An Unborn Hero

"If you're in need of somewhere safe to stay, the kingdom of Jylama will be happy to offer you sanctuary," whispered a Jylamian official to Rose as he shook her hand in greeting.

Meanwhile, Rose was getting progressively more confused. Why did everyone seem to think she needed sanctuary or asylum? Were the others getting the same comments? Grace hadn't mentioned anything about expecting this. If only the queue would pause for a moment, she could ask.

Up on the royal platform, the [King] was growing concerned, too. No-one would dare whisper such things in the presence of the Flinellian [King] without considerable confidence in their anti-eavesdropping skills, but such skills meant little when Hayedalf had hidden magical transmitters in the clothing of each party member.

"What's going on?" he asked. "Why is everyone trying to poach Rose, of all people?"

"There seems to be a rumour going around that she's the [Hero], you're keeping her on a tight leash, practically as a slave, and the whole spiel about Mystery was a lie to deflect attention from her."

"Sheesh. If I was going to make up a cover story, I'd have gone for something far more believable than Mystery," complained the [King]. "Do we need to address the rumours? And if so, how?"

"If we fail to address them today, we'll face all sorts of unofficial accusations tomorrow, so yes, dealing with it now would certainly simplify your life. The simplest and safest method would be to officially announce the betrothal of Grace and Rose, which would replace their problematic achievements, then have them remove their appraisal blockers," answered the [Royal Knight].

"Safest?! Safest for who?! Her reaction was bad enough when I suggested that as a joke. Do you have any suggestions that don't result in one of my daughters never speaking to me for the rest of my life?"

"You think she'd hate it more than that narcissistic [Crown Prince] of Jylama?"

"No, I don't, but I'd refuse to marry her off to him even if it wasn't for their succession issues. If it wasn't for his mother's damn pressure, I'd have got her that engagement into Prutt. Charming lad, that boy was. It's because she's as old as she is without any engagement arranged that she's so sensitive about anything that might affect her chances."

"Announcing her attachment to a girl would certainly get the prince to back away."

"From Grace, yes, but Mercy will be starting at the academy next season. The snake would just move right onto her. Anyway, this is beside the point."

While the [King] debated courses of action that would make Rose's nerves thus far look like a picnic, Rrillandral hung back from the queue, only joining it once it had declined to a mere dozen people. Despite ensuring she would be the very last to offer greetings—which was itself a political faux pas, since it gave the appearance of the Vale putting themselves beneath the other kingdoms—there was still no sign of Mystery. There was still plenty of time until the event finished, but making contact outside of the official greetings would be troublesome.

Mystery, meanwhile, wanted to get outside, but the effects of mana deprivation weren't so easily overcome.

"Darn it. I've got my new [Cosplay] spell, but I can't even see the effects. What sort of event were they going to? Since they were looking at ballgowns, a grand ball held by the king? But this is another world, so maybe they don't have balls, and their idea of a party is everyone spinning in circles going woo woo. I want to see what's happening!"

She was feeling much better—no longer lethargic, and her vision no longer blurred—but attempts to use [Astral Projection] twinged in a way that suggested leaving her body wasn't a great idea.

"This is silly. I'm low on mana and need more, but I'm literally plumbed in to a massive tank of the stuff. Why can I use it to cast spells, but not to fix myself?"

Mystery looked around herself with [Sense Mana], confirming that yes, her mum did still have oodles more mana than she did. Then she tried to remember the feeling of drawing on that mana as she cast [Magical Girl Transformation], making an effort to recreate it without actually casting the spell.

ding
You have drawn upon the ambient mana to refill your own reserves, unlocking the [Mana Absorption] skill.
You have absorbed mana from a living being, upgrading [Mana Absorption] with [Drain Mana]. Level cap of [Mana Absorption] increased by 10.
For learning a new method of restoring your mana, [Mana Absorption] advances to level 2.

In the outside world, Kellela froze up in the middle of a greeting, staring down at her belly in horror. "Oh, don't you dare!" she muttered as she felt Mystery pull on her mana, and knowing there was only one thing she had thus far used it for in such large quantities.

Thankfully, she didn't begin to glow.

"Is something wrong?" asked Rrillandral, who'd been on the other end of the greeting, just as Mystery popped out into the open.

Fylith stared at the walls of the capital in annoyance. She had to admit the place was well built and well defended. No handy sewers, no unguarded sections of walls with useful handholds or missing bricks. From the mana she could sense, the entire thing seemed to be enclosed in a spherical shield, too. She wasn't sure what it did, but it was enough that she dismissed the idea of dropping in from above using the wyvern.

Not that all the denizens of the city lived within the walls. Space was forever at a premium, and land inside the walls was expensive. With prices what they were, slums weren't tolerated within the walls, but banning slums did nothing to remove the need for them; the poor, the ill, the handicapped, or those who were simply self-destructively lazy all needed a place to stay. They were built outside the walls instead. And, of course, Fylith wasn't the only one with something to hide. Plenty of people had business in the capital but would never survive an inspection at the gates, and so set up in the slums instead.

She'd visited a few, picking up whatever information she could. She'd heard of the event in the castle, but had no way to get in. It was frustrating in the extreme, but if her target had only come to the capital for this event, there was always the possibility she'd return home once it was done.

Or there would have been, had Zyfyl'p not flattened it.

Fylith wasn't sure which option was worse. Them returning to the forest border, and hence her needing to fly her wyvern all the way back, freezing her tail off all the while, or remaining here where she couldn't get at them.

At least they were now far away from her master, no longer polluting his food supply. In that respect, them remaining here wouldn't be too bad, but there was still the death of a demon to answer for. Two demons, now. It would give completely the wrong impression to let them get away.

With a sigh, she continued her trek around the slums. Maybe there was an assassins' guild here, just like the one on the border. No; 'just like' wouldn't be sufficient. Better than the one on the border. She could only hope.

"Oh," said Rrillandral.

"Oh?" asked Kellela, her own scry ward rendered ineffectual as a Mystery-detection device by the way pretty much everyone in the room was using information gathering skills.

"Oh!" thought Mystery. "That elf! Wow, that was good timing!"

She immediately devoted some of her stolen mana to produce a bright, brown light, attracting the attention of the entire room, much to Rose's relief, who had been withering under the continuous pitying gazes.

"Oh..." mumbled the [King]. "I know that's kinda what we were hoping for, but did they need to be so conspicuous about it?"

"Sorry," said Rrillandral. "I don't remember which colour was which. Which language was brown?"

"I don't know how to pronounce the name, but third page, halfway down," answered Kellela. "A small selection of simple, rounded characters, strung together to make words."

"That one is called (English)," nodded Rrillandral after a moment's thought. "Interesting; we haven't had an (English) [Hero] for a while. Or more likely, (American). They have the numbers advantage."

"(English)," repeated Kellela, feeling out the strange word, then subvocally casting her translation spell. "What a strange coincidence to meet someone who speaks Mystery's native language. In that case, why don't you greet her, too, while you're here?"

"Why not indeed?" grinned the elf, ignoring the spectators, reaching for her booklet and flipping it to the page that contained English. This time, it contained instructions to flash red for no and green for yes.

'Can you understand this?' she wrote underneath.

Mystery's [Light] switched to green.

'Then in the name of the Vale of Myllearn, I greet you.'

The green light pulsed, which was the best Mystery could do to greet back.

'Your communications issues are unfortunate. If I can offer any aid, don't hesitate to ask.'

The green light pulsed again, brighter. Much brighter. And then it blinked out completely.

"Mystery, no!" called a panicked Kellela as she felt her mana being drawn upon once more.

"What's wrong?" asked Rrillandral.

"You made an offer that you might soon regret," said Kellela. "Very soon," she added as the elf began to glow. "This is Mystery's way of not hesitating."

Of course Mystery had acted with enthusiasm. A cute elf girl—at least in terms of appearance, and that was all Mystery had to go on—who could speak English and had protagonist class hair had offered her help. The request not to hesitate had not been required.

Despite her spying, Rrillandral hadn't yet seen [Magical Girl Transformation], or even heard of it. It hadn't been mentioned in the round table conference she'd intruded on back in Karn's Vigil. Thus, she had no idea what was happening. Nevertheless, she looked down more in curiosity than concern. The magic was obviously not hostile and was weak enough for her to reject if she wished.

There was some concern when the hem of her dress broke up into motes of light and floated away, but mostly only because of her location, and the number of watching eyes. She prepared to interrupt the spell, but held off when the decomposition of her clothing stopped halfway up her thighs.

The glow faded, revealing demon slaying magical girl Leaf Green. Her hair hadn't lengthened, being long enough already, nor had her age regressed. Her physical appearance hadn't changed at all. Only her clothing had been altered, wooden bangles around her wrists and ankles, barefoot, with a circlet of leaves resting on her hair like a halo. Like the others, she wore a colour-themed, short dress. The only sleeves were a ring of leaves wrapped around her shoulders. The skirt was similar, made up of larger, longer leaves that didn't look too dissimilar to the petals of the others, and with only one layer it wasn't hard to get glimpses of the white panties beneath. The body was green and clingy, with the usual abundance of decoration.

Rrillandral's curiosity turned into confusion. Still ignoring the eyes of the audience, which had now fallen into an absolute, hungry silence, she simply asked, "Why am I frilly?"

ding
For opening up a line of communication, [Light] advances to level 10.
Achievement Unlocked: [Diligent Hero]

Diligent Hero (Legendary)
Born as a [Hero], you wholeheartedly embraced the destiny thrust upon you. You have willingly put together a full party of allies, and alongside them have slain powerful demons and hordes of terrifying monsters, all before you even came of age. You are a protector of the weak, an ally of justice and a defender of all that is good. Your aura of fear against demons is enhanced and a weakening effect is added. Experience gain is doubled. Physical abilities are doubled. Lifespan increases by 25%.

"It was one horde, not hordes plural. And how old is 'of age'; I'm kinda cheating there. And how does it know my party is full? I was aiming for five, but what if I see other candidates? We still don't have a red one. Or yellow."

ding

"Hey! Don't ding at me again! I take back my complaints! Don't cancel the achievement! Those bonuses are too cool to give up!"

μ̵̼͉̐υ̴̡̽̿σ̷̭͓̃̀τ̸͉̤̾̆ή̶͎̱͌ρ̸̤͕̏̿ι̷̬̾͜ό̸͈ the Human has obtained the legendary achievement [Diligent Hero] at the age of 4294967295.

"Yes, you just said that. Why'd it notify me twice? And did the universe just suffer a signed arithmetic error? Is that something I should be worried about?"

Mystery looked around, noting that everyone seemed to be reading something only they could see. Many foreheads wrinkled in confusion.

"Wait, did that notification just go out to everyone?"

Spoiler

μ̵̼͉̐υ̴̡̽̿σ̷̭͓̃̀τ̸͉̤̾̆ή̶͎̱͌ρ̸̤͕̏̿ι̷̬̾͜ό̸͈ (Human)
Age: -10 months
Occupation: Hero (L)
Skills:
- Soul's Eye (U) (32/90)
>> Sense Vitality (U)
>> Sense Soul (R)
>> Sense Mana (U)
>> Sense Light (C)
>> Sense Sound (C)
>> Pierce Illusions (U)
>> Sense Miasma (R)
>> Multi-focal (R)
- Astral Projection (U) (20/60)
>> Sure Navigation (U)
>> Uncontainable (U)
>> Tether of Will (L)
- Robust (C) (18/40)
>> Hardened Soul (R)
>> Secured Mana (U)
>> Pain Tolerance (C)
- Stealth (C) (3/20)
>> Camouflage Vitality (R)
- Magical Girl Transformation (R) (19/30)
>> Age Correction (R)
>> Gender Bending (R)
- Light (C) (10/20)
>> Heterochrome (U)
- Increased Attributes (C) (8/20)
>> Mana Storage (U)
- Investigation (C) (2/10)
- Cosplay (U) (1/10)
-Mana Absorption (U) (2/20)
>> Drain Mana (U)
Achievements:
- Early Bloomer II (R)
- First Skill (C)
- Journeyman (U)
- Survivor of Zarklaxxos, the Arcane Infernal (R)
- I Broke The System, And All I Got Was This Lousy Achievement (E)
- Astral Explorer I (R)
- First Spell (C)
- I Broke The System Again, And Now The Administrators Hate Me (E)
- Spell Forger (R)
- Demon Slayer II (E)
- Monster Slayer V (E)
- Curiosity (U)
- War Veteran (U)
- Royal Audience (C)
- Diligent Hero (L)

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