After Valdel was done telling his story to the powerful fourth hero. The person in question who was now called Shin looked at Valdel curiously. The story was the standard story of a hero, but Shin found something strange. There was little to no form of tragedy in this hero's tale. All the heroes Shin knew off were people with tragedies that made them move onward and become somewhat more mature. This event also happened to Shin back when he was still a weak hero, in the beginning of his journey.
Shin has never met a hero that didn't have a tragic opening to his tale. May they be chosen heroes, reincarnated heroes, summoned heroes, transmigrated heroes or any other kind of hero, none of them had ever had a perfect opening story. The opening to a hero's tale was usually tragic. The hero's village would be burned down. The hero's childhood friend would be captured, r*ped or even killed in front of the hero's eyes. There were many other tragic tales such as this, that usually happens at the beginning of the hero's journey.
Yet here was a hero that didn't have any kind of tragedy happen to him, actually his story was already a bit different than most heroes. There were several points that should've ended differently. An example was when Shin heard that Valdel and his best friend Ren had faced a Red Bear during their childhood. Shin was sure that the best friend would've died in this encounter. That was a normal thing to happen in the script that was made for most heroes. The lose of an important person would have given the hero a more mature take in how the world worked. He would be thought the valuable lesson that no matter how much he wanted to save someone, he just couldn't save everyone. A hero wasn't omnipotent, and by getting over this tragic beginning will the hero grow.
Yet Valdel's best friend Ren actually survived the ordeal, not only that it turned out that Ren was the one who killed the a.d.u.l.t Red Bear, while Valdel the hero was only able to kill a young Read Bear. If that wasn't enough Valdel's best friend who was a year younger than him was the one who taught Valdel how to fight, using both magic and swordsmanship.
When Shin heard this part of the story, he had a sudden thought. 'This best friend of his called Ren is most probably a reincarnator... A reincarnator could also be a hero, but based on Valdel's description of the guy, he isn't actual hero material. Also the way he describes his friend Ren seems vaguely familiar, like I already met the person somewhere. It's possible if he is truly a reincarnator that means I met him in his previous incarnation.'
...
Aside from that, there were other points that were different, like how he saved the princess. Based on the situation, and Shin's current understanding of the Reschbeauch Kingdom the person Valdel saved was a body double, nothing more than a trick. The real princess was most probably the silver haired guard, and it would seem like she was more interested in Ren.
There were many other things, big and small changing in Valdel's journey as a hero. This confused Shin, since this was the first time he has ever seen this kind of situation.
Shin was now deep in thought, as he tried to figure out what was happening to Valdel's path of a hero. Every abnormality seemed to stem from the friend called Ren.
"Valdel tell me more about that best friend of yours."
"You mean Ren?"
"Yes, I find him quite intriguing, if it's alright with you can you tell me more about him."
Valdel was hesitating to tell Shin more about Ren, since he wasn't sure what Shin wanted with Ren. Also he was sure that his best friend wouldn't like him telling other people about him. Shin noticing Valdel's hesitation interrupted his thoughts.
"It's alright if you don't want to tell me. I don't really want to know too much, I just wanted to know what kind of person your friend is. I think it isn't too much to ask for to get some bit of information. Don't you think so? This can be your payment to me for helping you out."
When Valdel heard this, he started to think about it. It is true that there is nothing bad in telling this person a little bit about Ren. It's not like he was going to tell Shin about Ren's weaknesses. Well he won't be able to tell that, since even he Ren's best friend doesn't know if Ren does have any particular weaknesses.
"Very well-" Valdel then started to tell a little bit about Ren. He told Shin a little bit about Ren's philosophy in life, as well as the joy he gains in fighting battles against stronger opponents, and other minor things Valdel could think off.
Shin who was listening to Valdel describe his friend Ren, was having this feeling that he knew who Ren was. At first the feeling he got was a bit vague, but as Shin continued listening to Valdel the more Shin believed that he knew who this person was.
'This boy called Ren, he's too similar to him. This can't be a coincidence, Ren must be the reincarnation of Kretos!' When Shin reached this conclusion he couldn't help but laugh.
Valdel was confused as to what was happening and simply stood there dumbfounded as he looked at the laughing Shin.
"The Gods must be playing with us, old friend! You actually became a reincarnator! As expected of the strongest, not even death could change you. You still continue to look for that challenge that could make your very blood boil in excitement! No matter what you become, is that really all that you seek?Hahahaha!"
Shin couldn't help himself and started laughing even louder, he was getting too excited. Once he was done laughing he looked at Valdel with a huge grin on his face.
"Little Hero, tell me-" Shin was about to ask Valdel to tell him where Ren was, but then remembered that he couldn't leave the cave at the moment. Once he remembered this, his enthusiasm was dampened a bit.
Valdel was still confused by the sudden outburst of Shin, as well as seeing his quickly changing expressions.
"What is it you want Sir Shin?" Valdel couldn't help but ask, seeing that Shin look like he wanted something from him.
"I wanted to go and meet this friend of yours, but unfortunately I can't leave the cave at the moment. So instead I want you to deliver a message to this friend of yours. Tell him that the fourth hero figured out the truth... Tell him that the fourth hero was sorry, and also grateful to the demon lord. Please tell him that for me, and also give this to him."
Shin then handed a demon's horn to Valdel, this horn was emitting a very strong mana flow. Valdel was overwhelmed a bit and he couldn't touch the horn, noticing this, Shin covered the horn with some special cloth that seem to mask the mana flow the horn was emitting.
"Please tell him for me." Valdel looked at Shin's eyes and saw varied emotions that dwelled within those eyes of his. Valdel took the cloth that hid the horn and nodded at Shin. Even though he couldn't understand what kind of relationship was between Ren and this powerful being. Still he could feel the resolve Shin placed, when he told Valdel what he wanted him to say to Ren.
"I promise that I will tell him what you said, as well as hand this over to him." Once Shin heard Valdel agree to his request, the long forgotten hero smiled at his junior.
"Don't worry little hero, with him by your side, your path will surely be different from the rest of us." After saying what he wanted to say, Shin forcefully teleported Valdel near the town of Grenton.