The Retired Hero is an Extra

***

As Jash had anticipated, the protagonist, or Helios Auris, was behaving differtly from the novel, in fact, way too differt.

'Just how did I lose...? I was supposed to be stronger...'

(Host...)

The system did not have emotions but it could sse his, and wanted to console him, feeling the profound sadness within.

Unable to accept his loss, Helios was reluctantly consoled by Caeron, despite his frustration with the latter.

In the d, he just asked for some alone time, "Vivia, can you do me a favor and tell them I wish to be alone?"

He didn't ev wait for her to agree and tered his room, locking the door.

Vivia stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds before leaving, trying to justify his actions as she had se just how much he trained for becoming the Year Represtative.

"Just what wt wrong?" Helios yelled from frustration building within him due to his failure, it was a major failure.

"How?!"

He kept repeating the same question in differt ways, but couldn't come up with ev one plausible answer.

It only served to fuel his frustration as his system remained silt, not helping him in this predicamt, unlike always.

The system was a part of him, something that ev Jash and Amael didn't know about.

After all, no system was ever mtioned in the novel Jash read in his past life or from which Amael received his information.

The two were oblivious about it all, and the protagonist was smart to keep it a secret.

He wasn't just a cliche goody-two-shoes protagonist that both of them considered him to be.

He too had a life, a complex one, just like them, ev if that trashy author never mtioned it.

Although the start of his life couldn't be more cliche.

He was the apple of the eye of his parts, of his village, of everyone a him, being the kind and brightly shining kid.

His gold hair and eyes were considered a good om by the villagers as whoever was near him never wt through hardships.

Ev some people with frequt illnesses started to feel better with him a.

His body, soul, mind, presce—his existce itself—was nothing short of a blessing to the world, not just a small village.

Bathed in the light of the Goddess at birth, he shone like the sun, tearing apart the vast darkness of the space and providing warmth and light.

The Village Head had ev called him the "Coming of the Hero".

Alas, every good thing comes to an d, and so did his village.

After a dungeon appeared nearby, the villagers panicked, not ev knowing what to do.

They decided to report it, but before they could, the dungeon immediately broke apart.

Waves after waves of mana were st across, causing shockwaves and ev some weak elders to die from the sudd increase in mana.

A few infants also got inflicted with it, facing the same d.

However, that wasn't the d as monsters after monsters exited the dungeon.

No one ev knew their name, just that the monsters had six eyes, four feet, two arms and were -3 meters tall.

Unlike human skin, they were all deep blue-black with their arteries and veins being gre and visible atop their skin.

Sadly, that wasn't their skin, but their armor as their skin was searing hot, ev a single drop of their blood was ough to melt through a human's skull.

Despite all of it sounding terrifying, the strongest among them was just at (B+)-Rank.

Though there were no Hunters in the village; the d result was obvious.

"Helios, RUN!"

Hearing his parts' desperate voices, he ran and ran and ran...

Tears leaked from his eyes, getting mixed with the dust and dirt all a as he ran until his legs bled, but he didn't stop running until he fainted.

Dried tears, caked blood, dirt, mud, pale skin, wrinkled lips, sunk cheeks—

He remained like that for a prolonged time, unable to muster up the strgth to ev move.

On the verge of starvation, he was found unconscious by the Church members, who were on duty to look for traces of the dungeon break.

Luckily, he had come far away while the monsters were busy taking down the villagers and some vagrant Hunters.

They thought they hit the jackpot, but only ded up as monster food, and the Church was chasing them after they hurt a Church member.

That's wh an escaping Hunter yapped everything, causing them to come here.

"He's alive, and a kid. He's likely from that village and a survivor," a priest said after checking him up.

"Take him to the Church and heal him," another priest suggested, knowing it was better.

"You mean..."

"Yes, if he can, th he should awak," the head of the delegation replied before anyone could refute.

Now, it was absolute.

However, Helios only woke up after another few days, finding himself in a simple room on a wood bed with sheets.

Overwhelmed with grief, Helios wept uncontrollably, yearning for his parts or a release from his suffering.

But he was calmed down by the Head Priestess who brought him back.

"You can awak, grow stronger and save others from that situation, or you can lamt, cry and feel depressed, helping no one, not ev yourself."

Hearing such words, the naive Helios did his best and easily crossed 4 hours of awaking time, reaching 4 hours and 30 minutes.

Obviously, his awaking time was a guarded secret, ev within the Church as it was the first time to have someone so talted.

He was personally visited by the Saintess who revealed that he was blessed by the Goddess.

She only revealed it to the Pope, who chose to conceal it, and just call Helios a Saint Candidate.

Just like Vivia, who was a saintess candidate, and Caeron who also became a Saint Candidate.

Three saint candidates were unheard of in one geration as it mattered little.

Only one could become the saint or saintess, after all.

Oblivious to it all and ev to being blessed, Helios put in all his effort to grow stronger.

At the time of the Academy Entrance Test, he hoped to become the Year Represtative and did his best.

However, he ded up losing to Amael and th slowly but surely grew stronger than Amael.

The first evt of Jash's death unsettled him, forcing him to break down his shell of naivety and grow up to see the harsh truth of the world.

It was a trauma for not just him, but everyone a.

Despite his intse desire to help others overcome their suffering, Helios felt increasingly powerless, realizing that all he could do was focus on his own training and growth.

Sadly, fate had other plans as he ded up attracting girl after girl, ev wh he didn't wish for it.

Helios was differt from typical harem-seeking protagonists, he was forced to be this way.

After many brushes with death, he gave up and accepted his destiny filled with wom, having a harem and using everything he could to grow stronger.

Despite this, he had never slept with any of them, not ev kissing them.

He was far too gone on the path of revge and vanquishing monsters from the world to care about such things.

Alas, he was se as a scummy man because of jealous weaklings who spread rumors about him.

And upon seeing countless wom vying for his love, the rumors were confirmed without ev ever asking him or any of the girls.

However, he never gave a damn about any of it until...