Does she know?! Wait, no, calm down. She said ‘True Hero Potential’ so… like Riary? But she’s only said to have S-Rank Potential. So… there are other people out there with True Hero Potential?

“You already know.” Xilvia said, statement not fact.

“I was… told by one of my party members that my growth seemed… high.”

Xilvia straight up snorted.

“High he says. High. You are a living void bomb, a potential cause for a World War, a threat to every race in the Heart, and you call it high. Ridiculous.”

“That… what? That seems like a bit much.”

“Nonsense. No, in fact, I’m downplaying it heavily. If most people knew you existed, you would be dead already. Not a hyperbole, I know for a fact that the Emperor has a powerful enough Psychic to kill across Territories. You would literally already be dead.”

My blood ran cold.

“Because I’m a demon?” I said.

“No, yes, but mostly no. Those with potential like yours have arisen in history before. Rarely. They become the strongest of S-Rankers, Legends. If they make it. They almost always die first, because of how dangerous they are. True Heroes… they shaped the entire world, literally, as we know it. Reshaped it more than a few times as well. Some even went further, to spawn whole new races, others created Empires, the human one lasting still to this day. No one can forget about The Calmity Era after all. Nor the Dark Era that followed it. It was a miracle the world survived before or after. There is a reason the last time a Kingdom attempted to summon a Hero during the Dark Era, it was destroyed. Let me be clear, it was destroyed to the very last citizen. Nearly four hundred million dead.”

I gaped like a fish. That… that…. That was the equivalent of eradicating the entire U.S. What…. What the fuck….

“Yes, finally, it is sinking in. That is how dangerous True Heroes can become. Our world is not like it used to be. It has grown weaker, ever since the Dark Era and the world descended into infighting, cut off from the rest of it. Even since the end of it and the current Era of peace, we still remain relatively weakened. A True Hero, now? It is not completely impossible for them to rule all of the Territories and the world as we know it. They would be an existential threat to all the powers of the world.”

I was starting to feel dizzy.

“That’s…. That’s crazy.”

“Please, have some thought to how I feel. I was enjoying my retirement when the greenest Demon I ever saw, yet inexplicably on the human side, was offered to train underneath me. Only to find out mid battle of your true capabilities. And that was without factoring in your Ability. I thought I would die of shock.” Xilvia said, in the same tone of voice she’d used for the whole conversation. Wait, no, there was a real hint of annoyance there.

“...Sorry?”

Xilvia sighed.

“Now, what is your relation to humans and the Mauv Kingdom? Why have you joined their side?”

I blinked.

“No?” I simply said.

“No?” Xilvia asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No, I have not joined their side. Hell… my current team tried to kill me when we first met and then kicked me out of the kingdom only because the Elven Territory was close. If it wasn’t… well… best not to think about that. I don’t care about any kingdom, territory, or etc. We’re just… friends.”

Xilvia stared at me, mouth opened just slightly. She might as well have been gaping like a fish.

“Utterly ridiculous. No, it goes beyond that, into stupidity. You do realize you’ve joined a Hero Team of a human kingdom, thus announcing to the world that that Kingdom had at least partially aligned itself with demons, no?”

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Now it was my turn to snort.

“Like it was my choice. We traveled, we fought together, we saved each other’s lives and we decided to keep going together. What was I suppose to do, leave? I tried that. Danger, circumstances, and negotiation brought me back around to stay. Can’t even walk around the world with three semi-assholes without the rest of the world wanting to kill me.” I muttered, slightly bitter.

For a brief moment, Xilvia paused and all at once, her mask practically broke open. Instead of the nobel woman image she cultivated, she smiled wide like a monster, her eyes flared, and it was as if bloodlust had over taken her. It was an image I’d seen more than a few times during our fighting, every once in a while. The strange part for me was yet to come, as she began to laugh. Full belly laugh.

I just sat there, only now realizing I was naked this entire time, with my arms crossed. Her laughter eventually died down from a ‘blood lusted demon’ to ‘a soft chuckling’.

“Truly… yes, my students should be so uncaring of the world. Politics… nasty business. Yet still, you must not only get stronger. If any A-Rank were to come around, you would die. You are at C-Rank now and it is only the ‘relative’ unimportance of you that prevents stronger entities from coming for you at the moment. Hits will most likely be put out on you, from anyone and everyone. The most likely being the Mauv Kingdom itself. The Empire will put much more pressure and scrutiny on them now, not accepting any reasons they give. This is a direct sign that they have allied with demons, a grave offense. Thirty years is not a long time. The entire kingdom will be seen as a traitor to humans.”

I sighed. Yes, yes. The world is really, actually, out to get me.

“You don’t seem to care.” Xilvia said.

“Something is wrong with me.” I said directly. “My sense of ‘give a shit’ died around the exact moment a giant snake tried to eat me. The events after that… yeah. I should care, I should hate coming to this City, I should a lot of things but I just can’t get it up I guess. It will be what will be I guess. Just got to kill my enemies and flee when I can’t.”

Xilvia shrugged.

“I’d like to continue our previous training for another few months.” My heart leapt into my chest. More of that?! For even longer?! “But it would be impractical. For now, I recommend you go down into the dungeon. It will be incredibly dangerous but danger is where we grow the most. If you survive, come back and I’ll help stabilize you.”

“Stabilize?” I asked.

“Yes. After all, I doubt you will survive unless you become B-Rank. We’ll worry about afterwards if you come back at all. And if you do… I shall reveal a ‘secret’ to you. The one that is blocking your Analyze from truly seeing my capabilities. Use that as your motivation if nothing else.” Xilvia said with a slight smile. I rolled my eyes. I really didn’t care that much.

“Well… it’s been… productive. I’m gonna-”

“You are going to immediately head to the bathroom and then bed.” Xilvia said, sharply. “Your body is minutes away from catching up and it is going to react… strongly negatively. The bathroom is down the hallway and the guest room is two doors across from it on the right.”

I raised my eyebrows…. Only to begin to feel my stomach roil. Oh no.

I ran and I thanked my lucky stars there was a shower in the bathroom because I would need one before this was over.

*****

Xilvia sighed, getting herself another cup of tea as her student learned just why people do not overindulge in Silvia Extract. Well, not if they can help it.

There was much to think about with Derek. Her training had been effective but it wasn’t enough, nor fast enough. The problem was pure escalation. The Mauv Kingdom was weak and tiny, but it had been on the tips of anyone’s tongue who knew politics. They had announced two S-Rank potentials as part of their Hero Team. That was uncommon enough but from such a small Kingdom? Most Hero teams merely had strong members but they wouldn’t dare call themselves S-Rank potential without meaning it. The Empire paid close attention to those after all.

With a demon in the mix… escalation. Assassinations. They would fail. Over and over again. Then came the real issues. That would be bad enough but there were undercurrents. New Legendary artifacts had recently been unearthed, as they are won’t to do every once in a while.

Gems. Gems rumored to hold incredible power. That would not make this situation less messy.

Xilvia tapped her finger, thinking. The problem was that it was a statement, a shock, and a betrayal to humans to have a demon in one of their teams. One that would only get worse with time. She could already see it. Infamy had its own way of making those famous. Soon, every kingdom would know these Heroes faces, names, and abilities. They’d kicked the hornet’s nest and underestimated just how bad that is.

Derek would most likely die. Unacceptable.

Eventually, her face became uglier and uglier, thinking. It only reached further, as a solution came to her mind.

“They have to leave…” She mumbled.

Would they? Not just the city either… Xilvia was no stranger to politics, she knew how to convince them.

It was time she had a talk with a certain Priestess of Truth.