Chapter 42: A Hero with Odds of One to a Hundred?

"Tank? The second son of Duke Moss?"

The group of nobles fell silent for a moment before breaking into hushed whispers. Tank did indeed meet the requirements for the Hero’s awakening, and his personality was surprisingly unaffected by Duke Moss, which was a point in his favor. In all fairness, if Dane weren't in the picture, his chances of becoming the Hero would have been quite high.

However...

Clyde, who had always been at odds with Duke Moss, scoffed, "If the new Hero is the son of Duke Moss, the people of the kingdom would be weeping, you know!"

"Before you pin your hopes on Tank becoming the Hero, don't you think you should consider severing your father-son relationship with him first, Duke Moss?"

Moss’s eyes widened, and he slammed his hand on the table in a rage. "You want another piece of me?!"

The nobles finally let out a relieved laugh, and the atmosphere in the room turned jovial.

"Duke Moss, since you're betting on Tank, how much gold are you putting down?" someone asked with curiosity.

Moss gave a light huff and tossed a heavy pouch of gold onto the table. It landed right at Clyde's feet. Clyde shrugged indifferently, leaned over to count it, and quickly exclaimed in surprise:

"One thousand gold coins?"

That was no small sum, even for a noble. Tank's odds were second only to Jenny’s, at one to five, but because of Duke Moss’s reputation, he had been ignored by everyone until now.

"If you bet on Tank and he succeeds, you'll win four thousand gold coins. Duke Moss, I never realized you had such faith in your own son," Clyde remarked with genuine admiration.

"Who said that?" To everyone's surprise, Duke Moss glared and shook his head immediately. "I'm betting on Dane. The odds are one to one point five, right? That’s fine too. Hurry up, don't dawdle!"

"..." A profound silence descended upon the room. Everyone was rendered speechless by Moss’s outrageous behavior.

Clyde looked stunned. "B-but didn't you just say Tank had the bearing of a Hero?"

"I did!" Duke Moss replied with righteous indignation. "That's why you should all go bet on him! It’s a guaranteed win!"

The crowd was dumbfounded. Duke Moss’s lack of shame had reached a new low.

"I’m betting on Dane."

"Put me down for Dane, too."

The gambling table gradually piled up with gold. In the distance, under the organization of Lak and the Knights, the candidates for the Hero began to gather around the magic circle.

On the terrace, a new commotion broke out.

"Your Highness?!"

"Prince Ota, why are you here? Are you feeling any better?"

The nobles turned their heads to the terrace, where Prince Ota, looking slightly haggard, was walking slowly with the support of a servant.

"Since it’s the Awakening Ceremony, even though I’ve left the hosting to Chief Lak, I felt I had to come and see it for myself."

Pale-faced, Ota greeted those present with a forced smile. Seeing Ota’s fragile state, the nobles nodded with admiration. Even exhausted to this point, Prince Ota remained diligent; he truly was the future of the kingdom.

"Hey, Prince Ota, you’ve come at the right time," Duke Moss said with a grin. "The betting table is about to close. How about it? Would you like to join in?"

Ota hesitated, a look of conflict crossing his face. In the past, he would have jumped at the chance to recoup some of his lost treasury funds. However, "that person" was participating in this ceremony, and with so many nobles watching...

Ota thought of his empty treasury and was just about to toughen his resolve and pull out a hundred gold coins to bet on Dane when Duke Moss’s oily voice cut in again:

"Prince Ota, given your relationship with the Hero Mino, surely you only have one candidate in mind to bet on? Ah, how touching!"

Ota’s smile froze on his face. Around him, the nobles wore expressions of schadenfreude. *As expected of Duke Moss, the kingdom’s greatest troublemaker—lazy, gluttonous, oblivious to the mood, and prone to saying the quiet part out loud... we absolutely love him.*

"Duke Moss, I’m not sure who you are referring to..." Ota tried to feign ignorance, speaking vaguely.

Moss slapped his thigh and laughed loudly. "Why, that Hero candidate who’s a bit touched in the head! Let me see... oh! Shana! I remember now."

"The odds for Hero candidate Shana are one to one hundred. Prince Ota, as a close friend of Hero Mino, you surely wouldn't choose any other candidate, would you?"

Ota took a deep breath, looking at Duke Moss’s fat face, and felt his knuckles turning white.

"You're right," Ota said with a stiff smile. The gold pouch he had just pulled out trembled slightly in his hand. Finally, with a pained expression, he took out ten gold coins. "Ten gold coins, I’m betting on Shana."

The crowd looked slightly disappointed, letting out silent sighs they dared not express in front of Ota.

"Let’s focus on the awakening circle," Ota said with a cough, his expression turning serious. "The new Hero, the successor to Mino, is finally about to appear..."

A resonant bell tolled above the capital. In the training camp, under Lak’s activation, the entire awakening circle enveloped all the Hero candidates.

***

Demon King’s Castle.

Cletina stood on the spire of the castle tower, Will’s ghost fire drifting softly beside her.

Cletina sighed gently. "It’s finally beginning... In the end, we still never found an opportunity to sabotage it."

Will spoke softly, "The humans must have been on guard against us. The Nightmare Magic Mirror, newly awakened, tried to exert a bit of power, but it was immediately countered by another foul force."

"What kind of power could... even the Magic Mirror..." Cletina frowned, her attention finally shifting elsewhere. "How is Mino doing?"

"He—he doesn't seem to care at all," Will said after sensing the situation. "He’s currently playing with Lady Mia in the cell..."

"..."

Cletina felt she understood Mino less and less. If a powerful Hero were born, Mino’s chances of being rescued from the Demon King’s Castle would increase, yet his current demeanor... he was clearly indifferent to the whole thing. This suggested only two possibilities.

One: In Mino’s mind, there was already a candidate he was absolutely certain would become the Hero.

Two: Mino did not place his hope of escaping the Demon King’s Castle on any external factor, but on himself! As if he possessed infinite potential!

*Is this what it means to be a Hero dedicated to creating miracles? To have such absolute confidence in oneself?*

"Awoo~~!"

In the cell, Mino lay on the bed like a salted fish, tossing Mia high into the air and catching the little ball of fluff amidst her giggling.

"My Lord, I can feel it. The Hero Awakening Ceremony has been activated," Altotai’s voice echoed in his mind. "Aren't you curious which Hero will take your place?"

"What does that have to do with me?" Mino asked, sounding genuinely confused. "Will they be able to conquer the Demon King’s Castle once they become the Hero?"

"...I suppose not." Recalling that Mino’s own record only amounted to liberating the kingdom’s border, Altotai swallowed his unrealistic fantasies.

"Whoever it is, it doesn't matter. A Hero is the hope of the human camp, after all."

Standing on the bed, holding Mia in both hands, Mino lifted her up in a classic *Lion King* pose, his tone becoming uncharacteristically serious. "After all, whoever the Goddess chooses must be from the Good-Neutral alignment—"

But then, he began to make silly faces at the oblivious Mia.

"Unless it’s my sister, the one who’s a bit touched in the head, who becomes the Hero..."

"Then the human camp is truly finished!"