Infinite Genius

Meeting A Hero

"All of a sudden so much happened in my perfectly normal life" Shin thought to himself as he was following the old man. It is almost evening time. The old man led him to a diner nearby. Shin stopped at the front and looked up to the large board above the diner in which it said 'Metalhand Eatspot'.

"What kind of a name is that...well everything in this world is weird ... so it is ok I guess" Shin was thinking,  controlling that unintentional laughter that appeared on his face.

"Great master please come this way" the old man standing before him who was about to open the front door of the diner said.

As they entered the diner, Shin tried to hide the tattoo in his hand from the people. But it was an absolutely futile attempt and the noisy atmosphere calmed down seeing him. Shin knew what was going to happen next. Shin took a deep breath and said

"Everyone...I may or may not be the person you guys think I am...but please no getting up and kneeling down on the ground"

The crowd seem so shocked.

"Was that too much" Shin thought.

Then suddenly everyone started cheering for him.

"Our new hero is so gentle and generous"

"Such a wonderful young man he is"

"He must be very powerful"

"Long live the heroes of Azgal"

"Let's party..."

"yay...yay...yay..."

Seeing the crowd more excited Shin thought "What is with this people seriously?"

He stood there not knowing what to do, all confused.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE..?" A loud but elegant voice interrupted the noisy crowd. At that very moment, the whole diner became silent. A tall man with a well built body and golden hair approached Shin. He was wearing an apron above his dark red shirt which was having a hard time holding that muscular figure. He stood before Shin ,looked down at him and stared deep into his eyes. He asked "Who are you stranger?"

Shin felt a little chill down his spine and seem troubled. 

He started to speak "well...you see...I...I..."

"He is a Clipper same as you master Ben , here to see you" the old man interrupted bowing his head down with respect.

"This guy...a Clipper?..."intensifying his gaze on Shin, the giant guy replied.

Shin is still standing there not knowing what to do, but his instincts were telling him to run away if possible, because he felt the vibe that, this person standing before him is 'dangerous'. Even so he couldn't move.

The giant guy raised his right hand in air as if he was about to hit Shin. Shin closed his eyes in fear.

The next second,

"Hahaha...you are really so young to be a Clipper...nice meeting you lad" patting on his shoulders the guy said. Shin opened his eyes and was surprised to see the person who was serious looking, just some moments ago standing in front with a much delightful smile.

"Free meal for everyone today, to celebrate the arrival of our new hero....ha..ha..ha..." the giant man shouted.

The guy arranged an empty table at one corner of the diner for both of them to sit around and filled it with the best dishes of the house. Shin and the guy sat opposite to each other at two ends of that small round table. He ordered some wine and was drinking, while Shin was sitting there, looking down with a confused face.

"Eat up lad...the food is getting cold" saying this he looked at Shin for a moment and took his glass of wine in his hand.

"So how is things back at the real world?" the guy asked.

Hearing this Shin raised his head up and looked at the person before him in surprise. The guy was looking back at Shin with a smile. He continued " My name in this world is 'Benjamin Metalhands'. Back in the real world earth, my name was 'Mark Trueman' . I was working as a chef at a famous restaurant in London. One day while walking back home from work, I saw two people trying to rob a woman. I tried saving her and got stabbed by one of the robbers. No one helped me and a few moments later I died. When I regained my consciousness I was in the form of a baby in the hands of my parents of this world."

Shin was keenly hearing what Ben was saying.

Ben looked at Shin's face and said "Hahaha...did you felt my story too hard to believe....but that is the truth, you believe it or not"

Shin still remained silent looking down at his feet.

"No...I believe you brother" Shin replied in a deep voice. He explained how he got here, about the book and everything.

Hearing his story Ben laughed again, drank the glass of wine in his hand in a sip, and placed it back on the table.

"Your story is much weirder then mine...Hahaha..." he said.

"Bro please..." Shin replied.

Shin continued, asking with a serious tone" So what is going on bro...do you know anything??"

Ben replied" You know the story till the sealing away of the demon king ...right??".He looked at Shin's face.

Shin nodded his head  meaning yes.

Ben continued " After the demon king was defeated, every resident of Azgal was happy and joyful. But the peace was soon broken as the elves, humans, dwarves and beastmen started arguing with each other on the possession of land and resources. It almost started another war. But the first line of Clippers who defeated the demon king once again stood up as the saviour. They founded central. A place which organizes everything. And an association consisting of representatives from each races were chosen as the rulers. Under its power, alliance were formed between the races and the land of Azgal was divided into four, equally for all. And all races are in good terms till now."

"Wow...I see, the Clippers are that much of an influential figure among the people...no wonder why they act like that" remembering how the people kneeled down to him, Shin said.

Ben again laughed, took another glass of wine, drank it in a gulp and continued talking "Hahaha...you said it kid...Clippers are deemed as Gods among this people. There are totally ten Clippers , each of them numbered from 0 to 9 , which are tattooed on to them...like that in your hand and this..."

Ben revealed the tattoo on his chest. Shin looked at it, and observed its pattern is different from that of his.

Shin asked "So bro.... you are number six...and I am number eight...does this number represent some kind of ranking or something"

Ben replied " I don't really know how it roll, but whenever a clipper of certain number die in this world another one appears with the same numbered tattoo. And ofcourse all the people who is a clipper comes from the real world Earth. But little do the residents of Azgal know about that. Many to most of them think we are angels who fall out from sky or chosen from the larger population  "

Shin for a second remained speechless and was diving deep into his thoughts "Does that mean ...?"

"Bro what happened to the earlier number 8 clipper?" Shin asked Ben with an excited tone.

Ben on the other hand, hearing this got angry and broke the glass in his hands. Shin was shocked by the sudden change in Ben. Everyone around was looking at them.

Ben suddenly came back to his senses, calmed down, turned to the crowd looking at him with eager with a smile and said "Sorry guys...everything is fine".

Then he turned to Shin and said "Sorry kid...I lost my cool there..."

Shin observed a sudden sadness on Ben's face and said "It's ok bro. Was that person very important to you?"

Ben looked at Shin with a little smile and replied "The previous number eight Clipper 'Dustan Dorvel' was my best friend...he used to be a fire fighter in his real life...he got reincarnated here. He was a powerful flame magic user. How he died is still unknown. But when we found his corpse, it was kind of in a decaying stage. "Tears filled Ben's eyes as he was explaining the tragic story, which also made Shin a little sad.

Shin said "I am sorry..." and looked down to the ground.

He thought "So people die in this world too !"

Ben wiped the tears off with his hands and returned to his joyful self. He shouted "What am I doing? Today is the day to celebrate the arrival of our new hero...Welcome to Azgal ... Shinjiro Suzuki"

A sudden happiness appeared on face of Shin as well, he said " Thank you...brother"

They kept on talking, mainly about the changes that occurred in the real world after the time Ben died.

Shin and Ben get to know about each other more. The diner they are currently sitting in, belongs to Ben's family, the Metalhands and currently ran by him. Clippers are allowed to do whatever they want when there is no fighting or unfortunate events going on.

After a long talk, Ben stood up, looked at Shin and said "Ok then kid...I should get going...I need to get to central market place to buy some goods...see you around". He started moving away from there.

Shin also stood up, politely bowed down his head and said "Thank you for your help...brother"

Ben looked back turning his head, gave away a smile and said " I kinda like you kid...hope you survive out there...and yes always keep your eyes and ears open for surprises...this world got plenty of it". He kept on walking, raised his right hand in air, saying good bye.

After Ben go away Shin remained on his seat, took a deep breath, leaned back on his seat and thought "So what now...?!".