To Hell with Being a Saint, I’m a Doctor

Hero.

To some, it was a beacon of hope, to others, merely an object of envy, and to yet others, a name filled with hatred.

A being who casually surpassed the insurmountable limits of ordinary people.

Thus, they were destined to live a life of solitude.

That was what a hero was.

Of course, the definition of a hero was not absolute.

Some might think of a hero as one who defeats a demon king from old picture books, while others might regard someone who did not compromise their beliefs with irrationality as a hero.

So, who truly deserved to be called a hero by everyone?

The answer was simple.

Only those recognized by everyone could rightfully be called a hero.

“Haah……”

The young man with black hair closed the book.

Finding such a good book in the village’s dilapidated public library was surprising.

Why hadn’t he found it before?

He sighed again and muttered to himself.

“Phew… Even if the gods acknowledge it, what good is being a hero without everyone’s recognition?”

Since there was no one around to hear him, naturally, there was no response.

Yet, the young man’s muttering did not stop.

“If only I could just leave this place… But I can’t defy the village’s orders…”

There had been two exiles in the past, but since that incident, the rules had become stricter.

It was unlikely the village’s rules would change for hundreds of years.

This made his situation all the more bitter.

“Trials and tribulations are supposed to be meaningful in the village… But at this rate, I’ll never become a hero.”

He smirked bitterly and tapped the sword at his waist, which emitted a long, resonating sound.

Whoosh-

Feeling gloomy, he sat blankly by the riverbank, basking in the sun, when a woman with short hair approached.

“Ha-ha-ha. Are you lamenting your fate here again? You should be training instead.”

“Hesia.”

He brushed off the visible dirt and sat on a nearby rock.

“So, what’s the long face this time? Did the village elders scold you again?”

Shake shake-

“Umm… maybe you stole food from the kitchen because you were hungry?”

At Hesia’s suggestion, he frowned.

“Do you think I’m you? That’s something you would do.”

“Well, I share it with you too. Just so you know, we’re accomplices, right?”

“Phew… I should have kept my mouth shut.”

He picked up a stone and tossed it into the river.

Watching him, Hesia laughed weakly.

“…Is it about that hero story again?”

“……”

His silence was an answer in itself, hitting the mark.

He felt a pang in his heart, imagining her disappointment.

However, contrary to his expectations, Hesia surprised him with her words.

“…Ha-ha-ha. You’re lucky to have something to concentrate on or think about… Sometimes, I envy that aspect of you.”

His head naturally turned towards her, drawn by the seriousness in her voice he hadn’t heard before.

“You……”

“Alright, enough chit-chat!”

She promptly got up, straightened the sword carelessly slung on her back, and flashed a broad smile.

“You should focus on your training to the point where you can’t think of anything else.”

She teased playfully and then quickly disappeared, waving her hand.

He looked at the rock where Hesia had been sitting.

Somehow, her last words felt like a pledge to herself rather than to him.

In a dense forest, a middle-aged man stood with his hands clasped behind his back.

In front of him, over thirty children kneeled.

The man’s expression was furious, as if he were about to behead a great criminal in his rage.

“Just look at this pathetic swordplay! How can you confront danger like this? You’ve been slacking off in your training, you scoundrels!”

“……”

“……”

“With your current level, you’d be annihilated even by mere bandits! What is this nonsense?”

He pointed to the ground with his sword.

The earth was split as if by an earthquake, revealing a gaping chasm.

“The distribution of power is a mess; the sword energy is rough and unruly. With such inefficiency, how can you apply what you’ve learned? You’re too slow to be of any use!”

“We’re sorry!”

“Don’t disappoint me next time. When I was your age, with the skills I had…”

The middle-aged man’s stories of his youth continued nonstop until dinner.

Quiet sighs echoed around.

‘It’s starting again… endless.’

‘We need to improve our skills to shut him up…’

‘That’s why I hate swordsmanship classes.’

This routine had repeated itself for thirty years.

The middle-aged man’s stories from his youth were now memorized word for word.

These children, already twice as talented as ordinary people due to their lineage and blessed by the gods, possessed exceptional memories.

Such great talents and abilities wasted on memorizing the old man’s past!

If Ray had been there, he would have grabbed the middle-aged man by the collar and slammed him to the ground.

After the afternoon swordsmanship class, he sat on a tree with a stale piece of bread.

His body was drenched in sweat.

“It wasn’t this hard back in the day…”

Forty years ago, during his first lesson, it hadn’t felt this strenuous.

Receiving a sword, swinging it.

Blocking with the sword, leaping with the sword. Those days were filled with physical training that felt refreshing, and the sense of today’s hardship becoming tomorrow’s ease was enjoyable.

But thirty years ago, the classes began to change.

Separated from the young children, he started to train with older kids.

Physical movements decreased, but he learned to nimbly control mana.

At first, it was so difficult that he suffered from mana overloads.

Well, now he was quite accustomed to controlling it.

He bit into the bread, soaked in the night dew.

The moisture seeping out with every bite was less than satisfactory.

Then, Hesia emerged from the bushes, backlit by the moonlight.

“Oh my, a visitor has arrived.”

She pretended to be surprised with exaggerated flair.

“How did you find me here?”

“Hmm… I guess? I’ve always had a knack for locating you since we were kids.”

She spoke casually, pulling out a hard piece of bread and biting into it.

Monsters differentiate each other by scent, just like she did.

Could Hesia be a monster?

As he glanced at her with that thought, a fist flew toward his head.

Thump-!

“Ouch! Why!”

“Umm… Somehow, I just felt like hitting you…”

Had she read his mind?

He rubbed his head, which would have burst from the force if he had been an ordinary person.

Hesia looked up at the night sky and asked,

“…Why do you think we exist?”

“That’s quite sudden. And unexpectedly deep for you… Have you been drinking?”

“Maybe I’m intoxicated by the moonlight?”

“So, you haven’t drunk anything.”

“Let’s not talk about that.”

“……”

Existence, huh?

He had never thought about it before, so he couldn’t provide an immediate answer.

Sensing his feelings, Hesia quietly waited while gazing at the sky.

After a moment of silence, he spoke up.

“…Maybe it’s because the gods created us?”

“……”

“Sorry. I haven’t really thought about it, so I don’t have an answer for you.”

“It’s my fault for asking something strange out of the blue.”

“……”

“……”

The cool summer night breeze carried away their sweat as it passed by.

Silence fell between them once more.

It was Hesia who broke it first.

“…If the gods created us… why did they abandon us?”

“Abandoned by the gods?”

“Exactly. We’re just a force prepared for when danger strikes the world. Our lives before that are to prepare for danger, and afterward, we will perish with the crisis. It’s as if we’re discarded… The chosen humans are protected, while we, the protectors, are left behind.”

She used her hands to illustrate, gesturing as if to divide areas to her left and right.

He responded with laughter, neither confirming nor denying her statement.

“That’s one way to look at it.”

“Besides, the gods never spoke to us… It feels like we were abandoned…”

Though she smiled, her somber expression pained him.

Always energetic and supportive, he wanted to be her pillar of strength in moments like these.

“Even if they abandoned us, they gave us blessings. Maybe we’re not completely forsaken. If the gods created us, they must need us.”

Hesia turned to face him.

Her face, once shadowed with gloom, now sparkled with life again.

“You can say pretty cool things, huh? Yeah, you’re right!”

She stuffed the rest of the bread into her mouth and stretched her arms wide.

“Well, if we train hard, we’ll find the answer!”

Seeing Hesia like this, he had an epiphany.

‘…I should also set aside my unattainable hero dreams for now and concentrate on training.’

His dream of becoming a hero persisted, yet he acknowledged the need for hard work rather than merely lamenting his situation.

After all, one cannot choose their family before birth.

How could he aspire to be a hero recognized by all if he merely complained about his inability to leave?

He, too, stood up.

“Hesia, starting tomorrow, I’ll join your training too.”

“Huh? You hated it so much, why the sudden change? Did you drink?”

“Ha-ha-ha. The moonlight must be particularly strong tonight. I guess it’s making me tipsy.”

At his jest, Hesia let out a laugh.

“I’m fine with that.”

In the quiet of the forest, the two figures walked away, side by side.