Chapter 2: Daily Life After the Return (1)

Hundreds of magic circles filled the blood-red sky.

A 9th-circle large-scale annihilation magic, created by dozens of elite mages of the Demon King’s army and the sacrifice of one of the Four Heavenly Kings, was glaring down at us from the sky.

We barely managed to hide in a tunnel we found by luck, but even this situation was precarious.

Shane, the prickly mage who hid in the tunnel with us, spoke.

“Looks like we won’t be going back in one piece this time either…”

“Well, that’s what the hero party does.”

“Haha! So it was the hero party’s fault again!”

“Don’t imitate the king’s tone. You sounded like a real old man just now.”

“You have no filter when talking to a 23-year-old virgin. Are you everything just because you’re a hero?”

“Yeah. If you’re so jealous, why don’t you become the hero?”

Shane chuckled.

But that laughter didn’t last long.

“…Will we. Will we be able to return safely?”

“Of course.”

“…You know, hero. No, Suhyeon. Actually, there’s something I want to tell you-.”

Seeing her naturally planting death flags, I was appalled and interrupted her.

“Shut up. Things have never worked out whenever you plant a flag. So please be quiet.”

“…Y-You’re really obsessed with that… flag?”

“Yeah. In my hometown, there’s a law where guys who say hopeful things in f*cked up situations all die, and it’s called a death flag. And that law has never been wrong in this world either.”

“That’s a strange law.”

“It’s strange, but what can I do? I want to live. So don’t ever say anything like a death flag in front of me. You want to live too, right?”

“…Yes. I want to live.”

Shane smiled as she said that.

“Still. Take this. Just in case, you know.”

Shane handed me a golden jewel with a lion emblem engraved on it.

Shane Lionheart.

The daughter of the Lionheart dukedom, the representative of the kingdom’s nobles, entrusted me with the symbol of her family.

“…Alright.”

I took the jewel and roughly stroked her head.

She usually purred and hit my chest, but today she was quiet.

And then, the mighty mana emitted by the magic circle began to subside.

It seemed they had stopped operating it to conserve mana.

“…The bombardment has stopped. We run as soon as I count to two. Is your barrier ready?”

“Hmph. It’s been ready for a while.”

“Then let’s go. One, two!”

I grabbed Shane’s hand and started running with all my might.

The moment we ran out of the tunnel, the sky turned red again, and the magic began to activate.

A heat ray burst from the center of the magic circle.

Hundreds of heat rays, each capable of evaporating the sea, melted the ground and approached us to kill us.

I held Shane’s hand even tighter so as not to lose it, and ran for a long time.

After a few minutes, the magic circle that filled the sky gradually began to disappear, as if the mana had run out.

Did we survive? This time too?

“Haha, ahahaha! See, Shane! I told you we would definitely survive!”

I turned my head and looked to the side.

Where Shane should have been, there was only an arm, scorched by the heat ray and smelling of burning flesh.

Shane’s arm.

Shane’s.

Arm.

Ah, ahh…

Ah.

“Huk, haak. Hak… Haa. Fck, fck…”

I threw off my clothes, which were soaked in sweat and felt unpleasant, and ran my hand through my hair.

I thought I was okay now.

I pressed my head hard, cursing.

I closed my eyes tightly.

I hit my temples.

I clear my mind.

Good thoughts.
Good thoughts.
Good thoughts.
Good thoughts.

Hoo.

I’m good.

I took a shower to clear my head.

I can use hot water right away without having to heat the water with fire magic and store it.

Modern times are amazing! It’s on a different level from the technology of barbarians! Hooray for modern civilization!

After showering, I looked at the man with an unfamiliar appearance reflected in the mirror in front of me.

The goddess gave me three rewards.

Appearance, inventory, and Cutie♡Angel.

I could understand the inventory and Cutie♡Angel since they could be used in the hunter world of reality, but appearance?

My head tilted slightly.

Is mere appearance comparable to the reward for saving the world?

An ability with overwhelming convenience like an inventory, and Cutie♡Angel, which rivals the hero’s holy sword in performance, is compared to mere appearance?

I nodded.

He’s really f*cking handsome.

He was by far the most handsome man I had ever seen in my life.

If it’s this face, I can accept that appearance was given as a reward for saving the world.

– Hehe, I’ll make it to your taste…!

I remembered the goddess who said that with a sly expression.

People usually say that really handsome people have a god-sculpted appearance.

I really had a god-sculpted face.

Just this face alone would change my life from hell difficulty to easy difficulty.

Like the word appearance, not only the face but also the rugged body shape had changed.

The skeleton and even the height. I got a little shorter. I was over 180cm, but now I’m in the late 170s.

The changed body looked really good to the eye.

If I were Han Suhyeon, the porter from 10 years ago.

I would have thought it was a truly beautiful body, with fine muscles forming artistic lines.

But to me now, who has had countless experiences in Grandia.

This body looked as insubstantial as a steamed bun without red beans, Dr. Pepper without cherry flavor, or pizza without pineapple.

‘The basic physical specs are excellent, but the muscles have so little mana.’

When I was training to become a hero in Grandia.

I always pushed my body beyond its limits, forcibly bursting my muscles.

And I absorbed mana into the torn muscles to make it possible to use mana 200%.

A training whose purpose was to evolve the muscles themselves, separate from strengthening the body using mana.

It was an extreme training method that seemed to be created to realize the saying that an extremely trained body is like magic.

My master and Grandia’s strongest barbarian taught me the mana muscle training method.

And through the strength and experience I gained, I was able to cut off the Demon King’s head.

‘I need to rebuild my body from scratch.’

But doing mana muscle training right now was too risky.

It’s not like I had a healer next to me like when I was acting as a hero.

If my muscles were to rupture, I would have to spend weeks in the hospital.

It’s a training method that needs to be done several times a week, not just once.

‘Let’s start mana muscle training when I find a healer.’

I drank Dr. Pepper and tested the inventory.

The ability to store all kinds of items through subspace.

The activation condition is to think about putting the target object into the inventory.

I looked at the bed and imagined putting it in the inventory.

With just the imagination, the bed disappeared from reality, and when I imagined taking it out of the inventory, it reappeared in reality.

‘It’s awesome.’

I looked at the stray cat outside the window and imagined putting it in the inventory.

‘Living creatures can’t be put in.’

As a result of the test, it seemed that anything except ‘living’ creatures could be put in the inventory.

‘It’s a really good ability.’

– The inventory is practically a power close to authority! The authority of God! Please be more excited!

I laughed, remembering the goddess who showed off for no reason.

The important thing is the capacity of the inventory, but I don’t think she would have given me an inventory measured in kilograms while showing off like that.

I’m happily imagining that it can store several hundred tons or more, considering that it can easily hold all the items in the house (bed, table, mini-fridge, computer, etc.).

I put all the Dr. Pepper in the refrigerator into the inventory.

The inventory also has various functions, including maintaining freshness, so it is said that it always keeps the items in the inventory in optimal condition.

I can enjoy cold Dr. Pepper anytime, anywhere, it’s the best.

Lastly, the weapon.

Cutie♡Angel.

A sword with a wide and long blade that anyone would think of when they hear the word greatsword.

If I had to find a unique feature, it would be the golden jewel with a lion emblem engraved on the pommel.

‘…’

I’ve touched countless other weapons for 10 long years, but if I had to pick the weapon I used the longest, it would definitely be this guy.

From the first battle, the first kill, to cutting off the Demon King’s head, this guy took all my virginities related to battle.

It’s an amazing guy that surpassed countless battlefields, transcended the framework of a sword, reached the realm of an ego sword, and rivals a holy sword in performance.

I took out the guy who was in the inventory.

As befitting its length of 2m and weight of 23kg, the sound of it falling to the floor was different.

Thud!

The guy, who fell to the floor with a heavy sound, trembled as if expressing his joy.

Rumble, rumble!

“Hehe. Yeah. I’m happy to be with you too, you b*stard.”

I gladly tried to hold the guy.

…?

“Ugh…! What the. Why did you get so heavy?”

It was no joke, it was heavy enough to be difficult to lift with both hands.

‘I can’t wield this guy with my current physical level.’

It feels like yesterday that I wielded this guy like a twig.

‘It was literally yesterday.’

Uuuuung!!!

Upon hearing that it was heavy, Cutie♡Angel (Greatsword/Ego Sword/2m/23kg/Virgin) started trembling and having a seizure.

I laughed as I stroked the jewel on the pommel with my hand.

“You’ve gained a lot of weight, haven’t you?”

Uuuuuuuung!!!!!