Hero Party After the Nuclear War

Chapter 4

Raven, having scavenged many expensive-looking parts from the Death Stalker, stuffed as many as he could into his bag and slung it over his shoulder.

However, the excessive weight inevitably caused his body to lean slightly backward.

[Your strength and endurance stats are not suitable for carrying this amount of load.]

When the annoying alert appeared on the summoner, he had no choice but to switch out his servant.

Was the last servant he summoned the heroic spirit-type Skaark? Fiddling with the summoner, he swapped it out for a servant with stats heavily weighted in strength and endurance.

A summoner's own stats are based on their base stats, plus a portion of the servant's stats they currently have summoned, which are added as a modifier.

For example, the servant he summoned this time, 'Phantom-Type Leviathan', has high strength and endurance stats, so those stats are added to Raven himself, the summoner.

"Oof."

"You seem pretty experienced with handling a summoner."

"Huh?"

Having used up all his action points, Raven removed a charred black gem from the summoner's magazine and replaced it with a new one from his pocket.

This item serves as the 'power source' for the summoner. In slang, modern summoners like Raven call it a 'mana bullet'.

Although the summoner can function without this power source, it cannot summon servants or issue commands to them. In other words, without it, the summoner is just a big piece of useless junk.

"Where on earth did you get that?"

"Told you I picked it up. Don't dig too deep. I have my own privacy too. Before that, can I ask you something? That thing you used earlier. That was magic, right? No normal human can use magic. So, are you like me?"

"Like you?"

"I'm... half-human, half-demon. The son of a human and a demon. I was wondering if you were the same."

Eris looked at Raven with a complicated expression. In the era she lived in, humans were in the middle of a war with the demons of the Demon Realm.

Evil spirits crossing over from the Demon Realm killed humans, and humans, in turn, crossed into the Demon Realm and killed countless evil spirits.

In hindsight, it was a time that boasted the most brilliant science and magic technology, but also a dark, gloomy, and brutal social atmosphere due to the war.

As the fairy who guided the 'Hero'—a human weapon created to kill demons, specifically their leader, the Demon King—she wanted to lash out at Raven the moment he revealed he was half-demon, telling him not to lump her in with the child of a demon.

But ironically, it was this very half-demon young man in front of her who had saved her from a frozen fate in the cryo pod, after what could have been a hundred, two hundred, or even more eternal years.

"...Please don't compare yourself to me. I'm not something like a half-demon. More importantly, tell me. What happened to the war? Where are we? What are we now?"

"Same as me? What's wrong with being half-demon? I went through all that trouble to save you..."

"Well, I saved you from the Death Stalker's disintegration beam too. So we're even."

"You're seriously a pain in the ass. Maybe I should just leave you here."

"Eh... ah."

Only then did Eris truly grasp who held the power in this situation.

With 200 years gone by, in this unfamiliar world, if she didn't rely on the seasoned adventurer who had survived here, who else could she possibly depend on to survive without supplies or information?

"S-sorry. I'll do everything you ask. Just please don't leave me..."

"...Saying that makes me sound like the bad guy. I was joking."

Raven pouted and grumbled, then decided it would be faster to show her firsthand what had happened during the 200 years she had slept. He stood up and opened the lab door to go outside.

"Follow me. Let's talk while we walk."

"Will it be okay? What if another security robot like before shows up?"

"I already took care of most of them. Don't worry."

Slinging his rifle over his shoulder, he stepped outside, and at that moment, Eris was struck by the full horror of the once-glorious human city now in ruins.

Finding an intact building was harder. Everywhere was broken, collapsed, and ruined to the point that finding an unshattered window was nearly impossible.

Abandoned cars were rusting and covered in dust all around, and there were no signs of living humans. The city was devoid of people, security robots, and the streetlights erected everywhere were broken and fallen, blocking the roads.

The concrete ground was cracked and split, and here and there grew bizarre, radioactive mutant plants she had never seen before, wrapping around buildings.

"W-what. What happened... here...?"

"I told you. I'm not a historian. I don't really know."

Unlike Eris, who was deeply shocked, Raven nonchalantly surveyed the ruined ghost town as if it were just another normal scene.

The smell of gunpowder, contaminated water, and human waste stung their noses from various places.

"There's one thing I do know. Was it exactly 200 years ago? Around the time you were sealed. A bomb dropped here. Nuclear? Something like that. Anyway, that bomb fell across the entire human realm and wiped out civilization. With a massive flash and searing heat."

"Then... does that mean the demons won the war?"

To Eris's question, Raven gave a clear answer and quickened his pace.

"Neither demons nor humans won. I mean... look at this. I've never been to the Demon Realm, but wouldn't it be the same over there? Probably just ruins of a destroyed civilization."

"...Unbelievable."

Seeing the devastation of her homeland destroyed by the bomb, Eris couldn't hold it in and dropped to her knees.

Around the time meaningless regret tormented her—wondering if she could have protected her homeland had she fulfilled her role as the hero's fairy instead of being frozen in the cryo pod—Raven reached out his hand to her.

"I was the hero. The hero's fairy... If only I had fought against the demons 200 years ago."

"That stuff—hero, Demon Realm war, fairy—I don't know if that's something you should be saying in front of a half-demon. Anyway, the war is over. Whether you wanted it or not, 200 years have already passed while you were asleep.

I get it. The regret of losing your home, of not being able to protect the people you cared about. It must feel like a bullet to the chest. But that won't help you survive in this wasteland.

Instead of wasting time regretting a war that's already over, think about how you're going to live now. The era of the Demon King is over, and so is the era of the hero."

Harsh as it was, Raven's words were undeniably true.

The war was already over.

Long before Eris could even lift a finger.

It was impossible to turn back time after the human world had already been hit by nuclear bombs, and even if Eris had been there, things likely wouldn't have turned out much differently.

Denying her identity as the hero's fairy and accepting the reality that the war had ended was hard, but if she didn't accept the current situation, she wouldn't be able to go on living.

Sniffling, Eris stood up to pull herself together and wiped away her tears. Raven took off his glove and wiped her tears with his index finger.

"Stop crying already. If you need to blow your nose, just go 'snort'."

"No thanks. I'm not a kid."

Still, she smiled faintly, appreciating Raven's attempt to lighten the somber mood with a joke.

"If you laugh after crying, you'll grow hair on your butt."

"Don't push it."

"What does that even mean?"

Although their common language worked, some idioms from the past had clearly been lost over the 200 years—like the phrase 'don't push it.'

"...It means know when to joke and when not to."

Ah. Sorry. Was that too much?

"...Can you take responsibility for me?"

At her sudden question, Raven glanced at the broken road and replied.

"Can't promise that..."

Originally, his request was to investigate the Magi-Tech Research Facility, an ancient ruin of human civilization, and deliver ancient weapons used by the hero to the client.

In other words, according to the original contract, the very thing being guarded so tightly by this facility was the woman in front of him, and handing her over to the client would be the right thing to do...

He glanced at the Death Stalker parts on his back and shrugged.

"Well, whatever. I'll take responsibility for you as long as I can. But you'll have to pay the entrance fee."

"Entrance... fee?"

Tilting her head in confusion, Eris didn't understand what he meant at first, but soon realized it was a sexual joke and slapped him hard across the face.

"I'm such an idiot for asking someone like you to take responsibility!"

"Ahaha. It was just a joke. A joke."

Any damage the summoner receives is taken by the servant it has summoned instead.

Because of that rule, no matter how hard she slapped him, it was Eris's own hand that hurt, so she pouted and rolled her eyes at him.

"...Still. Thanks, I guess. You don't gain anything from looking after me."

"Not really. Having someone to talk to during a journey is always nice. Raven's a lonely profession, you know. We have to head out of the city. The roads inside are too damaged to move around."

"Okay. Oh, and... you asked about my identity, right? Whether I'm half-demon or something."

"Yeah, I did."

"I think... you can think of it like I have a device similar to your summoner inside my body. So... I have a spirit inside me. That's why I can use magic even with a human body."

"A human who carries a servant. That's interesting. So? What servant do you carry?"

"Archangel Michaellis. That's the name of the spirit I carry. Have you heard of it?"

"No... first time. Sounds like it's a pretty high rarity servant. Divine spirit type?"

"Yes..."

"Oh right. When we're walking, be careful where you step. Some of the crazier rogues sometimes plant ankle-bombs, and if you step wrong, your foot's gone."

As if it were nothing, Raven mentioned that there were mines scattered all over the city, like it was a normal occurrence, and despite having cleared out most of the rogues before entering, he still walked cautiously through the city.

"Rogues? What are those?"

"Thieves. Even 200 years ago, there had to be damn pickpockets and robbers, right? Don't you think?"

Yeah, there were robbers 200 years ago.

But they didn't go around planting mines in the city.

"So, where are we headed?"

"Once we reach the truck, we'll take the highway to Raykins. That's where the client is waiting. We'll quickly sell the disassembly device we ripped out of that crazy mechanical scorpion today, then either return to Raven's Logistics to get another request, or stay near Raykins and take requests from there."

"You really do live like an adventurer."

"Should I take that as a compliment or not?"

Raven shrugged his shoulders and hurried his steps.

"It's starting to get dark. Let's get to the truck quickly. Once it gets dark, those things come out. I'd rather not waste bullets for nothing."

"When it gets dark... what comes out?"

"When it gets dark, all kinds of things pop out. Wild animals soaked in radiation. Radioactive zombies. Other radioactive whatevers. And... 'Shadow'."

"Shadow?"

When she tilted her head at the unfamiliar word she had never heard before, Raven looked toward the setting sun and quickened his pace.

"Let's go, quickly."

"Ah... okay."

---

Stat: Charisma.

Raven's current Charisma: 9

* The average of all stats is 5, and the general maximum is 10.

Trading and negotiating with merchants.

Persuasion and jokes.

Overall stats and loyalty of the Servants.

'Charm-type' skills.

Affects actions such as turning wild spirits into Servants.

A stat that influences eloquence and the ability to captivate the hearts of people and spirits. High Charisma grants additional bonuses to the above actions, while low Charisma increases the chance of failure.

The saying, "A single word can repay a thousand nyang of debt," still holds true in the wasteland. Outstanding appearance and dazzling eloquence that captivate the hearts of people and spirits can sometimes help one get through various incidents without shedding a drop of blood.