The Duel (1): What Is a Hero?
What exactly is a hero?
In the dictionary sense, it refers to “a valiant person.” In a certain divided country, it’s also slang for men in their twenties who make for convenient cheap labor. And in fantasy worlds, the term is usually reserved for the Demon King’s fated rival or the savior of the world.
In Saintess Hero, the word carried an especially weighty meaning.
In the world of Saintess Hero, the first hero had appeared a thousand years ago during the Demon King’s invasion. The continent had been on the brink of annihilation, overrun by the sudden onslaught of monsters.
Human fortresses crumbled, armies were wiped out, and the entire land was drenched in blood and screams. That was when he appeared out of nowhere—the First Hero, known at the time simply as the Hero.
With no foreshadowing whatsoever, he charged to the front lines with a handful of companions and literally shredded the monster army to pieces.
In the end, he even took the Demon King’s head, bringing peace back to the world. He was a strategic weapon wearing human skin, a walking natural disaster. That was the image of a “hero” etched into this world.
I ran my fingers over the ends of my hair, lost in thought.
Hero, huh…
I tried to recall how heroes had been handled in the game. True to its “play however you want” philosophy, Saintess Hero offered several different modes, each with completely different timings and forms for when a hero would appear.
There were three main modes in total.
The first was [Saintess Mode], where you played as the Saintess. The second was [Hero Mode], where you played as the Hero. And the last was [Custom Mode], where you played as your own created character.
In [Saintess Mode], you controlled Cruze. The hero system was designed so that whoever ended up becoming her lover would awaken as the Hero. The problem—well, not exactly a problem—was that Cruze had a rather… open attitude toward romance.
Thanks to that pink hair of hers, you could end up with not only heterosexual routes but full-on yuri endings too.
Now that I think about it, Cruze did act a little weird whenever she talked to my lady… Wait, don’t tell me—?!
No. She had simply been looking at Iolet with pure resentment and hatred.
But my brain, already thoroughly corrupted by memories of “Pink Saintess Cruze,” refused to stop. The delusions kept spiraling.
Yeah. Yeah, that’s it. No wonder her eyes looked so suspicious when she stared at my lady!
I couldn’t even see, yet here I was talking about “eyes.” Still, in my mind, Cruze’s unseen gaze had already taken on a sinister glow. In my imagination, she was pressing Iolet against her enormous chest, licking her lips.
“I’m gonna eat your lady! Keh keh keh!”
…Of course, Cruze had never said anything like that, nor had she ever laughed with a creepy “keh keh keh.”
If she ever saw this fantasy, she’d have grounds to sue me for defamation.
But the thought didn’t last long.
Then… could my lady be the Hero…?
The moment that idea crossed my mind, I let out a small snort, as if I couldn’t believe I’d actually considered something so ridiculous.
My lady—the same girl who still sometimes crawled into my room in the middle of the night because she was scared to sleep alone—becoming the Hero? No way in hell.
I decided to shelve the possibility of Saintess Mode for now.
That left…
[Hero Mode] and [Custom Mode].
[Hero Mode] was exactly what it sounded like: the player awakened as the Hero and progressed through the story. In that case, the Hero was fixed as the player character.
If that’s the scenario, the person most likely to awaken as the Hero would be… me, right?
Yes. The only playable character in this world was me—Gladia. I was the most likely candidate.
Hmm. Me, the Hero who saves the continent…
I clenched and unclenched my fist, nodding seriously to myself. Even by my own standards, I was the perfect maid—peerless in combat ability, knowledge, appearance, and personality (?). Unless the Goddess was blind, choosing me as the Hero was the most logical and cost-effective decision.
But I soon shook my head.
Still, I can’t call this confirmed. If this were [Hero Mode], I should have awakened before enrolling in the academy.
That left only the final possibility: [Custom Mode].
Honestly, I thought this was the most likely scenario. After all, the mode I had selected right before getting dropped into this world was [Custom Mode].
The problem was that finding the Hero became much harder in this route.
In [Custom Mode], the Hero is completely random…
Exactly. The Hero wasn’t a set character but a job randomly assigned by the system’s variables. Sometimes the player’s own character would awaken as the Hero. Other times, an enemy the player was fighting would suddenly awaken, power up, and turn the tables.
Fortunately, even in that mode, the characters who could awaken as the Hero were limited to the first-year students—the same year as Cruze and me. Upperclassmen and random outsiders were excluded from the pool. Just narrowing the range that much was a relief.
Whew, my head hurts. I still need to look into the First Hero as well…
CLANG!
“Haaahp—!”
A fierce shout that stabbed my ears and the explosive sound of wooden swords colliding slammed into my eardrums. Only then did I finally snap out of my long reverie. I lowered the hand that had been propping up my chin and expanded my senses beyond my tightly closed eyelids.
My Mind’s Eye immediately absorbed the surrounding information and painted a clear picture inside my head.
I was currently waiting inside the training grounds of the Knight Hall, attending the mandatory knight course Efficient Core Training Methods. Since Iolet didn’t need to take this class, she had gone off with Cruze today to tour the academy and search for potential hero candidates.
Keh keh keh!
For a split second, an image of Cruze cackling like a villain flashed through my mind, but I quickly shook my head to chase it away.
The wait before the professor arrived was fairly relaxed, yet the shouts filling the area were anything but. As expected of guys who live by the sword—they can’t sit still for even a second.
Unable to bear the muscle loss that might occur during the short waiting period, the students had already paired up and started sparring.
“Looks like you’re alone today.”
Someone spoke to me. The voice dripped with unhideable confidence. It was the Crown Prince of the Libertan Empire—better known to me as SixtyFive.
I answered without even turning my head.
“Good day to you, Sir SixtyFive.”
“Just how long are you planning to milk that nickname?”
SixtyFive grumbled, but what could he do? It was the truth. Realizing I had no intention of changing it, he let out a small sigh and continued.
“I’ve only ever seen you with Iolet Dranice. Seeing you alone like this feels strangely fresh.”
“Well, days like this happen too, don’t they? No matter how close people are, they can’t stick together every single moment.”
“For two people who supposedly can’t stick together every moment, you two sure seem glued at the hip…?”
SixtyFive recalled the image of Iolet and me that he had observed so far. Interested in our outstanding talents, he had always been looking for the right timing to strike up a conversation. But whenever he tried to approach us while we were together, one of us would run interference. So he had been waiting for a moment when one of us was alone.
Are these two too close for their own good?
We never seemed to separate! The last time Iolet had come to class alone, he had tried to talk to her, but she had bolted the moment class ended and he missed his chance. This time, with me by myself, he had finally managed to approach.
“So, what can I do for you?” I asked.
“Nothing too important. I simply thought, as fellow students of the academy, we might build some friendly relations.”
“Friendly relations?”
“Indeed. Some of our classmates are planning to hold a social gathering this weekend. Would you be interested?”
While my lady was away, the Crown Prince was extending his devilish hand toward me…!
Unfortunately for him, his target was the perfect maid who had zero interest to spare for men.
“I’m sorry, but I must decline. I’m busy attending to my lady on the weekends as well.”
“You may bring Lady Iolet Dranice along too, of course.”
“Excuse me? My lady, at a social gathering?”
I stared at him with an expression that asked if he was serious. SixtyFive immediately realized his mistake.
That’s right. Iolet was a social monster so extreme that even the Crown Prince of her own empire couldn’t handle her. Her attending a gathering? In his mind, he could already see her causing chaos and completely ruining the event.
“…Well, it might be good for her to meet various people,” he said, still unwilling to give up.
I scoffed and turned my head away. It was hardly the proper attitude to show a crown prince, but he knew I was a genius who had earned the right to act this way, so he didn’t seem particularly bothered.
Just as SixtyFive was about to speak to me again—
“Oh! Everyone’s working hard!”
A heavy set of footsteps accompanied a booming voice that echoed from the entrance of the training grounds. The person who appeared with a roar loud enough to shake the entire Knight Hall was none other than Professor Crasis, in charge of Efficient Core Training Methods this semester.
At the professor’s arrival, the students who had been sparring all stopped at once and turned to look at him.
“Yes, yes! That’s how a knight should be!”
Crasis laughed heartily and slammed the massive wooden training sword he carried onto the floor. The faint vibration traveled through the ground and up to the tips of my toes.
“I am Crasis, the professor in charge of this course!”
At his introduction, quiet cheers rose from among the students. The knight known as Crasis was a legendary figure admired by all knights. The tale of him conquering an entire castle single-handedly was famous even in other countries.
“The attitude of training your bodies on your own even before the professor arrives—I like it! You new students this year really look like you’ve been fed by the sword!”
Crasis looked around at us with eyes full of approval.
“Still, I should give you the basic theory before we begin the lecture!”
So saying, he picked up the wooden sword he had set down.
“We knights manipulate mana through an organ called the core, which is different from the circles that mages use!”
At that moment, his core pulsed violently from his heart, supplying mana throughout his entire body.
WHOOOOSH—!
Over the crude training sword in his hand, a blinding blue mana erupted like an explosion.
“…!”
The overwhelming pressure that crushed the entire training ground left the students gasping in awe. This was the ultimate realm every knight dreamed of.
Aura Sword.
Basking in their reverent gazes, Crasis continued his explanation.
“If a mage’s circle releases mana outward to create form, the key for our cores is how freely we can manipulate mana as if it were part of our own bodies! Therefore, the best way to train this core is—real combat!”
When he lowered his hand, the aura that had seemed ready to devour the training grounds vanished in an instant, as if it had never existed.
“That should be enough theory. You all understood, right?”
Crasis grinned, wearing an expression that somehow reminded me of a certain medical ninja, and declared: