10 Years After Saying 'Leave this to me and go,' I Became a Legend - Chapter 13
Shia’s Doubts
I suddenly realized something after annihilating the Vampire Lord.
“Ah, I annihilated him. Was that alright?”
“I do not care about that.”
“That’s good then.”
Shia gave a deep bow.
“Mister Locke. Thank you so much. Now I can rid my tribe of this shame.”
“Uh, I also cut the medal in half, was that bad?”
“It is fine, even when split in two.”
“I see.”
“You even got rid of the curse. That was a great help. That is a difficult thing to raise, you know.”
“It had collected a lot of curses inside, after all. That was an incredibly dangerous thing he had inside of him.”
The number of curses that he had collected was astounding.
And yet it still had not been enough to open a gate to the place between our dimensions.
“I wonder how strong this god of the dark ones is?”
“I do not know. But I am sure that it is much stronger than the Devil King. The Devil King is only the vanguard.”
“That’s scary to think about.”
“And that is why we must stop it from being summoned.”
What would happen to this world if the god of the dark ones appeared?
It would not be surprising if even the combined powers of Eric, Goran and I, would not be enough to defeat it.
Even if luck was on our side and we prevailed, there would certainly be huge losses.
“Indeed. It would be for the best to prevent it from happening at all.”
I said and looked at Shia. She wore a very serious expression.
She was looking at me.
“What is it?”
“Mister Locke… The Vampire Lord, he said that your sword was the sword of the Devil King.”
“…Did he really?”
I tried to fool her at first. But Shia didn’t budge.
I turned around. She came around to face me again.
“I heard it very clearly, I did.”
“Are you sure he didn’t say something else?”
“Beastfolk have sharp ears. I know what I heard.”
She was incredibly suspicious now.
The problem was, what did she suspect?
Did she suspect that I was the real Ruck who was on their currency?
Or was she just suspicious of how I came to have the Devil King’s sword?
I needed to know which it was, in order to answer her.
As I thought hard about this, Shia sighed.
“Well, it is fine. It is a fact that everyone has their secrets.”
“Ye-yes.”
“For now, we should kill the remaining goblins who are hiding.”
While she had come to kill the Vampire Lord, Shia was also concerned about the goblins.
It was an admirable attitude.
There were a lot of Adventurers who would kill stronger enemies and leave the weak ones.
Even if there was a possibility of the surviving enemies going out to attack nearby villages.
Ultimately, that did tend to happen, with less than modest damage resulting from it.
No matter how weak the monsters were, they were still a threat to small villages.
“I agree. We have to kill the rest of the goblins.”
“Yes. We should deal with them together.”
So saying, Shia began to sniff the air.
“We beastfolk have an acute sense of smell.”
“Sounds pretty useful.”
“Fuhehe.”
Perhaps she was embarrassed, because she laughed in a strange voice.
“Are you a Warrior, Shia?”
“Indeed, I am.”
“I would think that you’d be better suited for a Scout since you have good ears and nose…”
“Of course. That is why it is my second job.”
The combination of Warrior and Scout was very effective.
Whether you were in a party or going solo, you could do a lot.
Thanks to Shia’s sharp sense of smell, we were able to smoothly locate the remaining goblins and kill them.
There was a tendency for the stronger goblins to gather towards the back of caves.
And while there were no Goblin Lords, there were hobgoblins.
After killing about ten of them, Shia said:
“I doubt there are any more goblins around here.”
“You can tell from the smell?”
“Of course, I can.”
“Wonderful.”
After that, we did a final sweep of the caves, just to make sure, before leaving.
“I shall also be on the lookout for goblins on my way back.”
“That’s good. I’ll be careful as well.”
Shia’s nose continued to sniff as she talked.
“By the way, Mister Ruck. Are the two who came with you alright?”
“They should be fine. Ario and Josh are very careful and reliable for F Rank Adventurers.”
“…”
Shia suddenly fell quiet. She looked at me hard.
“What is it?”
“Just now, I addressed you as Mister Ruck, not Mister Locke.”
“…”
I didn’t know what to say. I had to trick her somehow.
Shia was nodding as she continued.
“Now that I really look at you, you do resemble the statue of the Hero Ruck.”
“N-no, I don’t.”
“Yes, you look a lot like it!”
Just how did I look like that statue?
I wasn’t nearly as handsome. Even Goran had agreed with me there.
“So Mister Locke, you really are the Hero Ruck, then.”
“No…”
“There is no need for you to hide it now. The very fact that you wield the Devil King’s sword means that you cannot possibly be anyone else.”
“Well, about that…”
“I understand. You have a reason to conceal it, don’t you? You saved me, Mister Ruck, so your secret is safe with me.”
Shia believed it completely now.
At this point, it would be best to admit it and have her stay silent about it.
“Very well then. I will admit it. I am Ruck.”
“…Of course, you are.”
Shia’s expression seemed to say, ‘as if I didn’t know?’
“However, I am hiding my identity due to reasons…”
“I know that as well. I will guard this secret with my life.”
“Uh, you don’t need that kind of resolve for that.”
It’s not a secret to wager your life on.
If Shia’s life depended on it, no, even if it wasn’t so serious, I would be fine with having it known.
I explained this to her very clearly.