Novel The Max Level Hero has Returned!

Chapter 37

37

“Divine magic isn’t invincible. I said I wouldn’t allow anyone to die, so you’d better focus!”

At my words, they took a deep breath as if they shook off their unnecessary worries. They seemed to finally recognize that the frail-looking boy who had come to their town as their lord.

“Keep in mind. I will give you a hard time if you get injured once we return to the manor.”

Even though my threatening voice could have made them rebellious…

“Let’s live up to the expectations of the lord!”

“Sweep them away!”

“Don’t miss this opportunity! Destroy their heads!”

The volunteers seemed like they weren’t interested in such a thing. Do they know that their amplified morale, like a berserker’s madness, turned the goblins’ faces pale in fear? It was a standard tactic that seemed unfavorable at first, but the number of goblins quickly decreased. It must have driven the goblins crazy.

They might not have ever seen humans with strange lights on their bodies in their lifetime. It made them hard to fight because of their light. Even if they stabbed them and made a scar somehow, the white light healed their foe’s body. Their instincts may already be yelling to them that something was wrong.

What was the point now? It was already too late.

-Graahhghaa!

-Shriek!

The goblins, feeling the fear of death, began to run away one by one, but the volunteers who were already on a roll didn’t leave the fleeing ones alone. The one-sided attack didn’t last long. The volunteers accumulated a lot of resentment, wielding weapons like crazy without giving them a chance to run away. Eventually, one of the last goblins who had fled got shot by my arrow and fell to the floor, declaring the end of the slaughter.

Momentarily, silence descended upon the killing fields. However, one of the volunteers, who had forgotten to breathe, shuddered and held both his hands up.

“We…we won!”

“We won!”

“Whooaahhhhhh!”

The contagious atmosphere quickly spread as if they saved the world.

“Hooray for the lord!”

“The saint is with us!”

I couldn’t get used to it when I heard someone throwing around cheesy comments without hesitation.

-Expression management isn’t working.

‘Look at my fingers if they are fine.’

-Your fingers and toes won’t shrink by the laws of physics.

While Perserk said that, she also looked a little uncomfortable, as her facial expression was uneasy. As I watched them continuously cheering my name, I didn’t feel like the awkward feeling would go away. Therefore, I had to disperse the atmosphere by reminding them of something they had forgotten.

“What the hell are you guys doing? There are residents still locked up!! Move fast!”

“Oh!”

“Yeah!”

“Go!”

Even with my high-handed voice, the blind faith had already been engraved on their faces. They looked fanatic. A carrot and a stick… all I wanted to do was instill a sense of repulsion and awe in moderation, but they were only shouting for their lord. I felt anxious that I had made the wrong choice.

17. It’s raining outside!

The number of residents was around two hundred. With the number of volunteers and knights combined, there were about thirty to forty people. Considering the number of residents, the ratio of volunteers was relatively high. From a young boy to a middle-aged man, everyone took up weapons to protect the manor. They had not trained correctly, and their equipment wasn’t satisfactory due to a lack of skills and funds.

On top of that, the goblins started looting. It was impressive that they had held on so far.

“I found them!”

As I walked into the village while checking the bodies of the goblins, a volunteer rushed to my side. It was the boy who showed furious anger towards the goblins.

“Really?”

“Yep!”

His glance filled with disbelief at first had already disappeared. I think my trick worked, but it wasn’t good if they became addicted. I got up calmly and went into the artificial cave where he guided me. It seemed to have been used as a food storehouse for the orcs.

As I entered the sloppy cave, I saw the volunteers holding weapons and standing in front of some goblins.

“Are there more?’

-No matter how stupid they are, they could learn a little.

There were about ten goblins left. The number was small enough to handle quickly, but they hid behind the residents as hostages and held rusted weapons. They probably stole the weapons when they attacked the manor. Since the weapons weren’t well-maintained, they were rusted, but they looked dangerous enough to hurt.

On the contrary, the residents who became hostages were loosely tied up, but they were so injured and exhausted that they couldn’t properly fight back. Fortunately, no one had yet been hurt by the goblins. Regardless of species, these goblins aimed to r*pe female hostages after exhausting them.

The kidnap happened the previous night, so they hadn’t assaulted them yet. It was a relief.

-It’s unfair. Even if the woman returned safely, they could be shunned by people.

“The mother fuckers…”

No matter how much they were buffed, the volunteers and knights wouldn’t get through fast enough to keep them from hurting the hostages. Because of that, they weren’t able to approach the goblins.

“Hmm…”

As I watched the situation, I groaned briefly.

“Gordon and Freeman, if I signal, cut all of them down.”

“Lord?”

At my words, two volunteers and everyone else were surprised. The reason we came here and attacked goblins was to save the residents in the first place. However, they were shocked when I said it like hostages didn’t matter. All I did was shrug at those who looked at me in shock.

“What are you doing? Are you going to stay here all night?”

“Lord! They are sly, and they have hostages, so we can’t rush in a hurry…”

-Huh, huh, they lack faith—unfaithful folks.

“I think you misunderstand something.”

At the end of my words, my hand shined again. Hostage?

“Where are the hostages?”

At the end of my words, a pure white light touched the bodies of the weary and injured people and began to protect them like a shell. The goblins who escaped from the deadly battle took hostages here and harassed them, so they must have realized what the light shining from the body of the hostages meant right now. You could tell just by looking at the expressions of those green monsters, whose faces turned blue in fear after realizing.

-Ahhhaaa!

-Kieeek!

I shouted instinctively at the screaming goblins trying to run away.

“How long are you going to wait? Jump in!”

“Huh?! Die, you damn bastards!”

“I am gonna kill you, fucking rapist!”

At the same time, the volunteers and knights, realizing what I had done, blasted through and stabbed their swords at the goblins. Even if they tried to run away, we were blocking the exit, so eventually, they were forced to flock to the corners and be slaughtered. The last one cried madly as it was slain.

It was a very successful ending for rushing in a village of more than a hundred goblins, considering they never made a plan. I calmly took out the blankets that I had prepared, and I approached the people who were being held captive. It would be the first time they saw me.

They had severe bruises on their bodies from being beaten up by the goblins, and their expressions revealed they were perplexed as if they didn’t understand what had happened to their bodies, but the bruises were gradually healing under the faint light. Among those, there was a little girl who looked up at me with a blank face. I smiled at her, and I wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.

“Don’t be scared. We’re here to save you.”

[Sobbing.]

Tears began to drip from the eyes of the girl, who had a semi-empty expression with a calm smile. As the girl was so scared, she soon started crying in my arms, making the other residents cry out loud as they realized they were safe now.

“All of them are rescued!”

A volunteer approached me with a modest salute as I silently patted the girl’s back.

“Is that so? Then what are you doing? Let’s go home. Don’t you want to go home?”

“Yes!”

When I held the crying girl in my arms silently, the faces of everyone, including the volunteers, turned bright with relief.

* * *

Was it because it was me, who was newly appointed, that led the volunteers? The volunteers, who were guarding the old fortress with faces full of distrust and anxiety, looked puzzled at the appearance of the punitive expedition, which returned faster than their expectations.

“Hey! What are you doing? Get rid of the barriers right now!”

“The lord is entering!”

“Move fast, you dawdler!”

Soon after, at the shout of the volunteers who followed me, they ran out and cleared the barrier, still looking puzzled. They were probably wondering what the hell happened, why they were showing this nonsensical blind faith towards me. I couldn’t tell them anything with my own words, so I kept silent and walked past them.

“There may still be a few more Goblin villages. We’ll clean them up regularly.”

“Yes!!”

Disbelief had now disappeared. As I yelled, the volunteers replied, shouting as if they were doing something for granted. The remaining volunteers who didn’t know the situation only sent confused gazes at the others.

“Dismissed! We’ll be swamped starting from tomorrow, so I’ll let you regret it if you get caught overdoing things.”

“Hooray for Lord!”

“Hooray for the saint!!”

At my cry, the volunteers immediately screamed while holding their arms up, which made the manor residents look at me with a strange gaze. They seemed to think that I was doing some kind of hypnosis, but I did nothing of the sort.

-To be honest, what’s the difference between taking drugs and what you did?

‘You’re too noisy.’

Ignoring Perserk giggling at her comments, I quickly left the podium. I was concerned that they were going to make a real pseudo-religion if it stayed like this. It would be okay after a few days; it’s just that they’re unique.

It didn’t take long to realize that I was foolish to think that way.

* * *

So… it continued when I led the remaining volunteers to erase the lingering distrust within the territory.

As soon as the day broke, Amy was asked to investigate the rest of the territory.

Only 10 volunteers and three knights were to climb the mountain with me.