The days passed one after another to the sound of the bells.
Morning bell, noon bell, evening bell, over and over again.
Kaila slowly grew up amidst these tolling bells.
Though she didn't grow very tall, she at least surpassed her dwarven peers and Miss Hill.
Kaila's skills grew sharper and sharper. She displayed a natural talent for swordsmanship and physical arts, channeling all the words she couldn't say into Strength and Agility.
Meanwhile, the others grew increasingly restless. They began to recklessly do all sorts of things, experiencing anything that still felt novel, eager to squander their entire lives before reaching adulthood.
Sylvia was the foremost among them. She was repeatedly punished with copying her lessons, and every time she finished, she would run off to do the next forbidden thing, as if trying to commit every mistake possible in her lifetime.
“I think your swordsmanship is already stronger than that of many Class-holders,” Sylvia remarked with a sigh, looking at her weapon which had been knocked away after yet another casual spar.
“You were punished by the nuns, again,” Kaila said.
“I know, I know.” Sylvia tossed a piece of bread onto Kaila's head and began to nibble on another piece herself. “Right now, everyone is just thinking about how to indulge themselves.”
“If it is you, shouldn't you do the opposite of what everyone else does?” Kaila asked, puzzled.
After all, Sylvia was the kind of person who would run into the garden during a downpour to “try walking and reciting poetry in the rain,” only to end up catching a cold.
She always acted as if she were the only sober soul in a world of drunks, and the more others did something, the less she would do it.
A true nonconformist.
“Look who's talking.” Sylvia shrugged and held up the bread in her hand. “So, this is my reward for reporting everyone else's mischief. You have no reason to 'correct' me this time, right?”
“...” Kaila was silent for a moment. “That is very immoral.”
“The specific situation dictates what is moral. If you have the power to define the situation, ethics and morality are just clay in your hands, to be molded at will,” Sylvia said nonchalantly. “I won't be bound by such boring things.”
Having said that, Sylvia immediately bit onto the bread and shielded her head with her hands.
But all she received was Kaila's puzzled gaze.
“Huh?” Sylvia asked in surprise. “You're not correcting me today?”
“It was never... correction to begin with.” Kaila shook her head. “Besides, tomorrow is the divination.”
She put away half of the bread and began to eat the remaining portion.
“I see. I didn't expect Little Kai to finally keep track of the days.”
“I always could,” Kaila said, displeased.
Her memory had always been excellent.
Sylvia nibbled on her bread, uttering a muffled “Oh,” clearly not quite believing her.
The two sat leaning against the wall of the training field. The evening light cast long, slanted shadows once more, just like that evening many years ago when they watched the sunset. The clouds had turned into a scattered, shapeless gray.
“Little Kai,” Sylvia spoke up. “What do you want to do after the divination tomorrow?”
“Pack my things,” Kaila said. “Once I'm of age, I must leave the sanctuary.”
“I'm not asking about that.” Sylvia stuffed the last bite of bread into her mouth and clapped her hands. “I mean, in the future. What do you want to do?”
Kaila thought about it.
She had actually pondered this question many times, so she answered quickly.
“As a Hero... I suppose I will do good deeds.”
“Good deeds,” Sylvia repeated, turning her head to look at her. “Why?”
“Because... that is what a Hero does.”
“I didn't ask about the Hero,” Sylvia said. “I asked about you. Why do you want to do good deeds?”
Kaila fell silent for a moment.
“Mhm.”
“Don't change the subject. What do you get out of doing good deeds?” Sylvia pressed. “Do people thank you? Do they give you money? Or does it make you feel good inside? You must want something. When people do things, it's always because they want something.”
Kaila thought about it with some difficulty.
Anyone else in the sanctuary would never have asked such a question.
After all, the sanctuary itself was a place to help everyone adapt to adulthood.
The bells told everyone when to wake up, when to eat, and when to sleep.
Kaila lowered her head, looking at her hands.
She practiced using weapons because she would become a Hero in the future, so she started practicing and adapting in advance. These hands of hers were very agile with a sword and in physical arts, stronger than many Class-holders.
But if asked what she wanted to do with her weapons after becoming a Hero, or why she wanted to do it, she couldn't explain.
Because she was the Hero, after all. That was what everyone said.
“I...”
Sylvia did not rush her. This was a rare moment of patience for Sylvia—usually, when she asked questions, she would jump to the next one without waiting for an answer.
But this time, she waited quietly.
Kaila thought for a long time.
She thought of the marks in the corridor. Tailor, Guard, Doctor, Cook, Hero.
She recalled the words of the nuns: a Class is not a job; a Class cannot be quit.
She remembered how everyone said she would become the Hero because she was the one chosen by the previous Hero.
She wanted to find a reason.
A reason of her own that she could put into words.
But she couldn't find one.
She only found someone else's words. A long time ago, Sylvia had casually complained in the corridor—
“By the way, Little Kai, aren't you highly likely to become a Hero? Can't you work hard and wipe out all the Witches? Then there wouldn't be any curses left in this world.”
Kaila looked up.
“Defeat all the Witches,” she said. “That is... what I want to do.”
Sylvia was stunned for a moment.
“Huh?”
“If I am the Hero,” Kaila said seriously, finally grabbing onto a rope she could climb, “that is what I should do. Defeat all the Witches, and there will be no more curses in the world. That way, everyone... will be free.”
She was a bit clumsy when she spoke the word “free.”
Normally, it wasn't something she would say.
That was Sylvia's word.
Sylvia's memory was always terrible, so she probably wouldn't realize that this goal Kaila wanted to pursue was actually distilled from her own words.
It should play out that way.
Kaila thought.
Sylvia looked at her with a strange expression.
For a brief moment, Kaila felt as if she wanted to say something.
But in the end, Sylvia merely smiled.
“Is that so,” she said. “That's pretty good.”
“Mhm.”
At least she believed her? Kaila thought. Though the goal sounded a bit vague, it was still a goal nonetheless.
“Are you sure about this?”
“Mhm.” Kaila nodded. “This is... the meaning of my life.”
Sylvia did not speak again.
She turned her head and stared at the shapeless, gray evening clouds.
Kaila didn't know what she was thinking.
After all, she had never been used to keeping up with people whose minds jumped around so much.
She could only tell that Sylvia's “that's pretty good” didn't really sound like it was pretty good.
What did “ordinary” and “taken for granted” mean?
In any case, very few people here would ever ask, “What do you want to do?”
Once they reached adulthood, everyone would know what they ought to do.
Wasn't that how it always was?
...
On Divination Day, Hill read their destinies.
It was the day the door of eighteen finally closed.
To be precise, it was the day she accompanied Sylvia to her divination. After all, her own identity had already been divined; she was undoubtedly the Hero, and no one was surprised.
Kaila couldn't remember much, only Miss Hill's usual lazy tone explaining Sylvia's next direction.
Sylvia had a common multiple-class profile.
Was she a Thief? A shopkeeper? Or perhaps a construction worker?
Kaila knew Sylvia actually harbored a shred of hope.
By staying by the Hero's side, perhaps she too could obtain a rare or unique Class.
But what would Sylvia want? Kaila couldn't imagine her looking satisfied. The Demon King? Did the Demon King count as a Class?
But in any case, the days of indulgence were over, duty had arrived, and they were about to part.
Two paths indeed stretched out in completely opposite directions, with no possibility of ever crossing again.
As they walked out of the divination room, Sylvia was two steps ahead of her.
“Well then,” Sylvia said, “perhaps we... probably won't see each other again. It looks like this identity has to stay in Destinos.”
She didn't look back.
“Didn't we agree that we would meet again at the end of our paths?” Kaila said encouragingly.
“So, I will go try,” Sylvia said.
That was the last time Kaila saw her in Destinos.
Because the duty destiny assigned to her was that of the Hero.
Destinos was well-ordered under Miss Hill's governance, as it had always been.
According to the nuns, Miss Hill seemed to be a long-lived species who had been in Destinos for hundreds of years.
There was no place here that needed a Hero, and the reason to stay was gone.
The Hero set out on her journey alone.
She walked the path of the Hero, purging the calamities where the curses spread, traveling from one city to the next, from one wasteland to another.
Sometimes she would also ponder those questions.
Why did destiny choose her? What did it truly mean to be the Hero? What lay waiting for her at the end of this paved path?
After all, she was not good with words and was bound by the Hero's commandments. She had met few people and understood social interactions even less.
And when people realized she was the Hero, normal communication usually ceased.
After all, the Hero was strong.
They worshiped her, bowed to her, and placed her on a high pedestal.
No one would ever treat her as someone who got hungry, tired, or stared blankly into the setting sun.
This wasn't a bad thing either.
Genuine recognition from the heart could strengthen the Hero's power.
The stronger the shackles became, the stronger her power would grow.
Admiration is the distance furthest from understanding; the higher one is lifted, the further one is from the ground.
Such was the nature of the Hero's identity.
Kaila also wrote to Miss Hill and Sylvia often, but Sylvia never replied. Only Miss Hill kept in touch with her.
Yet even Miss Hill would not answer her doubts.
As she walked the path of the Hero for a long time, the novelty faded, leaving only exhaustion.
A vague, hollow exhaustion.
It was the exact same feeling she had experienced many, many years ago as a child ignored by her peers, sitting on the stone steps and staring blankly.
But Kaila did not hate this feeling.
For someone with no selfish desires or anything she particularly wanted, knowing what she was supposed to do every day was actually quite a good thing.
Waking up in the morning, hearing cries for help, drawing her sword, slaying bandits or monsters, or returning a lost cat to a tree.
No one would ask her “why are you doing this” anymore, nor did she need to worry about “what to do afterward.” The Hero's intuition would guide her to the next place that needed her.
Days with a purpose could be considered fulfilling.
However, as her strength grew, the shackles imposed by her identity also multiplied.
After saving someone, she could not show her face in public, could not accept gratitude, and could not even stop to eat a bite of warm bread handed to her by others.
Even her daily time for staring blankly was squeezed out.
Thus, Kaila could only satisfy her daily habit of staring blankly by "standing around for a while."
In the days that followed, she saw more people in need of help and encountered more curses.
And.
She met the Witches.
She also met Sophie.
And the time she spent with Sophie.
...
“Please remember me, Miss Hero.”
Sophie said firmly, word by word.
The Hero's eyes seemed to focus once more, looking somewhat like those of the Miss Hero she had once known.
But in the next moment.
Before Sophie could continue her Headbutt, Kaila actually beat her to it. She withdrew her light sword and slammed her head against the top of Sophie's head.
A dazed Sophie was sent flying.
【Log: Through observing your skill usage, [Kaila] has comprehended [Memory Transmission (Pseudo)]】
【Log: You have obtained a portion of [Kaila]'s memories.】
The sudden mental impact left Sophie lightheaded.
But the fragments and log prompts that immediately followed quickly snapped Sophie back to reality.
These were... Miss Hero's memories?
Did she need to find an anchor from these memories to wake up Miss Hero?
Sophie quickly went through the transmitted memories in her mind.
But she didn't see anything like that.
Miss Hero had no anchor—or rather, she didn't have any anchor in the traditional sense.
How could someone pretending to be asleep be awakened?
Eradicating Witches required power, and Kaila needed that power.
Therefore, Hero Kaila was utilizing this power.
The Hero had seized control of Kaila's body, but had not yet taken away her consciousness or her memories.
There was no sealed door here, nor was there a “Miss Hero” waiting to be woken up.
Everything was perfectly fine.
She remembered every single detail with crystal clarity.
——Awake, whole, and fulfilling the Hero's mission.
“So,” Sophie did a flip in the air and landed flat on the ground, “Miss Hero didn't forget...”
“Mhm,” Kaila said softly. “I never... forgot your existence to begin with.”
“So, I remember without you needing to remind me.”
“I remember you, Sophie. I remember everyone. I remember... everything.”
She was very calm as she spoke.
When the noon bell should toll, what the Heroic Laws were, and every little detail of her time spent with Sophie.
She remembered it all with perfect clarity.
“I know you don't want to see me like this, Sophie.”
“But right now,” Kaila said calmly, “I am doing what a Hero ought to do.”
“So, do not stop me.”
“...I am sorry.”
She turned around.
...
Not far away.
“We don't have a second Wish scroll to bring the Witch back,” the Green Mist King said with a frown. “Don't tell me you've forgotten the terms of our trade and downgraded your goal to simply killing the Hero.”
“Of course not,” the Vampire Ancestor said. “Because the Hero will bring her back for us.”
“Why?”
“Because slaying Witches is a deed of boundless merit.” The Vampire Ancestor grinned. “If she is the Hero, she must do so.”
He shouted toward the center of the battlefield: “Ten seconds until the next attack!”
“Nine!”
...
“Nine!”
Kaila observed the situation.
The Vampires were preparing their next wave of attack.
Solitude's court mages and hundreds of other Vampires were still maintaining the massive array.
The Hero's identity instantly reminded her of what she ought to do at this moment.
——There would never be a better opportunity to eradicate the Witch than right now.
Unquestionably, the answer was:
Bring the Witch back and assist the Vampires.
Slay Miaoyue.
It was naturally impossible to achieve this with the Hero's strength alone. As things stood, cooperation was her only choice.
She took a deep breath and looked up at the dark-shrouded sky.
The Hero lowered her posture and began to gather her strength.
However.
Just as the light sword began to coalesce in Kaila's hand once more.
A tiny bat ball rolled to her feet and bumped into her.
Kaila: “?”
In the next instant, a crisp sound like shattering glass exploded nearby.
The light sword in Kaila's hand, which had almost solidified and radiated endless divine pressure, actually lost its energy supply under this sudden strike, instantly disintegrating into a flurry of golden light specks.
How was this possible?
A rare look of astonishment finally flashed across Kaila's indifferent eyes.
【Forced Disarm (Reversed) Lv. Max: If your next attack hits a target holding a weapon, it will ignore the target's [Grip], [Resistance], [Weapon Binding], and [Storage Protection], forcing their current weapon to swap with another weapon within their accessible range. If the target has no swappable weapon, it will force their current weapon to switch to a nearby object that the system determines as a "weapon." Cooldown: 1 day.】
【Log: [Sophie] used [Forced Disarm (Reversed)] on [Kaila]. Check successful.】
Her right hand, which had been loosely gripping the hilt, suddenly felt a warm sensation.
It was a hand.
Slender, soft, yet carrying an unyielding force. Their fingers intertwined, locking tightly together.
Kaila turned her head blankly, meeting Sophie's eyes, which burned with anger and an indescribable emotion.
Sophie had treated her own hand as a weapon, swapping it directly with the light sword in Kaila's hand.
“You...” Kaila's breath hitched. The icy will of the Hero's curse actually came to a brief halt before this scalding warmth. She wanted to pull her hand back, but looking at Sophie's furious expression, she found herself temporarily unable to break free.
“Where do you think you're going?” Sophie took a step forward and grabbed Kaila's shoulders, closing the distance between them to a dangerous degree where they could clearly feel each other's breath.
“Eight!” the Vampire Ancestor bellowed.
Kaila had never seen Sophie look at her with such eyes.
It seemed more like pure confusion.
“So, you care more about the Witches than me, is that it?”
“To be honest, I'm really annoyed.”
“Seven!”
Kaila: “?”
Now? Annoyed?
Was this really the time to be saying this?
These words felt so out of place and absurd in the middle of Silvervein City, which was currently ravaged by war and suffering.
Yet, Sophie said them with absolute seriousness.
“I absolutely hate it when people apologize after the fact.”
“Sophie... let me go...”
“Fine then.” Sophie released Kaila's hand.
Sophie.
She wasn't angry. She wasn't truly angry.
Although she hadn't spent that much time with Sophie, Kaila could still tell the source of the anger on her face.
Was she... jealous?
Why? At a time like this? Jealous of a Witch?
She couldn't understand.
“So next, I'm going to give you a reason you can't refuse, to make you a Hero who belongs only to me, a Hero who slays me—not some Hero fighting for the Witches. What makes those Witches any better than me anyway?”
“Six.”
“And saying that Witches are the source of all calamity? What a joke.”
“Sophie? You...” Kaila replied blankly.
The Hero's Eye activated on its own; these words were not a lie.
What was Sophie talking about?
Not far away, the Ancestor's countdown sounded like a death knell.
With each number counted down, the oppressive pressure in the sky rose exponentially.
Under this terrifying pressure, the Moon's Barrier began to tremble violently, almost buckling under the weight.
For Kaila, this was also the countdown during which she was supposed to bring Miaoyue back.
But.
Sophie seemed a bit off.
“Five!”
Sophie looked up at the Vampire Ancestor who kept counting down in the distance.
“So, just do it for me. Treat it as my once-in-a-lifetime request. Can you protect the civilians here? I have something to take care of right now.”
A request...
“Four!!!”
The Hero was currently executing a very important mission and should not be bound by personal requests.
However.
Kaila was indeed curious about the thing Sophie wanted to tell her.
And Kaila really didn't want to refuse the request Sophie had entrusted to her.
Furthermore.
Protecting civilians was also the duty of a Hero.
Kaila took a deep breath.
“Okay.”
A massive and pure wave of mana erupted from Kaila's body, warm and resilient.
This light instantly surged into the crumbling Moon's Barrier.
The barrier, which had only emitted a faint glow, erupted into a brilliant silver-white radiance the moment it touched Kaila's mana, pushing back the oppressive force exerted by the Ancestor in the sky!
“Sophie, I will stand around... with you for ten seconds at most.”
“For me? Not because of some Hero's mission?”
“For you.”
“Is that so? That's wonderful.”
Sophie's face instantly brightened from gloomy to sunny, but the light in her eyes did not fade.
“Three!” the Vampire Ancestor's arrogant countdown had barely fallen.
The smile on Sophie's face vanished.
She turned around and looked up.
The moment her gaze shifted to the Vampire Ancestor, it turned absolutely icy and ruthless.
It was the gaze of an apex predator looking at a dying prey, cold and devoid of any warmth.
“Two!” the Vampire Ancestor said with a frown.
What was going on?
Things were not progressing as he had anticipated.
She looked up at the high-and-mighty Vampire Ancestor and the massive magic array, letting out a soft chuckle. “How nice. One after another, you all start using my own magic arrays against me.”
She reached up and peeled off her human skin mask with one hand.
With the other, she activated her skills.
【Stealth】
【Shadowstep】
【Bloodline Majesty】
...
Rate on N.U.
