"I was captured as a slave when I was 6 and sold to a mining site. Saved Madam Gaius from a landslide when she was on a business trip. Resold across the ocean to the Gaius family, survived the waves and became an adopted son of the house at 9. Excelled in trading by 14 and led the family's merchant team to win the rice supply deal for royalty. A rebellion occurred that same year, and the Gaius family spent everything to rebuild the kingdom afterward. Got a chance to meet and befriend the crowned prince Althem. By 21 I became a knight of Pleast. A paladin when I was roughly 30..." Before Pablo could complete his entire biography, a maiden interrupted him. "Paladin sounds impressive, and likely with heavy pockets. A night's stay for two won't hurt you then."
It should not have hurt Pablo's pocket at all, back when he was a paladin. "You know, I once heard my squire talking about a spacious barn with a comfy haystack that cost nothing if you offered to groom their horses a bit." Now that Pablo had become the hero of the world, he was just a crippled veteran, a former mage without magical power, a wanderer with no home to go back to.
"Ugh, not again, you broke hero." At least he had a round-eyed, blonde maiden as his company.
They had met the other day.
The day Pablo defeated 5 archmages by himself. A maiden of light appeared before him. "Greetings, the overcomer of the quickening. You're crippled? ...ahem, I mean you're the one that all those archmages placed a bet on, orchestrated an apocalyptic trial with everything they've got. Though you're not in your prime shape, this is enough to hasten the mother earth's hero cycle by... 122 years?! Impressive! But more importantly," she kicked the unconscious, face-down Pablo to flip him over, then conjured a radiant magical hand to continuously slap his face. "How dare you black out before your Omnia?! Wake up! Witness my unparalleled beauty!"
slap!!
"There's something important I've got to tell you!"
SLAP!!!
The slap's impact was so loud it drew the attention of the surviving soldiers around the battlefield. Some even woke up from it — everyone except Pablo, who was being slapped himself.
One knight couldn't stand the humiliation and charged toward Pablo and the maiden of light. "Hey! The heretic witch is trampling on our lord Pablo's corpse! Catch her!" Those survivors who could still move gathered as they heard the name 'Pablo' and fervently followed that knight.
"Avenge our Pleast's Greatest Paladin!"
"For our hero, Lord Pablo!"
"Unforgivable!"
Until a thunderous
SLAP
shook the air and sent the leading knight spinning 3 times mid-air before flying back into the crowd.
"Insolence!" The levitating maiden readied herself with a handful of glowing magical hands, as if hurting injured knights was her specialty. She wasn't just any mage, but a vessel of the Omnia of Balance, the divine being revered and worshipped by the people of the mother earth since ancient times, widely known by the name Ranyu.
Before her overwhelming presence, even the bravest ones were overtaken by fear. Pablo's dignity guardian squad was disassembled in the blink of an eye.
Though the Omnia seemed to have forgotten to bring her sympathy along for this descent. "You think those who turn their blades at your radiant Omnia could simply run away like that? You're completely wron—" But then suddenly the glow around the maiden flickered as she dropped to the ground.
poof
"Alright, I'll forgive you cowards this time, for my compassion is wider than the ocean. Ouch... a human's body sure is fragile." It was the first time this Omnia had descended in her own face. Knowing the maiden's body couldn't hold her presence for long, Ranyu reluctantly grabbed Pablo's severed wrist, tied it with the flat of the devil sword using his own cape, then piggybacked him as they escaped from the battlefield. "Why did I, the Omnia of Balance, have to overwork myself for the sake of this insignificant life form? What a tragic fate this kindhearted one has to bear." She said this with wobbling arms and legs in the maiden's body she possessed. It must have been karma.
Though Ranyu saw no necessity for an Omnia to dwell in such pain. "My lovely intermediary, I shall bestow upon you the task of keeping the precipitated hero alive and delivering my message on behalf of what this unlucky fellow has missed. Wealth shall find you along the journey." The maiden did 3 full turns with Pablo on her back as her body lost its glow and left.
"As you command, Lady Ranyu." Nicol pledged as soon as she regained control of her own body, only to find a large paladin strapped with a heavy sword on her back. But as long as riches awaited, she was willing to carry even two more paladins on that tiny frame of hers. Nicol ended up carrying Pablo to an abandoned village nearby.
At dawn, Pablo woke up beside a well with Nicol sleeping on top of him.
He still had a severe headache, trying to grasp where he was and why there was a lady embracing him like a body pillow. Judging from Nicol's uniform, Pablo immediately pushed her away and tore his cape just to get a hold of the devil sword. "What's your deal, mage of the light arcane tower?"
Nicol drowsily sat up in a nonchalant manner and raised both hands in surrender. "Calm down, sir. Lady Ran... I mean, I just saved your life. So don't move so much or your wrist will bleed even more. If you die, my dream of becoming wealthy and bathing whenever I want will die too."
Sensing no ill intent from Nicol, Pablo calmed down and began interrogating her. As they talked, Pablo kept pounding his own chest as unbearable rage filled it with everything he heard. "All this bloodshed was to disturb the divine cycle and test if I'm worthy to fight a world-ending monster? If you had only asked, I would have helped. Now what do you expect from a crippled paladin who can't use magic anymore, after you summoned hell onto Pleast and the people he swore to protect?!"
Nicol's body glowed as Ranyu knew it was her time to step in. "Please restrain your anger, precipitated hero. The eschaton is not a being anyone could stand a chance against without a hero's blessing. Only the hero who emerges when the time has ripened can receive that blessing. But this eschaton is nothing like anything that has come before. It manifested nearly a century faster than the usual 400-year hero cycle, breaking the world's balance. Without the massive destruction set up by those farsighted archmages, and someone of your caliber to overcome it, the mother earth would not have been deceived into allowing me to grant a hero's blessing this early."
"Then grant me the blessing and we'll set out with all speed." Pablo got up and tied the devil sword handle to his back.
"You've already been blessed." Ranyu glanced at the devil sword. Pablo realized then that he felt no pain or headache holding the sword compared to the day before. His face went pale and he started sweating profusely. "What?"
Ranyu was slightly annoyed, thinking her hero was being ungrateful. "Look at you — without it, how would you fight in such a sorry state? You said that yourself!"
Pablo frowned. "You can't do that. This sword is the royal forbidden treasure. I'll be in serious trouble if I don't return it to my king."
"If you return the devil sword before you defeat the eschaton, this world will certainly be doomed. Which includes your beloved Pleast kingdom." Ranyu threatened her hero with the peril of the kingdom he loved once again. That frustrated Pablo. "Alright. But before that, have you ever been beaten while inside a human vessel?"
Ranyu responded with an alluring face. "Ooh, you naughty, naughty boy."