The Hero's Qualification
When I came to, it wasn't a strange ceiling...
Unfortunately, nothing of the sort had happened.
It was a white room.
I was lying in a white room.
No—every direction was drowned in pure white without a single shadow, so thoroughly that I couldn't even be sure it was a room. Even the ground beneath my feet gave no sense of up or down.
Where the hell am I?
I looked around for a long while, but nothing rang a bell. The endless white made me feel as if I'd gone blind.
There's no place like this.
The game Reincarnation Sword God had no region or location like this. As a veteran who knew the game inside and out, I couldn't possibly have missed it.
I had restarted hundreds of times just to clear the game as Shiron—the trash-tier character Yura had designed with pure malice. The reason for all those retries was simple enough. I couldn't stand watching a character who looked like me get crushed over and over until he finally broke.
Looking back now... yeah, even I had to admit I'd been a little unhinged.
Combing through every possible route to clear a game was only natural. I'd scoured community sites and wikis alike, throwing every character and item the game had at the problem—but in the end, I'd never managed to clear it as him.
I hadn't even counted the playtime. I'd started the moment the game launched, and the second I cleared it as Lucia and unlocked Shiron, I'd stayed up night after night playing him. So I could say with confidence that no one knew the elements of Reincarnation Sword God better than I did.
A room that turned the entire screen white simply didn't exist. I'd never heard of an event that blanked the whole display like some kind of glitch.
So how had I ended up stranded here alone?
I tried to piece the situation together from my memories.
Right. The tail. While I was listening for the identity of the person using Berta as a pawn, Encia had sensed someone's gaze.
Following the chain of thought, I'd reached a single conclusion and spoken her name.
Seira.
The elf mage who had been companion to the hero Kyle. Anyone who had sealed the Demon God five hundred years ago and was still alive today could easily slip past Encia and Ophelia's senses.
The moment those three syllables left my mouth, the world in front of me flooded white. I wasn't certain, but it had looked like some kind of magic. Maybe she'd fired a disintegration beam. Either way, I'd been snuffed out in an instant.
"Still, killing a guy just for saying a name is pretty harsh."
I let out a deep sigh.
Then—
Was my voice just... deeper?
"...Ah? Ah! Ah!?"
It was deep. My voice was deep—familiar and yet completely foreign. Not young Shiron's. My voice from before the possession.
It had been a long time since I'd heard it with my own ears.
"Then that means..."
I looked down at my hands and feet.
Big.
Large hands that had never gripped a sword. Rough enough. When I shifted my gaze, long, well-proportioned limbs came into view. But...
"Why am I naked?"
I was completely bare. Not a scrap of cloth. It felt absurd, yet according to my earlier guess, this was the world you went to after dying. They said death humbled everyone. So you were supposed to knock on heaven's gate in a clean body with nothing on...
"Does it even matter?"
Any sense of shame evaporated. I started walking forward to knock on the gates of heaven.
That this place was heaven was pure speculation on my part. I'd lived a damn good life, so of course I was going to heaven. No doubt about it.
That said...
Whether from the drinks earlier or not, I suddenly needed to piss. The white landscape stretched on forever anyway. No need to drop my pants—there were none. I just let a stream hit the floor.
Shaaaaa—
"Hah... that hits the spot."
"Hey!"
"Huh?"
"What do you think you're doing in a sacred place!"
"..."
My mouth opened and closed with nothing to say. A black-haired girl had suddenly appeared in front of me. Her face was twisted with fury as she jabbed a finger at me.
What's with this kid?
My eyes locked onto her—not because she was rudely pointing at an adult, but because of her appearance. Something about her pulled my attention completely.
She wore an unusual ornament on her head. Round, and rather than merely sparkling, it radiated a brilliant light. The ring floating above her head was unmistakably...
"I'm an angel."
"An angel?"
"Yes. God's proxy and servant, the great footstep that connects heaven and earth. That's me!"
The girl who called herself an angel puffed out her chest with a proud, self-satisfied look. As if she'd read my thoughts, she answered the question I hadn't even asked the moment doubt crossed my mind.
I believed her without much trouble. In a world where demons existed, there was no reason angels couldn't.
"Alright then, little angel."
"My name is Latera."
"...Latera. Hmm. Pretty name."
"Of course! Do you know who gave it to me?"
Maybe because I'd praised her name, Latera grinned from ear to ear, planted her hands on her hips, and nodded. I found the sight so cute I couldn't help a short laugh.
"Who named you? Your mom? Wait, do angels even have moms?"
"..."
"Hey, don't make that face. I'm seriously just curious."
"Since I don't sense any real malice, I won't make an issue of it. My senior named me."
Latera glared at me with narrowed eyes. Being naked suddenly felt a little embarrassing.
"...Put this on first. Ahem. Looking at you like that is getting awkward."
As if she'd noticed, Latera pulled clothes out of thin air and tossed them to me. I put them on without ceremony. Some kind of priest's robe, the sort a pastor might wear.
"Latera. If you're an angel, is this place heaven?"
"Why would you think that?"
"I figured I was dead, so I was guessing where I'd end up next."
I asked the thing that had been bothering me. My consciousness was sharp and clear; I could feel that I truly existed here. This wasn't a dream.
"You've got some nerve. You just peed on this sacred ground, you know."
Latera produced a book from midair and held it up toward me. She was so short she had to stand on tiptoe just to get it near my eye level.
"And did you know? If this really were heaven, that stunt just now would have cost you five demerit points."
"Weirdly specific."
"Anyway!"
Latera shouted at the top of her lungs.
"This is not heaven. And the Hero isn't dead, either."
"Not dead, huh. Well, that's a relief at least. Wait—what? Hero?"
"Yes! This is the Hero's House!"
Latera bowed her head with elegant grace. Instead of a long, flowing skirt, she wore something that looked more like a uniform from somewhere. More cute than refined, honestly.
That didn't stop me from thinking the name itself sounded ridiculous.
What is that, a welfare center? Sounds so tacky.
House of Love. House of Hope. It reminded me of the community centers I'd visited for volunteer hours back in middle school.
"Hero's House, fine. But you've got the wrong guy. I'm no hero."
"...Excuse me?"
Latera's eyes went wide and she jumped.
"N-not a hero? That's impossible!"
She started flipping frantically through the book—the same leather-bound volume she'd just shoved in my face.
"Here... here! Shiron Prien! It's written right here!"
Latera's face was already crumpling into tears. Brows drawn together, stamping her feet in place—she looked ready to burst into sobs any second.
But I couldn't give her what she wanted. At my core I wasn't a hero, and I wasn't even Shiron Prien.
"Th-then who are you? Only heroes can enter the Hero's House!"
"...Only heroes, you say. I don't even remember coming here, and I have no idea how. I just opened my eyes and I was here."
"That would be because you spoke the activation word."
"Activation word?"
"Yes."
Latera pressed her lips tightly together and gave a single firm nod.
"When someone who holds the qualifications of a hero speaks the name of the mage who was erased from the world, they're brought here. That's what my senior told me."
"Haa..."
I exhaled a long sigh. So I wasn't dead after all. I'd just pressed the wrong call button and gotten abducted. My head throbbed; I pressed hard at my temples.
"Alright then, what exactly are the qualifications of a hero?"
"Heh heh. You're a very curious Hero, aren't you?"
"I keep telling you I'm not."
Ignoring my headshake, Latera pulled a quill from her clothes and began writing something in the empty air. There were no wings on her back as she turned away. Guess angels around here didn't have them.
"It's selfless devotion. Here, take a look."
She tapped the empty space, and the inscribed characters began to glow. Then Latera looked off in a particular direction.
I turned my head to follow her gaze.
Far in the distance, a single point had appeared.
The point that had suddenly formed in the empty space began to grow larger and larger.
Krrrrrrrrr—
Now it was making a deep rumbling noise. It was definitely approaching this place.
What finally stopped right in front of my nose was a transparent coffin. And lying inside it was a woman.
Her condition was anything but normal. Parts of her arms and legs had turned pitch black and looked ready to crumble at any moment. Some places had already crumbled away.
I knew exactly who this woman was.
"...Kyle."
"The hero Kyle achieved selfless devotion. She was the very model of a hero."
Latera stroked the coffin as she spoke.
"But you know what? After saving the world, she—who should have become the happiest person in it—ended up with absolutely nothing."
