Tragedy of the Greatest Heroes

Chapter 6: First Family Dinner

Clap, Clap, Clap, Clap, Clap

Violet turned back towards the podium where Principal Sever had reappeared. He had a large smile on his face as he looked directly at Mark proudly.

“Well done Mark. You’ve thoroughly impressed me.”

Soon everyone in the room started clapping their hands for Mark, mimicking the Principal's actions. Mark meanwhile looked around completely dumbstruck by what had just happened.

Violet looked at Mark with jealousy. Her face started becoming warm as her jealousy mixed with the shame of her ranking.

‘That settles it, there’s definitely something special about him. He broke past my mental defenses with ease and now he’s ended up as the highest-ranked applicant. Now the question is if I try to make allies with him or not.’

There were inherent risks to allying herself with Mark. Now that he was the highest-ranked applicant he would undoubtedly become a target during the next examinations, combined with Violet's status, they would certainly be walking bullseyes. But, it was clear that Mark had incredible strength and, considering his test score, was remarkably intelligent.

‘I will have to think about this for a while.’

Violet's attention was drawn back to the podium as the principal's voice reverberated around the room.

“Well, hello again future stars. You’re all probably wondering what happened in this test. Why does Mark have such a high score? Why were the questions so impossibly hard? Unfortunately, I can’t tell you that, but, if you end up becoming elite heroes then you will surely know the answer.”

The principal clapped his hands together with a smug look on his face. Meanwhile, most of the applicants murmured amongst themselves, each sprouting their theories and ideas.

“He was willing to attack the Woo family and he got the highest score?”

“He must be super strong for him to pull all this off.”

“Do you think he comes from a powerful family?”

“Tran is a pretty common last name in Navimet. Is there a strong family with that name?”

Violet herself began to suspect that Mark hailed from an extremely powerful, historical psychic family. But Tran wasn’t an uncommon last name and no powerful families with such a name came up in Violet's mind.

“Now, I’m sure you’re all tired so I will be introducing you to your living situation for the next few days.”

The Principal smiled with his arms open to the crowd before turning around and clapping his hands twice. A large screen appeared showing a slideshow of the living quarters that seemed to be located within the building they were currently in.

“You will be living in these dorm rooms. There are a total of 50 of them, 2 boys and 2 girls will each be assigned to a dorm. There will be a common living space in the middle and separate rooms for the boys and girls who will each have their own bathroom. And we do have prevention methods from you sneaking into the other's rooms, so don’t even try it, you will lose points.”

After a small chuckle to himself at the thought of students sneaking into each other's rooms the professor now began to walk around the stage as though he were giving a class a lecture in school. He gestured with his hands repeatedly to try and emphasize certain points.

“There will also be weight training rooms for you to use as you wish, we have any equipment that you could ask for. Included in the gym is also a spa, sauna, swimming room, and rock climbing wall.

‘All of that just for the application? Impressive.’ Violet expressed privately. While she did have such a gym at her home it was only at the main compound which Violet hated visiting as it meant seeing her father and mother. As such she never got to use that gym.

You may find that some of those will come in handy for the second selection. I would like to remind you, we will be watching almost anything you do while here during the application process, and anything that you do can and will affect your points. With that, I bid you all farewell.”

This time in a flash of light the Principal vanished from the stage, leaving nothing behind except for a burn mark on the floor. The walls behind the stage suddenly slid open to the sides and revealed a large hallway with a series of doors.

A group of guards suddenly appeared, each one wore a suit and was at least 6 feet tall. Many of them had scars on their face, likely from past battles they had engaged in. One of the ones in the center, a tall woman with auburn hair stepped out and began an announcement.

“Each one of the applicants is to find one of us and we will guide them to their rooms. We will come with you to not cause any traps within the hallway to trigger. Once you pass into your room the traps will be deactivated but until then you must come with us.” A small screen then flashed above each of guard's heads showing which room they were responsible for.

Slowly each applicant got up from out of their seat and took a look at their identification card which told them their room number. Violet quickly did the same and saw that her room number was “G49”.

“Hey, we have the same room.”

Violet looked up at Vivan who had just addressed her. Looking at Vivian's card it was also “G49”.

“Oh uh… yeah, yes… we uh… do.” With Vivan having addressed her from out of the blue Violet had no way of responding with Soul Seer, leaving her socially inept and stammering.

Vivian looked at Violet with some confusion. “Are you alright? You’re kinda talking funny.”

“OH, it’s uh um it's just it’s nothing. Don’t don’t worry about it.” Violet was beginning to panic slightly, she needed a way to divert Vivian's attention away from her so she could have a moment to gather her thoughts. Luckily that moment had just arrived.

“IS G49 OUT THERE!?!?!? WE’RE LOOKING FOR YOU!!!”

Violet and Vivan turned towards the source of the voice. There was Mark, his hands cupped around his mouth yelling out. The boy next to him quickly grabbed Mark's hands and seemed to tell him to stop as it could be embarrassing. The boy seemed to be caucasian, he had blond hair and some lightly toned muscles. After settling his short disagreement Mark locked onto Vivian and Violet and gave them a wave, something also done by the boy next to him.

“Well, I guess we know where we’re going.”

“Oh um yeah yes we do.”

Vivian once again looked strangely at Violet before walking down to the stage where Mark and that other boy were. Violet of course followed, worried about what would happen if she were left alone surrounded by people. They weaved their way through the crowds of fellow applicants down to the stage at the front of the room. Mark immediately offered his hand out to Vivian when they arrived.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Room 49 right?” Mark said, his face beaming with excitement at meeting some new people.

Vivian took Mark's hand and shook it vigorously. “It’s nice to meet you too. I’m Vivian and this is Ms. Violet Woo, who are you two?”

“I’m Mark and this is Roland. I hope we all have a great time together this week.”

Mark then pushed Roland forward towards Violet. Roland appeared to be extremely nervous, his face pale and covered in a shaking nervous smile. His hands were placed in front of him, fidgeting with each other as if to distract him from the woman in front of him.

‘Actually, he looks kind of familiar.’ Violet had a sudden realization. She had met Roland in the past, but she couldn’t quite place her finger on where.

“Uh hi again. You probably don’t remember me, Ms. Woo, I’m from the Nordt family. We met each other about 10 years ago in a New Year's party.”

‘So that’s why you look familiar…’

“H- H- Hi. It’s nice to meet you again Roland.”

“Um yeah, yeah same. Vivan referred to you as Violet. Did you um uh adopt a new na– WOAH!!!”

In a panic, Violet tackled Roland to prevent him from revealing her identity. Unfortunately, Violet's lack of social experience led to her taking overly extreme action against Roland. They tumbled to the ground with Violet on top, cradling Roland's head to prevent it from slamming into the ground. She mounted Roland and placed her finger to her mouth and quietly shushed him.

While this was happening Mark and Vivian looked at each other awkwardly. Every other applicant turned to look at Roland and Violet who were still in the rather… suggestive position. The room quickly became quiet as some people took out their phones and began to snap photos. Murmurs began to permeate through the air, undoubtedly going to start widespread rumors.

Drawn to the whispers, Violet turned around and saw a few of the applicants had withdrawn their phones and were recording or photographing the situation. Realizing what she had done Violet quickly got up and walked behind the guard who had been assigned to them, her face an extremely bright red. Roland on the other hand simply lay on the ground in a state of utter shock.

“Well, I think now would be a wonderful time to leave for our room,” Mark said to the guard.

“Very well then. Right this way applicants.” Despite the situation, the guard remained completely professional.

…

The hallway they were led down was large, over 10 feet between one side of the hallway and the other and it was 5000 feet long, leaving each room with a total of 10,000 square feet. At the end of the hallway was their room, #49. Having now calmed down from the previous events Violet began to look at the hall and noticed a rather pressing issue. After taking several seconds to formulate a sentence in her head Violet decided to voice her concerns.

“There’s no door on this side of the hall or exit in the middle. Isn’t that a safety risk for people at the end of the hall like us?” she asked the guard.

The guard smiled and said, “Why yes, you’re absolutely correct.” Violet suddenly heard a voice in her head congratulating her. It said “Congratulations Ms. Woo. You have earned the first points outside of the competition for pointing out safety concerns. 10 points.”

“I understand your concern Ms. Woo, but fear not. There is nothing to worry about in this building, it’s been very heavily fortified and many A-Rank psychics have volunteered to guard it.” The guard replied, a knowing smile on his face.

‘They really are monitoring everything we do here.’

“Now applicants, without further ado here is your room.” The guard opened the door and allowed the applicants to walk inside.

The room was large, being an entire 10,000 square feet. The main, shared, center area had a fireplace, a television, a dining table, a kitchen, couches, desks, and even entertainment systems like consoles and computers. At the back of the main area, 2 spiral staircases were leading upwards into the ceiling, one was marked “Men” and the other was marked “Women”. Next to those, there was a door labeled “Gym” that connected to a long hallway.

Vivian and Mark looked around impressed, this single area was as large as their houses and had just as many if not more amenities. On the other hand, Roland and Violet were rather indifferent, coming from famous families they both lived in mansions that covered several tens of thousands of square feet. This area wasn’t nearly as impressive as the houses they lived in.

Mark and Vivian immediately began to walk around and explore the area, amazed by everything they saw.

“HOLY SHIT THE SINKS ARE SENSOR ACTIVATED!!!” Mark yelled loudly.

“Really?” Vivan responded and immediately tested it out herself. “Oh my gods it is hands-free.”

In contrast to them, Roland and Violet had already begun to walk up the spiral staircase to pack away their items. Violet entered the girl's room and saw a spacious area with two beds. Their suitcases and items had already been transferred in sometime earlier. The room was well decorated and had 2 desks and a lamp for each person to use. There was a large television and the floors were a smooth wood. The walls were painted a light blue and were at least twice as tall as Violet was.

‘It’s small but I can live with this. Although the beds being only twin-sized is annoying.’

At the back, there was a bathroom which Violet entered. It was simple but very very spacious, a size almost comparable to the one Violet had back at her mansion in the city. Leaving the bathroom Violet returned downstairs to the main area where Mark and Vivian had already begun making dinner from the food in the fridge.

“Vivian, do you have the salt?”

“Yeah here. I’ll get started on the salad.”

As Violet watched them she felt slightly jealous. If only her reintroduction with Roland had gone as smoothly as these two. They had only just met and were already working like a machine. Violet saw them practically throwing knives at each other to speed up the process of making dinner.

…

“Well Vivian, I think you and I have done an excellent job.”

“Thank you, Mark. Time for dinner everyone!”

Upon hearing this Roland came down from his room upstairs, his stomach rumbling as he arrived.

“Yo Roland, did you see my suitcase up there?”

“Uh yeah… did you forget to bring it, Mark?”

“Hehehe… yeah.”

While this conversation was happening Violet had begun setting up the table in the room with plates, napkins, cups, and utensils. Together all 4 of them brought out the meal Vivan and Mark had prepared.

“Would you like to start us off, Vivian?”

“Sure. ahem…” Vivian cleared her throat and adopted a funny accent. “Here we have our appetizer. It’s buttered sourdough bread Brushchetta. A dish with tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese topped with olive oil and salt.”

Mark had begun to laugh at Vivans accent which made her sound like an old man who had a tad too much to drink. Roland, who had sat down at the table, was also smiling now and even Violet began to feel the corners of her face begin to twitch.

‘This dinner is… oddly nice.’

Next up Mark adopted an accent of his own and even strangely gestured with his body. “For our main course, we have a buttered A5 Wagyu Steak and 4 separate Lobster tails. There is also a salad Vivian made with her own recipe for you to enjoy.”

Vivian had begun to laugh loudly at Mark who had begun to hop up and down with a humpback as he explained the main course. Roland, while less than Vivian, had begun to laugh as well.

‘The food isn’t as nice as what I’d usually eat. But I’m having a lot more of an enjoyable time.’

Violet had begun to smile widely and even blew some air out of her nose in response to Mark and Vivian's antics.

‘If father saw me now he would be furious indeed.’

This time, Mark and Vivian spoke simultaneously. “The desert is being prepared. We hope you thoroughly enjoy the meal tonight.”

“But first,” Mark said, “a prayer to the gods.” Everyone at the table placed their right hand on their chest and looked down at the floor with their eyes closed. Even Violet did it without hesitation, there wasn’t a child in the world that wouldn’t know this exact process. Mark then began to speak, his voice filled with a divine presence as he invoked the god's presence.

“Gods thou art the makers. Thou art the saviors. Thou art the pioneers. Halloweed be the great ones who razed the chaos and brought forth the light eternal. The eternal and infinite gods, you creations ask of you assistance. Ensure our lives be sacred, our bodies pure, our mind clear and our souls pure. To thee we pray.”

And with that, the dinner began. As Violet looked around at everyone she felt a warmth come over her. For a moment she could see what she always saw in fiction, a family eating together at a dinner table, talking to each other, enjoying each other's presence, laughing.

‘This… I would like this in my life.’

As Violet reached for her fork she felt a teardrop roll down her eye which she quickly wiped away so that nobody would see.

78%

…

A man in a suit took out a specialized radio in his hotel room. For a moment static came through before disappearing into silence.

“Sir the first part of the application is over.”

“Good good, how did she do?”

“Subpar sir. She was ranked 97th after the test.”

“Tch. She brings shame to her name. What of that boy at least.”

The man in the suit hesitated. He double-checked the information in his brain before giving a response.

“He ranks first sir. He is the only applicant to score 100% and has 3 times more points than the second highest ranked applicant.”

For a moment all the man in the suit heard on the radio was silence. He held his breath as he waited, terrified of the potential response. He may have been an elite A-Rank but the Woo family had an unimaginable amount of resources and he believed they were not above killing for bringing bad news. They had a reputation as an exceptionally dangerous though well-paying family for bodyguards to work for.

“I see… I want you to watch that boy extremely closely. It’s clear there’s something special about him. I also want you to get someone to research that boy's background, and find everything you can.”

The man heaved a sigh of relief, his life was safe, as was his employment. “I understand sir.”

End of Chapter 6