The Supreme Hero’s Younger Brother

"Rye!"

"Rye!"

Aerindel and Ludric shouted as they searched for any signs of Rye who has gone missing since last night. Ash has searched within the castle walls from the sky and couldn't find him. He was currently searching outside.

"Ludric, don't you have any spell to track or search someone?" Aerindel asked worriedly.

"I've been casting it since 2 hours ago when we started searching. It didn't give any response." Ludric cast it once more to show Aerindel.

The magic circle dimmed and vanished after a few seconds without any result.

Ash returned not long after and landed in front of them, "I have searched the chapels outside as you suggested, but I found him in none."

"Brother!" Freanor hurried towards them.

"Did you find him?"

"No, but I found something else." Freanor tugged her brother to follow her.

The four of them headed to where Freanor was leading and stopped in front of a path between two patches of trees. The path itself was filled with fresh sunflowers on either side of it, brightly out of place inside the dull-colored castle and bleak woods.

"Rye has two sunflower pins on his robe, so I just thought…" Freanor said.

"Strange…I did not see this path from the sky. My device also did not show anything." Ash wondered.

Ludric stepped into the path and the others followed.

Just as they entered, their whole body was washed with an intense aura. The one who got most affected was Ludric. Aerindel and Freanor were also overwhelmed by their light attribute which reacted to the thick divine energy.

"Rye is inside here?" Ash rubbed his chest in discomfort.

"Let's hurry." Ludric became more anxious.

Although Rye didn't have any heritage or holy attribute, that in itself was worrisome in this environment. If his soul wasn't strong enough, it could be damaged from the pressure.

Just what kind of thing happened here that could create such an atmosphere?

The path took a turn and they immediately saw the chapel at the near end. They found Rye standing in a daze right in front of it.

"Rye!" Ludric hurriedly approached him and reached out, "Rye, are you oka–"

His hand was about to touch Rye's shoulder when he was suddenly repelled by an unknown force. He staggered back and looked at his throbbing hand in doubt.

What was that?

Rye returned back to the present and turned around, "Ludric…?" he then saw the other three people following behind his brother, "What's wrong?"

"You suddenly disappeared and we looked everywhere for you," Aerindel explained, "It's not good to stay here for long. Let's talk outside."

Rye tilted his head confusedly, "Why is it not good?"

"Your body…you don't feel any discomfort?" Ludric asked.

"No?" Rye stared at his right palm, recalling the heat of Octavian's hand, "I've never felt so…good."

"What were you doing here, Rye?" Ash scanned around the area.

Except for the chapel and the strange overflow of divine energy, there was nothing else there.

"I cleaned the chapel last night, then I fell asleep, then…"

Just recalling it made Rye's heart beat faster again and faintly blushed. He touched his hand and looked away as he covered his mouth. He was sure he was making a silly grin right now.

What if Octavian was still watching him? He already embarrassed himself enough earlier.

But he couldn't recall making a promise to such a dizzy-inducing man.

Ludric slightly frowned, "Then what?"

"Nothing…" Rye fixed his glasses to calm his composure and walked away, "I am sorry for the inconvenience I caused. We should go back to the others first."

"Rather than inconvenience, we were only worried." Aerindel followed him.

As they walked out, Ludric glanced back to the chapel dubiously. He didn't see wrong, Rye really blushed earlier.

Rye couldn't have known that there was a chapel in this castle. Moreover in a hidden spot like this. Someone must've brought him here.

Does Rye know someone in Hala? What is their relationship?

"Do you know someone in the castle?" Ash asked Ludric's suspicion.

"No, this is the first time I've ever come here. Why?" Rye answered.

"How do you know there's a chapel here?"

"I…It called me here." Rye vaguely answered.

It wasn't exactly a lie though.

"Rye, I think you have the potential to be a priest," Aerindel commented, "I can feel the holy attribute in you. Maybe because it's similar to our light attribute. I could feel it pretty clearly previously, but it's much stronger now."

Freanor nodded in agreement.

"Only people with a priest heritage or something related to it can have a holy attribute and be a member of the temple," Rye shook his head, "You must be mistaken."

Aerindel hummed in wonder.

Humans have such strange rules…

"Did something happen while I was gone? Did you talk to the king?"

Ash nodded, "He asked your dear brother to eradicate the demons out of their country. He informed us that the demons were going to arrive at the capital in 3 days. They are on their march towards here as we speak."

"And did you accept?" Rye asked Ludric.

"I haven't yet, but I planned to. I want to discuss it with all of you first. If we abandon them now, it doesn't matter whether we can defeat the demon lord or not. Many lives will be lost since we can't reach the demon lord's castle in just three days."

"…" Rye faintly smiled, "…Yes, you're right."

Instantly, all four people present whipped their faces away and shut their eyes.

"??" Rye stopped and checked on them, "What's wrong?"

"The sun got into my eyes." Ash answered.

"Me too." Aerindel followed.

"Let's continue our talk inside then." Rye suggested.

The rest agreed.

The guards tirelessly saluted them as they passed. They entered the exclusive lounge prepared by the servants for them. Various refreshments and snacks were prepared meticulously using the best utensils they have in the palace.

Ludric and Ash explained Torihigen's current situation and their request for help. Thanks to Ash's device, they could understand everything quickly.

None of them disagree.

They didn't have a time limit as to when they must defeat the demon lord. Also, the lesser the demon army, the better it was for them.

"Torihigen's army generals and head bishop will be arriving in several hours to talk about the strategy we will take," Ludric closed the discussion, "All eight of us participating will be a bit crowded."

"You, Rosetta, Lilith, and Desmund should go," Rye said, "The four of you are the core heroes after all. We're technically tagging along."

Aerindel and Freanor agreed.

"To be completely accurate, I am here because of my dear friend Rye. Please do amuse those people." Ash spread his arm in willingness.

"Your way of speaking is really starting to piss me off." Desmund's eyebrow twitched.

They then heard a commotion outside the door. Rye stood up to go and check. He saw that a man wearing a bishop hat was demanding the guards to tell him where the king was. The guards were troubled since the king was currently in a meeting with the ministers.

They offered the bishop to wait in a lounge while they informed the king of his arrival, but the bishop refused. It seems like the matter he wanted to tell the king was really urgent.

Just as Rye wanted to close the door back, their eyes met.

Rye nodded politely to him and shut the door.

"What is it?" Ludric asked.

Rye walked back to the couch, "A bishop is requesting to see the king. I think he–"

The door suddenly swung open behind him. All of them turned to see it was the bishop Rye just mentioned.

"You." The bishop walked with wide steps towards Rye.

Rye instinctively took a step back, "Yes?"

"Did you see it?" The bishop stopped right in front of Rye.

"See…what exactly?"

"Did you not feel it!?" The bishop moved to grab Rye's shoulders in frantic only for his hands to be repelled.

He was stunned for a few seconds before he took a step back and scrutinized the young man in front of him.

"Excuse me…?" Rye was utterly confused.

What is the bishop panicking about? And why is he now looking at him like that?

"Come with–" The bishop forgot what just happened and went to grab Rye's arm only to be repelled again.

He rubbed his numb hand for a short while before he took out a crystal out of his storage pack.

"Hold this."

Rye, "?"

He turned towards the rest in askance. The rest also didn't know what they were supposed to do.

Rye hesitantly held the crystal only for the bishop to realize he put out the wrong one.

"Wait, that's the heritage crystal. I mean this one–"

The bishop handed out the correct crystal but froze midway.