Second-year mage aspirant.
Incompetent superhuman who failed the 10th temporary hero promotion exam.
Vivian.
She had learned failure before she learned to walk.
Abandoned before she could even walk, she wandered from one roof to another, begging for scraps to survive.
For her, awakening as a 'superhuman' by chance was nothing short of a miracle.
But that miracle only dragged her deeper into the abyss.
'What's the point of knowing magic if you can't hit anything?!'
'Aim at the enemy! Not your allies!'
'So mages aren't all that special after all. If a retard like that can try to be one.'
It was the first stroke of luck she'd ever had in her life, but it brought her no happiness.
Her talent only caused harm to others.
She failed the temporary hero exam time and again.
She became famous.
For all the wrong reasons.
'Isn't that her? The retard mage? Still trying this crap?'
'If you don't have talent, at least put in the effort. If you're not gonna try, then quit. You want results without the work?'
'Why not sell your body instead? With that face and figure, you might have more talent there. Wanna try selling to me?'
Those words were a humiliating disgrace to her, a woman who had no relations with men beyond official business.
Yet Vivian couldn't even refute them.
She always bowed her waist and repeated apologies.
Because it was her fault.
Eventually, one manager's words pushed her over the cliff.
'Please, you have no talent as a hero. Give it up and find another path. You're not Sylvia.'
The growth story of the beggar girl Sylvia and Philip was Vivian's favorite tale.
A fairy tale of a street beggar rising to become the mage of the revered 1st Hero Party.
Not just her—anyone dreaming of becoming a hero was bound to be captivated by it.
She had gazed enviously at Sylvia's portrait on the bulletin board and vowed to herself.
I'll become like that too.
But that one manager's words snapped her out of the dream.
Vivian turned her back on her dream and ran, then ran some more.
At the end of that flight was Arke Village.
The peaceful rural villagers accepted this failure.
They were surprised at first to hear she'd failed as an aspirant multiple times, but it was only for a moment.
In that village, Vivian found her second path.
Arke Village had an orphanage.
The conditions weren't great, but all the villagers worked hard to take in and care for the orphans.
That alone moved Vivian deeply.
She became a teacher at the orphanage.
She educated the children and used minor magic to act out fairy tales for them.
Watching them grow and rejoice.
Being acknowledged by the villagers as a teacher—that was the first happiness in her life.
But that happiness didn't last long.
The village chief came looking for the children whose ages were just right, several times over.
It was for forcibly turning them into superhumans through training.
Realizing this too late, Vivian tried to flee with the children.
But they held one child remaining in the village hostage, grabbing her by the ankle.
In the end, Vivian continued her reluctant teaching.
She couldn't rebel because of the children held hostage.
Her only hope was occasionally helping a few kids escape.
Helping them flee at the right moment.
And when caught, getting beaten half to death by the guard captain or the village chief.
Those days repeated until they became her routine.
The rougher their violence, the more she convinced herself it proved her devotion to the children.
Miserable days of enduring only sexual violence under the promise from the children undergoing superhuman training.
Worn thin and broken, she was exhausted.
Exhausted enough to want to end it all.
To send the children away and wipe the entire village off the map.
"You fucking bitch! How many times is this now?!"
That day too, she was getting beaten by the guard captain after helping a child escape.
"Tell me where you sent them right now!"
She was sick of it.
Not the pain or the hardship, but this life itself.
"What are you doing to Vivian?!"
Even seeing Emma stand up for her and get knocked down.
There was nothing she could do.
As her sense of reality faded.
"Yeah, you're here looking for this woman, right?"
"Seems like it. If it's Vivian."
An unfamiliar voice caught her attention.
Who could be looking for her?
She looked up, but it was a face she didn't know.
A sturdy build visible even under the wide cloak.
A sharp impression that looked a bit tired and annoyed.
"I don't know what you plan to do with trash like this, but I can't hand her over."
"Hm. Did I need your permission for that?"
"You cocky little shit—!"
He spoke as if he wanted Vivian.
Who was he? Who?
A few moments of thought connected to a clue.
The hero aspirant list.
When she fled to Arke Village, she erased her name, but to escape this place, she'd secretly re-registered without the villagers knowing.
[Help me.]
A rescue signal sent toward the world outside the village.
It had been quite a while since she sent it, but no one came.
She'd expected as much.
As a second-year aspirant who'd failed the registration exam ten times.
She'd forgotten about it, but... could it be...
"You bastard—!"
The furious guard captain charged.
He poised to thrust with his sword, but the man didn't move.
Was his body frozen?
It could happen if he wasn't used to combat.
Just as Vivian thought she should step in herself.
The man swung his hand.
-Crack!
The sword struck by his palm broke, its blade embedding in the floor.
The man then struck the guard captain's jaw, knocking him out, and turned to the children.
"Uh... Kids. I'm not a bad guy or anything. Could you not look at me like that?"
After snapping a sword barehanded and knocking out a burly man in one blow.
He fumbles around the kids.
What an odd man.
Vivian bowed her head to him as he approached.
"Thank you..."
"Vivian?"
Vivian nodded.
Could he really be a manager who came for her?
"Um..."
As she tried to ask.
"You must be hungry, right?"
Those words turned her world upside down.
Sylvia and Philip's fateful first meeting.
'Hungry?'
The passage she'd read over and over replayed in her mind.
And overlaid onto reality.
'Let's eat first.'
"Let's have a meal first."
Her heart pounded.
The sensation felt so foreign.
As if a heart she'd never had was only now appearing.
She knew it was a ridiculous fancy.
But still, maybe this man...
"Um, by any chance..."
Just then, commotion erupted outside.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
It sounded like people were gathering outside the orphanage, making a racket.
Vivian watched the door anxiously.
"Stay here."
As he moved to leave her behind, the door wouldn't open.
"Why won't this... Kati, it's me."
Only then did the door creak open slyly.
He'd known it.
She must have sealed it tight to keep anyone from entering.
She'd done the same earlier.
As he stepped out, something dangled beside him.
'Whoa, that startled me...'
The unconscious guard captain was hanging upside down.
Kati must have done it.
Following the murmurs, he saw a crowd of people ahead.
They fanned out around the orphanage entrance.
All their faces were grim.
Some were armed.
He reached for a candy stick in his pocket, but nothing came out.
...When did he eat them all?
"Ahem..."
The village chief in the center stepped forward.
In his hand, he gripped one child.
Probably the one Vivian had helped escape.
"Manager, why are you here instead of at the guild hall?"
"Looking for someone."
"You're meddling too much in village affairs."
"Well, that's how it is."
No matter how he looked at it, that was the situation.
He knew their secret, so they couldn't let him go.
"Now that it's come to this, we can't just let you leave."
He'd expected as much.
"Out of curiosity, if you don't let me go, does that mean I can't leave?"
"Then, do you plan to break through all these people?"
Some confidence there.
Kati alone could flatten them.
What to do with these guys.
As someone directly tied to the imperial family, killing civilians was problematic...
The answer came quickly.
Just pressure them with authority.
"Mercy, write a letter for me."
"Okay. Got it."
Mercy, who had been perched on Kati's shoulder, hopped down and transformed into human form.
The crowd stirred at her sudden magical appearance.
The village chief seemed flustered too, unable to speak.
"Who should I address it to?"
Mercy asked, holding parchment and a quill.
With a wooden writing board underneath.
"The Provost Marshal."
The village chief's face crumpled.
People who sensed something amiss rolled their eyes.
"Arke Village, northeast of the capital. Suspected of illegal training and abuse under the guise of hero aspirant cultivation."
Mercy swiftly took down his words.
"Sender's name?"
"Ian. Make two more copies like that."
"Okay."
While Mercy wrote two more, he pulled an item from his subspace pocket.
The people up front recoiled, thinking it was a weapon.
Their momentum had deflated since he mentioned the provost marshal.
What he pulled out was a seal.
He handed it to Mercy, who stamped all three documents.
"A manager mentioning the provost marshal... What a bold bluff. Do you think you're Philip or something?"
The village chief's voice trembled.
In the meantime, Mercy summoned a bird and tied the letter to its leg, sending it off.
The remaining two letters came to him.
"Kati, deliver this."
"Yes."
He gave one to Kati.
She strode forward and handed it to the village chief as he explained.
"It's an indictment letter. One for the recipient, one from me the sender, and one for you suspects. Three in total."
The village chief's trembling eyes scanned the letter and froze at one point.
His hands shook even more violently.
"Th-this... This seal's emblem..."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The village chief had ignored the manager in front of him.
He figured some guildless nobody had heard about Vivian and come sniffing around.
It didn't matter.
He couldn't let Vivian go, but he had other children to contract instead.
Promise village support, guarantee the child's abilities, sign the contract.
Then use the contract to squeeze money out of the manager if results didn't come.
That had been his plan in bringing the manager here.
Or so it was...
'This emblem...'
The seal at the bottom of the document was no ordinary thing.
First time seeing it in person, but he recognized it immediately.
The emblem sealed with magic, bearing the emperor's and holy emperor's certification.
There was only one manager in this world who bore that seal.
'Philip...!'
The legendary figure said to have established the current hero and manager system, a bogeyman of rumors.
A person whose very existence was ambiguous was standing right before him.
"Phi... N-no! You...!"
The village chief prostrated himself flat on the ground.
He'd nearly said the name.
Recognizing the seal's owner meant divulging his identity—suicide.
"I-I dare not...! Wh-what are you all doing?! Lower your weapons!"
At the chief's rebuke, those who had been glaring awkwardly bowed one by one.
People who had looked ready to bite turned subservient in an instant.
"Forgive us for not recognizing your nobility...! Please, anything but the provosts..."
The Military Police, responsible for imperial law and order.
But maintaining peace across the vast empire was no easy task.
Their method was simple.
Make an example.
Catch one and punish them as spectacularly as possible.
Spread the rumors across the empire so that getting caught by the provosts meant having your limbs torn off and more.
They didn't move lightly, but when they did, they were thorough.
And Philip was a man with the power to move them.
"I won't ask who you are! No, I don't know at all! Please spare us the provosts...!"
Ian scratched under his ear at the reaction that seemed to recognize him.
'...Is the name Philip this famous?'
There was only one manager named Philip, but the empire had a few people carrying that seal.
Ian found it odd that they pegged him as Philip just from the seal.
'Not to this extent.'
The village chief, flattened to the ground, practically kissed the dirt.
"Please, noble one..."
The villagers, not knowing why, followed his lead in confusion.
Kati blocked them from approaching too closely.
Their menacing aura seemed ready to turn murderous.
"H-how dare I... I'm sorry, truly sorry...! Please, just this once, show mercy! Everyone, show proper respect!"
"P-please..."
The villagers followed suit in a daze.
Ian was a bit flustered by their worshipful behavior.
'This is getting awkward...'
Still, he said what he needed to.
"Even if you say that now, I've already sent it."
"Th-then send a follow-up letter..."
"Hm..."
The village chief clasped his hands and bowed repeatedly.
But Ian's expression, after a brief thought, was indifferent.
"Nah, don't wanna."
The chief's wrinkled face twisted as if it would collapse.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
He finally sent away the pleading village chief and villagers after a long while.
He hadn't promised to let anything slide.
They just backed off when he told them not to be a nuisance.
He got back the child caught while escaping from the chief.
The chief would agonize over it for a while, no doubt.
Leaving him be felt off, but.
Threatening with force would just be a new form of suicide.
Didn't matter either way.
He just needed to take Vivian from here.
True to his word, he provided a meal for Vivian and the children.
He emptied the provisions loaded on the carriage and even raided his subspace pocket's emergency rations.
All long-term storage food, so probably tasteless.
Yet she ate and cried from joy.
She'd get indigestion like that.
After feeding them all until they were stuffed, he called Vivian aside.
"Could we talk for a moment?"
"Y-yes. Of course."
They stood facing each other in a quiet corner of the orphanage.
Kati glared from afar, so he gestured for her to look elsewhere.
Even with the eyepatch, he could feel her stare.
"Um... If I may ask."
Vivian spoke first.
"Go ahead."
"Are you... Philip?"
...Huh?