming an adventurer was a good way to do that.

After all, in every story, adventurers traveled far and wide, running all over the world. With the Adventurer's Guild, an organization spread across the entire world, behind them, Shien could use his identity as an adventurer to first integrate into this world, then naturally acquire all kinds of information about it.

Furthermore, Shien also needed to solve the problem of his identity.

Otherwise, there might not be a problem now, but once his level rose a little and he became somewhat conspicuous, he would definitely enter the sights of all kinds of people and perhaps be investigated by them.

When that time came, if Shien had no identity, it would surely cause all sorts of trouble.

Therefore, Shien could easily imagine that if he did not become an adventurer, but instead concealed his identity, avoided speaking to anyone, quietly earned money, and raised his level, then one day, people would inevitably begin to question him.

To say nothing of anything else, if Shien did not become an adventurer and used Lamigium as his base, entering and leaving that town every day while bringing back large amounts of monster materials, even the guards would remember his face, wouldn't they?

If it came to that, Shien would sooner or later arouse suspicion. Once someone with ulterior motives appeared and investigated him, all the abnormalities surrounding him would likely be exposed. He might even be targeted, have the Holy Sword discovered, and invite even greater trouble, making the whole thing not worth the loss.

With all that in mind, and after considering every possible issue, Shien had chosen to become an adventurer, using that identity as a stepping stone to integrate into this world before making further plans.

That way, once his level was high enough and he had gathered enough information to defeat the Demon King, he could set off directly and act to accomplish his goal.

At that time, Shien would likewise need an identity if he wanted to travel freely through this world.

That was why Shien had taken this path.

Who would have thought...

"My ambition died before I could achieve anything."

Now, his greatest goal had vanished.

Honestly, on a personal level, Shien felt that he could still be happy about this major piece of information.

"Since the Demon King has already been defeated and the world returned to peace long ago, I won't have to struggle against someone even the gods feared. I can peacefully begin my second life and live an ordinary life as an adventurer."

From that perspective, this was quite a cause for celebration.

However, Shien did not believe that the Goddess who had summoned him into this world had revived him and made him a Hero merely for amusement.

That Goddess had definitely summoned Shien for some purpose. There was no doubt about that.

And she had used the already-defeated Demon King as an excuse to deceive him.

It made Shien feel as though he had been dragged into some invisible conspiracy.

"Still, this kind of development is a cliché too, isn't it?"

Shien took it in stride, as always accepting this sudden turn of events with helpless resignation.

Besides, it was not yet certain that everything was a conspiracy.

"Maybe the Demon King isn't dead after all, and Nien knew that, which is why she held the Hero Summon ritual again. That's possible too, right?"

Or perhaps, after a thousand years of recuperation, the Demon Race planned to start another war in order to erase the humiliation of having once lost to the God Race. Maybe that was why Nien had performed the Hero Summon again?

Only...

"Even someone as gentle as Vivian stated with absolute certainty that a Hero could not appear again. That must mean the relationship between the Three Races truly cannot tolerate the slightest change, right?"

If word got out that a Hero had appeared again, then no matter how much hidden truth or how many schemes lay behind it, the relationship between the Three Races would definitely become precarious.

Just as Vivian had said, if the Demon Race learned of the Hero's existence, they would never let the matter rest. They could not possibly ignore such a threat.

And if the Human Race learned that the God Race had carried out a Hero Summon, they would surely suspect that the Demon Race had done something and become wary of them.

Then, the God Race might also try to use the Hero's power to completely eradicate the Demon Race, their former mortal enemies.

In any world, ambition and malice were things that would never be absent. Among the Three Races, there were people who longed for peace, but there were certainly also those who wanted to destroy it all. Once the Hero's existence was confirmed, Shien could think of dozens of ways in which people with ulterior motives could use this as an opportunity and excuse to act as they pleased.

"Vivian must have known all that, which is why she so firmly insisted that a Hero could not appear again, right?"

Once a Hero appeared, no matter the reason, the Hero's very existence would become a spark capable of shattering the peace.

And that was absolutely not something most people wanted to see.

So...

"This world no longer needs a Hero?"

Shien sighed once more.

Just then, a voice entered Shien's ears.

"Indeed, this world no longer needs a Hero."

Those words echoed through the dim forest, making Shien stop abruptly.

The third update is here!

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