Chapter 70: Failed Hero
It was now mid-afternoon. The bright sun floated high in the middle of the clear blue sky, casting harsh shadows down into the narrow streets. Bernardo walked alone through an empty, silent alleyway, the heavy thud of his boots barely audible against the dirt. He kept his head hung slightly low, concealing his face beneath the deep hood of a dark brown cloak.
*There are barely any guards on this street. That's good. Those two should have started by now. I hope they don't get caught.*
As Bernardo glanced up at the adjacent building, his eyes suddenly widened. Standing perfectly still at the very edge of the clay roof was the figure of a woman. She was draped in a long black coat, her dark hair flowing wildly in the afternoon wind. She looked terrifyingly familiar. He froze dead in his tracks.
It was Violet.
"What the hell?" he whispered.
He blinked hard, and in a fraction of a second, she was gone. The rooftop was completely empty. He spun around, searching the alleyways, his breathing suddenly ragged. *Where did— I could have sworn I saw her. Where is she?* His heart hammered violently against his ribs, his muscles locking tight in anticipation.
*Did my eyes deceive me?*
Slowly, his breathing began to stabilize, the frantic rhythm of his chest slowing down. *I'm losing my mind.* He forced his legs to move, continuing his march down the alley. *We have to do things fast,* he thought. *No matter what. We can't mess this up.*
Meanwhile, high above the town, the tense silence was broken only by the whooshing of the wind blowing through Tyler's hair. Tyler stared at James in utter bewilderment. James sat quietly on the edge of the ruined roof, staring down at his own boots with a look of profound regret.
"James, what are you saying?" Tyler asked.
James sighed heavily. "It's a pretty long story. A lot of things happened for me to get here... to end up like this." A small, weary smile touched his lips, but he looked entirely exhausted.
"What happened? I thought you said that heroes were at the highest peak of the social hierarchy."
"I did. And it's true," James said, clasping his rough fingers together.
"Then how come..."
"As I said, it's a long story. Are you sure you want to hear it?"
"Of course," Tyler replied, his expression deadly serious.
"Alright," James exhaled, the sound carrying a heavy weight. "Where do I start?"
His eyes narrowed slightly as he watched a small black ant crawl out from a deep crack in the rooftop beside his boot. He watched it move out into the open, scurrying away from the fissure.
"About fifty years ago, before I was born, there was a massive war between the heroes and the Demon Lords."
"What?" Tyler's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I thought you said the First Hero defeated them."
"Yes, but you need to understand something. The Demon Lords were created using pure dark mana. They were forged by the Demon King, a human who was specifically chosen by the Demon God to lead the dark army against the Hero. Even though they were all defeated back then, it is not entirely impossible for a new Demon Lord to rise, even today."
"How?" Tyler asked, completely confused.
"A Demon Lord isn't just a title. It is a monster born with a highly concentrated, massive amount of dark mana, so much that their skills and levels are terrifyingly high. A being that reaches that threshold earns the title of Demon Lord. They also possess the inherent ability to control and command lesser monsters to do their bidding. A single Demon Lord alone can slaughter thousands of humans without even needing the help of an army."
"Whoa," Tyler breathed.
"Yeah. They're that dangerous," James nodded grimly. "So, about fifty years ago... that was the last time a Demon Lord was ever found. That was the last time there had ever been a full-scale war between humanity and the dark army. And the hero who landed the final blow, the one who finally put an end to the Demon Lord's terror... was my father. Alexander Tyranny. Everybody knows that name. He was already known for being one of the strongest heroes alive, but after that day, his name spread far and wide across the entire world."
"Wait. So your actual surname is Tyranny?" Tyler asked.
"It was," James said quietly. "But I changed it. You'll soon understand why." James paused for a moment before continuing.
"After winning the war, he was bestowed the ultimate honor. He was recognized as the Global Hero, the one above all others. He was rewarded with tremendous amounts of wealth on top of what his family already possessed. He acquired an even higher social status and was given rule over vast territories of land. The Kingdom even named an entire city after him, which he ruled over."
"Wow..." Tyler exhaled, entirely in awe of the sheer scale of the legacy.
"It was incredible," James admitted, a small, nostalgic smile gracing his lips. "But everything changed a few years later. To be more specific... everything changed the moment I was born."
Tyler felt a cold knot of concern tighten within his chest as he listened. He could hear James's tone shifting, becoming darker and far more depressed.
"I was born a few years after the Demon Lord was defeated. You see, Tyler... heroes are fundamentally different from normal people."
"They are stronger, right?" Tyler asked.
"Yes. But how heroes actually acquire that strength is entirely different from a normal person."
"How so?" Tyler asked.
"Well... once a Hero is born, just like any other infant, they start as an F-Rank," James explained, his voice low over the whistling wind. "But right after a week, that's when things start to change. Unlike ordinary people, Heroes begin to level up automatically just seven days after birth."
James paused, letting out a slow breath. "I told you before that normal people passively level up until they reach the age of seventeen or eighteen. Most of the time, ordinary people automatically reach E-Rank by that age, and from then on, they have to either hunt monsters or go through excessive physical training to gain any more levels. But it's not the same for Heroes. That automatic leveling inside of them is incredibly fast. By the time they reach the age of eighteen, some Heroes will have shot all the way past S-Rank, naturally reaching levels of 200."
"What? 200?" Tyler said, his eyes widening in pure disbelief.
"Yes. And even after that, something even crazier happens," James said.
Tyler's mind raced. *Even crazier than reaching level 200 without doing anything?*
"You'd think that since they reach level 200 automatically, it would be incredibly hard for them to level up any further," James continued. "But the amount of experience that a Hero needs to progress from that point is exponentially small. Take a single monster that a level 20 normal person would kill. That kill might give them enough experience to put them at about level 22. A Hero could kill that exact same monster, and it would immediately land them at level 202."
"What? That sounds ridiculous," Tyler said, completely taken aback.
"I know, but it's just how it is. To be honest, most Heroes, before they even reach the age of eighteen, have already passed level 200 anyway, because all Heroes are rigorously trained from the exact moment they are born. Most of them will have easily surpassed level 300 by then."
"But that's insane," Tyler muttered. The sheer, overwhelming scale of that kind of power settled heavily over him.
"Yes," James agreed softly. He paused, looking deep in thought as he stared out over the oblivious town far below them.
Then, James turned his gaze back to Tyler. The heavy, exhausted sadness returned to his eyes, deepening the lines on his face.
"But as you already know," James whispered, the reality of his failure hanging bitterly in the air. "Even though I am in my forties... I'm not even a B-Rank yet."
"But... Why," Tyler asked.
James's brown pupils lowered as he,stared at the ground.
"I don't know."
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