Chapter 21: Hero, Arianrod Mona 1

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You could become a hero.

You had to become a hero.

You could save the world.

You had to save the world.

Thus did the master speak.

You are the only one who can save this world.

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Arianrod Mona was an utterly ordinary village girl. With hair the same color as the golden fields and a lively, expressive personality, she was a cheerful child. She woke up, ate bread made from the village’s wheat, and drank milk. After finishing her meal, she went with her mother to see how her father was doing in the fields, then ate lunch together as a family.

She returned home, went out to play, and came back exhausted with her childhood friend who lived next door. She lived such ordinary days until one day, she went with her parents to the village chief’s house. Waiting there was a person with a strange appearance, someone she had never seen even once in the village.

“Nice to meet you. Are you Arianrod-kun?”

Dark skin and pointed ears. The woman, who showed off a beautiful body even to Arianrod’s female eyes, introduced herself as Vasily.

“Well then, try pulling this out.”

As she said this, Vasily took out a sword from her chest. However, the sword was in a strange state, embedded halfway into a pedestal. How she had taken it out, where it had been, and what it even was, all of it made Arianrod’s young mind short-circuit as she blankly looked to her parents.

“Arianrod. Listen to what Valvaroi-sama says.”

Her parents said this with a wry smile. Thinking it probably wasn’t something bad, she looked back at the sword. The sword sat firmly in its pedestal. Its design was plain, with nothing particularly eye-catching. It was just a longsword. It looked no different from the one in Arianrod’s home. She gripped the hilt.

Since it was stuck in the pedestal, it shouldn’t move… So she thought, but the sensation was strange. She was sure she was holding it, yet she couldn’t tell if she really was. There was a sensation of contact, yet it felt as though it had no weight at all.

Pull it out.

Remembering what she had been told, Arianrod pulled the sword straight out. The pedestal came free with absurd ease, and the crude longsword instantly changed its form. Particles gathered with a flash of light, turning everything from pommel to blade tip into gold.

“W–wow! It’s so pretty!”

“Wah!! A-Arianrod! Stop swinging it around! It’s dangerous!”

The sword, now shorter and just the right size for Arianrod to hold, was swung around wildly. Watching this, Vasily broke out in a cold sweat.

“M-maybe I should take that back for now.”

With a flick of Vasily’s finger, Arianrod’s body stopped dead. Then, she was smoothly pulled in, and the sword was once again absorbed into Vasily’s chest.

“Ah.”

“Phew… Honestly. To handle a holy sword so lightly, like it’s a toy… Heroes really are something else. Seriously.”

“Holy sword?”

“That’s right. A holy sword, also known as the Goddess’s Sword. It was very easy to use, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah!”

“That’s because you’re special.”

“Special?”

Saying this, Vasily crouched down to meet Arianrod’s gaze.

“The holy sword can’t even be held unless you’re a special person. It’s so heavy that normal people can’t lift it. Like this—”

Vasily drew the holy sword from her chest again, carefully pinching it so she wouldn’t touch it directly. Looking closely, something thin and pale purple extended from her fingers, gripping the hilt.

“You can force it to move using magic power. But you can’t bring out the holy sword’s true form that way. When you held it earlier, it changed shape, didn’t it? That was its real form.”

Indeed, now it had returned to its earlier crude appearance. When Arianrod reached out and gripped the hilt, the sword changed shape again, accompanied by light.

“Yes. That is the holy sword’s true form. Apparently, you weren’t supposed to obtain it until more than ten years from now, but well, cheating just a little shouldn’t affect the big picture… Probably.”

“Hm? Cheating?”

“That’s my problem. The world is both simple and complicated… I traveled all over the world just as I was told, but there’s no way to know how those so-called ‘flags’ are set up, so I don’t even know what state things are in now. Good grief. Maybe I should’ve studied necromancy after all.”

Arianrod couldn’t understand anything Vasily was saying. She was just a village girl. At only five years old, difficult stories like this were beyond her. Noticing this, Vasily gave her a bitter smile.

“Well, details aside. You are going to become a hero.”

“A hero…”

“That’s right, a hero. The chosen one. The one loved by the gods. The protagonist of this world. You’ll walk a painful road that’s never glamorous, see hell over and over again, and still keep moving forward… That’s your destiny. Whether you want it or not, misfortune will fall upon you.”

Loved. Walking a painful road. Seeing hell. Continuing to move forward.

I don’t really understand, but I don’t want things to be painful. I don’t want to get hurt either.

She was about to say she didn’t want any of this… When she noticed. Vasily’s eyes, as she looked at Arianrod, were no longer the same as before. They had changed into a glare.

──Grab.

“Hih—”

Her shoulder was seized. Startled, she looked into Vasily’s eyes again and though they were no longer glaring, a dark, murky light dwelled within them.

“You can become a hero. No. You must become one. You can save the world. You must save the world.”

And thus, Arianrod ceased to be an ordinary village girl. She became a Hero. The protagonist of the world. The chosen one. One loved by the gods. Becoming a hero… Once that was decided, Arianrod’s life changed completely.

First, she began living separately from her parents. They were reluctant to part, but since they would still live in the same village and were not forbidden from seeing each other, they agreed. Nights once spent sleeping together side by side were now spent alone in a high-quality bed.

Her meals also became far more luxurious. Fresh raw vegetables, hearty soups, and plenty of meat and fish that would normally only appear on special occasions. It was delicious, but she couldn’t stop thinking about her mother’s simple bread. More than anything, what changed most was that she no longer had time to play.

First came time for studying. After breakfast and washing her face, roughly five hours of studying awaited her. The history of the world, the history of nations, weapons like the holy sword, the existence known as heroes. On top of that, difficult calculations used by merchants and etiquette learned by nobles. This was surprisingly fun. Learning things she didn’t know was enjoyable for Arianrod.

For example, the relationships between her village and its lord, the lord and the nobles, the nobles and the kingdom. The way the world gradually expanded was fascinating, and Vasily later remarked that it was surprising how Arianrod never lost motivation during lectures. The problem lay in physical training.

What she was assigned for conditioning was moderate exercise. Since heavy training would be too much for someone her age, exercise itself was mandatory. Running, running, and more running. Not playful games of tag like before, but running at the same pace continuously. She couldn’t rest until she finished several laps. It wasn’t fun. If she tried to slack off, Vasily would push her.

But she was never pushed so hard that it became impossible. She would be exhausted, but not unable to move. For Arianrod, who was at the age where she just wanted to play, it was extremely stressful. She had gone from freely frolicking with children her age—especially her childhood friend—to a life of constant endurance.

Even if she said she wanted to go play, she wasn’t allowed. Once dissatisfaction appeared, endurance piled up, and the discontent slowly grew. The food was good, but she wanted to eat with her parents. The bed was warm, but she wanted to sleep with them. Studying… Studying was fine because it was interesting, but running all the time was boring. Even if she complained to Vasily, nothing changed.

“This is all for your sake as a hero.”

That was all she was told. After continuing that life for half a year, Arianrod ran away once. Saying she was going to see her parents and her father in the fields, she went to where the village children were, thinking she could join in their play. There…

Arianrod learned what it meant to become a Hero. And what it truly meant to activate the holy sword.

When she joined in as usual and started playing tag, Arianrod was chosen as “it” first and set her sights on the nearest boy. Using the running techniques she had learned from Vasily, and venting her pent-up frustration without restraint, she pushed off the ground at full strength… In the next instant, she struck a person.

BAGYAH!!

DOCHAH!!

The sound of something bursting. At the same time, the impact transmitted to her body. A warm liquid splashed across Arianrod’s face. A human body rolled across the ground.

“…Huh?”

Part of the boy she had targeted had been blown apart. Flesh and blood were scattered, and Arianrod’s body was stained red.

“…Eh, huh? Ah, what? Why—”

The boy was screaming. His leg was bent in a direction she had never seen before. One of his arms was gone from halfway down. His body was convulsing. That boy was… Her childhood friend, whom she had known since early childhood. Arianrod had been learning far more advanced things than others her age.

Because of that, despite her confusion m she understood what state the boy was in, and why it had happened. She understood it. It was because she had collided with her childhood friend that this had happened.

“…Ah…”

A hero. That was the term for a human compatible with the Holy Sword. A weapon that should normally be obtained at the very end of a story granted absolute enhancement to its chosen wielder.

“…Ha… eh… uh… ha, ha… ha…”

Clawing at her chest, Arianrod stared blankly at her childhood friend.

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