Chapter 9: Mana Overload

When Shion became the Hero of Darkness at the age of twelve, he made a big goal.

He thought maybe he could get rid of the sadness in the world caused by evil and greed. He didn’t want anyone to experience the suffering of losing his family as he did.

He also swore to defeat the demon lord that was bringing calamity to humans.

But Shion thought that even after over ten years, he couldn’t bring any significant change.

Was he naïve? Did he not have enough resolve? Or maybe he wasn’t strong enough? No matter how much he pondered it he couldn’t find an answer, but there was one thing that he realized.

In his sight was a young girl giving a worried look at her father, and the look in her eyes was like his own on that day. She was the daughter of the owner. Her eyes were laced with sorrow as she watched her father droop at the men’s unfair methods.

“The strong can exploit the weak. The beautiful can despise what isn’t. Those in the high class can use those who are not like tools. I’ve always hated that way of thinking.”

“Huh, so?”

“That powerful darkness magic of yours, you learned it so you won’t have to pay for your rooms. That’s cool.”

“…Hey buddy, you want to become like that guy on the floor?”

“Try it if you can. That’s what I said earlier.”

The men’s faces stiffened as Shion taunted them, and they immediately started moving to subdue him.

A few seconds later their hands were painted black and grabbed onto their target. Shion didn’t show any resistance, and only felt empty and downhearted inside.

In the history of any time or country, many of the people who had the aptitude for using darkness magic were villains. Some generations of the Darkness hero had even sided with the demon lord.

Because of that, the element hero that was most hated by the people was the Hero of Darkness. Shion and the former hero had worked hard to wipe that reputation, but there were still many villains among darkness users.

Judging from their activation speed, the two seemed quite skilled. They probably could’ve made a decent living without doing this kind of thing, but why did they choose to do so?

“I don’t care about others as long as I’m fine with it. I’ve seen many people who destroyed themselves thinking like that.”

“What, this guy!?”

“Why is he fine? We should be draining his mana!”

The two of them started feeling fear, seeing that Shion didn’t even bat an eye even though they were draining his mana with all their might.

“If your mana dries up, you could end up like the guy on the floor, but do you know what happens when the opposite happens?”

“O-opposite?”

“A person has an amount of mana they could tolerate at once. A small amount of poison could become medicine, but too much will be harmful.”

“Ugh!?Bleeehh…”

The two started staggering backwards and started writhing in pain.

“It passed the critical point. Looks like you couldn’t absorb it all.”

“I don’t feel good and this headache is killing me…Please, stop it…”

“It’s just mana overload. You’ll feel better after half a day.”

“I can’t stand this. Please, I’ll even pay you.”

Wondering if he was being soft on them, Shion used Black Coating to drain their mana and alleviate the symptoms. He also did it thinking that they would be in the way of business.

“Clean the floor, make sure to pay, and apologize.”

“O-okay, we’re really sorry.”

The men cleaned, paid, and apologized like they were different men than before, and left the inn, bowing their heads towards Shion.

Before the owner could thank him, the girl ran to Shion and squeezed his hand.

“Onii-tan, thanks~!”

“You’re welcome.”

A gentle feeling flowed throughout the room as Shion gave the girl a broad smile and picked her up in his arm.

At that moment, Haku came back.

‘Oh, there you are. I’m done gathering information~’

Impressed at how fast he was, Shion asked the owner if there was a room he and Haku could use.

“Of course. You’re our savior so I’ll give you a thirty percent discount.”

“Thank you.”

‘I’m not sure what happened, but it looks like you did something good. As expected of you~’

After deciding to stay for a night, including meals, Shion and Haku went to their room.

It was a spacial room with nothing but the necessary furniture. Letting large familiars rest comfortably must have been taken into consideration.

“So, what kind of useful information did you get?”

‘About the Hero of Divine Eyes. I found someone that looked like an information broker and surprised…asked him and he told me some good things~’

“I bet you showed him a scary face or something. That would make anyone start talking.”

‘Fufufu. So, it seems like the Hero of Divine Eyes had been gathering information on you for a while.’

“As I thought.”

‘A few heroes, to be exact. All of them are popular and are considered to be the strongest.’

“Hmm…”

Since they operated in different areas, it was rare for heroes to meet each other. But their relationships were complicated. Some would be hostile to others, while some would try to join forces, and some would try to make subordinates out of the others.

“Well, no use worrying. If he makes a move, I’ll take it straight on.”

‘I think you’ll be fine, but do you want to look for your lost powers just in case?’

“I can sense where the magic stealing stones are at. But for the time being, let’s work on guild quests.”

‘Got it.’

“Alright, this is for gathering good information.”

When Shion pulled out the ogre meat on skewers and the fruit that he had bought earlier, Haku jumped up, barely missing the ceiling, in joy.

‘Can I eat all of this~!!’

“Dig in.”

“Whooo~, this meat is so tender and good.’

Seeing Haku cleverly take the meat off the skewer and munching on it was heartwarming, but Shion was puzzled.

“Tender? Aren’t they a bit hard?”

‘Mmmmm~, they’re really tender and good.’

“I see.”

It was quite simple. The jaw strength of humans was nothing compared to Haku’s. Seeing him enjoying the hard ogre meat, he decided to give him some as a present later.

The fruit were gone in the blink of an eye as well, and Haku licked his mouth clean. He looked like he didn’t have enough.

“Onii-tan, dinner is ready.”

“Thanks for calling us.”

“Yeah!”

The young girl from before came all the way here to tell them that. Haku stood up and started walking out without even looking at her.

‘Hurry, let’s go to the dining hall, Onii-tan!’

“Ahh, man.”

Shion smiled, thinking that he needed to make a lot of money starting tomorrow.

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