Hero Chapter 39: The Story he conjured (Patreon)

Using Transformation to alter memories was a brand-new experience for Keyaru—even in DanMachi it felt like a straight shot out of a “hypnosis/conditioning” series.

He made adjustments one by one, wiping out everything in these adventurers’ memories about tailing Lili and what happened in the Dungeon, then rebuilt them.

He even re-cast parts of their personalities.

When he was done, he also healed their injuries.

Keyaru sat down on the ground—spent. The drag of total mana depletion was overwhelming; casting at this intensity was exhausting.

Seeing Lili’s worried look, he answered evenly:

“From here on… follow my lead.”

“Okay.”

Lili didn’t know how he’d rewritten memories, but the effects of Heal had already shattered her common sense.

A severed arm—whole again.

As a bottom-rung supporter, the only comparison she could think of was the “Silver Saint” Amid. But even she couldn’t do this.

Impossible.

Lili knew plenty of adventurers crippled by Dungeon wounds. If they learned Keyaru could heal like this… she couldn’t even imagine the fallout.

Noticing Drake stirring, she looked up. “He’s waking.”

—

“So what you’re saying is…”

“That bastard Zanis has been controlling us with the god of wine this whole time, making us slog in the Dungeon—when the wine itself is dirt cheap?”

“And the Familia’s chaos… that’s his doing!”

Fully lucid again, Drake sat there dazed. He glanced at supporter Lili, then at the unfamiliar, fresh-faced boy.

He pieced it together.

“We came to the Dungeon on Zanis’s orders—to kill Liliruca before she could break free of the god of wine and threaten his dictatorship!”

“That’s right.”

“That’s exactly it.”

As the one orchestrating this “event,” Keyaru spoke with grave sincerity. He swept his gaze over the adventurers and hammered at Zanis:

“As adventurers, we came to Orario to carve our own path, not to be someone’s tools. Do you really want to stay god of wine addicts?”

“…”

Drake shook his head at once. The memories were vivid: the valis his party had bled for in the Dungeon, then the humiliation of buying wine from Zanis. Savings gone; life still threadbare.

Freed from the god of wine, he had no desire to go back. He felt a strange gratitude toward Lili for breaking that shackle.

But Keyaru knew that alone wouldn’t make Drake an ally.

“Lili can do more than cut god of wine,” Keyaru said, face set. “We’ve found a lead that could topple Zanis’s hold over the Familia.”

“But time is tight…”

“We have no other allies, and we’ll be hunted by the Familia. We may not have time to gather everything we need to take Zanis down.”

Topple Zanis’s rule over the Soma Familia?

Just hearing it made Drake trade looks with his team—like hyenas catching a whiff of blood. Finally he turned back to Keyaru. The boy’s gentle face held a resolve you couldn’t fake. And he’d handed them something this important without fearing they’d turn on him.

Maybe the kid wasn’t lying.

Choking back his excitement, Drake’s eyes lit. “We’ll help. What do you need from us?”

“I need you to keep ‘hunting’ us—don’t let other adventurers get involved. If any outsider party tries to step in,” Keyaru said, dead serious, “warn us first.”

“If possible, Lili can help other members break free of the god of wine, and we can unite the Familia from within.”

“We will.”

Say this: even as a rough sketch, Keyaru’s plan had Drake hooked. If Zanis fell—who would take captain and vice-captain?

As for Keyaru’s “unite everyone” line—he conveniently ignored it. There were only two chairs. If outsiders joined, could he still seize a seat?

And if Lili could cure everyone’s wine-bound minds, it would cement the story.

Drake pounded his chest. “Helping you isn’t just about ending Zanis’s dictatorship. It’s about proving he was wrong.”

“We know what to do—stall for time. We’ll tell Zanis Lili’s moving with an adventurer party and we haven’t had a shot.”

“Good.”

“And don’t fall under the god of wine again. If Zanis presses you, say you haven’t saved enough money.”

The rewrite worked beautifully.

At least for now, there’d be no Soma hounds on their heels. As his mana crept back, Keyaru pushed himself to his feet.

Watching Drake’s group disappear into the tunnels, Lili’s feelings were tangled. Their oppression had been a nightmare she couldn’t shake—yet with Keyaru’s memory wipes and edits, they were suddenly on the same side?

Truthfully, if Keyaru wanted, he could use this trick to prop up puppets, seize the Soma Familia, and rule from the shadows.

She knew exactly what kind of storm that would kick up in Orario.

Even though he hadn’t brought it up, Lili knew what came next for her. She looked up at the boy whose bright smile somehow felt cold.

Her voice was unreadable.

“So next… it’s my turn, isn’t it?”

“You hold so many of my secrets. If it were me, I’d rewrite my memories—safest move for you, right?”

“In theory.”

With Transformation he could erase everything and then rebuild it—DIY a “perfect” girl to taste.

But to Keyaru, that was meaningless.

A pretty face matters; an interesting soul does, too. Flaws and all—only then do they truly exist to him. Otherwise, what’s the difference from a mannequin?

Looking at Lili, who had fully accepted her fate, he said it straight:

“But you don’t need to overthink it—because from the start, in this deal of ours…”

“You were always betting everything as the price.”