Chapter 1

Lucius Belezac was a renowned hero. Tales of his monstrous strength and his brave personality inspired admiration in many. He was a truly heroic individual.

And yet here he was, path of blood behind him as he pressed at the bleeding wounds in the shape of claws on his chest.

God, what would Yami say if he saw him like this?

…. Well, he'd probably call him a stupid fuck and laugh.

He grunted as he attempted to push himself off a tree. Falling to the side, Lucius cursed himself inwardly.

Stupid! It was so stupid of him getting arrogant and hunting that griffin. So what if it would have brought him praise? His life held more favor than that and yet he threw it away carelessly.

"Ugh…" Lucius groaned, head ringing with an awful ache.

There was something coming towards him. But Lucius didn't have it in him to react to much of anything. Darkness shrouded at the corner of his eyes and he fell to the panicked shouting of a man.

———

"Hey! Did you hear?" One of the girls whispered, her eyes shining. "About the hero?"

"Did I? It was all my brother could talk about– he was practically vibrating in place!" A girl laughed.

"Can you blame him? It's a hero! I mean, when was the last time something this exciting happened in Willsden?" Another said, her lip curling.

The girls all giggled to themselves at that. It was a depressing but known truth.

Willsden was a quiet, dull village without much in it. There was the occasional bakery or small farm. But with no contact to any other major cities for miles, it was a relatively 'dead' place.

It was understandable why the citizens of Willsden were excited over the hero. Really.

Though, that didn't mean all of them were.

A portly brunette turned to the tree behind her, a mean smile on her face, "Hey, Usui! What do you think of the hero?"

Similarly, all the girls' attention went to the tall tree resting behind them, more so to the leisure dark-skinned youth laying under its shade.

A soft wind brushed through the nest of curls, offering no more reaction.

The brunette huffed, rolling her eyes as if she had expected the reaction.

"What are you a mute?" She muttered. "It's a hero Usui! He deserves more of a reaction than that! Gods, it's like you're not even a man!"

Like a flip had been switched, she grinned, face full of insidiousness.

"Actually... are you really a man, Usui? All you do is read and disappear into the forest. I mean, I've hardly ever seen you approach a sword."

The other girls began to laugh, staring at Usui, fishing for a reaction. It was a snide game of theirs, provoking him.

"If I pulled my trousers down and showed you, would it help you believe me?" Came the flat response and all the girls' faces flushed crimson.

"O-Of course not! How could you even suggest such a thing!" The brunette sputtered.

"I offered you a solution to your problem, Amelia." Usui stood up, brushing grass off his pants as he turned to stare at her. "And if you all bothered long enough to get your heads out of your asses, you would realize that messing with me like this is pointless."

Amelia's expression turned thunderous yet, before she could even yell at him, Usui had already disappeared.

As he went down the hill, Usui rested the spine of his medicine book on his nose. He wondered what was so thrilling about meeting a hero.

He'd been trapped in this shithole all his life, so he could understand the freedom of it. But who was to say the hero wouldn't murder them all? It wasn't like they didn't have the power to do it.

He chuckled, he supposed that was what the moniker of a hero did. Make commoners feel safe. It's just up to the hero to live up to it.

With a look to the side, Usui peered into the forest and pondered about disappearing for awhile.

Then he took a sharp turn to the right and made his way inside his home, pulling on the squealing coat hook out of habit.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a man sitting at the kitchen table.

"Boy." Villo called, tone brooking no argument.

Usui ignored him and made his way up the stairs.

Of course with the sudden iron grip on his shoulder, he didn't make it quite that far. He was pulled off the steps and whirled around to the stern face of his father.

He frowned.

"A hero is in town." At this, Villo looked at him meaningfully as if Usui would know what the fuck that meant.

"…I know." He replied and turned back around.

"Usui!" Villo growled. "The hero is looking for a guide. Don't you get what that means?"

"That he's an incompetent hero who doesn't even know his way around the country." His vision snapped to the ground as he was hit.

"…No, you fool. It means boys like you can join up and make it their ticket out of this town." Villo crossed his arms.

Usui sighed and blinked away the involuntary tears in his eyes. Patience. Remember what you read.

"Good for those boys." He said, turning around once again.

"Did you not hear me?!" Villo's furious voice rang behind him.

"I have no intention of becoming a hero's little tag-along." He snorted.

"Tag-along?! It is a high honor to be a part of a hero's party! If you would just give up on that foolish dream—!" Usui whipped around, a cold fury in his eyes.

"Foolish?! What is so foolish about learning?"

"It is incredibly foolish! There exist few male medics and even fewer of those who are magically inclined!" Villo yelled.

Logically speaking, he was correct.

In the kingdom of Golfrodom, magic was buoyant among the nobility, artisans, and even commoners.

…Female nobility, artisans, and commoners.

There existed only two full-fledged male magicians in the entire kingdom. Even then, they were magicians who were fully attuned with their chosen element, rather than healing.

Still, "Mother was a magician." Usui insisted.

"Yes, because she was a woman." His father sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Villo wasn't wrong. What usually happened to male magicians were the following,

1. Dying miserably at birth because their soul hadn't been a proper vessel for the magic.

2. Being kidnapped and sold for their power, then killed to extract the source.

3. Acquiring the magic and painstakingly taking control of it. Then becoming unimaginably powerful.

The first two options were the common occurrences. While the third option, only two men in the entire kingdom had ever succeeded in doing.

In the face of all this, Usui understood that becoming a medic, much less a magically inclined one, was realistically— impossible.

But as with all things when it came to Usui, when faced with an obstacle, he would stare it in the eyes and tell it to suck his balls.

Fuck the moral concious! He knew what was logical and it didn't fucking matter to him!

He was getting what he wanted!

"Yes, and I am my mother's son." He replied, stoic in the face of opposition.

A terse silence engulfed the house.

Usui didn't break off his glower, he would not be the one to cower away. Not from this man.

A moment later, Villo turned away, cursing. He signed and moved his jaw, looking back up at Usui.

"…Go to meet him, at least once." Usui narrowed his eyes.

"If I meet him, you'll fuck off?" He asked.

He could hear Villo's teeth grit at the provocation. "Yes."

"…Fine."

———

Hiking a messenger bag up his shoulder, Usui looked distastefully at the group of boys crowded at the head of village's residence.

With all of them gathered together, clambering for attention, the stench they possessed combined…

Usui retched inwardly and wished he had something to cover his nose with.

He turned and spotted a group of ragtag fools, a bit bigger than the rest of them, staring pointedly at him. Smirks on their faces, no doubt insulting him.

Scoffing, Usui looked in their direction and shot them a well-placed glare, scattering the boys like rats, having been found out.

"Imbeciles…" Usui muttered under his breath.

He jolted, skittering to look up at Villo pulling him along by his upper arm. Was he really that eager to meet a hero?

It didn't even take that long to reach the front of the line. It barely took thirty seconds before the next boy came out, hanging his head dejectedly.

It gave Usui a bit of satisfaction, watching those fools who lorded their "perfect" handling of the sword over others, only to be rejected by an actual swordsman.

He was cut out of his thoughts as his father dragged him through the threshold, smiling all the while.

Usui huffed and followed behind him dutifully.

As they entered the living room, he got his first look at the so-called 'hero'.

Oh.

If everything else was proven wrong, at least Usui could say he certainly looked like the heroes that were sung of.

He was big. Even sitting, his head reached the top of Usui's chest. His body didn't help with lessening his presence either, nearly every part of him bulged, though he was particularly thin at the waist.

It wasn't like he was monstrous in size but compared to the men Usui had considered "muscular" all his life… it was incomparable.

Usui couldn't help looking at the tunic stretched over his chest, the strings looking as if they were holding on for dear life.

While observing the man he followed the sleeve of tattoos on both his arms, red flowers and green leafs with blue snakes sneaking inbetween them. A rose bloomed brilliantly along the right side of his neck and encroached on the edge of his chin, then kissed at the corner of his eye before stopping there.

Trailing his gaze along the missing petal on the inside of his eye, Usui met eyes colored like the moon looking right back at him.

"Well," Usui sighed, a soft quiet thing.

Everybody told of heroes being strong and brave but never said anything about them being beautiful.

Hair like midnight fell to his back and framed a dreamless face. A strong, curved jaw with sharp cheekbones. And a elegant nose descending into supple lips.

Usui had read about the beautiful creatures that could kill you without a second thought and he'd even entertained the idea, never really believing it… but now?

How could he not?

Suddenly a hand smacked him upside his head.

Usui was forcefully snapped out of his daze.

He turned to look at Villo, hand rubbing at the back of his neck.

"Don't be so rude! Greet him!" He barked.

Usui took a deep breath and closed his eyes, he just had to remember to do his part and he could get the fuck out of here.

"Greetings, Sir Hero." Usui bowed low, voice as courteous as he could make it.

When he didn't reply, Usui chanced a look up, confused. The hero blinked and seemed to break out of a trance himself, before answering.

"No need for all that, you can just call me Lucius." He smiled. "Please, take a seat."

"Yes, thank you, Sir Lucius." Usui repeated, completely ignoring his earlier request.

The hero stilled, eye twitching and Usui narrowed his eyes as he sat. Maybe it would be interesting talking to the "Hero".

When Villo didn't sit, Usui looked over, his brow furrowed, "Aren't you sitting?"

"Please, don't mind me. I just came here to escort my son, you two take your time together." His father smiled flatteringly and immediately took his leave.

Usui froze and by the time he turned to call for the fucker, he had already left.

What the hell...he thought this was the old man's lifelong dream of seeing him pursuing the "man's spirit" and fuck all.

He turned to Lucius, who seemed similarly surprised. Nice to know he wasn't the only one who was fucking duped.

"I suppose we should introduce ourselves?" He smiled awkwardly.

Usui nodded.

This was going to be horrible.