Twenty years ago, five heroes rose to save the world from the Demon King. However, these were not the first summoned heroes. Before the Demon King was ever the threat, five heroes were summoned during the war against the Dragons, this was known as the first great war. Millions of lives were lost, and in the end, the heroes slew the Dragon saving the world. The leader of the heroes party, Vale, the only hero who survived, founded the Empire which united the humans under one banner. This however was over one hundred years ago and is well done and over.

“But why are you here?” Koren muttered as he stared intently at the five, no four ghosts.

The ghosts started to look around the cave, and unlike Sebastian who completely freaked out were quite calm. 

“So I guess this is what happened.” A dark bearded man sorrowfully remarked as he dropped to the floor.

“Hey kid, what year is this.” An extremely beautiful woman turned to Koren, her long blonde hair could only remind him of someone.

“I-It’s year 121” Koren couldn’t hide his nervous voice, but the ghosts could barely notice.

“Tch, that bastard…” Her voice was brimming with anger, her aura was so violent Koren backed away from fear. 

“Oi, Willow you're scaring the boy!” A handsome man began to calm down the woman. 

‘No doubt about it, those are four of the five original heroes.’ Koren’s mind was racing, if this was revealed to the world it would cause chaos beyond imagination. The five original heroes could not be put anywhere near the recent heroes, while Ian and Sasha could be considered to be legends, the ghosts standing in front of him are considered to be myths. 

“Hmm, this kid seems to have earthen blood.” Koren turned his eyes to the left where his gaze was met with bright purple eyes, similar only to his own mother. 

The ghosts who brushed off Koren a moment ago instantly started to surround him, one would only mistake this scene between fangirls and a top tier celebrity. 

“You're from earth!” The voices began to overlap, but Koren could understand what they were trying to ask him.

“My parents are from earth, they were summoned just like you.” Koren’s voice was filled with false confidence, but the ghosts listened earnestly. 

“Twenty years ago, a Demon King rose and my parents were summoned to this world along with three other heroes who slew it.”

The heroes turned to each other and began to talk passionately.

“Should we tell him!” One of the heroes whispered

“Hmm, let's hear more of his story, it’s been over one hundred years.” 

The rest of the heroes nodded and turned to Koren, their eyes showing their thirst for knowledge.

Koren sighed, he couldn't help but be slightly annoyed but not anyone can tell stories to ghosts, let alone the five original heroes of Thellaria. He took out his bag which held his books and dropped a massive book to the floor. The floor shook from the impact due to its sheer size and weight, Koren opened the book and began to read.

*

“And that is how the second great war ended.” Koren’s voice couldn't hide his great fatigue, right as he finished the last sentence he dropped down onto the rocky floor from the great exhaustion.

“Damn, so Ian and Sasha are your parents?” The bearded man exclaimed as he broke into heavy laughter. 

Koren during the long reading session finally put names to faces between the five heroes. While he recognized the hero's faces, he couldn’t help but forget their exact names. 

The bearded man had to be none other than Kile the Spearman. His great beard and chiseled face were too notorious for Koren to mistake him for someone else. 

“Yes dufus, you would know that if you listened to him.” Willow, the archer of the heroes party was notorious for her “interesting” personality, which Koren could only agree with. However, when Koren told more about himself and how he was an archer, she immediately took a liking to him. 

“Oh, you two cut it out.” Jinwoo gave off a sweet smile to Koren, who could only smile back at. Jinwoo, the healer of the team was the handsome man who previously calmed down Willow. He was the person who kept the team together which Koren could only respect as he watched from a distance. 

“Koren you have beautiful eyes.” 

Koren closed his eyes for a second and as he opened them back up, he was face to face with Mair, the mage of the heroes party. 

“A-Ah, thank you.” Koren couldn’t help but stutter slightly from the surprise, but no one cared to notice.

“Eh, doesn’t he eh, he’s also got those good looks,” Jinwoo commented as he observed Koren’s face intently.

The heroes nodded in unison

“Koren do you have a girlfriend or anything?” Kile had a mischievous smile on, which angered Willow but Koren didn’t think much of it.

When the word “girlfriend” came up, Koren, like any teenage boy, would think of sexual thoughts. But now that he thought of it he hasn't recently been taking any notice of any girls around him. 

His father had a hobby to rewrite Japanese novels he read as a kid and would give them to Aaron to read. Later on, Aaron gave it over to Koren and sometimes Koren would always ask Aaron why the main character was so oblivious of the girls around him. But now that he was in a similar situation with Kyla, he slightly understood what predicament the main character was in. The main character had goals and relationships could sometimes mess with your goals, now that Koren’s goal of becoming stronger has opened up, he wasn’t going to wait for it to go away. But if he was offered to have the “deed” done, he would be dumb not to take it. 

Koren laughed bitterly

“No, not yet.”

The heroes' faces instantly crumbled, their reaction was something Koren expected when he told them they died.

“You are lying.” Willow was in complete disbelief, Mair who barely made any facial expressions began to frown.

“Man, if I was still alive I would gobble you up.” Willow chuckled as she nudged on Mair who looked at her in disapproval.

Koren who was slightly flustered by Willow’s statement quickly remembered something he had on his mind.

“I have a question, but I’m pretty sure it might be sensitive.” 

The heroes whose faces were filled with smiles, and were only giving off heavy laughs quickly became quiet. 

“Where is Vale, the leader?”

Everyone in the room suddenly gave off a dreading aura that was so harsh that it could only suffocate Koren. 

‘This is the power of the heroes who aren't even in physical forms!’ Koren thought to himself as he held on his throat.

“GUYS STOP!” Jinwoo yelled viciously, instantly stopping the murderous aura.

Koren panted roughly as he began to take in air again, this after all of his life-threatening experiences was the closest he has ever been to death.

“Sorry Koren, It’s just that when you talk about the bastard I lose it.” Kile apologized genuinely, his voice however was brimming with hatred which was soon extinguished as he looked back at Koren.  

“Why though?” Koren was extremely confused, Vale the creator of the Empire, and the first King was known to be a kind man who was worshiped by all. He was also known to be an amazing leader and swordsman.

Willow looked at Koren sorrowfully as she replayed the memory in her head. 

“Koren, Vale was the one who killed us.”

Authors Note: Slightly proud of this chapter, hope you enjoy it too