5 Hero-King Mordred

The Lazy Bear was an old tavern by the north eastern side of the capital city of Flora. It was small, but cozy. It was quiet late at night, with only two customers tonight. The barkeep was meticulously cleaning pint sized glass mugs, making sure they were spick and span.

If Enoch were here, he'd be able to easily recognize both customers. In fact, one of the customers was somebody who everybody knew the face of. This was the Hero-King the protected and lead the Kingdom of Flora, Mordred. He was enjoying a nice, cool glass of beer alongside a crusader.

"Your highness, you know that I don't work well with kids." Michael complained. He took a sip of the alcoholic beverage, letting the cool sensation go down his throat while enjoying the bitter taste of the beer. "I still don't know why you'd assign me to lead a group of kids."

Mordred silently drank his beer. His face looked like it was in deep contemplation. It was almost a minute before he spoke, "What do you think of Enoch?" Rather than responding to Michael with his reasons, he returned Michael's comment with a question. The dimly lit tavern accentuated his handsome face, which showed signs of aging.

Michael frowned and contemplated for a moment before he responded, "My first impression of him is that he's a serious kid. As the best performing student in the academy, he'll surely become a cornerstone figure of the kingdom."

A Hero-King was only one person, and wasn't able to protect the kingdom by themselves. Thus, it was important for the existence of many other powerful heroes. Just under the Hero-King were diamond ranked heroes, who were all extreme leveled heroes. There was only a handful of them though, but each of them were almost at the level of Hero-King, if they aren't already. Every diamond ranked hero was a cornerstone figure of a kingdom, a pillar of support. In the case that the Hero-King is absent, a diamond ranked hero would act as a acting Hero-King.

For a platinum ranked hero like Michael to give a young child like Enoch this kind of evaluation, showed just his expectations of him. After all, there were only a handful of diamond ranked heroes within the kingdom, and every year there was always one top graduate, but there were still only less than ten diamond ranked heroes.

"Hohoho," Mordred chuckled, "It seems you have a good impression of him." He took another sip of his beer. "I've looked into each of the graduating student's background. I merely felt that you would do the best job of raising those three. Enoch, especially."

Michael sighed, "There are much better people to raise kids, I'm not suitable."

"Those young heroes you call kids, could all use your help. The majority of the heroes grew up from a lineage of heroes, they know what's expected of them, and they grew up blessed with love and affection. Those three have particularly troubled pasts. I have a feeling you'd be able to get through to them." Mordred said.

Michael remained silent, deep in contemplation as Mordred continued. "You and Enoch are both quite similar, the way I see it."

"Enoch was raised without parents, and he does not know the love of his family, nor does he know how to interact with people. You should teach him." Mordred patted Michael's shoulders. "I'll leave that to you." Mordred chugged down the rest of his beer and stood up. "I believe you'll know what to do."With that, he left the tavern.

Michael was deep in contemplation, pondering over Mordred's words. He thought about how he grew up. Orphaned and alone. It could be considered a miracle to be able to get to where he was today.

As he was contemplating, the barkeep handed him the tab. When Michael looked at the tab, he froze in shock, and his face blanked out.

Mordred had put his beer onto HIS tab!

'Y-you're a king! I-if people find out you're cheaping out on beer, w-won't they rage! I'm raging!'