Once upon a time, long ago in a land far away. There lived a boy called Eric Gen. He had no special qualities, he looked plain and was born into an average family, but he had a special thing going on for him. He was average in everything, be it in strength or in intelligence.

He could run but only as fast as an average person, he could swim but only averagely, he could fight... you get the gist.

So, you may be wondering, what makes Eric Gen, a completely average man, good enough to be the protagonist?

Sometimes, being average is just what you need in order to succeed.

Eric Gen was born to a family of farmers, he was the only child, as was the norm back then. His family consisted of his father and mother, who spent their whole day tending their fields. They earned enough to get by, eating twice daily. Eric, however, did not like that. He wanted to be something more. Eric was born with the power to read, on an average level, as with many other things. So, he went to the local town library and read short fantasy stories, the stories enticed him. A knight in shining armor, saving the day. The stories usually had a happy ever after. Eric assumed that meant the knight married the princess they saved and lived a comfortable life. Young Eric thought it was way better than spending his life in the field. What he didn’t know, was how hard it was to get there.

Eric knew that he couldn’t save any princesses with his current skills, so he needed to train. There was a fight training center near their town, which taught people for a cheap price of spending their entire lives in the glory of their king. It wasn’t very popular. They were desperate for a student, or else the king wouldn’t pay them their salaries. A blessing came in the form of Eric, he came there running, asking to be taken in, his princess was waiting. The fight trainers didn’t really want to train a young boy who sounded crazy but they had to take what they could get. Now, with one student in their hands, all ten trainers had money to feed their families.

Eric came to the training center early in the morning and went home in the evening. He started strong, even being able to defeat some of the trainers in the center. The trainers thought that they found a prodigy in their hands, and increased Eric’s training. However, nothing happened. Eric did not improve. Months passed by, and no matter what or how they taught Eric, his skill level remained the same. Seeing how the trainers were useless in training Eric, they held a meeting. Some of them felt guilt as they thought they were scamming him, but they all came to the conclusion that they really needed the money. And so, the training continued.

The town had a festival coming up, it only occurred every 10 years. And it was the only thing of worth there. People all around the kingdom came here, not specifically to see the town itself, but for the sword tournament. The town had a lot of barren lands, so the mayor decided to use the town savings and make a giant arena on it. His plan was to make the tournament so grand that it would increase the sales of the festival. The festival wasn’t big enough to make enough profit for his plan to succeed, which led to him losing his position and almost his neck.

The news of the tournament reached the ears of many famous people all around the kingdom, thanks to the mayor also using his life savings. But the tournament was in 3 days, so only a few knights from the neighboring town and cities were able to come. Thanks to that, there weren’t enough people to fight for the tournament. The mayor decided to double down and open it to anyone, irrespective of whether they could fight or not. Eric heard about it and decided to get into it. A knight in shining armor does need a good backstory or else the princess he saves wouldn’t know about him. He wanted to start the relationship on a strong note.

However, fate had other plans for Eric. His parents found out about this and being sane, they barred him from participating in the tournament.

“But Father, I need to go there. My time has come.”, said Eric Insane Gen.

“Are you suicidal?”, asked his father in return. He looked at Eric with worry, perhaps his parenting wasn’t good enough. He did let him go to the training center because that made Eric happy and it was relatively safe from what the other ten-year-old children were doing with their time.

“Your mother and I have been talking about this, we realize that we didn’t spend enough time with you. And we’re sorry. Saying that we were busy with our work would just be an excuse but Eric please, you’ve got to understand this. Tournaments are not a place for children.”, said Eric’s father calmly. He touched his son’s head and went out of his room looking sorrowful. Eric, however, did not see any of that. He was busy fuming, all his year of training going to waste? He wouldn’t, no he couldn’t let that happen. As soon as he made sure his parents were asleep, he made his escape. He talked to his trainers, telling them all about what happened with his father and that If he couldn’t join the tournament, he would leave this and become a farmer like his father. The trainers looked at themselves and realized that they were doomed.

Eric’s father went to his room and found that Eric had escaped, deep down he knew that it would’ve happened but he had hoped that it wouldn’t. He went and discussed with his wife what they should do about their child. They decided that they should let Eric learn from his own mistakes and besides, they knew that their son had a weird power inside of him. Maybe, just maybe, it was what their son needed.

The day of the tournament came, and Eric was surprised that his parents didn’t come looking for him. There was only one place where he could be. He sat up from his bed, among hundreds of other empty beds, and came to the conclusion that it was his parent’s way of showing him their support. He started his day with a smile. The trainers were ready in the cafeteria, they were busy contemplating their lives.

Eric did not pay any attention to them; he ran out of the door and then towards the arena.

“Hey! At least have your breakfast... our last breakfast...”, exclaimed one of the trainers, but it fell on deaf ears.

Eric ran all the way to the arena, arriving three hours before the tournament officially began. He was the first one there, and he was proud of that. Smiling, he thought to himself whether this was a sign of who was going to win this tournament. Spending at least half an hour on the thought. As time went by, Eric didn’t stop smiling. Little by little the other participants came by, knights, adventurers, and even mercenaries. Eric finally came out of his own imagination where he had already won the tournament in hundreds of different ways and looked at the other participants. He counted that there were sixteen in total, including him. Eric then proceeded to replace the fighters in his imagination with the people he just looked at. The other participants, however, choose to ignore the small kid, thinking that he was just a crazy kid who was just excited to watch the tournament in a town where nothing exciting ever happens.

With thirty minutes remaining, the organizers told the participants to drop their names on the ballot. Eric ran first, took the piece of paper and wrote ERIC GEN in big letters, and dropped it in the box, he kept his big smile as he was doing it. The organizers thought to themselves about whether they should allow a child to participate in a tournament where he could lose his life but decided against it. The mayor did tell them that anyone could participate and there weren’t any other people there. A fifteen people tournament would be weird after all. Almost all of the other participants looked awkwardly at what had happened. They prayed that they wouldn’t face the kid in the first round. It was a lose-lose situation that they wanted no part in.

All, except one. The Bloody Killer, as he’d like to call himself, or just BK if you were his fan.

He thought to himself that fighting a child would be really good for his image. After all, what kind of a monster would be willing to beat up a child. That’s right! The Bloody Killer, who was also known as BK. He took out his savings, went to the organizers, and gave them to him. He then proceeded to point his finger towards Eric and shouted,” That Child is mine!”, completely ignorant to the weird implication it set out.

The other participants were already weirded out by everything that had already happened, and now this was just crossing the line.

“Yeah sure, why not.”, said one of the organizers, breaking the silence.

“Sir, I think that’s illegal”, complained one of his juniors.

“What is? If a man wants to beat up a child in front of thousands of people and the child is willing to get beaten up by a man in front of thousands of people then who are we to stop it?”, said the organizer who was just happy to get some extra money.

The other participants had realized that the only thing they’d lose here is their pride. Most of them were having a nervous breakdown. They couldn’t run away from this either, as they had already given word to the mayor that they would participate in this tournament, no matter what.

Eric did not notice the panic. He looked at The Bloody Killer, smiled, and went towards the main stage.

The first battle was about to begin.

ERIC GEN vs. The Bloody Killer.

The crowd was hyped, nothing ever happened in this town but now? A tournament. They were all excited on what kind of fights they were going to see. But all the hype died down as soon as they heard the first fighter’s name.

“Entering first, GEN ERIC.”, said the announcer.

That’s all it took for the crowd to make noises of displeasure.

“A child?”

“WOW!”

“Is that the farmer’s kid?”

Were all heard all around the arena.

“Wait, what’s this?”, asked the mayor to the organizer who was sitting beside him.

“What sir?”, replied the organizer.

“Why is there a child fighting in the tournament?”

“Sir, you gave us permission to allow anyone who was willing to fight, to participate in this glorious tournament.”

“But a child? Really? I meant any adult who was willing... Who in their right mind would allow a child to participate in a deadly tournament?”, shouted the mayor.

“Alright, Alright, calm down. It’s going to be fine. No one would be willing to hurt a child in this prestigious tournament. They’d just push him around and...”, thought the mayor, but before he could finish his thoughts. The announcer announced the name of the other fighter.

“Coming to fight the brave kid, is none other than The Bloody Killer.”

“NO.”

“Famous for deeds such as beheading people, killing orcs, and stealing candies from babies.”

“NO. NO. NO!”

“Also known as BK by his adoring fans.”

“NO! We have to stop this before it gets out of hand”, screamed the mayor, who had enough of this.

“We can’t sir, the Baron is already here.” replied the organizer.

The mayor knew that he could do nothing, it was a miracle that the Baron had decided to join this lowly tournament in the first place. If he stopped this now and wasted the Baron’s time, his head would go flying. He put both of his hands on his face and started sobbing.

“Heheheheheh kid, nothing personal really. I mean it. You see, a monster like me needs reputation and you are just someone who’s going to help me get there.”, said BK.

Eric didn’t say anything to what he said, he didn’t even hear it. He didn’t hear anything, not the crowd's scream of horror or the bloody killer’s maniacal laugh. All he could hear was his heartbeat, faster than it had ever beat. He knew he was ready. His first true fight. He took out the sword that his trainers had gifted him, took his stance, and looked straight at the bloody killer.

The fight starts. The bloody killer takes some rocks from his cape and throws them at Eric, who dodges them easily. But Eric didn’t notice the bloody killer running towards and when he does, it was too late. He is kicked to the stomach before he could realize it. Eric was thrown quite far, and the crowd gasped. This wasn’t anything like the fighting sessions but it was alright. Eric realized that training wasn’t everything. He stood up, picked up his sword, and took his stance once again.

The mayor opened his eyes to see what the common was about, only for him to get stared down by most of the crowd. He sobbed even harder.