The Supreme Hero’s Younger Brother

"What should we do?" Aerindel asked.

"We need to drain their mana," Rye decisively said, "help me move them."

"Are you crazy!? If you drain their mana while they're in this state their body will be more fragile! With their injuries–" Nandia rejected Rye's decision.

"If we heal them, it will only agitate their mana more. If we let them be, their organs will explode. Is that what you want to see?" Ash calmly asked as he moved Marissa's body to line with the others.

"How would you know that will–"

"Princess Nandia," Freanor called out, "can you please help me? I'm not strong enough…"

"Kh…" Nandia gritted her teeth and reluctantly helped Freanor.

Once they were all neatly lined, Rye told Ash and the others to stay behind him. It would be dangerous if they got caught up in his spell.

Rye cast the draining spell, turning it down a notch than what he cast at Torihigen's battle previously. If he drained them too violently, it also wouldn't be good for their body.

Ash monitored their condition with his device.

"Their body temperature is returning back to normal," he informed.

"I'm going to drain them as much as I can to be sure. Tell me if it's about to cross their limit."

"Understood."

Nearly 2 minutes later, Ash prompted Rye to stop. Marissa and Rock were reaching their limit. After moving them, Rye continued draining the rest.

The next to be moved were Desmund and Lilith with Rosetta following a few minutes afterwards. The last one was Ludric.

It wasn't until another 10 minutes did Ludric was emptied out.

After checking their mana vein, Rye nodded, "You can heal them now, Princess Nandia."

Nandia scoffed, "Why don't you heal them? Aren't you also a priest?"

"I am not," Rye stood up, "I use a modified version of my repair spell to heal people. It uses the person's own mana and metabolism ability to repair the injuries themselves. In this drained state, I cannot use it on them."

"Huh!? What kind of absurd healing spell is that? Have you been tricking them? Isn't that basically hurting the people you were healing!?"

"I do not have any priest-related heritage, so I do not have any healing attribute. My spell is not really different from natural healing. I only accelerate it."

"To heal someone with an unknown spell which is unrecognized by the temple, are you going against the temple?"

"Princess Nandia, is that important right now? He has informed all of us before he performed his healing spell on us and we do not mind. Is it not more urgent to heal our dear heroes now?" Ash calmly said as he put his hands into his pocket.

Nandia looked at Rye in scorn before she performed her healing to Ludric first.

Rye, "…"

Seeing that scorn made him feel a bit nostalgic.

Aerindel was about to pat Rye when he remembered what would happen. He put his hand back down and whispered, "Don't mind her, Rye. She's jealous that Ludric paid more attention to you."

"Yes, well…we are trying to be proper brothers. He does take it a bit too seriously though. I'll try to talk to him about this matter when he recovers," Rye nodded in understanding.

"It can't be helped. I also take care of my sister more than the others," Aerindel shrugged helplessly, "but Princess Nandia likes your brother, so of course she wants your brother to pay attention to her."

"I think Ludric is more interested in Rosetta though. They look good together and both of them are strong. Rosetta is mature but also has a childish side on her. She balances it well with Ludric's mood. She also likes Ludric, doesn't she?"

"That's pretty obvious. I can't tell whether Ludric notices it or not though."

"What are you both gossiping about by yourselves? Please do elaborate," Ash approached them.

"Ludric's romance," Aerindel summarized.

"Oh?" Ash was piqued.

"Say, does Marissa also like Ludric?"

"Not in my knowledge and assessment."

"As for Lilith…"

The three of them looked at each other knowingly.

"Rosetta…She's aware of it, isn't she?" Aerindel asked doubtfully.

Both Rye and Ash nodded.

"What about our lovely Freanor?"

"She seems neutral for now."

"It's quite surprising that out of 5 women only 2 are interested in Ludric…" Rye muttered in wonder, "every girl who knew him in our childhood would all fall for him. He was more popular than the prince."

"Adults have more specific preferences after all," Ash commented.

"Which one do you think Ludric prefers?" Aerindel asked curiously.

"I don't know about his preference…but Rosetta understands him more and they've been together for 6 years. So I think it's Rosetta."

"Not necessarily," Ash suddenly said.

Rye and Aerindel looked at Ash in interest.

"You know something?" Aerindel lowered his voice.

Ash deliberately paused until they urged him impatiently, "He could be liking someone who does not requites his affection."

"Really?" Rye was stunned, "if he confesses, I think it's not impossible for her to like him back."

"Who? Marissa? Lilith? Or…Frea?" Aerindel felt complicated if that was true.

"Are you three talking about me behind my back, brother? Rye? Ash?" Freanor appeared with a smile.

Rye, Aerindel, and Ash, "!"

"Geez, how can you guys gossip in this situation?" Freanor sighed, "rather than that, why don't we set up the camp for today? It's impossible to continue with their condition."

They nodded in agreement.

"I'll go get rid of the demon's corpse before it rots and contaminates the air," Rye walked away first.

Ash and Aerindel followed Freanor to set up the camp.

"So? Who is it?" Aerindel whispered as he and Ash worked together to make the first tent, "it's not my sister, right?"

Ash shook his head, "It is a tragic and impossible love, so let us leave the beauty of mystery at that."

Aerindel could only endure his curiosity being left hanging.

Because Rosetta and Lilith who mainly did the cooking were immobile right now, Rye took over the task. Freanor always helped Rosetta and Lilith, so she helped Rye in preparing the ingredients. Rye was satisfied with her skill.

Recalling Yigiris soldiers' way of cooking was really a nightmare.

Once they finished dinner, they divided the watch shift. Rye, Aerindel, and Ash let Nandia and Freanor sleep while they kept watch in turns outside.

When it was time for Rye's turn, Aerindel woke him up. Ash got the last shift since he needed rest the most.

Rye didn't know what to do in the middle of the night. If he read a book, he could be too invested in it and distract him from keeping watch properly.

He was looking up at the sky in thought when strings of multi-coloured luminescence light appeared. They shimmered the sky with a gradient of blue, green, and red, forming breath-taking screens of light gently dancing amidst the stars.

Rye stood up in astonishment.

Rainbows of the night.

They were actually real!

He fought the urge to fly up even when the bird, which he finally named Light, signalled that he could leave the guarding to it.

They have been attacked at night several times since their journey from the dwarven country. He couldn't risk neglecting his watch shift.

"!"

Without him needing to fly up, he watched in bewilderment as the rainbow lowered itself from the sky and descended upon their camp. His vision was instantly submerged into the sea of luminous colour swimming all around him.

This…

This could only be Octavian's doing.

Rye's heart clenched from the thought. He reached out his hand and touched the light. Instantly, threads of gold formed from his fingertips and streamed into the light.

His eyes sparkled from the view and slowly moved his hand around. The gold threads followed the flow of his movements, creating waves upon waves of golden streams.

The god watched upon his lover and smiled.

Time unknowingly passed until it was time for Ash's turn. The light gradually dimmed until it completely vanished.

Rye woke Ash up before he went to sleep. He asked to be woken up at sunrise for his morning prayer.

Ludric and the others finally regained consciousness after 2 days. They were still physically weak, so they stayed for another 2 days for them to recuperate.

"How are you feeling?" Rye delivered Ludric's lunch in his tent.

"Much better. We can set off tomorrow," Ludric accepted the bowl, "I'm the Supreme Hero yet it took me the longest to recover."

"You were directly hit by the two energies. It can't be helped."

Ludric remembered something and took out a long, wrapped item, "I've been meaning to give you this, but I never got the right time to do it."

"?" Rye took it, "what is this?"

"A blade. It has the same length as your metal pointer. You don't have any weapon yet, do you?" Ludric explained, "it's your birthday present. I'm sorry it's late, but, congratulations on turning 21."