Hero Number 1
"Get up, both of you, this instant!" A haughty voice rang out. Ellie looked up, startled by the commanding tone that seemed as if recited straight from a novel. The speaker was a woman with flaming red hair, seeming to have outspoken tendency and highly temperamental. Despite this, her face and complexion were enviably flawless.
Behind the fiery-red-haired woman stood another, who crossed her arms and looked down at Ellie and Nara with utter disdain. She wrinkled her pronounced nose as if she smelled the stench of poverty.
The demeanor of these two caught the attention of many in the hall, leading to discussions not loud yet clearly audible.
"Look there! Isn’t that the young lady from the Jarlon family?"
"Indeed, the fiery-red-haired one must be from the Femon family, while the gorgeous lady behind with the piercing gaze and the family crest on her finger surely indicating that she is the young lady of the Jarlons."
"And who are those two in front looking so destitute?"
"Didn’t you hear? Our first year includes 2 scholarship students."
"What! So, those two are scholarship students? Rural kids from poverty?"
"Eww, I thought I smelled something—turns out it’s the smell of dirt and mud," chuckled the students behind. The front rows were usually reserved for higher-status students.
In this class-based system, everyone knew their social standing. The wealthy would check if there were any nobles higher than themselves, if none...the front seats were theirs. If higher nobles were present, they’d respectfully leave seats for them and perhaps their entourage.
Scholarship students, however, should seek the least conspicuous seats at the back to avoid undue attention, so they can stay in the institute peacefully.
But if they were to really do that...would there be a heroine like Nara?
The innocent and weak girl didn’t even realize she should be relegated to the back; she believed she arrived first and should be able to choose her seat first. Thus, she stubbornly refused to give up her seat for someone else!
Ellie admired the odd strength in the other girl. Wasn’t the whole setting meant to highlight a heroine’s weakness? Then why was this innocent and weak girl fighting so hard to keep a front-row seat? Well...those who come first should indeed have rights, she who came from another world agreed with this.
"Why are you still staring? Why aren’t you getting up!? Don’t you know who we are?" The irate tone of the red-haired woman made Ellie wince.
True to everyone’s words, this hot-headed red-haired woman was indeed one of the supporting characters, a friend of the villainess in the story, known as "Aria Femon."
The Femon family, which boasts 2 Level 7 knights, one a retired former head and the other the current head of the family, has become a major and well-respected household due to their formidable strength. However, compared to the villainess’s Jarlon family—a family ancient and long history—the Femons were but a minion of the Jarlons.
The villainess of the story, who was engaged to the prince and fit the queenly demeanor with her status and temperament, was named “Vida Jarlon”. Her beauty was regal, contrasting with Nara’s cheerful and innocent allure. The difference between them was like the night sky and the sky in the early morning, and it depended on personal preference which one might favor more.
It appeared that the prince, having spent too much time admiring the night sky, found the morning’s brightness beautiful and worthy, leading him to divorce the villainess later, attracting more disdain towards the story’s heroine.
"W-We really don’t know who you are, but we were here first, so this seat should be ours, right?" Nara countered timidly yet boldly, her face beginning to show tearful vulnerability, delicate and deserving of sympathy.
Ellie slowly stood up beside her friend, knowing now was not the time for her to engage in senseless disputes in her friend’s stead. And to let the story unfold, Ellie waited for them to continue arguing.
"What? Is this woman out of her mind? Not only does she not ask who we are, but she dares to argue with us like this! Such arrogance!" Finally, the red-haired woman could no longer contain her anger.
Aria lunged at Nara and pushed her. Seeing her cue, Ellie stepped forward to shield Nara, who was sprawled on the ground.
"No matter who you are, you can’t touch my friend! Nara is right. We were here first, so we should get to choose our seats. There’s no name on these seats claiming them for anyone else. Why should we move!?" Seeing Ellie persist and argue back like this, Aria became furious and immediately summoned her fire magic. Ellie’s eyes flickered slightly to assess the situation.
Although the entire encounter unfolded just like in the novel, the presence of real fire magic in front of her was still genuinely frightening. If the story’s hero, a prospective great knight, didn’t appear to save them, it might be this meddling supporting character who would die!
"How dare you resist us like this? Then die!!" As Aria finished speaking, she hurled her poorly controlled fire magic at Ellie. As the fire was about to hit Ellie’s face, at that moment, a large shield was thrown in front of her, blocking the fireball.
Clang!!
The sound of the shield colliding with the fireball echoed throughout the hall, the fear evident on the students’ faces, including Aria herself realizing she had gone too far.
Everyone looked towards the newcomer, looking visibly angry. The owner of the shield, who had saved the two girls in time, also had fiery red hair like Aria. However, the erupting aura clearly indicated that he was not friendly with her.
"Who would have thought that Lady Aria from the direct line of the Femon family would break the rules on her very first day?" His voice dripped with sarcasm. Ellie exhaled before pretending to collapse next to Nara, trying her best to reduce her own role and let the hero, villainess, and heroine play out the scene in front of them.
"You! Bastard! How dare you block my way!" Although Aria was relieved that her powers hadn’t killed the common girl in front of her, seeing who had stopped her made her grind her teeth in frustration.
The man before her was actually her elder brother. However, he was born illegitimately, the product of a low-class woman who deceived their father into a relationship and bore a detestable son. Who would have thought that as he grew up, he would be recognized by their father and brought under the same roof, and she would even be advised to call him "Elder Brother."
Aria was determined never to accept such lowly blood as her sibling, hence the ongoing conflict between them.
"It seems the lady has not been well-taught by your mother," the mocking smile appeared at the corner of the young man’s lips. His demeanor, combined with his words, was an affront not just to Aria but an indirect reproach towards Aria’s parents. Or...he was reproaching the legitimate lady of the house, the proud and haughty lady herself.
No one knew better than "Wint" how rotten the Femon household was! For him, born accidentally to a mother and father, life was no better than a servant until the day his father witnessed his swordsmanship and accepted him as another son of the Femon family.
If his skills had not been good enough, he might have lived and died in the Femon mansion as nothing more than a servant!
Being recognized as another legitimate young lord of the Femons, Wint understood that his and his mother’s lives were bound to change, but this was a naive thought. The real war with the formidable lady of the Femon household was just beginning, and it seemed his newfound status came at the cost of his mother’s suffering.
Previously just a maid who did general cleaning, but when she became his father’s concubine, his mother was reduced even further, ordered to wash the feet of the lady of the house. This degrading act of torment...without strength, they could not resist.
Wint was not one to yield. Thus, he was punished in various ways every day, yet he carried his father’s bloodline, and everyone had to consider the family head’s intentions for appointing him as a son. Surely, his time at the institute was another test for Wint—whether he would return to a life of poverty or rise to prominence in the family. If he performed poorly, it was his mother who would be destroyed first!
"Do you, a bastard, have the right to criticize the Lady of the Femon family? Or have you mistakenly received such courage!?" Aria conjured another fireball in rage. However, Wint showed no fear. He simply lifted the shield that had been driven more than twelve inches into the ground and prepared himself.
"Pl-Please, please don’t fight here, or both of you might get punished," a tender voice full of compassion called out.
Wint frowned slightly upon hearing such a tone; it reminded him of the way his mother would caution him when he was about to commit wrongdoing.
When his gaze fell upon the petite, trembling figure standing behind him, Wint understood.
It seemed this woman had issues with Aria and the eldest young lady of Farlon just moments ago. Was she brave or foolish? ...Wint’s thoughts were in disarray, yet he couldn’t deny his interest in the young woman before him.
Ellie, aware of the script, began to quietly move back when no one paid her attention. As the scene didn’t have her role any longer, there was no reason for her to linger and meddle unnecessarily. She retreated to a wall, distancing herself from the area of conflict, content to just watch the unfolding drama.
This scene was nothing more than a setup to impress the "Hero Number 1." Although he wasn’t the first person who met with Nara, he was the first to become the heroine’s people—a strong, red-haired man, armed with a shield and sword, his knightly demeanor unmistakable. His presence now was solely about safeguarding the heroine, yet he humbly acknowledged his place as the illegitimate son of the Femon family, unworthy of a goddess of light like Nara.
With excessive humility, even though he was in love with the heroine, and she reciprocated, when the prince, the sage, and the noble intervened, he chose to step aside, allowing her to meet someone better than himself.
He was indeed a pitiful young man. Yet...if others were allowed to be the Hero No. 1 while the heroine mingled with other suitors, they might just blow those rivals’ heads off.