I Became the Hero While Paving a Flower Path for My Niece - Chapter 43

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Hero Who Paved the Way with a Joker’s Flower — Episode 43
Alex gazed at the living Dein before him. He was certainly ten years younger than his future self.
He’d be somewhere in his mid-twenties now.
To think he’d become a branch chief of the Information Guild at such a young age.
‘I didn’t know I had a talent for this sort of thing.’
He clearly did possess that talent.
“You came looking for me?”
Dein regarded Alex with an amused expression, his face alight with curiosity.
[Pretending to be so composed!]
[When until just moments ago he was bustling about like a man with his pants on fire.]
I Baek let out a quiet laugh.
Alex thought the same thing inwardly.
“But why don’t I know your face?”
Beneath that composed exterior, the depths of Dein’s orange eyes flickered like flames. Anxiety and urgency were plainly visible.
“I don’t know how you learned my name, but our guild has rules too. If people just barge in like this, it causes serious problems.”
Dein laughed with practiced nonchalance.
“Everyone’s apparently furious.”
“And you’re not angry?”
Dein’s smiling face stiffened for a moment, then relaxed.
He certainly lacked the experience and composure of the Dein from the future.
At the mere mention of knowing something about Dasha Village, he had to be burning with anxiety.
Dein was about to speak while feigning calm, but Alex didn’t want to waste any more time.
“Let’s skip the pleasantries. You want something, and I want something too. Let’s make a deal.”
Time was precious when searching for a missing person,
[You really want to get to Leo quickly, don’t you?]
Dein, who couldn’t possibly know about the fool joker Alex, fell silent at those words.
Of course, he knew that speaking up now would mean admitting defeat, but he couldn’t hold back any longer.
“…Where did you hear about Dasha Village?”
Dein’s voice dropped low and rough, his face stripped of all warmth—a tone Alex and I Baek had heard many times before. It carried the weight of deep longing and heavy resentment.

“From someone I know.”
[That someone is you!]
Alex ignored I Baek’s voice.
“Believe it or not, that’s your choice. But I can tell you the information is reliable.”
Without realizing it, Alex had furrowed his brow slightly as he spoke.
“It came from someone I know to be the most accurate source of information in the world.”
Here I was, complimenting that bastard Dein.
“Hmm.”
Dein wavered at the sincerity and conviction in Alex’s voice. No, right now he was desperate enough to grasp at straws.
[You can see how anxious he is.]
As I Baek said, his youth prevented him from perfectly concealing his thoughts.
Suspicion warred with desire—he wanted to hear more.
The urgency was palpable, especially when no information had come in at all.
It was only natural.
Dasha Village was Dein’s Reverse Scale. He couldn’t simply stand idle.
Just as Alex himself couldn’t remain patient about Leo’s situation.
‘Even unreliable information would feel desperately believable to him.’
Having made his decision, Dein spoke as though exhaling a sigh.
“Fine. What do you want?”
“I’m looking for someone. A man named Milo who came to Lord’s Castle a month to a month and a half ago.”
Alex described Milo’s appearance based on what Jake had told him.
“The last place he’s known to have gone is Todd’s General Store. Apparently he went there to earn money. And I’m not sure if this helps, but there seems to be a rumor circulating in this territory that you can make good money if you go to Lord’s Castle.”
“Really?”
Dein’s brow furrowed slightly.
The Information Guild would normally never miss a rumor, but Dein had never heard of it. It seemed to be spreading very quietly indeed.
“If problems arise, come to the Blue Forest Inn and ask for the mercenary Alex. By the way, I’m also a mage, so call on me if you need anything.”
At the word “mage,” both Dein and Ben beside him registered surprise, though their expressions also softened with a measure of relief.
The possibility that the information about Dasha Village was true had just increased significantly.
“I’ll contact you as soon as I hear anything.”
[He seems trustworthy.]
Alex nodded at Dein’s words and opened his mouth.
“Then it’s my turn now. I only know a few pieces of information, so you’ll have to find the rest yourself.”
“All right.”
Dein felt his heart pounding in his chest.
For some reason, he had an intuition that this information—not yet confirmed as fact—would turn out to be genuine.
This intuition was the very ability that had brought him to where he stood today.
Watching those two amber eyes—no longer just one—fixed steadily upon him, Alex began to speak.
“Barton County.”
Dein’s mind immediately pulled up everything he knew about Barton County: its territories, its position in the hierarchy. He retained knowledge of the nobility and fiefdoms across kingdoms far beyond Mühiti.
Though Barton County favored the aristocratic faction and the lord of Dasha Village remained neutral, their relations were not so strained as to warrant open conflict.
It had nothing to do with Dasha Village at all.
“Why?”
Why?
The question escaped his lips before he could stop it.
“…According to what I heard, they needed people who could disappear without anyone noticing—for use as test subjects.”
Dein’s expression twisted at Alex’s words.
Test subjects. People no one would miss.
A hollow ache opened inside his chest, as though something within him were crumbling to dust.
The villagers.
My sister.
The phantom screams of those who must have suffered pierced through him, and without thinking, Dein’s jaw clenched, his fists squeezed so tight he thought blood might seep between his fingers.
[Oh…]
[I can feel the killing intent.]
He wondered if the “Dein from the future” had worn this same expression when he first learned the truth.
But that murderous look didn’t linger long.
“Dein.”
At Ben’s call, Dein snapped back to himself, his face smoothing into perfect composure as though nothing had happened.
Yet his amber eyes still burned like molten fire, fixed on Alex.
Alex spoke freely of all he knew.
“According to his account, even Barton County is merely a pawn. He claimed that cultivating and concealing assassins of such caliber would be impossible with only the earl’s resources.”
Dein agreed with that assessment.
All the same, Barton County remained his enemy—that much had not changed.
He would need to verify the facts, but somehow Dein felt certain that what Alex had told him was true.
Just as it had been the day he first saw Dasha Village destroyed, his heart—his entire body—thundered with urgency. He wanted to investigate Barton County immediately.
But the deal came first.
“Is this much information sufficient payment for the trade?”
“Of course. If anything, it’s more than enough.”
Finding a missing person near Lord’s Castle and obtaining information that had eluded him for years were not even comparable in value.
Dein studied Alex.
He surely understood the disparity in this exchange.
“You know how important information about Dasha Village is to me, don’t you? So why are you handing it over so easily?”
Somehow, Alex and I Baek both seemed to hear faint murmurs of “Is he an idiot?”
[He certainly is foolish.]
At that, Alex gazed at the man before him.
In the “future,” that man had been the teacher who helped “Hero Leo” greatly, who had stroked Leo’s head in his stead.
He hoped that this regression would become an opportunity for Dein as well, just as it had for himself.
Though years had passed.
There was at least a possibility of finding something better than in the “future” that lay eleven years ahead.
“Unfortunately, I have no other information worth trading.”
Dein gazed quietly into Alex’s pale green eyes. Beneath his youthful appearance, something far deeper seemed to dwell.
He suddenly wondered why someone with such a capable information source—information even he couldn’t find—couldn’t manage such a small task.
But that wasn’t something Dein needed to know.
“If the information proves true… I’ll repay the favor.”
“Then that works out well.”
If capable Dein became as dependable an information provider as he had been in the “future,” their adventures ahead would run far more smoothly.
“Please hurry as much as you can.”
At Alex’s words, Dein broke into the familiar gentle smile he always wore.
“All right. Leave it to me.”
That smile was identical to Dein’s from the future—it inspired confidence.

* * *
While Alex returned to the Blue Forest Inn to check on the sleeping Leo and Jake, and studied the Beginner Magic Book he’d bought from the Blue Tower Magic Tool Shop with I Baek,
Dein had the Information Guild members investigate a young man named Milo and Todd’s General Store, while ordering a few of his subordinates to look into the Barton County family.
Of course, finding Milo took priority, and the Barton County matter had to be handled quietly and carefully.
After that, Dein headed to the warehouse.
The warehouse was crammed with papers—all of them reports compiled by the Crow Guild members.
More precisely, they were raw, unprocessed information jotted down about what had happened over the course of each day.
For instance, notes about how many people had passed through an alley that day, or how much a street vendor’s menu prices had risen, or how many carts had passed through…
To Ben, it seemed like the kind of trivial, useless information one might question its necessity.
‘But once this information falls into Dein’s hands, it becomes something entirely different.’
Information that seemed wholly unrelated would turn out to be pointing to a single truth.
Every member of the Crow Guild who had witnessed this countless times could not help but acknowledge Dein’s brilliance.
“Hmm.”
Dein began examining the reports from the past three months. His orange eyes moved swiftly across the lines of text.
To Ben’s eye, the information still seemed hardly useful, but to Dein it must have appeared entirely different.
Ben left the room to let Dein concentrate, and began collecting the newly arrived information from the guild members.
A short while later.
Ben opened the door and stepped back inside.
“Dein. The investigation into the mercenary has come back.”
“Really?”
Dein looked up from the papers with a smile and took the documents from Ben’s hands.
“Our people sure are fast!”
The investigation that had begun when Alex and Ben first came to meet Dein had now come to completion.
“A 5-Rank Mercenary mage? Probably not a 1st Circle, more like a 2nd Circle? How in the world did they find out my name?”
As a result, Dein was genuinely shaken.
Ben had been curious about the same thing.
Since he used an alias for all external dealings, there shouldn’t be anyone who would know his real name.
“Looks like I’ll need to have a word with the guild members.”
Of course, neither of them had the faintest idea he’d learned this from the “future.” As a result, only the hapless subordinates would suffer for it.
“And it looks like he’s from the Caldis Territory. A cart, a horse, and… a kid? Six years old? A nephew? He’s traveling with his nephew?”
New information that had filtered out from the gate guards made Dein’s eyes widen with confusion.
“Is this for real, Ben?”
“Yeah. I checked myself.”
When Ben had first read it, he’d thought the investigators had made a mistake and looked into the wrong person.
“He’s currently staying at the Blue Forest Inn, too.”
“Wow. That’s impressive. Traveling with a six-year-old nephew and all. But… what’s this ‘cute’ doing here?”
“Just what it says. The kid’s cute, apparently. Polite with his greetings too.”
Dein blinked and burst into bright laughter.
“Cute, huh? I’ve got to see this guy sometime!”
Still grinning, Dein continued reading the rest of the report.
“Oh. So he’s close with a man named Milo—or wait, it turns out he was just the older brother of a kid he happened to meet in passing? He only met the kid yesterday?”
This information had come from the Mercenary Guild.
That place had just as much gossip flowing through it as any tavern.
“Strange fellow. Rushing into the Information Guild just for someone else’s sake.”
And doing it while willing to give up information worth even his own soul.
“Is he an idiot?”
He was definitely doting on his nephew.
Beyond that, there was nothing particularly remarkable about him.
“Visiting the Blue Tower Magic Tool Shop makes sense since he’s a mage… and he asked about good restaurants? Then naturally I should tell him!”
Dein grinned wickedly.
Having filed away his impressions of Alex, Dein turned his attention back to the materials, searching for traces of Milo.
“…The number of beggars has dropped.”
“Beggars?”
“Yeah. It’s not dramatic enough to really stand out, but there’s definitely a decrease. There were some elderly ones mixed in, but most of them were able-bodied young men who could work.”
Ben furrowed his brow.
“Does the beggar situation have any connection to this?”
“If my intuition says so.”
Then it was trustworthy.
Ben nodded in agreement.
“Ben, have you uncovered anything about that rumor?”
A rumor that you could make good money at Lord’s Castle.
“There was nothing like that at Lord’s Castle. Maybe it’s just a rumor that spread in the outer regions of the territory?”
“That’s suspicious.”
Why would such a rumor only spread in the outer regions of the territory?
Dein suddenly recalled something Alex had said.
‘People no one bothers to look for.’
If people from villages in the outer regions went to work and didn’t return for a long time, it would be difficult for anyone to think of going to search for them.
‘The road to Lord’s Castle is far too long and treacherous to travel alone.’
Dein couldn’t imagine that there was a thirteen-year-old boy who had somehow managed to make that difficult journey on his own.
“When did it start?”
“That requires more investigation. They move without making a sound or leaving a trace.”
Dein thought that if it weren’t for Alex’s story, he likely would have remained ignorant of this matter for quite some time.
Who would bother investigating street beggars or people who came looking for work from other villages?
“Right. And have someone look into any carts or carriages that have left Lord’s Castle.”
“Understood.”
Dein’s orange eyes flashed sharply as he turned back to his papers.

* * *
The next morning.
The news was delivered to Alex at once.
“Hey there, Alex!”
Dein arrived with a broad smile.
“….”
[Why’s he here? Couldn’t he send a subordinate?]
Good question.
“Oh! So you’re Leo? You’re absolutely adorable! Hi there, I’m your uncle’s friend—you can call me Dein. Uncle Dein….”
“Just mister.”
Uncle won’t do.
Leo has only one uncle, and that’s me!

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