The Last Legendary System

"You are something else entirely."

Whatever that meant was the last of Benign’s worries. He glanced at the injured Vergil. And Stun, who still lowered his head. "What do you want from us, Protector?" his tone lowered.

"I want you."

The man lightly stepped from the cave top. His feet touched the ground. When the man moved, there was no feedback from the ground under him. No dust raising or stones being crunched under his feet.

"Are you willing to come with me, young man? If you stay with normal folks, there’s no telling what can happen?"

The stranger glanced at the pile of corpses behind them, and then at Vergil.

Lines formed above Benign’s brow. "No." The word sounded vile as it left him. "I understand my presence will bring undue attention, but I already promised to look after them. We can handle ourselves."

Working with the Protectors would make the operation faster. They had more hands to work with, more resources. Undoubtedly, the reasonable choice would be working with them.

But if the offer sounded like he was a problem to his current unit, hence the transfer, he couldn’t bear to just leave the unit without clarifying his role.

Any transfer of command had to mean there was something worth passing to the next unit.

It couldn’t mean he had failed the last one.

[Do you want a suggestion?]

"Save it." Benign turned away from the stranger as he answered Lego. Kendrick flew to him.

The Firewing lowered itself beside the injured elf. "We will return to Noria for now. After Vergil gets treated, we’ll continue. Let’s go."

Stun didn’t move.

Benign shifted his gaze to him. "Aren’t you coming?"

The elf sighed. "You should leave with the Protector, Sir Benign. I can take Vergil back myself."

"I said it’s fine." Benign looked away from him. He got on Kendrick and signalled the rest to gather. "You don’t have to look out for me. I know what I’m doing."

That wasn’t true at the moment, but he knew it would be figured out after hearing what Vergil found in the cave.

He would rather take the chance to wait than be sent away to another camp after one mistake.

Another Firewing flew beside Vergil, waiting for Stun.

"Sir Benign." The warrior glanced at the sword in Benign’s hand. "We can’t follow you through this new journey. We will ultimately get left behind or slow you down."

"What journey?"

"Does he really not know?" The stranger chipped him, having an impatient edge in his tone.

"How odd that the sword had chosen someone who doesn’t have the slightest idea about what it represented. Do you also know you will undergo trials as the chosen one? What exactly do you know?"

The stranger’s tone riled Benign from the inside. How the old man spoke in one tone through long sentences ached his brain.

Benign rolled his eyes. "You sound like you give a lot of orders. Makes it difficult to hear anything useful with that snappy tone."

The audacity of a General who never fought in war and had earned his position through connections and field practice that were counted as ’experience’.

The stranger reminded Benign of that. They were the worst kinds to have as a superior.

Thankfully, the stranger tightened his lips shut after Benign’s scolding. Stun paled, looking from the soldier to the humiliated Protector behind him.

Benign jumped down from Kendrick. He paced back and forth once before facing the stranger. He understood one central thing.

Finding this sword meant he became the new Hero of this place. Like Ashold Creeve had been.

"Fine. Since you have lowered the morale of my unit, tell me. Why should I trust you? I found a powerful sword that shifts my trajectory. Now, what good do you and the protectors offer me?"

The stranger opened his mouth to speak but closed it. He folded his arms. "Since you don’t like my tone, how about you come to our headquarters and have someone else explain it for you?"

Silence stretched between them. Benign exhaled. His grip on his sword loosened.

Stun had already pushed him towards the protector, and the organization wanted him to join them.

There would be good benefits if he did. Information and manpower would be easy to find. His eyes drifted to the weapon in his hand.

He might understand why the sword had chosen him — a dead soldier who had only resilience and a savior complex going for him — to save realms and bring balance to their world.

Benign looked at the elves. This wasn’t choosing between two jobs. It was choosing between the first people he’d met in this world and everyone else he’d never meet if he refused.

"Let me think about it."

He stepped away from them.

"What was the suggestion? And why?"

[Go with them. My reasons being:]

[During the trials, when your life is in danger, you can unlock skills that will help you grow.]

Benign raised a brow at the last line. ’I only get a skill when I am at the brink of death? How fortunate.’

[The Protector of the Realms are more organized and experienced than any elf station.]

[Lastly, they worked with Ashold Creeve.]

"The Hero that never finished his mission?" Benign scoffed. "Why did you bring me here if Ashold had done anything significant? If anything, he messed something up, hence the glitches arriving, didn’t he?"

In the book, Lost in Cicada Kingdom, there was no plot of glitches or a missing core. Everything must’ve gone haywire after Ashold’s time in this world.

[You aren’t wrong. You aren’t right either.]

[My former Host, Ashold, restored the realm of Karnak. As simple as that contribution might feel, it meant a great deal to the Karnak people.]

[This is a blank page. A page only you can fill now.]

[If you prefer, I’ll not mention Ashold Creeve in the future.]

Benign scoffed again. The system made it sound like he got riled up at the mention of the past Hero.

Ashold was a teenager granted a mission too big for him, so he turned it to a vacation. There was nothing to be riled up about a teenager acting like one.

Behind the soldier, Stun moved closer to the protector who had been standing in silence.

"He really is the one, right?" Stun asked quietly. "He really is the hero after Ashold. That’s why you want to take him to undergo trials."

Benign inclined his ears to listen. He knew the trials were to consolidate him as a Protector badge. He couldn’t bring himself to admit that he hadn’t been one after a while.

"Well, yes." The old man said. "The gods blessed us again, but trials are training to ascertain his safety. Many aren’t fond of Heroes, you know."

The stranger looked at Benign, who stood with his back turned, before he slowly marched to his boars waiting for him.

"You should follow me, young man. The realms await their new Hero." He said as he walked away. "But whether you come today or tomorrow, your trials have already begun.