Can Someone (Anyone!) Please Turn Off the Auto-Skill Setting?! - Chapter 38
A week had passed since the hero’s party set out on their journey again, but something about their appearance was strange.
Aaron, the reliable companion with exceptional skills, was carrying the hero Nancy on his back. He had been carrying her ever since they left the village.
“Nancy, are you feeling any better yet?” Aaron asked cautiously.
“No,” Nancy answered coldly.
The reason she was so weak and unable to walk was a certain man with too much stamina. Thanks to that man, she had spent an entire week not on the road, but trapped in an inn.
“Why? Am I too heavy for you? You said you’d carry me, but is it too hard?” she asked, her tone sharp.
“No, not at all. I was just worried about whether you’re still not feeling well,” Aaron replied, full of guilt. He couldn’t help but keep his head down, no matter how sharp her words were.
She’s really mad, huh.
Aaron tried to steal a glance at her, but Nancy caught him immediately and kicked him.
“Don’t look at my face! You’ll just get worked up again!”
Nancy hissed, making a sharp sound between her teeth. While it seemed harsh to tell him not to even look at her, it was necessary to protect herself from the man who seemed to go into heat just by seeing her face.
Besides, the reason she was mad wasn’t simply because she was dealing with an overly hxrny boyfriend.
The 〈Seduction〉 skill hadn’t worn off. That meant all those sweet promises he’d made about taking responsibility weren’t genuine at all!
He’s acting like he’s obsessed with me, but does he even actually like me?
Nancy couldn’t say anything, since she was hiding the truth, but inside, she was boiling with frustration.
Aaron obediently turned his head away, but not knowing the real reason for her anger left him feeling wronged. Sure, he knew he’d pushed her too hard. He’d apologized plenty for it, and he was carrying her now as an expression of his guilt and regret.
But being treated like a stray dog wasn’t exactly sitting well with him.
As the two of them fell into an awkward silence, Aaron grew increasingly uncomfortable. He searched for something to talk about to lighten the mood.
“You’ve probably heard, but my grandfather and the past heroes didn’t just aim to seal the Demon King—they also tried to seal the Four Cardinal Guardians as well.”
“This is the first I’ve heard of that.”
“When the Council of Five summoned you, didn’t they explain anything?”
“No, everyone just took turns to scold me, then they shut my business down.”
Luckily, the conversation flowed naturally from there. Relieved, Aaron continued explaining to her, as though she were hearing everything for the first time.
People often wondered why the heroes didn’t just defeat the Four Cardinal Guardians, who kept trying to resurrect the Demon King. But that was a misunderstanding. The heroes had always defeated the Cardinal Guardians.
“The problem is that, like the Demon King, the Cardinal Guardians can be resurrected as long as their magical power remains.”
“Then why not seal them like you do the Demon King?”
“That’s a very reasonable idea.”
Aaron agreed. His ancestors had reached the same conclusion, which was why his grandfather and the other past heroes had also aimed to seal the Four Cardinal Guardians.
But none of them had succeeded.
“Bije, one of the Cardinal Guardians, is a succubus. She wears a form of irresistible desire and has always managed to escape the seals.”
“All those heroes failed because they couldn’t resist something so lewd?”
“When I say she ‘wears a form’, I mean she’s a master of transformation. She can take on any appearance, making her hard to catch.”
If even past heroes, who were a hundred times stronger than her, hadn’t succeeded in sealing Bije, there was no way Nancy could. That’s probably why the Council of Five hadn’t even mentioned sealing the Cardinal Guardians, thinking it was beyond her. Her task was simply to stop the Demon King’s resurrection and strengthen the weakened seals.
Nancy calmly accepted this reality and had already decided to give up on sealing the Cardinal Guardians.
But Aaron seemed to have a different idea.
“There is a way to seal Bije. You just need to catch her off guard and use that moment to seal her.”
“You make it sound easy. If that were the case, we wouldn’t be heading to the Demon King’s castle right now.”
“Someone did succeed.”
“Who?”
Aaron didn’t say, but Nancy could already guess.
“Your grandfather?”
“That’s right.”
“Then why is Bije back?”
“She was the last of the Cardinal Guardians left, but the other Cardinal Guardian, Eije, released her seal.”
“The seal was broken just like that?”
Nancy had thought that seals gradually weakened over fifty years and would break only after that. Had she misunderstood? If seals could be broken so easily, couldn’t the Cardinal Guardians have revived the Demon King at any time without waiting for generations?
