"Grandma, what is a hero?"It was one of my favorite subjects since I could read and recognize images. A hero is a person with superpowers who fights evil and saves the weak.
When I was little I was fascinated by these stories, the superhero comes when you need him most, saves the day, and seduces the girls, well may not be the last part, but he was still meant to be loved by everyone.
"One day I will be a hero too!"
What a thing to say when you're so young, but in this world miracles can happen.
I was 12 when I did my appraisal, inspectors from all over the kingdom were traveling through towns to appraise future potential, in the face of the increasing number of rifts, and it was probably the happiest day of my life.
"You are from the Hero branch."
Dreams come true, I wanted it so much, I helped people so much, to live in the name of heroes, and finally, I was one. Hero is also the strongest class, I trained a lot alone or with other kids and never got beaten.
The world is in danger, they say, hope is crumbling, they groan, a world like this is not Hell, it is a Hero's dream come true!
But life is also a path paved with ridiculous complications.
"Among the emissaries? The strongest would be the Avatars."
That's what an adventurer who stopped by my village told me when I asked him about the strongest heroes. Was I not clear enough? Did he really think I was speaking rhetorically?
"An Avatar is like you and me, but they can do so much more, you could be a berserker with magic, you could be a wizard with swordsmanship, there's even this girl in the capital, a tank healer and she can control spirits, imagine this talent when she is older!"
Talent? Talent? What is the significance of this? Why do you fantasize about someone just because they are a little luckier than others? A true hero starts from zero and climbs the ranks, he is not pampered simply because he was born luckier than the others! I will prove my point.
After I practiced a lot, my grandmother wanted me to take over her shop, but it's stupid, honestly. I am an emissary, a strong one, and I have the strongest job of all! I will become the most powerful emissary and we will no longer have to depend on this shop, wait, grandmother.
Years have passed, I am an E-rank Hero and the strongest emissary of my village, Sofiya. I trained every day, there is no emissary school there, so I have to train alone or with other passing emissaries.
There are more and more E-rank rifts around the village, emissaries pass once in a while, so people are getting worried that an outbreak could happen and no one would save us, grandma has been very sick for a while. I'm about to enroll in a guild and will buy her all the medicine she needs, people often blame me for trying to be an emissary instead of helping her at the shop, why does no one understand that I'm doing this for her too?
One year has passed, and I am now definitely the strongest in the region, among E-ranks of course. No emissary of this rank has been able to defeat me, I've beaten 3 Avatars too, they were strangely weak, who is wrong now? Hard work beats talent, I don't have this cheat of life but look at me, with only work and discipline made me better than them.
Everything is perfect, I completely recovered from Grandma's death a few months ago. People blamed me and some even said that she got sicker because I couldn't help her.
It's so easy to criticize, if you knew she needed help, why didn't you come when she was suffering? But I don't care, that's how you are after all, and soon you'll be licking my boots.
A rift has been found very close to the village! We called the guild association but got no answer, plus we can't confirm when it appeared, it could open at any time... No! This is not the time to be afraid, this is what I have been waiting for so long, I will prove them wrong, I will show them the power of a true hero.
I made a nice speech to the villagers, I promised them I would succeed, but they kept saying I lacked experience, can you be less ridiculous? How could I gain experience without any opportunity? Take a step back and applaud when someone decides to sacrifice themselves for you. I asked for other emissaries, even if they were weaker, but only one accepted, and worse, he was also an avatar.
We are now in front of the rift, it's a small purple gate that diffuses a little energy, I can't wait! This is my moment.
"Alright, it's just the two of us, I'll make sure we make it out alive... Oh, by the way, what can you do?"
"Hm… Anything, it depends."
What kind of answer is this? Tell me you're useless without telling me.
" Can you be more precise? So we can plan a good strategy.
"It really depends, I'll see what's inside and figure something out."
"sigh… GOOD! But try not to be a burden, I don't want any of us to die."
As expected, an avatar is always trouble. My biggest fear is that he's actually incompetent and might die, a hero doesn't let people die, don't make it hard for me!
We entered the rift and surprisingly it was easier than expected. The rift was a swamp with a few reptilians, I did a number of them, what a spectacle! If only people could see that. The other guy stayed behind and started shooting purple mist at the monsters, is this some kind of magic? The monsters became slower so I guess it was a debuff. An avatar debuffer? Interesting, I hadn't thought about it but it's actually a good support for my power. We defeated the boss and were congratulated by the villagers.
"You're not bad, I like your debuff skills, you lack style and strength but you make up for it with that. I would have liked to fight the boss 1vs1 but it was satisfying."
"Yeah, yeah, good for you man, I could rely on you. Now can we share the stones we got inside?"
"Hmm? Share? You want to use them?"
"Yeah, I mean, we fought together so we should share the treasure equally, right?"
What does this guy say? These are soul stones, does he know how much they are worth? If we sell them, we could distribute the money to the villagers, that's what heroes should do! I was wrong, an avatar will always be an avatar, gifted with life and greedy at heart.
We decided to share them equally, I would sell the mines and help the poor and he would do whatever he wanted with his. We are so efficient that we no longer need to call the guild and apparently our reputation extends beyond the village.
Later that year, 2 girls asked to join us, a beautiful healer and a little girl, also very cute. My dream is becoming so real that it scares me a little, I have never been so motivated. I want to be closer to them, especially Sana, she's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, she looks like an angel and what's more, she's a healer. She really fits the heroine role and she smells so good.
Lilith is very cute too, she has a sharp tongue but I think she's just a tsundere. I'm going to work harder and I can't wait to see how our relationship goes.
"You are very strong Lilith, I'm impressed that you're just a newbie."
"Fufu, right? I'm not going to let Dora look down on me anymore."
"Hmm? Did he do that? What an idiot! He can't fight but he underestimates you."
"Haha, don't worry, I'll just need to work a little more on my speed, and I'll win the bet, I'll do it! I can't wait to see his face."
"Hahaha, yes, show him, but why the speed?"
"To be faster, of course, I could only kill one monster at a time if it doesn't move, but now with the elemental stones, I can surprise them and I can even land horizontal strikes on them! Wanna see?"
"Elemental?... Did you... Did you use elemental stones?"
"Yes, the ones that increase physical strength but Dora said I have to balance it with dexterity and agility, with speed, can you imagine? I'm a warrior, not a swordswoman! And to make matters worse, it really did work…"
"But, Lilith, the stones could be so useful to the village if we sold them, you can't use them!"
How come I'm the only one thinking about this? And now she looks at me like I'm the crazy one.
"We'll be more useful to everyone if we get stronger, so that's okay, right?"
"But I… You don't need to try so hard, I'm here for everyone. Rely on me more, please."
"Uh, what? Thanks but we are a team, I have to become strong too, you said we would become the strongest team and create a guild right? I can't slack off."
I tried very hard to persuade her but things didn't go very well, Lilith still sticks to Dora and uses the stones as he tells her. I don't know what fun she gets from hanging out with him, he barely talks and he's so weak, but it's her loss, I'll have Sana instead, she also likes to talk about the cheating power of avatars with me.
A few months later, the situation is only getting worse. I saw Sana and Dora the other day, when did they become so close? Why did this have to happen? I tried to explain to her how shameful avatars are, but she doesn't understand that just because they have more power doesn't mean they have a better future. What's the point? No one is more selfish and greedy than Dora, he convinced them all not to use the money to buy a house as our HQ, why would she date him?
We've had people offer to join us, but no one is very strong... Nor match my tastes, since Dora had Lilith and Sana, I'll have all the other girls! No one will mind if I only recruit girls, Dora doesn't care about the team and the others are too busy drooling over him, but it won't last much longer! Another girl joined us, a spearwoman, she looks a little tough, but I'm going to show her how awesome I am.
"Why do you want to do everything by yourself? Dora is also the leader, right? I thought he was the one who trained us and you were the ace of the team, you're not helping out there."
I was wrong, no one understands, no one knows what a hero means, and no one wants to encourage hard work, I hate you, I hate you all! I... If only he wasn't here.
We recruited another 2 members, I chose a thug guy from a bar, he also hates avatars and respects me a lot, how ironic, wish you were a girl, but at least he can do some work for me undercover, he can say out loud what I'm secretly thinking. The last person is another girl, she is so cute... She always walks around with her white teddy bear and her monotone voice adds to her charm. I'll try to be a big brother to her first, she's the kuudere type so it won't be that difficult.
After our last rift, I take back what I said, she sticks to him too, she even gave him a nickname. This is the last time I recruit a girl. I'm having a drink with Erick and he hates him too, we talked a lot and we thought about a good solution, we're going to take advantage of his lack of motivation to kick him out.
We spent a few weeks criticizing him behind his back, to the villagers and others, one day Erick saw him enter Marie's room, I don't know if it's true but, hey, nice timing. Sana is starting to reason too, she compliments me more and more, feeds me at the restaurant, and watches my training. This game is finally getting interesting.
Tonight I feel like something special is going to happen. Someone knocks on my door; I open it and see Sana wearing only a dressing gown, almost transparent.
"Hey, did I wake you up?"
"N-No, I was… I was thinking about you to be honest."
"Oh? In what context?"
This look, am I imagining things? She's offering herself, right? I can... I can try it...
I try to caress her cheek, don't get angry!... She... She doesn't react? She smiles!!! She agrees with the idea! Finally! The world is finally smiling at me! I won! Take that, Dora!
I invited her into my room and I will never forget that night. We're secretly dating now and Dora doesn't even know, how amazing!
After that I convinced everyone to kick him out, they rejected the idea at first so I had to recruit a new girl to challenge him, but he made it easier and left. I finally have my girls' party! My harem guild is awesome!
But happiness and despair are way too close... A few weeks passed and we were D-rank, I heard that the hero was the strongest because he reached his peak earlier, but I never understood the drawback. At some point I stop evolving, so other professions will catch up and surpass me until I evolve to Legend class.
The others are very strong, too strong, Morgiana, Lilith, and Liliana did a great job last time, Marie and Sana are good support too, but I'm starting to have trouble fighting... Even Erick can't do big things. Why? Don't give me the role of the guy who's a burden.
Morgiana is such a bad talker, she always blames me for spending money on gifts for Liliana and Sana, I was trying to impress them, but I'll pay it back later!... When we win... Maybe I should use stones? But they cost too much, and I can't tell them to go to the lower rifts to help me catch up... What kind of hell am I living in? Even Sana starts talking about Dora. You idiot, you don't talk about him when we're alone...
I hate this world, I hate life, y'all, go to hell, I don't care anymore. Sana did it, she caused it. The idiot is back and with his friends. Everyone is licking their boots, you idiots, you're so good at this.
He said I wouldn't get stones from his raids, and you all accept that? Look at those smiles, damn you Morgiana, damn you Lilith, damn you all!!! But it won't last forever, I don't care. When he leaves, we take back D-rank rifts! It's your fault I'm under-leveled... He'll leave and you'll stay, but I swear on my life, you won't do what you're trying to do, Sana...