Chapter 337: The Person Who "Banned" Saitama and Tatsumaki
"In other words, about three years ago, a large number of agencies using famous heroes as their signboard began to appear. Anyone could call for help when in danger and receive designated rescue from those powerful heroes."
"S-Class heroes like Child Emperor, Metal Knight, Flashy Flash, and others successively left the [Hero Association] and began operating independently."
"In the following year, a large number of new Hero Agencies began to appear. The [Hero Association] started losing sponsorship and declining, but at that time, powerful heroes like [Tornado of Terror] (Tatsumaki) would still mobilize."
"After that, a terrible battle occurred. The sky was torn apart. Someone witnessed a giant standing between heaven and earth being shattered. Then the number of monsters (Kaijin) began to decrease, but Professional Heroes increased instead..."
[Lilith] sorted through the information given by Ayase Seiko. She didn't know why she was doing this, but after noticing the disappearance of Mercenary Tao's chilling killing intent, she realized that acting with him felt far safer than with [Short Hair], [Locker], and the others.
She tried her best to make herself useful.
While speaking, she glanced at Mercenary Tao out of the corner of her eye and saw a smile on his lips. Encouraged, she sorted the information even more diligently.
"In the following year and a half, veteran heroes were reported less and less. Instead, a large number of previously unknown new heroes occupied various videos and reports. Hero Agencies began charging fees, and the cost of seeking help rose continuously."
"Then, half a year ago, the so-called [Cataclysm] event occurred. The event caused [Seasoning City] to turn into a Spirit World Erosion Zone, with less than 5% of the city's population surviving."
"Over the next half year, Spirit World Erosion events began occurring everywhere. Youkai and Ghosts appeared in large numbers, and monsters (Kaijin) also started reappearing continuously. This caused a considerable number of Professional Hero deaths. Now, many Hero Agencies have started refusing requests for help."
From this information, one could roughly discern the changes in this world and the movements of certain top-tier plot characters. It was very useful information.
Kaito Shirogane had a strange smile on his face. He originally thought Mob's darkening caused the world to become like this. But now it seemed Mob's darkening was probably just one link in the world's changes.
Behind this change lay a rather sophisticated arrangement. The existence of [Hero] was inherently non-utilitarian and altruistic. Although the heroes of the [Hero Association] enjoyed certain treatments, fundamentally, those treatments came from sponsors.
There was no direct equivalent exchange relationship between their risk-taking battles with monsters to save civilians and the benefits they received.
It was like someone drawing a sword to help when seeing injustice on the road, and the person helped voluntarily offering some money or goods as thanks afterward.
In this act, the hero must be the one who chose to help directly upon seeing injustice, not knowing if the other party would be grateful.
[Hero] was a product of a unique moral concept based on humans as social creatures. For those heroes, the most direct sense of gain from engaging in heroic activities came from the reward of their own moral sense.
But the professionalized heroes appearing three years ago directly changed this process. They turned [Hero] into a special profession, accepting payment to fight monsters.
At the beginning, due to unclear remuneration, this behavioral model was hard to distinguish from traditional classical heroism. But at this point in time, the result was obvious: these [Professional Heroes] had completely killed the existence of [Hero].
If this wasn't the Space's arrangement but a change made by a certain Reincarnator who entered this world previously, Kaito would almost want to applaud them.
This way of manipulating the world was far more sophisticated than [Will of Heaven] or [White Mask]. One relied on pure power, the other on information attached to power. But this person's behavior left no trace of power, yet caused unimaginable subversion to the world.
This influence even had a huge impact on those plot characters powerful enough to be unfaceable by Reincarnators.
Kaito had specifically asked earlier. The former ace hero of the Hero Association, codenamed [Tornado of Terror], hadn't appeared for a year and a half.
The B-Class hero codenamed [Caped Baldy] had also long been forgotten by society.
The S-Class, A-Class, B-Class hero ranking system had already been abandoned. A tiny B-Class hero had absolutely no news.
"Interesting. No, it's brilliant. A brilliant arrangement!"
Kaito's smile distorted slightly. The earring under his earlobe moved without wind. Even he hadn't thought Reincarnators could 'ban' monsters like [Saitama] and [Tatsumaki] in this way.
He had a feeling that this change was deliberately caused by a Reincarnator to make this world a place where Reincarnators could hunt.
"Are you... very strong?"
A hoarse voice with a flat tone. Just listening to the voice, one knew this person's heart was dead silent.
Reigen Arataka had turned his head at some point. Sunlight shone from behind him; against the light, the man's face looked even gloomier.
He dropped his cigarette and almost crawled into the room. Ayase Seiko frowned, feeling this decadent man was like a living corpse.
Reigen Arataka was a man who knew a bit of everything except superpowers. He was very good at observing people and figuring out others' psychology.
He came in front of Kaito, squatted down, and looked levelly at Kaito sitting on the floor. Then he nodded, answering his own question.
"Mn, you are very strong. At least you think you are very strong, and that little girl also thinks you are very strong..."
As if reinforcing his confidence, he nodded in agreement with his own analysis.
"The one who called me for help from that restricted zone wasn't you, but you escaped relying on your own ability. You aren't those trash who package themselves as heroes with money."
"Then, can I entrust you with a request, Great Hero?"
[You triggered Hidden Main Mission · Lament of the Spirit World]
[Mission Description: The individual named Kageyama Shigeo has completely gone berserk and lost control, turning into an entity of unknown identity ???. His master, Reigen Arataka, requests you to end the chaos caused by ???.]
[Mission Reward: Based on completion rate, obtain minimum B-Grade to maximum S-Class Singularity, obtain Bloodline Item of corresponding quality x1.]
[Failure Penalty: None]
Lilith saw the Space notification appear before her eyes too. This was the first time she had seen such high rewards with absolutely no penalty.
"Asking someone else to kill his own disciple... truly cruel master-disciple affection..."
Hearing Kaito's sarcasm, Reigen Arataka shook his head and said hoarsely:
"No, that's not Kageyama Shigeo. That's not that child..."
"Only by defeating that monster... can I retrieve that child..."
Kaito thought for a moment, then confirmed with Lilith again:
"You have the ability to find anyone, right?"
Lilith nodded but added:
"There is a certain margin of error, but with enough time, I can always find them..."
Kaito then accepted this commission.
He already had a general understanding of this world and a plan for his subsequent actions.
To complete this highly rewarding Hidden Main Mission relatively safely, there was basically only one way: find Saitama, whose whereabouts were currently unknown, and find a way to make him cooperate.
Coincidentally, after realizing the connection between this world and the One Punch Man world, the greed in Kaito's heart was almost uncontrollable.
Unlike the relatively lower difficulty worlds he experienced before, there were many powerful things in the One Punch Man world, especially the special setting named [Limiter].
That was a powerful force surpassing any item or ability he had seen so far.
He wanted it. He wanted it very much!
Greed appeared in Kaito's eyes, and the shadow beneath his feet seemed no longer human-shaped.
Ayase Seiko stood up slowly. She had realized this guy was probably absolutely not a good person.
Ring, ring.
The phone rang at this moment. The woman picked it up, and an urgent voice came from inside.
"Help! There's a Youkai! There's a Youkai here!"
Amidst chaotic cries for help, Ayase Seiko, who was also registered as a Professional Hero, asked for the location while picking up her magical implement to go out.
Squelch!
A beam of golden light pierced through the floor. Ayase Seiko's heart skipped a beat. She turned around and saw the man she brought back wearing a cruel smile.
"Sorry. Can you leave this job to me?"
"As compensation for sparing your life, how about letting this rescue mission be the debut show of a new hero?"
"Hero?"
Ayase Seiko couldn't understand Kaito. She didn't understand why he said he spared her life—they had no grudges, it was even their first meeting—nor could she understand why he said he wanted to become a hero when she had already said [Hero] was now a profession despised by people.
Kaito spread his arms, his expression bizarre.
"Yes. I plan to be a... hero for fun!"
With a flash of light, a blue-and-white slender single-person speedboat appeared at the door. Kaito stepped onto it, then signaled with his eyes for the Reincarnator who claimed to master special people-finding abilities to get on.
He already had a plan. Whether it was the Space or some wise Reincarnator, the other party's operation had completely killed the concept of [Hero]. So now, he would do the opposite and revive [Hero] again.
Only then would he have a chance to make [Caped Baldy] reappear.
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