A loud metallic clang resonates through the grass in an open field; sparks fly here and there as two swords clash with each other. In the middle of it are two figures covered sweat as they fight with their swords under the scorching sun.

"Okay that's enough sword training for today, it's getting hot." [Raymond]

"But I'm still not tired." [Elena]

"I know, but I'm hungry so let's eat first. After that we'll train your magic. You still remember my test for you, right? [Raymond]

"I do. You remember your promise, right?" [Elena]

Raymond just looks at Elena and then picks up his sword. He gestures towards her and he starts walking.

"I'll think about it." [Raymond]

"But your promised!" [Elena]

"You haven't even passed my test, think about what you have to do first before moving on to other things." [Raymond]

"Okay..." [Elena]

Elena, visibly upset, looks down on the ground with a sulky expression. Raymond who felt it was awkward, decided to change the subject.

"So, uhh.. what do you want for dinner?" [Raymond]

"I want meat." [Elena]

"Okay, what mea-" [Raymond]

"A lot of meat." [Elena]

"Okay fine, fine. We'll have a feast. Go home first, I'm gonna' go out and buy the food." [Raymond]

"Okay..." [Elena]

Mana gathers around Elena's feet as she uses magic to rapidly boost herself and move quickly.

Raymond looks at the back of her daughter, quickly disappearing in the distance.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raymond went to the city first to buy food. He was welcomed by two large gilded gates of Rigondrion's capital city, Certinya.

Certinya, despite being the capital of the kingdom, wasn't the largest city by a long shot, it is still the center of commerce of the kingdom however. It had only become the capital of Rigondrion for this is where the kingdom was founded, or rather, it was the place where the village the first king grew up was in.

The Rigondrion kingdom rose from the ashes of an overthrown tyrannical kingdom. The tyrannical kingdom wasn't the only thing that the current kingdom had overthrown, they had also overthrown the norms of monarchy by having the two leaders of the revolution, their kings- king Eleazar, the first hero and king Quila. However due to unforeseen circumstances, king Eleazar had to kill his fellow king and friend, Quila. But that is a story for another day.

"This city is so lively as always. It's not even as big as Fort City, but I'm pretty sure there's more people here than there." [Raymond]

Raymond pondered to himself as he looks at the hundreds of people in front of him in the city's market district. Bright lights that was produced by using magic was scattered all over, making simplistic signboards to garner the attention of customers. Stalls and shops aligned selling various goods from food, clothing, trinkets, and even magical items, and some even providing magic based services, such as {Inventory}, which lets a person to put items inside a subspace using magic, but usually the capacity of such is small and is only usually used for very important items, that is why this magic is practical and mostly used by the nobles or any rich individuals.

Rigondrion, despite the birthplace of the first hero, is not the most powerful country by any means. In terms of power, they will just be in the sidelines. And although the Adventurer's Guilded was first established here, the kingdom does not have control over the adventurers and the guild. The guild acts more like a mercenary company, their adventurers can be hired for a fee and contract and that's what the kingdom does to close the disparity of power between them and its neighbors. Although they can only mostly hire lower ranked adventurers and not the higher ranked ones. Also the only reason Rigondrion has not been conquered by a more powerful nation is due to wealth, Rigondrion is weak militarily, but when it comes to economy, the rest of the world might as well be peasants compared to them. This is due to Rigondrion's magic industry. Being the birthplace of the first hero, Rigondrion had the obvious advantage in magical research and thus produces more and higher quality magical items than the rest of the world. The magical items they produce are as simple as cooling magic to as complex as magical tomes that can cast an imbued magic.

Raymond finally reaches the cheap meat shop, in which he is a frequent customer. He is greeted by a large, burly man with a goatee, although in terms of height, Raymond is still taller by a few inches.

"Cheap meat again?" [Bob]

Raymond shakes his head and pointed at a few chops of meat that caught his eye.

"No, I'll buy a slightly more expensive one." [Raymond]

"Having a feast?" [Bob]

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Bob said as he packs the meat of Raymond's choosing.

"Something like that, I guess." [Raymond]

Raymond replies with a solemn look on his face.

"Hmm. I don't know what's up but you don't seem like how you usually are." [Bob]

Raymond reaches out for the bag of meat but before he could, Bob pulls the bag away.

"He-" [Raymond]

"Look. I can at least tell that it's about family, isn't it? About your daughter?" [Bob]

"Yeah, I guess." [Raymond]

"Let me guess. Puberty?" [Bob]

"Something like that." [Raymond]

"Judging from the fact that you're buying better food, is it her birthday?" [Bob]

"Not quite." [Raymond]

Raymond turns around and leans on the counter.

"You see, I was supposed to test her magic today. If she passes, then she can go inside the city." [Raymond]

"Huh? So you're telling me you never let her in, not even once?" [Bob]

"I did, I did bring her in one time. Four years ago." [Raymond]

"Why aren't you even letting her in? She's a child. Of course she'd want to go inside the city and sightsee and explore." [Bob]

"It's to protect her." [Raymond]

"Are you stupid? What do you mean 'protect'? The daughter of the hero, personally trained by the HERO is going to need any protection? If any, if anyone dared attack her they're the ones who would need to be protected if they tried to harm the daughter of the hero himself." [Bob]

"You just don't understand." [Raymond]

"Of course I don't, are you an idiot? I'm a father myself with two kids, but I don't confine them inside my house. I don't even know where those two are right now but I'm sure they'll come back home as always before night time." [Bob]

After a brief pause, Bob speaks again.

"Look here, Raymond. I don't know what's going on and I don't know what's inside your mind. And if what's plaguing your mind with problems is anything hero related, I obviously have no say in it. But I can at least say this as a father." [Bob]

Raymond turns around and looks at him.

"If you keep chaining your daughter down because you think it's what's good for her, then she'll grow up hating you. And don't say that it's fine if she hates you as long as she's living your ideal life for her. That's not good either." [Bob]

"At one point in our lives, we have to let them go free and do whatever they want. Let them open their wings and explore the world with their own eyes. That is the duty of us parents. We raise our kids to learn how to walk and run, we are not their crutches." [Bob]

"If it makes her happy, isn't that what's important? Stop worrying about it, hero." [Bob]

Bob pats Raymond's back and in return Raymond smiles at him.

"Thanks, Bob." [Raymond]

"Anyway, so how much is it?" [Raymond]

"It's free, go and have a talk with your daughter. And you don't have to pay it, but at least bring her here once in a while. My kids are around the same age as her, yeah?" [Bob]

"Alright, sure. I'll make sure to do that. Thanks again." [Raymond]

"Don't mention it, now go and reconcile with her." [Bob]

Raymond turns around and starts walking, mumbling, "What's important, huh." Raymond then starts walking home.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Raymond gathers mana around his feet and boosts himself to reach his home faster.

He reaches his home soon after. Expecting to see a carefree smile from Elena, he was instead greeted by unlit lights from his house. Worried and wondering why it was dark, he ran inside and searched the bedroom and bathroom, the only rooms in his house, but could not find Elena.

Not losing hope yet, he closes his eyes and tries to track any lingering mana around but found nothing. Either it's because it has been so long since the last time used magic or there was nobody here at all. However it has only been a few minutes since he and Elena had split and during that time if anyone used magic, they'd still leave a small amount of mana lingering around. It also doesn't help that Raymond is not profound at this kind of magic.

Raymond, despite being the hero and having the most mana, was an uneducated commoner and therefore lacks proper knowledge at certain techniques in utilizing mana. And instead of trying to learn various things, he chose to focus on his forte, brute strength. By applying a mana coating on his body, this greatly improves his sturdiness and durability. He can also use strengthening magic to increase his striking and lifting strength and make his hits more powerful. And thanks to his nature, he is compatible with fire magic, which often relies on brute strength.

As if giving up, Raymond places his luggage on the table and sits down. Thinking to himself.

"Elena ran away. I don't know where she went but I can take a guess that she probably snuck inside the city." [Raymond]

He sighs and crosses his arms.

"Am I worrying too much?" [Raymond]

After a few seconds, he shakes his head and decides to shrug it off and just cook. But before he can stand up, Elena opens the door.

"Elena? Where did you-" [Raymond]

"I'm ready." [Elena]

"Huh? What are you talking about..?" [Raymond]

"I said, I'm ready!" [Elena]

Elena shouts at Raymond, but it was not out of anger or frustration. Raymond could see it in her eyes that Elena had prepared herself for her test. He takes a good look at her and notices her ragged clothes with a few rips here and there with a bit of burnt edges. He can guess that she probably trained by herself.

"I see. Very well, let's go outside." [Raymond]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was only slightly a bit afternoon, a gentle breeze brushes past Raymond and Elena as they stood opposite of each other. Elena carrying a short steel sword whereas Raymond's platinum great sword was stabbed on the ground.

"As you know, magic is controlled through emotions. If you're too gloom, your output is weaker and risks having your mana explode within you. If you're too angry, you'll have a more powerful output but you risk endangering everyone around you. You must maintain calm, maintain balance to have an accurate and powerful magic without putting anyone at risk. If you understand that, do you really want to do this?" [Raymond]

"You've taught me that many times before already, I'm prepared." [Elena]

"I see. Then- your goal is simple. It is to land a hit on me. I will not be using defensive magic. And I don't mean for you to just land a simple hit, I need you to wound me with your magic." [Raymond]

After hearing the last part, Elena's eyes widened a bit, thinking that she does not want to hurt her father.

"I know how you feel. But Elena, this is what we had agreed upon. I need to know if you're capable of protecting yourself when I'm not by your side. So steel yourself, and do what you must do." [Raymond]

Elena looks at Raymond for a couple more seconds before closing her eyes and breaths deeply. She opens her eyes with a brand new resolve.

"I understand." [Elena]

"Alright. From now on I will not be fighting you as your father or as your trainer." [Raymond]

He pulls his great sword with his right hand and gathers mana around it, making it shine brighter than the sun.

"But as the 112th hero of the kingdom, Raymond The Stone!" [Raymond]