Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 79

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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 79

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Someone called my name.

I was startled by that sound and rolled off the bed.

‘Just now, they definitely said my name…’

Not Iberis, but my real name.

It was a voice I’d never heard before, but strangely, it felt like I had heard that sound somewhere.

After suddenly waking up, I looked around, but there was no one in the familiar room.

However, my throat hurt as if it were burning.

I instinctively touched my neck.

The Sacred Relic hanging around my neck was quiet, but for some reason, I had an inexplicable certainty that the being who called my name was this ring.

However, there was no time to think deeply about it.

Black smoke was thickly seeping in through the gap under the door.

At that moment, I got goosebumps.

I immediately rushed out into the hallway without any delay.

“Cough, cough!”

Once I came outside, it would have been strange if I hadn’t noticed until now how full of smoke it was.

I kept coughing as I paced the hallway.

Where are the other people?

First, I went into Ben’s room right next door.

He was sleeping soundly, unaware of what was happening at the inn. Judging by the empty liquor bottles rolling around on the floor, it seemed he had drunk heavily in the evening and fallen asleep.

I ran to him and shook his body.

“Brother, wake up! Ben!”

However, Ben didn’t move at all. I could only hear his honest breathing sounds.

I had no choice.

After apologizing in advance in my mind, I alternately slapped both his cheeks.

Ben, who hadn’t moved no matter how much I hit him, finally opened one eye slightly only after his face swelled up red.

“Iberis…? What’s wrong…? Yawn, why do my cheeks hurt so much…?”

“The inn is on fire! Get up right now!”

“What, what?”

Ben, who had thought it was a joke, looked around and then jumped up from the bed.

“Tommy, Mother!”

Leaving Ben, who went to wake up the other family members with a bewildered face, I went to the bathroom and brought out several towels soaked with water.

Ben, Tommy, and Violet…

Fortunately, since the Founding Festival had ended, there were no guests staying at the inn.

A blessing in disguise, perhaps.

“Ah, Aphene!”

Only then did I remember Aphene, whose existence I had forgotten, and ran to the room where he was staying.

“Mr. Aphene. Please wake up!”

Even when I pounded on the door hard with my fist, there was no movement from inside.

Eventually, when Ben returned and we broke down the door together, we encountered Aphene sitting on the bed, whether he hadn’t been sleeping or had just woken up.

“It doesn’t seem like morning has come yet. Though the surroundings are strangely bright.”

“It’s because there’s a fire!”

Aphene, looking out the window that had brightened due to the flames, was watching the fire like a spectator across the river.

No, the inn you’re staying in is burning!

It was like going to see a fire only to find out it was our own house burning.

Now wasn’t the time to be spacing out and watching.

“Aha. Anyway, thanks to my familiar, I’m not affected by fire at all.”

“Stop saying strange things! Cover your nose with a towel and stay with Ben!”

I pulled Aphene’s arm and handed him a towel.

Were there any other people left in the inn?

Ben said the other people seemed to have fortunately gotten out first. Since they were sleeping downstairs, they must have escaped.

However, when we went to the stairs, ceiling materials had fallen and blocked the exit.

We could hear voices calling us from below.

“Violet! Please escape first!”

After shouting to Violet, who had fortunately escaped first, I moved to look for another exit.

‘We can’t get over here…’

I ran toward the opposite direction.

It was when I was heading to the room at the end of the hallway, thinking to find a ladder or something in the warehouse.

Crash!

There was the sound of large glass breaking. Was it because of the fire?

“Eek!”

I was startled by the sound of the window breaking and sat down, covering my ears.

At that moment, wind came in from outside through the broken window.

The flames were spreading further inside.

I needed to get up quickly, but perhaps because I had inhaled too much smoke, my body wouldn’t listen.

Then someone swiftly entered the inn through the broken window.

Human warmth embraced my waist.

Hair whipping around in the flames.

And the face looking down at me with a worried expression was…

“…Hero?”

For a moment, I was mistaken.

The face of the person I had longed for so much immediately came to mind.

However, the voice that seemed to tell me to wake up from the fantasy, as if cold water had been splashed on my face, belonged to a young woman.

“Sorry. I’m not your Hero.”

When I barely managed to open my eyes, heated by the aftermath of the flames, and confirmed her face, I unconsciously shouted.

“Mercenary Queen Iselda?!”

Rose-colored hair redder than the soaring flames, and even deeper red eyes.

“You know me?”

Oh, I was so happy to see one of Adam’s companions I’d wanted to see in person before dying that I couldn’t help myself.

Well, even if I acted familiar, it wouldn’t change the fact that I was going to die anyway, would it?

“Well, you might have heard from the Hero. This is a village close to the Demon King’s Castle where the Hero stayed.”

Iselda said with a grin.

I looked around while being obediently held in her arms.

The Hero wasn’t… by her side.

Apparently, Iselda didn’t seem to know that I was the identity of the maid who had sent her letters.

She just seemed to have rushed over in one bound because there was a fire while heading to the Demon King’s Castle.

“So, kid, this looks like an artificially set fire to anyone… do you have any idea who did it?”

“No!”

If I knew, I would have grabbed all their hair and made them bald.

Unfortunately, there was no one who had become bald here, and I was sleeping so I didn’t notice who committed arson.

“Right. I like that kind of firm answer.”

More than that, to think someone deliberately set fire.

There’s no one among the village people who would do such a thing.

Momentarily, I thought of the nobleman Lindel who lived in the Upper Village, but he had trouble with his legs.

To come all the way here, set fire, and escape would take too long, so at least one witness would have appeared.

‘Even so, Violet wouldn’t make such a mistake. How strange.’

“So these four people here are everyone?”

“There should be… one more person?”

The unconscious Violet and Tommy, and Ben who was covering their mouths with water-soaked handkerchiefs I had brought, and me.

Aphene was nowhere to be seen.

“Ah. He suddenly broke through the window and came in, so I thought the Hero was coming to kill us and ran away in surprise.”

Aphene, who had been standing far away, cautiously approached while glancing around nervously.

“So the Hero isn’t the only one who does the bizarre act of breaking windows to sneak in.”

“Sorry that I’m not the Hero. I almost became your companion, but you rejected me.”

Iselda grinned, lifting her red lips in a smile as she spoke boldly.

The reason for the rejection is right beside you.

I couldn’t bring myself to tell her the truth and awkwardly smiled along with her.

“That place had strong flames, yet you managed to survive.”

“Huh? Didn’t I mention it earlier? One of my subordinates has fire-related abilities so I have immunity to… no, I’m just naturally strong against fire.”

“Well, enough small talk!”

Iselda snapped her fingers to gather everyone’s attention.

Then she grinned.

“Let’s go down!”

It was a bold and refreshingly simple way of speaking.

However, her words left me bewildered.

“This is the top floor though.”

It was a whole four stories high. Being the only inn in Dainil Village, it was quite large in scale.

We had climbed up to escape the fire and ended up in the attic.

The bottom was filled with flames, and even the attic was hard to breathe in due to the seeping smoke and fire.

That’s why I thought she was crazy when Iselda suddenly broke through the window.

“That’s not a problem for me!”

After having the unconscious Tommy wrapped in a blanket, Iselda easily tied him to her back.

“Little one here, big brother here.”

Iselda tucked Ben and me under each of her arms and looked back at Aphene.

“You said you’re strong against fire, so you can last a minute, right?”

Aphene nodded silently.

His face was as calm as when he had pulled us out of the room.

He didn’t shed a single drop of sweat, as if the flames weren’t even hot to him.

Perhaps sensing that his relaxed demeanor was consideration for us, Iselda grinned.

“Perfect!”

And without giving us time to be surprised, she jumped down.

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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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