Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 68

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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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Chapter 68

The Demon King’s Castle without Adam felt somehow lonely.

Was it because there weren’t many people? Even though Ben was there, and the unnecessary Abracxas was there, and Potato was there too, it somehow wasn’t fun.

“Potato, our Hero must be having fun all by himself at the Royal Court, going haha! hoho! He’s probably playing with incredibly pretty Young Ladies there.”

“Kiiing…”

When I grabbed Potato’s cheeks and stretched them to both sides, Potato shook his face as if annoyed.

I was busy brushing off the fur that suddenly flew into the air and hit me in the face, including what got into my mouth.

“Is there any reason to shake your fur while I’m talking?!”

“Kiiingiiing.”

“What are you saying?”

“How would I know? Tell him to speak in human language. He doesn’t even work.”

“Kuureng.”

Just then, Abracxas, who was passing by, grumbled and kicked Potato’s belly with his foot.

A Monster before a Demon is like a candle that would go out if you blew on it.

But not in front of me.

I glared with sharp eyes and blocked Potato from Abracxas’s view.

Then I handed him a rag I had prepared in advance.

“Clean the Hall today.”

“What’s the point of cleaning a hall that no one even visits every time… Besides! You pamper that low-grade Monster but why do you work me so hard?”

Abracxas, who was about to leave to clean out of habit, threw down the rag and complained.

When I narrowed my eyes and watched him, Abracxas smiled obsequiously and picked up the rag again.

I said with a sigh.

“Potato is cute. And how can an animal work? That would be animal abuse.”

“Kuuruing?”

“Look at this cute face!”

I protested while showing him the adorable Potato.

Then Abracxas muttered as if dumbfounded.

“You’re being deceived…”

At that moment, Potato smirked, lifting the corners of his mouth.

“Ha, how dare a low-grade Monster mock me?”

“Hey! Why are you taking it out on innocent Potato!”

I hit Abracxas’s shin with all my strength with a thud.

Then Abracxas grabbed his leg and whined.

Potato giggled beside us, but when he received Abracxas’s fierce glare, he turned his head and pretended not to notice while licking his front paw.

“You’re the one taking it out on someone!”

“When did I ever take it out on anyone?”

His fabrication skills were truly befitting of a great demon.

The area around Abracxas’s eyes turned red as he glared at me, probably because the hit hurt quite a bit.

Well, how strong could someone so frail they can’t even hold a weapon be?

“The Hero, what. Did he go to the Royal Court all cheerfully to meet some woman? Why are you so low-pressure?”

“I’m not. I don’t care where the Hero goes or who he meets!”

It’s not my business to worry about anyway.

However, the rest of my words got stuck in my throat and didn’t come out.

Fortunately, Abracxas didn’t seem to notice anything strange and just grumbled “Then why are you nagging at me?”

Potato, who had been lying beside us covering his face with his front paws and giggling every time Abracxas got hit, suddenly jumped up and lowered his stance.

His ears were also flattened to the sides as if wary of an enemy.

“Krrrrung.”

“What’s wrong, Potato?”

An intruder? If a Monster who absolutely hated anyone entering his territory was being so wary, it meant one thing.

A first-time intruder was setting foot in his territory.

And very close by…

I narrowed my eyes and stared at the place Potato was glaring at.

A carriage was approaching at high speed toward the castle gates, cutting through the bumpy Forest Path.

‘If it were the Hero… Potato wouldn’t react so sensitively.’

It wasn’t a mercenary or hunter who hunted Monsters.

If hunting had been the main purpose, they wouldn’t have come in such a splendid carriage that you could tell was noble even from far away.

I brushed off my clothes to remove the dust and straightened my posture.

The moment I walked to the castle gate and opened the door, a small Attendant appeared from inside the carriage.

He wasn’t actually short, but he was bowing so bizarrely low that he looked about my size.

He smiled broadly and said.

“Good day. Hero’s Maid. The Hero has urgently requested that you come.”

The Attendant placed the hat he was wearing against his chest and bowed even lower.

I had the ridiculous worry that his head might touch the ground at this rate.

But at the same time, something felt suspicious.

If it were Adam, there would be no reason to leave me behind and then call for me again.

Still, the reason I couldn’t send the Attendant back was perhaps because I was curious about what Adam was doing.

‘Adam should be at the Royal Court right now, right?’

I turned around so the Attendant couldn’t see and fiddled with my necklace.

Your one true God asks about your location.

Your Hero responds that he is attending a banquet hosted by the Royal Court.

The answer came back quickly.

‘It’s not a lie.’

But why would he suddenly do something like this…?

It was different from Adam’s usual behavior.

If he had planned to bring me to the Imperial Palace from the beginning, we would have gone together from the start.

However, the Attendant urged me, saying time was of the essence.

“Wait a moment.”

I was going to ask something else to confirm whether he had really sent the Attendant.

But the Attendant followed me as I turned around and shouted.

“At this rate we won’t make it on time!”

The Attendant’s forceful approach made me even more anxious.

…Adam is at the Royal Court, so surely he wouldn’t be planning to take me somewhere strange.

“Is the destination really the Imperial Palace?”

“Of course. At a time like this, if a carriage bearing the Imperial Palace’s emblem went somewhere strange, anyone would notice. Trust the Royal Court’s Attendant.”

The Attendant acted as if he knew all of her wariness.

“That’s a Monster, isn’t it? Haha, a Hero who doesn’t kill Monsters and leaves them in the Demon King’s Castle… It would be interesting if I went alone, wouldn’t it?”

“…The Monster doesn’t harm people.”

“Oh? But right now that Monster looks like it’s about to attack me any moment?”

Potato’s reaction had been strange from earlier.

Potato, who had been sniffing with his nose trying to catch a scent, was on the verge of baring his teeth at the Attendant.

There was no reason for Potato to threaten an ordinary person without cause.

He looked like he wanted to bite and tear apart that Attendant right away.

In the end, I got on the carriage because I didn’t know what Potato might do.

“…Fine, let’s go.”

However, contrary to the promised words, the carriage that had been heading toward the Imperial Palace took a side road.

But it didn’t completely leave the Imperial Palace area and the carriage stopped.

I called the Attendant in puzzlement.

“Hm? Why are we getting off here?”

“Surely you weren’t planning to go to the Imperial Palace ball looking like that.”

“I had no intention of going in the first place. Didn’t you say at first that the Hero had called for me? I’ll leave once the business is finished.”

“The Hero is at the ballroom! But how can you just enter like that? That would completely disgrace the Hero’s reputation.”

I flinched.

I looked at the attendant with disgruntled eyes.

Hero this, Hero that, since earlier.

As if knowing that the Hero was my weakness, whenever I showed even the slightest sign of defiance, he would bring up Adam.

‘It seems like Adam saying he had business was also a lie from the start.’

But what could I do when I had already come all the way to the Imperial Palace?

I secretly let out a sigh without the attendant noticing.

After entering the small castle within the Imperial Palace, surrounded by maids, I secretly sighed as I looked down at my clothes.

I understood what the attendant meant about not being able to enter the Imperial Palace wearing such clothes.

Then couldn’t they just send me away?

The maids who approached me grabbed my chin and turned it this way and that.

Then they took my measurements and disappeared.

They reappeared after bringing a dress that fit my build.

However, perhaps they had measured wrong, as the maids brought large needles to adjust the dress that was too big for my frame to fit my body.

“Ah!”

I frowned as I looked at my arm that had just been pricked by the needle. But despite my small cry, the maids didn’t respond at all.

They were tormenting me meticulously and petty, as if they had been ordered to do so.

Then a small needle grazed and pierced my cheek. A small cut split across my pale cheek.

I raised my hand and dabbed my cheek with the back of my hand.

A drop of blood formed on the back of my hand.

Fortunately, since I couldn’t feel any more pain, it seemed I wasn’t pierced deeply.

However, the response that came back was laughably casual.

“My mistake.”

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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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