Polymath Redux – A perfect guide on how to raise your hero
Chapter XXXV
-10 years ago-
Through the heavy downpour of rain obscuring his eyes, a boy stared dejectedly over the corpse of his mother. In a cruel twist of fate his mother who had been smiling only a few hours ago no laid lifeless on the floor. With the sound of rain hitting the floor and obstructing all other, the boy felt his entire world go silent. His brain refused to accept this fate; it was all too absurd for him to even take in the fact that he would never get to hear his mother’s gentle voice, the warmth of her touch and the comfort of her existence.
The boy, no older than seven crept closer. With every step the cruel fact of reality solidified harder and harder in his mind. The boy may not have been a genius but he was far from naïve; in this world naivety would only result in death. He had been taught to prepare for everything by his beloved mother but how could he have prepared for having his entire world stolen from him?
“M… mother…”
The boy staggered forward with a ghastly expression of disbelief. The lifeless figure of a beautiful woman laid upon the wet grass almost with a smile on her face. Was she happy? How could she be happy when she had just been killed? Just what were this woman’s final thoughts as she passed on?
Her once blonde hair now muddied by the dirt and rain with her fair dress in tatters with the evidence of combat. In her right hand a small bronze sword, in her left a wooden buckler. Through her abdomen a cruel hole which was what took her life.
“Mother!”
The boy ran up and dropped onto the floor, shaking his mother violently to wake up but she would not open her eyes. In denial the boy continued to wake her up but it was to no avail. Mixed in with rain were the boy’s tears, his emotions having overridden his body he broke down in tears. The gentle oasis of his heart, his mother was now no more; what was he to do now?
“Tsk… even till the very end she wouldn’t give up.”
A deep voice spoke out. Crouched down in pain next to a tree was a figure hidden by the shade of the trees. The only thing the boy could make out about the person was his gleaming golden eyes that pierced through the darkness. Eyes filled with malice and hatred for the woman that laid dead in front of the boy and by extension also the boy.
The shadowed figure stood up with the help of the three and staggered his way over to the boy with a bloodied sword in his hand. The same sword that had taken the life of the woman was now about to take the life of the son. The boy simply stared apathetically at the unidentifiable man, awaiting his deaths so that he’d be reunited with his mother. Perhaps then the pain in his chest would cease, everything would cease.
Like a guillotine the man brought down the cold blade towards the young boy. The boy shut his eyes tightly as he awaited his death, however it never came. The sound of rain continued to ring through his ears signaling that his death had been prevented. Did the man have a change of heart? The boy slowly reopened his eyes to see what was wrong. It was not that the man didn’t want to kill the boy but was unable to as a faint barrier surrounding the boy had protected him.
Underneath his shirt a faint glow could be detected coming from his pendant. A small metal accessory given to him by his mother, it wasn’t any mere accessory but a warding charm of the highest quality.
The sword was unable to penetrate the shield and thus the situation had turned into a stalemate. As though his sword was merely a blunt weapon loud thuds and shockwaves continued to be produced by the sheer weight and power of the man’s swings. The man brought down a violent barrage to get through the barrier but it was all to no avail.
Alerted by the loud noise the local guards had come rushing towards the site of the disturbance. The clanging of metallic armor could be heard through the muddied ground also alerting the man.
“Dammit!”
The man shouted in fury. He glared down at the boy once more with eyes filled with hatred. As they both glared into each other’s eyes the boy had carved into the deepest parts of his soul those eyes that angrily stared back. The eyes of the murderer who took his mother’s life he would not forget and one day he would have revenge.
Though they exchanged no words of dialogue they both had the same thought. ‘I will someday come for you’.
…
-Current day-
“Tau. Tau~ Tau!”
Calling out the name of and nudging her companion, a young girl in her late teens tried to wake up her companion of similar age who had fallen asleep on their journey. With a slightly displeased face as evident by her cute pouty face she continued to cry out and bother her companion until he woke up.
“Mmh~? What is it, Alice?”
The boy, named Tau woke up to the insistence of his companion, Alice. His blonde hair had turned into a disheveled mess and a trail of drool could be seen oozing out from his mouth. Regaining consciousness he quickly wiped away the embarrassing look and tried to comb back his hair.
“Good, you’re awake! We’re almost here, Tau!”
Alice exclaimed as she placed her hands on her waist in a haughty manner, her light blue hair waving around violently due to the wind. Currently they were riding behind on an uncomfortable open air cart along with many other people who had also hitched a ride. Alice who was currently dangerously standing up on the moving cart drew the attention of the other passengers to which Tau tried to sit her back down.
With their destination the capital of Xagontetia, Solaris just above the horizon Alice had a bright smiling face full with anticipation. Both Tau and Alice were from the countryside and this was their first time to the capital or any large city for that matter.
“I get it, so please sit back down Alice. It’s dangerous.”
Tau tried to calm her down but her curiosity could not be sated.
“Look! Look! Tau, the walls of the city are so tall!”
With a child-like glee she pointed towards the obvious walled city. Many of the other passengers took amusement at her behavior and watched quietly with a smile. Noticing their amused look the only one who was feeling embarrassed was Tau.
“I’m guessing this is your first time at the capital?”
One of the passengers, an elderly man asked.
“Yes, that’s right.”
Tau answered.
“I see, luckily you came at a good time.”
“What do you mean?”
Tau asked with a perplexed expression. As Alice and Tau had lived in a remote country town news had rarely traveled to their homes thus they were left oblivious to the happenings around the country. Meaning the news of the event known as the ‘Catastrophe of Fire’ had never been delivered to their ears.
“They say a few weeks ago this entire city was lit ablaze by some monster attack set by the Baliazoural Empire. I wasn’t there myself but from what I hear it was horrible, even an Elder Lich and a Hydra was seen.”
Taking into consideration the man’s words Tau glanced over towards the city who seemed to be in quite a pristine state even thought it was supposedly lit ablaze. Curious he asked if that story was even true as it was hard to believe.
“But the city looks like it hasn’t even seen damage let alone a monster invasion. In fact it’s in a much more pristine state than what I had originally imagined.”
“Aye, a lot of people were as surprised as you were when they saw that the city was rebuilt so quickly but rumor has it that under the direction of the new minister of defense the city was able to be rebuilt so soon. Heck even the security was beefed up because of it, have a look do you see those large humanoid stone figures on the walls?”
Tau and Alice squinted their eyes to verify the elderly man’s words and indeed there were beings that resembled stone statues atop of the walls. Not just one or two but several of them placed all throughout the walls as though they were decorations.
“Oh, I see them but what are they? Some sort of decorations?”
Alice asked.
“No, apparently those are weapons known as siege golems. They even a single siege golem could take down a fort if directed well enough.”
“Eh? But there’s got to be at least… 200 of them!”
Alice exclaimed as she glanced back to confirm.
“Aye, but the fun doesn’t stop there, rumor has it that they aren’t even ordinary siege golems but extremely high quality ones. They were all brought by that aforementioned new minister of defense and because of this the security of this place is through the roof.”
“Hmm~ that’s pretty amazing.”
Tau replied as he glanced back at the marvelous walls of the city.
“So what are you lads here for?”
As the elderly man questioned their motives for coming to the capital Tau’s expression went dim for a second. His reason for being here was simple; he wanted to become an adventurer. However it was not for fame or glory but because he wanted to make use of the adventurer network to track down a certain man, a man that had took away the life of his precious mother 10 years ago.
Alice’s motives for joining him was unknown, her only reason given was ‘How could you go alone when you can’t even take care of yourself properly? I’m coming with you!’ and that was the end of the discussion. To be quite honest Tau understood that there were many things that he was incapable of doing, especially in the hospitality department. It was a good thing that Alice had come with him but he somehow felt that it was bad that he was inconveniencing her.
Still since she insisted he gave in and took her along with him. As childhood friends she could be quite annoying at times but overall Tau was glad that she had come along with him. ‘Perhaps it was too boring back at the peaceful village that they were living in so that’s why she followed’ or so Tau had thought.
“We’re here to become adventurers.”
Tau answered the man.
“Oh~ adventurers, huh? Certainly a lot of young people nowadays dream big when they sign up to become adventurers, but just make sure you’re prepared for whatever comes as it is a profession where you risk your life daily.”
“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you.”
Tau replied.
He looked back at his childhood friend and now travelling companion Alice who had a gleeful smile as the wind brushed past her hair. He let out an amused smirk of his own at her innocence and decided to do his best to protect them both.
“What is it?”
Noticing his gaze Alice asked.
“Nothing, I just thought that I’d do my best to protect you is all.”
He answered honestly to which Alice averted her gaze as her face flared up.
“Y- you, you don’t have to worry about me! I- I can take care of m- myself!”
Tau nodded with complete obliviousness. In a few more hours they would reach their destination but first they would have to find a suitable inn. Checking his wallet there were only a meager sum that the villagers back at home could scrape up for their journey. Tau sighed but he was determined to do whatever it took to fulfill his dreams.
…
“Argh! Just how long have we been standing in this line for?!”
A short girl with bright orange hair exclaimed with a playfully annoyed expression on her face. Caroline Granate, a young green horn healer who had just entered the military was now feeling annoyed. Her feet were in pain from standing all day and the line she was in didn’t seem like it wanted to budge.
Seeing her unladylike conduct a young elf male, Ashen or ‘Ash’, who had also just joined the military spoke up.
“It’s only been two hours, why don’t you show some restraint like Mordred? He’s been in that metal can for just as long in this heat.”
Mordred gave a wry smile as he was called to attention. Indeed Mordred was dressed in the standard issue plate metal armor given to all front line soldiers. Both he and Padan, another new recruit, had been designated as the front line with Caroline and Ash in the backline in their team formation. As such both Mordred and Padan were in plate armor that didn’t have much ventilation though for Mordred who could stealthily use magic to cool himself down it wasn’t too much of a problem.
“Right… ya… really need to… show some constraint…”
Padan responded, stuttering from the heat. Since his bulk was large enough to cover for everyone in front of him with his shadow it meant that he was also getting most of the sunlight beating down on him.
“Hmph! It still tiresome! Just why are we even here for anyway? I doubt anyone can pull out that sword. This is just a waste of time!”
Caroline continued to express her complaint.
“Caroline, it’s unbecoming for a member of the Granate family to act in such a disgraceful manner. We’re all in the same situation so just calm down a bit and you’ll feel better.”
Standing in front of Caroline in the line was their commander, Katy Granate.
“I get that but… still why are we searching for the Hero now of all times?”
Caroline asked. Indeed their purpose here was to search for the Sacred Hero that could pull out the sword from the Hero’s Sanctuary. In order to find the Hero the King had demanded that everyone from their army go have a try in pulling it out but as of so far no one had been successful.
“Probably because of the ‘Catastrophe of Fire’, it really showed how vulnerable our country is and it’s not like we can rely on Morgana Daltress forever. So the king wants to find an ‘official’ hero that can represent our country. I also suspect that this is the king’s way of validating his power since Morgana Daltress has a near 100% support in this city and the king is feeling pretty powerless at the moment. Politically speaking.”
Ash replied.
“Ugh… all this power struggle nonsense, I can never tell what the nobles are thinking.”
Caroline shook her head in disapproval.
“Aint’cha nobility yourself?”
Padan asked with an accusing glare.
“Politics don’t interest me. All I care about is becoming the best healer in the country to help as many people as I can.”
Caroline replied with an arrogant smirk.
“How noble of you…”
Ash replied with a dubious look.
…
With a further 2 hours passing by their turns had finally come up.
First to step up was Katy Granate. She placed her hands on the slender hilt of the sword and tried to remove it from its seal but was ultimately unable to do so. Katy gave off a look as if to say it was what she expected but the more perceptive people noticed that she was visible dejected.
The next to step up was Caroline Granate. She tried to draw the sword but was expectedly unable to. However she didn’t feel like giving up after only a single attempted and tried to pull it out with both hands but no matter how hard she pulled it was impossible.
“What’s with this thing?! This thing is so rigged to not come out no matter who pulls it!”
She accused as she was taken away by Katy before she could cause a bigger scene.
The next to attempt to pull out the sword was Ashen. He placed his hands on the hilt and pulled but it was to no avail. With a dissatisfied look on his face he got down from the Hero’s Sanctuary to regroup with his failed companions.
The next to step up was Padan. Out of soldier present it was him who everyone had thought could pull it out, if not by being chosen then by sheer power. His large muscular arms bulged as he tried to pull it out with all his might.
“Ahh!!!!”
He shouted. However as expected the Hero’s sword was not so easily removed from the stone, in fact there wasn’t even a dent in the stone it was stuck in.
Finally Mordred stepped up to the Hero’s Sanctuary. He could feel a pure sort of feeling sweltering within his body as he stepped up and stared down at the stone. The area around the sacred sword was oddly pure and a warm feeling encompassed the area.
Mordred placed his hands on the sword without putting any strength in his arms. It was undetectable to anyone who was far away but Mordred himself could tell that the Sacred Sword would budge if he pulled out right now. Was he chosen? Or was this the effect of him having 999 [strength]? In any case Mordred had no real intentions of becoming the hero that would simply be another layer of headache to his workload.
It was entirely possible for Mordred to create another identity with his [Doppelganger] skill but his Extrasensory Feedback would no doubt take a toll on his mentality. Mordred himself wished to stay hidden for the time being until he was certain that there was no other hidden threat to his newfound fortress.
However with this new revelation a thought had come to Mordred. ‘This could work out for the best’, he thought to himself.
Rebirth Online World 