I raised an eyebrow. “You can see me?”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“… I’m not your mentor…”
“Ahem… right… are you the Dungeon Master?”
So, ultimately, it was the brother who was running the dungeon. That was somewhat surprising. Is that why Elaya was able to come to meet me? Wait, he was meeting me now. Was this the final level? As I was glancing around in confusion, the other man was watching me.
“You should have taken better care of my sister.” His voice was cold.
The words he said struck me hard. His sister had ended up killing herself, believing she was alone. I had acted too recklessly with my life, and the result was that I had abandoned those that depended on me. It wasn’t just Elaya or Astria. It was all of them. Lydia, Terra, Eliana, Shao, Celeste, Raissa… I had abandoned them all and more besides. At the time, it seemed that I had only done what I thought was the best decision at the time. Perhaps, I was a bit cocky and sure I could handle anything. The result was still the same. To the world, I had died, and to my girls, they were left with the pieces.
Is that why this dungeon was created? Was this brother of Fifi watching over her, and I was found wanting? I felt like the puzzle that was this dungeon was getting closer to the truth. There was still a piece that was missing though. I felt like it was on the cusp of being understood, but I wasn’t quite there yet.
“Are we going to fight?” I asked, looking down at the mansion, where Fifi was entering the front door now.
“Heh… you’re not ready yet.” He responded. “Why don’t you stay here a while. Maybe you’ll learn something.”
I didn’t bother to turn back, as I was pretty sure he was already gone. I hadn’t noticed it until he started talking to me, but I had a feeling of danger from him. That kind of feeling I only got when I was facing those that were stronger than me. If I had to guess, I’d say he was at a level similar to Xin. That would be the level of a hero, huh?
I had been given a Hero token from Chalm, and very early on I had been given the Hero job. Later, after defeating Shao, I had also unlocked True Hero. However, I had encountered various Heroes at this point. Besides their strange connections to curses, heroes were also extremely powerful. Elaya, Xin, King Edward Aberis I, these were all heroes. I had defeated them, but those had always been in special circumstances. They were all on a completely different level than me.
Furthermore, they all seemed to have specialized names. The Hero King, the Maid Hero, the Hero Princess, the Bandit Hero, the Slave Hero, the Harem Hero… were these all just names, or were they titles? It seemed like, throughout history, multiple people could have the same Hero title. What did that mean?
“Just what does it mean to be a hero?” I asked out loud.
“Do you want to know?” A voice next to me asked.
Where her brother had previously been was Elaya standing there.
“Is that why you’re putting me through this? To learn what it means to be a hero?” I asked.
“Maybe.” She responded nonchalantly. “Although this dungeon may have another lesson for you to learn.”