Sion invites Ryner to join him in his quest to become King
The Hero and the Sleepy Man (英雄と寝ぼけ男) is the second episode in the Legend of the Legendary Heroes anime. It was first aired in Japan on July 8, 2010.
Opening Song: "Lament - Yagate Yorokobi wo (やがて喜びを)" by Aira Yuki
Ending Song: "Truth Of My Destiny" by Ceui
Introduced Characters
Plot
The episode begins with a double memory of a younger Sion being bullied and hearing his mother in bed, who says how proud and happy she is of her son. It turns out that the bullies are nobles that feel insulted by Sion's existence as a bastard son of a noble with a low class woman. Only the words of his mom rise his spirit: "However low born you are, there will always be those glad to carry your torch, to love you, even if I am not there, you are not alone, you'll never be alone, never lose sight." As he sees his mother's dead body in a flower arrangement, a present arrives for the young Sion, and inside, his puppy, soaking in blood.
This episode is set at the time when Ryner and Sion were together at the Roland Royal Special Military Academy, several years before the main story takes place. The academy "war games", a mock battle training event used to decide which of the academy's pupils will be promoted, are about to take place, and Sion is busy in conversation with a classmate called Roll about his wished future teammate: Ryner. Sion reveals that the academy gathers orphans and children of A-class criminals to turn them into weapons of mass destruction to keep the sons of nobles in a safe position in the battlefield, being Sion, a social class hybrid, the only exception. Sion also reveals Ryner to be the bearer of the Alpha Stigma, the best magician in Roland, and a deserter of the Germer Kleisrole Training Institute and Roland Special Institute # 307 where he was known as "The Black Haired Devil." Sion enters in the library just to find Ryner waking up from a bad nap and tries to scold him of being in an inadequate place for sleeping, specially because it is closed to public at that hour of the night. Ryner just asks for five more minutes and goes back to sleep.
In an exercise, the future king of Roland watches Ryner be the cause of laughs of everyone for getting easily defeated by Kiefer Knolles in the training, to which the sleepy magician miraculously showed up. Sion is surprised to see what a lazy man Ryner Lute really is and how he does not care for the mocking of his classmates or Kiefer's scolding. As the girl launches a second Izuchi Lightning that hits Ryner, Sion is the only one capable of seeing how Ryner nullifies the spell right before getting hit, but still throws himself to the ground, so Kiefer runs worried to his aid. Ryner answers in a funny manner that the lack of response is due to his dead, so Kiefer slaps him. This time, all the classmates get angry to Ryner's extreme sloth, but Kiefer refuses to give up on him. Then, the silver haired noble asks Kiefer to join his team by flattering her with her talent, good grades, skills, and looks, to what he accomplishes to make her blush. Still, Kiefer is a little reluctant, so Ryner incites her to accept so he can finally nap in peace, but Sion also invites Ryner to join, to what he refuses. Kiefer scolds Ryner again saying that his only chance of promotion is by joining Sion's team, but the lazy magician is not interested in a promotion, so Kiefer shows sadness for being separated from Ryner. To counter Ryner's refusal, Sion, who has looked up Ryner's past and knows all about him, waits until Kiefer leaves after the sound of the bell to blackmail him into joining by threatening to expose his identity as an Alpha Stigma bearer, a powerful strategy that defeated Ryner's laziness and unwillingness to work for others.
Later at dusk, Roll also knows of Ryner's eyes and is skeptical of Sion's intentions, but Sion assures it will go good. So the competition starts, all teams count with four hours to eliminate each other. Sion's teammates where wondering how to find the enemy in the woods, but Sion had done research and knew where to find the enemy, strategy that he assures is not cheating. When they find the other team, Sion jumps into action to win in one strike, inspiring his whole team, except for Ryner, and they win with Izuchi.
Quickly after, they find themselves celebrating all night their victory. The team members go to sleep except for Sion and Ryner, who go outside to talk as they look at the sunrise. Sion asks Ryner of his reasons for joining the academy, but Ryner replies to the man who knows and researches for all information to answer his own question. Being discovered, Sion explains that the Roland Special Institute # 307 was an orphanage that was said to raise war orphans, but in reality, the institute trained the kids either for war or to be sold to the nobles; as the war ended, the institute closed and the kids were given two options: go to the academy or die. That was Ryner's life. Sion also asks the lazy magician if he hates the kingdom for its corruption, shunning him just for being born an Alpha Stigma bearer, oppressing the weak, and fighting pointless wars while nobles get the joy out of everything. Ryner tries to calm down Sion reminding him that those words are enough to get him killed, nevertheless, Sion is confident in that Ryner feels the same way and would not sell him. This is the moment of Sion's last episode memory when he says that he will be king one day and mend the country, then, he offers a hand of alliance to Ryner, which the sleepy man refuses because it sounds too problematic to his eternal napping goal. Instead, Ryner asks Sion to give rewards to people who take lots of naps. Sion can only laugh at Ryner (but of joy, not of mockery) and says that he may actually want him in his team for the humor instead of the Alpha Stigma.
Just after Ryner refuses, a group of mysterious magicians appears for Sion's head. Ryner gladly runs away after Sion's first insistence, but the future king is still surprised to see Ryner's complete disregards, even though they both agree that the attack is weak enough for the future king of Roland to resist alone. After a failed attempt to escape, Sion is cornered by the chasers, of whom one summons a spell answering to the chant of "What I seek is the destructive rainbow, Kuuri!" Fortunately, to the rescue comes Ferris, who defeats the enemies with her sheathed sword and a dango in her mouth. Ferris addresses Sion as a dog in her service who is to buy her a Wynnit dango shop #4 combo and delivered to her residence as gratitude. As a gentleman, Sion does so.
To his surprise, the lady at Wynnit Dango shop is expecting Sion and indicates him to go to the Eris residence, filling the future king's mind with questions on the motive of a swordmaster Royal guard noble family to save him. At arrival to the residence, Ferris explains that she is protecting him on her brother's orders, which do not need to be explained according to her. Righ after, Sion explains to her that he is being targeted for being an unwanted offspring of a famous nobleman who had an affair with a low class woman. Naturally, Sion was separated from his father at young age, along with his mother who raised him with love. After his mother died from a presumable attack of Sion's noble half sibling's command, no one was left to protect the young silver haired orphan from bullies, his siblings, and life. Then, Ferris agrees to help Sion bring to a stop whomever is trying to kill him, specially because she might be killed by her own brother if anything happened to the future king. A trick still came to Sion as Ferris requested another pair of dangos for herself and her "henchman" that will help protecting him, who turns out to be her younger sister, Iris.
Back at the academy, Kiefer tries to feed Ryner, who still keeps his eyes closed, causing jealousy among the classmates. On another side, Sion receives the startling news from one of his classmates that Estabul had invaded Roland from the south, starting yet again another pointless war. The reason for the invasion lies in the many floods that Estabul suffered that year, which destroyed many farms and caused food shortage, so they invade neighboring lands to help relieve the situation. As students at the Military Academy, this would mean that they would all have to fight as soldiers on the front lines of the army.
During the last night of peace, Ryner is visited by Kiefer in her distress over the death that is to come, specially for Ryner, whose laziness is prone to make him an easy target, but the magician is not willing to die.
Ferris and Iris, meanwhile, capture the noble Lord Brophs and torture him until he reveals to them that Sion is walking to his death, straight into a trap of fifty magic knights from Estabul who wait in the Roxanne Plains battlefield. Such plains are the ones to which Sion and his squadron have been sent with a confirmation that it is a non-combat region, so everyone's spirit is high and confident. Lord Brophs also reveals to the Eris sisters that there is an Estabul spy placed among Sion friends who would soon betray him.
Quotes
- "However low born you are, there will always be those glad to carry your torch, to love you, even if I am not there, you are not alone, you'll never be alone, never lose sight." Sion's mother.
- Each quote is numbered so that conversations can be grouped together
1. Sion: “Haven’t you thought of overturning this corrupt country? Your ‘Alpha Stigma’ alone caused you to be rejected by the entire country. This is a country with unequal status amongst its people, a country that oppresses the weak and fights without ending. A foolish king, and even foolish nobility.”
Ryner: “Oi oi, you’ll be executed if other people heard you say that.”
Sion: I want to become the king to this country. I want to change everything. So Ryner, join me. I will help you to make a world you can look forward to.”
2. (Sion to his classmates): "If you follow me, it will be alright. I will arrange so all of my comrades are assigned to one unit. Additionally, the unit we entered will also nearly not get involved in battle at all. We will be dispatched to a remote region. Therefore, don't worry. You guys will not die in this war."