What is this? This is creepy.
The news about a social media post searching for the Hero spread like wildfire. At first, I thought the public broadcast stations were just desperate for news. I really did.
— Only the Hero can save this world.
— Hero in heaven, unbelievers in hell.
— The world is divided between those who believe in the Hero and those who do not.
The posts had become a sort of meme. Phrases of “wisdom” were superimposed over a background featuring the black silhouette of a man raising his right hand toward the sky.
For some reason, it felt chilling. These posts, which praised the Hero without any rhyme or reason, reminded me of someone.
‘It can’t be.’
That guy should be leading his tribe well. He probably has way too much on his plate to come here and act like some obsessed fan.
‘But lately, it seems like just about anyone can cross dimensions.’
No, surely not. Usually, whenever I think “surely not,” that exact thing happens. It’s like some kind of law.
The day after the team dinner. Karin had left, saying she was going to school, when a text message arrived.
-Lee Seoyeon: Coach, it’s probably best if you don’t come outside today.
-Lee Hyunbin: Why?
She was saying the strangest things. Being told not to go out only made me want to go out more. I got dressed and stepped outside, only to see a green-haired woman shaking the front gate, trying to open it.
Wait, that green hair. It looked familiar.
“Uwaaaaaah!”
Wait, that crying sound.
“Heroooooo! I knew you’d be hereeeee!”
The green-haired woman reached out toward me pathetically, tears and snot streaming down her face. I immediately went back inside and shut the door. After a moment, I opened the door again.
“Heroooooo! Your Lia is hereeeee!”
To be honest, I had thought about her once before when the kids had upset me. She was a devotee who would believe anything I said. Unlike the elves who practiced cannibalism, she belonged to the Clan of the Forest, who were widely known in that world.
She was a High Elf.
Now, it felt like it wouldn’t be strange no matter who showed up. Why don’t we just merge the dimensions while we’re at it?
The snot-nosed elf screamed as she shoved both hands through the gate. Honestly, I didn’t want to open it. However, I could see the neighborhood ladies passing by and looking at me with suspicious eyes.
“My, young people these days are so strange.”
“Looking at her state, he must have played with her and then dumped her.”
“Heroooooo, have you abandoned meeee?”
That damn elf and her sharp ears. She took what the passing women said literally and started wailing. It felt like she was going to scream until the whole neighborhood heard, so I had no choice but to open the gate.
As soon as I opened it, the elf lunged into my arms and hugged me tightly.
“Sniff, I finally found youuuu.”
“Why did you come here?”
When I was summoned as a Hero, I was told that Priest Power was required to cross over to the original dimension. In other words, not just anyone could cross over. It was a power only available to a select few chosen ones in that world.
“Of course I came because I missed you, Hero!”
She looked up at me as she rubbed her face against my chest.
“Pay for my laundry…”
She had smeared tears and snot all over my clothes. This damn pointy-ears.
Because of the pointy-ears snot attack, I gave up on going to work. For now, I brought her into the house.
“How did you find this place?”
“At first, I asked people on the street, but no one knew.”
Is she lacking something?
Her name was Iurillia Frenberg. She was usually called Lia. This girl was the young leader who led the High Elf tribe. That meant she was a leader. Yet, she was going around acting so scatterbrained.
“At first, I didn’t have a place to sleep, so I lived on the streets and got food from a shelter. Oh, that’s right. It seems like you’re not allowed to pick and eat fruit from the trees in this world.”
Of course not. That’s stealing. She probably went into someone’s orchard instead of a forest and gorged herself.
I listened to her story, and it seemed she had crossed over to this dimension about one month ago. It sounded like she had suffered quite a lot during that time. That part was a bit pitiful.
“By the way, what’s with your clothes?”
“My clothes?”
She was wearing a suit. Well, since she had come to this world, it made sense to wear modern clothes, but an elf in a suit felt a bit unbalanced.
“It looks good on me, right? They gave it to me at work. Hehe.”
“Work? You have a job?”
“Of course I have to work to make a living.”
“You didn’t even work in that world. You were a shut-in who never left the forest.”
“…”
Why couldn’t she say anything?
“Tha-That was in the past. I’m a hard worker now.”
“What kind of work do you do?”
“Uh, that is…”
The idiot fiddled with her fingers and thought for a long time.
“The work is… quite relaxed…”
You don’t even know what you’re doing, do you?
“Ah, but it’s a profession with a very bright future. The income is very high too. I receive a lot of respect from people. Hehe, although it wouldn’t be as much as you, Hero.”
The future is bright even though you don’t know what you’re doing? Are you working at an observatory?
Heh heh heh.
Ah, that was a funny joke. I should use it on my teammates later.
“Look, this is the money used here, right? Right?”
Since I didn’t believe her, her pupils shifted dangerously as she waved a stack of cash. Well, it wasn’t issued by a children’s bank. They were all genuine 50,000 won bills.
“You’re not doing anything strange, are you?”
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
“No. My younger brothers take care of the collections and everything. They say it’s all thanks to me.”
I heard a strange word.
“Collections?”
“Yes, collections.”
Seeing the elf smiling brightly, I got a bad feeling. I glanced out the window.
“Hey, Mister. Don’t go this way. Use that path.”
“While Big Sister is visiting, make sure you all keep a proper watch, got it?”
“Yes, Big Brother!”
“…”
There were a bunch of guys in black suits gathered outside. I could see the neighborhood women whispering among themselves while looking at my house. I closed the window and asked the brightly smiling elf.
“Are those guys outside your younger brothers?”
“Brothers? Ah, yes. Hehe. I told them to wait at the company, but they must have followed me here.”
“…”
Just what has she been doing since she got here?
“Do you even know what your job is right now?”
“Me? Oh, a company that’s like family?”
I think she should remove the “like” from that sentence.
“Don’t worry. You know who I am. I’m your Lia, Hero.”
“I don’t know when you became my Lia.”
“Huhu, I quite like this job. It involves managing several shops, and if there’s a place where there’s discord, I go to persuade them.”
It’s probably (physical) persuasion. Even though she has a thin body right now, things change during battle. When she enters Muscle Mode, her entire body turns into muscle. She ends up looking like an overturned cockroach. If she showed up looking that terrifying, most people would be intimidated.
“Get out.”
I kicked her out.
“Heroooooo! Waaaaah!”
The elf was whining pathetically outside, and her self-proclaimed younger brothers were glaring in my direction with fierce eyes. They looked ready to pull out sashimi knives at any moment.
What is she doing, making such a scene in the neighborhood? My neighbors’ eyes were already focused on me because things kept happening as soon as I moved here.
How much time had passed? Just as it seemed to have gotten quiet, there was a knock on the door again.
“Hero, I’m going to wash my hands. I’ll return with a clean body, so please accept meeee!”
Sigh…
The lady next door and the lady across the street were whispering while looking at my house.
What kind of rumors would start now? It felt like the door would be broken down if I didn’t open it. For now, I let the troublemaker back inside.
“Hehe.”
The gangster “brothers” were certainly nowhere to be seen now.
“Hero, you’re hungry, right? I’ll make you something delicious.”
I could have just ignored her. However, considering the effort she put into searching for me, it was hard to heartlessly kick her out.
More than anything, I was curious about why she had crossed over. If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t care.
But for a High Elf responsible for governing her tribe to cross over alone? This was no simple matter. She might be clumsy, but she wasn’t a total fool.
“I can use the kitchen here, right?”
“What kind of food does an elf even make? Just go graze on some grass.”
“You shouldn’t make such discriminatory remarks. I’ve become quite accustomed to living here, you know?”
I had been treated to a meal by her tribe before. It was nothing but grass. Typical elves only ate meat, but these guys were extreme and only ate plants. Surely, she wasn’t planning on cooking with some strange weeds again, was she?
As I glanced over, I saw that she was thankfully using normal ingredients.
“How did you even manage a Dimensional Travel?”
“Has someone else come besides me?”
She didn’t seem to know. She actually looked surprised.
“What did you do about your tribe before coming here alone?”
“The people of the tribe?”
Lia smiled sorrowfully.
“I am the only one left of my tribe now.”
“The only one?”
That was completely unexpected. What she meant was… the tribe had been annihilated.
“I can use this cutting board and knife, right?”
“Uh…”
Lia used the kitchen calmly.
The only major weakness of the High Elves was that they were a small minority. Compared to humans, they were overwhelmingly strong.
That was why human kingdoms didn’t dare mess with the elf tribes.
Although elves were objects of hatred for humans, the kind High Elves were often treated with friendliness.
“Is it because of that Demon King?”
“How did you know?”
I knew. Because that Immortal Demon King guy kept going on a rampage. Right now, a toy he made was safely tucked away in my Inventory.
“The Continent is no longer the place you once knew, Hero.”
Lia spoke with a melancholy tone.
“It’s nothing more and nothing less than a dining table for monsters.”
The situation seemed worse than I had imagined. Every Demon King had a title. Of course, they didn’t have just one; numerous titles existed.
And the Demon King Im Jaejoon was called the King of the Flip Side. It suited that duplicitous bastard’s personality.
The Immortal Demon King. It was a title that sounded like something out of a middle schooler’s fantasy. Literally, a monster that led an Undead army and strolled across a death-stained continent.
“The kingdoms are already gone.”
The Seven Kingdoms that used to vie for hegemony on the Continent had reportedly vanished.
The cities where humans lived had fallen, and they supposedly spent their days being hunted by immortal monsters. In other words, an environment where they were neither dead nor alive.
“Still, for the Seven Kingdoms to fall so easily? In just a few months?”
It hadn’t been that long since I arrived here. In that time, the kingdoms were all wiped out? Even I needed ten years to defeat those Seven Kingdoms. Just how crazy was that Demon King?
“Hero, I think there’s a misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding?”
Lia blinked as if something were strange.
“Faced with an unprecedented crisis, the Seven Kingdoms all joined forces and fought the Three-Year War.”
They are strong when they unite. Usually, the problem is that they’re too busy trying to grab more land. But wait.
“Three years?”
“Yes.”
The years didn’t add up.
“It has been fifteen years since you left our world, Hero.”
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