Air Hero

Villain like action

“Come out. I know you are there. Those three behind the house and the two behind the fence.”

Max seemed to be speaking to himself since nobody is around or showing their body, but Max believed in his own sensitivity. Then, after a while, suddenly, from behind the house and fence that Max pointed out earlier, comes out five people.

“Heh, it seemed that we have a smart one this time. Looking at his appearances, he should be in his teens. Probably from the United Hero school, however since nobody is accompanying him, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Well, it makes no difference, though. Boy, you’re very unfortunate to have met us here.”

“What do you mean by unfortunate?”

Max asked the man who spoke just now and seemed to be the leader of the five people.

“You are still young, so there will still be next year for you to pass the test. However, for people like us, this is our last straw. How about you helped us to achieve our dream?”

Max looked at the five people in front of him and realized that although they couldn’t be called old, they seemed to be in their late thirty already. Max fully believed when the man said that this is their last straw, but he still doesn’t understand how it got anything to do with him.

“Boy, what you say? Do you want to help us?”

“Mister, firstly, we don’t know each other. However, since I am a good boy, if it’s something I can help with, then I will do it.”

“Ah, this one is cooperative. This will make it easy. Boy, that dummy hostage looked like a fake one. How about we help you check whether it is a real hostage or not. With this, not only we are helping you checking it out, you will be helping us hone our discerning skill.”

Max feels that something is wrong as there is no point for them to wait here just to polish their skill. Not to mention it is something as useless as discerning skill. But, when he thinks more about it, it has something to do with the hostage in his hand, which means the point needed to pass the hero examination test.

Max is by no means a stupid person, and by looking at the five people's suspicious behavior, he could discern something.

“Sir, although I don’t know about a fake hostage, I believe that this one is genuine. So then, I will have to reject your offer and take my leave right now.”

“Oh! It seemed that this boy is a smart one. How about this? I will borrow that hostage that you are carrying and return it again after a couple of minutes.”

“Sir, sorry. It seemed that I am in a hurry since I feel my stomach is acting up. I will leave now.”

“Hmph. Acting smart. Boy, you’re the one that is forcing my hand. My friends and I need that hostage right now even if we have to take it by force.”

“isn’t that what you’re planning from the start?”

“Wow, so you really have guessed our intention.”

“Yes, however, I don’t get it. There are five of you, and every time you did this, you will only have one point, so you will need to do this fifty times. Why don’t you just split up and defeat a robot and rescue the hostage normally? Then, you will only have to do it five times in total.”

“Oh, you think that you’re a genius, heh? Do you know why we’re acting like this?”

Max naturally shook his head since no matter how hard he thinks. He couldn’t understand why they are doing this. The behavior that they are showing right now is blatantly robbing people no matter how sweet they put their words as borrowing or examining the fake hostage. How can someone that aspires to be a hero show such action that is more like of a villain? This really makes Max shakes his head to no end as he couldn’t understand.

“It’s because taking the hostage from other people is easier than defeating a robot ourselves. Not to mention that there are five of us. Even if it will be easy for us to defeat a villain robot and escort the hostage, it will still be tiring. If it’s like this, we only need to wait near the safety area since people will escort the hostage here and with our numbers; if they want to fight against us, then they are really in a bad luck. If they get hurt in the process, their hope of passing the test will be over. So why not just hand over a hostage to keep your chance of passing the test. What you say?”

Of course, if the people that are stopped by the five ruffians in front of Max right now is a normal test participant, they will have cold feet knowing that they are surrounded by people and a chance to be injured and won’t pass the test. However, Max is different.

He has faced Bonio and Yann before. Then, although he managed to get away with luck, that was a real life and death situation. Unlike now, where he would only probably get away with injury. Not to mention that after feeling the five people in front of him with his sensitivity, he could somehow conclude that they are weaker than him.

However, what the man said makes sense. Although Max could win fighting against them, he is still unsure whether he will make it out unscathed and whether it will hinder his progress in the hero examination test.

After all, just like when he defeated Yann and Bonio because of looking down on the opponent, Max doesn’t want to get complacent. So he is now thinking very hard about what to do. Should he fight against them? Or yield and hand over the hostage that he has acquired.

After thinking for some time, Max finally makes his decision.