Haa.
Eddie barely managed to hold back the sigh that was about to escape.
Arthur had noticed Ketron’s existence. He had realized that Ketron was alive, perfectly well, and within the Empire.
When Augustine had visited, Eddie had worried that Arthur or Boram might immediately storm in, but had been relieved when things remained quiet. He never expected they would encounter each other like this.
No, perhaps…
Was this why the story wanted Ketron to participate in the tournament? For Arthur to have this realization?
“Argh.”
It probably wasn’t solely for that purpose, but the situation had certainly become complicated. Given Arthur’s position, he could easily find out who Ketron was and where he was currently residing.
Was Eddie’s inn still safe as it was?
“Ket, are you okay?”
Concerned about Ketron’s mental state, Eddie held Ketron’s cheeks. Ketron was looking at him with vacant eyes.
“I have no reason not to be okay.”
Ketron said, giving a small smile. It was a smile he had been showing relatively often, but only to Eddie.
Without thinking, Eddie gently brushed Ketron’s smiling lips with his thumb.
It was an unconscious action, and even Eddie was surprised by it.
Ketron had already returned to his characteristic stoic expression, as if he had never smiled.
Eddie offered an explanation.
“Sorry, it’s just… your smile is pretty. I did it without thinking.”
It was a reflexive comment, but filled with sincerity. It wasn’t the kind of thing one typically says to a large, dark-skinned adult man, but Ketron had always looked pretty to Eddie from the beginning, so by Eddie’s standards, it wasn’t a strange or inappropriate thing to say.
Then Ketron went one step further.
“You’re prettier.”
“…”
Good heavens, how can someone with that face say such things? Isn’t this criminal?
“Ahem! Hem!”
While Eddie was inwardly flustered, the sound of someone clearing their throat came from a corner of the carriage. Eddie quickly looked up and glanced around.
Oh, that’s right, they weren’t the only ones riding this carriage.
There were others like Eddie and Ketron traveling from Sandern to Irena.
All their gazes were fixed on Eddie and Ketron.
Someone whistled, while others sat frozen with flushed faces or avoided Eddie’s gaze.
“Can you two tone it down a bit! You’re not the only ones in this carriage.”
The man who had cleared his throat to give them a hint grumbled.
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
Though not fully understanding what they were supposed to tone down, Eddie apologized, assuming it meant they should quiet down.
“This is why young people these days, tsk!”
The comment sounded remarkably similar to what the older generation in Jeong-hoon’s time would say about the so-called MZ generation, making Eddie laugh involuntarily.
Eddie straightened his posture. Since the cargo carriage wasn’t very spacious, he naturally rested his head on Ketron’s shoulder as he sat close to him.
Ketron slightly lowered his shoulder to make it more comfortable for Eddie to lean on, and as the spectacle disappeared, people’s gazes scattered, and quiet returned to the carriage.
Inwardly, Eddie had various concerns, but still, this was peaceful enough.
“Stop! Stop!”
However, as if Eddie’s thought had triggered something, all the carriages suddenly halted.
“What’s going on?”
“What happened?”
The people in the same carriage as Eddie began murmuring. They couldn’t understand why the carriage had suddenly stopped.
Commotion could be heard from the front, and an inexplicable tension spread throughout the caravan’s carriages.
Eddie instinctively turned to look at Ketron. With his excellent hearing, Ketron had narrowed his eyes.
“It seems bandits have appeared.”
“Bandits?”
Bandits? What kind of random thing is this, like something out of a Mapa-Flax-Story?
Eddie shook his head vigorously, realizing this wasn’t the time to be imagining an NPC hanging upside down saying ‘Those who wish to be bandits, come to me…’
He had heard about bandits or highwaymen appearing in some places. But such incidents were unlikely to occur between the capital where the emperor resided and a wealthy city.
Especially this road they were traveling on, it was a safe route with heavy traffic, primarily used by caravans and travelers.
The inside of the carriage instantly became chaotic.
“Bandits? Did you say bandits?”
“Bandits?”
Other passengers became agitated after hearing Ketron’s words.
Most of them were people returning home after watching the tournament in the neighboring city. Though there may have been exceptions, they were mostly ordinary, relatively well-off commoners from the capital.
For them, bandits were something from distant regions, completely unrelated to their lives in the capital.
Moreover, given the size of this caravan and the commotion at the front, it didn’t seem like the bandits were few in number.
Hmm, what to do.
For Eddie, there wasn’t much tension. What reason would there be to fear mere bandits when a hero capable of defeating even a demon lord was right beside him?
This caravan had also hired mercenaries, so there shouldn’t be any problems. Unless the situation became serious, there would be no need for Ketron to step in…
“You… you’re the tournament winner, aren’t you?”
While Eddie had resolved to just wait and see, a couple traveling with two children in the same carriage addressed Ketron.
Eddie flinched instead of Ketron.
At the couple’s words, people turned their attention to Eddie and Ketron, and then, as if suddenly realizing something, they all began speaking at once.
“Huh? I wasn’t sure, but now that I think about it, you’re right!”
“No doubt about it. That enormous sword. It’s not common to see a swordsman of that build carrying something like that.”
“That’s right, everyone was talking about how handsome he was. It’s definitely him!”
…It seemed that information about Ketron had spread quite a bit overnight. Or perhaps some of them had seen Ketron directly, even from a distance, at the tournament.
The tournament reward was simply the honor of being the winner of an emperor-sponsored competition and a gold nugget. On the surface, it was quite an unremarkable reward.
Yes, outwardly it was unremarkable, but the true reward given to the tournament winner was this,
Fame.
But fame was a double-edged sword.
When it worked in your favor, it was good, but when it didn’t, it could be endlessly bad.
As soon as people realized that Ketron was the tournament winner, they looked at him with expectant eyes.
The expectation that someone with such skill would immediately step up and do something about those bandits.
However, if Ketron remained still and didn’t move, he would immediately be labeled a coward and face criticism.
It would be a fatal crack in the reputation he had just begun to build.
In 〈The Hero Doesn’t Hide His Power Too Well〉 the story begins in earnest when Ketron is 18 year old. The young man, who was younger than he is now, often seemed quite concerned about the world’s evaluation of him.
As the story progressed, that aspect gradually disappeared, and though the young man had now turned twenty, Eddie clearly remembered how Ketron cared about his honor.
Hadn’t he felt shock and anger when Arthur stole all that honor from him?
“…”
Yet Ketron neither confirmed nor denied it. He showed no sign of moving.
As Ketron remained silent, people began to murmur among themselves.
Eddie hurriedly grabbed Ketron’s hand. He whispered quietly so that only Ketron could hear.
“Ket, if you don’t help here, who knows what they’ll say about you.”
How hard he had worked to rebuild his reputation, though compared to his fame before being forgotten, it might be insignificant, it was still something Ketron had barely regained. Eddie didn’t want to see Ketron lose that again.
“If you can help, going to the front would be…”
“If I did that, you might get hurt.”
“Huh?”
Eddie’s eyes widened at these unexpected words, and Ketron gave him a somber look.
“We can’t assume that those at the front are all there is.”
“Ah.”
He meant that while some bandits drew attention at the front, the ‘real’ ones might be robbing the caravan’s cargo from behind.
This came from Ketron, who had extensive escort experience traveling across the continent. It was probably based on his experiences.
If Ketron moved to the front to help the caravan, and then another group of bandits attacked from behind?
That would be a disaster. With only ordinary people like Eddie who couldn’t use magic or swords, they’d be lucky if the bandits just stole goods, they could also face murder or kidnapping.
Murder.
Eddie unconsciously tightened his grip. Just imagining a blade pointed in his direction made his hands feel cold.
“It’s also safer if I stay with you.”
“But…”
If the situation ended like this, what would people say about Ketron? They would call him a coward. That would be a critical blow to his reputation that had just begun to build.
All because of Eddie. Because he was trying to protect Eddie.
…That was too unpleasant to consider.