The Hero and Me - 11
"Is that a wooden sword?"
Sylphy's fundamental question.
No matter what, since he couldn't draw the Holy Sword to fight, the Hero was currently fighting with the wooden sword I gave him, and he was tearing apart the monsters that were charging at him with it.
Sylphy, watching that scene, couldn't help but ask the question.
It was questionable whether a human could possess such power beyond being human.
All the past Heroes had been people with abilities beyond human, but I thought the current Hero, Olivia Reinhardt, was the strongest.
It wasn't that the other Heroes were weak; it was just that the Hero in front of us was exceptionally strong.
It was so strong that even if the Goddess and the Evil God could be defeated, it might be possible to cut them down.
Loved by all weapons, loved by combat, loved by battle.
In other words, she was born with all the talents necessary to fight.
It was no joke; it was fortunate for humanity that this person was not evil.
The many things she had experienced could have been enough to make her evil, and even if she had fallen into a bad path because she resented the world, it would have been understandable.
But it seemed that the Goddess's eyes were not wrong, and she had chosen the right path and tried not to fall into a bad path.
She was the kind of person who would rather kill herself than point a sword at an innocent person.
She could be mistaken for an evil person and pointed at.
"It's just an ordinary wooden sword."
"Ugh... I didn't doubt that you were strong, but this is too much. Who are you? Even this body state, it can't be normal."
"The world is vast, and there are many strong people."
"It doesn't seem like that level... "
Actually, even if he revealed he was the Hero, there might not be a big problem, but Sylphy still couldn't truly believe he was a trustworthy person.
So, if he really helped us after finishing the business in Half Village, it would be okay to discuss with the Hero and reveal his identity.
"Something... "
A wooden sword came between Lois and Sylphy.
"Close."
It was too obvious a declaration of 'This man is mine'.
For the Hero, love was an emotion she was experiencing for the first time since birth.
"No, no, don't misunderstand. Revia-nim."
"... "
"Why?"
"I wish you wouldn't call me that."
"Huh? The name is Revia... "
The Hero showed an expression that was hard to express with words.
"I'm Olivia."
"Wait, what... !"
I was surprised without realizing it.
I hadn't thought that he would say his real name.
Did he forget that the Hero Olivia Reinhardt was famous?
Actually, Sylphy's eyes widened greatly upon hearing the name Olivia, with a surprised face.
No matter how clueless he was, if he heard the name Olivia in addition to the extremely powerful power, he could come up with hypotheses, and it would be infinitely close to the correct answer.
Sylphy immediately said in an excited voice.
"Amazing! The Hero with the same name as that Hero!"
'Is he switching to a namesake?'
Could this guy be similar to the Hero?
Being able to use stealth skills meant he had innate talent, and thinking about it, the possibility of being a sense file was high.
It might be prejudice, but people who sense fight or training often have somewhat simple personalities.
"Then, is Revia a nickname?"
"Yes."
"I see... I'm sorry for not knowing the situation, Olivia-nim."
"It was fine."
I cautiously approached the Hero and said softly.
"The name doesn't matter."
"... "
The Hero looked at me with a slightly pouty expression.
"I don't like it when other people call you that."
"... "
This is troublesome.
I hadn't realized he had a tendency to be obsessed with titles.
Now I understood why he was hiding his name and calling her Revia instead of Olivia.
"Anyway, don't get too close."
"You don't have to worry about that."
"Why?"
"Well... It's not that I ignore it, but I don't have that kind of preference."
Both Lois and the Hero tilted their heads at Sylphy's words.
What?
Was he saying that I have to have a peculiar taste because my appearance is lacking?
I don't boast about it, but I've heard a lot that my appearance is average everywhere, and the Hero also said directly that his appearance and voice were good.
A person like the Hero, who is honest and only straightforward, wouldn't say such things with lies.
It felt like if the other person wasn't good-looking, they would say 'Not good looking? Good, since no other woman will see it' in a similar way.
"What do you mean?"
"Huh? What do you mean... I also like women normally."
"Eh?"
"Huh?"
"Eh?"
At the same time, questions filled the spot.
The Hero was dazed for a moment, then immediately reached the same conclusion as me.
"Wait a minute... Sylphy? Are you a man?"
"Yes."
"With that face, you're saying you're a man!?"
"I was born like this because I wanted to be born with a feminine face!"
"This is gender being on strike!"
"...!"
Sylphy had a slightly shocked face, so I put my hand on the Hero's shoulder and said.
"Revia."
"Ah! ...Um, sorry. It was a thoughtless word."
"Please be a little more reserved."
While saying that, I thought to myself.
It was a man.
I didn't know.
I thought he was a real woman.
From the shoulders, the skeleton looked like a woman no matter who looked.
It was a bit of a stretch to support the Hero's statement, but it seemed that the gender being on strike wasn't the case.
Elves often have slender builds regardless of gender, and so many males have fewer masculine traits.
It's relative, but on average, yes.
But it was hard to find an Elf with so little masculine appearance.
Especially a half-Elf whose Elf blood flowed only halfway.
Did the Elf blood work hard?
"It's okay, thinking about it, I've been misjudged a lot."
"By the way, asking, Lois."
"What."
"Do you have that kind of preference?"
"... "
His eyes looked like he was looking for some medicine that would make him a man if he said yes.
"I like women normally."
"Yes!"
He looked very happy.
***
So, several days passed riding in the carriage.
We would soon arrive at Half Village, but entering head-on wasn't very wise, so we decided to move by walking while keeping some distance and leaving the carriage.
According to Sylphy's words, many people in Half Village had already fallen into the Death God Cult, and they blocked people from going out of the village, so Sylphy barely escaped with the help of his friends.
If that was the case, it was better to secretly enter and check the situation rather than revealing ourselves.
"There are hidden passages too."
Half Village was surrounded by trees as walls, but there were hidden passages.
"I made it before."
"Why did you do that?"
"Well... Think of it as a child's prank. There are nights when I want to sneak out secretly."
"I don't know."
"Ah, is that so? Olivia-nim seems to have been diligent since childhood."
Should I say diligent?
She must have been educated not to do anything else.
Hearing that, it seemed she was raised by the person called father under the name of education, so the idea of secretly doing something might not have come up.
"Come in."
"Okay."
As soon as we entered, Lois and the Hero's eyes widened greatly.
"Lois."
"Yes."
"You two, why are you like that?"
"The mana is full. It's an absurd amount of mana, no need to investigate. This is mental magic. It's quite advanced magic?"
"As I said."
There were cases where weak monsters used mental manipulation or mental corruption to survive, but this was too professional.
Upper-level monsters.
Or, if it was something the Death God Cult humans were doing, it would have to be at least mid-level.
If they were spreading this throughout the village, it might be that multiple people were performing the ritual.
No, but.
"Sylphy, is there no place in this village where the sky is visible and it's wide?"
"Huh?"
"This level of mental magic isn't something one person can do alone. But if many people were wandering around nearby, the village side wouldn't have noticed."
"... "
"If that's the case, it's a solo ritual. If the sky is visible, it's possible to perform a ritual receiving yin and yang energy from the sky."
"But I don't know how to judge that the sky is visible. If it's visible, it's visible here too."
Um.
It wasn't easy to explain this to someone without knowledge.
"Let's change the question. Is there a place where the sky is visible but not used much?"
If they were replenishing a lot through the ritual, they wouldn't act far from Half Village.
Even for a ritual, since it's a process of gathering mana at the spot, the farther from the spot, the less efficient the gathered mana would be.
The best is to do the thing they want to do at the spot where the ritual was performed.
That way, they can proceed with the highest efficiency, and even a magic that would be impossible alone in the original sense becomes possible.
"Before that... Is this really the will of the village people, or is it mental manipulation due to someone's intervention?"
"It's highly likely. I don't know exactly what kind it is until I see the spell."
"It seems like the most troublesome side."
"The most troublesome side?"
"Most mental manipulations, after a while, efficiency drops, and if used repeatedly, tolerance builds. Therefore, it's not recommended to use it continuously. It's inefficient, of course, but if you wait a bit, the tolerance weakens."
As the Hero said, such mental manipulation, if used continuously, its efficiency is bad.
And the longer it takes, the more likely the person who was manipulated will feel discomfort, so the longer it lasts, the higher the chance of breaking free from the mental manipulation.
"But occasionally there are exceptions where this doesn't apply."
"Exceptions?"
"Yes, mental manipulation where the person is controlled but doesn't believe they are being controlled and believes it's their true will. In this case, this is... um, Lois?"
"In this case, it's mental erosion."
"Yes, if they are mentally eroded, it's hard to have awareness that they are being manipulated. Unlike manipulation, it's hard to feel discomfort even after a long time, and rather, they come to believe it's their true will."
If it's mental erosion, it must be stopped quickly.
If delayed, even if the mental erosion is lifted, they might completely remember the time they were mentally eroded, and in the worst case, they might think that the self at the time of mental erosion is the real self.
For example, if it's mental manipulation, if the magic is broken, people return to normal.
But if it's mental erosion, if too much time passes, they might think that the self at the time of mental erosion is the real self.
Looking at this village, even if people were saved, there was a possibility that they would still become people who believed in the Death God Cult.
"You can use mental erosion? The Demon King army cadre I met before also knew how to use it. They were trying to use it on me."
The Hero whispered to me.
It seemed he said it only to me, thinking of Sylphy.
People are growing, huh.
It was a bit emotional.
"By the way, how did you deal with the mental erosion of that monster?"
"Huh? I just cut it off? They tried to use mental erosion on me, but it didn't seem to work on me."
Occasionally, people with strong mental power don't respond well to mental magic.
Moreover, the Hero has the Holy Sword.
It might be good to see that he has almost absolute immunity to mental magic.