A Hero of Someone

The arena remained visible through the window, surrounded by the buildings of Lumeris. The distant sound of the crowd reached the room as Nino studied the structure the man had pointed out.

“What kind of proof?” Nino asked.

The man by the window continued looking toward the circular structure in the distance.

“You’re lucky it’s an event day. Gathering the people will be easy... It’ll be a simple demonstration. I mean, if you truly are worthy of the title you carry...”

“I didn’t come here to prove I’m strong.”

“Then perhaps you came to the wrong place.”

Nino remained silent. Behind him, Tenshi was still irritated by everything he had heard about his mother, while Alicia remained seated beside Three. They had crossed mountains, spent days on the road, and reached Lumeris only to find another closed door in front of them. Arguing for another few hours would change nothing.

“If I do this, will I get access to the records?”

“We can consider it.”

“I didn’t ask if you could consider it.”

The man turned toward him, but before he could answer, the woman with the brown braid raised one hand.

“And what exactly do you want in return?”

Nino turned his attention to her.

“I already told you.”

“The woman you’re looking for?”

“All of them.”

One of the men exhaled impatiently.

“We’re back to this?”

“We never left it.”

“You’re talking about thousands of people,” another said. “People registered as property belonging to families, merchants, and institutions throughout Lumeris. There are contracts, debts, and laws that predate anyone in this room.”

“Then change the laws.”

The man almost laughed.

“It’s that simple to you?”

“No. But it’s the right thing to do.”

Voices began overlapping. One of them spoke about property, another about compensation, and the gray-haired man tried to explain that no nation could alter part of its structure because a foreigner had decided to appear at its gates. Nino listened for a while, until he noticed that the only person who had taken no part in the argument was the woman.

She was watching Alicia and Tenshi.

“Enough.”

The word was spoken softly, but the room fell silent.

The three men stopped talking. Nino noticed. The woman placed her hands on the table and turned her eyes toward him.

“You arrived in Lumeris claiming that Mezi started a war over something greater than territory, that the King is searching for powers most of us believed belonged to stories, and that if we do nothing, Solvar will not be the last kingdom attacked. Now you’re suggesting that we abandon an institution that has existed in Lumeris for generations.”

“Yes.”

“You speak rather easily about destroying the world we know.”

“Some parts of it deserve to be destroyed.”

Three turned her face away, hiding a smile.

“He’s completely lost his mind,” she whispered to Alicia.

The woman remained serious.

“I can’t imagine Lumeris without slaves.”

Tenshi clenched his fists, but she continued before he could say anything.

“Perhaps that is precisely the problem.”

One of the men turned toward her.

“Your Majesty...”

Nino looked at the woman again. Three raised an eyebrow.

The Queen of Lumeris slowly leaned back in her chair, seemingly unconcerned by their surprise.

“My husband is in Orvain. While he is away, this kingdom is my responsibility. And if even half of what you’ve told us is true, perhaps the world we know is already changing, whether we want it to or not.” She looked toward Alicia and Tenshi again. “You suggested a different world. A freer one. I don’t know if it would work. I don’t even know what it would look like. But perhaps it’s time we tried something different.”

“Your Majesty,” the gray-haired man insisted, “you can’t possibly be considering—”

“I am.”

He fell silent. The Queen turned back to Nino.

“But I will not entrust thousands of people to the promise of a man who appeared at our gates less than an hour ago. You want Lumeris to gamble on your word? Then you’ll have to gamble something as well.”

Nino looked toward the arena through the window.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Win.”

The news traveled through Lumeris faster than they did.

By the time Nino reached the arena, the stands were already packed with people who had abandoned whatever they were doing to find out whether the most famous dead man in the Four Nations had truly decided to appear in Lumeris.

Shouts echoed between the circular walls. Merchants squeezed through the corridors selling food, children climbed onto benches to get a better view, and arguments broke out everywhere over whether the man standing at the center of the arena was really the Hero of Mezi. Nino could hear his former title repeated by hundreds of voices.

Three held Nino’s black sword by its sheath. Her two sai remained crossed on her back, secured in the new brown leather harness.

“There’s still time to say you changed your mind... Wow! This thing is heavy.”

“About the fight?”

“About becoming an adventurer. We could try being bakers. Seems safer.”

Nino extended his arms behind his back as a guard locked the handcuffs around his wrists.

“I don’t know how to bake.”

“You don’t know how to fight in handcuffs either... Where did you even get this idea of freeing everyone and changing the world? That was never part of your vocabulary.”

“We’ll find out.”

“Whether you know how to fight in handcuffs or whether you can change the world?”

“Both.”

Three tugged on the chain to make sure the cuffs were truly locked.

“You know you could’ve refused this part. It’s an unfair fight. Either you win, or they kill you.”

“They agreed to free everyone.”

“If you win.”

“Then I need to win.”

Three sighed and stepped away, taking the black Noctrium sword with her. Alicia’s red ribbon remained tied around the hilt.

In the stands, Tenshi was restless.

“This is unfair.”

“He accepted it,” Alicia said.

“That doesn’t make it fair.”

Alicia tilted her head toward the arena. Even among hundreds of voices, she could distinguish Nino’s Pulse below them. His presence was so familiar that the rest of the crowd seemed to disappear whenever she focused on it.

“He’ll be fine.”

“How do you know?”

“Because he’s Nino. And he’s my Hero.”

Tenshi seemed to find that answer insufficient, but an unfamiliar voice came from Alicia’s other side.

“You know him?”

Alicia turned her face toward the voice.

A boy around her age had taken the empty seat beside her. His clothes were simple enough to draw no attention, and he held a small bag of roasted chestnuts in his hands.

“I do.”

“Is he really the Hero of Mezi?”

“No.”

The boy blinked. Tenshi looked at his sister.

“Alicia...”

“He isn’t anymore.”

“Ah.” The boy popped a chestnut into his mouth. “Then what is he?”

Alicia smiled.

“An adventurer.”

The boy seemed to like the answer.

“Cool.”

A metallic sound cut through the arena. The enormous doors on the opposite side began to open, and the crowd rose to its feet.

Tenshi tried to see over the people in front of him.

“That’s the Hero?”

Three reached the stands just in time to hear the question.

“Looks like it.”

The man who entered the arena was old. Very old.

His white hair stuck out in every direction, and his thin frame contrasted with muscles so sharply defined they looked as though they had been drawn directly onto his skin. He wore no shirt, only loose pants fastened at the waist and worn boots. Two large metal gauntlets covered his fists and extended partway up his forearms.

He entered waving to the crowd, then blew a kiss toward one section of the stands. The audience answered with cheers.

Tenshi frowned.

“That’s the Hero of Lumeris?”

Three watched the old man bounce lightly on his feet a few times before stretching one shoulder.

“Don’t judge him by his appearance.”

“I just expected someone...”

The old man slammed his gauntlets together. The crash drowned out the rest of the sentence.

Violet Pulse erupted around his arms, wrapping the metal in dense lines of energy. The ground beneath his feet cracked under the pressure.

Tenshi closed his mouth. Three smiled.

“Better?”

“A little.”

She studied the energy around the gauntlets.

“Violet.”

“Like Nino?” Tenshi asked.

“Almost.”

Three remembered the golden energy that had surrounded the Hero of Solvar.

“Looks like the Hero of Solvar is the strange one.”

At the center of the arena, Nino faced the old man. The Hero of Lumeris broke into a wide grin.

“So you’re the dead kid.”

“So they say.”

“I expected someone bigger.”

Nino looked at his thin body.

“So did I.”

The old man burst out laughing.

“I like you.”

A bell rang. The Hero disappeared, and Nino moved on instinct. The metal fist passed within inches of his face.

An explosion of Pulse hurled Nino several yards to the side. Without his hands to recover his balance, he twisted in the air and landed on one shoulder, sliding across the sand before managing to rise.

The crowd erupted. The old man remained where he had thrown the punch, his fist still extended.

“Still alive?”

Nino rolled his neck to one side.

“...”

“Excellent!”

He charged again.

This time, Nino saw the attack coming. The first punch came from the right, immediately followed by the left, each movement compressing Pulse around the gauntlets before releasing it in short bursts of impact. Nino retreated between the explosions as pieces of the ground shattered around his feet.

The handcuffs were worse than he had imagined.

It wasn’t merely the inability to use his hands. His entire balance had changed. Every dodge had to compensate for the weight of his arms trapped behind his body, and a fall he would normally stop with one hand could now leave him completely exposed.

The old man noticed. A smile appeared on his face before his next attack. He feinted high and changed the trajectory at the last instant.

The gauntlet struck Nino in the stomach. The air vanished from his lungs. Before he could move away, the second fist hit his chest and sent him flying backward.

Nino hit the ground, and the crowd roared.

“He’s getting beaten up,” Tenshi said.

“I noticed,” Three replied.

Beside Alicia, the boy offered her the bag of chestnuts.

“Want one?”

She reached out and took one.

“Thank you.”

“How do you know what’s happening?”

Alicia chewed before answering.

“I listen.”

Another explosion shook the arena. She tilted her head slightly.

“Nino dodged.”

The boy looked down. Nino had indeed narrowly escaped another punch.

“You heard that?”

“I can feel him too.”

“How?”

Alicia thought about it.

“It’s hard to explain.”

In the arena, Nino was beginning to understand the rhythm.

The old man was fast, but every attack required an instant to concentrate Pulse into the gauntlets. Barely anything. To an ordinary person, it would probably have been imperceptible.

For Nino, it was enough. On the next strike, he moved forward.

The old man’s eyes widened as Nino slipped inside the reach of his arm. A layer of violet energy wrapped around Nino’s leg, and his knee struck the Hero’s abdomen.

The impact lifted the old man off the ground.

Nino twisted his hips and tried to follow with a kick, but two metal gauntlets closed around his leg.

“Got you.”

The old man spun his body, throwing Nino into the ground. Sand erupted around him.

“NINO!” Alicia shouted.

The old man released his leg and jumped back. Nino remained on the ground for a second, feeling his back protest.

“You’re tough, kid.”

Nino stood.

“You talk too much.”

“I’m old enough to.”

The old man raised his gauntlets again.

“Want to try for real now?”

The amount of Pulse surrounding his arms increased. Nino smiled faintly.

“Finally.”

The old man charged. This time, the two disappeared amid violet energy.

Blows exploded across the ground as Nino moved through the spaces between them. Without his sword or his hands, he began concentrating Pulse into his legs, using small bursts beneath his feet to accelerate his changes in direction. A step to the left became a dash to the right; a fall became a spin; a blocked kick became momentum for another.

The Hero kept up. One gauntlet blocked Nino’s heel. The other swung toward his head.

Nino ducked. The fist passed over his hair, and he spun on one leg, striking the old man in the ribs.

The man slid several yards.

Nino took a deep breath.

“Can I ask you something?” the old man shouted.

“You already are.”

“Is all this really for the slaves?”

Nino dodged another strike.

“Yes.”

“How many of them do you know?”

The old man attacked again. Nino leaped over the shockwave and landed several yards away.

“One.”

The Hero turned toward him.

“Only one? Why make such a demand for that?”

Nino glanced toward the stands. He couldn’t distinguish Alicia and Tenshi among so many people, but he knew where they were.

“Someone still sees me as a Hero.”

For some reason, the old man smiled.

“Good answer.”

He slammed his gauntlets together. The Pulse around them compressed.

Three stopped smiling.

“Nino.”

The old man struck the ground.

The entire arena shook.

A violet wave tore across the surface in every direction, breaking stone and throwing up a wall of dust. Nino jumped, but the explosion caught him in midair and hurled him upward.

The Hero was already waiting as he came down. Nino saw the metal gauntlet coming toward his face. With no room to dodge, he stepped on the air.

A small concentration of Pulse exploded beneath his boot. His body changed direction at the last instant, and the fist passed beside his head.

Nino twisted in the air and drove his heel into the old man’s shoulder.

The Hero dropped to one knee.

Nino landed but nearly lost his balance because of his bound hands. The old man noticed and immediately rushed forward.

That was it.

Nino had spent the entire fight trying to compensate for the handcuffs. Perhaps he didn’t need to. Instead of fighting as though he still had his hands, he let his body fall.

The punch passed above him.

Nino planted one foot against the ground, concentrated Pulse into the sole of his boot, and released it all at once. The burst sent his body into a low spin. His leg struck the Hero’s ankles and swept his feet out from under him.

The old man fell onto his back.

Before he could rise, Nino was already over him.

His boot stopped inches from the old man’s face, wrapped in a dense layer of violet Pulse.

“...”

The old man looked at the boot, then at Nino, and burst out laughing.

“Ah, this is humiliating.”

Nino pulled his foot away.

“I asked for a fight. You didn’t have to kick an old man.”

“You punched me in the stomach.”

“Respect your elders.”

The bell rang. For a moment, no one reacted.

Then the arena erupted.

Nino turned toward the stands as the old man rose behind him, still laughing. A guard entered the arena and unlocked the handcuffs. Nino brought his arms forward and rolled his shoulders, feeling the joints finally free.

Three came down to the entrance and held out the sword.

“Took you long enough.”

Nino took the sheath.

“He’s strong.”

“I noticed when he threw you into the ground for the third time.”

“It was twice.”

“I’ll put three in my journal.”

Nino gave her a look. Three smiled.

The movement in the stands began to settle when the Queen appeared in the elevated section reserved for Lumeris’s authorities. Her presence alone was enough for the voices to gradually fade.

The Hero walked over to Nino and rested one of his metal gauntlets on his shoulder.

“Now comes the fun part.”

“For me, it’s already over.”

“Not for them.”

The Queen observed the arena for a few seconds before speaking.

“An agreement was made today before Lumeris.”

Murmurs spread through the stands.

“The man before you asked for something in exchange for this fight. Not gold. Not land. Not a position within this kingdom.”

Nino looked toward Alicia and Tenshi. This time, he managed to find them.

“He asked for freedom.”

The silence grew heavier.

“Lumeris has existed for generations under laws many of us have never thought to question. I told him myself that I cannot imagine this kingdom without some of them. Perhaps that is not a reason to preserve them. Perhaps it is a reason to finally discover what lies beyond them.”

One of the men from the meeting approached her and whispered something. The Queen listened, but her eyes never left the arena.

“I gave my word. You watched the man considered the greatest Hero of the Four Nations enter this arena at a disadvantage and face someone who has brought down creatures and fortifications alone in the name of our kingdom. When given the opportunity to ask for wealth, power, or any reward for himself, he asked for freedom for people he does not even know.” The Queen let her gaze travel across the stands. “He convinced me to do something I have been considering for a long time.”

The man stepped back.

“And Lumeris will honor its agreement.”

Tenshi rose to his feet. Alicia gripped the edge of the bench.

“From this day forward, every man, woman, and child held as a slave within the borders of Lumeris will be free.”

The sound that followed was different from the cheers during the fight.

Part of the crowd celebrated. Another part began to protest. Some people simply remained still, trying to understand what they had just heard. Within seconds, the entire arena had become thousands of voices arguing over something none of them had expected could change when they woke that morning.

Alicia heard none of them.

“Tenshi...”

He was already looking at her.

“I know.”

“Mom...”

Tenshi took his sister’s hand.

“If she’s here, she’s free.”

Alicia smiled. A smile that quickly crumpled into tears. The boy sitting beside her popped another chestnut into his mouth.

“Looks like your adventurer won.”

Alicia wiped her face with her sleeve.

“I told you.”

He smiled. Down below, hundreds of people were still chanting the name they knew.

Zero! Zero! Zero!

For Alicia and Tenshi, however, none of that mattered at that moment. Somewhere in Lumeris, their mother was free.