It seems a little odd that people are complaining about the geography and timing.
1) MC gets sent waaaaay up north to the Forest of Delavaza.
2) Fake hero gets sent to the south forest.
3) MC discovers he can teleport. He goes back, picks up the ladies, then teleports back.
4) MC teleports the 4 ladies BACK to the capital city. At this same moment, the fake Hero is getting his butt kicked by the demon bears in the forest to the south of the capital.
5) Fake Hero retreats and blames the loss on the soldiers. King then says that the soldiers need to train more. King realizes the fake Hero is a dud, but that they are stuck with him due to already convincing the public.
It seems to me that the timing and distances involved work. When they say “North Forest”, I’m sure that isn’t the same forest the MC purified because otherwise he would have killed the bears at the same time. Rather, I think it’s the north end of the forest to the south that the fake Hero went to.