It was a fine morning when, after going through his daily dose of Dragon Link knowledge, thanks to his skill [Intellectual]’s passive effect ‘Search for Knowledge’, when he had an epiphany after reading something he found very interesting. 

According to the knowledge he found, the heroes, aka his people, follow certain constraints when it came to what they usually did. 

There are the Battle Heroes, who go around looking for stronger enemies to fight and grow further, the Explorer Heroes, who go on all sorts of adventures like treasure hunting, visiting multiple dimensions, exploring new sites, and traversing dungeons and the Miscellaneous Heroes. They fall towards the more miscellaneous and unlimited categories depending on what they serve as experts on. Some are experts who seek all the world’s knowledge, others delve into very ‘extreme’ magic science, others lurk in the shadows and are rarely seen whilst some are famous craftsmen.  

Overall, the heroes are a group of very diverse people going whatever path they choose for themselves, and following in the footsteps of his predecessors, he also chose a path for himself. He’d had enough of others steering his path. 

With a clear choice in mind, that afternoon, he left the castle for fellow friends and his shared house located in the residential area on the east side of the octagonal city of Sizburn; a kilometer or so away from the Demon Lord’s castle located on the eight-sided city’s north point. He walked on the paved path and hopped onto the path leading to their home when he came to it. 

He couldn’t believe he’d contributed to buying a house, though the money, eh... let’s not talk about it. He remembered the day they bought it six months ago like it was yesterday. 

After looking around with the realtor, they fell in love with it right away. 

Their house, or rather, mansion, was a two-story building with eight bedrooms with a giant kitchen, a dining hall, five bathrooms, a living room, a gaming room for the dwarves’ virtual reality dimension of games, a courtyard spanning 200X100 meters in front of their house with a gaudy high-class fountain because, why not, and two workshops (in case one blows up on them because you can never be too prepared with two and a half alchemic witches around.) It’s in the quiet part of the giant city that is Sizburn where other luxury mansions are located.   

The exterior of the house was bricked and very cozy-looking, giving one the feeling that it was nice and small when one entered, while the interior was designed in an avant-garde, ‘modern’ fashion like Marcel had never seen before. After all, in the Demon Lord’s castle, everything looked priceless and expensive, very ancient, and reeked of legacy and history. Here, however, was the exact opposite. 

It was very simple and fashionable, the furniture almost brand-new and made of the highest-quality wood and metal. The bedrooms and kitchen were furnished in the same manner, giving one the feeling of ‘high-class’ vibes everywhere. 

The minor spatial distortion between the inside and outside further increased one’s perception of the house. Looking at it from the outside the house spanned across 3000 square meters but when one entered, one could quickly tell that space inside had been modified. All the bedrooms were between 120 to 150 square feet while the gaming room was double that size and the workshops between 100 square feet each. Considering what happened after they decided to buy the house at the original owner’s price from the realtor, this was a very good deal. 

When they finally met the realtor and the owner to sign a final contract for the house, they were shocked to discover that the beautiful orc lady who was selling the house was one of Shalia’s, or rather, Marcel’s patrons from the auction house. Grateful for hers and the ‘Blue Star's continued collaboration with her for the overly effective goods ‘they' produced, she gave them a 60% discount off the original price. Yes, they bought a big house for relatively nothing, all thanks to working Marcel like a slave for the premium goods. It was a glorious day as the seven of them became owners of a big house. 

Only after getting to the house, did he realize that Shalia had followed him the entire time. Seriously? 

Instead of staying in their house, she opts to stay and sleep in the Demon Lord’s castle on most days. Why? 

Because then, her ‘stalker time’ privileges would be taken from her. At night, Marcel sleeps comfortably with the numerous body pillows she made of herself. He can’t throw away because they’re soft and snug and she gets to watch him sleep like the angel he is every night she can afford to.  

Worst of all, he can’t believe how mellowed out he’s become over the few years they’ve spent together; so much so that whenever he wakes up to the princess’ creepy staring, he doesn’t do anything about it anymore. At this point, he just tells himself his pillows are infected with some anger-relieving, creepy stalking tolerance curse to cope with the fact that his boundaries have been long been invaded by the princess who sometimes drools when looking at him. Boundaries, Shalia! Boundaries! 

Even with magic perception, Shalia evaded his detection, startling him when he finally noticed her. The creep-meter was off the charts but at this point, was there even a way to stop this terrible monster? 

Sighing, he entered their home, the princess gracefully following behind him inside. When he arrived inside, he asked them all to gather. He had something important to announce about a major decision he made. 

When they all finally gathered in the living room, taking seats across the four large sofas in the room, he told the room, he told them his decision. 

“I have decided... to become an Explorer hero!” He spoke proudly. 

After he spoke, he expected some questions, facial expressions changing, and at least, someone nodding, like they heard him what he said, however, he got the worst kind of reaction of all. 

Their expectant gazes which appeared as they waited for him to tell them his ‘big’ news, deflated into oblivion, replaced by cold, blank stares that hurt him more than they realized. 

“... It means I get to go wherever I want to explore.” He tried to bring some enthusiasm into the room, but only he apparently thought this was good news. They continued to stare at him, reactionless.  

Why? Nobody was shocked or even surprised, but they realized something. This guy is... 

Following the disappointment that was Marcel delivering his news, they started talking among themselves, as if what he’d just said meant nothing at all. Allan almost left, with Shalia following in tow. Alchemy doesn’t run on auto-mode. The brothers talked about what mission they should take at the adventurer’s guild while Silva sat, blankly staring at absolutely nothing. She was occupied with her thoughts. Valeria, well, she’d begun polishing her blade right in the middle of the room and Kenny stood behind the sofa, stoic and scary as ever. 

Wait, that’s it? 

“But why? Why aren’t you guys interested in my life at all?” Marcel was angry, but also very sad. How could these guys ignore him like what he just said meant nothing? 

After a little while longer of nothing from the others, unexpectedly and very attention-grabbing, he started... crying. Yes, Marcel, the 18-year-old adult, was crying. 

“No! What’s wrong?” Nigel asked, suddenly worried. He couldn’t believe that the little reaction Marcel didn’t get from them brought him to tears. 

Silva looked at him carefully and sighed, 

“Ha, what’s wrong? This isn’t about our reactions, is it?” What was he up to this time? 

“But it is!” Afterward, he explained.  

Since arriving in the demon realms, all he’s been doing is moving up and down, according to the whims of others. Originally, when he left the human world, he wanted to set out for a grand adventure; one that would bring about many trials and tribulations, but what did he get? A very disappointing Demon Lord and a whole bunch of trials and tribulations that he could have done without.  

For the first time in a long while, he made a decision that would put him back on a path he’d originally wanted to walk, undictated by the whims of others. Sure, it would be different from what he thought he was going to get, but he can’t really complain. Getting to see a much bigger world than he’d imagined was always something he’d dreamed of, and in the demon realms where multidimensional travel is easy and convenient, he can finally do it. 

He wants to travel and experience things of his own accord this time, not be dragged around like usual, like a true explorer, but... these guys he calls friends, don’t even care, and he feels very hurt. 

“Wow, so dumb! You already travel around almost all the time and you’re finally realizing you’re an Explorer Hero? You’ve been one since the day you left your original ‘fake’ duty, dummy! Do your computational skills make you less smart the more you use ‘em or what?” Valeria commented.  

“Pfft!” Evan looked ready to break into laughter after she spoke. The others turned their attentions to him, their eyes carrying a deadly warning that if he laughed, he’d be beaten to a pulp. This is not the time to laugh in Marcel’s face. 

He held it in and controlled his impending doom whilst Marcel sat there, his face reddening with embarrassment and shame when he realized that Valeria was right. 

“Yes, despite being kidnapped and taken around multiple times, how many places have they brought you to? Have many new things have you seen? An adventure sometimes isn’t always planned. It just happens.” Daniel thought back to when they first met Marcel in their homeworld, Boltz. 

He let out an awkward laugh, “Ha... is that so?” He was so embarrassed. He wanted to crawl into a dark hole and hide from the world. He realized how desperate he was to have this wish granted with what came after. Vitalis didn’t comply though. Remember, she’s very salty. 

“Pfft! Haha...” Laughter quickly built up in their system and none of them could restrain it. His reaction was just priceless. The guy looked so mortified, ready to shoot himself even if he had a gun. Valeria really was right! He was dumb! 

And they laughed at him until he cried again, and they all broke from laughing their organs out. Watching a human adult embarrassed as he cried after being made a fool of right after was undeniably glee-inducing.  

“So cute!” They thought after seeing the cool beauty cry as he pleaded that they stop mocking his dumbness. He couldn’t bear being the joke in the room on this day. Shalia was supposed to hold this position with the amount of absurdity and weird situations she presented to the table, not him.  

His pure, unchanging aura added a feeling of helpless innocence to him as he cried. They watched, affirming their earlier thoughts, 

“He’s an angel!”  

On this day, Marcel, had his purity, in the eyes of his friends, strengthened, his cute factor forever amplified in their hearts, not that he wanted any, and he was labeled an occasional ‘airhead’. 

Also on this day, Marcel learned to always double-check what he was and wasn’t already before deciding to become that. He never wanted to be mocked like he had been on this day ever again.