The Supreme Hero’s Younger Brother

They arrived at the south border one day earlier than they have anticipated. Every trouble they encountered was soon dealt with, their pace didn't slow down since their departure, and they were still in top condition.

They usually would need a day to rest before being able to go to the battlefield, but with their current state, they could directly head to the front.

Rye followed the knights to go report to the general in command. They were told that the heroes were also waiting there.

"Lucifius, can I ask you a favor?" Rye asked as they headed to the office.

"Yes, of course. Anything." Lucifius immediately nodded.

Not only him, all of them kept trying to find something to repay Rye in return for his help, but he never asked anything from them.

"Can you not tell the general or the heroes anything about what I did in our journey here?"

"But it's all thanks to you that we arrived earlier than scheduled." Lucifius wanted to persuade Rye.

"Then, just say that we added recovery potion into our dinner and that was what made you arrive here early."

"You did?" Lucifius was stunned.

"I did," Rye turned to August, "You did not tell them?"

"Is that something to be reported…?" August looked away awkwardly.

"Wait, potion can be cooked?" It was the first time Orphel heard of it.

"It can be added after the food is cooked. If you boiled a potion, its effect would be diluted," Rye explained, "Can you do that for me, Lucifius? If you can't–"

"He can, he can!" Bell patted Lucifius, "Right, boss?"

"Yes, of course," Lucifius agreed. He gradually walked ahead with Bell and whispered to him, "Why do you think Rye asked me to do that?"

"Boss, Rye has some problems with Sir Ludric. From my understanding after asking around, I think Rye doesn't want Sir Ludric to know that he's powerful." Bell whispered back.

"But isn't Sir Ludric the one who brought Rye here?" Lucifius was confused.

Then, he should have known about Rye's power.

"Family issue probably, Boss. We didn't even know Sir Ludric has a brother before this. Let's just help Rye in this."

Lucifius nodded in understanding.

They entered the general's office to see that he was indeed having a meeting with the heroes. They were gathering at the war table, discussing the strategies to use against the demon army.

"Oh, Lucifius, you are here," General Tilez welcomed them, "When I heard about your arrival today I thought I heard it wrong."

"We were lucky we didn't encounter any mishaps along the way. The weather was also excellent on these 9 days. It is a good omen, General Tilez."

"It sure is," General Tilez saw Rye at the back, "Oh! Is this Sir Ludric's little brother that is newly joining us?"

Rye bowed politely, "Pleasure to meet you, General Tilez. You can call me Rye."

General Tilez patted Rye's shoulder, "No need to be so formal with me, Rye. As Sir Ludric's younger brother, you are also a comrade of mine. Now tell me, what heritage do you bear? Does it involve healing? Although the heroes can recover themselves, a proper healer is still needed."

Rye smiled without reaching his eyes, "I have none, General Tilez."

"–!!" General Tilez abruptly flung his hands off Rye's shoulder.

He looked at his burned palm incredulously.

"Is there something wrong?" Rye asked confusedly.

What happened?

General Tilez studied Rye's expression and found that Rye was genuinely confused. The room stilled in silence.

"General Tilez, let's start the briefing. We want to know the current situation. If I understood correctly, we are smoothly pushing the demon army back." Lucifius swiftly brought up a topic and led the general back to the war table.

August eyed Rye in askance. Rye lightly shook his head, not knowing either.

The meeting ended an hour later. Rye didn't say anything the entire meeting, but he understood the current situation.

As Lucifius said, their army was pushing the demon army back. But General Tilez and Ludric didn't plan to let them flee. They wanted to trap the demon army and annihilate them including their general.

The demon general that attacked north managed to run away 4 years ago. If they didn't kill the general here, the demon king would still have 8 generals left.

Hence, since the reinforcements have come, they planned to pinch the demon army by sneaking to their back by going through the canyon at the east side of the border.

Personally, Rye felt dubious about the plan. If the demon general expected this move and ambushed them, they would be the ones who got trapped instead. After all, the demons were more experts in this type of sneaky strategy.

Well, at least they sent a scout team to check the situation at the canyon first.

Rye didn't have any plan to talk to Ludric or any of the heroes any time soon, so he swiftly left the building after the meeting ended. The town they were in was still functioning as normal thanks to the army's relentless effort of holding down the fort. With the heroes there, the people also weren't worried anymore.

"Young mister over there! You're new here, aren't you? Care to try our signature tomato pie?" A seller called out to Rye from his stall.

Rye, "…"

Tomato pie? There is such a thing?

"Curious, aren't you? Here! You can try a sample." The seller gave him a small cube of the pie with a toothpick holding the layers down.

Rye stared at the food in his hand skeptically.

The seller laughed, "Everybody was suspicious of it at first, but they immediately asked for seconds once it melt into their mouth."

Rye chose to try it, but when it got near his mouth the food suddenly caught on fire. Both Rye and the seller were startled. Rye quickly dropped it where it soon burned to ashes.

"W-Why did you do that?" The seller was shocked.

"No…it was not me," Rye was also confused. He didn't have any appetite to try the strange food anymore and decided to leave, "I will try it another day."

"Wait, mister–" the seller grabbed Rye's robe to stop him and his hand burst into flames in an instant, "Ahhh!!"

The seller let Rye go in a panic. He flayed his hand around to extinguish the fire, but it only spread further into his arm instead.

"Help! Help me! Water!!"

Rye snapped out of his daze and hurriedly created water with his magic and splashed the fire with it.

But it didn't work. Even after he covered the seller's entire arm in water, the fire kept burning the seller with no sign of extinguishing. He froze the water into ice, but it also didn't have any effect.

He and the other people on the street could only watch as the fire engulfed the seller's upper body. His howl was heard throughout the street and attracted some soldiers to come.

"What happened here?" The soldiers asked.

"The pie seller suddenly caught on fire," One of the bystanders pointed at Rye, "He tried to put it out, but it won't extinguish."

"Ahh!! It hurts!!!" The seller crashed his stall and stumbled to the ground.

"Call Lady Rosetta!! Quickly!" One of the soldiers ordered his colleague.

"Right away!" The other soldier rushed to call the hero.

A few minutes later, Rosetta came along with all 3 heroes. The fire has spread to the seller's whole body, but he hasn't died yet. He squirmed and shrieked in pain on the ground. The people around him took several steps back, creating a circle around the seller, not wanting the fire to accidentally touch them.

Seeing the heroes' arrival, they made way for them to pass.

Rosetta also tried enveloping the seller in the water, but it was no use. Her water completely evaporated before it could touch the fire.

She wanted to try another method when Ludric stopped her, "Wait."

Under the people's shocked eyes, the seller grew a pair of horns. His skin that was burned peeled off, revealing his grey skin underneath.

"A demon!?" Desmund couldn't believe it, "How can there be one inside!?"

"They must've infiltrated us when we were busy handling the front army." Ludric unsheathed his sword.

He glanced briefly at Rye before he swiftly cut off the demon's head. This time, Rye didn't stop him.

If the seller was possessed, he would just normally die from the fire, maybe transforming midway. But the shedding of his skin meant he was a demon in disguise.

But why did he suddenly catch on fire?

No, to be able to shed a demon's disguise that fire wasn't a normal one. It was a holy fire.

But how?

Rye touched his robe thoughtfully.

Was the ghost in the chapel actually a holy spirit and imbued his robe with divine protection?

If that was true, then that person might also be a demon.