Years ago, a great hero-prince defeated the Demon King, brought peace to the land, and ascended the throne. Eight years after that, he passed away from an illness, and the kingdom mourned. Years later, an ordinary girl named Tifa was separated from her father Chris at the market, and kidnapped by demon bandits. Chris is forced to reveal his hidden powers to save his daughter—powers that are quite similar to those of the supposedly dead king.
Retired Heroes is a manga about heroes, demons, angels, and the lives they live after their quests are done. Especially when the world isn't quite as saved as they thought...
This manga provides examples of:
- All the Other Reindeer: Tifa gets ostracized a bit due to being the daughter of a demon, but not too much. It helps that the mayor's daughter has declared her The Rival, and refuses to let anyone else look down on her.
- Animesque: Most manhua are similar to manga, but in this case the art style is identical, to the point that many people assume it's by a Japanese author.
- Everyone Knew Already: Some Fake Ultimate Heroes expose a couple of adventurers aka Saliy and Shok as demons. Not only did the entire village already know they were demons, but they're actually the people who the fakes are impersonating.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: Two random adventurers named Ron and Yalan pretend to be two of the heroes who saved the world... to Chris and Saliy, who actually know the real heroes Shok and Tanya. Given a more sympathetic take than usual, as they just wanted to help people, but needed name recognition to be taken seriously.
- Fantastic Racism: Demons are treated as Always Chaotic Evil monsters, despite being mostly the same as everyone else. There is a story about a group of demon spies masquerading as merchants who were all slaughtered when they tried to infiltrate human lands. Turns out that they were actually merchants, trying to find new markets because it was still safer than staying in the demon lands.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Tifa is half-demon which occasionally gets her glares in the village. This also applies to her little brother Shay.
- Lethal Chef: Saliy used to be an absolutely horrible cook, but years of practice have made her food edible.
- King Incognito: Chris faked his death and hid in a random village basically because he didn't want to be king. He left his old friend Jean in charge, who does seem to be doing a better job than Chris ever did, but Jean is still annoyed by it.
- Knight Templar: The Radiant Wings Ron used to be a part of was this. He recalls the incident that made him leave was when his commander slaughtered a defenseless demon mother and her children, the sheer cruelty and hatred horrifying him.
- Mama Bear: Saliy despite her stoic demeanor is actually this, to where she goes into overprotective parent territory. She made a special pendant that can summon her to Tifa if she's in danger, enhances protective charms into Tifa's clothes, and then when Chris tells her to limit the protective charms on her clothes, procures an extremely rare and durable material to make clothes out of it.
- Our Angels Are Different: Small pieces of primordial order that guide and teach humanity. Like demons, the primordial order doesn't have a huge effect on their personalities, and they don't really act much different from humans. But they are still convinced that they are superior and must guide humans while exterminating demons.
- Our Demons Are Different: Small pieces of primordial chaos that have intruded on the world. However, while most people treat them as Always Chaotic Evil, the primordial chaos is such a small part of them that it's barely noticeable. They mostly act like a Proud Warrior Race and keep to themselves until a Demon King takes over who has designs on the human world.
- Puppet King: The current king is kind of this because Jenova is the one mostly in charge. He's very aware of this and it frustrates him. After his encounter with Tifa and the events that follow, he decides to stop being this and take authority for real.
- Proud Warrior Race: It's mentioned that the demons hold a massive fighting contest to determine who their leaders are. And the contest used to be lethal. Other than that, demons seem mostly the same as humans... but they're still treated as Always Chaotic Evil monsters.
- Retired Badass: Basically all the main characters, obviously. Chris and Saliy are the heroes who saved the world but are now just living in a random town, their friends are wandering the world as nameless adventurers, and they left the party mage to look over the kingdom.
- Shout-Out: While the heroes' daughter being named Tifa might not mean much on its own, Chris's top adviser being named Jenova as well makes it clear that someone enjoys their Final Fantasy VII.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Tifa looks like a younger, female version of Chris. Her brother Shay meanwhile, takes more from Saliy and even looks like a younger version his uncle.
