Chapter 53: Hero’s Tale
Starius nearly choked on the food he was eating as he cast a surprised glance at Hiro. Tara too, was equally caught off guard. Starius hadn't been expecting Hiro to involve him like this.
"I... um..." Starius stammered. For a moment, a troubled expression crossed his face, but it quickly gave way to his usual cheerful demeanor. "Sure, My Lord."
He handed his half-finished bowl to Tara and made his way through the crowd. Hiro extended a hand to help him up onto the platform, before stepping back and handing over the limelight to Starius.
Now standing at the front of the stage, Starius faced the crowd. He looked a little less sure of himself, clearly not used to situations like this.
"Well... as some of you might've heard," he began, "Tara and I grew up as friends. I was an orphan who lived in the same neighborhood as her in Vigne."
"One day, we were traveling with a caravan when monsters attacked," Starius continued simply. "Things got bad. Due to the way certain circumstances evolved, I stayed behind while the others escaped."
Tara watched intently as Starius narrated his tale, her mind a mix of complex emotions. It looked like there were portions of Starius' personality which neither time nor circumstances had changed. Just as she expected, he did not elaborate much on his noble sacrifice, merely stating it in a matter-of-fact manner.
"In that moment, I was fully prepared to die," he said with a shrug. "But I wasn't willing to die without at least putting up a fight. Not a fight against those monsters – I had no chance of defeating them without a Class. I was fighting against my own fate in a sense. It was a desperate and ugly struggle for survival," Starius said wryly.
He then went on to narrate how he survived that impossible ordeal.
At several different points in the story, Hiro had to muster all his willpower to resist the urge to roll his eyes at the ridiculous events that took place on that day.
'This is bullshit,' Hiro thought.