"Why? I'm just a nobody. It was surprising enough that you sought me out at all, Zandar. What could possibly have drawn you to me?"
Zhang Xiu's brows drew together slightly in confusion. Zandar's intentions made him uneasy. He was just an ordinary man; only his wife was a little unusual. But even so, was there anything special about him himself?
"First, becoming a Pathstrider is a talent in itself. Second, I saw a possibility in you."
"In your eyes, what is a hero?"
He raised his head high, slowly lifting both hands as well, as though he meant to reveal the sun:
"Someone who carries a heart full of burning passion and saves countless people? Someone who sacrifices themselves for others? Or someone who spills their flesh and blood, offering up their very entrails for justice?"
"Yes, they all are. But whatever the case, the appearance of a hero is often tinged with tragedy. It seems that only those who pay a price for others deserve to be called heroes."
Zandar extended a hand toward Zhang Xiu. "Then what about you, Zhang Xiu? What is a hero?"
"...I just want to do what I want to do. Kill all the wicked and save all the good."
"If that is all, you already seem to be a hero." Zandar lowered his hands.
"But you aren't satisfied with things as they are. You don't consider yourself a hero."
"I..." Zhang Xiu froze for a moment. Just as Zandar had said, he himself did not know what kind of hero he wanted to become.
He only knew that ideal was there, and that he was still far from reaching it.
"The answer is simple. What you want to become isn't a hero, but yourself. It just so happens that there is a