TWEM Vol. 2 Chapter 14.5
Interlude – The Heroes’ Search Continues
Vaana, the border town of the kingdom of Glicente closest to the kingdom of Perdis.
A Hero party formed by five of Haruto’s classmates — Tendo Koji, Ichinomiya Suzuno, Asakura Natsuki, Shinonome Aoi, and Mogami Shinya — was now visiting this town.
In Glicente, the royal family told them that “Haruto was apparently dead”, but they believed he was still alive somewhere.
In a forest near the Glicente royal capital, a merchant named Gassul told them about a certain “Haruto”, so they headed to Vaana to find more clues.
The sun was already setting, but Tendo and the others went to the trading company owned by Bacchus, a merchant who apparently traveled together with Haruto for a time.
“Haruto might be here…”
Ichinomiya whispered to herself while walking on the darkening street.
Asakura and Shinonome put their hands on her shoulders to calm her down and encourage her.
“We’ll find him, you’ll see!”
“That’s right. Based on Gassul’s description, I’m sure he was talking about Yuki.”
“Yes, you’re right. Thanks, both of you.”
Thanks to her friends’ words of consolation, Ichinomiya felt reassured.
The group of five eventually arrived at Bacchus’ trading company.
The clerk quickly noticed the quality of their attire and approached them.
“How may I help you, dear guests?”
“We would like to meet Mr. Bacchus, if possible. We have a letter of introduction from Mr. Gassul…”
Tendo gave the envelope to the clerk, who checked the contents, then asked them to wait for a moment and went to the back of the store.
After a while, the group was led to a guest room, where they were told that Bacchus was not present at the moment, and the branch manager would meet them in his stead.
“I am honored to make your acquaintance, o Heroes. My name is Bang. Sir Haruto, the man mentioned in your letter, has been of invaluable assistance during our journey from Waxe to Vaana.”
Gassul’s letter apparently mentioned that Tendo and his party were Heroes and that they were looking for Haruto. Tendo, glad to know they didn’t have to explain everything from the start, went straight to the point.
“Thank you for your time, sir. Could you tell us what you know about Haruto?”
“Gladly. He has been of invaluable help since we left Waxe— ”
Bang thus narrated how Haruto escorted them from Waxe to Vaana, and all the feats he was responsible for in the process.
The fact that he allegedly defeated disaster class monsters with ease was hard to believe, but Haruto’s appearance, words and actions matched the Yuki Haruto they knew.
After hearing Bang’s story, the group was thoroughly convinced the “Haruto” they heard about was indeed the person they were looking for. Just then, however, Bang added a new piece of information, which shocked them completely.
“To think that Sir Haruto would go on to become the world’s first EX rank adventurer! I should not be surprised, considering his abilities, but still!”
“Eh?”
“Did you say…EX rank?”
Bang seemed puzzled by Tendo and Ichinomiya’s surprise.
“Oh? Did you not know? Sir Haruto has been promoted to rank EX, a position even superior to rank S of the adventurers’ guild. It happened just last week, actually.”
“What!?!?!?”
Tendo and his party couldn’t help but shout.
“As far as I have heard, Sir Haruto achieved unprecedented exploits in the capital of the Perdis kingdom. He defeated a massive horde of monsters that threatened the capital, or something…as expected of Sir Haruto, I should say. They even gave him the second name of ‘Demon King’, though he is also called ‘Annihilator’.”
“Whoa, whoa, ‘Demon King’…? That’s pretty cringeworthy for Yuki…”
“R-right…Yuki ‘Demon King’ Haruto…?”
“Annihilator is pretty intense too, though…”
Mogami, Asakura and Shinonome reacted, but Tendo and Ichinomiya were quiet, deep in thought.
They did not hear anything about a massive monster horde, not from King Glicente or his daughter, princess Mariana. Nor did they hear anything about a certain “Haruto” becoming the world’s first and only EX rank adventurer.
Both Tendo and Ichinomiya found it very suspicious not to have heard anything about it. Just then, Bang clapped his hands and changed the topic.
“In any case! Noble Heroes, it is already quite late. Please spend the night at our inn tonight, we have already prepared rooms for you. Why not rest today, and depart for the Perdis royal capital tomorrow morning?”
“…yes, I suppose you are right. We are very thankful for your hospitality.”
Tendo accepted Bang’s proposal, then looked at Ichinomiya and the others, who all nodded.
~
After arriving at the inn, the group gathered in Tendo’s room.
“Yuki’s pretty amazing…how did he get so strong?”
“I still find it hard to believe, but based on what we heard, the ‘Haruto’ everyone told us about is definitely him…”
“Yes, the “Haruto” they all talk about is definitely our classmate. Aren’t you glad, Suzuno? We finally found him.”
Mogami and Asakura were genuinely surprised; Shinonome bounced a question to Ichinomiya, but the latter replied awkwardly.
“Yes, right…”
“What’s wrong, Suzuno?”
Asakura noticed the unnatural reaction and looked at her, perplexed.
“Well…as far as we have heard, this “Haruto” person has been active since before we left the capital, right? So I was wondering why they didn’t tell us anything about it…”
Tendo nodded in agreement to Ichinomiya’s words.
“…that’s right. As Suzuno said, it’s a mystery why we haven’t been told anything about him. Princess Mariana first said that ‘Haruto left on his own’, and we didn’t doubt that was the truth. But if she didn’t tell us anything about this ‘Haruto’ on purpose, I’m not sure if we can believe that he really left the capital on his own will.”
Tendo’s expression turned grave. Mogami thought for a moment, then spoke.
“Haruto might not be a rare name here though…and there’s also the possibility that no information about him reached the royals in the first place. Anyway, we just have to find Yuki and ask him what happened.”
In order to be promoted to S rank — though the EX rank they heard about was above it — the approval of the rulers of the Three Great States was necessary, so the king of Glicente had to know about “Haruto”. Tendo did not know this, however, so he was convinced by Mogami’s words.
“…that’s true too. The only way to know for sure is to find Haruto, after all. Let’s turn in early today, and leave for the Perdis capital tomorrow morning!”
After Tendo’s words, the group split and headed to their respective rooms.
The next morning, they rode in the horse carriage Bang provided them and left for the capital of the Perdis kingdom.
As Arthuras.Magrath stated, they should have said that he might be the Demon king.
I would do it by first stating what they know about him, though not being completely honest, but saying that their knights found him dead in the forrest, but were attacked by a Disaster-class monster and was forced to flee. Then, i would bring up his insane strength and say that there is a good chance he might be the Demon King.
Though, this wouldn’t completely prevent him from becoming an EX-rank Adventurer, it would make the countries strengthen their vigilance of him. Of course, Perdis will state that the Monster horde that got him the Ex-rank was allegedly the product of one of the Demons Kings retainers, and that Haruto claimed to have killed him, this would still bring into question his trustworthyness, and the other kingdom would be more vigilant of him.
Glicente would then ask if Perdis actually saw the dead body of said retainer, or if they have any proof that Haruto didn’t orchestrate the entire event, after all, he was only with his companion, and he has shown incredible skills, so him acting nice towards Perdis could be in the realm of him acting.
TL;DR: If i was Glicente, i would frame Haruto to be allied with the Demon King. There isn’t enough definite proof to prove that he isn’t, while there again isn’t enough proof to prove that he is, it would still call into question his identity.
Bit late for that as the Heroes are already on their journey…
They could just be called back to the country
well they will return in 2-3 months so not overly long where traveling eats up time.
Denying his promotion only serves to make them look suspicious to the other countries. Allowing the promotion and keeping it secret is smartER, but still dumb.
Nice guy huh. I remember him being quite mad saying that he was going to get his revenge in the last chapter.
Then this group is on MC side and said they were get charmed/hypnosis by demon king skill and told to kill all of them
Long story short, Glicente kingdom get rekt, all their Noble got executed, tell the true story to all Glicente people and MC Will become their new king
Thanks for the chapter! ^^
Good that they are thinking by themselves and that they are questionning Glicente Kingdom’s actions.
With how things are going they might end up arriving when things are heating up about Glicente Kingdom’s transgressions and defect to Perdis Kingdom.
And if I’m correct with the chronology, they are in Vaana at the same time chapter 15 start in the teaser. 3 to 4 days between his promotion to Ex Rank and the Elf slave I think plus 3 days in the teaser, so roughly a week wich is the time since his promotion stated in this chapter.
This means that if he doesn’t leave the Capital in the next two days we can hope that they meet each other in chapter 15 or 16? ^^
Thanks for the treat.
Thank you for the chapter !
Pfft! They found out about Haruto’s chuuni and cringy titles. Now they know about his dark history.
Anyways it’s good that these guys are thinking for themselves. They’re questioning why would Glicente not inform them about this Haruto who could potentially be the one they’re looking for and that has called into question other things Glicente has said and done.
I still don’t know if Glicente Kingdom knows about Haruto’s real identity or not. I mean they should have been told about Haruto in order to be promoted to S Rank but they haven’t done anything about it like denying his promotion or sending assassins. Ah no wait, I forgot that Haruto’s 2 new maids are also assassins but well they may choose to give up their mission if they got hired by Glicente to assassinate Haruto especially after seeing his ridiculously high level and all his skills.
I guess when Glicente get punished, Glicente probably will say Haruto is the Demon King and trying to convince other countries to subjugate him, threatening them that they will not be sending the Heroes if they didn’t comply.
Glicente isn’t worried about Haruto’s potential revenge? He could easily obliterate a kingdom with how overpowered he is…they’re just lucky he’s a nice guy
Thanks a lot for the chapter
Suzuno and Koji are names that are often names of characters in Isekai novels
I’m still worried about the spy sent by Glicente
Tendo is not that bad but i get “Kouki” vibes from him (arifureta) where he thinks about justice a lot, like a lot that you can call him a slave to justice. You gotta commit some injustice to give out justice in a world like they’re in rn so he’s a bad addition to that world.
I don’t understand why they can’t just ask people if Haruto is a common name.