She was going to make money, too. The story revoles about her being captured and his rescuing her.
Horse puckey. 
When did Robert E. Howard write Conan stories? Long before your “real Fantasy” stuff.
He killed the guy in charge, but the citizens liked him, even supported him when the bad guys staged a revolt to mislead tehm, knowing they would be killed.
Jesus, what have you got against him? He smote the Bad Guys right and left, be they wizards or tough guys; supported the weak and rescued the girls. Christ, I wouldn’t call him a Boy Scout to his face, but at the very least he was the typical Cowboy hero. Owen Wister’s Virginian wasn’t a Nice Guy but he came out well in the end.
Compare Howard’s protagonists to the stories of, say Lord Dunsany rather than contemporary writers who have benefited from Howard, Dunsany and Tolkein.