Alvus walks the porch and addressed everyone in and out of the clinic.

"Listen up, everyone! With the help of Hero Beowulf, we found the cure!" Cheers erupted. I don't even want to raise my head.

I just stood at the back near the door to the infirmary, my eyes closed to hold in the tears and both fists clenched. Had I used a lower grade potion, Helen would have healed Mortimer before he died. She has the resistance skill, but the potion I used was too strong. What is the use of resisting off sixty, seventy percent of, say a million when one has way less than a thousand?

Surprise hits me when I get a moist and soft sensation on both my cheeks. Two pairs of arms wrap around me and I open my eyes to find myself in the warm embrace of my brides.

"A hero is a shining bastion of hope. You can't sulk now, people are watching," Helen whispers.

"What do you want us to do to cheer you up, my hero? We need your smile right now," Marcy asks.

Zahariel comes and punches me in the stomach, pushing the air out of my lungs. "Have the resolve to own your mistakes. Have the hope to yearn for a brighter day. Grief even bigger than this is coming your way, hero. The signs are as clear as a summer day. Evil won't wait for you to mourn the fallen. Honor their sacrifice and loss by standing tall against the tides of darkness."

I would have collapsed if Helen and Marcy were not holding me.

It hurts! This brat, tier 4 race is a cheat! "! Is this your of 'knocking some sense into some'?"

The seraph suddenly kneels in front of me.

"I am sorry! I am terribly sorry for doubting you!" His voice broke. It's funny. "I doubted your identity, mistook you for an enemy. But there is no way an enemy would have such a heart. He would not cry for a town boy he barely knew."

What is this guy babbling about? Dude, you are glowing. Stop it, its embarrassing. I'm speechless though. I can barely breathe because of the punch.

Zahariel continues, "If it is you, then this world that has run stale forever has a chance! Let me help you!" I don't understand. What is he saying? Hasn't Zahariel helped a lot already? "I may be the last of my kind, but there is an important task we the Nine are entrusted with..."

"Why are you spouting this ominous and foreshadowing stuff like that? I thought you would be the mascot character or maybe the comic relief..."

I shut my mouth as he threatens to punch me again. Why did he do that again? And what is this 'mistook for an enemy' thing?

"Be serious for a while. We need you. Your moral compass may be broken, but it is the best we can hope. Bad things are coming. You have seen the signs."

"And you want me to fight these bad things, right? Fighting them or not they are coming for me, I am sure of it. Say, does this recruitment of yours come with a dental insurance? Count me in!"

"I don't know what you are talking about, but if cleaning your teeth every day is what it takes to have you onboard, I'll do it!"

"I was joking, my teeth grow back in minutes. It is easier to just pull them out than cleaning. But are we doing it here?"

"Yes. We need believers as witnesses. The timing is perfect."

He draws a flaming sword out of nowhere and stabs the floor with it. Then he continues to speak now with a booming voice and his head low. His feathers' golden barbs glow and soon both wings are like a gentle night light.

"Let all who witness this know. This one in front of me is he who will break the shackles of this world. I pledge myself to his service now and ever as I once pledged to the ancient gods. My wings are his wings, my sword is his sword. His enemies are my enemies. On my blood and my divinity, be anointed."

I feel hot from the inside out. Not a painful kind of hot, but still something burns in me. Zahariel is now glowing like a theater searchlight now. His voice gains depth and reverberates inside my skull. The way the people around are looking at us is strange. They can't figure out what is happening.

"Anointed one, be blessed by the light so darkness never finds a home in your heart. Blessed one, be graced with the strength of heaven so evil perishes by your hands. Gracious one, be purified by the fire so you can, in turn, purify the world below the heavens."

And then he stands up and pats both my shoulders with the sword. I want to scream but have no voice. Something burns in me...

"This is our covenant. I am Zahariel the Seraph, the Seventh of the Nine. Let the glory of this moment be sung in the ages to come. For the most improbable of all heroes is born today."

Cheesy lines. You suck at adlib, Zahariel.

Title Hero awarded.

Those recognized by the higher powers and a large group of people for their willingness to act, selflessness, noble qualities, and outstanding achievements.

Grants a buff to all parameters inversely proportional to the odds.

Hello, pleased to finally talk to you. I've been watching you since your rebirth.

I'd love to chat with you but we can't talk too much right now or they will find me. I only hope you can reach me here before them. "Help me Grendel, you are my only hope."

Cya soon. Kisses, darling. They told me to write "This message will self-destruct in 10 seconds" here, but I have no idea why.

Damn. This last message was in good old English. And indeed it vanished after 10 seconds even though I was staring holes into it.

My legs give in but the girls are still holding me tight. It is almost like they were pinning me for Zahariel's rite. But I am not hurt, just dizzy.

"We are your giants today," Marcy whispers in my ear.

"And for as long as you want," Helen completes.

"Did you agreed to do it?"

Marcy shakes her head, "No. The brat acted on his own."

"But it was pretty. You deserve the recognition. And much more," Helen finishes sharing her thoughts.

They take me to an empty bed and I decide to take some well-earned rest. It is too much to digest at once. What was that message? What is the system? It is too game-like to be something natural. Zahariel told the gods created the system with the help of the two summoned heroes to fight the monsters. Of course, such a system would need maintenance. Operators and admins. That is what you get for randomly summoning teenagers from Earth. There is some crazy stuff that can be explained by mismanagement of the system. Like having an appraisal skill that works for glass cups but not for clay cups. Heck, I've picked up a dozen of them.

The system probably allows people to make up their own skills as I did with Marcy. Or even make up a whole new job. Like a learning algorithm. One that has operated on its own for countless millennia. And probably awakened an A.I. of its own. If someone cracks my skull open and there are metal bones and a red eye underneath it I'm quitting this world.

No, wait. This has already happened. There was brain matter in that dirk that was stuck to my forehead. And bone fragments. I'm safe. I don't need to go beat some bikers and steal their sunglasses. It would be a pain finding any.

It is no use speculating. "I'm going to sleep, wake me up if you need something."

I wake up with Helen's hair on my face. She is sleeping next to me. Sitting on a chair by the bed is Marcy, half-awake and with a blanket wrapped around her. It is obviously night by the lack of ambient sounds. Or by the sound of several snorts in the other rooms.

"Hello, Marcy."

"Hey, loverboy. How are you?"

"I'm alright. I wasn't hurt. Whatever that fire sword was it didn't harm me."

"Huh. Zahariel told me so. Glad to see that you are feeling better."

"Why are you in that chair, you are going to hurt your back if you sleep like that. Come to the bed."

"There is no room. Helen needed your 'healing powers' more than me."

I push Helen aside and notice her face is flushed. She went overboard again. "How is she?"

"Overdid it as always. She would heal the people in the wax room and then Zahariel had to heal her because she almost got herself near death several times. And someone forgot to invite us back to the party, so we couldn't see the status."

"Wow, sorry about that. I'll leave the bed now. Come inside and warm yourself. I'm not sleepy."

"And what is the fun of getting in bed without you?"

"Stop joking and come rest in a proper place now. I'll give you all the fun you want later."

Her eyes sparkle, "Really?"

"Yes, sure. As if it would be bad to play with either of you. Or both," I open a wide grin.

"You know, maybe the three of us can fit in there, there might be time for some heroic deeds."

"This is not the time neither the place for this. Go to sleep. It is an order. I'll punish you later if you don't."

Helen opens an eye and grumbles, "Shut up you two, I need to sleep. Go fool around elsewhere for all I care!" An XSR grumpy Helen card.

I get off the bed and gently shove the redhead in it. "Until tomorrow." A kiss on both and I'm free. Where are my clothes?

I make myself presentable, get out of the room and into the clinic corridor. It is dark. I use a bit of magic and make a flame in my finger. The nurse girl is sleeping on a couch at a corner of the long corridor. She wakes up with the creaking of the door.

"Hey, Mr. Hero, feeling better?" She asks in a low voice.

"Yes, I was just tired. Do you know where is Alvus or Zahariel?"

"They are both awake and in the garden. This way." She begins to stand up but I stop her.

"No. You must rest too. I can find the way, thanks."

I follow the cold draft that insists on getting past the door and find the way to the garden.

Outside it seems Zahariel is talking to a pipe-smoking Alvus.

The apothecary takes the pipe out of his mouth, smiles and greets me, "Hey Beowulf, how are you feeling."

"I was just tired. But it would take more than a real flaming sword in my guts to take me out. By the way, Zarr, what was that?"

"Nothing. It was meant to be a symbol of me investing in divine power in you, but you already hold more divine power than I have now, so it was just an act."

I stop to let the angel's words sink in for a while.

"Ah! When I ate that crystal..."

"Yes. Some of that power was returned to me when you saved me with your blood, but most of it still remains within you."

"Hold a second. How much does Alvus know?"

"I revealed what I am to everyone present. Just that."

Alvus chips in, "If you say that the wing-beastkin race Zahariel belongs to is called 'seraph' not many people will raise an eyebrow. I wouldn't, for one. Humanity seems to have lost much knowledge."

I make a concerned expression and ask the airhead angel, "And about me?"

"That you are a hero? And you have 'special powers'?"

I turn to address Alvus, "Alvus, sorry. It is not that I do not trust you, but knowing the whole truth will be a burden to you."

"Kid, everyone has their secrets. There is an ancient saying that goes 'there are no saints in this world anymore'. But if those two girls I've known their entire lives trust you enough to put their lives in your hands, that is good enough in my book," the aged apothecary tells me with a smile on his face.

"Fine. When the time comes, I'll reveal everything to you. But you will be shocked."

"More shocked than when some traveler came out of nowhere and saved this town from certain doom, twice? I doubt it. You could be a monster wearing human skin for all I care," he says with a serious face.

I hear a snort suppress a laugh from someone that fell from the heavens.

My poker face fails and I laugh too. The serious mood has gone away.

Between laughs, I tell Alvus, "Do you remember when those kids, Cloude, Marcy and the other one came screaming they had found a troll in the woods? It was me!"

Zahariel doesn't seem to be enjoying the jokes. He is fidgeting.

Alvus scolds us, "Stop joking and laughing so loud, you are going to wake up the patients."

"Sorry, sorry. I think I'll find a place to crash. Tomorrow I want to get out of town early and head east to found a monster nation."

"Invite me to visit it when you are done. I am sure it will be quite the sight." And again he tells me this with a neutral face and a 'looking forward to it' tone.

"Sure. Hey, I want you to have this," I open the item box and get one of my horns out. It is one of those I broke when I had to impersonate a flame gorilla, "Hold onto this horn. It will help you later."

He picks up the two-feet-long horn and asks, "What monster is this horn from?"

"I told you. It is mi..." I am interrupted by Zahariel. He has a face that says 'I'm sorry I messed up'.

"Stop joking around! I have something to tell you... I might have done something really bad that hurt you."

What is up with this timing? Was he waiting for a time with us alone?