Not All Heroes From Earth Are Bad-Chapter 123

Bell, who works at the Warriors’ Rest Inn, has just turned 16 and completed her coming-of-age ceremony. People think Renof, the innkeeper, is her father, but the reality is different. Bell is part of a criminal organization, and innkeeper Renof is an executive in the organization – you could say he is her boss.

“Kill the man, and capture the woman. She’s pretty enough that we could get a good price for her,” was Renof’s order.

Bell followed without hesitation. It wasn’t difficult since she had done similar jobs several times before.

The targets were clearly suckers – fools who carelessly flashed their 20 gold pieces and wandered around defenseless. She heard they were nobles from a distant kingdom, but even that wasn’t certain.

‘Walking right into danger! How can they be so stupid!’

Everything was going smoothly. The guy who looked like a knight was just a big oaf who knew nothing. A knight carrying a puppy in his arms? From the start, it made no sense that a knight wouldn’t know how to ride a horse. He was probably just pretending to be a knight.

The noble lady walking beside him with her haughty face was no different. Bell could already imagine that proud mask falling away as she would soon be crying and begging for her life.

“We’ve arrived.” Finally, she succeeded in luring them to a secluded location.

Now the organization members just needed to deal with them, and it would be over.

“Die!” One member swung his knife. The man in armor just stood there blankly, not even thinking of fighting back.

‘Goodbye.’ Just as Bell was forming a victorious smile…

“…!?” Everyone’s eyes widened. The man had caught the blade. More precisely, he had caught it between his index and middle fingers.

“Th-this… Why…!?” The organization member trembled helplessly, unable to do anything. It was maddening that his sword was caught by mere fingers and wouldn’t budge. At that moment – CRASH! The member’s head went through the wall.

Bell and the other members blinked. Even though their eyes were open, they couldn’t grasp what had happened. The moment they thought they saw something flash, the member’s head was already embedded in the wall.

“This isn’t right…” Bell had realized something was wrong. Could a person’s head break through a wall? No, was it even possible to break walls with pure strength in the first place? A knight called a human weapon – this was a level only possible for the real deal, not some random impostor.

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! The members’ heads were consecutively smashed into the wall. The man in crimson armor – the man they thought was a sucker is actually a knight. And not just some flashy fool, but a true master. You could tell just by his movements. With that level of skill, he could join the official knights of any major territory.

“This is more boring than I expected.”

It took less than a minute for all twenty organization members’ heads to be embedded in the wall. No, did it even take 30 seconds? Moreover, the knight did all this while still holding the sleeping puppy.

“…”

Bell stared at the wall with trembling eyes. The sight of all the members with their heads stuck in the wall looked like some kind of performance art. Blood from their broken heads soaked the floor, and Bell’s lower body began to feel wet too.

Choi Hyun-seok strode toward Bell.

“Thanks. I’m kind of a moral person, so hitting others makes me a bit uncomfortable.”

“W-what?”

“Anyway, thanks to you, I could clean this up neatly.”

“W-who are you…” Bell asked with a trembling voice.

“Who am I?” Choi Hyun-seok pointed to himself with a grin.

“The Demon King’s Army.”

A massive fist approached, and Bell’s consciousness faded.

***

Five years had passed since Renof began operating the Warriors’ Rest Inn. With his kind appearance and always treating neighbors kindly, he was a well-respected man. His acting was so perfect that in those five years, no one had noticed he was an executive in a criminal organization.

“This time I’ll make a big profit.” Even Renof showed his true self when alone.

Right now, a smile wouldn’t leave his face. It was because of the two suckers who suddenly appeared yesterday. At first, he thought they were a traveling knight and noble lady, but as Renof continued to observe them, he noticed something was off.

‘That man is no knight.’ Though his attire was certainly that of a knight, his behavior and speech were not at all. His attempt to act dignified was awkwardly forced, and carrying a sleeping puppy around constantly was nothing short of comedy. A knight lacking basic etiquette and manners, and who couldn’t even handle a horse? Such a knight doesn’t exist in this world.

Then what was the true identity of these two?

This was Renof’s conclusion.

‘A foolish noble lady has run away with a commoner.’

He could tell by how carelessly they displayed their precious gold coins.

They probably ran away with the family fortune.

In other words, these two were ignorant fools.

In Kiton where public safety is poor, displaying gold coins like that was practically begging for them to be stolen.

‘If they’re asking for help, it’s only human nature to assist!’

Renof first had young gang members steal the gold coins.

Though still young, these children who had lived as pickpockets on the streets for years were as skilled as most adults.

Moreover, considering how children tend to lower people’s guard, they were actually better than adults for this purpose.

After securing twenty gold coins that way.

Next was the turn for the horse and carriage.

‘With no money, they won’t be able to leave… I should subtly lead them to sell the horse and carriage.’

Renof made a simple but sure plan.

All that remained was to lure them into the trap.

But things went even more smoothly than expected.

Before Renof could make his move, the foolish knight came to him.

When the man said he wanted to sell the horse and carriage, Renof held back his laughter and called for Bell.

-You can handle this well, right?

-Don’t worry.

They exchanged glances.

Bell left the inn with the two.

“The job should be finishing up about now.”

Renof checked his watch and grinned.

By now, the man pretending to be a knight would have departed for the afterlife, and the noble lady playing at being haughty would be in tears.

For a moment, dark desire flickered in Renof’s eyes.

“She had quite a pretty face, what a shame! Such a shame!”

Having to act as a kind innkeeper and watch his behavior was truly regrettable at times like this.

“Still, the earnings are good, so I’ll have to endure.”

Renof’s earnings had multiplied several times since becoming an innkeeper.

Especially with big catches like this one, the profits rivaled those of successful merchants.

“Twenty gold coins of Drason currency plus two strong horses and a luxury carriage. All together it should be worth thirty gold coins.”

Thirty gold coins.

It was a fortune that ordinary civilians wouldn’t see in their lifetime.

Enough money to buy a decent house in the capital of most kingdoms or territories.

Though after paying tributes upward and distributing shares downward, only a few gold coins would end up in his hands, it was still a significant amount.

Renof kept rubbing his hands together as he waited for Bell to return after finishing the job.

At that moment.

Thud!

The inn’s door opened, and Bell appeared.

“Oh! You’re back! Did the job go well…?”

Renof trailed off.

Something was wrong with Bell’s condition.

“Bell…?”

Bell was leaning against the door with head bowed low.

Renof slowly approached Bell.

“What’s wrong? Are you alright?”

“Yes. I’m fine.”

Bell answered while still keeping her head lowered.

Renof stopped in his tracks.

“Who… Are you…?”

Bell’s voice was strange.

It felt bizarre like a deep-voiced man forcefully trying to imitate a woman.

“I’m Bell, aren’t I~?”

“Stop joking around! What are you playing at!”

Veins bulged on Renof’s forehead.

He thought Bell must be playing a prank with other gang members after succeeding with the job.

Though he understood the excitement, pulling such a prank on him, an executive, was unacceptable.

Planning to teach a harsh lesson, Renof strode forward.

He roughly grabbed Bell’s hair and lifted it.

“How dare you play…”

Renof’s eyes shook violently.

Bell’s lifted face was covered in blood.

With eyes completely unfocused, it seemed consciousness had been lost.

“Bell…?”

“Yes, boss!”

The voice is heard, but Bell’s mouth isn’t moving.

That’s when Renof realized.

The voice was coming from behind Bell, not from Bell himself.

Renof’s gaze slowly moved behind Bell.

And then met with the grinning Choi Hyun-seok.

“Hello?”

“…”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Renof turned and ran.

He planned to escape through the secret passage built when constructing the inn.

‘Something’s wrong! Terribly, terribly wrong!’

Bell and the organization members must have been taken down.

The man he thought was pretending to be a knight turned out to be a real knight.

“Oops!”

Running Renof slipped and fell on his bottom.

Feeling the cold, he looked down to see the floor had frozen solid.

“W-why is this!?”

Renof scrambled to get up again.

He moved his legs desperately to escape, but the floor was so slippery he couldn’t maintain his balance properly.

His mind was rushing and the floor was slippery.

Eventually, Renof couldn’t even take two steps before falling to the floor again.

“Ow…!”

While groaning from the impact.

A strange laughter was heard.

“Hehee! Heheehee!”

Renof quickly scanned his surroundings.

His eyes caught a woman with pure white wings, about 30cm tall.

“A fairy…?”

It was definitely the fairy he’d only heard about in rumors.

The fairies that occasionally appear near heroes were said to have kind hearts and elegant dignity.

“Heheehee! Stupid!”

However, the small creature before his eyes is far from being such a fairy by any measure.

More like a small demon if anything.

Clank, clank.

The sound of armor friction came from behind.

Renof didn’t want to look back but forced himself to turn his head.

“…”

He saw a man approaching, holding the half-dead Bell in one hand.

“Sorry about what happened to your daughter.”

He wanted to say she wasn’t actually his daughter, but there seemed no need to.

After all, not even a speck of remorse could be felt on the man’s face.

“We still have some accounting to do, right?”

At Choi Hyun-seok’s question, Renof nodded repeatedly.

“I-I’ll give it! I’ll give you everything! Just please spare my life!”

Renof was a man of quick judgment.

***

Thud, thud, thud.

Choi Hyun-seok took out gold coins from Renof’s pocket and threw them one by one.

Thud, thud.

Soon all the gold coins were out.

Looking at the now empty pocket, Choi Hyun-seok’s expression twisted.

“Why are there only ten?”

Originally, Abelson had twenty gold coins.

Half had disappeared.

Renof frantically waved his hands and shouted.

“I-I already paid it up!”

“Paid up?”

“Yes! To do business here, there are many places we need to grease… The higher-ups always take half of the profits.”

“So. You’re saying my money is gone?”

Choi Hyun-seok said with wide eyes.

“My happy retirement fund. My marriage fund has fallen into the hands of these criminals?”

“Th-that… Just wait a moment!”

Renof quickly opened the inn’s safe.

“Here! There are more gold coins here! This is my personal money, but I’ll give you all of it!”

There were quite a few gold and silver coins piled up there.

Counting them revealed five gold coins and forty silver coins.

“Lady Alien. What’s the value of silver coins?”

“It varies by kingdoms, but usually twenty silver coins exchange for one gold coin.”

“Then what we have here would be equivalent to seven gold coins.”

Abelson nodded.

Choi Hyun-seok looked back at the innkeeper, Renof.

“The money’s not enough?”

“I-I’ll somehow manage to get three gold coins! Please give me just one day!”

“Hm? Three gold coins? What are you talking about?”

Choi Hyun-seok tilted his head.

“You need to give me forty gold coins. There are seventeen here now, so you need to bring twenty-three more.”

“What!?”

Renof exclaimed in surprise.

“Didn’t you only have twenty gold coins!?”

“That’s just the principal.”

Choi Hyun-seok continued with a grin.

“Five gold coins for my mental damages. Five gold coins for time loss. And my fist got a bit twisted when beating up your organization members earlier. Five gold coins for that treatment. Lastly, five gold coins as interest for lending twenty coins for one day.”

“…”

“Including the principal, that makes forty gold coins total, right?”

Choi Hyun-seok continued while putting the money in his pocket.

“Like I said, there are seventeen here now, so you just need to bring twenty-three more. Understand? It’s simple arithmetic, isn’t it?”

Renof felt dizzy.

What kind of absurd logic is this?

There is no way he could gather forty gold coins even if he killed him.

“Where am I supposed to get that kind of money!?”

“Didn’t you say you paid it up? Just go get that back. You can figure out the rest yourself.”

“I’ll die if I get caught by the higher-ups!”

“You’ll die if you don’t bring it too.”

“I’m not joking, I’ll really die!”

Just dying would be fortunate.

With bad luck, he could be tortured or sold into slavery.

“Then spill some information. Tell me everything you know about your organization.”

“Then I’ll die! No, just kill me now! I’m telling you to kill me!”

As Renof was screaming desperately.

BANG-!

A mace flew from somewhere and struck next to his face.

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