“You!” The strange elf snarled.

“Brother!”

“Oh my, hehehehe…” The old man chuckled to himself like this was all a joke.

“Why are you here?” Faeyna demanded.

“Fifi… you cannot accept this man’s proposal.”

“You scoundrel…” The other man growled. “Don’t listen to this man. He’s a scoundrel and a murderer! I challenge you to the duel!”

“What? Wait!” Faeyna protested.

“I accept!” Her brother responded before she could stop him.

“Brother, no! You don’t understand. He’s a hero!”

“A hero?” Her brother blinked.

The stranger elf finally grinned. “You have no clue what you’ve done. A little back country elf like you wouldn’t have a chance against me. Where I am from, they call me the Elf Hero!”

“Is that so…” Her brother narrowed his eyes.

“Of course, since you’re her brother, I will give you a single chance.” The elf grinned. “Give me your sister, and accept your arrest, and I will allow you to live.”

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“Allow me, huh?” Her brother responded mockingly. “How about we take this outside?”

“Brother, you can’t do this! I know you’re a dungeon diver, but he’s a hero!” Faeyna was saying as the front door burst open.

Her brother was confidently striding out into the front lawn while she worriedly followed. The Elf Hero followed behind them. This was the first time I had heard of such a hero. Then again, there were so few elves left in this world, it wasn’t surprising that the Elf Hero wasn’t that widespread.

“I’m sorry, sister, I lied to you before.” Her brother turned to face the other man, pulling a pair of daggers from his belt. “I haven’t been training all of this time to be a dungeon diver.”

“Y-you haven’t?” Faeyna blinked.

“I’ve been training all of this time to become a hero!” He declared.

“A-a hero?”

“Training to become a hero? You’re not one of those fools on the hero route, are you?” the Elf Hero burst into laughter. “That’s hilarious.”

“I-I don’t understand, hero route?”

“We heroes are blessed by our lore. We take on a destiny from countless heroes before us. We are a collection of all of their strength and power. We are tasked with completing their goals, to reach the end of their lore. Each one of us makes it a little farther toward completing the lore built on the shoulders of giants. However, certain fools try to write their own lore. They try to do in a single lifetime what took the heroes a dozen lifetimes to do. They take the lore from dungeons, making them into blessings and grafting lore onto themselves, in the hopes of creating a new story. They wish to become heroes with their own measly power.”

“You are the ones who failed to complete your lore! As for me, I will create something new with my strength!” Faeyna’s brother struck his fists together, and his body started to glow, revealing at least four different blessings on his body.

My eyes widened at the sight. Every one of those blessings would have been a dungeon he not only defeated but completed.

“Well met. Now, let me show you the difference between a real hero and a faux hero like you.” The Elf Hero pulled a rapier from his sheathe, and then the two men began to fight.