The Desperate Princess of a Fallen Kingdom Was Looking for a Hero... So I (the Hero) Decided To Look With Her - Chapter 5

How much time had passed since then?

I, Yuu (formerly known as Sato Yuu), had completely lost track of where in the world I was.

Ever since that day when I turned a forest into a crater with Baby Fire, flattened it with Sneeze, and transformed a mountain into a volcano with Pebble Kick I had been utterly terrified of my own power. I made a conscious effort to move as little as possible, hold my breath, and live as quietly as a monk seeking enlightenment.

As a result, naturally, I was starving.

Violently, desperately starving.

“Haaah… Meat… I wanna eat meat… At least some clothes…”

The wind rustled my handmade, barely-there leaf loincloth. It was pitifully inadequate. At this point, I might as well have been a caveman. Forget building a harem, if an elf girl spotted me now, she’d probably report me as a primitive savage on sight.

Just as my stomach growled less like an insect’s chirp and more like a monster’s roar I heard it.

From deep in the forest came a shrill woman’s scream and the roar of a beast.

“BUGOOOOOOOOOH!”

“Dammit! We’re surrounded! Tim, you take the left! Boris, flank from the right!”

The voices sounded tense.

I quietly peeked out from the bushes.

There, I saw a group of men and women facing off against a single, massive beast.

The beast resembled a giant boar with tusks or rather, it looked more like a small dump truck with fur and tusks slapped onto it. Its bloodshot eyes gleamed as it snorted aggressively.

The humans opposing it wore tattered leather armor and wielded well-worn swords and axes. At their center stood a striking red-haired beauty, barking desperate orders while brandishing a rapier. Her sunset-red hair was tied back haphazardly, and even through her leather armor, her figure was bonk-worthy. Magnificent. Her name had just been etched into my harem candidate list.

But the situation seemed hopeless. The odds were stacked against them not just in numbers, but in sheer beastly power. The boar-dump-truck’s overwhelming strength had them cornered, step by step.

“Boss! It’s no use! This thing’s too damn tough!”

“Shut up! If you’ve got time to whine, then break at least one of its tusks!”

The red-haired beauty apparently their leader shouted back with unshaken resolve.

Then, the boar-dump-truck locked onto her. It kicked off the ground and charged with terrifying force.

“Event triggered, huh?”

I slowly emerged from the bushes.

Well, I was hungry. Helping them out while scoring some meat would be killing two birds with one stone.

The real issue was controlling my strength.

Last time, Baby Fire wiped out an entire forest. This time, I needed to go even lighter. A flick should be fine. Yeah, just a flick.

Right before the boar-dump-truck reached the red-haired beauty, I pressed my index finger against its forehead. Then, with the gentlest force imaginable.

“Eii.”

—I flicked it.

Pish. A crisp sound rang out.

The next moment, the boar-dump-truck’s charge came to an abrupt halt.

Its massive body let out a single, bizarre death cry “BUGOOH!?” like a frog being squashed, rolled its eyes back, and collapsed like a machine powering down.

A spiderweb of cracks spread from the spot my finger had touched.

Silence.

The forest fell still.

The red-haired beauty and her battered companions stared, mouths agape, alternating between me and the unconscious boar-dump-truck.

Unfazed by their gazes, I cheerfully patted the beast’s massive body and asked:

“So, uh… Can we eat this?”

“What the hell even are you…?”

The red-haired beauty, Zanna, leader of the bandit group Crimson Lion Brigade looked at me with utter exasperation.

We were currently hauling as much meat as we could carry from the butchered boar back to their hideout. Since the beast was absurdly huge, the rest had been preserved in ice I conjured with magic.

“Oh, just a passing, upstanding citizen.”

“Says the guy dressed like that.”

I glanced down at myself. A single leaf loincloth. Yeah, zero credibility.

“Anyway, if you’re hungry, come to the hideout. But no free meals. We’ll put that ridiculous strength of yours to work as a bodyguard. Got a problem with that?”

“If it comes with three meals and naps, I’m in!”

And just like that, I somehow became a member of a bandit gang.

Their hideout was deep in the forest, cleverly concealed within a cave. The entrance was covered in vines, and inside was a surprisingly spacious, lived-in area. The air carried a unique mix of campfire smoke, sweat, and a faint hint of beast.

The group consisted of about twenty people not just young folks like Zanna, but also white-haired elders and children under ten. It seemed less like a mere bandit gang and more like a community of outcasts society had left behind.

That night, the hideout hosted a grand feast using the boar-dump-truck meat I’d provided.

Thick cuts of meat sizzled over the campfire, juicy sounds filling the cave as fat dripped into the flames, spreading an irresistible aroma.

“WOOOOOH! It’s been years since we had meat like this!”

“So good! So damn goooood!”

The members devoured the meat like wild beasts, their faces lit up with smiles they probably hadn’t worn in ages.

Zanna watched them from a slight distance, arms crossed, her expression no longer that of the fierce leader but of a woman her age, weary yet relieved.

“So, what’s your name?”

“Yuu.”

“Right. Well, as you can see, we’re dirt poor. Barely scraping by. Hunted by officials, terrified of monsters, can’t even afford proper medicine when someone gets sick. Just one damn thing after another.”

Zanna laughed bitterly.

Their suffering wasn’t the grand, world-shattering despair Sylphia had endured.

But it was the slow, relentless erosion of countless small, everyday hardships the kind that gnawed at a person’s soul.

“So, thanks. Today’s the first time in forever everyone’s had full stomachs.”

Her blunt gratitude somehow seeped warmly into my heart.

This was a far cry from my harem plans.

But it wasn’t bad.

However, my naive optimism would be shattered into dust starting the very next day.

Introducing a bug like me into the fragile, barely-balanced system of this bandit gang resulted in unpredictable chaos erupting one after another.

First, the food problem.

The boar meat ran out in days. Zanna grimaced as she spoke.

“We’re going fishing today. Even the nearby river’s been barren lately.”

When we arrived, sure enough, the water was low, and fish were scarce. The members desperately chased after minnows with nets and spears.

Watching them, I had an idea.

“Hey, Zanna. If the water’s in the way, why not just get rid of it?”

“Huh? What the hell are you—”

Before she could finish, I gently raised my hand toward the river.

I pictured it. A puddle under the summer sun, slowly evaporating. A peaceful scene.

The spell name: Dry Up. Yeah, this should be fine.

The next moment.

“JUGGOOOOOOOOH!”

A deafening roar erupted as the river’s water about 200 meters’ worth instantly vaporized.

A phenomenon akin to a steam explosion filled the area with thick mist.

When the mist cleared, what remained was a bone-dry riverbed. Hundreds of fish flopped around, utterly bewildered.

“…………”

“…………”

“…………”

Me, Zanna, the members—all silent.

Eventually, Zanna slowly turned to me, a vein throbbing at her temple.

“…Yuu.”

“Y-Yes?”

“Are you an idiot?”

“I’m sorry.”

That day, the members gathered a lifetime’s worth of fish while trembling in shock.

Next, the fuel problem.

We ran out of firewood to smoke the fish.

“Tch, only damp logs left. Can’t even start a fire with these.”

Hearing Zanna’s click of annoyance, I thumped my chest.

“Leave it to me!”

This time, I wouldn’t mess up. Just needed to get wood, no magic involved.

I found a suitable tree in the forest well, more like a massive cedar, easily 500 years old.

“Hup!”

Placing my hands on the trunk, I pulled upward with the same effort I’d use to yank out a road sign.

ZZZZZZZZ—!

The earth shook as the colossal tree tore free from its roots. Hoisting the 50-meter-tall behemoth over my shoulder like a walking stick, I proudly marched back to the hideout.

The lookout at the entrance dropped his horn in shock.

“Got the firewood!”

Inside, every member froze mid-task, staring at me and the natural monument I’d brought back.

Zanna emerged from the back, her temple vein deeper than ever.

“…Yuu.”

“Y-Yes?!”

“You really are just an idiot, aren’t you?”

“I’m really sorry.”

That day, the members spent an entire day chopping up the tree. They wouldn’t need firewood for years.

And finally, the hunting problem.

When someone requested meat, I joined the hunt.

We spotted a beautiful deer in the forest but it was too wary to approach.

“Yuu! Scare it toward us!”

Following Zanna’s order, I crept closer.

Then, I picked up a pebble the size of my thumb and gently tossed it near the deer to startle it.

This time, my strength control would be perfect.

Fwip!

The pebble left my hand with a sharp whistle.

The moment it hit a tree beside the deer—

BOOM.

The tree exploded.

The pebble vaporized the deer instantly, then continued onward, slamming into a distant mountainside.

KABOOOOOOOM!

A massive crater formed in the slope.

“…………”

“…………”

“…………”

Me, Zanna, the members—all silent.

All that remained was the unnatural crater and the faint scent of roasted venom on the wind.

Zanna said nothing.

She simply looked up at the sky, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

That night.

Another feast was held at the hideout.

Thanks to my absurd contributions of food and absolute security, the members’ faces were free of worry. Children laughed, elders drank peacefully.

Zanna sat beside me, watching the scene, and sighed.

“Ever since you showed up, my headaches won’t stop.”

“Sorry.”

“But…”

She smiled just a little, but genuinely.

“…It’s not bad. It’s been forever since we laughed this hard or ate this much.”

Her words warmed my chest.

This was nothing like my harem plans.

But this chaotic, messy, yet strangely warm daily life…

It reminded me, just a little, of the ordinary days I’d lost in my old world.

My isekai life, it seemed, would begin by reshaping the world’s geography and this bandit gang’s common sense from the ground up.