Not All Heroes From Earth Are Bad [EN]: Chapter 128

Clang-!

The glass shattered, the sound sharp and sudden.

The servant’s forehead was bleeding heavily, shards of glass likely impairing his vision.

He needed help, but no one dared to offer it.

Everyone kept their heads bowed, eyes darting nervously around the room.

The one who’d thrown the glass was Peros Gelion, the lord of Kiton.

“What the hell is going on!? What is happening!?”

Peros’s agitation was understandable.

An unbelievable incident had occurred within his territory.

It was so absurd that he felt more bewildered than enraged.

“Half of our funds are gone overnight! Is that even possible!? Someone speak up!”

‘Funds’ was a euphemism for the revenue generated by his criminal enterprises.

As Peros stated, Kiton was experiencing an unexpected crackdown on crime.

In just one day, a third of Kiton’s criminal organizations had vanished.

These weren’t just any petty gangs; they were a financial lifeline with direct and indirect ties to the lord himself.

With the largest organization, Arken, already collapsing and creating instability, this latest incident pushed Peros to the brink.

“This was done by just two guys? Does that make any sense!?”

“…It appears they have support from other sources,” Chief Secretary Gibson offered cautiously.

“Where!? Where the hell are these guys operating!? Nopolt? Bloor? Adenata? Or is this an invasion from another country!?”

“It’s unlikely to be another territory or country. They have nothing to gain from disrupting our criminal organizations.”

“Then what is it? Are we dealing with some righteous demon acting like a hero!?”

“…”

“Speak up if you have something to say!”

Chief Secretary Gibson bowed his head even lower.

What could he possibly say in this situation?

Peros glared at him, then turned away in frustration.

“Holkman! Where is Knight Commander Holkman!?”

“He’s on standby, sir.”

“Standby? Standby!? What’s he doing hiding at a time like this!? Tell him to get in here immediately!”

Shortly after Peros’s command, Holkman entered the room.

“Sir Holkman, what the hell is going on!? Why are these bastards running rampant when you assured me you’d caught them all!?”

“If you give me a little more time…”

“Time? What were you doing while they were robbing us blind all night? How did you spend that precious time!?”

Peros’s neck veins bulged, and his face flushed red.

It looked as though he might suffer a stroke before Choi Hyun-seok even got involved.

“Does silence solve anything? Speak!”

“I’m sorry…”

All Holkman could do was bow his head in apology.

In truth, Holkman was the most bewildered of them all.

‘I told the lord to feign weakness, but what the hell are you guys doing!?’

He’d woken up to discover a third of the territory’s criminal organizations decimated.

This was not what Holkman had intended.

He had no interest in eliminating criminal organizations.

No, he wanted to protect them.

‘If I’m going to install a puppet lord and profit later, underground organizations are essential. What’s the point of destroying them!?’

How could he not be frustrated when the valuable cash cows that would fill his pockets in the future were being slaughtered?

“Immediately… go out and capture those responsible.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’ll give you one more day, the time you requested.”

“Understood.”

Watching Holkman’s retreating figure, Peros clenched his teeth.

“How much money did I invest in you? You incompetent old man…!”

Peros vowed to get rid of Holkman as soon as this crisis was over.

He would find a younger, more capable replacement and appoint him as the new knight commander.

“Hoo, this isn’t the time for this.”

Peros took a deep breath and turned to the chief secretary.

“Gibson, contact the mercenary guild immediately.”

“The mercenary guild, sir?”

“Yes. I need to meet with the guild leader.”

He couldn’t afford to wait idly by, relying on the incompetent Holkman.

He needed to formulate another plan.

‘It will cost money… but if the mercenaries get involved, success is guaranteed.’

The mercenary guild was the most powerful force in the Kiton territory.

If they intervened, they would capture those responsible much faster than an old man like Holkman ever could.

It would be expensive, but it didn’t matter.

He could always replenish his funds.

Once this was resolved, he would raise taxes and rebuild the criminal organizations on an even larger scale than before!

Then he could earn even more money than he was currently.

“Catching those guys is the top priority right now.”

Peros muttered, a glint in his eyes.

“Don’t think you’ll die peacefully…”

Peros’s face, contorted with malice, resembled that of a poisonous toad.

***

“Wow~ These guys hoarded a lot of loot.”

A bright smile spread across Choi Hyun-seok’s face.

The money he’d collected from dismantling the criminal organizations overnight far exceeded his expectations.

“Hero! We’re going to be rich!”

“Keuheuhe! Rich, rich!”

“Hero, Hero! When are you going to buy me macarons!?”

“Just wait a little! I’ll buy you a house made of macarons!”

“Kkihat! You’re the best, Hero!”

Choi Hyun-seok and Rachel were unusually excited.

They were a hero and his dedicated fairy, their job satisfaction soaring after leaving the Demon King’s army.

“Kuhwaaaak! Kwahak!”

“Bobo, eat slowly. You’ll get sick.”

“Kwang!”

Bobo was also thrilled.

He’d filled his belly to his heart’s content while raiding the criminal organizations, and his stomach was now bulging after just one day.

“Keoeok!”

When he burped, a pure white skull popped out.

Dorrreureureu…

The skull rolled across the floor and came to rest at a woman’s feet.

The woman’s eyes, fixed on the skull, were wide with terror.

“This can’t be…”

Her name was Bell.

The woman who had initially disguised herself as the innkeeper’s daughter at the Hero’s Rest Inn.

She had been healed by Abelson and had recovered after being beaten nearly to death by Choi Hyun-seok.

Of course, only her physical appearance had fully recovered.

Bell’s mind was more shattered than ever.

“C, crazy bastards… These guys are insane… They’re completely mad…”

Bell muttered in a trembling voice.

The scenes she had witnessed the previous night were utterly horrifying.

“P, please… save me!”

“Did you save the people who begged you to save them?”

“That’s…”

“Don’t resent me. That’s how the world works, you idiot.”

Kwajik!

Another person died.

It was still difficult to get used to the sight of a head being crushed with a single punch, no matter how many times she witnessed it.

It felt so surreal that she wondered if it was all a dream.

“It seems like we’re wrapping things up here. Shall we move on?”

The culprit behind all these incidents, the hero Choi Hyun-seok, remained unfazed.

His hardened mentality and strong stomach allowed him to watch a gory movie with intestines spilling out and still enjoy a plate of tripe [a type of offal].

It was a level of detachment that could never be achieved by simply being involved in a criminal organization.

After all, he had been part of a group that would turn their fallen comrades into dinner, so what more needed to be said?

“Hero, won’t they start tracking us now?”

“Hmm, maybe. It’s still morning, so I think we can pull off one more job.”

“If the tail is too long, it will get stepped on [If you attract too much attention, you’ll get caught].”

“Well, it’s about time for Abelson to get tired…”

At Choi Hyun-seok’s words, Abelson shook his head.

“Don’t worry about me.”

“Really? Are you sure you’re okay? You’ve been running around all night…”

“I’m in top condition.”

Abelson smiled brightly.

It was an unsettlingly cheerful smile for someone holding a blood-soaked mace.

“Hmm, let’s collect the money first. We’ll decide whether to do one more job on the way out.”

“Yes!”

Choi Hyun-seok and Rachel gathered the scattered money.

“Bell!”

“Y, yes!?”

“How’s the plan to get someone into the mercenary guild going?”

Choi Hyun-seok suddenly called out to Bell.

Bell was a woman who had been involved in criminal organizations since she was young.

As a result, she knew the city’s underworld inside and out.

It was thanks to Bell’s help that Choi Hyun-seok had been able to target only the organizations connected to the lord in such a short time.

Choi Hyun-seok had given Bell a new task: to plant an informant in the mercenary guild.

“I succeeded…”

“Oh, so quickly? You’re talented.”

“It was because the payment was so generous…”

Bell answered honestly.

It wasn’t due to her exceptional skills, but because the amount of money Choi Hyun-seok had given her was exorbitant.

How could she fail when she spent twenty gold coins just to gather information about the mercenary guild’s movements?

“As expected, a world where everything is possible with money is the best!”

Choi Hyun-seok smiled contentedly.

Through his experiences in this other world, Choi Hyun-seok had come to a few realizations.

In the Demon King’s army, anything could be accomplished with brute force.

In human society, anything could be accomplished with money.

It was both amusing and disheartening that the truth ‘everything is possible with money!’ held true in both Earth and this other world.

“Let’s get out of here quickly if you’ve got everything.”

The group, having finally gathered all the money, hurried outside.

At that moment, a group of guards ran into them.

“It’s them! Catch them!”

Choi Hyun-seok turned and fled.

“Run! You can’t kill the guards!”

“Eat this!”

Rachel scattered ice on the floor.

“Uh? What’s happening!?”

“Ouch!”

The guards chasing them slipped and fell.

Rachel jumped around gleefully.

“Kkihi! Hero! This is so much fun!”

“Stop it and hurry up!”

He might have been urging her to hurry, but the hero wore a broad smile, mirroring his dedicated fairy’s delight.

***

The streets were grim.

Armed soldiers with fierce expressions guarded every corner of the main street.

The residents cowered, fearing they might be caught in the crossfire.

Even the mercenaries, who usually swaggered about, were rarely seen.

As a result, the streets were eerily quiet, a quietness like the calm before a storm.

A tense atmosphere hung over Kiton.

“I can’t understand it…”

Moldbe, the guild leader of the mercenary guild, frowned deeply as he surveyed the street.

“What the hell are they thinking, starting something like this?”

Moldbe was well aware of the events unfolding in Kiton.

Even though they were criminals operating in the underworld, he couldn’t ignore the fact that hundreds of people had been killed or injured in a single day.

Moreover, many guild mercenaries were among the victims.

“How many guild members were harmed?”

“A total of twenty-eight. Three golds, seven silvers, and eighteen irons [Mercenary ranking system].”

“Hoo…”

Moldbe sighed heavily.

He didn’t particularly care about the deaths of the irons, but the loss of golds and silvers was a significant blow.

One of the requirements for becoming a silver mercenary was the ability to use magic.

In other words, it was equivalent to the qualifications of a knight.

If silver mercenaries were on the cusp of knighthood, gold mercenaries possessed the power of a knight.

The deaths of ten such valuable assets were a serious concern.

“Lord… what the hell are you planning?”

Moldbe suspected that Lord Peros was behind the chaos.

It was a logical and natural conclusion.

He was the only one in the territory capable of orchestrating such events.

“The city guards are alright, right?”

“Yes. Some were injured, but none were killed.”

The fact that not a single city guard had died during the chaos only deepened his suspicions.

‘The lord is using outside forces to purge Kiton.’

He was now severing the criminal organizations that had become intertwined with Kiton, branding them as rotten elements.

He was even hiring outside mercenaries to do the dirty work.

This was akin to placing a noose around his own neck.

Honestly, Moldbe didn’t care what happened to the lord, but he couldn’t afford to remain indifferent.

Because the rotten elements the lord was trying to eliminate seemed to include the mercenary guild as well.

“Is the lord truly insane? How else could he do this?”

What was he thinking?

To dare to target the mercenary guild.

Even most great noble families and lords of large territories avoided interfering with the mercenary guild.

This was because the mercenary guilds in each city were interconnected and formed a vast alliance.

The scale was trans-national, extending to other countries, making it an unwritten rule not to meddle with the mercenary guild.

But the lord of Kiton was attempting to break that rule.

“Guild leader, the lord has sent someone.”

“What?”

“He wishes to meet with you and speak directly.”

Moldbe smirked.

“That’s what I expected.”

There must have been some misunderstanding.

Or perhaps he was trying to apologize.

In any case, Moldbe was resolute.

He was going to extract a hefty sum of money from Lord Peros this time.