Chapter 29: What Is a Hero?

Before I entered the house, I hanged the corpse of the alpha stone-centipede on a tree branch so it could dry since Master doesn't like the house smelling of monster blood, neither do I, but that also means I'm going to take off my armor and clothes as there is some blood on it as well.

My greatswords were also covered in blood, but thankfully, as they are very durable, I could bathe them in flames to burn off all of the monster's blood, which was easy, but I did have to make the fire quite hot. Once Trina and her elder sister were thoroughly cleansed of monster blood, I retracted them back into my body, and although I've been doing this for a little over four years, the sensation of something moving through my body still feels unnatural to me.

Taking off my various pieces of armor, which consist of a helmet, shoulder guards, arm guards, bracers, chest plate, leg armor, shin guards, and lastly, boots; once all of my armor was off, I set them on a nearby rock and did the same thing I did with my greatswords, although since there were several more pieces it took slightly longer, it was still much faster than cleaning them normally.

When I finished cleaning my armor, I removed my slime clothes and placed them on the same rock where the armor pieces were; unfortunately, I couldn't just let them bathe in the fire. I mean, technically, I could, but even though it's magic-resistant, I'll still end up damaging the slime outfit; I have to make the fire very hot if I wish to cleanse monster blood after it's already dried.

Anyway, since I was already in the nude, I decided I might as well take a bath; I didn't want to enter Master's office and then get hit with a blast of water because I forgot to wash; it's happened before.

Approaching the pond in the distance while walking across the clearing in the nude, I entered the usual beautiful blue pond and submerged myself under the water as I soaked up its soothing aura.

'I don't know what Master did to this pond, but no matter my state of mind, I'll always quickly calm down.' Thought Alexander while floating at the bottom of the pond.

After having soaked in the pond for a few minutes, I surfaced and began to clean myself, making sure to scrub my hair, which has gotten quite long in the past twelve years, and while I do kind of like it as it's a new style to me, It's not the best for fighting; however, since I don't fight that much, I'll keep it for now, though I'll probably cut it before I finally leave home and explore the world.

'Ugh, why does monster blood have to be brown? It's blending in with my skin.' Mused Alexander with a frown as he intensely scrubbed his caramel-colored skin, which went well with his long snow-white hair.

When I finished cleaning, I took one last dip in the pond before exiting; once out, with the combination of fire and wind mana, which I can almost effortlessly use in conjunction, I blasted myself with a continuous gust of hot wind, quickly drying my body off, though I left my hair a little damp still. As I was about to head toward the home and speak with Master, I looked at my reflection in the pond; although I don't believe myself to be necessarily handsome yet, as I still carried a large number of child-like features, I could also spot some manly features forming, such as my muscular build.

'Heh, it seems like all those years of physical training have finally started paying off.' Thought Alexander with a proud smirk as he began doing poses while flexing his prominent muscles.

Yet, while I was enjoying my appearance and how much improvement I've made since my last life, I couldn't help but remember the day I died, which led to me thinking about my class and my supposed responsibilities as the so-called [Hero].

'Haa, I'm grateful for the position I'm currently in, but I'm no Hero; I would gladly give up my life for Master or even Trina, but I don't see myself ever willingly risking my life for a couple of strangers, in my eyes, my life is simply more precious than theirs, and vice-versa for them.' Thought Alexander with a depressed sigh as he shook his head and headed toward the house.

While walking back to the treehouse, still in the nude, I continued to ponder about the characteristics of a Hero and whether I have any. I won't lie and say I don't have some similarities with a Hero; I do enjoy helping people in need, whether it's humans, beasts, Dryads, Demons, Elves, or any other species you could name. However, a Hero and I also differ greatly; a Hero is seen as a guardian angel by the people they constantly risk their lives to protect, but I couldn't do such a thing. I may enjoy helping people, but I will not live my life only helping and protecting people.

'Besides, constantly protecting will only result in stagnation, and the moment the Hero leaves or possibly dies, the people he or she were protecting will quickly die as well since they've never experienced hardships considering the Hero had protected them.' Pondered Alexander, though he was so deep that he didn't notice the tree mere inches before his face.

"Ow. Haa, I need to stop thinking about this Hero thing." Muttered Alexander in annoyance as he rubbed his nose while looking at the tree.

Shaking my head, I climbed the tree and entered the house in search of Master, though knowing her, she was most likely in her Office; I was correct, as when I arrived before her office, I heard Master excitedly speaking from behind the door. Just as I was about to open the door, I looked down and noticed I had forgotten to put on clothes; palming my face while feeling slightly embarrassed, I headed to my room and quickly put on some clothes before returning to Masters Office.

"Master, I've returned and brought the alpha centipede; it's currently drying outside." Announced Alexander as he opened the door and saw Lavender intently looking at a red liquid in a vial with an eager expression.

Seeing how Master completely ignored me, which she only does when she's very invested in one of her projects, and surprisingly, this happens quite a lot, so I've gotten used to it. Walking near the table Master was sitting at, I also focused on the vial, though when I did, the red liquid started bubbling very quickly, and before I could even react, it exploded.

Using my wind mana, I blew all the smoke out the window, and with an ash-covered face, I blankly stared at Master, whose face was also covered in ash.

"So, what did you wish to say, Alexander?" Asked Lavender with a slight smile as she attempted to gloss over what had just happened.

"I had just taken a bath, Master, and now I'm going to have to take another one." Replied Alexander blandly while his eye twitched in annoyance, causing Lavender to look away awkwardly.

"Haa, you're one of a kind, Master." Muttered Alexander as he ignored Lavender and attempted to clean the ash off his face, to no avail.

"Fufu, I'll take that as a compliment. So, did you bring back the carapace of an Alpha centipede? If I had that, I'm sure the concoction would've worked." Said Lavender with a proud smile while mumbling the last bit, though Alexander still heard her, causing him to stare blankly at her again.

"Yes, I've acquired an Alpha centipede; it's outside drying off." Replied Alexander while glancing at the destruction the explosion caused, though it was relatively small.

"Hmm, you've brought a whole centipede? I only needed the carapace, but I suppose I could use its other body parts." Remarked Lavender while thoughtfully tapping her chin.

"Well, yes, I couldn't exactly skin it in the dungeon." Stated Alexander while shaking his head, causing his hair to fling ash onto Lavender, much to his satisfaction.

"You could've just done it outside the dungeon or in the forest." Replied Lavender while blankly staring at Alexander in annoyance, though he ignored it.

"I didn't think about it." Said Alexander, to which Lavender just shook her head.

"Anyways, since I'm all dirty again thanks to someone, I'm going to go and exercise; I might as well." Stated Alexander while eyeing Lavender before exiting the room, to which she huffed in response.

Heading toward my room, I grabbed a silver belt with a crystal gem in the middle before exiting the house and finding a random empty spot in the clearing. Putting the belt on, I injected my mana into the crystal gem at the center, causing it to release a soft blue glow as thin blue mana emerged from both sides of the belt and began to cover my body.

Once I was fully covered in this mana film, It started vibrating, which in turn caused my body to slowly but steadily get heavier until I eventually stopped it by no longer injecting mana into the blue crystal.

'Alright, I should work up a good sweat since I'm already dirty.' Thought Alexander as he began doing typical exercises, though since his weight was many times heavier than usual, it was actually challenging.

I was currently using a Gravity belt, which Master had made in her earlier days with the help of one of her teammates, since while Master may be able to use every major element, only people with a specific element affinity will be able to use its sub-element. In order to use gravity magic, one must have an affinity for earth mana, which Master has, but you also need to have an affinity for space mana, something Master doesn't have, but apparently, her teammate did.

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Created a discord server, so if anyone wishes to join, it also works this time; I've reset it again, https://discord.gg/gyR4yJcU

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Elven Legacy (Chapter 154: Down Memory Lane) || Hero of Harmony (Chapter 34: Boss!) || One Piece: Chaos Kong (Chapter 52: Frenzy Pirates First-Ever Bounties!) at [patreon.com/Ozonelayer691]