The Max Level Hero: Strike Black

Five

“…W-What the hell is this?”

Jack took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes with his hand, blinking a few times, then took a closer look at the information on the status card. However, the job of Useless One still caught his eye.

Jack understood that this king had summoned his class here because of the power of people from Earth.

'So what if I don't have any strength at all?' - Jack wondered.

'Um, thrown away, or worse, destroyed...'

It's not too hard for Jack to imagine the worst-case scenario for him. Jack was about to say something, but his throat caught, and a feeling of despair quickly invaded his mind.

When everyone saw the information on Jack's status card, for a moment, the courtroom became completely silent.

“Hahaha!!! What the fuck is this!? I can't believe my eyes? Ha ha ha ha! Heh heh heh!!! So much so that the weakest of them even have a hundred times better stats than you!!! Hahaha!!!”

Lee was the first to break the oppressive atmosphere... with his abominable laugh. Many others quickly followed suit.

"True! So pathetic! Useless guy!!?? Hole, Hole, Hole!!!”

“Once a piece of trash, it will always be trash!”

“Ha ha ha!!!”

“Wait, its unique skill, the useless… one's… qualities? Qualities of useless names??? Are you kidding each other? That's the quality, hehe heh!!!”

“Enough is enough, if you have any dignity left, then stop.”

Suddenly hearing a cold voice, the students who were happily mocking Jack also stopped.

It was Daphne who spoke up, her usual cheerful tone now nowhere to be found. The look Daphne gave those who made fun of Jack was like looking at worms.

“I don't know if you scoundrels are still human! Do you have so much fun torturing people weaker than you?"

Faced with Daphne's criticisms, none of them dared to say anything back.

Meanwhile, Janet approached Jack and worriedly asked him.

“Are you all right, Christopher?”

"...No problem." - Jack replied nonchalantly, he still hadn't recovered from the shock just now.

Keeping silent until now, King Owen finally spoke up.

“Where are you, take the heroes to the banquet hall and leave. I'd like to speak to Jack in private for a moment."

The cross-sectional Jack didn't have a single drop of blood left when he heard those words, terrible fantasies began to appear one after another. When he was alone to face King Owen, Jack mustered the courage he had to ask.

“So what will happen to me…”

“I sincerely apologize to you!”

However, the surprise was that King Owen, who had kept his dignity up until now, was now banging his head on the floor looking pathetic.

'Um... what?'

"What are you doing!?"

Why is such a powerful person bowing to Jack? Over time, Jack became more and more confused, not knowing what to do in a situation like this.

“I want to apologize to you. It was I who irresponsibly ordered the research to increase the effectiveness of Heroic Summoning magic without thinking about the consequences… That's why I dragged an unrelated person like you into this."

"Please raise your head... A person with authority like you shouldn't do this..."

“On the other hand, if a monarch like me does not realize his mistake, the country will eventually fall into ruin.”

'Um... what?'

King Owen's words made Jack even more awkward. However, he was able to breathe a sigh of relief because he seemed like a good king.

“Well, we should at least talk properly, right? So please stand up, it's hard to talk like this."

"You're right."

King Owen rose and went back to sit on his throne.

“So every time you make a mistake with someone, do you bow your head like that?” – Only when he accidentally said it, did Jack realize how ungrateful he was – “He died! No, sorry, I didn't mean that.”

“…Ah, it's okay. As for your question… only in extremely serious cases like this would I do that.”

“Wait! Extremely serious case? What?"

“Looks like it was an unintentional mistake for you to be summoned here… No offense but honestly, I don't think you can survive in this world, especially with these instructions. numbers like that.”

Hearing that harsh truth, Jack hurriedly asked.

“So is there a way for me to return home?”

“…Sorry, but the way to bring you back is still being worked on, this is another mistake on my part.” – King Owen bowed his head

With no respect left for the person sitting in front of him, Jack shouted angrily.

“Then what should I do!?”

“You don't have to worry so much, because this is my fault after all. So obviously you can stay at the palace until everything is in order, I will provide for you.” – King Owen said in a kind voice and tried to keep Jack calm.

'Um... what?'

Jack was as happy as opening a flag when he heard King Owen's proposal. However, just as he was about to accept, a thought ran through his head.

'Wait... If I agree to stay here, does that mean I have to meet those bastards Lee every day?'

For Jack, staying here isn't so bad, he deserves it at least anyway... But staying here means being patient every day. And now, the gap between them and him seemed to have grown even bigger…

The old people used to say, "The food is a piece of shit", if he had to live in such humiliation, Jack would rather die. This could be your chance to get out of it, redo everything. Now that even normal days were gone, he didn't need to continue to ponder over and be patient.

"Thank you... It's a tempting offer, but I guess I'll just have to turn it down." – Jack makes his decision.

"Huh!? Why? What have we done to upset you?" ' asked King Owen, alarmed.

Jack just gave a wry smile and mumbled reply

“No… I just don't want to have the name of a parasite.”

“D-Do you know how dangerous this world is?”

“Yes… Maybe I can manage on my own.”

“Are you absolutely sure that you want to find your own way? Really, no one in this place would dare to treat you badly! I can guarantee that!”

Although King Owen tried to convince Jack to change his mind, he still refused to stay here.

“I just hope you can provide me with some capital so I can manage for a while. Then I can take care of myself.”

After a moment of contemplation, King Owen sighed and gave up.

“…I will respect your decision.” – King Owen put his hand on a white stone and said – “Where are you? Bring me a hundred plutonium gold coins!”

A few minutes later, there was a creaking sound at the door to the throne room. The two doors opened and a servant with a light brown leather case entered the room.

“Give the money to this boy.” - King Owen ordered.

Receiving the sack of money from the servant, Jack staggered off balance and almost fell because the bag was much heavier than he thought.

Jack untied the top of the bag, and inside were dozens of shiny gold coins. Jack reached into the bag and pulled out a handful of coins to check.

These coins appear to be rather crudely machined, with some metal edges left over. And the size of each coin is also not uniform. However, their similarity is that on both sides of each coin there is an image of a laurel branch and a sun minted on it.

'Um, that looks delicious!'

Suddenly realizing that he was looking at them too closely, Jack quickly stuffed the coins in his hand into his pocket and tied the mouth of the leather case.

“This money should be enough to last you for a while. So… Jack Christopher, good luck to you.”

"Thank you, sir."

And then, Jack was led out of the palace. From now on, Jack will have to do his best to survive in this world. Depending on the choices he makes, Jack's life will have ups and downs, ups and downs, and perhaps a few small moments of happiness... But that's the future.

'Um, now you have a ton of money in your hand, get something to eat first!'

----0o0---

It's been two hours since Jack left the royal palace, and now he's still wandering aimlessly among the crowds.

As he walked, Jack thought about the future. But since he had the money in hand anyway, it shouldn't have been that difficult. Lost in thought, Jack tripped and fell on his hooves. Just as he hung up the line, he saw a hand reach out in front of him.

"Are you okay, young man? Be careful on the road? Ha ha, is it too early in the morning to have too much?"

"Thanks... Huh?"

Jack looked up, but what he saw was a bit disconcerting… A stout middle-aged man with wagging cat ears and tail.

'Masquerade!?'

'Um, no, this is obviously a beastkin. But if it's really a guy in disguise then... oh my god..."

"Why are you looking at me so intently, young man? Are you seeing a beastman for the first time or something?"

"Ah... Maybe so."

The beastkin race is one of the highly intelligent races that coexist with humans in this world. In terms of appearance, they don't look too different from humans, except for the addition of animal features such as tails, ears or horns.

"Ha ha! Maybe the villagers are new to the village? Well, from now on, remember to be more careful when walking, bye."

"Hmm, he's really friendly. But maybe we should pay attention to the road as well." Jack mumbled.

This city has European-style architecture. The brick houses are built close to each other, creating narrow alleys. Because Jack is at a busy market in the city, both sides of the road are full of shops and stalls that are actively inviting customers.

In the center of the city is the royal palace, the castle is magnificent and magnificent, with the national flag of the sun fluttering on the top of the tallest tower.

The paved road is a bit rough, but it is very clean. In the distance, one can see a huge wall that encloses the whole city and protects it from outside dangers.

Most of the houses here are of similar design. Important buildings such as palaces or synagogues are designed to be splendid and prominent to easily attract the eye.

The market was crowded with people passing by, the voices of merchants offering and buyers bargaining vibrantly. Most of the people here were human, but there were still a few beastmen walking around. Their costumes are quite simple but neat and clean.

The enticing scent of food being cooked at the stalls easily made Jack ravenously hungry. He immediately chose a cart selling meat on skewers to buy breakfast for himself.

"Oh, hello guest!"

The pungent scent of spices soaking the skewers and the sizzling sound of grease dripping onto the hot coals stimulated Jack's appetite even more, drooling already.

"Ugh, how much is a skewer?"

"Ah, 5 Souls a skewer, cheap but delicious! Buy it!"

'Wait, 5 Souls? The currency of this place? So how much is this one gold coin?' Jack felt awkward when he suddenly realized he didn't know anything.

'Um, you forgot to ask, didn't you? ...Goof.'

'Ah, never mind!'

Jack opened the sack and peeled off a gold coin to pay for the meat skewers. However, instead of taking the money, the salesman just gaped and stared at the coin in Jack's hand and then back at Jack's face.

“You… Do you have any other coins?”

Hearing the salesman not accepting his money, Jack suddenly felt guilty. He was afraid that the king had given him fake money.

"Huh? Eh!? B-Can't these coins pay for food?" Jack asked panicking.

"Who the hell would use a Pluton to pay for skewers? I don't have any change? Did you just fall from the sky?"

'So money is worth too much?' Realizing the problem, Jack breathed a sigh of relief.

"S-Sorry, but I only have this one coin." – Jack smiled wryly and said awkwardly.

The salesman's face showed surprise, but then he calmed down and calmly gave Jack instructions.

"What the hell!? Then you should go change it?

"Oh, is that so? Thank you!"

Listening to the shopkeeper, Jack took his bag of money to exchange. However, from behind, a figure rushed over, snatching the bag of money in his hand. Everything happened so quickly that by the time Jack regained consciousness, the robber had disappeared into the crowd, along with his bag of money.

"THIPPING!!!"

'Goof!!! Don't want to chase!!!'

Jack jumped after him, jostling through the crowd, trying to find the robber. He caught a glimpse of him running into an alley and immediately chased after him. In the end, the alley led him to a dead end, and the robber was nowhere to be seen.

Completely exhausted, Jack slouched. He knelt down and cried out in anger and despair.

"No!!! Bastard bandits!!! That money was supposed to be my way of life, now that it's gone, what should I do?"

'Um, Fool, now I'll repeat what I said. Can honor make you full? By the way, if you're free, check your pockets.'

Jack realized there was something lumpy in his pocket, so he got up and pulled it out to have a look.

"T... Money!!!"

Jack felt overjoyed when he realized that what was in his hand were gold coins. That's right, when he first received the money from King Owen, he had a few cents in his pocket!

This time, Jack used his two hands to hold his coins tightly, as he entered carefully and looked at them like a thief. Maybe this looks suspicious, but Jack doesn't care, he won't let anyone touch his money even if he dies.

Standing in a nearby alley, a black shadow had watched Jack from the moment he was robbed until now, then, he snapped his fingers and disappeared like a mist.

----0o0---

After a while, Jack also found the building with the sign 'Astoria Kingdom Financial Management Facility Branch' hanging on the front. Three stories high and painted an elegant blue, it stood out from the myriad of brown brick houses surrounding it.

Also, about what was written on the sign, although Jack could only see a jumble of letters, he could still understand what it was. Back then, people in the market were all writing in them, so this must be the language of this world.

'Um, what are you waiting for standing out here?'

Entering the building, Jack went straight to the counter and sat down. He placed his hands on the counter and slowly put down the gold coins.