Chapter 260: My name is Barry and I’m the....Wait, you can’t say the rest
"Amazing! I knew the goddess had something to do with this! Very well, you will now be promoted to Platinum I." The receptionist stamped all of their licenses.
"Huh?" Kai didn’t have a problem with ranking up, but he assumed that he would be platinum III, not platinum I. So he asked the lady if she had made a mistake.
His girls tried to stop him since they were tired of his shenanigans, but they weren’t fast enough.
"Nope, no mistake. After hearing your story and how the goddess came to help you out, I knew that you should be promoted to the peak of platinum, especially after confirming that the lost city is real. If you were able to bring back some materials from the place, I would have promoted you to diamond!" She chuckled
"Like the ore in the central sea?" He asked
"Exactly like the ore in the central sea!"
"Oh. Then how about this?" Kai dropped a few tons of ore onto the counter.
"W-What the fuck?!" This was the reaction of everyone in the establishment.
"Y-You managed to get some of the ore from the central sea?! And this much of it?!"
Kai shrugged. "I have a lot more, but I know its value and, no offense, but it’s better to take business with this type of material somewhere else."
"Oh, no, I understand completely! With this much, I can promote you to Diamond I instantly! No questions asked."
Kai thought the gesture was nice but declined. "Thanks but we’ll settle for Platinum-MMrgghh!"
Gwen, Kyana, Nadya, and Amaya each grabbed a part of Kai’s body, holding him down and covering his mouth.
"We’ll take the Diamond-I, thank you very much." Sasha smiled.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOO! (NOOO!)" Kai screamed, but unfortunately, his voice was muffled, and his girls threw him out of the building.
"Yes!"
"Woohooo!"
"We did it!"
"No more grinding!"
"It’s a dream come true!"
"You guys are funny." Cornelia chuckled.
---
A village was being overrun by the forces of the demon king, terrorizing the people and taking lives. There was no hope, no salvation, no one to save them, until he arrived. The man who could save them all, the Hero.
"Barry! To your left!" A fox beastkin woman with purple hair shouted
"On it." Barry took off, appearing behind the demon in an instant and taking its life. He showed no hesitation, no mercy, and only allowed the beast death.
"Patty, duck!" A red-haired elf woman wielding a sword threw her blade into a demon who nearly pounced on Patty, impaling them in the heart.
Patty, the girl with the purple hair, held her staff forward and shot a beam of ice that tore off the head of a demon behind the red-haired woman.
She nodded. "Nice shot."
Patty smiled. "You too, Iris."
"Good work, you two. That was all of them. Let’s round up the pirates we caught who were working with these demons. I can’t believe one of our own would side with those disgusting creatures." Barry cleaned his sword that dripped with demon blood and turned his attention to his companions.
"Agreed. They’re trying to destroy the continent, not save it!" Iris was disgusted by the pirates and wanted to slit their throats.
"They probably think that they’ll be able to do whatever they want if the demon king rules," Patty said while using her magic to heal the wounds of everyone.
"Do they really think the demon king will spare them? Pitiful fools." Barry rounded up all the pirates, tying their arms with rope.
"You all will face justice after I turn you in to the authorities. You have betrayed your people and opted for the destruction of our continent. You all will be punished! But if you repent to the goddess, then maybe you will be saved."
Barry had no sympathy toward demons, but to his own kind, dwarves, elves, humans, and beastkin, he showed them mercy and would allow them a fair trial and even repentance.
"I want to repent! I never wanted to be a pirate anyway!"
"Me too! I just needed to put food on the table for my family."
"Same here!"
Barry heard the cries of the pirated and nodded. He knew that there was some other reason why they would fall to such a level. He was glad that they were admitting it.
"It is okay, everyone. The first step of repentance is to admit what you’ve done. I’m sure the goddess will forgive you all. We’ll still take you to jail, though." A portal made of water opened, leading to the prison underneath the royal castle.
Barry forced them all inside, but reassured them that if they truly mean well, then they will be forgiven and be reborn anew.
"Ahh, all in a day’s work as the hero." He smiled, feeling proud of himself.
"Barry, do you think that this was the right choice?" Patty wondered.
"What do you mean?"
"Sparing their lives."
He sighed and sat down on a log. "We’ve talked about this before, guys. As the hero, my enemy is the demon king and all of the demons. My enemy is not our own people. They are simply lost and need guidance. How can I be the hero if I kill every lost person I come across? That’s wrong. Instead, I guide them toward the righteous path so they can understand their true self."
Iris and Patty liked that side of Barry, but they also wished that he could see the bigger picture. But they weren’t the hero, so it wasn’t their job to say otherwise.
"We understand. It’s just that we don’t want this to come bite you in the ass later."
Barry higged them both. "You guys are the best, but trust me, we’ll be fine."
They hugged him back.
After that warm moment, Barry suddenly felt like he was being summoned by someone.
"The goddess is calling me." He told his friends.
"Okay, go speak with her. We’ll head back to the village."
Barry nodded, his eyes glowed blue alongside his body, and responded to Aquaphina’s beckon, not daring to make her wait longer than she needed to.