The Strongest Wizard Becomes a Countryside Guardsman After Taking an Arrow to the Knee

Chapter 124 – The Hero Goes to the Old Demon Lord Region

Translator: ranzan

「Why are you going to go to the Demon Lord’s area…I mean the late-Demon Lord’s area?」

I asked Cruz a bit innocently.

「We have to find if he’s alive!」

「So a search?」

If the Demon Lord is back, it’s best to warn the former area he lived in.

And if there needed to be preparations to attack him again, it should be there.

「I haven’t gone on a trip with you for a while, Al. I look forward to it.」

Cruz was ready to go with me to the old Demon Lord’s region.

Then Luka said to Cruz, a bit coldly.

「Wait a second.」

「What?」

「Cruz, you’re not that good at getting information.」

Luka was right. Cruz was bad at that kind of thing.

「Yeah, you’re quite bad at it.」

Yureena said, but I didn’t think Cruz was horrible at it, just…fair at it.

But even I expected that Cruz kind of knew that she was poor at it.

If there was a survey at it, she’d get a three out of ten at trying to get info.

「T…that’s not true!」

She said with a red face.

「I was the one that found that hidden Cerberus! And I found that nest of scorpions too!」

Cruz was counting on her fingers, and trying to remember everything she had found.

It’s true that she found all of those. And the monster expert, Luka, didn’t find those either.

If you think about it that way, maybe Cruz did have the ability to find information.

Cruz definitely thought that she was good at it.

「Cruz, that was just luck!」

「That’s not true!」

I thought that Cruz was correct here.

She couldn’t have found that hiding Cerberus or that scorpions nest by accident.

Then you just start talking about how luck she is.

However, the hero Cruz wasn’t just a normal hero. She was very lucky. It might have been because she was a follower of God.

And, in the case of Cruz, she was able to find things out more than normal heroes.

She trusted her hero senses, she then blew away the enemy. Over and over.

And usually one mistake would end in death. But since she escaped death again and again, it seemed like she had incredible luck.

Also, she never seemed to make a big mistake like stepping in a trap.

As a result, just thinking about her record, she really could be considered a true hero.

「Al, Luka keeps saying mean things about me!」

「Ah, oh, yeah.」

「Al, you have to defend me!」

「Whaaa?」

I was in a fix. Cruz wanted me to be her defender.

It was true that we all knew that Cruz was bad at getting info.

The problem was now whether to be honest or not about it.

I mean, it’s never been a problem until now, but she wanted me to tell them she was good at finding info.

I guess I should be honest about everything I’ve seen up until now.

I looked over at Yureena. Yureena looked away.

I guess I couldn’t count on her.

I had nothing else I could do, so I said,

「Cruz, I’ll be honest.」

「Sure!」

She looked at me with glimmering eyes and it was hard to follow myself up.

However, I was the oldest one of the party with the most experience.

「Cruz, do you know what’s important when gathering info?」

「Um…intuition!」

「No. Observation, analysis, and knowledge.」

「Hm?」

Cruz looked confused.

Looks like she really didn’t know. So I explained it to her.

If you couldn’t analyze your target, you didn’t know what situation you were in.

If you didn’t watch your target closely, you don’t know what to analyze.

And knowledge is essential for both observation and analysis.

Without knowledge, you don’t know how your target is changing, and you can’t recognize the results of your analysis.

「I see…」

「I can analyze the remnants of magic, but I’m bad at everything else.」

「Is that so?」

「Yeah, so in the same way, you have a weakness in intelligence gathering.」

「I see!」

She quickly recognized her weakness.

It was so quick. There was some virtue to it. She might be maturing.

So I praised her.

「You really are quick to recognize it, good job.」

「Eheh heh」

Yureena then followed up with a smile.

I also saw Luka’s concern. Since she accepted all explanations so quickly, she was suckered by the potato fraudster.

「Cruz, you have to be cautious!」

「Sure!」

I rubbed her head and she looked at me happily.

「So, Al, do you want to forget about the Demon Lord and just go and check out his old domain?」

「Forget about him?」

「Yes, we can leave that to a specialist! But I do wonder what’s going on out there.」

「I want to go and see too!」

Vi-Vi said, with a tone of infatuation. I was quite interested too.

Luka looked at us seriously.

「It’s not his domain, it’s his OLD domain.」

「Either way…」

「NOT either way. There’s a big difference.」

「Really?」

Cruz asked, and Luka responded,

「Wait, so you’re saying the place was unsafe just like before?」

「So what if it isn’t?」

「Are you aware what it means to be a hero?」

Luka started to lecture Cruz on this point.

If the hero Cruz went to the old Demon Lord’s domain, it would have political implications.

The humans would be afraid if someone like Cruz would actually be forced to venture back into the Demon Lord’s domain again.

They might mistake the hero’s going back as having to return just to re-suppress the power of a powerful demon like the Demon Lord again.

Cruz was a bit down, but I patted her shoulder.

「Maybe you shouldn’t go back.」

「Darn. I wanted to see the place again.」

「Are you that disappointed?」

「Of course! I could take you with me!」

She really loved adventures. She was an adventurer at heart.

As I tried to cheer her up, Yureena pulled my sleeve.

「Al.」

「Huh?」

「Today I heard you used a lot of magical power.」

Yureena had a serious look.

She might have heard that from Millet, Vi-Vi, or even Collette.

「Yeah, I made a mithril golem, and then I had to use gravity magic on it. I was really tired.」

「I bet you were.」

Yureena put her hand on my knee.

「It might have been that this stone grew just because of the fact you used too much magic.」

「…why do you think so.」

「It might have been your magical force was suppressing this stone’s growth, just like your body strength suppressed the chance for catching a cold.」

「I see. So if I use too much, then my resistance ability decreases and it grows fast suddenly?」

「Well, there may be a chance it does. You may need to reduce the magic that you consume in that case.」

「Got it. I’ll be careful.」

There really was no time that I was going to use a lot again after this.

Maybe if I just stopped using it again it would go back to normal.

「Are we done talking this over? Are we all ready for dinner?」

Just after Millet said that,

RINGRINGRINGRINGRINGRINGRING

The warning bell set in my house started ringing.

The ring on my hand Vi-Vi gave me started to shake.

「Maybe Doby?」

「Doby’s in the Lindobal Forest!」

Vallimie looked a bit shaken as she said that. What the hell now?!

I ran out of my house.