Blinking, he began to open his eyes. Radiant golden light met his eyes, still accustomed to the darkness. As his eyes slowly adjusted to the cheerful light, he began to perceive his surroundings.

His expectant gaze fell upon people. They surrounded him in a circular formation.

From their shimmering robes, he recognized them as priests of Larielle. Their wide garments gleamed with countless golden embellishments.

Around their necks, each priest wore a golden chain. Hanging from it was a gold-polished medallion, engraved with a sun. It was the emblem of the Sun Church, also known as the Church of Light.

The priests used gold because it radiated purity, symbolizing their goddess.

Next, his gaze swept over his surroundings. They were in a church, he surmised. Even the walls, candles, and tables were made of pure gold.

In front of him stretched several rows of benches. Dozens of people sat silently, staring at him with reverence.

His gaze continued to the altar, which was splendidly situated in the center of the church. Upon it rested a book, bathed in golden light. He immediately recognized it as the holy book of the Sun Church, containing the teachings and commandments of their goddess.

Awe-struck, he gazed at the enchanting paintings of Larielle.

One of the priests approached him, and simultaneously, all present in the grand hall bowed. "Hail to our hero. May the holy light illuminate your path," the crowd chanted in unison.

Instantly, the images of the gods faded into the background. He basked in the well-deserved attention. "Exactly, worship me, idolize me."

In the rows of seats, he noticed several stunning girls. Especially one black-haired beauty caught his eye. Even the goddess couldn't hold a candle to her beauty.

Her hair was tied back in a smooth braid, and beneath a few strands shone two azure-blue eyes. She was slightly shorter than him, he estimated her height to be around 1.65m.

"I want her!"

"Would you please accompany me?"

"She belongs to me alone!"

"Dear hero, please listen to me?"

"I will make her my wife."

Suddenly, Eron felt a tap on his shoulder. Annoyed, he threw a glance at the intruder. It was one of the priests. He was bald and exuded a dignified and trustworthy aura.

"May I ask you to follow me?" he asked again.

"I'm coming already."

"Thank you for your understanding."

They left the hall. Before he departed, he cast one last lustful glance at the black-haired girl. Dissatisfied, he noticed that she paid him no attention.

Even the corridor they entered was made of pure gold. But unlike before, he didn't pay it any mind. His thoughts were consumed by beauty.

"Who was the black-haired girl in the second hall?" he asked.

The priest sighed before responding: "Her name is Aria. She's the daughter of an important guest, and she'll be leaving at any moment," he answered cautiously to Eron's question.

"I've spoken with the divine Goddess about assembling a group. I want her to be part of it!" he commanded boastfully.

"I'm sorry, esteemed hero, but that's impossible. She's already joined the Varia Academy. We can't afford to make enemies of the academy and her family," the priest calmly refuted.

Angrily, Eron stomped his foot, "Tell me more about this academy!" he demanded maliciously.

"Very well. The name of the academy is Varia Academy. There's no other academy in the world that compares to it. The students at the academy are almost all famous personalities. Moreover, there are no better teachers anywhere else. Countless training opportunities are available. However, the most important aspect is their neutrality. Regardless of one's social status, one is only judged by their strength and talent. Even heroes are drawn to this school. But they, too, must relinquish their title as heroes there. That means they are treated like everyone else."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

After some thought, Eron made a decision, "I want to attend this academy too."

"It's the perfect place to build my harem. Besides, every protagonist attends such an academy. I should stick to the script," he thought.

"That shouldn't be a problem, but first, you must meet the High Priest," he replied with a smile.

The conversation with the High Priest was uneventful. Eron spoke of his intentions and his abilities. They then devised a plan to quickly strengthen Eron. The actual instruction wouldn't begin for another month. Until then, he would have to train rigorously.

"It went exactly as you predicted," the priest said in awe, after Eron had left the hall.

"Yes, as I suspected, the sight of Aria was enough to convince him to go to the academy."

"This hero is really a joke. He only thinks about women," the priest replied, annoyed.

"Calm down," the High Priest responded. "His simple-mindedness makes it easy to manipulate his movements."

"You're right, Your Holiness. May the holy light guide us," the priest said.

One month later.

"That's the Varia Academy," marveled Eron.

A massive wall stretched for thousands of meters. Each stone seamlessly connected to the next, creating the impression that the wall was made of a single stone.

There wasn't a single gap in the massive barrier. Even its height exceeded 20 meters.

Behind the wall, three tall towers rose up, their height resembling that of a skyscraper.

His gaze rested in awe on the impressive structure. But quickly, the thought of Aria renewed his steps.

Since the day of his summoning, he hadn't forgotten his obsession with Aria. Not even his two companions could restrain his desires for her. Not even at night in bed.

Following him were a blue-haired girl and a redhead. They possessed high skills in close combat. But what he liked best were their skills in bed.

After making his request to the church, they provided him with these two companions. They had to obey his command precisely, no matter what it was.

Overall, he was very satisfied with them. They had well-proportioned bodies and good looks. However, they couldn't compare to Aria.

The thought that his harem already had two members caused his mood to soar again.

Casually, his gaze passed by a figure with white hair. He wore a simple white mask with only a single slit for an eye. His hair hung wildly over the mask, giving him a wild appearance.

His body radiated raw strength. He had an athletic, muscular build, and he was taller than Eron. A network of veins ran over his well-defined forearms.

A plain gray traveling cloak fluttered around his shoulders.

"How can someone have such a body at this age? Maybe he's a teacher."

According to the priests, the age of the summoned individuals was always reset. The summoned individual usually inhabited the body of a 14-year-old. They claimed it was due to the learning effect. The older you are, the harder it is to learn new things. The same goes for the body. Additionally, the body also influences the mind. A fresh body leads to better learning.

In the distance, the first girls finally appeared. Instantly, he lost interest in the white-haired person.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it. How dare that arrogant bitch reject me again. Of all people, me, the protagonist. Doesn't she understand that I'm the hero? She should feel honored that I want her."

At first, he was filled with great joy. Fate was indeed on his side; he ended up in the same class as Aria.

With a radiant smile, he entered his classroom on his first day of school.

The training lasts for three years. Each year consists of five classes, each with 30 students. Thus, there are always 450 students in the academy, never more or less.

Unfortunately, Eron's luck went downhill from that moment on.

The seating rows consisted of individual tables spaced at short intervals.

They were divided into two sections.

There were four rows on the left and four rows on the right. In the middle, there was space to allow passage.

Unfortunately, he learned after entering the room that he couldn't choose his seat. To his dismay, the seats were marked with name tags.

His gaze wandered around the room in search of Aria.

She sat in the second-to-last row on the left side, one seat away from the window.

Normally, he would have spent the next few seconds admiring her appearance.

But at that moment, his envious gaze was fixed on the white-haired boy. He sat to Aria's left by the window.

The seat to Aria's right was still vacant.

Hopefully, he looked at the name tag on that seat.

"Mayla Rynbrick," he read.

"Where did my luck from earlier go? This snowman, he wants to take her away from me."

Then an idea came to his mind. He was the hero; he wouldn't allow such audacity.

Quickly, he began searching for his name tag. He decided to simply swap the name tags.

After finally finding his tag in the first row on the right side, he casually reached for it.

It didn't move. He pulled harder, but nothing happened.

Frowning, he added his second hand. Despite all his effort, nothing happened.

"Forget it."

He decided to leave it at that.

Instead of sitting at his designated spot, however, he went to Aria and sat in the vacant seat next to her.

"Why did you join Varia Academy?" he asked her.

Her cold gaze turned to him.

"You're sitting in the wrong seat!"

"Well, they're just name tags, and besides, I'm a hero," he explained proudly, anticipating a great reaction.

"You're a hero? What heroic deeds have you accomplished?" she asked, bored.

"Huh?" He was at a loss for words. He was so confused that it took him several seconds to find a response.

"Maybe she has no idea about us heroes. Yes, that must be it.

"You see, I was personally chosen by the Goddess of Light, Larielle, to be a hero."

"How many people have you saved, how many enemies have you defeated? Do you seriously think you're a hero just because a god bestowed the title upon you? Disgusting!"

He stared at her in disbelief for several minutes.

"Is she mocking me?"

He was on the verge of grabbing her by the hair to make her understand where she stood.

"Oh, right, I completely forgot. The special women of the protagonist always have a backstory.

I need to make sure she opens up to me first."

Just as he was about to restart the conversation, he heard a timid voice. "Um, excuse me, you're sitting in my seat."

"Yeah, so?" he snapped at her maliciously.

Couldn't she see he was in the middle of a conversation?

"Can't you see that I'm the Hero of Light? Just sit in the seat with the name Eron.

"But that goes against the rules," the girl countered, her voice trembling.

Slowly, Eron began to truly get angry. The conversation with Aria wasn't going as planned already.

Now some other side character had to butt in.

"So, this won't work; I just have to make it clear to her where she belongs."

With the intention of teaching her a lesson, he turned to her.

Before him stood a small, petite girl with shoulder-length blue hair.

Even though she looked almost like a child, he decided to show no mercy.

Just as he raised his hand to strike, a calm voice spoke up.

"What's going on here?"

Normally, another nuisance wouldn't have interested him. But just the sound of the voice made him freeze with his hand raised.

His fearful gaze landed on a gray-haired old man.

"What does this old geezer want from me?"

Instead of getting cheeky, however, Eron decided to explain calmly.

"Pleasure to meet you, I'm the Hero of Light, Eron.

This girl is getting on my nerves, so I decided to discipline her," he explained.

In his eyes, there was no problem with his actions. He even expected a punishment for Mayla.

"Is that true?" the old man asked listlessly.

"N-no," Mayla stammered, on the verge of tears. "I just told him he's sitting in my seat."

"Eron, come to the front!"

Following the command, Eron stumbled toward the man.

"You've violated one of our rules and tarnished our neutrality.

Since today is the first day, I'll go easy on you.

You'll clean the toilets for a month. For a great hero like you, it should be an honor to keep our toilets clean."

"What? But..."

"You'd like to voluntarily clean the practice area after our training? I'm proud of you; that's how a true hero should act.

Out of respect, I'll have you take on this task for the entire year. Now, sit down immediately."

He looked at the old man incredulously.

"Well, are you going to? Of course, if you'd rather guard our sports equipment, just stay where you are."

Snapped out of his daze, he hurriedly made his way to his seat.

"Good, can we finally start, or are there any other issues?"

No one answered.

Nodding satisfactorily, he began the first lesson.