The Worst...

The Dellagado duchy.

A family that was known to be prestigious for their riches but that was not the only reason why they stayed top of the three families in the Pomei Empire.

Pedro Dellagado, one of the levels A heroes in the empire and a high ranker. The firstborn of Duke Lambert Dellagado who was also in his prime the sword saint and a level S hero.

Raith was covered in the shadows of these two and was expected to at least amount to something. When he was chosen by the archon of death and failure all his dreams of catching up to his brother and father should have shattered right there.

But he hung unto hope. A hope that regardless of whatever happens he would reach them. Even after he was cast out of the family, that was the only thing that killed his thoughts of killing himself and kept him going.

He had all the reasons in the world to give up on being a hero and live his life as a normal civilian.

But every time he remembers the scornful look in his father's eyes that said he wouldn't amount to anything without them. He wanted to prove them wrong in everything. Which was why he was desperately looking for a way to switch archons.

Everyone says it has never happened before but he was relentless and still is.

Although many just see his action as the revolt of a paranoid rich kid who does not want to come to terms with the fact that he has been abandoned by his family.

He was twenty-one, and it hurt that they see him as a kid.

But in all honesty, there was some hard truth that he has not been able to accept.

Like the fact that he would never be able to change archons.

"I'm sorry, I am just offering you honest advice."

"Keep your fucking advice to yourself."

Raith chided with a scowling face that made the attendant look away.

"Whatever."

He walked outside not minding the number of eyes that looked at him from the reception lobby.

It was when he reached outside that he remembered he should have taken a bath in the shop's bathroom but now that he left with anger he can't enter in there again.

Now he had to return to the motel he had been using for the past few months.

'They literally charge for everything...'

He complained with a frustrated sneer while putting his hand into his pocket to feel the few hundred leus he had just received.

'...I guess I won't be able to afford two family-sized bread'

He clicked his tongue as he threaded down the sidewalk that was now covered in snow which he carelessly kicked as he walked home.

***

Raith's hair was wet and rough but was better, bringing a little shine to his face. A white small towel was on his head as he entered the shabby wooden room he had been living in.

His one-person bed was situated on one corner of the wall and next to it was a shelf that looked like something one would have picked on the street. A few books sat roughly on it –they were just some books about dust and archons that he snuck out.

But reading them has been useless so far at least that was what he thought.

Opposite his bed was a long wooden hanger where he could just hang his clothes and beneath the hanger were two metal boxes that were his personal belongings.

He sat lazily on the bed and bowed his head, with the towel covering most of his face likening his current appearance to that of a sportsman after a long and hectic sport.

'...I definitely died. But here I am.'

He thought to himself before lifting his head and swiping the towel off his head.

"Status information"

Immediately he called out, the blue tab appeared to him with the information he requested.

[Hero Status]

Name: Dellagado Raven Raith

Age: 21

Title: One who devours death, Chosen by the claws of failure, destined for damnation.

Dust attributes: the darkness beyond death, the dissatisfaction failure brings.

Perks: Devourer.

[Skill]

None

[Stat]

Strength: 8

Agility: 4

Vitality: 12

Intelligence: 34

Looking at his status as a hero brought nothing but despair every time. His stats had been in the same place for a while and then the voice had not revealed anything about how to change it.

His attributes were shifty. Attributes had everything to do with the nature of power and jurisdiction a hero's archon has. It could be wind, water, or fire for some and for some it could be the embodiment of justice, courage.

It's a vast concept and even today some attributes are being discovered, simply put, attributes are that point of conjunction between an archon's dust and the personality of a hero.

But everything Raith could see on his status was bullshit and cowshit.

'What am I supposed to do with the darkness beyond death? Dissatisfaction failure gives me? Crap!'

It was the same complaint every time he decided to look at it, yet he couldn't get used to it.

His intelligence was the only thing he could boast of, and that comes as no surprise because, unlike his impatience will suggest, Raith was one that loves reading.

He saw reading as a way to get away from the cruelty that life threw at him and immerse himself in another reality that was created by prominent authors like:

Schwagger Burton, Anneliese Mary, Bougieman and a brother and a sister.

They were his favorite authors, the kind of cruel world that every one of their books creates, and the nerve-wracking adventure that comes with following the growth of the protagonist. Who knew they would later come to play a big role in Raith's life.

"Hmm... let's see this devourer of a thing."

[Perk information]

Devourer: you have a tendency to devour something.

Grade: upgraded.

"This is the worst"