Chapter 119: Normally, Heroes Are Confined by Their Kingdoms
“No, but it’s possible that not just their appearance, but even their gender could change. I guess I won’t know until I see them.”
I don’t think my sister is making anything weird up, but I don’t know much about her two friends.
My sister loves herself, so I doubt she’s changed much, but she probably has some traits like 【Beauty】 and 【Youth】. The guy seems pretty confident, so it’s unlikely he suddenly turned into a little girl or something. The girl, on the other hand, tends to start saying things and then stop, so I can’t really tell.
“Forget it. I have no intention of getting close, so I wouldn’t know. It’s pointless.”
I return my gaze to the hand of cards in front of me.
“The names are Haruka, Hisatsugu, Yuka, and Jin, it seems,” Retze says as he swaps cards.
“Ah, confirmed, confirmed.”
I respond casually and discard two cards, drawing two new ones.
I wonder if it would be interesting to make Texas Hold’em popular here. Starting with five cards in hand feels like the poker I played back in elementary school. It’s straightforward, but it leans heavily on luck and doesn’t involve much of a psychological battle.
Let’s not. I can only see myself losing in a game of wits.
Still, I can’t believe my sister loves me. But she definitely seems possessive, treating me like her own property.
…It’s kind of unsettling to think I might be transformed into a brother who’s completely obedient to his sister.
“—So, four heroes were summoned, right?” Dinoss asks, still looking at me while changing his cards.
“There are three heroes, and I got caught up in it,” I reply.
“Then we’re equal in abilities, I suppose?” The butler exchanges a card.
“Who knows? I’m fully focused on crafting, and the gods I’ve been blessed by are different.”
“Once, there was a god named Rishu in the Demon Forest…” Retze says with half-closed eyes.
I received blessings from more than just Rishu, and my original conditions were different too!
“If I leaned towards combat skills, would I be stronger than you? Isn’t it dangerous if we don’t defeat them before they get used to fighting and their god becomes stronger? I’ve heard that unless something extraordinary happens, a hero’s changeling is usually protected by the hero,” Dinoss remarks.
“Is it alright for Lord Jean to leave the heroes unattended?” the butler asks.
Is there a rule that says we can only talk when it’s our turn?
“Besides, it seems the world is designed so that even if heroes self-destruct early, they can still grow stronger.”
I read the atmosphere and speak up during my turn.
“Well, it would be a problem if three or four people could change the world drastically. Full house.”
“Although I’ve heard that heroes are summoned for the stability of the world, there are always legends of something happening. Four of a kind.”
As Dinoss mentioned, for instance, the ruler with a penchant for collecting books that became the basis for that library perished in the era when heroes appeared.
The reason civilization in this world doesn’t progress is that destruction occurs regularly, causing civilization to decline. And the reason ancient tales remain is that spirits live long lives.
“The Great Deity of Wind, Randalo, has vanished. That’s a straight,” the butler says, spreading his cards with a smile.
Everyone seems to have strong hands!
“Stability isn’t about political strife or living conditions, but rather about the spirits. If the spirits become unbalanced, it affects human life too. If there are too many spirits or their attributes become skewed, it leads to centralization. When heroes eliminate or strengthen spirits, it’s like ventilating before centralization suffocates everything. —Royal flush.”
But this time, I win.
“Ah! Don’t gather the strongest cards here! And don’t say ‘ventilate’ or anything like that!”
“I’ve heard that when a chimney gets clogged, the air inside the room can turn harmful to the body…”
“Note, don’t start thinking seriously about this.”
Dinoss seems busy with something on his own.
“When you put it in relatable terms, suddenly the world-scale problem seems much more manageable. If you want to appear strong, you should probably do something about that.”
“Are you saying I should talk about complicated matters…?”
I struggle to find a complicated analogy in response to Retze’s words.
For example, oxygen toxicity. When one inhales super high-pressure oxygen or maintains high-pressure oxygen for an extended period, various abnormalities can occur in the body, and in the worst case, it can lead to death. However, if the pressure is lowered, no problems arise.
The air represents the world, oxygen represents the skewed spirits, and pressure could be… something like material…
“Well, I guess if all attributes of spirits increase evenly and materials increase, it should be fine.”
I give up on the complicated analogy.
They’ve talked about the balance of material and spirit, but this world doesn’t seem balanced. There are too many wind and light spirits, and there seem to be more people who can see spirits than I had heard.
To achieve balance, we need to either reduce the spirits or increase the materials. The heroes are doing the former, while I’m focused on the latter.
I’m not sure if increasing materials is the right approach, but there are records of an empire that boasted a long history of buildings sprouting everywhere, so it should be fine, right?
By the way, when a hero receives power and becomes exceptionally strong, spirits materialize. The Great Deity of Wind is no longer in this world, and I found records that the stone, condensed with power, was used as a tool for summoning heroes.
The way to stop petrification is to be influenced by spirits of other attributes. Even knowing this, spirits instinctively absorb power and increase their retainers, so they can’t help it.
After spending time in the library researching various things, I decided to diligently create materials, form contracts with minor spirits, and ignore whatever the heroes decide to do.
If the materials increase, the summoning of heroes may no longer be necessary, and I think I’ll focus on my business while ignoring them for now.
I’m forming contracts with many minor spirits to disperse power and ensure there’s no attribute bias, but I need to be careful not to let Rishu become petrified. He interacts with gods of other attributes at home, so I think it’ll be fine.
I wonder if the Ball of Light, infused with the powers of three heroes, will petrify? There are few records of what happened to heroes after the god who blessed them disappeared, but because there are so few, I can imagine how they were treated by the kingdom.
Many heroes who healed people or protected them from disasters have their legacies recorded until the end of their lives, so I guess it’s all about their usual conduct!
“Are you making a bad face?”
“It’s just your imagination.”
Retze continues to glare at me.
“Locally, it may be troublesome, but it seems better to leave it alone.”
“From what I hear, it seems we should avoid involvement unless there’s direct harm,” Dinoss sighs, and the butler looks perplexed.
“You’ve just returned to Dinoss’s initial conclusion, haven’t you?”
As long as my surroundings are peaceful, that’s all that matters to me.
“Though the conclusion has returned, we’ve certainly gained a lot of knowledge we didn’t need to know, right? Especially about the information on the stray heroes we got caught up with. It seems we’ll need to buy some antacids, huh? Don’t act all cool by yourself!”
“Ouch, ouch, ouch!”
Retze pinches my cheek, but isn’t that a bit harsh? And don’t call me a stray hero!