Who Killed the Hero? Volume 1 Extra part 1

At a Certain Sweets Shop

The capital has been rather noisy lately.

It’s because the hero who was thought to be dead has returned.

The story goes that while compiling documents about the hero’s exploits, they realized he might actually still be alive. So the princess searched for and found him.

The documents the princess compiled were published grandly, revealing details about the hero’s journey.

According to them, the hero wasn’t originally the hero, but became the hero after his best friend who was the hero died, overcoming numerous difficulties and finally defeating the Demon Lord.

The compiled documents about the hero were published as a book, which is a huge hit in the capital, unable to be read without tears. Those with money buy the book, those without money who can read do a rotation reading it, and those without money or literacy attend public readings to listen engrossed to the story.

As a result, the hero is immensely popular. Some even say they want him to become king, as someone like that would make a great king. I don’t know if the hero will marry the princess and become king, but I hope it happens too.

After the book became popular, a grand homecoming parade for the hero was held. It was a huge success with people coming from other countries too, to see the parade attended by the Sword Saint, Holy Maiden, and Sage. I saw it from afar too, but they were too far away to see the faces of the hero and company clearly. According to rumors, the hero is as handsome as in his portraits. I’d like to see him up close someday.


My dad is a confectioner and very skilled. His small shop in the capital’s downtown is always bustling, even though it’s just a little store. Catering mostly to commoners since it’s downtown, occasionally messengers from nobles come by to buy sweets too. It’s a small point of pride for the shop that even though it’s for commoners, there are nobles who want to eat my dad’s sweets.

I’ve been helping out at the shop since I was little, and eventually started making my own sweets. Now I’m allowed to put out one of my creations in the store.

Making sweets is surprisingly hard physical labor. Having to carry heavy ingredients, kneading and working dough, stirring ingredients endlessly. You can get burned, and your hands get rough too. So it’s really a job for men, but I want to be like my dad, so I work hard every day before the shop opens.

I’m sure I’ve improved little by little, but my sweets still can’t compare to my dad’s in appearance and taste, so they don’t sell well.

So I’m always watching customers hopefully.

(I hope someone buys my sweets!)

Around the time I started putting out my sweets at the shop, the number of regulars increased by one person.

According to my dad, he used to be a student at Pharme Academy over ten years ago, and would come to the shop often back then. But after graduating, he completely disappeared.

As soon as my dad saw him, he jumped out of the kitchen and hugged him.

“Long time no see!” he said.

That’s rare. My dad has an artisan temperament, so he doesn’t usually show much emotion. But he looked truly happy.

The man smiled pleasantly too and said “It’s been a while.”

He looked to be in his mid twenties, with somewhat unruly chestnut hair and brown eyes. Just a plain, ordinary-looking man at first glance.

After chatting with him for a while, my dad shoved all the sweets on display at him.

“Take these with you! Try them all!”

The man had an awkward expression and tried to pay, but my dad refused.

He had never given sweets to a customer for free before, so this surprised me too.

In the end, the man said “I’ll come again” and left the shop carrying the pile of sweets.

According to my dad, that man was a benefactor of his.

When I was little, my dad had been a confectioner at a large store, but started his own shop for commoners after going independent. But at first, he had no customers.

Sweets are a luxury item to begin with, especially for commoners who barely get to eat them.

So when they do get to eat sweets occasionally, they want them to be as delicious as possible. Their expectations for sweets get very high as a result.

Meeting these expectations with sweets is very difficult.

READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM

My dad tried all kinds of sweets, putting out many different kinds in the shop, but for a while he just couldn’t make sweets that were accepted by everyone.

That’s when the man, who was a student back then, appeared.

He had the peculiar habit of staring intently at the sweets while murmuring God’s name. He would always only buy one item. Being a student, that was all he could afford, so he would carefully ponder and decide which sweet to buy.

However, he didn’t buy them to eat himself, but as presents for his girlfriend, apparently. He denied having a “girlfriend” but my dad was certain that’s who they were for. Otherwise, there’d be no reason to agonize over them so much.

This girlfriend of his was apparently a fearsome woman, punishing him terribly if she didn’t like the sweets he gave her.

My dad heard unbelievable stories, like her stringing him up on the academy roof, using him for magic target practice, kicking him off a cliff, then kicking him back down when he climbed up.

“How were the sweets this time?”

“She didn’t like them, it seems.”

Was the usual exchange between my dad and him back then, supposedly.

He apparently went to other sweet shops too, but my dad started making sweets that he thought would suit this man girlfriend’s tastes, to help the poor guy out. He also let him sample and taste test the experimental sweets.

Why was he dating a woman like that? Buying her sweets and getting punished if she didn’t like them, she must have been unpleasant in both looks and personality.

But as my dad kept making sweets to cater to this woman’s preferences, our shop’s reputation gradually rose.

Apparently, interacting with the sweets for her refined his eye for sweets, and the ones he chose from the many options were popular with other customers too.

Eventually, when he came to the shop, my dad would show him many test products, let him sample them, and have him choose one from among them.

And the sweet he chose would be displayed in the prime spot on our shelves the next day.

In this way, by putting out new sweets vetted by him every week, our shop became hugely popular.

“Our shop today exists thanks to him and his ill-tempered girlfriend,” my dad said.


About a week later, that man came to our shop again.

And what’s more, he had a woman with him!

She had blond hair tied back neatly and wore glasses, looking capable and business-like. Based on her outfit, I guessed she was a clerk at the castle or receptionist at a large shop. She was quite a beauty if you looked closely.

“Could that be the woman from back then?”

my dad whispered to the man.

The man laughed and said “Of course not.”

“Thank goodness, cutting ties with a woman like that was for the best,”

my dad said, tearing up.

The man had an awkward expression and laughed wryly.

But then something strange happened.

Right after he came, a new female customer arrived at the shop.

With a scarf wrapped around her head, not much of her face was visible, but looking at her head-on as a store clerk, she was an incredible beauty. Skin white as porcelain, mysterious black eyes, and the black hair peeking out from her scarf looked silky smooth.

“A young man with somewhat unruly chestnut hair was just here, right? The one who bought sweets. He has good taste in sweets, doesn’t he?”

Charmed by this beauty’s words, I packaged up sweets without any doubts as asked.

“Thank you.”

After paying and receiving the sweets, she left, glancing around somewhat furtively.

I spaced out watching her go.

What a gorgeous woman. Surely her personality is as beautiful as her looks.

She must be hiding her face because she’s too beautiful.


Chapter List


 
Also check out my friend Localizermeerkat for more LN translations!


BUY THE SOURCE MATERIAL TO SUPPORT THE AUTHOR !!!

Kindly click on the green button above and contribute to filling the green bar if you’re interested in having another LN from the request page translated.

Also, every donation is being used to purchase the source material and to fund more English translations.

Spread the translation

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *