January 10th, year 788 of the Imperial calendar

""Big brother Arthur!""

Two children, 10 years of age ran towards Arthur as they saw his figure from afar.

One was a boy with blonde hair and green eyes, while the other was a cute little girl with purple hair and eyes.

Seeing this, Arthur opened his arms wide, and hugged the two children.

"Ellen! Luke!"

It was the weekends, and since Avaron was not so heartless as to make students attend school on such days, he had time to visit his orphanage in the town of Plexcious.

Releasing Arthur from the hug, the children bombarded him with questions.

"Big brother! Where is sister Marie?", Ellen asked in a worried tone.

"She's staying at the academy today to sort out some stuff with her friends. Don't worry, I will make sure she comes next time"

Luke then looked at Arthur with an inquisitive gaze.

"Big brother Arthur, how's the academy? Is it cool? Were there strong people?"

Arthur smiled wryly. Luke had always wanted to become a knight or an adventurer in the future. As such, it was no surprise that Luke was even more excited than Arthur himself when he became a Holy knight and got into Avaron.

"Mhm, it was amazing. The building are grand and magnificent, nothing like the orphanage. And of course there were many strong people. Avaron is one of the Great academies after all."

"But you must be the strongest right? I heard from miss Jasmine that you ranked first in the entrance exams!"

Arthur's face stiffened for a moment before he quickly smiled again and gave Luke his answer.

"Of course I am. I can beat up anyone that challenges me. You are strong, Luke. Maybe you could become stronger than me. But remember that your strength is only to protect yourself and the ones you loves, not to make someone suffer"

Arthur knew that he lied. In fact, this was the first time in years that he lied to someone. Well, thinking a little more about it, Arthur realized that he had also lied to Marie a few days ago.

'I can't believe I lied to two people in under a week', Arthur inwardly reprimanded himself.

But, he couldn't do anything about it. He didn't want Marie to be reckless and fight that guy, and he wanted to look cool in front of Luke after all.

Unaware of Arthur's thoughts, Luke's eyes sparkled at the prospect of growing up to be stronger than the coolest person in the world in his eyes.

"Of course, big brother Arthur. I want to be just like you when I grow up! Come on, let's get inside the orphanage, everyone will be overjoyed if they know that you're here to visit us!"

Ellen, who stayed silent since earlier, suddenly spoke up.

"Stupid Luke, you will never be as strong or handsome as big brother Arthur. Even if you do, I won't marry you. Arthur promised to marry sister Marie and me when I grow up after all"

Luke's face flushed red at Marie's words.

"W- what are you saying? Who said anything about me marrying you? A- and that won't work! Arthur only made that promise as a joke"

"Hmph! I'll let you know..."

...

The two children kept bickering with each other as they walked towards the orphanage. Arthur just smiled wryly at the scene and followed them.

'The strongest, huh?'

Arthur's mind was a mess.

Despite claiming that he was the strongest in front of the kids, he still saw himself as being weak, too weak. He even lost to a student that just sleeps through class everyday while putting next to no efforts into it.

Granted, that student won through dirty tricks. But in Arthur's mind, it was no excuse for his loss. He was supposed to be the great Hero of Light after all. Someone like him shouldn't lose, especially to underhanded tricks.

The world was just that unfair.

He then arrived at the entrance to the orphanage and opened the door. Instantly, everyone in the building turned their gaze towards the person that had just entered through the door.

"ARTHUR!"

"BIG BROTHER!"

"YOU'RE HERE"

...

Everyone burst into cheers and ran towards Arthur, swarming him.

Just like before, he was berated with a myriad of questions. This time, however, there were so many that he couldn't help but get overwhelmed.

Luckily for him, someone came to his rescue.

"Kids, what's going on? Why are you so noisy?"

A woman in her 40s with long auburn hair that was tied into a braid resting on her right shoulder said with a stoic face. However, her expression immediately softened as she saw Arthur.

"Arthur! I'm glad to see you again! Looks like you didn't forget us even after 6 years"

Arthur just scratched his head and replied in a meek voice.

"I'm sorry miss Jasmine, I was very busy so I could really visit you guys until now"

"No needs to think more about that. Rather, look at you! You only got more handsome!"

"Come on, I'm not that handsome yet"

"Oh please, I'm sure girls at Avaron are fawning all over you"

"Well, I can't deny that, but I don't feel good receiving that much attention"

"Don't be so b—"

As Arthur was chatting and catching up with miss Jasmine, Luke suddenly tugged on his sleeves.

"Big brother Arthur! Let's go play!"

Arthur looked at miss Jasmine for her approval, and she nodded.

...

"VOID FIEND! RUN!"

The poor citizens of the Empire were attacked by a Void fiend almost twice their height.

At first, they tried to be brave and fought back valiantly against the fiend.

They threw projectiles, hurled magic, and even tried to beat it in close combat. However, it was all in vain. The Void Fiend just shrugged all of their attacks off, all the while destroying their homes.

When all seemed to be lost, however, a ray of hope appeared.

"IT'S THE HERO"

"SAVE US, OH HERO OF LIGHT"

"YEA, SAVE US, BIG BROTHER AR— I MEAN HERO OF LIGHT!"

The Hero calmly walked along the wrecked streets with pencils, rocks, and sticks laying disorderly all over the ground. His strong yet gentle aura gave the citizens hope against the wicked fiend.

The Void fiend, who took the form of a woman with auburn hair, laughed wickedly.

"HAHAHAH! I can't believe the Hero of Light showed up just to die!"

The Hero replied with overwhelming righteousness.

"Void fiend! I will not let you harm anyone! Now perish!"

The Hero of Light swung his wooden stick Holy sword towards the Void fiend, and successfully defeated it.

"AHHHH! NO! I LOST AGAINST THE MAGNIFICENT HERO!"

Instantly, the citizens burst into cheers.

"WAHHH WE'RE SAVED"

"HURRAH FOR THE HERO"

...

"It's tiring, isn't it?" The Void fiend, no, miss Jasmine said as she gave Arthur, the Hero, a cup of tea.

"Yea, it is. But as long as the children have fun, I don't really mind". Arthur gave a smile as he said that.

Chuckling, miss Jasmine looked at the children playing tag. Luke was 'it', and he deliberately slowed himself down so that Ellen wouldn't be caught.

"You have to break your promise with Ellen somehow or else Luke would hate you for life". Miss Jasmine teased Arthur warmly.

Scratching his head, Arthur let out a wry smile. "Come on miss Jasmine. I made that promise when I was little and knew nothing. Please don't remind me of it"

"Well, I'm sure that Luke will get disappointed either ways when he finds out that I'm weak". Arthur said in a barely audible voice.

"Huh, Arthur, what did you say?"

"Oh, don't mind it. It's nothi—"

BOOM—!

A loud explosion could suddenly be heard. Part of the orphanage's walls crumbled, revealing several figures behind it.

"Arthur Kilvillain, today will be the day you die. You will regret having messed with the Blue skulls bandit"

"Miss Jasmine! Go get the children to safety"

Miss Jasmine immediately evacuated the children, while Arthur took out his greatsword from his space pouch.

'What a relief!'

The men were remnants of the Blue skulls bandits that Arthur subjugated on his way to take the Avaron entrance exams. But, they were only at G rank. There were only 4 of them, so an E ranked individual like Arthur could easily deal with them while protecting the kids.

CLANG—! CLANG—! CLANG—!...

Despite outnumbered Arthur, the bandits were pushed back.

[Earth ball], Arthur chanted. A ball made out of earth manifested before Arthur, before shooting at a bandit's face. The bandit fainted upon impact.

Using similar strategies, he finally knocked down the final bandit.

Turned his gaze towards the children, Arthur was relieved to see that they were all unharmed.

However, they were scared, even Luke, who kept claiming that he wanted to be as strong and cool as Arthur, was shaking in fear.

Shaking his head, Arthur lets out a long sigh.

'The bandits were here because of me. As expected, I'm nothing but a worthless piece of trash that causes troubles for other people'

However, Arthur was soon waken up from his self-reprimanding session.

SPLASH—!

"ELLEN!"

Arthur rushed towards Ellen who had a sword stuck in her stomach.

After confirming that she was still alive, Arthur glared at the perpetrator - a bandit that he had just knocked out moments ago.

Although the bandit's face was covered, Arthur could still feel the cold gaze from the bandit that sent shivers down his spine.

But Arthur shook himself off such emotions. Ellen was still alive, but she was still in critical condition. Thus, he had to knock the bandit out before it was too late.

CLANG—! CLANG—! CLANG—!...

They clashed swords. However, this time, Arthur was the one pushed back.

He was confused, wasn't this the same person that was beaten by Arthur despite having the numerical advantage just moments ago?

'His movements seem simila—"

However, before Arthur could finish figuring out what was wrong with the situation, the bandit suddenly released a strike more powerful than anything Arthur had ever seen, knocking Arthur's sword out of his hand and sending Arthur flying several meters into the wall.

Groaning in pain, Arthur widened his eyes in horror as the figure of the bandit was slowly but surely making his way towards him.

However,

"GET AWAY FROM BIG BROTHER!"

A youth stood in the bandit's way, it was Luke.

"LUKE! GET OUT OF THE WAY!". Arthur screamed. There was no way Luke, who hasn't even awakened his Status yet, would win against a G ranked bandit.

"NO! Big brother Arthur had always protected us! It's our turn to protect you now!"

"Luke, get out. You don't understa—"

Without letting Arthur to finish his statement, the bandit thrusted his sword in Luke's throat.

Arthur, in disbelief, watched Luke fall down to the ground lifelessly, blood staining the old wooden floors of the orphanage red.

"N- NO!"

Arthur glared at the bandit in hatred. His fists clenching so hard that they bled, and his eyes were bloodshot.

Right now, he didn't care about the pain, he didn't even care about his personal code of no killing. He just wanted one thing, to slaughter that trash of a human being in the most painful way possible.

[SSS – The Goddess of Light’s vessel]

A pillar of Light descended upon Arthur, engulfing the entire orphanage in a bright yellow color.

Arthur's hair turned golden, his eyes shinning like the sun.

He manifested a greatsword made out of brilliant golden light. The figure of Arthur blurred, before reappearing besides the bandit.

Arthur brought his sword of light down, like a deity giving judgment to a sinner.

The bandit shrieked in pain. The scream of pain was very familiar to Arthur, but he didn't care about any of that now. He just wanted to end that bastard's life once and for all.

The bandit, realizing that he couldn't win, fled into one of the orphanage's rooms.

Arthur immediately gave chase and knocked the door to the room the bandit just went in. But, it was empty.

There were only bunk beds and desks, no sign of the bandit anywhere.

"AHHHHHHHHH! COME BACK HERE YOU BASTARD! DON'T RUN AWAY! FACE ME!"

Arthur screamed in anger and grief, saddened by the fact that he couldn't save Luke, and angered by the fact that he couldn't even make Luke's killer pay.

...

The aftermath of the attack on the orphanage was disastrous.

Ellen survived, but she was paralyzed from the waist down due to her spinal cord being injured.

And Luke... he was dead, on the spot.

Seeing the dead body of Luke, Arthur couldn't help but to cry in sadness and blame himself for everything that happened.

Even the usually energetic Ellen who always teased everyone was quiet.

Feeling useless, Arthur distanced himself from everyone and found solace in staying alone on the rooftops of the orphanage, gazing at the empty night sky in deep contemplation.

He was completely alone on the rooftops, or so he thought.

"D- dad?"

A figure appeared beside him, it was... Arthur's father.

Arthur stiffened his body in surprise, before he ran towards his father and burrowed his face in his father's chest.

Arthur knew this wasn't an illusion attack from someone, since his constitution prevented any types of mental attacks from affecting him.

Thus, he cried for the first time in many years, in the warm embrace of his father.

After letting out all his pent-up emotions, Arthur's mind gained some clarity. As such, he looked at his father with a confused face.

"D- dad, but I thought you were de—"

Interrupting Arthur's question was the familiar voice that Arthur could never forget.

"Ah that? I couldn't stand my idiotic son not being able to protect some kids so I came down here from heaven"

'It's really him!', Arthur thought. From his father's voice, to his unique way of talking to him, Arthur could not ever forget it. As such, Arthur sighed in relief as he recognized that the person before him was really his father, and not some lookalike.

However, upon hearing his father's words, Arthur couldn't help but to feel depressed again. So much so that he didn't even think about the low possibilities of heaven even existing at all.

"As expected, even you think tha—"

"Hold up, I'm not finished yet" Arthur's father said as he flicked his forehead.

"My stupid little boy, don't doubt yourself. You have the making of a Hero, I guarantee it. After all, Arthur Vritious was... our ancestor"

Although Arthur was surprised that he was the descendant of the First hero, he couldn't be happy about such a fact.

"That just goes to show how undeserving I am of this power. Why must I be the hero? Why? Some brats like me who couldn't do anything but watch Luke die in front of my eyes! Maybe the Goddess of Light was wrong. There are many more people who are more suited than me"

In response, however, Arthur's father just raised his voice like he was scolding his child. Well, he was really scolding his child.

"Arthur! Wake up already you utterly idiotic son of mine! You failed this time? Get stronger! So strong that no one you care about will get hurt anymore. If you don't get stronger, how can you protect Marie from having the same fate as me?"

However, Arthur shouted angrily at his father in response.

"BUT HOW COULD I GET STRONG ENOUGH? I'M UTTERLY TALENTLESS! I TRAINED UNDER ONE OF THE BEST SWORDSMEN IN THE CONTINENT AND I STILL LOST TO A GUY THAT JUST LAZES AROUND ALL DAY IN CLASS"

"Every time I see him, I feel inferior, I feel defeated, I feel... hopeless", Arthur spoke in a small whisper.

To that, however, Arthur's father just patted his head and smiled warmly.

"Is that so my Arthur? Remember this, no one will stay strong forever, and neither will anyone stay weak forever. That is especially true for someone chosen by a Goddess like you"

"As such, if you can't beat him right now, you can surely defeat him in the future. Don't see that kid you are talking about as someone you can't beat no matter what you do. Instead, you should see him as..."

Arthur's father closed his eyes for a moment before he lets out a long sigh.

"... A rival"

"A rival?"

"Yes. Someone you compete with. Someone that inspires you to be better. Set him as your goal for now. And even if you can't beat him, try, and try again. You have something that no other people have. You have the determination, and the will to go through with your beliefs. What happened to the stubborn boy that kept begging me to teach him my sword art huh? Did he become so weak-willed that he gets depressed after only a minor setback?". Arthur's father ruffled his hair as he said so.

Arthur gazed up to the empty night sky in deep thoughts, before something clicked in his head.

Immediately after, his eyes, which were full of sadness and a sense of inferiority just moments ago, were now filled with a new-found determination.

"Thanks dad" Arthur turned his head towards his father in gratefulness. But he raised his brows in confusion as his father was nowhere to be seen.

'Did I just hallucinate?'

Whether it was a day-dream or not, Arthur didn't care, as he had just found his new goal in life.

It was not to save the world or anything grand. No, his goal in life was to be strong enough to protect everyone he cares about.

***

"Haaaaah, I didn't know what I would do if I didn't have [Alternate dimension]"

Sighing to myself, I leaned against a wall in a dark alleyway to support my shaking legs.

"Heh, luckily I brought the grimoire with me", I let out a pained laughter as I undid the Illusion disguise magic.

Resting for a bit, I reflected back on what happened earlier today.

I involved myself in the Blue skull bandits' revenge event by posing as one of their members, and successfully used Illusion magic to turn into Arthur's father and Wind magic to alter my voice.

My disguise was so perfect that Arthur didn't notice anything even when he was literally rubbing his head against my chest.

Luckily for me, I had a high-grade potion in [Alternate storage] so I could heal the wound Arthur inflicted on my left shoulder in a few hours. Though, it would still leave a nasty scar.

My plan was to motivate Arthur yet again, and it succeeded, as I could see that Arthur's eyes were oozing with vigor and determination.

I should have been absolutely overjoyed about it, as the plotline had finally gotten back on track.

However,

"I feel like shit"

The plan, although successful, left a bitter taste in my mouth. I crippled an innocent kid, and killed another.

Despite being under the influence of [F - Emotionless] at the time, my heart couldn't help but to ache in pain as I thought back to that scene.

My blade made its way towards the boy who was trying to protect Arthur, I had control over each and every of my actions, yet I still decided to kill the boy.

Gore and blood splattered onto my face. I could vividly remember the rusty taste of blood in my mouth, the disgusting sensation and sound of my blade digging into his flesh, and his gaze of... pity towards me.

'Why are you looking down on me?'

The expression on his face didn't change even when he died. He didn't even think of his own death at that time. No, I was sure that he was worrying about Arthur and the other kids in the orphanage.

I clenched my fist and punched the wall in anger. Blood trickled down my hands as I did so, but I couldn't even care about the pain.

"Why... WHY? WOULD IT FUCKING HURT YOU TO JUST LOOK AT ME IN HATRED, OR EVEN DISGUST?"

Banging my head on the wall for several more minutes, I slid down to the ground, with my back against the wall, blood flowing from the self-inflicted wound on my forehead.

The feeling of immense guilt crept into my mind. Fearing that it might overwhelm me, I activated [F - Emotionless] again.

"Yes... it was for the good of the world. Yea, that's right, it was a necessary sacrifice"

"That has to be the case.. no, that is the case..."

"I did nothing wrong I did nothing wrong I did nothing wrong I did nothing wrong I did nothing wrong..."

Convincing myself that I was indeed in the right, I deactivated the skill and let out another tired sigh.

'It's going to be a long night'