By Zephyria Eddie’s inn was growing, very slowly but surely, in popularity.
The three men who had first tried the Fire Chicken Noodle had breathed fire from their mouths, screaming, “Kuaaaak!” “Hellfire is burning in my mouth!” “Manana Milk! Please! I don’t care how much it costs!” But, perhaps addicted to the strange spiciness, they returned two days later.
“Hey, that Fire Chicken Noodle thing? Give me that.”
This time, they even ordered it properly.
“Owner, is that thing you gave us yesterday not on the menu?”
“What do you mean?”
“That Manana Milk or Banana Milk, whatever it was.”
“Ah, I’ll give you some again today.”
“You don’t sell it?”
“No, it’s not for sale.”
One of the men expressed strong regret about the Manana Milk. Still, he smacked his lips at the mention of getting it again today, so he must have liked it quite a bit.
That day, the men ate the Fire Chicken Noodle, breathed fire from their mouths, and wrecked the inn’s bathroom.
“It’s weird! It’s definitely painful when I eat it. But when I get home, I keep thinking about it?”
“I heated up my home toilet all night. My wife was furious.”
“But I want to eat it again.”
The men chattered as if it were truly bizarre and then went home.
Whether it was because of the men’s rumors or not, people slowly began to seek out Eddie’s inn’s new menu item, which was incredibly spicy but had a savory flavor.
And most of them breathed fire from their mouths, groaned, and left. It wasn’t that there weren’t people who said they would never order it again, but there were also quite a few who fell into that unknown addiction.
Fish fries, which were good to eat with it, also started selling well.
In particular, the Manana Milk, which was given to all customers, played a key role. Little by little, very little by little, the number of people who visited the store just to get that one thing increased.
He had been asked countless times to sell it, but Eddie stubbornly shook his head, saying that he couldn’t do that.
No way, no way. This is a loss leader.
However, even the pub’s new menu, which seemed to be doing well, came to a standstill. It wasn’t because the popularity or buzz had waned.
“The Hero’s Party is finally returning the day after tomorrow.”
Eddie overheard the men chatting as they ate the Fire Chicken Noodle little by little, as if they couldn’t eat it all at once because it was so spicy.
“I’ve been waiting so long.”
“I heard that all the flower shops in the capital are out of flowers. The Emperor told them to spare no expense in scattering them during the parade.”
“I heard they’re scattering silver coins too. The neighborhood kids are going crazy trying to pick them up.”
“It’s not just the kids.”
The faces of those who were talking and laughing about such topics, as if they were in a good mood, showed no worries or concerns.
“Ah.”
Eddie realized one thing from that conversation.
No wonder the number of lodging guests had increased so strangely.
It wasn’t that the main customers living nearby had stopped coming, but the number of tourists visiting the empire for the full-fledged festival and parade for the Hero’s Party, who would soon be returning, had increased, and Eddie’s inn had also seen an increase in lodging guests.
Naturally, those who had come from afar were unlikely to be interested in Eddie’s inn’s new menu item, which had recently started to become popular, and thanks to that, the Fire Chicken Noodle was temporarily faltering.
“Hmm.”
‘The reason why reservations to stay at the inn tomorrow have been flooding in since last week was because of the parade. I thought they were trying to burn the toilet here instead of burning it at home.’
Eddie’s inn was a good place for tourists to find because it didn’t particularly raise prices during peak season.
The food wasn’t great, but for those who needed a place to stay right away, Eddie’s inn was a great inn because it was clean, in a good location, and didn’t charge high prices.
And the owner of that great inn tapped the table with a rather serious face.
“What to do.”
Was it because he regretted not raising the prices? Was he worried about whether he should release a new menu item when the number of customers increased like this? No. That wasn’t the problem.
The reason was that he had been so engrossed in business that he had momentarily forgotten that this was a fantasy novel.
The ending of 〈The Hero Doesn’t Hide His Power Too Well〉 came to Eddie’s mind again.
The parade welcoming the Hero’s Party, the protagonist Ketron, who was suffering from injuries and betrayal that had not yet healed, watching the scene.
He sat leaning against the wall of an inn, closing his eyes in pain. And, as soon as he opened his eyes, determined to destroy everything, the novel ended with him turning to the dark side.
Turning to the dark side.
“Ugh.”
Eddie frowned at the unpleasantness.
The Hero Ketron is a genius. Not just a genius, but a genius among geniuses. As befitting a protagonist, he was born with insane Mana affinity, reaching the pinnacle in both Sorcery and swordsmanship, a cheat character among cheat characters.
Moreover, he was young. Only twenty years old this year. Except for the fact that he was somewhat taciturn and blunt, his face, as described in the novel, was also that of a handsome man with a halo.
Black hair, black eyes, and a taciturn swordsmanship genius protagonist. What a classic and beautiful setting.
However, perhaps because of that setting, Ketron was never involved with a female character in the story. This was a good thing for Eddie, who didn’t really like harem stories, but he still wished there was at least one heroine, which was a shame.
The most likely heroine candidate was Saint Laila, but the ending turned out that way, so there was no romance or anything…
No, that’s not what’s important now. The problem was that Ketron was turning to the dark side.
Ketron was a righteous Hero. Unlike the trend where villains or cool protagonists who didn’t give a damn about justice were quite popular, 〈The Hero Doesn’t Hide His Power Too Well〉, which was a fairly traditional fantasy story, was not an exaggeration to say that the protagonist Ketron’s sense of justice was responsible for all the plausibility.
Of course, he sometimes showed a somewhat insensitive and cruel side, perhaps for the smooth progress of the novel… but he was basically righteous.
But that Ketron was turning to the dark side.
The author had at least a shred of conscience left, so he had laid the groundwork in the story that if an incident occurred that would once again imprint Ketron’s existence on the people of the world, everyone’s memories might return, but in the end, the novel ended without being able to confirm whether that was a MacGuffin or the real thing.
Ketron turning to the dark side.
The combination of words was so mismatched that it felt quite daunting.
What would happen if that giant, with his protagonist-like abilities, turned to the dark side and harbored revenge against the empire, as well as his former comrades who were acting as Heroes?
For Eddie, who was living his second life with the goal of still living a thin and long life, it was a worrying part.
He wanted to stop it. But how could he stop it? Eddie, who had nothing but a healthy body, an inn, and a convenience store in the basement as a benefit of being possessed, was a human with no special abilities.
How many people would believe him even if he knew the identities of the fake Hero’s Party and exposed them? Ketron had already been forgotten, and they had become heroes of the continent.
He wanted to meet Ketron, but he couldn’t. The novel wasn’t that descriptive. It didn’t say how Ketron entered the empire, where he witnessed the parade, or which inn wall he leaned against and sat down.
Besides, there was nothing he could say even if he met Ketron. How suspicious would it be? Everyone in the world had forgotten him, but a seemingly ordinary inn Owner approached him, claiming to know the truth.
“Well, it’s one mountain after another.”
Eddie scratched his cheek. An infinitely positive attitude was Eddie’s strength, but this case was difficult to think of as simply positive. It wasn’t a problem that could be solved that way either.
He was relieved that the inn’s problems were slowly getting on track, but the big mountain that Eddie had forgotten revealed itself, asking how he could have forgotten it.
He had to do something.
He couldn’t just stand by and watch the protagonist turn to the dark side. Eddie fell into thought.
The only clue was that Ketron would be watching the parade somewhere in the capital on the day of the parade, so it wasn’t really a problem that would come up with a good answer even if he thought about it, but that was all he could do.
As he pondered, the two days passed in the blink of an eye, proving that time was short, and the day of the parade arrived.
That day, the surroundings were so noisy from the morning that Eddie couldn’t sleep in at all.
The streets were noisy from dawn, before the sun had even risen. Eddie, who had woken up in the middle, pulled back the curtains and looked out the window, and saw that many people were out on the streets.
They were securing good spots from dawn and waiting for the parade.
It was autumn, so it was cool during the day, but it was quite cold at dawn, but it couldn’t stop people’s enthusiasm.
Leaving the roads where the parade carriages would pass, everyone had a basket of flowers in their hands, and their faces all looked happy and joyful.
“…”
The person who sacrificed himself for those happy faces was carrying his wounds and had been forgotten by everyone, and was now in this empire, watching that scene.
Hoo, Eddie, who sighed with a heavy heart, couldn’t sleep anymore, so he got up and prepared to go out.
It was his first outing in a long time. In fact, it was funny to say it had been a long time, as even the few outings he had had were limited to taking a quick look around the central square where the inn was located.
Perhaps it was because he still hadn’t adapted to this empire, or rather, to this world, that he wasn’t ready to go out alone.
This outing required quite a bit of mental preparation for Eddie, who lived as if the inn was the whole world.
He washed his face, styled his hair, and took out a neat outfit from the closet.
In the mirror stood a strange man he still couldn’t get used to. Eddie silently swept back his silver hair, then quickly finished getting ready and left the room.
Ketron was probably already in the empire.
The problem was that he couldn’t figure out the time when Ketron would turn to the dark side.
The parade lasted all morning, and no matter how much Eddie searched his memory, the novel didn’t describe where or when Ketron witnessed the parade.
He didn’t know the location, and he didn’t know the time.
In the end, he had no choice but to do as much legwork as possible.
Thanks to all the lodgers who had filled the inn rushing outside, the inn was more deserted than when Eddie had first possessed it.
A parade was in progress, and everyone could see the rumored Hero’s Party with their own eyes, so how many people would refuse the chance to witness a historic moment?
In addition, the Emperor was scattering silver coins, so there was no way anyone would be eating at the pub.
“Gerold, I’m going to go watch the parade for a bit.”
Eddie, who didn’t try to move around much inside the inn as if he were a hardcore homebody, had the parade as a great excuse.
Gerold seemed to not be very interested in the parade and was working at the inn. He nodded, saying he understood.
What should I say when I find him? But there wasn’t even an illustration of Ketron, so would I even be able to recognize him? How can I gently persuade Ketron not to turn to the dark side?
Thinking about that, Eddie opened the inn door and went outside, and almost fell over in a flurry as soon as he stepped out of the inn door because he tripped over something.
“Ugh!”
Eddie, who barely managed to avoid falling by grabbing onto the inn’s door, frowned.
“Whew, that was close.”
Did someone leave a log here? What’s with this in front of someone else’s inn?
Eddie was about to check out the log in question when it happened.
A dark mass entered Eddie’s field of vision.
It didn’t take long to realize it was a cloak someone was wearing.
Jet-black hair that seemed to absorb all light was the second thing he noticed. The cloak, all black as if it were a set with the hair, made the man look like a huge, dark lump.
He even had something huge and long wrapped in cloth and strapped to his back, so big that the cloak couldn’t hide it all.
Black hair, a black cloak, and a beautiful face that couldn’t be hidden even though his eyes were closed came into view. That face was soaked with tears.
Any reader of “The Hero Didn’t Hide His Power Too Well” would recognize him instantly.
The forgotten, tragic Hero Ketron.
It had to be that poor bastard.
A description from the final part of the novel flashed through Eddie’s mind.
[Hero Ketron leaned against the wall of an inn and slid down. He had finally witnessed the betrayal of his former comrades with his own eyes. Tears streamed down his face, and Ketron, writhing in the pain of betrayal, closed his eyes.
And when he opened them again, black eyes burning with revenge blazed fiercely.]
The inn wall. Leaning against the inn wall and sliding down…
Eddie’s mouth dropped open as the belated realization hit him.
…Hey, that inn was my inn?