Departure
I blinked twice, wondering if my eyes were playing tricks on me.
But the numbers floating above Celia's and Tanya's heads refused to disappear.
[81]
[79]
Both of them blue. Each about the size of the last two joints of my index finger. When I turned my head to look elsewhere, they vanished; the moment I fixed my gaze back on the two of them, they reappeared like ghosts.
What is this?
As far as I could remember, nothing like this had existed yesterday.
If you suddenly started seeing blue numbers above other people's heads, there were roughly two possible explanations: you'd Awakened, or you'd developed schizophrenia.
Thankfully, the former seemed far more likely. This was, after all, a fantasy world where every manner of ability lived and breathed.
Probably some power of the Hero, then. It was a little suspicious that it only applied to those two women, though.
I was still staring intently at the numbers, hoping something might change if I kept watching, when Tanya crossed her arms and spoke up.
"So. Is this guy actually the Hero or not?"
"This guy, you say?"
I interjected before I could stop myself. Tanya raised an eyebrow.
"Then what should I call him?"
"Hero. Or, you know, there's also the name Leon."
"We haven't even confirmed he's the Hero yet."
"······."
They said all mages were eccentric, and that description fit her perfectly. Saying to someone's face that he might be a fraud—impressive, truly.
As it turned out, she wasn't the only one thinking it; she had simply been the one to voice it. Celia didn't rebuke Tanya at all. On the contrary, she gave a small nod.
"We will now proceed with the verification process."
"Verification process? Nobody told me about that."
The man who had escorted us from the village to this place chimed in. "It was classified information."
My jaw dropped.
The two of us have been stuck in a carriage together for days, and it was classified?
Wasn't that just a polite way of saying they didn't trust me? A faint sense of betrayal crept in.
Whether or not my feelings mattered to anyone, Celia cradled a box in both hands—the object she'd been holding since earlier. A small casket, just the right size to grip in one palm, its surface engraved with an intricate emblem symbolizing the Earth Mother Goddess.
Click.
The lock sprang open. Inside lay a single crystal steeped in blue light.
One look was enough to tell it was no ordinary jewel. Within the crystal, a soft glow surged in restless waves, never once stilling.
Tanya's expression changed too. The look she'd worn while teasing me was gone without a trace.
"You're not seriously going to use that, are you?"
"It is the method prescribed in the oracle."
"Still—the Tear of the Mother Goddess in its entirety?"
The tear of a goddess. The name alone sounded ominous. I stole a glance at the crystal held in Celia's hand.
Is that thing incredibly expensive?
Blame a lifetime of growing up short on money—that was the first thought that came to mind. And for good reason, wasn't it? I'd come here announced as the Hero (alleged), but who's to say my occupation wouldn't get reclassified to debt-slave?
With that in mind, I asked cautiously, "That thing··· is it worth a lot?"
Tanya stared at me, dumbfounded. "That's what you're wondering?"
"If I break it, I might have to pay for it."
"······."
Why was she looking at me like that? It was a look of profound pity mixed with the desire to never associate with me again.
"You need not worry," Celia said. "Even should something go wrong, no responsibility will be asked of you, Sir Leon."
Those words eased my mind a little. Celia stepped in front of me and held out her open palm.
"Simply hold it with an easy mind."
"This thing?"
"Yes."
I looked back at Tanya. She had clamped her mouth shut and was staring fixedly at the crystal. As expected, it was clearly worth a fortune. She looked like someone who might faint dead away if it so much as cracked.
Anxiety welled up inside me.
I've come all this way—can't exactly say no now.
In the end, I picked up the crystal, gingerly. A chill unique to minerals seeped into my fingers. I waited a few seconds with it in hand, but nothing happened.
"So I just hold it like this?"
"Yes. You need only wait a moment."
What would happen once I waited? I was waiting with equal parts worry and anticipation when something suddenly bored into the very center of my chest.
"Hrk—!"
It felt like taking a hammer to the solar plexus. My breath caught short and my body folded forward. A cold current that had begun in my hand climbed up my arm, passed straight through my chest, and bored into my back.
It wasn't quite pain. It was closer to the sensation of something being forcibly crammed into a body that had no room for it.
Cold sweat poured from every pore.
'Hold it with an easy mind,' she said!
I wanted to lodge a complaint, but I didn't even have the luxury of opening my mouth.
The ordeal continued for a while longer—
Crackle.
A small sound came from within my hand. At the same moment, the pressure crushing my body vanished as though it had all been a lie.
"Hah··· hah···."
Gulping down air, I spread open my palm. The crystal that had been perfectly intact moments ago was gone. All that remained were a few specks of blue powder.
"······."
"······."
"······."
All three of us fell silent at once. I lifted my head with an uneasy feeling—and then, I was a little shocked.
Because Celia and Tanya were both wearing graver expressions than mine. Tanya in particular was staring at my body with her eyes wide open.
"···He didn't burst."
Uh···?
What didn't burst?
"He took all of that into his body and he didn't even burst?"
"It was something that could make a person burst?"
"Obviously."
"I feel like it shouldn't be obvious."
I retorted in exasperation, but Tanya paid me no mind. On the contrary, she took a step closer and examined my chest with narrow, careful eyes.
"He really is completely fine······."
Celia quietly clasped her hands together. For the first time, agitation crept across that face which until moments ago had shown not the slightest crack in its composure.
"O Goddess······."
The short prayer ended. Celia bowed her head toward me.
"It is confirmed. Sir Leon is, without question, the one prophesied in the oracle."
It felt like a belated declaration. They'd been calling me the Hero for three days straight, after all. But coming from people who'd been only half-convinced until this very moment, it landed differently.
So I really am the Hero. That was the thought that crossed my mind.
···Not exactly thrilled about it, though.
Just a little—just a little, I'd hoped it was all a misunderstanding. No such miracle, apparently.
Sighing out my disappointment, I asked, "So where did that thing just go?"
"It was absorbed into your body, Sir Leon."
"Into here?"
I pointed at my chest with a finger. Celia nodded.
"You will undergo a similar process at each pilgrimage site as well."
"You mean I'll keep putting those things into my body?"
"Yes."
"······."
Hmmmm···.
Something about this felt off. A Hero who grows by absorbing energy?
The Hero of this world seemed to be cut from very different cloth than the heroes I knew. Shouldn't a Hero be the type who wields a legendary holy sword or something along those lines? This was less a Hero and more like the growth pattern of a monster, if you asked me.
It was the click of Tanya's tongue that cut the thought short.
"Tch. Well, I guess he's the real Hero after all. Look forward to working with you."
"Ah, yes."
"One thing, though. I'm telling you now."
Tanya narrowed her eyes.
"Don't act all chummy just because we're party members."
"······?"
Beside her, Celia bowed at the waist with perfect courtesy.
"I look forward to serving you, Sir Hero."
There was no middle ground with these reactions, was there. ···From the very start, I found myself worrying about this party's future.
The journey began the very next morning. Boarding a top-of-the-line carriage disguised as an ordinary one, we set out on the pilgrimage.
I figured I'd get at least a few days' rest first.
After being run ragged all day long, we were departing immediately. They kept saying every hour was precious, but really—the people of the Imperial Capital had hearts of stone.
Yaaawn···.
The yawns came without pause. Watching me, Tanya struck up conversation yet again. For someone who'd warned me not to act familiar, it was always Tanya who spoke first.
"Hey, Hero. What was His Majesty the Emperor like?"
"His back was more flexible than I expected."
"···?"
Tanya frowned. "Why are we talking about his back?"
"He bowed quite deeply when he greeted me."
"His Majesty did?"
"Yes."
Tanya's eyebrows twitched. "······Why?"
Good question. I'd been thunderstruck at first, too. I'd been even more stunned when I saw the young Imperial Princess.
Who'd have thought even that little princess had fallen to Magic Stone Disease.
But it seemed His Majesty had been a father before he was an Emperor. That must have been why he'd bowed his head even to someone like me.
Not that I could tell her about yesterday's events. "That's classified information."
"……."
"In any case, his back seemed perfectly healthy."
Tanya's face twisted in outrage. I hid a smile and turned my gaze to the mirror mounted beside my seat.
In the mirror, a third number floated.
[0]
Still 0, huh.
I'd spent a good long while staring into the mirror over this number yesterday, too. It hadn't helped that it happened mid-powdering—I ended up inhaling a fistful of cosmetics for my trouble.
Anyway, with my own case confirmed, the identity of the numbers wasn't hard to guess. Some system unknown to me was probably at work, displaying the Hero's party's levels.
Celia: 79. Tanya: 81. And me: 0.
They wouldn't hand a bottom-feeder a place in the Hero's party, so the numbers tracked. It was a little strange that mine read Level 0 instead of Level 1, but—
I guess here you start from Level 0 rather than Level 1.
It wasn't beyond the bounds of belief.
Just then, Celia, who had been studying the map, spoke up.
"Goblins are known to appear frequently in the region ahead."
"Goblins?"
"Yes. Nothing like a large horde, but they are said to occasionally ambush travelers along the road."
My eyes drifted, without my meaning them to, up to the two women's heads.
[81]
[79]
Perfect timing.
Here was a chance to verify whether those floating numbers really were levels. Of course, there was a chance they weren't, so honestly, not running into any monsters would be the best outcome.
I was nodding along to that thought when Tanya asked, "Why are you nodding to yourself at the mirror?"
Her irritation apparently hadn't fully faded—bluntness was spattered all through her voice.
"Just looking at something."
Tanya's eyes darted between the mirror and my face. Then she propped her chin on her hand and studied me.
"Hmm···. Well, you are decent-looking, I suppose."
"Uh—thank you?"
"The hair color, too."
Tanya's gaze drifted upward. "Not a color you often see on a commoner."
"Is that so?"
I pinched a strand of hair between my thumb and forefinger. I'd lived my whole life this way, so I'd never given it much thought. Come to think of it, I had been the only blond in the entire village.
"Are you some noble's love child or something?"
I mulled it over briefly, then answered. "Hard to say. Could be, could not be."
Tanya's brow furrowed. "What kind of nonsense is that?"
"Weeell··· no, it's because Mother met the man while she was working."
"Met him while working? A coworker?"
"No."
I shook my head and relayed, word for word, the story I'd heard from my mother.
"A customer who poked a hole in a mosquito net."
"······?"
Tanya froze like a statue.
"But apparently there were tons of those deadbeats, so Mother managed to narrow the candidates down to about four or five···."
Her face had drained to the color of ash.
"······."
"And which of them is my father is—"
I was continuing my calm, level explanation when Celia abruptly cut in.
"Goblins."
"······I'm sorry, what?"