Selena spat out her wine right after seeing the name attached under her email. She was an A-rank supervisor, meaning that she was only meant to supervise heroes of A-rank, and on some occasions, B-rank heroes as well.

Supervising a newbie was usually the work of a beginner supervisor. That had been the working system of the association for as long as she’d known, but seeing the name attached to her profile, for a moment she couldn’t help but try to recall if they had any recent meetings where the rule had been changed.

If it were anyone else, maybe she would’ve considered it, but just seeing the name there, she could’ve sworn she felt early wrinkles coming up on her face.

Selena quickly went through her contacts, calling the first person that came to mind.

---

"What a day."

Walking into her apartment, Dana took a long, deep breath, the kind you take after a long stressful day at work. She instantly felt all her muscles relax.

RING__

RING__

"Who could be calling me now?" Dana thought out loud as she pulled out her phone. Seeing the name appear on the screen, a mischievous grin cut across her face as she answered.

"Good evening, Supervisor Selena."

"Dana! Why do I have a newbie attached to my supervision profile?!" Selena quickly exploded from the other side.

The grin on Dana’s face grew wider. "Supervisor Selena, I was simply following Sir Eric’s orders. Mr. Nicholas has quite the special case, so we can’t link him with any other supervisors for now. Sir Eric must’ve seen how close you both were and decided to let you handle him for now."

"We’re not close in any way, Dana. Heck, I don’t even know anything about that brat."

"Well, Supervisor Selena, don’t you think this will be the perfect opportunity to learn more about him?" Dana giggled mischievously.

"No, I don’t want to learn anything about that perv," Selena spat, she felt all the hairs on her body stand just from the thought.

"Perv? How do you know that? Seems you’re already quite intimate with him." Dana caught on quickly, the grin plastered on her face widening with every second.

Selena’s face flushed pink with embarrassment. "No! I’m not intimate. I-i just know he’s a pervert, he definitely looks like one!—Dana, I can’t have that twerp under my supervision. It could’ve been anyone else other than him," Selena retorted.

Dana let out a quiet sigh. "You know I don’t have the power to change any of this. Those were direct orders from Sir Eric. You’ll have to call him to deal with that."

Selena let out a frustrated sigh. "I’ll call Sir Eric later then."

"Oh, before you do that, ask Sir Nicholas to send details for his costume so we can have the team work on it as soon as possible! It will be best if he enters the field as soon as possible, the association needs a lot more heroes with the plague outbreak."

"There’s no way I’m talking to that brat anymore. I’ve had enough for today."

"C’mon, Selena, it’s just a request. We can’t waste any more time with the costume, let’s have that ready as soon as possible."

Selena could only let out a sigh of resignation, her back sinking into the sofa as she leaned in. "Alright, I’ll do that."

"Thank you, Supervisor Selena. Send my regards to your perv."

"...."

Right before Selena could reply, the call went off. She shifted her gaze to Nicholas’ profile that was right under hers. ’So I still have to deal with this twerp?’ Her eyes dripped cold disdain as she stared at his name.

She took in a long preparatory breath before tapping on his profile. "I’ll just ask him to send the costume details so I can send them to Dana now... That’s not a difficult task, so there’s nothing to worry about," she reassured herself as she typed the message to Nicholas.

---

The drive to the new location was a quiet one, or rather, Nicholas just paid no attention to the driver, who kept talking about how he’d forgotten how he got his abilities and even sometimes forgot he had one. Safe to say the ability had to be one of the worst he’d come across so far, but the association still managed to find a use for it.

’He would make a perfect dummy’

In no distant time, the car came to a quiet stop in front of an apartment.

Nicholas stepped down from the car, shifting his gaze to the apartment.

"Alright, Sir..." The driver quickly glanced at the paper by his seat. "Nicholas! Have a great day." He drove away right after.

Nicholas calmly walked towards the apartment’s entrance. He rang the doorbell, the soft ting echoing through the air.

In merely a second, the door pulled open slightly and two small puppy-dog eyes peered through the opening. Upon seeing who stood by the door, the small figure fully opened the door, jumping at him.

"Big brother!" A large smile cut across Katherine’s face as she jumped on him.

Nicholas reacted almost instinctively from the sudden hug, but he felt a sudden calm spread through his body. He gently raised a hand, patting the little girl on her head.

"How’s my little Katie doing?"

"Big brother, Katie’s fine!" She jumped down, holding him by the hand. "Come see! The new house is so big!" She dragged him into the building.

And truly, it was nothing like where they lived before. The house was well furnished and cleanly arranged. Although it was far from luxurious, it was a modest start to the new life he’d just started as a hero.

Nicholas didn’t care about the house much, though. He had his gaze fixed on the little ball of energy showing him every corner of the house like it was a museum filled with rare artifacts.

"Nicholas, you’re home?" Marina walked out of the kitchen with a worried expression on her face. Without giving him a chance to reply, she ran into him with a tight hug.

Nicholas felt his clothes go damp with tears in seconds. ’Marina... She’s been worried since the plague.’ Having Nicholas’ memories, he could tell that every instance of the plague and impures in their life had turned out for the worse, hence why Marina had become so terrified by the thought of it.

She’d already lost so much to the plague.

Nicholas found his hands returning the hug, a feeling of warmth overcoming him. "Don’t worry Marina, I’m fine, and things will only get better for us starting today." The words slipped from Nicholas’ mouth, but he felt oddly satisfied.

He snapped out of his daze as an annoyed voice came from the side.

"Big brother and big sister left Katie out of the hug!" Katie pouted, tears welling up in her eyes.

"No! We didn’t, come here," Marina exclaimed, letting out a chuckle.

The three siblings locked themselves in a hug for a full minute before pulling apart.

And that was when Marina noticed the bruises on Nicholas’ face. "Nicholas! What happened to you?" she asked with worry.

Nicholas narrated everything that had happened in the Hero Association, skipping some details while also lightening the story so Marina didn’t get too worked up about it.

"Big brother is my favourite hero!" Katherine jumped excitedly.

"I thought it was Nectron?" Nicholas asked, surprised.

"Tch. My best hero is my brother!" Katie scoffed, declaring her hero again.

Nicholas couldn’t help but chuckle at the little girl’s switch-up. Marina as well couldn’t help but laugh.

"Katie, go get big brother something to eat. Your hero must be hungry," Marina ordered.

Katie jumped immediately. "Fear not, big brother! Katie will save you!" She excitedly ran to the kitchen to get his food.

Marina turned her gaze to Nicholas, a stern look on her face. "Nicholas, this is a great opportunity for our family, and just in a few hours since your awakening, a lot has changed for us, but I don’t like the thought of you being a hero so much." Marina took a long pause, "It’s a risky job. We can live our normal lives and forget about all of this."

Nicholas didn’t reply immediately. ’She looked so happy with the new house, although she’s not quite comfortable yet—But it’s obvious she does. Katie as well loves the new place. But she’s willing to give that up just for my safety.’

"Don’t be too worried, big sister. Enjoy the privileges, I can handle it, so don’t worry, and if it’s above my abilities, then I’ll leave the work," Nicholas replied calmly.

Marina slowly let out a sigh. "Alright then, thank you, Nick."

Right as they finished with their discussion, Katie bolted back into the living room with a plate of food, the aroma wafting into the air.

Nicholas couldn’t tell how famished he was until that divine smell got to him. If not for any other reason, he definitely had to keep Marina safe because of her divine culinary talent; her food always felt different from any he’d tasted before.

Marina and Katherine had already eaten and were exhausted, so they left him to eat by himself. There were three rooms in the apartment, but Marina had Katherine stay with her for safety and then left Nicholas to pick from the other two rooms.

Right after he was done eating, Nicholas went to the room he’d picked, pulling out his phone so he could change and rest for the day. He saw the message from Selena.

’Oh, the costume.’

Nicholas had already thought long and hard about what he’d want for a hero costume, so he didn’t waste any time writing a detailed response for Selena.

---

Selena had already prepared her bed. It was time to finally sleep and have a good night’s rest after the hectic day, but the gentle ting from her phone made her rush to check the notification.

She saw the message from Nicholas, and as she began reading the contents of the message, she felt a headache settling in.

’This brat!’