The Supreme Hero’s Younger Brother

Instead of sitting, Rye knelt down in front of the altar and clasped his hands to pray.

"Lord Solistus,

My gratitude for blessing us with the grace of another sunrise will never be enough.

The air I breathe which keeps my heart beats for you is also under the love of your mercy.

All the treasures that we poor mortals praised to be beautiful shall not compare to the beauty of your affection.

For you pity us and forgive us for creating an inferior that we can comprehend with our lowly mortal mind.

Lord Solistus,

For loving the sinful me who turned his back to you, I can only offer you my whole.

Please accept my piety.

Please accept my purity.

Please accept my love.

I beg you to forgive my ignorant self who took your care and blessing for granted.

Lord Solistus,

I wish for your joy,

Your satisfaction,

Your happiness,

And your smile.

Please use me as you desire for I have been spoiled by your love and afraid of losing it.

May you punish this sinful child for his selfish demands and continue to love him.

…"

The chapel echoed the sweet words of praise, gratitude, and regret coming out from the lips of the lone pious figure. The sun rested on the hand of the statue lit up and showered the figure lost in trance with its warm light.

At Rye's forehead a symbol of the sun lit up brightly. 2 other identical symbols hidden beneath his clothes also glowed from his prayer.

That morning, the sun rose slower than it usually did.

After he has exhausted every word and sentence his brain could think of, Rye ended his prayer. Looking at the sun, he was relieved to see it hasn't fully emerged yet.

He left the chapel and watched as it disappeared like a mirage once he stepped out of the sunflower path. His heart clenched from Octavian's thoughtfulness.

Once the sun was fully out, the others started waking up. They had a quick breakfast before setting out.

All throughout the journey to the dwarven country, they didn't encounter any beasts or demons. Not even a slight problem.

When they arrived at the city gate, they were surprised by the dwarven guards waiting for them.

"Your king has informed us of your arrival," the leader of the group said, "Your new armors have been prepared. Please follow us."

Ludric and the others were stunned. How did the king know about it?

Rye, "…"

Because there's a certain stalker following us from god-knows-where.

Since it was a dwarven country, everything in the city was smaller than average. Fortunately, the street was as wide as any other human city since they often purchased raw supplies from human countries.

The scent of smoke and coal permeated the air with the clanging of metals beating other metals became one with the scene.

Not everyone needed a new armor. Ludric, Desmund, Lilith, and Rosetta were the only ones who needed it. Ash already disappeared to look around with Rock and Marissa tailing behind him to make sure he didn't provoke anyone and make trouble. Nandia always stuck to Ludric, so she followed the four heroes to the crafter.

Not only Aerindel and Freanor, Rye also couldn't stand the air inside the city, so they left and waited on a hill a distance away from the city.

Rye used the chance to give the siblings a check-up.

"How are you guys holding? Is it getting any worse?"

The two of them shook their heads.

"My light attribute doesn't have any signs of diminishing." Aerindel said.

"I'm also getting used to this state. There are no symptoms of aging or illness," Freanor said afterward. She lowered her head, "I'm sorry for becoming a burden."

"You are not a burden at all Frea," Rye refuted, "If you are not with us, I think we would quarrel more than this. You also help us in preparing our meals."

Aerindel nodded, "You're putting your life in danger because we need you as a state indicator if anything happens to our people. We're the ones who wronged you."

"You're spoiling me too much, brother!" Freanor sulked.

Aerindel laughed as he patted Freanor's head. He turned to Rye, "Your holy attribute, have you figured out why you got it yet? If it's something doable, maybe Frea can try it."

Rye, "…"

I don't think so.

"We serve different gods."

Aerindel sighed, "You're right," he remembered Rosetta's words the other day, "If you don't mind me asking, how many attributes do you have?"

Rye fell silent in thought. He never really thought about it since he cared more about learning magic circles. So far, he could activate all his magic circles. Simply from that fact, he could at least activate all basic elemental attributes. Truth be told, he could also use dark and light attributes, but Aerindel and Frea wouldn't believe that since it was impossible.

"I don't know. I've never constructed a magic circle based on my attribute so I've never checked. Activating magic circles only uses mana after all. Attributes are just a matter of affinity."

"But those attributes are contained inside your mana. Without it, how can you provide the needed elements to create your spell?" Aerindel reminded.

"Ah…You're right." Rye recalled the library clerk said something similar in the past.

"Then, while we wait for the others, why don't we take a look at your attribute? There must be at least one dwarf who sell an attribute crystal in the city, right?" Freanor suggested.

Rye took out the communication device that Ash ended up giving to him permanently, "I'll try asking Ash to find one."

But before he could call Ash, the bird who followed them there spat out the attribute crystal for him. It fluttered its eyelashes at Rye, asking for praise.

The three of them, "…"

Are attribute crystals your food?

Rye rubbed its head in praise though he was feeling slightly perplexed inside. The bird happily accepted the rub and spat out 2 more crystals.

"Thank you, this is more than enough." Rye hurriedly stopped it.

He put the extra two into his storage pack. Putting the first crystal into his hand, he poured his mana into it.

The three of them, extra the bird, watched in anticipation.

Soon after, the crystal glowed a bright silver and gold color, swirling around one another in harmony.

"Silver?" Aerindel tried recalling what attribute a silver color indicated.

"Blue is for water, red is for fire…" Freanor listed one by one, "Huh? Is there an attribute with silver color? The gold is from your holy attribute, right?"

"Spatial?" Aerindel guessed.

"Spatial is bluish-grey." Rye corrected.

"Mental?"

Rye shook his head, "Mental is orange. Besides, I've never made any mental-related spells. I can't, more accurately."

"Strange…" Aerindel muttered and laughed a little, "You're so full of strangeness. Were you born in the wrong world perhaps?"

Rye fixed his glasses, "Even if I am, I'm glad I was born in this world."

If he was born in another world, he wouldn't have met Octavian.

"But you can wield water, fire, and wind spells, right? Why are they not shown here?" Freanor pointed.

Rye couldn't answer. In fact, none of the attributes he could wield was shown in the crystal.

"We should ask Rosetta later. Maybe she knows." Freanor said.

"Right," Aerindel remembered another thing, "Your story about the dwarves' origin, don't you want to check if it's true or not?"

"Oh! I almost forgot about that," Freanor brightened, "Let's go look for that rock! Ludric and the others will probably take a while since they also need to go greet the king."

"…Are you guys serious?" Rye was speechless.

The two of them nodded.

"We don't have anything to do now anyway." Aerindel said.

"But we don't have any clues about it." Rye tried to reason with them.

"Your book didn't say anything about it? Don't they usually at least say the estimated location?" Aerindel pressed.

"It did say which mountain the tribe lives in…"

"Is it not in the dwarven territory?"

"It is, but–"

"We promise we'll just check and see. If it's there that's great. We won't touch anything!" Freanor promised.

"Are you not curious yourself?" Aerindel gave one last push.

"…" Rye struggled for a while before he relented, "…Alright."

He was honestly curious as well.

"But if the place is restricted or anything like that, we are not forcing our way in." He warned them.

"Okay!"

Rye informed Ash before the three of them set out to the said mountain. Aerindel and Freanor rode the bird while Rye flew by himself to lead in front.

In the city, Rock and Marissa saw Ash returning after taking Rye's call. They were in a street full of blacksmiths that it was too loud for Ash to listen to Rye's voice.

"What did Rye say?" Marissa asked as she studied the star blades displayed in front of one of the blacksmiths.

"He informed that he is going to Der'asa Mountain with Aerindel and Freanor."

"Der'asa Mountain? Why?"

"He did not really specify and I did not ask."

A dwarf suddenly rushed out from inside, "Did you say Der'asa Mountain!?"