The Supreme Hero’s Younger Brother

They didn't encounter anything on their first day and stopped to camp at night. Rosetta and Lilith were in charge of cooking while Ludric and Desmund prepared the tent. Freanor helped with the cooking and Rye and Aerindel helped with the tent.

Elves only eat plants, so Aerindel and Freanor have their own separate salad as their meal. If it wasn't for the girls, their meal would be awkwardly quiet.

They divided their sleep partners with the girls having a tent for themselves, Ludric with Desmund, and Rye with Aerindel.

Once they had settled in, Aerindel finally asked, "Do you mind if I ask about your relationship with the heroes?"

Rye who has already lied down sat back up, "I don't mind. You must be wondering why we don't get along, right?"

Aerindel nodded, "Ludric is your brother, isn't he?"

"By blood, yes. But relationship-wise, I left my family when I was 14. I do still have my family name, but that's it. All through those 14 years, I…didn't get along with my family," Rye explained, "So you might be stuck with me all through this journey. If you want to be with your sister instead, don't hesitate to tell me. I'll think of a more comfortable arrangement for all of us."

"No, I don't particularly think this arrangement is uncomfortable. Frea can also make new friends," Aerindel assured Rye, "I was just curious what made them so averse to you."

"The king gave me authority over them. When the situation calls it, I can give order to them and they can't refuse," Rye explained, "It wasn't like I want this position either. If I could choose, I would rather stay at the academy as a teacher."

"But your brother didn't really seem to hate you. He also didn't mind sharing his ride with you."

"…" Rye shook his head, "Just know that he rather not see my face around him."

"Did you do something that made him hate you?"

"Just like light attributes to elves, humans have a heritage that symbolized who they are. I don't have one and that brought shame to my family."

"I apologize…I asked too much." Aerindel realized he was prying on Rye's private life.

"It's fine, I'm used to it. It's a public secret among the nobles anyway. It's not like I can't live my life without a heritage," Rye lied back down, "We should sleep. We'll need to wake up for our watch shift later."

Aerindel nodded and laid down next to him, "Thank you for sharing with me. Next time, it's my turn."

Rye couldn't help but chuckle, "Bonding over past stories? I have many interesting ones."

Aerindel was affected by Rye's chuckle and smiled, "Well, I'll look forward to listening to it."

Rye blew out the candle and the two of them went to sleep.

Several days later, they encountered a boar demon beast as big as a bear. Freanor waited at a safe place at the back with Rye assigned to protect her. Aerindel fought the demon beast with the heroes.

Desmund was in charge of blocking and attracting the boar's attention. Lilith continuously attacked the boar's vitals with her arrows and covered the area Desmund missed. Rosetta assisted Ludric giving main damage to the boar with her ice magic. Aerindel gave support with his light magic at the rear to not hinder their movement.

Aerindel saw an opening and hit it with a light spell to paralyze it. Ludric went in for the kill, but the beast attacked him with its demonic energy. Desmund timely blocked it with his shield. Ludric leaped over him and stabbed the beast right at its skull.

"You're getting the hang of it. Your movement keeps improving." Rye commented when Aerindel approached him and his sister.

"I was trained in combat. I just need to gain more experience," Aerindel caught his breath, "We've bumped into beasts three times, but this is the first time I fought a demon beast."

"You did very well for your first," Rye gave him a bottle of water, "Here."

"Thanks," Aerindel drank it, "Lilith really is very skillful in archery. I think she is on par with our second best."

"She's the hero in the field. A person with a supreme archer heritage hasn't existed yet, so she's the strongest human archer," Rye lowered his voice, "Don't tell her that there's someone better than her in the elven race. It'll hurt her pride."

Aerindel nodded. He patted his sister, "Frea can also wield a bow, but she has not mastered how to shoot accurately in motion."

"I can't use bow and arrows at all, so I think it's already very amazing."

"Hey!" Desmund called out, "It has children."

The rest of them turned to look. Rye saw Desmund was about to kill them and unhesitantly blocked his attack with a barrier.

"What do you think you're doing?" Desmund instantly knew it was Rye, "You're really going to protect a demon?"

Rye ignored him and went to check the boar's children. He picked one up and studied it. The boar cub surprisingly didn't turn hostile. He checked each one and let them go.

"They're normal cubs. The beast mutated because of demonic energy. It's not originally a demonic beast." Rye curtly explained.

He went to the demon boar and burned its corpse after covering it with a barrier. It wouldn't be good to leave a contaminated corpse in the wild. It could infect the other beasts and animals if it ever got eaten later.

"Huh? A demon beast is a demon beast. Its cubs will also be demon beasts. What's the point on differentiating them?" Desmund didn't accept Rye's explanation.

"If you mindlessly kill wild animals, you will destroy the ecosystem of the forest. It is already bad as it is with many of them being infected by demonic energy. It can end with humans losing many sources of food." Aerindel backed Rye up.

Freanor also nodded. They lived in the forest, so they were the most aware about the delicateness of the ecosystem. They also have their fair share of trouble with parasites, but they knew that they couldn't completely exterminate them since there are insects and birds who fed on those parasitic plants and bugs.

"Desmund, listen to them. Can you stop being hot-headed for once?" Rosetta rebuked Desmund.

"Everyone, don't fight," Ludric stopped his teammates from bickering again, "I think we're all tired by now from the continuous travel. We're outside our kingdom's territory and we don't know the terrain well. There's a city not too far from here. We can rest there for 2 nights and buy a map to study this country's area. What do you say?"

They all agreed and went to get their Raptor.

"?" Rye stopped on his track and turned his head to look into the forest next to him.

"What's wrong?" Aerindel asked.

"No…I think I saw–"

Before he could finish, a black demon bear lunged toward him. Its 3 glinting eyes were what Rye saw flickering in the shadow earlier.

In reflex, Rye reached out his hands. He created a barrier and shot out rains of icicles at the same time. The bear crashed onto his barrier. Fortunately, it was sturdy enough that it didn't crack from it.

He stilled for a few seconds before he lowered his hands. The barrier and the magic circle vanished along with his movement.

Thank god he didn't blast out a fire spell.

"…You okay?" Aerindel asked after he got out of his shock.

Rye nodded, "Just startled."

"Me too," Aerindel scanned the icicles piercing through the bear and trees, "That's some icicles you got there."

"Just the average." Rye swept his hand and the icicles turned into mists.

He also burned the corpse after covering it with his barrier.

"Fortunately you noticed it," Aerindel hopped onto the Raptor after calming it down and offered his hand to Rye, "Let's go."

Rye grabbed it and climbed up.

Freanor also sat down on her Raptor but saw that the heroes still haven't moved from where they were standing.

"Rosetta, are we not leavi–" She asked curiously.

"What was that?" Rosetta looked up at Rye, "What spell was that?"

"?" Rye didn't understand why she asked that, "It is a spell to rain down icicles like the one you used earlier with the boar demon beast, Ms. Rosetta."

"No, it's different. Your magic circle is different. That basic spell is not powerful enough to instantly kill that demon beast just now. If it is, I would also just kill the boar demon beast like that."

"I was too shocked and poured too much mana. You, on the other hand, reserved your mana in small fights like this. Certainly, the output is different."

"What do you mean by that?" Rosetta frowned, "Are you saying that you can control the amount of mana you put in each spell?"