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Chapter: 222

What are the conditions of a hero?

Strong power and body capable of defeating powerful monsters?

Wisdom and intelligence to solve numerous complex problems?

Extraordinary abilities that surpass those of ordinary people?

No. One can be a hero even without those things.

In my view, the conditions for heroism are a heart that wants to help others. A heart that cannot stand to see injustice. A heart that prioritizes others over oneself.

Without such a heart, even the most outstanding beings cannot be called heroes.

Therefore, among the numerous heroes in history, I regard Rychlen as the best.

Although he had periods of wild behavior and once drunkenly killed a friend, he is undoubtedly a hero among heroes when considering that final choice.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

After being educated by various masters, Rychlen became a proper adult and gained independence.

He emerged into the world with a wooden club tougher than steel and an unbreakable bow, aiming for the place where his parents were.

Having left home to receive training from exceptional masters, Rychlen headed back to his hometown with a cheerful step.

However, what greeted his eyes upon arrival was a village reduced to chaos.

Not the trace of monsters, but the remnants left by human weapons. Fortunately, even though their possessions were taken, there were no deaths.

It seemed likely that a group of bandits or deserters had swept through.

Returning to his homeland after several years, Rychlen hurriedly checked on the survivors and soon saw the faces of his penniless parents.

Originally, Rychlen’s family was quite well-off, known beyond the village and into nearby regions, but they had spent significant wealth on hiring many masters for Rychlen’s exceptional talent.

Their efforts were not in vain, as Rychlen absorbed all that knowledge and grew.

Perhaps it was not enough, because his parents, wishing for an even brighter future for their child, squeezed out their meager remaining assets to send him to study in Minoa… It was no wonder that they were now penniless.

Amid such circumstances, their hometown had been turned into chaos by someone’s attack.

Witnessing that devastating scene, Rychlen… was engulfed by rage, his reason half-vanished, and he ran towards the footprints of those who had ravaged the village.

Even with his reason barely intact, he used the tracking skills he learned from his masters, and after following the traces, he found a group of hundreds of deserters. Armed with his club, he charged at them alone.

Before long, no survivors remained among the deserters.

The young hero, just having become an adult, had slaughtered hundreds of soldiers by himself.

That was the first step of this young hero.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

“Rychlen was a human with the soul of Baal?”

“Indeed.”

The Dragon Priestess said dismissively, but it struck me as a huge shock.

Who exactly is Rychlen? If asked to name the top heroes among the numerous legends, he would surely be among the most counted.

“I find it hard to believe.”

“Well, that’s what most people say. I can understand.”

The connection between Baal’s existence and that great hero named Rychlen was truly an enigma.

“There’s no need to talk specifically about Rychlen, is there? His heroic tales are already widely known.”

Books that greatly softened his heroics into fairy tales were bestsellers across ages.

And I, too, grew up admiring his heroic tales since I was a child.

However…

“While there’s no doubt about his existence, there’s considerable debate regarding his achievements… If possible, could you enlighten me in detail?”

“Achievements?”

“Yes. While the four shared accomplishments are common knowledge, the rest vary considerably. Different regions speak of different achievements… It’d be great to hear your perspective.”

“Hmm… Speaking of Rychlen’s achievements, it’s not hard to share, but… wouldn’t it be better for an archaeologist to discover them themselves?”

At the Dragon Priestess’s remark, I shook my head slightly.

“I’m not foolish enough to be wrapped up in a problem when the one who knows the answers is right in front of me.”

“Hmm. Fine then. It’s not such a grand thing anyway.”

The Dragon Priestess said this, smirking, and began flipping her fingers one by one.

“First off…”

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Having beaten all the deserters and reclaimed their resources, Rychlen tied together their carts and brought them back to the village.

Thus, the village managed to recover its stolen food and possessions, and everyone praised Rychlen’s name.

Having saved the village, Rychlen faced his parents.

Their faces showed nothing but joy for having raised Rychlen so well, despite having used up all their wealth for his education.

Rychlen couldn’t just stand by and watch his parents like that.

He couldn’t let go of the parents who had sacrificed everything for him.

So, with the dawn of the next day, Rychlen set out on his journey.

His destination: the wealthy city-state of Armen. It was said to house the richest person in the world.

Rychlen traversed a distance that would typically take others over half a month in just four days, making a beeline for the biggest house in the city.

The home of the richest person he had heard of in rumors.

He was well aware of this from his master, the king of Minoa, Asterios.

“A pig that collects silver coins. Orcus.”

A benefactor of Master Asterios—one of the twelve chosen outstanding individuals from a great existence who had not revealed their name.

That pig beastman had amassed more and more silver coins by lending them and charging interest.

He had become someone despised by many due to the means he employed to amass his wealth, but he had completely changed after a certain day.

With his abilities, Rychlen thought he could obtain a substantial amount of money from him.

Thus, when Rychlen confronted Orcus,

“I’ve heard many rumors about you. You learned from that bull-headed man, didn’t you?”

“Bull-headed…?”

I never imagined that the king of a city-state and an outstanding warrior like Asterios would be referred to that way.

“Well, if you’re as great as the rumors say, I might have work for you. But I’ll need to test whether you truly have the capabilities to match those rumors.”

“Test? What should I do?”

Orcus thought for a moment and then clapped his hands as if he had thought of a good idea.

“Are you good at counting?”

“Counting…?”

“I have a bit of a troublesome problem. If you can help me solve it, I’ll pay you well. How about it?”

Rychlen nodded slightly at Orcus’s words.

“What’s the problem?”

“It’s nothing big. I just have a headache counting numbers.”

Orcus led Rychlen somewhere.

“Here we are.”

They arrived at a place where identical buildings lined up in a row.

“What’s this…?”

“My warehouse. There’s a bit of a troublesome problem here.”

Orcus pointed to the door of a nearby building.

“It’s just that counting the number of items inside is a real hassle. If you really possess the outstanding ability the rumors say you do… Surely, you can count the items in this warehouse, right?”

At Orcus’s words, Rychlen let out a small scoff.

Counting items is a piece of cake.

“If you solve this, I’ll pay you a huge sum and introduce you to others. But if you give up, you’ll have to work under me. Oh, and don’t worry about your salary. I’ll give you a proper one. If I neglect that bull-headed man’s disciple, he’ll come looking for me with an axe.”

Ignoring the chuckle of Orcus, Rychlen approached the warehouse door and grabbed the latch.

“Ah! Wait a minute!”

Orcus tried to say something urgently, but…

With a bang! Clang!

Before Orcus’s words could reach Rychlen, the warehouse door swung open, and all its contents poured out in a rush.

An uncountable amount of silver coins erupted from the warehouse and knocked Rychlen back.

“What on earth…?”

“As you can see, it’s silver coins. It filled up an entire warehouse. And there are eight such warehouses… quite a lot, isn’t it?”

“No, how on earth did you fit so many silver coins in the warehouse?”

“I made a gap in the roof of the warehouse for silver coins to go in. I slowly added them in through that gap. Now, I’d like to ask you. There’s no need for an exact count. Just give me an approximate number, something like ‘there are about this many.’ Oh, and if you’re going to quit, please let me know quickly. I have plenty of work for someone of your talent.”

Orcus said that and left with a light step.

Left all alone, Rychlen thought about grabbing some silver coins from Orcus’s warehouse and running away, but… he felt that would tarnish his master’s name, so he gave up.

Thus, Rychlen set about counting how many silver coins the wealthiest person in the world had.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

“I know that anecdote well.”

“Hmm. It’s a good tale to emphasize Rychlen’s wisdom, so it couldn’t be excluded. It’s also an educational story.”

Counting the number of silver coins filling a huge warehouse may seem trivial at first glance.

But the greatest value of this anecdote is that it was the first recorded tale of volume measurement.

“Well then, no need to explain the details.”

“By measuring the size of the warehouse and the height of the stacked silver coins, he obtained the approximate volume and calculated the number of silver coins based on the volume each coin occupied.”

“Exactly as you know.”

“However, I can’t understand. Didn’t people of that time have any understanding of area and volume?”

At my words, the Dragon Priestess shook her head.

“Of course they did. Such knowledge existed even back then. Where do you think Rychlen learned that calculation method? It just wasn’t clearly recorded. The fact that he counted the silver coins of the wealthiest person in the world made a significant impact, and that’s why it became part of Rychlen’s legacy.”

Impact, huh… Certainly, as a child, I often wondered just how many coins filled the rich man’s coffers. How much wealth he must have had. No child who learned this anecdote would ever wish for a warehouse filled with silver coins.

It highlights the importance of wisdom as well.

“In fact, this is one of the most minor deeds of Rychlen. It’s too famous to be omitted.”

“Hmm. That’s true.”

It was a tale aimed at emphasizing the need for education to children, showcasing that even heroes study hard! However, it felt a bit too trivial to be called an achievement of a hero.

“Well then, let’s move on to the next one.”

“I’d appreciate it if we could do it as quickly as possible.”

The Dragon Priestess nodded slightly.

 

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