The Fake Hero Is Too Strong

Chapter 204

I began by saying,

“I never thought I would see the day when I would be glad to see you.”

“Cut the nonsense. Get to the point.”

“The point?”

Kaeld crossed his arms.

“There’s no way you helped me for nothing. You must want something from me.”

“……”

“And coincidentally, I want something from you, too. Let me start with what I want.”

“……”

“I want your fame, Mide Mohan.” Ah.

Already starting to hate this.

Well, not that I ever liked him to begin with.

Forget what I said about being glad to see him.

He grinned slyly and went on.

“So then…”

Wham.

I kicked him in the jaw.

“Khk!”

He shot up more than a hundred meters into the air before crashing back down.

All his teeth were gone, his eyes glazed over.

He must have bitten his tongue, because there was a gurgling sound deep in his throat.

Serein spoke.

“Shall we kill him?”

“Hold back. I’m going to completely erase Aktion.”

Before being overtaken by Kaeld, Aktion had said this: That even if not in this era, he would return in another.

In a world without me, Mide Mohan, would anyone be able to stop him when he spreads his corruption again?

As if she had read my thoughts, Xenia said,

“Do you really have to handle all of this yourself, Mr. Mide?”

“Hm?”

“You know, that thing called the ‘screen window’? It told Lady Lepia too, didn’t it? To leave it to the hero of the next generation and accept the world’s reward.”

“It did.”

“Then wouldn’t it be better for you to leave it to the next generation as well…”

I shook my head.

Then said firmly to everyone,

“Even Lady Lepia refused that offer from the screen window. I should follow her example.”

“……”

“Besides… not to sound arrogant, but I just can’t imagine any hero born after me building up the same level of fame I have. The fame I have earned so far was the result of incredible luck and countless coincidences.”

“That’s true enough.”

Of course, that didn’t mean I was denying our hard work.

But it was also undeniable that my current fame was built on a foundation of luck and help from others.

“That’s why Kaeld can’t die yet.”

“Yeah. If he dies now, Aktion will just find another body to inhabit, just like he did when we killed Batore.”

“Exactly. And for all we know, it could even be one of us here.”

“……”

“When he revives again, he will hide and bide his time until I’m dead. The only way is to annihilate him completely.”

“So you’re saying we need to raise your fame beyond ten million. Guess we will have to stick with the original plan.”

I nodded at Offense’s words.

Then traced my finger lightly through the air.

The technique to tear space, now so easy for me to use.

We threw Kaeld into the tear.

“He won’t be able to get out, right? Back at the starting point, he tried to crawl his way out.”

“My fame now is at least four or five times what it was then. He won’t get out.”

“That’s true.”

“Well, if he switches back with Aktion, maybe… but with Kaeld’s personality, he would never hand his body over again. Even if that were his only chance to escape.”

He would never cooperate with Aktion.

I knew his character too well to doubt that.

We left the place.

I will come for you once the final preparations are done, Aktion.

And Kaeld, you too.

Velosian was easier to find than expected.

Lisel had commanded all the spirits across the continent to locate him.

With Neril’s flight magic and Mime’s support, we reached Velosian in no time.

He was fast asleep in bed.

I looked down quietly at his delicate face.

‘There was a time when he completely overwhelmed me.’

[Hoo. I did play quite the role back then, didn’t I?]

‘Yeah, you did.’

[You agreed too quickly. That’s awkward.]

No, really, you did.

If it weren’t for Trail, my party would have been wiped out before I even returned from the Underworld.

But instead of offering thanks, I drew my sword.

Thunk.

And drove it hard into his abdomen.

Flash.

Velosian’s eyes flew open.

From his perspective, this had to be baffling.

He had gone to sleep to recover, and woke up to find the hero and his companions standing around him.

I grinned.

“Awake now?”

“…No. I still think this is a dream.”

“Want to wash your face? I will wait.”

“Spare me the jokes. Why are you here?”

There was an unease on his face I hadn’t seen before.

Neril said,

“Take a guess. You seemed smart enough.”

“This can’t be. Aktion guards this place.”

“……”

“No matter how great you are, Aktion is on a completely different level. Even the Impelium fell to him!”

He was getting agitated.

Tap.

I sat leisurely on the edge of his bed, crossed my legs, and said,

“Then perhaps you can grasp this: Right now, I’m stronger than Impelium ever was.”

His agitation vanished instantly.

He scanned all of us with wary eyes.

“Phew.”

Then, surprisingly, a serene smile spread across his face.

“I have lost, then. To Impelium, and now to his successor.”

“……”

“So, what will you do with me?”

“What do you want to do?”

“I would like to beg, if I may.”

I thought he was joking, but his tone was deadly serious.

“I won’t leave this room for as long as you live.”

“……”

“Not enough? Fine. A thousand years.”

“……”

“No, ten thousand. I won’t set foot outside this room for the next ten thousand years. Will that be enough for you to forgive me?”

I pretended to think it over for a moment, then smiled.

“There’s one condition.”

“…Name it.”

“To be honest, Aktion isn’t dead yet. And I plan to kill him completely.”

“You don’t mean just his body, then.”

“Right. Cutting his head off would only create more victims. But right now, I’m still a little short on fame to do it.”

“What do you need from me?”

“You can transfer fame, can’t you?”

He cautiously glanced around.

“You want me to transfer your party’s fame to you? With my authority?”

“Are you insane? To transfer fame, the target has to die.”

“That’s true, but still.”

“I will prepare the target. You just have to answer whether you will do it or not.”

He swallowed hard.

Who could have imagined such a sight, heroes and champions surrounding a demon king and pressuring him.

Velosian had no choice.

He wasn’t the kind of man who would boldly declare, like some knight in a fairy tale, ‘Then kill me.’

In the end, he spoke.

“I will do it.”

“Good.”

“And when that’s done…”

“Right. Swear you will lock yourself away for ten thousand years, and I will let you live.”

His expression darkened.

It said I don’t believe you, but also I have no other choice.

“I believe you.”

Sure. Believe all you want.

Demon King of Lies.

We brought Velosian out of the special room and slipped back to the inn out of sight.

Tap.

As soon as we entered the room, Serein said,

“Now that he is out of the chamber, he is probably dying, huh? He was frail enough already, he must be even weaker now.”

Velosian said nothing.

Not that he needed to.

Leaving the special room weakened him automatically, and on top of that, his body wasn’t fully healed yet.

No exaggeration, it would only take a flick of my finger to kill him now.

Velosian spoke roughly.

“Just finish what you need to and send me back.”

“I need time to prepare. If you’re bored waiting, go shopping or something.”

“……”

“I’m kidding. Get in here.”

Skkk.

I tore open space once more.

Velosian looked utterly resigned.

Outside his special room, there was no way he could escape the spatial prison I created with 5.6 million fame.

When he hesitated, Neril asked,

“Should I push him?”

“…Kuh, no. That won’t be necessary.”

He stepped into the space of his own accord.

I closed it and said,

“This won’t take long. Reflect on your sins while you’re in there.”

He didn’t bother to respond.

Once the space closed completely, Xenia said,

“He is not exactly sociable, huh. For someone who used to talk so smugly when it suited him.”

“That’s why people should always try to see things from the other side.”

“He is a demon king, though.”

“Anyway, everyone, listen up.”

I drew the group’s attention.

“As you already know, I’m going to ask Velosian to transfer the fame of past heroes and champions to me.”

That’s right.

Velosian could only transfer the fame of the dead.

So I had already made a list of those from past eras who had achieved great fame and among them, those whose fame would be meaningfully useful to me.

That list didn’t take long to make.

“The first to third generations of heroes and champions. No one surpasses their fame.”

“But weren’t there heroes even before the First-Grade? Impelium said he was the twenty-fourth hero, right? That means there were twenty-three before him. Why not summon them all?”

I was about to reply, but didn’t have to.

Tap.

The screen window appeared on its own, as if it had been waiting.

“Why?”

“Oh, right.”

Now that I thought about it, Impelium’s world was only up to its fourth hero.

So my world must have quite a long history.

Even if I still remembered none of it.

Xenia said,

“Now that you mention it, I have always wondered about that so-called Mide’s World…”

With a soft tap, the screen window vanished again.

It was as if it had predicted an awkward question and slipped away before it could be asked.

Xenia frowned.

“How rude. Not like Mr. Offense.”

“Why is it always me?”

“Xenia, stop teasing Offense so much. Getting that treatment yourself is really aggravating.”

I changed the subject.

“Anyway, in conclusion, we will need the fame of the First through Third Heroes and Champions.”

“What about the Fourth generation?”

“Ah… we will summon them too, for now. But since Padania was exposed as a false hero, their whole group’s fame must have taken a hit. Their fame probably dropped a lot unfortunately.”

“That’s why leadership matters.”

Neril said that and gave me a pointed look.

I cleared my throat for no reason.

“Ahem. Anyway, since I’m asking to borrow someone else’s fame, I can’t just barge in and demand it. So I will be meeting with each one individually to talk.”

“I will take care of that, brother.”

“Right. There are eighteen people total if you count all the heroes and champions from the first through fourth generations. If we meet them one by one… we won’t be getting any sleep tonight.”

“I’m still growing, so I can’t pull an all-nighter.”

“Sorry.”

“Then how about just summoning them all at once?”

Everyone’s eyes widened at that.

Adwin looked more surprised by their reaction than the suggestion itself.

“What’s wrong?”

“You can summon eighteen spirits into your body at once?”

“No. I’m not letting them possess me, just summoning the souls themselves. Normally that would break the basic laws of necromancy, but… heh, nothing’s impossible for me.”

“So you even changed your tone because you realized how great that sounds, huh.”

Before regression and even not long ago such a feat would have been impossible.

But thanks to the fame that skyrocketed when I declared judgment on the Demon King, even that absurdity was now within reach.

Lisel said,

“When you think about it, he is the guy who toys with the boundary between the Underworld and the bubble worlds.”

“Well, there’s also a certain Spirit King who commands every spirit on the continent at once.”

“Who are you talking about? Oh, right, me.”

“Alright, then. Let’s do it. Summon them all at once, it will save time convincing them.”

Adwin nodded.

“Yes. But before that, shouldn’t we change locations?”

“Hm?”

He glanced around.

“It feels a little too cramped here.”