Embers of the Holy War [BEING REVISED]

The Duty of A Hero

"The-the-the- the president?!"

"Yeah, that's me."

Guang couldn't believe it. Of all the people, who knew that Guang would meet Valerie - President Valerie - in the flesh. The president had always been someone he could only see on TV, some top figure that was untouchable to him, but here he was, visiting Guang in his hospital room.

Guang grabbed Jin aside. Furiously, he whispered, "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Jin replied matter-of-factly, "You would have ran away if I did."

Guang bit his lip in frustration, because Jin was right. Then, after taking a deep breath, he turned back to the president with a bright smile. In fact, he was smiling so brightly that a halo seemed to appear behind him.

"I'm sorry for my embarrassing conduct. It'll be a big favour if you could forget everything you saw, President Valerie. Haha...hahahaha..."

Valerie waved his hand. "It's no matter. There's no need to be so formal, since this is an informal meeting, after all. Once you've been a president for as long as I have, you'll come to appreciate the joys of being carefree."

Come to think of it, Valerie had been the president of Alca ever since its founding. So that made it, what, around his 100th year of being a president? That's certainly no easy feat.

Nervously, Guang laughed, "So um...about the Hero thing...are you really, really sure that I'm the real deal? Like, I don't need to take any tests of any kind, or have a background check, or like, I don't know- something?"

"No, there's no need," Valerie said breezily. "I'm 100% sure that you're the real deal."

Guang didn't know how to feel about that. While he was happy that Valerie confidently believed that he was the reincarnated Hero, he had hoped he could get some reassurance himself. Like, how was he supposed to immediately believe with full confidence that he was the reincarnation of his favourite childhood hero? If it was said by anyone else, Guang might have thought of it as a ridiculous lie, but since it was the president, surely this was no joke? Jin didn't seem to be laughing either.

"Alright, so let's say I'm the Hero, how will the government help me?"

Valerie handed Guang a tablet. On the tablet, there was a contract, consisting of pages of pages of words. Guang passed the tablet to Jin.

Valerie explained, "In a nutshell, we'll be providing you all the financial aid and information you need. So basically, you won't have to spend a cent in Alca, and we'll readily provide you with relevant top secret information that the nation has. All you have to do is to defeat the Demon King. How does that sound?"

Like a hawk, Guang snatched back the tablet from Jin. Without further ado, Guang signed the contract and graciously handed it back to Valerie.

"I look forward to our cooperation, sir."

Jin pinched the bridge of his nose. Valerie chuckled bemusedly.

"Alright, then. As the president of Alca, I hereby declare that from today onwards, Hero Guang is a VIP beneficiary of the Alcaen government. Come meet me again at Rhinestone Palace tomorrow, Long Guang. We'll have things to discuss."

"Thank you, President Valerie."

The moment Valerie left, Guang was punched across the face by Jin. On the floor, Guang whined indignantly, "What gives?!"

"You should read contracts carefully, word by word! Why did you sign it before I read it?"

"I mean, it's the president - it's not like he'll pull anything shady!"