Re-Tale of a Hero - Chapter 13. Return Of The Hero

“Nii-san, Nee-san…we were looking all around for you two.”

Al said this while regaining his breath and enduring the pain his body was experiencing.

“Just like you, we were defeated by the man in black and brought here.”

“Based on the letter left behind for Lucius, it seems he wants to gather the three of us here.”

Lucius and Ryiru replied while sounding a bit regretful.

However, in the next moment, the two who had been talking to Al braced themselves for battle after seeing the figure behind him.

“With this, the three of us have gathered here as per your wish…it’s about time you give us an explanation.”The robed individual was there surrounded by three sets of pen and paper, all floating in the air, and he seemed to be writing something on all three of them at the same time.

“About time you open your mouth, no?”

Ryiru was in a slightly bad mood, probably because she had been toyed with. However, the figure in the black robe didn’t utter a word, instead snapping his fingers after taking a look at Al.

“What are you thinking, healing someone you’ve personally wounded?”

The pain had subsided, but the trio didn’t let their guards down and readied their weapons, suspecting the robed man.

Eventually, the pens stopped moving, and the papers flew toward them one by one. Prompted, the three received the papers and read them.

–Lucius

You’re probably honing your skill as a commander, but you should train your combat skills as well.

–Ryiru

It’s commendable that you can use <Flame Arts>. However, you should not have to temporarily leave the battle to accumulate power. Learn to use it in conjunction with other skills during battle.

–Alphonse

In terms of combat skills, you pass. However, points are taken off for being careless at the very end.

A particularly huge piece of paper appeared before them once they finished reading what was written on their papers.

–Overall evaluation: 40 points. Let’s try harder.

Though Ryiru was irked by what was written there, she suddenly raised her eyebrows after noticing something.

“…Are you saying that my <Flame Arts> is not complete?”

Lucius was surprised when he heard this.

“You used ?”

“Yes, but it was easily thwarted.”

“To easily thwart Nee-san who’s used …”

Even Al could handle Ryiru easily while she was not using <Flame Arts>. However, once she used it, he’d have a difficult time fighting her. To the three of them, <Flame Arts> was an extremely powerful technique.

“Nee-san, you’ve learned to use <Flame Arts> in combat now?”

Until a little while ago, she had needed some time to prepare <Flame Arts>, and Al had never given her the opportunity to do so while they were sparring.

Ryiru refuted this.

“No, I can’t use it yet. For some reason, he waited for me to activate it.”

Before Al could say anything, the man wearing black robe finally spoke up.

“Well…you…but”

He shrugged and said something, but his voice was muffled by the mask, and they couldn’t quite make out what he had said.

It was all because there were no holes in the mask.

Things immediately became awkward for the four of them.

At first, Lucius and the others thought of pointing this out, only to rethink their decisions. At the end of the day, they were knights.

After a short period of silence, the man in black robe removed his mask and exposed his dauntless face.

“This is getting absurd.”

He said this as he shrugged.

He was pretending as if nothing had happened, and the trio read between the lines and decided to go along with it.

The man in black robe continued.

“ is a technique that has been modified to be used while moving in combat. Moreover, it’s a basic technique that serves as the foundation for subsequent moves. If you’re having difficulty with something of this level, reaching the next stage will be but a pipe dream. Try establishing a contract with fire spirits, or have them bless you. You’ll be able to handle the technique a bit better that way. Old Man Ballan’s gonna cry if he finds out you had to leave the battle for a while to activate it.”

“…Huh? To begin with, who even are you?”

The young man had suddenly started giving a lecture about <Flame Arts>, and he was giving advice about something near-impossible as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Stunned, Ryiru asked the young man who he truly was, but she was shrugged off again.

“Figure it out yourself. Unless <Flame Arts> is a widespread technique, you should be able to arrive at your own answer. Why do you think I know so much about the technique?”

The young man said this with his legs crossed and his elbow rested in the air. Seeing this, Lucius and Ryiru began whispering with one another.

“Flight spell? He’s not using a flying machine!”

“And it’s chantless too…maybe it’s a delayed activation spell, and he’s chanted it elsewhere…”

Al let out a sigh, having already seen it in his previous battle.

“He used flight magic while he was battling me…”

The two were at a loss for words when they heard this.

“To think this is considered top-class within the Duke’s army in this era…Back in my days, you’d only qualify as an executive with this level of strength.”

“Now, now. There probably haven’t been any major battles after we left. It seems the monsters and demons have been quiet as well. The fact that they’re considered top-class just shows how peaceful it’s been.”

A charming voice was heard as if to respond to the robed man’s soliloquy.

“Who…!”

Lucius was alarmed, but he was nearly knocked out the next instant when suddenly, someone with an enormous amount of mana appeared in the sky.

“Me? If you can guess who this person is, you’ll naturally know who I am as well.”

Saying this, she fell down onto the young man’s chest and sat down on his legs.

The newcomer was a bewitching beauty with blond hair and gold eyes, and she was wearing a crimson-black dress that emphasized her plump chest.

She had fair skin, an outstanding appearance, and a seductive voice. Her beauty was to such an extent that the trio, who had seen their fair share of beautiful women, shrunk before her.

While she was leaning against the robed man, the atmosphere around her was that of an empress’.

“Oh, you’re here as well.”

The young man said this while enjoying the sensation of her chest pressed against him. The corners of his mouth were raised, and with a laugh, he made the mana around him denser, instantly increasing the presence he was emitting.

There was a bewitching beauty at his side, and coupled with his fearless face, ferocious smile, and well-groomed appearance, he gave off the impression of being an overlord.

With the appearance of the beauty and the aura of an overlord flowing out from the young man, Lucius and the others felt the urge to kneel down and serve them. However, they were from a prestigious family whose ancestors were knights among knights, and as knights themselves, they managed to hold themselves back somehow.

“I got bored just watching,” said the beautiful woman with a pout.

“This is a promise I made, so I can’t be having you do it in my stead now, can I?”

“He probably just asked you to take a look at them, right?”

“H-how did you know? Weren’t you asleep then?”

“I’ve known them for nearly as long as you. I can tell that much.”

Lucius and the others were listening to their exchange, and before long, Lucius seemed to have realized the true identity of the young man before them. He immediately performed a retainer’s bow.

On the other hand, Al and Ryiru looked incredulously at Lucius, not having yet figured out the identity of the young man.

“Nii-san, what are you doing all of a sudden…”

“Lucius, there’s no need to perform a retainer’s bow to a rude fellow like this.”

Lucius whispered to the two of them and ordered that they do the same.

“Just be quiet and pay your respect to the liege.”

If he hadn’t guessed incorrectly, he was standing before someone he couldn’t afford to offend, so he forced the other two to follow suit and bow.

They reluctantly did so.

After making sure that they had bowed, Lucius confirmed the young man’s true identity.

“Your Excellency, please forgive us for not recognizing who you are.”

Upon hearing this, Al and Ryiru were shocked beyond words.

The young man laughed amusingly and used magic to change from his black robe to a white long coat and black clothes.

“So you’ve finally noticed. Raise your face, I forgive you for your rudeness.”

The three of them raised their heads, and the young man nodded haughtily.

“I was the one who decided to do this without consulting anyone. Far from being rude, the three of you have done well in your duties to confront an assailant who had suddenly attacked. The actions you took while you weren’t aware of my true identity are worthy of praise.”

The Duke once again stated that he didn’t take offense to their previous behavior.

“We thank Your Excellency for your kind words.”

“Umu. However, though each of you are talented in your own way, you’ve yet to make the most of them, so you must continue to polish your skills and not neglect your training.”

“We’ll make sure to engrave Your Excellency’s advice in our hearts. If I may, there is something I’d like to ask…”

“You may.”

“What was Your Excellency’s reason for doing this? If we had known of your return, we would have prepared a grand welcome…Everyone in the duchy, nay, everyone in the empire would have been filled with joy.”

News of the return of the hero that had saved the empire and the world 300 years ago would naturally be received well by everyone.

After all, tales of the hero were widespread in Enefia.

“I have my reasons for not making a big scene…but above all, do you think would people believe I’m the hero just by showing my large mana pool? Well, showing this might have helped, but…”

Saying this, he pointed at a ring on one of his fingers. A jewel was embedded in the ring, and it shone in eight different colors.

“Is that the Ring of Blessing mentioned in the stories?”

“I don’t know what kind of stories are being told, but if you want, you can try attacking me with any of the eight attributes. As long as it’s an attack carrying an attribute, this ring can negate it.”

The ring worn on the index finger of Kaito’s right hand had been blessed by the four primordial spirits of water, fire, wind, and earth, along with the spirit of ice-dual spirit of water and ice-, the spirit of lightning-dual spirit of wind and earth-, and the greater spirits of light and darkness.

Together, these eight attribute spirits were known as the Great Spirits, and the ring had been given to him as proof of having received their collective blessings.

“Then the ring on the finger next to it is…”

“Ah, you mean the Proof of Contract. You know what it is?”

“Yes. Every century or so, a contractor appears. However, no one other than Your Excellency really knows how to receive the spirits’ blessings…”

—-There were three ways of obtaining power from spirits.

First, the spirits could grant blessings to whoever they liked, and this wasn’t something an individual could refuse or request of from the spirits. It didn’t allow the blessed individuals to draw on much of the spirits’ power, but quite a few people had them.

Next, people could form contracts with the spirits by overcoming trials imposed by them. Though many attempted the trials, someone that could overcome them would only appear once in a century. A considerable amount of power could be gained this way, and those who did would usually become renowned adventurers or senior officials.

Last but not least, one could communicate with the spirits via a secret language. To earn their blessings, they would have to communicate with the spirits on an equal footing, but humans in Enefia were prone to be afraid of them, which was why Kaito had been the only one to be blessed with this method. Using this method, he could even summon the spirits and draw upon their full power. No one had been able to use this method other than him. There were side effects to this, however, which even the spirits had been unaware of, but that was beside the point. As a side note, spirits were genderless and could change between genders freely as they liked.

“It’s thanks to them that I was able to gain enough power to be called a hero. At the same time, however, I got drawn into all sorts of troubles…”

After saying this, the Duke held his head in his hands for a while. However, he soon continued after raising his face. He sounded exasperated as he let out a huge sigh.

“Anyway, tell me Al, what’s my name?”

A question was abruptly thrown at Al, and though he didn’t understand the intent behind the question, he quickly composed himself and answered.

“His Excellency is Duke Kaito MacDowell.”

Not wanting to drag this on any longer, the bewitching beauty then turned to Ryiru.

“Ryiru, you must be aware of my identity by now…who am I?”

All three retainers wondered why they were being addressed so casually, but for the time being, Ryiru decided to give an answer.

“Justina Misteltin-sama, the former demon lord who once unified all the demons.”

“If you’ve figured out that much, you should be aware by now that we’ve met today inside Tenou Academy.”

Kaito was similarly getting tired of this. Lucius and the others stared at one another in confusion.

“Did Your Excellency get dragged into the magic transfer which brought Tenou Academy to this world? However, I don’t recall seeing Your Excellency at today’s conference with the academy’s teachers. Did Your Excellency find out about the transfer later on and come after it?”

Due to their current appearance, they didn’t seem to notice who they were.

Tina let out a deep sigh before turning to Al.

“Al, tell me the names of the boys from Tenou Academy that you met today.”

“Mm….ah.”

All three seemed to have noticed at the same time as they fell silent from the shock.

“So you’ve finally noticed.”

And with that, Kaito and Tina’s bodies were enveloped in a flash of light.