The Hero Meets His Old Friend

The Hero looked at me with surprised eyes, but then turned confused. He looks around, then swings his left hand a few times. I can feel some mana fluctuation in the air, so probably he did something?

Since he doesn’t show any sign of rejection. I pull the chair in front of me, then sit on it right in front of him.

“Long time no see, Mr. Hero. How long since we last saw each other?”

“... that voice, perhaps, are you Mr. Reporter?”

“Yes! Glad you still remember me! I thought you would forget someone as insignificant as me after you gain such success!”

“How can I do so, Mr. Reporter! You were one of the few people who treated me kindly when I first arrived in this world. For me, you are someone I’m indebted to for life!”

Hmm, hmm, good. His face is a bit better than before, from ‘I wish I could disappear right now’ into ‘I wish there is no work today’--- a much better face.

“Come on, everyone would do the same. Especially when they saw a kid who’s talking some unknown language and crying non-stop while slamming his head—”

“Stop! Stop! That was a long time ago! I’m not like that anymore. Why did you remind me of something I wanted to forget…”

We looked at each other, and before we realized it, we laughed like drunkards without holding back. Or would it be more correct if I said ‘laugh with the drunkard’---since I still haven’t had a drink yet?

“Oh, how rude of me. Have you ordered anything yet? I will come back—”

“It’s okay, I have ordered before coming here.”

I successfully stopped him from standing up. What will people say if a hero orders food for a nobody like me? Someone will stab me for sure.

“Rather than that, could you tell me why you are here, of all places? A hero nonetheless. And somehow, nobody realizes that you are here. Can you even imagine what these people will think when they get home? ‘Hey honey, did you know that I eat together with the hero in the tavern?!’-- and if somehow you shake your hand with him, there is a high probability he won’t wash his hand for the next 10 years.”

“Stop that! It did happen before, it’s scary.”

His whole body shuddered slightly, as if remembering something really scary. He picked up the mug in front of him, took a swig, and replied.

“To answer that, look.”

When he flicks his fingers, a bluish lightning shows for a moment. He pointed towards the waitress from before, bringing my food order. At first, she walked to where I am right now with confidence, but soon she looked confused and started to talk with people around. One of those people is pointing to where I used to sit, to where I sit now. At first, he seemed so sure at first, but not long after, he also became confused, trying to look for something. He even looked under his table.

“I found that when I combine mental, illusion, and light magic, it’s possible to bend someone's perception beyond the normal magic when they use it individually.”

He flicks his hand again, and suddenly the waitress looks at me again like she has finally found her lost wallet.

“Where in the black water have you been?! You just suddenly disappear and appear like air!”

With an exaggerated sigh, she placed my order and left after saying, ‘Call me if you want to order again’.

“...That was brilliant. I never heard that magic could be used like that.”

“The wizard also said the same thing. And this magic saved my life a lot of times, especially when I met some monster that, how do I say this, could crush me in an instant.”

A monster that is able to crush the hero, humanity's strongest person. Someone who killed dragons, monsters among monsters, alone. And is there still something that could crush him? I don’t want to meet that kind of monster.

“That must be one scary monster if even the hero needs such magic to hide.”

“It is, and I refuse to meet that monster even if it will bring me home. Oh, maybe I will take you with me when I meet one in the future.”

“I love my story, but let me politely decline that offer since I love my life.”

We both laughed out loud as we tossed our mugs together

After half emptying my mug, I saw his eyes were glued to my bag.

“That is one big bag you have there, Mr. Reporter. Did you just come back from a dungeon or hunting?”

I laugh. Me? Hunting? No way, right?

“No, Mr. Hero. It will be lucky for me to survive a single bout against a slime, so I will refrain from that and leave the dangerous part for you.”

“Hahaha, so be it. But then what did you bring inside that bag?”

With a grin, I put the bag on top of the table and proudly opened it. I took out my prized book from there, and together with it, a lot of ‘stone pictures’ also poured out.

“...Wait, Mr. reporter, isn’t that…”

“Yes! This is my own ‘hero’s journey’ book, I compiled and wrote myself! It depicts your journey from the beginning! What do you think?!”

“...Thank you, that is very flattering and interesting. But it’s not what I mean..”

A bit disappointed, can’t lie about it. He then points towards the mountain of ‘Picture stone’ that flowed out from my bag.

“...Why did you have that many cameras, I mean ‘picture stones’, with you?”

“Oh, these? Aren’t you the one who created it? Why so surprised?”

“I know that. It’s just why did you have so much of it? I believe one ‘picture stone’ can hold a lot of pictures inside it.”

“Because there are a lot of things to capture. Beautiful scenery, a beautiful girl, crime, a beautiful woman, a scenic love between parent and child, a bathing woman, there are a lot of things to capture. And before I knew it, I had already bought this much.”

“...There are a lot of things I wanted to point out, but besides that, this will cost you a fortune, right? Buying this many stones.”

It has indeed cost me a lot of gold, but it is worth it.

“It’s worth every bit of gold I have spent. And this is thanks to you?”

“..Me?”

The hero looks confused.

“Mr. Hero, do you know what I used to be?”

The Hero nods.

“Yes, you told me before you are some kind of Info broker, right?”

“Uuu, Info what?”

“I mean information merchant, yeah, that one.”

Sometimes the hero loved using some confusing words I say.

“You used to tell me about people telling stories to other people, right. And you see, I want to try it, not just selling information anymore but truly sharing stories with as many people as possible.”

“...”

“And when you invent this ‘picture stone’, with just a bit of mana, people can capture whatever scenery they want to. Whether it was a happy moment, the best moment, or even a moment they wanted to preserve eternally. And for me, it was this moment.”

I open my bag's front pocket and pull out a picture stone with the number ‘1’ engraved on it, and put it in front of The Hero.

The ‘Picture stone’ reveals a scene when the hero is half dead, lifting his sword towards the sky with a satisfied smile plastered on his face.

“This is—-”

“---My first mission as a hero. Fighting against a horde of goblins, trying to protect a small village—”

“-And not just saving that village, you gave all people in this kingdom hope. Hope about waking up tomorrow.”

Think I saw his eyes glisten a bit for a moment, or maybe just a trick of light or my mind playing games.

"...You once told me, ‘If you follow your heart, you’ll find real happiness.’ And you know what? I did. It doesn’t pay as much as selling intel used to—but I feel at peace with myself."

I’d be lying if there is no regret at all, but honestly, it became much more peaceful than before. Don’t need to lie, bribe, or run from people with swords from behind.

“... I see, so I could help you without using my power as a hero…”

He opened my ‘Hero’s Journey’ and began to read it.

“Most of the page here is blank.”

It’s embarrassing when someone points that out, but I can’t help it.

“Sadly so, since the only story you ever told me was the beginning, right?”

“But didn’t the castle already release an official story about me?”

“They did, they did. But, the story they released was, how do I say this, like cow dung?”

“..Cow dung?”

"Yeah! The story they told was wild—like you were some unbeatable god of war or something."

And that kind of story suck.

“They didn’t tell people how you cry, how you laugh, how you struggle. They picture you as if some god instrument or something, like you are not even—”

“---A human.”

We went quiet. The tavern noise was the only thing I could hear. He looked... sad, maybe even hopeless.

As if he had decided on something, he looked me in the eye and said.

“Do you want to hear an adventure story? Raw, unfiltered, and even taboo to be told to people outside the castle. A story filled with struggle and tears from the person who personally experienced it.”

Without skipping a beat, I answer,

“Yes!”

“.. I see. Then it might be a bit boring and long—”

I grabbed my book, which was placed in front of him, and took out my charcoal.

“I have all the time in the world.”

With a smile, he reached out and touched my favorite picture stone. His image shimmered into view—and so began his story.

“I hope you won’t get bored.”