Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 65

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

Chapter 65

Adam smiled with pursed lips as if this had been his intention from the very beginning when he obediently followed along.

Before I could say anything, the clothes Adam had chosen were already in my hands.

“That’s… of course! But are you really going to buy me piles of clothes like this every time? At this rate, we’ll both end up sitting on the streets with the Demon King’s Castle!”

It was a question meant to scold him, but for some reason Adam pondered his answer.

Don’t tell me he actually plans to buy me clothes like this every time?

‘No, you’re a Hero. A penniless commoner Hero…’

Fearing he might actually say yes, I cut off his answer.

“Anyway, this is the last time! Absolutely not next time!”

I crossed my arms to make an ‘X’ and spoke firmly.

However, Adam still seemed regretful as he kept glancing at the things he couldn’t buy.

“But if Eve looks good in them next time too…”

“Ah, that’s a given, but buying them is not allowed! This is enough noble pretense for me! It’s far too much for someone like me.”

If Adam had been wearing them instead, I would have clapped and agreed.

But for all these clothes to be for me.

I’d never received such treatment before, so it felt endlessly awkward.

“Too much? The clothes have simply found their rightful owner. Can’t you just wear them happily without feeling sorry?”

“Ugh…”

I kept trying to refuse because it bothered me, but Adam used his charm offensive and I ended up accepting all the clothes.

The problem was that I kept falling for his satisfied smile.

“…Thank you so much. I’ll definitely work to pay you back! Got it?”

“There’s no need to pay me back. This is a request from me. I hope Eve will be happy wearing these clothes.”

His satisfied gaze turned to my outfit.

It was one of the clothes Adam had chosen for me – a violet dress that suited me so well that we both gave it thumbs up the moment I looked in the mirror.

As his gaze lingered, a status window appeared above his head.

Stress – 79%

‘Huh? Why did his stress go down?’

Wasn’t what just happened to him basically robbery?

Even though he didn’t buy clothes for himself, he was very pleased.

‘As expected, he can’t live without doing service for others…’

Those people who have kindness so ingrained in them that doing good deeds is actually better for them.

This is how he gets taken advantage of.

It only made me think more that I need to keep Adam by my side.

If I let someone like that wander around outside, he’d definitely get his wallet completely emptied within half a day!

Having watched Adam’s childhood indirectly through the game, I couldn’t help but cherish him.

I was aware that I was even more smitten than when I first entered the game, but what could I do when it was the truth.

I grabbed Adam’s arm and pulled him forward.

Since we came out later than expected, I was filled with the desire to enjoy the festival more thoroughly than anyone else.

“Come on, Hero!”

Adam obediently followed where I led him.

Somehow we watched a stage performance of fire-breathing, then watched clowns performing juggling tricks with five balls.

Time passed quickly as I toured various places with Adam. As we moved around more, the new shoes I’d bought earlier became uncomfortable. I limped slightly while looking around for a place we could go inside.

Even so, I stuck close to Adam’s side. I kept my face calm so he wouldn’t notice.

Eventually, I spotted a shop with a shabby sign.

The shop in the basement of a small building that looked like it would collapse soon seemed interesting enough to catch Adam’s attention.

“Adam, there’s a variety store over there that sells interesting things. Would you like to take a look?”

“Mm, yes.”

Adam nodded and said.

He seemed to have his attention focused elsewhere, but when I pulled his arm and went inside, he followed obediently.

Going down the narrow, small stairs, I saw books with a musty smell filling the air.

In one area, cheap items were piled up, and other than that, there were only old-looking books.

Adam, who I thought would like it, scanned the books with an indifferent reaction.

‘Wasn’t it because he liked books that he stopped by the temple too?’

I picked up various books to look at them. When I sat in the chair arranged for customers, comfort came to my aching legs.

“You’re the Hero.”

“…!”

A voice came from a pile of books next to me that I thought was empty.

I was startled and turned around, but I couldn’t see any trace of a person.

“Here, over here.”

Adam found the person buried in the books before I did.

Only an arm was waving as he called us over.

I held the book I had picked up like a shield and carefully asked toward where the voice was coming from.

“How did you know he was the Hero?”

Adam pulled out one book from the bottom with an annoyed expression. Then the books stacked on top came tumbling down, revealing the person inside.

Stroking his cloud-like abundant beard, the bookstore owner answered with a hearty laugh while lying fallen over.

“Well, there’s an atmosphere that people who are Heroes give off.”

“An atmosphere?”

“Yes, it’s hard to describe in words… Right, I feel the same energy from that thing hanging around the young lady’s neck.”

I tried not to show my surprise as I thought of the ring I had tucked inside my clothes.

Unlike Aphene, is this person real and not a fraud?

“How do you know such things, grandfather? I didn’t feel anything at all.”

“Well, ordinary people might meet a Hero once in their lifetime, if at all!”

As I was struggling to help the grandfather sprawled on the floor, Adam lifted him up with one arm.

I awkwardly withdrew my hands that had suddenly become useless.

“Have you seen a Hero, grandfather?”

“Of course I have!”

“Where?”

“I was someone who served a Hero. Since a Hero appeared this quickly, I can see the current Hero while knowing the previous Hero too. Tsk tsk.”

His pale, distant eyes lacked sharpness, but from his slow movements, he seemed to be following us.

His focus, which had been directed at me in front, soon turned to somewhere far away. A hazy smile formed and disappeared at the corners of his mouth, as if he was reminiscing about the past.

And when his focus returned, it was directed at Adam behind me.

“How remarkable that you didn’t die?”

“…”

What kind of curse is this all of a sudden!

I was indignant.

But I couldn’t seriously respond to a senile old man.

“Yes. Our Hero is amazing, so he killed the Demon King and survived!”

“Tsk tsk, that’s as it should be. Otherwise, he couldn’t have survived.”

That if the Hero doesn’t kill the Demon King, the world falls into the Demon King’s hands was a story even three-year-old children knew.

I raised my eyebrows as if displeased.

“Live earnestly in the present. Life is unpredictable, you never know when you might die…”

“That’s what I’m doing.”

“When has the Hero ever! You’re always living blankly in the Demon King’s Castle like someone who’s reserved a place to die.”

“…Of course I was like that, but haven’t I changed since meeting Eve?”

“I wonder about that.”

I glared at him with suspicious eyes.

Has he really changed?

Always pushing me away, then pulling me close. Doing whatever he pleases?

Adam also seemed to know his fault as he smiled awkwardly with an embarrassed expression.

“Still, everything is thanks to Eve.”

Adam’s lips curved into a gentle arc.

Seeing that expression, I forgot all about trying to act sulky.

“Y-yes! Fine, I get it!”

I had never heard Adam say such things to me before, so I didn’t expect him to suddenly speak like that.

My face somehow grew hot, so I moved away from him and fanned myself with my hand.

The elderly bookstore owner, who had been watching this entire sequence of events, furrowed his brow even deeper.

“…Hero.”

His wrinkled lips moved slowly.

“Do you know why Lawrence died?”

“…”

“Don’t stay with people… Don’t stay with people…”

Like a broken tape that could only say one thing, he repeated the same words over and over.

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