"Have you heard? The public is beginning to call us Heroes."

Slinging his bow across his back, Killian stared at the ground for a while. A conflicted expression on his face at Arlo’s news.

"...us?"

Because Killian knew very well. It wasn’t us, it was only Casper and Viviana.

It was only natural, they were the best of the best after all. In this generation, trying to match up to their achievements was practically impossible. As they blitzed through different records and accomplishments all the while he was struggling just to keep up.

Not just him, but Xanther, Arlo, Aveline as well. If they had been born in any other generation, they would have been the stand outs. Now, they could only fight each other for third place. Forced to settle for that position, rather then trying to get first or second.

Killian didn’t hate Casper, and he didn’t hate Viviana either. He wasn’t that childish any more to loathe someone because of talent or better circumstances. It wasn’t exactly their fault that they were better then him either. In the end, it all came down to luck. They were simply luckier then he was.

There were millions that probably wished they could be as talented as Killian as well. But without the talent to utilize mana, they were forced to live as normal unawakened humans. He was already grateful for his own talent.

So no, Killian didn’t hate them. Nor did he feel any envy towards them.

But he did feel inferior.

Inadequate, lacking, insufficient. Compared to Casper and Viviana, Killian was just a minor footnote in history. A person that wouldn’t be remembered longer then a few generations. Someone whose entire legacy would only be known by the fact that he was close to them. Not due to his own achievements.

This whole party of heroes idea already seemed destined to fail.

They weren’t even on equal grounds. In a team where every input was supposed to be equal. Two members stood out above the rest of them. The premise was doomed from the start.

Well, he only joined this party in the first place so that he could continue being with Viviana. To follow alongside her.

Killian sighed, his boots having unknowingly dug a small hole into the muddy ground.

"Jeez. You’re acting way too gloomy today."

"Can’t help it. It’s a bit demoralizing sometimes."

Arlo grinned, blowing some of his brown curly hair away. Understanding exactly what had made Killian so upset.

"Just make yourself happier or something. You can do that can’t you?"

"I can but I won’t."

"You’re really such a bore."

Forcing himself to be happier was like using a drug, Killian could do it to temporarily relieve himself. But it didn’t resolve the root cause or issue.

The constant clinking sound of Arlo’s gauntlets and metal boots revealed their location constantly. It was a good thing their current objective didn’t require any stealth. That and the fact they were far away enough that even yelling as loud as possible wouldn’t alert the enemy to their position.

Even a casual footstep of his left an imprint in the mud deep enough to submerge his legs halfway. Up to his knees and staining his pants.

Pulling himself out again, he complained. "I hate muddy places. It always feels so dirty, when it’s wet and dry."

"Maybe don’t wear your weapons now and you wont be submerged up to your knees with every step."

Despite the extreme weight however, Arlo was still able to move wearing his weapons effortlessly. His body didn’t even look strained in the slightest bit as he easily walked around with enough weight to crush stone on each limb.

"I have to be prepared at all times okay! You’re the archer here, it’s my job to protect you while you kill them."

He rolled his eyes, something Arlo took as a signal to keep talking.

"Let’s go to the west of Euni next mission. I’m sick of the constant humidity and tropical landscapes."

"And do a mission in some dry, rugged desert instead?"

"Beats this mess. Sand is a lot better don’t you think?"

For Killian, who had lots of experience in the hot and humid eastern parts of Euni with his tribe. The current temperature was actually extraordinarily decent. It wasn’t extremely hot, and the air wasn’t as humid, meaning sweat didn’t pool.

But for Arlo, who had grown up in the more northern, colder parts of Euni. It might as well have been the demonic realm in terms of how uncomfortable it was.

"I’ve spotted him."

Killian raised a hand to block Arlo from moving. Narrowing his eyes and notching an arrow onto his bow as he locked onto his target.

The Crimson Tide. An army lead by current Grand Duke of Wrath. Three years ago, this army marched towards humanity in an event known as the Demon March. Trampling and wrecking havoc on everything in their way.

The demon march then kick started the entire second Human-Demon war. Which lead to the current situation now.

In the sea of red, trying to differentiate between one demon and another was practically impossible for regular people. Resembling a giant mass of blood red algae, rather then an actual army consisting of hundreds of thousands of demons.

The sounds of roaring, screaming, footsteps thundering and flesh being ripped was extremely gruesome. But to the demons, it was just another regular day.

But Killian and Arlo’s goal today wasn’t to thin the army. Most of the demons were weak individually, they needed to decapitate the leaders and cause chaos in the army to stall them. Long enough for humanity to muster up a force capable of repelling them.

The arrow had deep dark oak for the body, white feathers for the fletching and rather then a sharp metal head. It had a sharp, glass vial, almost like a needle. With a clear fluid sloshing around inside of it. An arrow that would have been nearly useless to any other archer, except for him that is.

An arrow he recently had custom made, called the anger deliverer. The name already explained enough.

His mana saturated the arrow, in his eyes. The clear fluid turned into a bright, neon-like red.

"No problem with hitting him right?"

"...no problem."

He hesitated before answering, only after he loosed the arrow did he answer Arlo.

"Great. Let’s go now then, I can sense a few dozen heading our way."

---

"Who’s the guy playing Arlo? I don’t think I recognize him."

"It’s one of the juniors I think."

"Makes sense, no wonder I didn’t know him."

Considering the play was about Killian’s entire life, it unfortunately did get a bit boring at times when it got to certain parts. More so a problem of the playwright then the source material being bad.

Not that Killian’s life was boring in any way. But it was difficult to make a play that was entertaining throughout.

Character development, lore exposition, a lot of scenes were mainly used to set the tone and tell the audience about Killian. Since, despite the fact that he was a hero from not that long ago. Not many people really knew about him or how he was like.

Like the current scene, which was merely a setup for the second Human-Demon war. Seeing some of the choreographed fights were pretty cool and interesting, but also. One had to remember.

Wasn’t this supposed to be a romance?

Did the playwright get lazy or something? How come there was so little focus on the actual romance between Killian and Viviana, when the entire play was literally about the two of them.

Sure, they took a few creative liberties. But making this part accurate was like adressing the dog in a room rather then the elephant.

"That guy looks a lot like Arlo though."

For ’Killian’, he did look a lot like the real thing. But upon looking closely, it was still pretty easy to see that it wasn’t really him but Raymond underneath instead. Same with ’Viviana’.

But Arlo was a near perfect casting. An almost one-to-one replica of the real deal.

"Arlo has a pretty common appearance in the first place. It was probably pretty easy to find someone that looks similar."

Zachary rubbed his chin, feeling a strange sense of deja vu.

"Doesn’t he kind of look like someone else as well?"

For some reason, Arlo was giving him this uncanny sense of recognition. Like someone that he had met before.

"He’s related to someone you know."

"He is? Who is it?"

Arthur stared at him, wondering how to best break this news to Zachary.

"His last name is Depont."

"...oh."

Ever since Zachary had humiliated Troy Depont in the challenge, Troy had ultimately chosen to leave the academy. Choosing to continue by enrolling into Avalon Academy, which was what many considered the second best academy.

The difference was that while the Academy for Heroes was run by the government, Avalon Academy was run by the collective effort of the Families.

Some Families just wanted somewhere else to send their kids, and Avalon Academy was actually the main destination for scions from Families. With individuals like Noelle and Lucy coming to the Academy for Heroes to essentially be separated from the others.

"I didn’t know he had a younger brother."

"He’s Troy’s cousin apparently."

"No wonder they look so different."

"He’s also really nice apparently."

That took Zachary off guard. From what he had seen, the whole Family seemed to be the same. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"So Troy is the odd one?"

"Other way around."

Nevermind.