A bright light forced Arath to open his eyes. He was lying on a bench with few people surrounding him, besides Clara he had no idea who they were. He felt as if a giant bell rang inside his skull, the pain was unbearable and his confusion bigger than the Tower itself. He was trying to raise his head and look around in order to understand where he was or what had happened.

"I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't sleep on public benches, I will get going now and won't cause any more problems." He apologised for what he thought he had done but a burly woman stopped him.

"Shoosh, don't talk, we are not finished yet." He wanted to protest and get up but a young man kept him in place.

"Some big guy hit you in the head and you suffered a mild traumatic brain injury. You may feel fine now but you are not alright. This woman is blessed by Healing Element so let her do her job." He explained to Arath.

"But, but I can't afford a Healer. These bastards are so expensive I would have to sell my whole armor to cover it. I can do just fine on my own, I have been through worse."

"I'm done. This 'bastard' will now take her leave. Don't do any physical exercises for at least a week and take it slowly for the remaining month." The woman turned around and discussed something with the young man for a while before leaving with her assistant. After that the only ones left were Arath, Clara and the mysterious man.

"Receiving a direct blow from an enemy like that is not something everyone would survive. You are tougher than you look." The man said.

"Thanks, I guess. But what do you mean by a direct blow?"

"Don't you remember? You were hit by that big guy outside the builing. Even the Council's Guard needed five minutes to deal with him."

'Ah, so he hit me. Let's see, how did this happen? I was running toward the Hall when I noticed him behind me, then I had this weird feeling and... No, I can't remember anything after that, I must have lost consciousness.' Arath pondered.

"Anyway, thanks to you most of the attackers were either killed or captured. I still don't know what exactly had happened but looking at how many people died today I think the world will be better without them."

"I think I have a clue on who those guys were." Clara suddenly said. "Before I was bought by that group of bandits I used to serve in an underground organisation. They called themselves 'Free Underground' or something and dressed just like the guys from before."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"You were bought? What do you mean?"

"What? Is there something you don't understand?"

"Yeah. I don't understand this buying part."

"Why? Have you never seen slaves?"

"SLAVES?" He shouted all of a sudden.

"Don't tell me you are a Hero, just how little do you know about this place?" Arath asked.

"I am. The Council's representant never told me they allowed slavery."

"Because they don't, but they also never prohibited it so it is just like with everything here. Whenever something bad happens they act like they don't know about it until it becomes a concern for aristocrats." He explained.

"So that's a common situation no matter which world we are in, the higher ups give no fuck about normal people. Good to know."

"So it isn't any better in where you come from?"

"Maybe a little bit. Anyway what is your name? Sorry for not asking earlier."

"I'm Arath and you?"

"I'm Beniamin."

The two men talked for a bit and quickly found each others company quite comfortable. Ben seemed to be a reasonable and down-to-earth nineteen year old boy from a poor background. Clara kept her distance and spoke very rarely but didn't show any hostility toward her new acquaintance. Beniamin even asked Arath if he wanted to be part of his group in the dungeon but the latter immediately refused saying that maybe in the future but now he has no intention to work with groups made of Heroes. The conversation flowed through the next hour but was interrupted by arrival of four other Heroes. They were all over twenty years old and had very serious looks on their faces. Arath recognised two of them, as they were the first one to escape from the building when the fight broke out.

"Ben, the representant is waiting for you in his office. They said they want to reward you for your bravery."

"What? I didn't do anything I just stood there and helped few people."

"They said you helped to stop the enemies from running away and fought their Body Elementalist one on one."

"No I didn't. It was Arath here who accomplished all that."

"Come on Mr. Humble. We all know it was thanks to you. I just got hit by him." Arath smiled and patted Beniamin on his back and whispered. "The Council knows it, they just won't accept it. They need someone to take the credit but they will never give it to a ragamuffin like me. If you don't accept it, they will give it to a noble with a stick up their ass. Just take it."

Ben let out a wry smile, said his goodbyes to Clara and Arath and left with the rest.

"What a nice guy. I wonder if we will meet again, I hope he survives all this."

"I feel something is up with him, he was too polite. He even paid the Healer for the procedure." Clara answered.

"What, he paid for it? I thought the healer was just nice and decided to help me. I guess I was too naive."

"Well, you had lost half of your teeth and had your jaw dislocated, not mentioning the brain trauma. No one in their right mind would heal such injuries for free."

"It was that bad, eh? To think I would owe one to a hero. The world really is going crazy."