Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 16

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 16

Ben, who had lived his entire life only within the small village, craned his neck back so far it might break as he gazed up at the Demon King’s Castle.

The Demon King’s Castle and the Hero. It was a combination that seemed fitting yet unfitting at the same time.

Usually when a Hero kills the Demon King, they return to the Capital without looking back.

Ben must have found it puzzling too, as he immediately asked.

“Why is the Hero still here?”

“…I don’t know. He must have his reasons.”

I mumbled evasively as I opened the castle gates.

Perhaps no longer thinking of running away, he followed me inside with quick steps. After entering the vast garden, he was the first to stride around exploring.

“…?”

When I discovered something and narrowed my eyebrows while glaring behind us, Ben trembled violently.

Gone was the confidence with which he had boldly explored the garden moments ago—he was more timid than he appeared.

“Why, why? What’s behind us?”

He pulled his beloved frying pan from his bag and gripped it tightly in his hand.

“Tell me quickly! I’ll strike without looking!”

“No, there’s nothing there. Brother, calm down.”

Ben, slightly reassured, relaxed his shoulders that had been tensed up from nervousness.

I sent Ben inside first and stayed behind to close the door.

“Stay quiet and follow me.”

Abracxas silently shrugged his shoulders.

If he had startled Ben the way he had done to me before…

‘Just imagining it is terrible.’

He probably would have fainted on the spot. He’s already acting scared as it is.

It was fortunate that we arrived riding Potato before meeting Abracxas.

“Eve~”

“Yeah, I’m coming!”

His tension seemed to have eased as Ben looked around. Though there were no signs of human presence, there was one problem.

“Why is the Demon King’s Castle so dirty?”

“…Because the Demon King lived here?”

“I see.”

Behind us, Abracxas had an expression like he wanted to say a lot, but since I had firmly warned him not to show himself in front of Ben, he sulked behind a pillar.

It was chaos because the Hero and Demon King had fought each other, but it was still the Demon King’s fault anyway.

“But there’s no way a castle would have no ingredients at all, so why did we have to bring all this heavy stuff?”

“…”

I smiled subtly.

Because there really were no ingredients at all.

The few ingredients I had gathered from the village were running low, and even those the Hero had eaten raw.

Either eating them raw or picking up old bread to eat…

Since I couldn’t explain such a tearful story in detail, I just trailed off.

“For a fresh start. I threw away all the old food ingredients.”

“I see. But why did you bring cooking utensils too?”

“I threw those away too for a fresh start.”

The kitchen utensils never existed in the first place. While the Demon King wouldn’t have cooked meals, it had been a whole six months since he was killed. The Hero hadn’t cooked anything in the Demon King’s Castle for six months.

‘He definitely knows how to cook though…’

The problem was that he just didn’t bother to.

If something could be eaten raw, he’d just eat it, and if not, he’d just boil it roughly. It was more like cooking to survive rather than actual cooking.

‘I should have raised him more preciously.’

Thinking that death would just reset everything anyway, I had raised him in hard mode. Facing the past mistake of raising a Hero who slept well on the ground and ate scraps just fine, I secretly tore at my hair.

“Ah, can you cook right away?”

“Huh?! Right away? I’m not mentally prepared yet!”

But time was of the essence. If he got hungry again, he’d threaten Abracxas and go pick up the bread he had thrown away.

When I looked at him with a subtle smile, Ben must have thought something because he unpacked his things and started making food.

A warm, delicious smell that had never been felt inside the Demon King’s Castle wafted through the air.

* * *

“Greetings, Hero!”

Ben, stiff with tension, shouted loudly. I provided additional explanation about him from the side.

“This is the cook I said I would bring.”

“My name is Ben!”

Adam looked at Ben beside me and blinked his eyes. Then he said in surprise.

“Already? It doesn’t seem like you’ve been gone very long.”

“Potato helped us!”

When Potato’s name came up, Ben turned pale. Adam, who had been quietly observing him, shook his head when I shrugged my shoulders.

“I can understand that.”

…What does that mean?

When I protested with my eyes, Adam quickly changed the subject.

“More importantly, you’ve already made food?”

“Yes! I told him to cook something first for you to taste. I thought you’d be hungry since I took away the bread you were eating, so I brought it right away.”

Ben, full of tension, stood before Adam pushing a trolley he had gotten from somewhere.

The potato soup in the white bowl was steaming with warm vapor.

Though it looked delicious at first glance, Adam’s expression as he looked at it was cautious.

Adam glanced at Iberis and Ben, who was nervously crumpling his chef’s hat behind him, then took a spoonful of the soup.

Adam’s eyes widened.

“Of all the dishes I’ve eaten so far…”

Then he spoke in the most excited voice I’d ever heard from him.

“This is the most delicious.”

“Hehe. See that? This is my level!”

At that moment, Ben’s nose rose high enough to pierce through the Demon King’s Castle.

That Hero acknowledged my cooking! I should designate today as a commemorative day!

While Ben was making a fuss and kneeling in emotion behind us, I firmly refuted the Hero’s words.

“Well, what you’ve eaten so far wasn’t cooking but raw ingredients themselves. Isn’t it so much better eating like this?”

“That was also edible… No, I’ll correct myself. Compared to this, saying that would be rude to this dish.”

Exactly!

How wonderful that he eats so well.

Ben, puffed up with pride from his continuous praise, said he’d make more food and rushed out of the room.

When had he ever been so full of enthusiasm? Never, perhaps.

Seeing him fly around like a fish in water, I thought it was good that I brought him.

I plopped down in front of Adam, who was moving his spoon with clinking sounds, and said.

“I looked around various places, and the inside of the Demon King’s Castle is actually quite clean. Oh, except for the study and office where you stay, of course.”

I looked around obviously.

As Adam said, I hadn’t been gone very long, yet it was filled with books I hadn’t seen before. What exactly was he trying to find?

Perhaps noticing my gaze, Adam coughed and made an excuse.

“…I needed some literature to look through, so I brought them. Especially the Demon King’s Castle library is a bit-“

“Very dirty, I suppose.”

“…That’s right.”

From touring the rooms of the Demon King’s Castle, it seemed the Demon King was a collector. Each room was filled with various possessions.

One room was full of pottery, another was filled with gems.

A vast amount of items that would have been difficult to collect in a short time were organized by room theme.

To me, it seemed more like indiscriminate collecting rather than organizing. I had definitely heard that gems of different hardness should be stored separately, but they were just thrown together in boxes. There were dozens of such boxes.

And the many books in the library seemed to be one of the Demon King’s collections too.

How did he manage to collect so many?

Just as there have been Heroes throughout history, there must have been multiple Demon Kings as well.

‘Either they had the same tastes. Or perhaps….’

At that moment, Adam pushed aside his empty plate and picked up a book beside him to read. Seeing no particular order, it seemed like he was reading whatever he could get his hands on.

“What kind of books are you reading so intently? Aren’t those books available at the temple or other places?”

“These were books you couldn’t find anywhere else. They were gathered together and burned for being heretical.”

“Oh my.”

But then why are you reading those heretical books?

The question was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t bring myself to voice it.

“Is it that important?”

However, unable to contain my curiosity, I asked indirectly. But Adam, absorbed in the book’s contents, either didn’t hear me or maintained his stern expression. I’d never seen such a face before. Was this an unconscious expression that emerged when he concentrated on something?

“Hero?”

“Ah. It’s nothing special. I’m just interested.”

The books he’d read with a serious expression were set aside separately on the desk.

I wondered what was different about them, but to my eyes, they all seemed to have similar content.

“Hmm.”

Pretending to be uninterested, I secretly rolled my eyes to scan the book titles.

‘【The Final Moments of a Certain Hero】? Is it some kind of fairy tale?’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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