"...I'm back again."
The ash-haired boy muttered as he looked around.
Aside from the red eyes he had inherited from his mother, he looked almost exactly like his father in his younger days.
"Father was already strong even back then... even though he said he was weak when he was a [Divine Demon]."
His father had said that, in the old days, he had been far weaker than he was now, so the boy had assumed he would be "somewhere below the level of an [Awakened Demon Lord]." Realizing the bar had been set absurdly high, he let out a sigh.
The mature air he had shown earlier vanished as if it had all been an act, and he returned to seeming like a child his own age.
"I think only a few of my older brothers and sisters have reached that level of strength..."
There was his older brother, the next candidate to inherit the throne of the [Jura Tempest Federation], currently the strongest nation in the West: Riolen Ruber Tempest.
And there were his other terrifying siblings as well, including his full older sister, Millen Ruber Testarossa, who wanted to become the Queen of Hell after their godfather Guy Crimson and their mothers.
Even they probably still wouldn't be able to defeat their father, who had not yet even reached his prime. That was what the boy believed.
If there were any siblings who could at least put up a good fight, he figured it would probably be only three: Riolen, Millen, and Clea Ruber O'Bell. Those three might be able to match his father from the past.
Riolen had inherited the blood of both a [Demon Lord] and a [Hero], making him half [slime], but he was exceptionally strong.
Millen, perhaps because she was the eldest daughter and the firstborn, was several moves ahead of the other siblings when it came to battles of wit.
And Clea carried the blood of two heroes famed as the strongest, so she was already a celebrity known as the next generation's mightiest [Hero].
'...And on top of that, Lea is younger than me, but even stronger...'
Just as the boy was about to sigh again, thinking he still had a very long way to go, footsteps approached from beside him.
"What happened to make you sigh like that? You even won the drawing and got to see Father in his younger days."
A beautiful woman with long, brilliantly white hair fluttering behind her stared at the boy with blue eyes that resembled their father's.
Only her eyes resembled their father. The rest of her appearance, inherited from her mother, combined with her cold aura to earn her the title [Princess of the Underworld] among monsters. She was the eldest daughter of the Ruber family.
"...Why are you here, Mir?"
"Why else? I came to make sure you got back safely. The only ones who might have come here, Nox, Sylph, and Eli, all went to [Ruberios] or [Sarion] for lessons. It looks like our aunts are finally getting serious about teaching them state affairs."
"...Eli actually went along with that? I can believe Nox and Sylph, but with her personality, there's no way she just followed quietly."
"Of course she didn't. Eli tried to run away, saying she hated it, but Aunt Ermesia caught her and dragged her off by force. For the record, Sedi helped."
"As expected... that sounds exactly like Eli and Sedi."
Nox Ruber Valentine, Luminous's son and the next [Vampire Lord].
Sylph Ruber El Ru, Sylvia's twin son and the next [Hero] of [Sarion].
Sedina Ruber El Ru, Sylvia's twin daughter and the next [Thunder Emperor].
Elina Ruber El Ru Sarion, Ermesia's daughter and the next [Heavenly Emperor] of [Sarion].
"And the rest all went off to play or train. I was supposed to go to the [Labyrinth] and train under Mr. Zegion and Mr. Apito, but it seemed like you'd returned, so I came here instead."
"Ah... today was Uncle Zegion's day to supervise, wasn't it?"
The only children who could casually refer to Zegion, the strongest being in the [Labyrinth] and the one known as the [Insect Kaiser], like that were these siblings.
If some arrogant royal brat from another country had addressed him that way, they would have died hundreds more times in the [Labyrinth].
"It feels like a waste to skip a day when Uncle Zegion is teaching in person... maybe I should go too?"
The dejected child from moments ago was gone, and in his place appeared a young little devil with battle instinct rising inside him.
He really did take after his father. It wasn't enough that he looked the most like him; even his fighting instincts were nearly identical.
And though he always insisted he was weak, he was actually quite strong for someone still so young.
Considering he was one of the few children in the Ruber family who carried a [Hero's Egg], perhaps that was only natural.
"Before that, how about you finish the homework that piled up while you were off visiting the [past]? You still haven't finished the assignment Lord Veldora gave you either."
"Agh... do I really have to do that...?"
One of the highest authorities in [Tempest], the [Storm Dragon] Veldora Tempest.
He always gave the second generation of the Ruber family bizarre assignments that were somehow still helpful, and this time he had once again handed out another strange one.
The boy, who didn't care much for those assignments, naturally wanted to avoid doing it if at all possible, but his older sister was firm.
"Of course you do. It's an assignment personally given by Father's close friend. Were you seriously thinking of not doing it?"
"I mean, sure, but... no, seriously, why do I have to come up with attack names in the first place?"
The boy, who occupied just about the only normal position in the Ruber family, protested to his sister that this was ridiculous. Even so, she answered without wavering.
"If a technique has a name, it's easier to visualize, so it helps when you apply it to [Arts]. Isn't that why you always say the name out loud whenever you use [Black Heaven, Nether's End], the technique Father taught you?"
Millen's argument was perfectly sound.
The boy had learned [Black Heaven, Nether's End], one of his father's signature [Arts], and he always spoke its name aloud when using it.
"...Yeah, but [Black Heaven, Nether's End] is a famous technique that's even recorded in the [History of Tempest]. Uncle Veldora's techniques, on the other hand, have lame names like 'Whirlwind Kick' and 'Slaying Arts'..."
"Well, I can agree with that to some extent. But you, Ar, are a disciple Lord Veldora especially favors, so you don't really have a choice."
Allen Ruber Testarossa.
This boy, cherished all at once by a [Hero], a [Primordial Demons], a [Demon Lord], and a [True Dragon], was a child born with the destiny... no, the inevitability of becoming one of the next generation's heroes.
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