I Picked Up the Hero Who Banished Me - Chapter 45



44 – [In the Land of Elves – 12]

“That’s the Hero, isn’t it?”

“There’s a half-elf too.”

“Shouldn’t we say something?”

“But Captain Les is there…”

“It really is Captain Les.”

The people training casually in the training grounds seemed flustered by our appearance.

Of course, elves don’t only train with bows, they do other training too.

Basic training with swords and spears is included, but it felt like it was only to hone their fundamentals.

It’s natural; if they don’t have a bow, they’ll have to grab any weapon at hand and fight.

I was best with a sword, but I could use other things too, if needed.

I guess it’s like that for the elves – they learn how to use other weapons.

Of course, they wouldn’t be able to use them as effectively as their main bows, but whether you’ve learned it and practiced or not makes a huge difference in a real fight.

It was pretty professional and the training was disciplined, which I liked.

“Then, Hero-nim, what about your sword?”

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“Let’s go with wooden swords. You can use a real one.”

After saying that, I went, “Ah,” and scratched my head.

“Ah, um. I didn’t mean to look down on you. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s the truth.”

“I guess I was rude, then.”

I know now that some things, even if they’re true, you just shouldn’t say.

My head understands it, but it seems my habit of letting my mouth run away with the mood is still going strong. I grabbed the wooden sword and swung it around.

Hmm.

Is it because the wood is good?

It feels way better than the wooden swords anywhere else.

Light, and easy to grip.

I threw off the cloak I was wearing.

“You’re in worse shape than I thought. I didn’t notice because of the cloak.”

“Well, sure, I’m weaker now than when I dealt with the Demon Lord. But you don’t need to worry about it. It might sound a bit arrogant, but even like this, I’m still way stronger than any of those mid-tier guys.”

To beat me now, even the higher-tier demons wouldn’t cut it; you’d need a Demon Lord’s officer-class to stand a chance.

Well, even amongst the Demon Lord’s officers, there’s a pretty big gap in skill. So just being an officer doesn’t guarantee they could be my match. But most of them would be, and in some cases, they might even be stronger than I am now.

Either way, I can’t properly use magic right now, and my body is badly damaged.

My gut feeling is that my overall combat power is halved… no, maybe even lower than that.

When that building collapsed earlier, I would’ve saved the kids and gotten them to safety before it even hit the ground, back in the day.

But for some reason, there was a different kind of good feeling when we rescued people together, compared to when I did it alone.

“……”

Les grabbed his sword and took a deep breath.

“Then, Hero Olivia Reinhart!! Thank you for accepting this friendly sparring match!”

He spoke loudly, intentionally so, and all the elves in the training grounds turned to look this way.

There were plenty who didn’t hold me in good regard, but even they, as people training daily, seemed unwilling to miss the chance to see the swordsmanship of the Hero, Olivia Reinhardt, up close.

It seemed, at least when it came to training like this, they didn’t discriminate by race.

Interesting.

Alright, then.

“You can come first.”

“Then, I shall go first.”

The elves around are watching me.

I’m a bit conflicted.

Is winning here the answer, or is losing?

It felt like either could be viewed as good if you wanted to, or bad if you chose to see it that way, so I was somewhat troubled, but in this situation, going against what my heart wanted felt like a bad move.

And above all, it would be disrespectful as a warrior.

“Haaah!!”

*Thwunk!!*

Heavy.

“She blocked Captain Les’s attack with one hand!”

“That’s just a practice sword, right? It’s not actually the Hero’s special practice sword, is it?”

“She just grabbed whatever practice sword was lying around a minute ago.”

Strong, and the speed he’s coming at me with isn’t bad either.

Indeed.

He wasn’t the head of the guard for no reason, it seems.

Stronger than most high-tier monsters, movements clean and with minimal excess.

Way stronger than Reina.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!!

Res attacked again and again, and I blocked every single one, reacting. He was deliberately aiming for hard-to-defend spots, but too bad for him, I hadn’t trained like some greenhorn just because I can’t see them.

Res backed away warily and said,

“I knew there’d be a power difference, but you also have considerable demerits right now, hero. I thought I could at least give you a good struggle.”

“Don’t think like that. People around me call me ‘the hero that the goddess gifted with fighting talent.’ They say I’m a hero and that among all the past heroes, the only one who might have been stronger than me was the first hero.”

Of course, I don’t actually know if that’s true.

The first hero is from way back, and the other heroes were also great people who left their marks and saved the world.

You can’t diminish their greatness just with individual strength, and most of all, I wouldn’t know if I’m actually stronger than them until I actually fought them.

Too bad they were all human, so I never had the chance to try.

There can’t be two heroes in one era after all.

“I’m pretty average in everything else, but I’m doing the hero thing with this.”

“How humble. You used to be more confident in the past.”

“I just couldn’t tell the difference between confidence and arrogance back then.”

“I see, then I’ll go at you harder this time.”

“Go ahead.”

Whoom!!

Faster than before.

This time, he’s not aiming for hard-to-react places, he’s coming straight at me.

A provocation, was it?

I liked it.

Then I guess I should play along.

*Thwack!*

“Ugh.”

He’s fast to recover his stance, too.

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

Without me even noticing, the elves nearby had naturally stopped their training and were now watching my duel with Less.

Honestly, I could have finished this in one hit, but I figured I needed to draw everyone’s attention, so I was intentionally just defending against Less’s attacks and holding out.

I wasn’t actively attacking, only defending against the onslaught coming from Less.

Less wasn’t weak.

Even though they’re elves, a race known for archery, I could see why he chose swordsmanship.

An elf with a talent for swords was really not something you saw often. They were a race that seemed better off using their bows like clubs, honestly.

His continuous strikes were getting faster and faster, but I just stood there, blocking all of Less’s attacks.

“Hah!”

Putting strength into both hands, Less brought his sword down.

*Clang!!*

A loud noise echoed as the full force of his attack cracked the ground and seemed to vibrate the very air around us.

A definitely magic-infused attack, it held the power to cleave most magical beasts in two with a single strike. I’d done it now because I was confident I could block it without issue.

Plus, it had a certain flashiness that was good for drawing attention when various eyes were on me.

*Thwoom! Whoosh!!*

Simultaneously, I moved to the side, striking hard at Les’s wrist, then went straight for his neck.

*Whoosh!!*

The sword fell from Les’s hand, and already my wooden sword was aimed at his throat.

“…I lost.”

“Amazing! An elf, and so strong with a sword!”

“I was simply born with more talent for the sword than for the bow.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.”

“Pardon?”

“Even if it’s not now, weren’t you alive hundreds of years ago as a child?”

“Yes, I was.”

“Royce was saying that, unlike now, back then the looks people gave for using weapons other than the bow weren’t very kind.”

“That’s correct. Until Titania couldn’t stand it and began using other weapons herself and mastered them, there was resistance toward weapons other than the bow. Even for me.”

I didn’t know that.

Titania had solved it by learning to use other weapons herself?

I thought she was all hard edges, but she has surprisingly soft spots.

I wish she’d use that a little with the half-elves, too.

“Those irrational feelings must have hurt you, but you endured it and silently swung your sword to reach this level. That unavoidable irrationality must have caused you pain, that’s incredible.”

“…….”

Les looked at me with a surprised expression, and in an instant, the surroundings fell silent.

Ah.

Did I perhaps make another slip of the tongue?

I replayed my words.

I didn’t seem to make any mistake that could be called a slip-up, but this silence gave me the feeling that I might have committed another major faux pas.

“Hero.”

“Huh? Uh? Why, why are you calling me?”

What did I do wrong?

Nothing comes to mind that I need to apologize for, but surely there must be something.

“Thank you.”

“Huh?”

“Up until just now, I was only thinking of you as a new step to change this Elvenheim.”

I somehow knew that instinctively.

“To be more extreme, I wanted to use your existence. I just wanted to create an opportunity for new water to enter this stagnant Elvenheim.”

“I see.”

That’s not exactly bad, is it?

Everyone has the potential to want to use someone, and as long as it’s not such a bad intention, it should be fine, right?

Well, I guess some people could get angry, but.

I might get angry depending on the situation too, but Les has shown a pretty good attitude as a warrior so far and has treated us like guests, so I wasn’t particularly upset by what he just said.

“But in this moment, I’m truly humbled, and I bow my head. Thank you.”

“Ah, no. Don’t do that too much, it makes me uncomfortable.”

“So… what will you do now?”

“……”

I glanced around; the Elves were all looking this way, still silent.

Hmm.

Their eyes are burning.

Those eyes were the eyes of warriors who were thinking, ‘I want to spar too.’

Wanting to fight a strong opponent and find your own weaknesses was an unavoidable warrior instinct.

Whether they wielded a sword.

Or held a bow.

Those who grasp weapons and fight enemies, all of them could be called warriors.

My body isn’t in bad shape.

Not yet.

“Alright, anyone want to spar with me? Sword, bow, spear, axe, whatever’s fine.”

I smiled.

“Come at me with whatever weapon you want. With my condition as it is, I don’t know when I’ll be like this again, or when my condition will worsen. Good fortune to the first ones to come forward.”

“M-Me!”

“Me too!”

“You said it’s okay to fight with a bow? Then, th-then me too!”

Everyone reacted intensely, and I looked at Les, asking,

“You were aiming for this?”

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t.”

Les smiled.

“It’s more than I imagined.”