Keyaru, a youngster who just recently turned fourteen, returned from the woods. Blessed with the jade eye, he was chosen as the Lady of Healing's champion once more. And the first thing he'd do was boost his resistance to poison by munching venomous plants and shrooms while getting a handle on his own power. A normal healer couldn't mend himself, for they needed to manually maintain all of their body processes, both physical and magical, which was clearly out of their range of abilities. As for Keyaru, even though he lost his might, the lad knew everything about his healing spells and human biology, although his extensive knowledge didn't stop there. Since his mana pool was not that big yet, it took only four casts to drain it all up.
And then, seemingly out of nowhere, some inconspicuous harvester saw Keyaru. A man turned out to be...
"There he is! Come here, you little fugitive! " Another familiar face. He was strong and bulky, and he was two heads taller than the apple farmer. He was enraged enough to toss away his sickle and dash toward his prodigal... son. Yes, although the young man never called him this way, the black-haired villager was Anna's husband, who just now tried grabbing the lad's shoulder.
"Step away, Kurt, I'm going home." — said the apple farmer, hiding a tuft of poisonous grass behind his back. His red eyes, devoid of warmth, only fueled the man's anger.
"Step away? Step the fuck away after what you've pulled off? You must really have big guts to say that!" — the giant shouted while trying to smack the boy on the head and yet he failed miserably. Time after time, Keyaru avoided his strikes with pirouettes and side steppes. "Stop dodging, you brat!" Of course, the hero wouldn't. He was agile even without the voice from the erased future being there to enlighten him. And now all he had to do was to hold on and keep evading. Which happened sooner than expected. Tired of trying to catch his kid, Kurt made a long exhale and cooled down. Only then did Keyaru dare to speak.
"I did what must have been done, and I will not have you reprimand me for this." — coldly said the lad. By that time, he had started to grasp the feelings of that bitter martyr. He becomes him.
"Repri... Damn, you're a bold one. Listen, I understand if you wanted to become a grownup man in the woods, I can respect that, but did you even think about Annie? You know she cried after we couldn't find your sorry ass anywhere? " It finally came to him, and when it did, his ice façade shattered, and his exhausted face began to tremble.
"I… I just had no time to warn you. That's it." — Keyaru stated, slowly regaining his composure.
"Warn huh? Let's go, as far as I can tell, you've been starving." — said the harvester, with his palm finally reaching the lad. However, his large palm struck him on the back. At the end of the day, Kurt was a kind man. Impatient and rash, maybe, but he cared for his family. A family that Keyaru was a part of. And although Keyaru refused to be reprimanded by Kurt, Anna scolded him for a whole hour, after making an entire banquet just for him.
Consequently, Keyaru visited Alban's Village Elder, ignoring his dark-haired grandson, a talented carpenter with great prospects, if nothing happened to him, of course. They were not friends, they didn't know each other well enough to even speak casually. Either way, the old man offered the healer to go to the nearest town, where he'd have been granted an appraisal scroll. After all, the settlement was rich enough to afford one, although they'd also need a prominent mage. Keyaru nodded — although already knowing all too well who he was, the lad wouldn't want unnecessary attention. They'd go in a week or so, but this would of course never happen, for they wouldn't need it anymore after the fated princess' arrival.
Keyaru used his remaining time to stay in Alban to tend to his spring apple orchard and made further steps towards the invulnerability to poisons by looking for new deadly plants to eat. Now that he got it back, the healing magic once again held no secrets from its master. Not after casting it thousands, if not tens of thousands of times. Of course, Keyaru could just go out and start killing some monsters, but despite everything, it still took around twenty mana points to kill something, about seven times more than to mend. In the end, the boy would sit still. He'd have his chance to "rob" people of their powers later.
In the end, the day has come. And like all the rest, Keyaru faced it by picking apples with the help of Anna. Although now she'd seen something, the young man had been hiding for almost a week.
"Keyaru, what's with your right hand?"
"I dunno, it just popped out one day" — the lad lied, rubbing the mark of the blue bird.
"I see. You need to show it to a mage. It could be a curse." — the woman gave advice to her adoptive son. Keyaru answered with a smile. Many people know about the heroes, but so few understand them. She was right at the same time, though. Because for Keyaru, it was nothing but a curse, which poisoned his life with grief and suffering. "If it starts hurting, just tell us."
"What is this noise?" — asked the young healer, already knowing the answer. They went to see what was going on, which didn't take all that long. A crowd gathered around a luxurious carriage pulled by two priceless unicorns. Its convoy consisted of ten mighty mounted knights, clad in full sets of mythril armor. Their banner was of the Jioral's royal family. And here it was, the moment of truth. The carriage's door was opened, and the pink-haired girl of empyrean beauty and charm made her exit. As if she radiated the aura of sanctity, nobody could stop gazing at her, even for a moment. And her name was…
(https://ranobehub.org/api/media/64361 - SFW illustration)
"Greetings, my fair subjects! My name is Flare Arlgrande Jioral! The first princess of the Jioral kingdom and the hero of magic!" — benevolently presented herself as the caster in white and red clothes. The first princess, and a hero as well. Having such a big person, even as a guest, was honorable at the very least. What they didn't know, however, was that Flare had already mastered the fifth and sixth circles of elemental magic. With no human mage as her equal, she could blow the entire settlement with just a few words in the divine language. "Rejoice, for a hero has been born within you!" — pompously announced the sorceress. The already loud crowd got even more vocal. People wondered who was the lucky one. And the boy in question painted his eye in jade.
Race: Human
Name: Flare
Class: the Mage, the Hero
Level: 25
Mana; 155/155
Physical attack: 40
Physical defense: 25
Magic attack: 70
Magic defense: 55
Speed: 50
Abilities:
Destruction magic (all): 6-th circle
Battle arts: 2-nd level
Skills:
Boost to Mana regen: 2nd level. The skill of the Mage, boosts Mana regen by 10%.
Boost to Destruction magic: 2nd level. The skill of the Mage, boosts the Magic of Destruction.
Unrivaled caster: 2nd level. The exclusive skill of the Mage, the Hero. It unlocks all the schools of elementary magic. enables the casting of more powerful spells.
Boost to EXP: 2x. The skill of the Hero, doubles all the incoming EXP for the Hero and their party members.
Level cap break (on yourself): The skill that's exclusive to a Hero, releases the level cap.
Truly, even now, the princess was a mighty hero. And although (or, one might say fortunately) she was unable to raise the levels of others, Keyaru was not bothered at all. He wanted to see deeper.
Level cap: ∞
Potential:
Mana: 150
Physical attack: 70
Physical defense: 40
Magic attack: 140
Magic defense: 100
Speed: 80
Summary: 580
Not only did she have an infinite level cap, but this woman also surpassed Keyaru in potential by twenty points. At this point, the young man couldn't help but pity the weak humans, thinking they were blessed with only three hundred. Also, her magic attack was probably the strongest of anyone the lad had ever seen. Either way, his eye was painted back to red. Just in time, for his gaze met Flare's.
"So you are one of us?" — she asked, showing her mark, although not the bird, but a blue scouring flame.
"I... am a hero?" — Keyaru answered, trying to at least mimic the surprise.
"Your brand is one of heroes." — said the sorceress. Obviously, Keyaru wouldn't stop imitating astonishment, even though he just repeated the event from his erased past. This time his parents came to see him out.
"Keyaru, congratulations. Go, it's your chance!" — said Anna, with a broad smile on her face. Whereas Kurt dragged his ward away from the caster.
"It's your time, little man. You go there, you make it big, and you marry her. Got it? I can tell you, she's good for you." — it was the second time he had heard his foster father say this. And both times, Keyaru answered with a sore grin. Then he was just too shy. Now he knew what she really was. And yet...
"Sure, our kids will inherit my farm, for what it's worth." The youngster didn't want to upset his family. However, their happy faces filled him with pity.
"Let's go! It's time to unite our forces against the demon king and save the world!" — at last, Flare took Keyaru's hand and took him to her chariot. The villagers cheered on while the newborn healer tried his best to hide his disgust.
Now that the unicorns had dragged them to Capital, there was no way back. He had to bear with this woman for a whole five-day trip.
"Hero Keyaru?"
"Sorry, Your Highness, I don't know if I'm the hero yet."
"Don't be afraid." He wasn't. He was merely preparing for the worst to come. "I am sure you are, and as your senior, I will teach you everything you need to know."
"Thank you, Your Highness."
"Stop that. We, heroes, are all equal, so you should just call me Flare. "
"I understood. Your... ahem, Flare. "
"See, not so bad. By the way, what is your class? "
"I… can't tell. I've just turned fourteen. "
"In that case, let's find out now." — said Flare before one of her armor knights gave her the scroll. During the entire encounter, the magician kept smiling, but there was no place for sincerity. The princess showed the apple farmer how to use the appraisal and he would listen, despite already knowing not only how to use one, but the process of making and altering it. Either way, he used the enchanted paper and got the same results as with the jade eye, just without potential.
"It's written here that I'm a healer." — Keyaru said, playing with pretended incomprehension. All this time her mask wouldn't budge, but now it shattered, and behind it the boy saw a bitter and angry vixen who snatched the scroll out of his hands and looked at it in disbelief. To her credit, though, Flare quickly got back to her role as a perfect saint.
"It is fine. Healers are great people, capable of treating the sick and wounded. " Yes, another lie. She never wanted a useless healer, only another cutthroat in her merry party. Why would she need one when she had elixirs? Keyaru could tell that she seriously considered murdering him to get someone different, with the only reason as to why not was the risk of this someone appearing out of Jioral's grip, maybe even on another side of the world.
Either way, for the rest of the trip, Flare and Keyaru would spend time talking about everything and nothing. He would speak about the crop market and how to cook wonders from seemingly simple things, while she enlightened him about her glorious knights and her even more glorious achievements, half of which were basically mass massacres with the use of magic. Oh, she could speak about arcane things for hours.
And then their carriage reached the walls of Capital. Keyaru had no illusions as to what was waiting for him inside, and yet, just like the charming princess next to him, the young man wore his mask well. But should the sheep's hide fall...