We had become something of local heroes within the village thanks to our role in supplying meat and furs from all of our hunts, the villagers themselves began to spin tales about how successful we were sure to be in the future and giving great fame to the village we were born into.
It all went to everyones heads if i'm honest, but it all came to a head as the rumors began to grow larger and larger as the peak of harvest season was underway and the merchant caravans were probably on their way to collect the yield and make their bi-annual sales to reabsorb the coin the villagers just got by selling off that years harvest, buying luxury items and food stuffs.
My siblings and i were returning from another successful hunt within the forest when we saw the village in the distance but something was wrong, there was black smoke rising up and voices being carried by the wind, not the calm sort either, but instead yelling and screaming such that caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up.
The four of us looked to one another before nodding and rushing off to see what was up.
We had been raised on stories of heroes, even more recently becoming local heroes and so this was our big chance, a chance to truely become heroes in the strictest sense.
After we got to the village we were all in for the biggest shock of our lives, our peaceful village which had gone without major incident for the entire eight years of our lives until now, was beset and being sieged by brigands, and bandits.
Some villagers and Militia members were laying on the ground pools of red blood forming around them before being soaked up by the soil on which they now lay, in the distance the bandits were still fighting off the men who were resisting, meanwhile others had broken free from the melee and had begun to chase after the women who had as of yet not sought shelter and were trying to aid the men in their struggle.
I quickly used my power to do a once over of all the enemies i could see, and the result was pretty dismal.
Levels ranging from 5-20, with jobs all over the place, from swords, and spearmen, to some that were just Bandits, others were cutthroats, but the worst of it all...
Was their leader.
A giant of a man, easily 1/2 a man taller than the tallest man in the village.
Who fought while shirtless as if his very muscles theselves were the strongest armor out there... he was... a hero.
But only i knew this secret to everyone else he was simply the bandit leader. And these bandits were to engaged in what they were doing to know a true force of reckoning was descending upon them.
Four children who burst onto the battlefield and began to hack and slash like a troop of extremely belligerent garden gnomes gone totally bloodthirsty.
One by one they went down, and even as the regret over having killed another of our own species built up it was quickly suppressed, as the fight was still on and to stop, to try and deal with it would only mean lowering your guard and becoming a victim instead.
The village normally should have been in a much worse state, but it was clear my meddling over the years had greatly benefitted the villagers, since rather than trying to supress the bandits by numbers alone, instead were actually holding their own pretty well, with only a few who hadnt received my 'blessing' falling to the assault, before the battle turned entirely in the villages favor as the four of us with the highest combat focused stats arrived onto the battlefied.
Hack
Slash
Repeat
Argh
"What the hells up with these crazy kids!"
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"Run Away argh!"
"D-demons!"
After only lasting for tens of minutes the bandit forces had been cut down in a massive way, giving enough ground for the villagers to begin doubling up against the bandits, meanwhile i as the party leader squared off against the bandit hero.
His level was the highest of the bandits as he was level 20, and yet when matched in a battle of swords with me... he was just dust by the road.
His swordsmanship was amatuerish, i had only raised my sword stat to the third level was great enough to allow me to parry his attacks without needing to match his greater strength.
The only true advantage he held over me was, height, strength, and equipment.
My simple rusted sword was already cracking down the blade from the impacts with his own sword.
But luckily for me i didnt need to fear my sword breaking, during one dodge of the heroes swing, i did a roll across the ground, landing next to a bandit corpse, and as i stood up, i claimed his fallen sword as my own.
A proper iron blade, not perfect but far better than i had before.
Clang Clang
"Dammit! Brat just DIE!!!"
the more the fight went on the angrier the hero became and with that his own form became even worse, allowing my own blade to dart in.
Slice slice slice.
One after another the blade cut through the weakpoints in his armor and wounds began to accumulate on his body, at least until the fatigue and injuries compounded.
Another cut to the back of his knee and the giant of a man could no longer stand, his body falling over backward, his hulking form falling to the ground with a thud!
Once down he chose to not resist anymore, and just lay there staring up at the blue sky above.
"I hope you find peace." i said as i raised my blade up to deliver the final blow.
"I hate being told what to do." he spat, before my blade descended.
Whack whack whack.
It took three strikes, to finally end him, if my blade were sharper he needn't have suffered so, but now that the battle was over i could finally stop and process what had just happened.
Looking down at the corpse at my feet, the semi detached head and immediately the unrest erupted as what food i had eaten today quickly came up and joined the blood upon the ground.
Looking around after i had recovered some, it was clear none of the others were in much better states, everyone was doubled over getting sick, but the battle ended in the villages favor.
Though aside from us heroic kids, the villagers who survived were infinitly worse off.
We had at most a few cuts and scrapes, while the villagers, suffered some pretty serious cuts, and even a few amputations.
The shouting going on around, indicated that a runner had been sent out to summon a priest ahead of shcedule to perform healing to recover those who had fallen but not died in this battle.
If those who were unfortunate enough to have died had enough saving they could even pay for a resurrection assuming the priest was skilled enough to pull it off.
Sister was the fastest besides me to recover as she began racing around bringing water, bandages, and various herbs to assist in tending to the wounded.
I wanted to help but couldnt bring myself to do so.
No one else knew the truth, only i did.
And that mere bit of knowledge was enought to shatter my reality.
Heroes were supposed to be the good guys, they were the ones meant to save the world...
And yet here there was a hero, but rather than save the world he'd become a bandit and chose to attack the innocent and try to steal from us.
Was that really what a hero was? The man from the dreams had written about all sorts of heros over the years i had been dreaming about him.
Heroes as bright as the sun who could do no wrong, others who'd do what needed to be done. Some who would do anything to save the world even if that meant dying their own soul black in the process, all for the greater good.
As i wandered aimlessly walking around the village outskirts still holding the looted sword and coated in the bandits blood.
Trying to distract myself, i pulled up the status board, to get a good read who i really was after this battle.
[Nameless] Level 15 (7)
Job: Swordsman*
Strength
Weapon Mastery
Sword 3/5
Vitality
Natural Recovery 2/20
Stamina 3/20
Agility
Balance 2/20
Five levels were gained from my fight against the bandits.
I had only gained two levels in the last year from hunting rats, mice, and rabbits.
Which clearly proved the theory that harder prey yielded better results, and also gave me a total of seven points i could now assign boosting my initial remaining two.
Just from looking at my current assignment i was easily more of a swordsman than even the hero himself was.
But this also confirmed an earlier theory of mine.
Even even a hero who should be supported by the country if not the nobility could be with unused stat points, this was an even greater held secret than i thought.
Either that or those who could do what i could do were so incredibly rare that were might as well be gods among men hahaha.
That thought caused me to laugh, but even so from today on my impression of heroes was gone, and with them were my own desires to become a hero.
Heroes were constantly in danger, and while i could indeed fight pretty well, i would be better off using my power safely to raise up a proper hero one who wont go astray and do the duty expected of them.
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