Unfortunate Hero's Retirement Life

"Hoho… Second Young Master is challenging First Young Master's Draw Sword… He's truly seeking death!"

"This is utterly stupid! Young Master Naizen is famous for his Draw Sword…"

"Yes, Yes, Even I heard that Master Kenzan admitted that Young Master Naizen's Draw Sword already surpassed him!"

The crowd buzzed up upon the sight of Hirata's stance. The members of the Musashi Clan were certainly familiar with the stance. However, they thought it was foolish to challenge Musashi Naizen with Draw Sword.

Everyone in the arena had the same thought, the victor had been decided right after Musashi Hirata challenged his brother with the Draw Sword.

Musashi Kenzan who sat on the main seat shook his head in disappointment. He thought his second son learned something or got more experiences outside. Musashi Kenzan muttered in a low voice "You are at your limit!"

However, the disappointment lasted only for a moment. He immediately stood from the seat as soon as he noticed Musashi Naizen put a defensive stance. He was not expecting his second son would put Naizen at the defensive position in the first exchange.

No, he was thinking the same as others. Musashi Kenzan predicted his first son would win in the first exchange. But the shock continued as he failed to see Hirata's movement. What he could see was only a blurred figure passed Musashi Naizen.

Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!

Then the sound of the sword clashed, causing a spark as Musashi Naizen retreated three steps. Musashi Kenzan then noticed his first son was in the state of bewilderment. However, from his seat, he saw his second son was behind his first son.

Then he saw Hirata put the sword on Naizen's neck as Hirata declared in a calm voice, "It seems I won!" There was no excitement in his tone and he only calmly smiled as his gaze locked toward his mother.

The buzzing arena instantly silenced at the shocking sight. They predicted Musashi Naizen would win, easily at that. But the result they witnessed was completely different from the scenario in their minds.

*** ***

Xing District

Despite having fewer visitors in the last month, the people in Xing District decorated the shop with red as the theme. The festivity atmosphere filled the district despite the specter incident.

In this month, the Central Government and the Hero League had been inspecting the city with the core region, the inner region, and the commerce region with the highest priority.

During the inspection, the Central Government had found 87 specters in the commerce region while the core and the inner region were clear. This news spread more fear to the people living in the outer region, causing them to lock themselves in their house respectively.

Even so, this news did not affect the activity in Xing District. The festive decoration lived up the atmosphere in the district. At the shop's board, the owner of each shop placed a thick branch and dyed the leaves into the red.

The branch placed there for the Luminous Hyacinth. Did not know who started it, but the people in the district regarded Luminous Hyacinth as the symbol of prosperity. They hoped one of Luminous Hyacinth would stop by, blessing their shops.

Amongst many, however, there was one guy who was clueless about everything. Sitting next to the window, Heero scanned the district from inside the shop, with curiosity filled his eyes.

"What's wrong with all people today?" Heero muttered in a low voice.

"Huh, you don't know?" Han Ying who was currently near him, asked.

Heero returned the question with a blank face. He truly did not know why the people outside decorated their shop in red.

"Fighter Anteriority is near, they are preparing to greet that day to come, a festival!" Han Ying explained. But her explanation was vague to Heero.

"A festival? Isn't Fighter Anteriority a competition between the heroes and the rankers? What festival?" He only knew that Fighter Anteriority was a competition between the fighters with a tempting prize. The heroes and the rankers from the other cities also came, but what was the relation between the fighter anteriority and the festive atmosphere in the district?

Han Ying rolled her eyes and continued with a question, "Do you know the story behind the Fighter Anteriority?"

Heero shook his head.

"Fighter Anteriority is a celebration day for humanity for surviving the disaster that happened over 600 years ago. The Central Government holds the competition to celebrate our survival from the disaster. So Fighter Anteriority is a celebration for the heroes~"

"However, we, the normal citizens, have another name for Fighter Anteriority, Red Festival. Around this time, we will celebrate it our way! At least, people around here called it the Red Festival!"

Only then Heero understood why the people were happy and why they decorated their shop. It was a positive event.

"Why don't we decorate our shop as well?" Heero suggested.

"Hong Yu already went out to buy the decoration with the girls. Tonight, we are going to decorate our shop," Han Ying replied with her usual gentle smile.

"But why the Red Festival? Is there a hidden meaning to name it Red?" Heero asked again.

"I don't know, but people already called it the Red Festival even before my Mom was born!" Han Ying shook her head and she approached Heero.

"When are you going to teach me to fight?" Talking about Fighter Anteriority, she remembered Heero's promise to teach her something for self-defense.

Heero activated his Mystical Eyes and scanned Han Ying's body. There was still a faint of gray energies inside her body, "Hmm, not yet… We have to do it at least two or three times more…" He whispered haughtily.

"What about tonight? After we decorate the shop? Tonight is supposed to be my turn…" Han Ying played along as she licked her lips.

Looking at how the mature Han Ying tried to seduce him, Heero pulled her into his laps and planted a kiss on her lips, "What about now?"

Han Ying rolled her eyes, "The shop is about to open!" She kissed Heero's cheek and stood up. If she stayed longer in his lap, she would be eaten up by her husband. She escaped to the kitchen afterward.

Heero shook his head with a big smile and turned his gaze back to the window. Not long after that, his smartwatch vibrated. He looked down and saw it was a message from Kang Seo-Yeon.

The Heero Academy was almost done, only needing the last touch. And today, Kang Seo-Yeon informed him that she was going to take him for a quick tour, introducing the new academy.

Heero bid his farewell to Han Ying and he headed toward the academy.

*** ***

Once he arrived at the gate of the Heero Academy, two women wearing business suits waited for him. From afar, he recognized the red-haired one, she was certainly Kang Seo-Yeon, but he did not know the other one.

However, he was somehow familiar with the figure. Heero felt he had met the girl before. He picked the pace and just as he wanted to say, "Hi!" The two women turned around, seeming to detect someone getting closer.

"Yo, Morning Boss~" Kang Seo-Yeon greeted Heero as if they were close friends. But Heero did not respond to her greeting as his gaze fell onto the other woman, Bai Xin Yue. Yes, Bai Xin Yue was with Kang Seo-Yeon which surprised Heero.

He was stunned a bit before returning Kang Seo-Yeon's greeting with a nod before turning back to Bai Xin Yue and asked, "What are you doing here, Miss Bai?"

"Xin Yue!" Bai Xin Yue said in a soft tone and continued with a smile, "I am here as Director Kang's assistant, you didn't know?"

If it was other men, they would fly high to see the Ice Queen's soft smile. However, Heero was immune to the Ice Queen's beauty. Receiving the answer, he turned toward Kang Seo-Yeon, "Is that true?"

With her bright smile, Kang Seo-Yeon nodded, "Yes, I have reported to you that I need an assistant and you said I can do whatever I want. So I didn't tell you about the assistant recruitment result!"

Even though Kang Seo-Yeon had a bright smile on her face, her heart was alerted when she saw the smile on Bai Xin Yue's face. From the way she spoke and her gesture, it seemed his sister also fell in love with the same man?

Why did she think so? It was because this was the first time she saw Bai Xin Yue this gentle toward a man. Before, she treated man coldly, no matter what the man's background was.

'Urgh! I can't lose to her! I have to speed my plan!' Kang Seo-Yeon alerted as she planned to speed up his plan. She had to worry as her rival was not just an ordinary woman, but the famous Ice Queen.