What it means to be a Hero

After feeding on Leon, and with little sleep from the night before, Celestine and Valeria drifted off. The two girls instinctively curled against Leon, pinning him gently in place and claiming him as their pillow.

He tried to join them, but he still couldn't find the need to sleep. Food and drink he could still eat, yet his body seemed to no longer need anything such things. In the end, he just watched over the girls, holding them close as they rested.

The room slowly filled with the warm light of the sunset. As Celestine and Valeria began to wake, so did the girl's normal shyness. The previous hunger and competition now gone. Both quickly and awkwardly untangled themselves before slipping away to gather themselves.

Honestly, that's a much more normal side of them. Maybe waking up in bed is too romantic compared to lunchtime’s....intimacy.

Leon got out of bed and began to make his way back to the courtyard.

They definitely got caught up in jealousy and composition earlier. Mix that with some hunger and it would explain it.

He stood back in the garden where he had previously used 'Bloodless'. His blood now mostly soaked up by the earth.

I never even had a girlfriend, now I'll need to manage 2 wives.... maybe 3....

"EH I'm getting ahead of myself. Too much time in my thoughts. In the meantime, I should work on getting stronger."

Leon took a deep breath. He prepared himself.

"~My blood turn blades~"

He knew this was going to hurt. But nonetheless, this was the only way forward.

"~Bloodless~"

The pain of the hundreds of spikes shredding his insides came back again. Everything went dark, but not for long. This time he regained consciousness before his body hit the ground.

"....ouch..."

Too much pain to scream out, yet less than last time.

"Well looks like I might be able to build a tolerance to the pain. Though it might just be my healing.."

He stood back up.

"~My blood turn blades~"

"~Bloodless~"

Again he fell. Again he woke up slightly faster. Again he stood up. Again he trained…

"That's 10. Not bad Farm boy"

His training was interrupted by a familiar voice. Leon looked up from the ground to try and locate Rika.

"You've been here for a while?.... Where are you even?..."

Rika popped out of the nearby tree. Hanging upside down from a branch with the legs. Her long ponytail almost touching the ground.

"Eh, I was just keeping an eye out in the building. It is still my job to guard you while the others are gone."

"Guess that's true. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Though you really should repay me for all my hard work."

He could hear the smugness in her voice.

"Oh really? And what would I do to repay you?"

"Hmmm I don't know. Are there any secrets you've been hiding from me? Anything I should know about? FARM BOY."

Is she talking about me being from another world?

"I'm not too sure what you mean..."

"Really? There's nothing important you should tell me? I already know but don't you think you should be honest."

Wait, does she actually know or am I being tricked?

"Well if you know why are you asking?"

"Because it's important to be honest with each other. Why don't you want to tell me?"

"I never said I wouldn't tell you. I just think you're trying to trick me here. Fishing for something without actually knowing."

"Sounds like you doubt me."

She must be messing with me

"I feel like if you knew you would have just said it."

"Maybe I'm just teasing you. Trying to see if you'll be honest with me."

"... ok that does sound like something you'd do...but this isn't something you could just guess."

"Sounds like you're fishing for info from me now. Don't forget who's the Farm boy here."

I'm definitely out matched here... still if Rika did know, it would help with the information gap. There is too much I don't know about this world...

"Alright but if you don't believe me then that's on you."

"Like I said, I already know."

Rika was as smug as ever. She enjoyed teasing him as always. That much was obvious. But he almost knew that Rika valued honesty deeply. Glaring at him every time he held anything back.

"So I'm from ano..."

"Another world. Yeah I know. BUT! Didn't I say be less trusting of others!?!!? That's not something you should tell people! I gave you no real indication that I knew!"

Leon sat up fully.

"Hold up, I thought this was some sorta trust test. You can't both want me to be honest with you and get upset at me for being honest."

"It's not about you being honest, it's about you being too trustworthy! You could just say 'no' or that it's 'personal'."

Leon plopped back down on the ground in defeat once again today. Looking up at Rika as she jumped down from the tree and stared over him.

"Maybe I should have said thank you or something first... you're just... more honest then I thought men could be..."

He could see struggle in her face. The red on her checks despite no light hitting her face. He knew Rika had a reputation for hating men. Her reaction made it clear it had to do with dishonesty, but since Leon was her first kiss, it likely meant an issue with her father or an older brother.

"I really want to tease you but I can see how you're doing your best to work with your emotions."

He felt a slight pain in his chest before his healing pushed out Rika's Bosu.

"Acknowledging it and saying you won't is way worse!"

"Where did this even come from?!"

"Give me that."

Rika snatched her weapon back from him.

"Now we're even."

"You're lucky you're cute you know."

Another strike against his chest from a different Bosu. Rika's cheeks were a brighter red than he'd ever seen before.

"That should have been fatal! If you weren't from another world with your hero abilities..."

She sat down beside him. Her embarrassment slowly fading. Her knees slightly pressing against him. Enough that he could tell it was intentional.

"I'm part of a top raking hunting party in the federation. However most people don't know about the summoning of humans from other words to be heroes."

"So there are more people like me?"

"Eh, not necessarily. You're very different. Heroes are generally summoned and trained by nations. Unless you got discarded?"

"Nah I just died pushing a kid out of the way of a truck. Even death forgot about me before he reincarnated me here. Told me to find you. Now you're all caught up."

"You died saving a child's life? You're making me feel bad for stabbing you."

"Don't worry I've already accepted that you're a bratty tsundere"

Her eyes narrowed at Leon's teasing.

"I don't know what that means yet but I'll stab you for it later."

"It was meant to be endearing..."

"Back on topic. Not all heroes are summoned. Remember when I said every race has an ability score limit. If someone can break that limit they can continue growing almost endlessly. Tala is currently trying to break her limits and is currently classified as a prodigy."

"Ok then I should be able to grow really strong then?"

"That's the weird part. Everything else about you is within human limits and you have no attributes. I was only able to figure it out since you told me about meeting death. I'm sure the others have their suspicions but you're a hard case. Honestly, that's why it took me so long to figure it out."

I met you two days ago. How long is that long by your standards!

"So most heroes in this world are from another world? Other races too?"

"To my knowledge it's just humans. While all the other races have innate attributes or higher abilities, humans don't. Many believe that humanity's specialty is having a higher chance of Heroes but it's actually just summoning.'

"Ok so I should keep quiet about being from another world?”

"Well Yeah."

It was a lot of information to process. A lot of the things she said mostly made sense to him, but he still needed to learn a lot.

"Well now that you know everything, I really need you to teach me!"

Rika smiled.

"Yeah yeah Farm boy, I'm here for you."