CHAPTER 1

How to Live as a Hero in a World of Magic

Prologue

People often say that heroes are born in troubled times.

The idea is that an ordinary child, the kind you could find in any neighborhood, awakens their heroic potential when an age of turmoil descends upon the world.

If that troubled era had never come, that child would have lived an ordinary life without ever realizing the heroic talent they possessed.

There must certainly be sorrow, admiration, and a sense of indebtedness from those who were saved by heroes woven into this story that has spread throughout the world.

I understand.

But from my perspective, as the person who actually has to become a hero?

I have to say, it’s a truly shitty story.

There’s no better example of something that looks beautiful on the outside but is rotten underneath.

Think about it for a moment.

About seven hundred years ago, the first five heroes sacrificed their lives to close a dangerous dimensional gate.

The age of turmoil ended.

The world went through a period of recovery and eventually entered the golden age we live in today.

All right, then. Is that where the story ends?

A happy ending?

Was there never going to be a second age of turmoil? Was there no possibility that an even greater calamity would come?

“Oh, our heroes. May the grace of mana be with them.”

After shedding tears, offering thanks, and even scattering flower petals, shouldn’t people have made an effort to ensure that the same tragedy would never happen again?

But instead, they focused on returning to their ordinary lives, becoming the same ordinary people you could find in any neighborhood.

In the meantime, the Magic Tower, once a repository of knowledge, was shut down.

Magic that used living beings as subjects was prohibited.

The genius revolutionaries who had emerged during the recovery period disappeared without a trace.

Religions that worshipped mana seized control of governments and power.

The nobles rotted away, consumed by their accumulated wealth and greed.

The world erased its memories of the age of turmoil.

Isn’t it strange that another age of turmoil came back at all?

Oh, you’re saying it’s fine?

Because heroes are born during times of turmoil?

Then what about the lives that fall apart before a hero’s blood has time to awaken?

What about the lives that are sacrificed?

And above all, what about the hero who has to bear the burden of it all?

What about me?

That’s right.

I’ve made up my mind.

I, Kaian Veloar Valentin, may have been tricked by some strange elf with horns into signing a contract to become a hero…

But I will never be the sole hero who has to shoulder everything alone.

This isn’t a path one person can walk alone.

Even the first heroes numbered five, so why should I be the one to bear the entire burden?

As an ancient sage once said, the more, the merrier.

And when it comes to heroes, the more, the better.

Five isn’t nearly enough.

There need to be enough heroes that another age of turmoil can never come again.

And that way, these precious heroes won’t die young.

Heroes are beneficial to the world.

So the longer they live, the better.

Wouldn’t it be terribly unfair to go through all that hardship only to die young on top of it?

That’s right.

I’ve made up my mind.

I, Kaian Veloar Valentin, swear upon my family’s name.

I will become a hero who lives a long, healthy life.

From this day forward, that is my dream.

Just you wait.

I will become the kind of hero who has countless companions and lives a long, healthy life.

September 10, 1439

Excerpt from the diary of Kaian, who had just turned nine.