Grandmasters.

They are Astria's best heroes, who possess abilities way beyond the human limit. Once only known as the Top Five, certain past events blurred the line between Master and Grandmaster adventurers. Nowadays, when someone talks about the Grandmasters, they think of the top heroes who appear in these two leagues.

There are currently sixteen of them. This number rarely ever changes, given the requirements necessary for one to achieve Master league status, not even talking of the Grandmaster ranks.

"And you say these numbers changed?" Stevie asked the friendly mage.

"Yeah." He nodded. "A new hero by the surname 'Omegle' has been climbing the ranks at an insane speed. Since the last Downdraught, she went from a top Silver rank hero straight to Master tier."

Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master and Grandmaster.

Seven different ranks, that can all be attributed to seven different level-range.

Each hero starts in the Bronze league. Once Level 15, they can climb into Silver tier by doing heroic deeds and evolving their Sigil.

Heroes from Level 20 to 30 are usually Silver ranked.

Those between 30 and 40 are Gold ranked.

From 40 to 50 are the most Platinum ranked heroes.

Those above Level 50 make up the most of Diamond tier.

While Master and Grandmaster rank has a greater level variety, most of the heroes there are above Level 60, and Grandmaster heroes are all Level 70, with two exceptions.

"What level are these two?" Stevie asked after taking another sip of his drink.

They sat down by a small round table while chatting. Stevie ordered himself a nice tea, while the two adventurers drank apple juice.

"Take a guess!" The warrior smiled playfully.

"Maybe… Are they both Level 80?"

"Nope!" The warrior shook his head. "One of them is Level 90, while the other is Level 0!"

Stevie was in the middle of drinking, and upon hearing the truth, she nearly choked on his tea. Coughing like a wild dog, he gasped for air and wiped the tea off of his mouth.

"Excuse me?" Stevie leaned onto the table.

"That's right!" The mage confirmed with a smile. "Both of them have very unique Sigils. One is said to bring the next evolution of Sigils, while the other… Well, let's just say nobody truly understands his Sigil. Most likely not even the user itself."

"Tell me more, please!" Stevie was fascinated by the top-ranking heroes.

The mage looked at the warrior who nodded with a smile. He reached into his inventory and brought out a book. It was not any kind of loot, but a small guidebook published by the guild themselves.

The warrior opened the book at a certain page and brought it before Stevie. What it entailed was the list of the top heroes in all of Astria.

[ – Master Tier – ]

[ 16. Sergeant Punch ]

[ 15. Omegle ]

[ 14. Bike Knight ]

[ 13. The Blind Sage ]

[ 12. Purple Witch ]

[ 11. Pizza Hero ]

[ 10. Somber Sand ]

[ 9. Gangai ]

[ 8. Slap-God ]

[ 7. Washing Machine-chan ]

[ 6. Phone Prophet ]

[ – Grandmaster Tier – ]

[ 5. Wing God ]

[ 4. Upman ]

[ 3. Neon Samurai ]

[ 2. Thunder Titan ]

[ 1. Lovely Lich ]

The sixteen best of Astria.

The boys were observing the names with excitement and fanboyish love. Stevie, however, had a horrified expression on his face.

"Washing… Machine… chan?" He repeated the name of the seventh strongest hero.

"That's right! She is a mysterious robot from another world!" The warrior smiled.

"No one really knows the true extent of her abilities, but she is super cool!" The mage added.

Stevie was frozen. He saw the doodle of an actual washing machine right next to the so-called seventh strongest hero.

Something boiled inside him. His face gradually turned red. A frown grew above his eyes as he clenched his fists.

"You're joking, right?" Stevie said with a venomous tone. "You're just trying to make a fool out of me, huh?"

The two adventurers were not scared by his sudden shift in mood. In fact, they celebrated it.

"See?" The mage turned towards the warrior. "Washing Machine-chan's ability works even from afar! Her 'Taunt' ability can perfectly steal anyone's attention!"

Stevie cocked his head aside with confusion. Still, he did find it odd how quickly he became angry over something so… stupid, to say the least.

"Alright." Stevie sighed. "Tell me more about these top-ranking heroes. Who are your favorites?"

He thought this was a good way to gather information. After all, children love talking about their heroes.

And he was right on the money.

"Mine must be Thunder Titan!" The mage nearly cried from excitement. "He is an amazing robot knight who is the size of an entire village! And he can change his form into flying ships, large cannons, different vehicles… And he is so chivalrous!"

"Sergeant Punch is way better!" The warrior playfully pushed his friend. "Sergeant Punch is the manliest man in all of Astria! He is so muscular and strong! He even has his own army of manly men, called the Punch Army! I want to become a part of it when I grow up…"

Stevie scratched the back of his head and chuckled. He felt a bit excited too, despite never hearing about any of these heroes before.

"I guess the Blind Sage sounds interesting." Stevie pointed at the thirteenth highest-ranking hero. "He must be pretty strong to be so high up, despite being blind. That's… inspirational, I guess?"

As the two boys heard him choose the Blind Sage, their expressions changed. The excitement from their voice disappeared and changed to something gloomier.

"Oh, yeah. He is cool." The mage looked away.

"He is a blind sword master." The warrior added. "He was on a mission when the new set of heroes was summoned. Apparently, after hearing that one of the new heroes used a rapier, he sent a letter to the king that announced he was coming back."

The warrior held back the urge to cry.

"He is still on his way back and from all we've heard, he is pretty excited. Unfortunately, he does not know about the forest…"

Stevie was a bit confused about what he meant by forest. But as he repeated that word and the smell of smoke reminisced in his lungs, he knew exactly what and who they were talking about.

The burning forest, where Gabriel met his end. The two boys did not know Stevie was one of the heroes summoned with him, much less that he took part in his murder.

"That bastard…" Stevie gritted his teeth as he thought of Gabriel's face. Then, he continued aloud. "I guess he got what he deserved."

The two adventurers raised their eyebrows in unison as Stevie said those words.

"Excuse me?" The mage frowned. "The kind said he died while defending Astria from a vicious fire monster."

"Welp, that's not how it happened." Stevie shrugged. "That coward was the one who started the fire."

The warrior clenched his fists. He lunged across the table and held up Stevie by his clothes.

"How dare you talk like that? That man gave his life to defend Astria!"

"Hah, you think so? That man was a piece of shit! I'm happy he died in that forest!"

Other heroes in the bar were starting to take notice of them. More precisely Stevie, who just openly disgraced someone whom they thought to be a martyr of Astria.

The young warrior had enough of Stevie. He raised his fist and punched him right in the face.

"Son of a…" Stevie was about to retaliate, but something held back his hand.

As he turned around, Suzuki was behind him. His expression was serious.

"Mister Suzuki!" Stevie's eyes lit up as he saw his mentor. That same light quickly dispersed as Suzuki slapped him in the face.

"Have some respect for the dead." He said with a frown.

"B-But…" Stevie couldn't speak another word before being pulled out the front door.

In a matter of a few seconds they were already gone.

The adventurers returned their looks to their friends and continued chatting.

The two young adventurers were still upset. They paid for their drinks and left – they wanted to pay for Stevie's drink too, but the receptionist said there is no need for that. They will take some of the rewards from his next adventure as compensation.

Soon, only a few heroes remained in the guild.

The overworked receptionist leaned back in her chair and let out a loud sigh.

"Such a long day… At least I got to see Suzuki." She said with a warm feeling in her chest.

Behind her chair, in the shadow of an old creaky door, a pair of blue eyes peeked out.

It was Vi, the one who painted Suzuki's, Stevie's, and many more's Sigil. She saw everything that went down, from the very beginning to the bitter end. She was still standing there, staring at the cold trail of Suzuki.

"Murderer." She whispered, before disappearing behind the door.