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It was a quiet day in Zenith. The air was crisp and chill, but the sun was shining brightly. The voting had just opened for the fourth annual heroes ballot, and the populace was abuzz over who they would be voting for. Julia and Larcei were busy handing out flyers in a village near the castle.
“Here you go sir, thank you and please consider voting for Seliph.” Julia thanked a man after handing him a flyer.
“Thank you, and remember to vote for Seliph.” Larcei had just passed several flyers to a group of wide eyed children. “We’re making good work of these things.” she remarked to Julia after waving the children goodbye. Julia smiled, nodding in agreement.
“Perhaps we should’ve brought more with us?” she pondered, looking at the slim stacks of papers they were holding. “I hadn’t anticipated being this successful. We’re going to waste so much time returning to the castle for more.”
“Mm. But hopefully our efforts will bear fruit this year.”
“There you two are!” a voice cried out. Julia and Larcei turned to see Seliph running towards them.
“Oh, hello brother.” Julia greeted him cheerily.
“Morning Seliph. You looking for us?”
“What are you two doing?” he asked, panting while he caught his breath. Julia and Larcei exchanged a bemused look.
“We’re encouraging people to vote for you in the heroes ballot.” Larcei explained.
“Are you unhappy with us for some reason?” Julia pouted.
“I’ve seen the flyers!” Seliph announced. Julia and Larcei glanced sheepishly at each other this time.
“Look we’re just trying to help.”
“Yes brother, we aren’t doing anything wrong. Don’t you want to win?”
“Of course I want to win.” Seliph declared, grabbing one of the flyers from Larcei. “But not like this.” he looked at the flyer, upon which was an image of a muscular, shirtless man chopping wood. The man’s skin glistened with sweat. Seliph’s face was poorly superimposed over top the man’s own. “This isn’t even me! What are you two thinking?”
Julia furrowed her brow and huffed. “We were thinking we wanted to help you. Year after year you’ve lost, or worse, been compared negatively with Lord Sigurd. We just wanted you to shine like you deserve to.”
“Yeah don’t be rude. Do you have any idea how much Anna charged to print these flyers for us?”
“I’m sorry.” Seliph hung his head low, taken aback for a moment at their indignation. “Wait. How come I can’t be upset? You used my image for this, without my permission. And what about this other guy? Does he even know what you’ve done? What would he think?” Seliph chastised his two friends when a large, burly arm suddenly slumped itself around his shoulders.
“I’d think that man would be happy to help out a friend. After all, the Vaike is that man. And the Vaike has no problem helping out his friends.” Vaike suddenly appeared, grinning and flashing a big thumbs up before mussing up Seliph’s hair. “The Vaike finished handing out all the flyers. I think we’ve really got people thinking about Seliph here."
“Wonderful, thank you so much for your help Vaike.” Julia bowed slightly.
“Of course Seliph here doesn’t want our help apparently.” Larcei rolled her eyes.
“Why’s that?” Vaike glanced down at Seliph who was squirming his way to freedom.
“Because…” Seliph adjusted his cape. “If I’m going to win I want it to be because of who I am, not because of some trick or false advertising. Thank you all, truly, but I’m just not comfortable using these methods to curry favor.”
Julia sighed and hugged him. "We just wanted everyone to understand how cool and wonderful you are brother. I'm sorry that we did not think about your feelings."
Larcei just shook her head. “All that work…”
“Its fine.” Julia assured her. “Perhaps we were too overzealous."
“But still, all that money…damn Anna.” Larcei sneered while considering how much work they’ll have to do around the castle to pay off that loan.
“So uh, are we not doing the flyers anymore?” Vaike asked the trio.
“I’m afraid not.” Julia patted Seliph’s head before letting him go. “We'll just have to find a more proper way to support Seliph. Larcei, we should hurry back to the castle and destroy the rest of those flyers.” As the two began to walk away she added under her breath “As well as the second type I suppose…”
“Wait.” Seliph turned his head. “What second type? What else did you do?” he called out, running after them.
Vaike meanwhile just shrugged. “Ol’ Teach just doesn’t get these kids sometimes.” he muttered before grinning. “Oh well, I wonder if Hector is raring to spar today.”