Episode 2: Commoner ~ Hero

“Don’t mess with me, you bastards!”

Damon, restrained by ten well-trained knights, stood up while still carrying them on his back.

“W-What’s that?”

“No way, h-he stood up?”

“What incredible leg strength!”

The knights were astonished.

The sheer number of them, plus the weight of their armor and equipment—how heavy it all must be.

Yet Damon stood up, bearing it all.

And then…

“UGARUAAAAAHH!”

“Wha—!?”

With a vigorous twist of his body, Damon shook off all the knights, sending them flying into the air.

The knights, shocked and unable to move midair, were launched nearly to the ceiling before plummeting down…

“Knights? Even these weaklings are class holders, warriors or whatever… and I got rejected as a commoner? That’s ridiculous!”

In sync with his words, Damon leisurely raised his right leg and—

“LIFTING!!”

With swift footwork, he kicked all the falling knights back up without letting a single one touch the ground.

The knights, launched upward, crashed hard into the ceiling, unable to brace themselves, and fell to the floor.

“Gah, t-this brat…”

“What kind of thing… to do… but…”

“S-Strong…”

“This is the power of the ‘Heaven-Gifted Superhuman, Magic Kicker Damon’…”

Glaring down at the crawling knights, Damon roared again in fury.

“Got it now? Even the elite Imperial Knights, handpicked from across the empire, are in this sorry state! And it’s not just them! At school, in tournaments—no one, not a single person, has ever beaten me! Not one! And yet I’m a commoner? Don’t make me laugh! If you don’t take back what you said, I don’t care if you’re the Saintess—I’ll kick you to death!”

Damon’s raw anger and killing intent were laid bare as he bellowed.

“It is not my will. It is the will of God that has spoken.”

The Saintess, unfazed and composed, wove her words calmly in response to Damon.

With cold, emotionless eyes that seemed to look down on a foolish human, she declared this to him.
And then…

“Big news! In the southern ritual chamber, the ‘Hero’ class has been born!”

“Wha—!?”

Outside the room, a wave of cheers and gasps of shock echoed through the halls.

“That guy ‘Segundo’ from the Imperial Knight Academy became the Hero!”

“No way! A Hero is born! The first Hero in the empire in 20 years!”

“Hurrah! Long live the Hero!”

While Damon reeled in shock, joyous voices rang out from outside.

He had been rejected, and someone else had been chosen as the Hero—and above all, that someone was his friend.

In that moment, rather than celebrating his friend’s rise to Hero, Damon could only think—

“Wait a sec! Segundo? Why—why is that guy the Hero, and I’m rejected?! I’ve never lost to him in a mock battle! Not once! Even in our latest spar, I won! So why is he the Hero and I’m a commoner? What’s going on, Saintess?! This has to be a scam! A mistake, it has to be!”

All he could focus on was why he had been rejected and why someone weaker than him was chosen as the Hero.
But to Damon, the Saintess, as ever, responded with detached calm…

“This is reality. There is no mistake in the holy selection. You must accept reality. Above all, I will not allow you to further defile this sacred ritual.”

Or so the Saintess had said.

A few days later…

“I am so sorry! I don’t know how to make amends! I know a mere apology could never suffice, but truly, I am deeply sorry!”

The Saintess, who had always seemed emotionless, like a doll with wide eyes, was now visibly shaken, trembling like an ordinary girl, tears in her eyes, prostrating herself before Damon.

“I didn’t know, but it seems the magic mirror used in the selection ritual malfunctions when faced with someone whose exceptional, immeasurable talent is too great… And so, your—n-no, your honored true class is not just a Hero, who appears once every 20 years, but a peerless talent, one in a thousand years… the legendary class, said to be held by only one person in all of history: the ‘Celestial Hero’!”

And this revelation came after Damon had lost everything.

“Please, bestow upon me any punishment you see fit. I am no longer a Saintess, just a breathing doll. Whether you kill me in one stroke, subject me to endless torment until I break, or toy with this body as you please, I will accept all your desires and commands. My body, heart, and soul—I offer them all to atone to you… Please… My Master…”

Before the prostrating Saintess, Damon stood stunned, recalling the events of the past few days.

A shattered future…

A lost place to belong…

A stolen love…