Silver Star Town was the most prosperous town in the southern region of the Loran Empire, bordering the Moonlit Forest, and traveling several hundred li south would lead to the land of the elves, merchants came and went all year round in an endless stream, whether it was commerce, manufacturing or the adventurer industry, all were thriving and well-developed.

The first ray of dawn in the morning brushed past the church’s dome and fell upon the statue of the Hero Lott, even though it was still early, the townspeople had already come out to set up stalls and sell goods, while children sat around the benches beneath the Hero’s statue, listening to the bard recount the epic legend from eighteen years ago.

“The Hero and the Saintess sacrificed themselves and eliminated the Demon King and his demon generals, the despicable conqueror Gaius II was bewitched by the Demon King and attempted to harm the Hero’s child, ultimately receiving divine punishment from the Nine Holy Spirits! The Holy Spirits once said: ‘My people, the era of peace has already arrived, yet darkness has never disappeared, but do not worry, when the demon race returns and sweeps across the mortal world once more, the Hero’s child will inherit his father’s legacy and set out on the journey to save the world again!’”

The bard spoke animatedly while the children beside him applauded enthusiastically.

At this moment, a gray-haired boy carrying a basket of apples happened to pass by, he was immediately drawn in by the story of the Hero and could not help but stop to watch, his dark gray eyes filled with longing for the Hero’s legend.

The boy’s name was Lisea Byronvis, just an ordinary resident of Silver Star Town.

Before he knew it, Lisea had stopped walking, then he reached out and tugged at the sleeve of the black-haired girl beside him, curiously asking.

“Lady Xidis... you’ve studied the Hero’s legend more than anyone, is it true that the Hero’s child was taken away by the Holy Spirits to be raised, or have they already died?”

His teacher, Xidis Byronvis, was a well-known Hero enthusiast in the area and had considerable knowledge of that period of history, yet she did not choose to answer him, merely putting on her usual cold smile and eerily uttering three words.

“I don’t know.”

Xidis could hardly tell this kid that his true identity was the Hero’s child.

It had already been eighteen years since the Hero’s sacrifice, during this time Xidis had taken on the responsibility of raising Lisea and had successfully raised him into adulthood, soon it would be Lisea’s eighteenth coming-of-age ceremony, and she was currently thinking about what gift to give him.

But the demon lady was not some sucker the Hero had hired to take over responsibility, during Lisea’s upbringing she had instilled a great deal of evil thinking into him, and even his life planning had been completely opposite to the Hero’s wishes!

That foolish hot-blooded couple had once said while being lovey-dovey that they hoped their child would become a great adventurer and be loved by the Nine Holy Spirits.

Thus, from a young age Xidis filled him with all kinds of magical knowledge and took him to meet famous teachers from various regions, and although this guy had outstanding talent, his body was weak, successfully making him give up the idea of becoming an adventurer and decide to peacefully work in an office as a teacher instead.

Then she bought a large number of accessories that looked like holy relics but were actually abyssal cursed items for Lisea, and forbade him from attending services at the Holy Spirit Church, all to make the Nine Holy Spirits recoil at the sight of him.

That idiot Hero hoped his child would strive upward and be self-reliant, so Xidis directly focused on making money to support the household, selling various magitech patents during the day and staying up late writing books at night, planning to save up a fortune that Lisea could never spend in his lifetime, all so that the Hero’s expectations would completely fail.

Just imagining the Hero’s spirit in heaven watching his son gradually fall and become an incompetent father made the demon lady want to burst into laughter.

“Lady Xidis—Teacher Xidis—stop staring at the Hero’s statue in a daze, we still have a lot of things to buy.”

Seeing Xidis staring at the Hero’s statue and once again falling into thought, Lisea could not help but sigh, complaining inwardly.

'Lady Xidis says she hates the Hero but she’s actually a hopeless fan... I really want to become an adventurer and become a Hero, that way I could become her pride...'

The boy silently swore to work hard, but his face suddenly turned pale, and he clutched his chest as he began to gasp in pain, Xidis snapped back to her senses and quickly took out a dose of medicine and forced it into him.

She glanced at Lisea and complained dissatisfied.

“I told you not to come out shopping with me, if your body’s weak then stay at home properly, next time Rong’an can come with me instead.”

“Sorry, sorry... I just really wanted to walk around with Lady Xidis, so... ah, it’s just ordinary asthma, isn’t it, just take some medicine and it’s fine, opportunities to walk with Lady Xidis aren’t common.”

Lisea laughed carelessly while scratching the back of his head, his flippant attitude made Xidis’ expression darken, after snorting coldly she stormed off as if in anger.

“Waaah, Lady Xidis I was wrong, don’t leave me behind!”

The boy thought his careless attitude toward his health had made Xidis angry, so he hurried after her to apologize, yet what Xidis was actually angry about was not that, but worry over his illness.

What Lisea had was not asthma at all, but a disease academically known as the “Koseya Hemoptysis Curse”, and at least in this world with underdeveloped magical technology, contracting this illness meant certain death, unless the Nine Holy Spirits bestowed a blessing, there was no cure at all.

Fortunately, this kid was lucky enough to meet a demon like her who was proficient in magical knowledge. On the second day after Lisea fell ill, Xidis had already created a potion that could alleviate the symptoms, successfully keeping him alive.

However, there was still a long way to go before a complete cure, the materials required to eliminate the disease were far too rare, and she had not obtained them yet.

After Lisea followed behind Xidis and coaxed her for quite a while, he finally managed to calm her down, the girl let out a long sigh and said helplessly.

“Alright, stop pleading here, take better care of your body from now on, your coming-of-age ceremony is almost here, what gift do you want?”

“I want Lady Xidis to be happy every day, is that okay?”

Xidis smiled at this little brat who only knew how to say sweet things and shook her head.

“I’m already happy every day, pick something else.”

“Then yesterday Sister Rong’an bought a super cute cat-ear headband, Lady Xidis could...”

‘Unfilial brat! Divine punishment!’

Xidis punched him on the forehead, beating him until he held his head and begged for mercy, scolding him irritably.

“I don’t know who taught you to be so improper, pick something else.”

Having been struck on the forehead, Lisea did not continue answering Xidis’ question, instead he said mysteriously.

“As for what I want... nothing for now, but I prepared a surprise for Lady Xidis, I’ll tell you after lunch today.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

‘A gift for me... this guy really is thoughtful, but demons don’t feel gratitude, even if you give me a gift I won’t be that happy.’

However, whenever someone close to her wanted to do something for her, the demon lady still felt genuinely pleased, perhaps this was one advantage of becoming human, emotions could fluctuate because of small things.

Just like that, the demon lady’s cold smile gradually softened into something gentle and cute, and even after the two finished shopping and returned home, the blonde maid who was cleaning saw Xidis’ happy expression and immediately pulled Lisea aside to ask in a low voice.

“What did you do to Lady Xidis? Why is she smiling so happily?”

“Hehe, Sister An, I prepared a surprise for Teacher later.”

With the same anticipation, the maid quickly prepared lunch, and when the three sat at the table, Lisea mysteriously took out a scroll and a gray card from his pocket, the moment Xidis saw those two items, her heart skipped a beat.

‘Why does this look... so familiar?’

Then, Lisea excitedly showed them off to her and Rong’an.

“Lady Xidis, Sister Rong’an! I successfully applied to become an adventurer, and I also received an invitation from the Holy Spirit Church to participate in the Divine Grace Test. After that I can do the job I like, maybe I can even earn a lot of money to support the family.”

“Holy Spirit Church? Adventurer? You... you!”

After hearing these two piercing words, Xidis’ vision went black, and with a bang her forehead slammed onto the table as she wailed inwardly.

‘Waaah! I raised a terrible brat!’