The Beginning

As with most things in life, the world never quite goes the way I expect it to.

A single wrong choice can drop a perfectly peaceful life into the gutter in an instant, and there are moments when a responsibility you never wanted simply appears.

"……."

The moments that call for caution sit closer than we like to admit. Spending more than ten thousand hours on a single game, for instance.

"…ero."

Or sinking so deep into it that you fire off a lengthy letter to the developers over nothing more than a scrap of data vanishing.

"…ero?"

Ah—and one ought to be equally careful when those same developers insist, quite unnecessarily, that a mere player update because the next installment is out, or when a new title or mode unlocks and you simply cannot resist pressing the button.

"…Hero."

"……."

Right. So.

"Hero?"

"……."

If you want a simple explanation of a case like mine...

"Hero. Are you not hearing Us?"

"How could I fail to, Your Majesty?"

I had been possessed into the game I loved to play. More precisely, into a world I suspected was that game's sequel.

"Haa..."

Quite some time had passed since the possession, and still a sigh escaped me before I knew it. I had liked the game well enough to claw my way into the ranks, but I had never been overwhelmingly more skilled than anyone else. I had never gone to war with the developers on a keyboard because the ending displeased me. And I had certainly never gone back to playing after some new mode or title unlocked, or after they pushed the sequel through as an update.

So why am I inside the game...?

All I had known of this place was a rumor that the studio had it in development. I had never imagined I would end up possessing my way into it. I had no complaints about my life at all. Why me, of all people?

I swallowed sigh after sigh and muttered inwardly.

Status window.

Hardly what anyone would call splendid, but taken altogether the window showed a fair amount of growth. Only natural. Months had already passed since I was dropped into this body, and I had fought the demons—the great enemy of this world—more than a few times.

"So. Finished with the stray thoughts?"

I had been staring at the window, sunk in thought, for some time. At the sound of a woman's voice I turned my head. She was watching me, a faint smile resting on her lips.

"Bold boy. You may well be the only soul who daydreams with Us sitting right in front of him."

Platinum-blonde hair in that brilliant shade peculiar to the imperial house, and blue eyes like a view of the open sea. Even the look of illness on her only made the beauty keener—something sorrowful in it, something that stirred the urge to protect her. She seemed, at a glance, a woman in the flower of her years. Quietly, I opened her status window.

"It wasn't a stray thought. I was only observing Your Majesty's condition."

"To examine the imperial countenance without leave is a grave crime as well. You sly thing."

So saying, Regina playfully laid a hand over the front of her shirt and smiled. I put on a look of pure disbelief and protested.

"That is not what I meant."

"We know. We were only teasing."

She giggled as she said it, flicking a hand through the air. For someone who would be dead within a few years... no. For an emperor, she had far too little dignity about her. The strength went out of me. I let out a short sigh and leaned back against the chair.

"So. Would Your Noble Majesty care to tell me why you asked to see me in private? I trust you didn't summon me merely to pass the time in pleasant talk."

The person before me was nothing less than the emperor who ruled this world's one and only empire. Hero or not, I was little more than an outsider, and an audience alone—without so much as a guard—was not easily granted.

Not that I can't guess.

The reason an emperor seeks out the Hero is simple enough, once you think about it.

"Tell me what mission you intend to give me. Which front should I be heading to this time?"

I will say it again: I am a man who possessed his way into this game. In truth, it was closer to a summoning into another world. I hadn't overwritten any particular character. I had been laid over the customizable, skill-configurable playable character known as the Hero.

The proof was plain enough. My face, and the physical abilities I had started with, were identical to the body I'd had before the possession.

And I suffered for it. Aside from the special skills—the one thing that could be called a benefit of the possession—I was a civilian, weaker than the average knight.

Those special skills, fortunately, were the utterly broken ones I had favored in the game before I came here. Thanks to them I grew on the battlefield and, in a short time, surpassed ordinary knights. Even so, I was still a long way from deserving to be called the Hero. So I assumed this mission, too, was Regina's way of sending me to the front to pile up experience.

"Mm. It is a mission. You won't be heading to the front, though."

"Not the front?"

"You could call it a personal assignment."

My guess missed, cleanly.

A personal mission? What wind blew in to make this woman suddenly turn to me?

Perhaps she caught the question in me. Regina gave a small nod and spoke.

"You've grown a fair amount since you came to this world. I felt it was about time to entrust you with something important."

"Your Majesty, but I'm still weak, aren't I? Put me against a single elite knight of the imperial house and I'd probably lose..."

"It is true that you are still weak. But your rate of growth is hardly ordinary, is it?"

Regina looked at me with those characteristically sharp eyes. For an instant, her blue gaze seemed to give off light.

"Half a year, at most. In a span too short for others even to build a foundation of stamina, you raised strength and endurance beyond a common knight's—and you awakened mana besides, and became an aura user."

A pace of growth no ordinary person could even imagine. My own effort had played its part, certainly, but it was growth I never could have reached ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had I not been the Hero.

"Whether you simply grow quickly, or whether something exists to help that growth along, I couldn't say..."

In any case.

"I made this decision with your pace in mind, so spare me the talk of being too weak. From what We've seen, the more thoroughly you carry out your duties as the Hero—and the harder those duties are—the faster you seem to grow."

"……."

At that, I had no choice but to shut my mouth. Her judgment was, in fact, exact.

"Well. Say what you will, but don't worry. This mission is essentially a simple investigation."

I nodded. A simple investigation was something even I could manage without strain. As she said, there seemed no need to worry.

"Understood. Shall I leave to carry it out at once, then?"

"No. It isn't that urgent, truthfully. There are still things I need to look into on my end. And..."

She trailed off without warning. I was just beginning to wonder what it was when she went on, carefully.

"...You don't mean to keep going alone, do you?"

"……."

Silence settled for a moment. I caught the sigh before it could slip out and asked her, calm and even.

"You're telling me to find a new party."

"You can't remain in the past forever."

"For now, alone is enough."

"For now, perhaps. But you know well enough that bringing down the Demon King—your very goal—is beyond what one person can do."

"……."

"Don't think of indulging in empty bravado. I'm telling you to take companions with you, so you can answer whatever situation might arise."

Not a word of it was wrong. In the end, I could only nod toward Regina, who was watching me with open worry.

...Fine. A man who still couldn't take a Legion Commander has no business posturing like this. And if I want real teamwork, I have to start matching their rhythm from now.

Once I admitted it, what came to mind was what the new companions could do, and how to use them efficiently. I didn't spare a thought for how ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I would find them. If the Emperor was speaking like this, the recruiting was surely already done.

"They'll be excellent people, I assume?"

"Hm. They were sent by the Church, the Mage Tower, and the Southern Tribal Alliance, and from what I saw their skill wasn't bad."

"So you've already met them."

"Of course. If We are to entrust Our precious Hero to anyone with an easy mind, Our own confirmation is essential."

With a hand like a dry, brittle twig, Regina tapped lightly at the corner of her eye.

"And We do have an eye for people. From the Church's candidate for saint, to a high mage of the Mage Tower, to the next great warrior of the southern tribes—none of them were lacking in skill."

"Oh."

"They won't hold you back, at least. That much We can say."

The confidence in her voice had me expecting something myself.

In the seat the Hero had left behind, Emperor Regina Aurelius sat alone, quietly savoring her tea.

"Your Majesty. Are you truly certain this is all right?"

"All right in what way?"

A voice came suddenly from close beside her. Regina showed no surprise at all; she only turned the woman's words back on her.

"Giving the Hero a mission on his own, and not even with the army. I believe it is still too soon."

"Strictly speaking, it isn't on his own."

"Do you truly mean to trust people sent by a Church mad for coin, a Mage Tower that moves on nothing but curiosity and has clearly lost its mind, and that filthy alliance of barbarians?"

"You always say the same thing, and your thinking stays shut in the same box. And from what We saw, they looked competent enough."

"That isn't what I mean..."

The woman let out a thin sigh at Regina's reply. Regina found the reaction so amusing that she giggled for a moment—until a cough rose, and the laughter stopped.

"...Of late, the movements of the Demon King's army have been anything but ordinary. We cannot go on assuming things are as they used to be. You stood on the front yourself until recently. You know that well, don't you?"

"It's true... unlike before, the Demon King's army feels more aggressive now."

This was no mere guess from the captain of the imperial knights. It was fact. The threat of the Demon King's army was nothing new, but the danger of it climbed with every passing day.

"Creatures that once only loitered near the border have begun waging war, sowing conflict, even slipping into the Empire in secret. It would not be strange if some great incident broke before long."

"Your Majesty..."

"The timing is that dangerous. Which means the Hero, too, needs to be grown a little faster."

To bring down the Demon King, the Hero is necessary. That story has spread as if it were simple common sense. The Demon King's army is no longer content to posture; little by little, it is looking past the Empire's borders. If, in such a time, the Hero fails to grow as he should, then putting an end to the Demon King will slip clean out of reach.

"I worry he will push himself too far."

"He's a stubborn brat who never listens, so We'll simply have to keep him in line."

"It is frustrating that we were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠not permitted to choose the party ourselves."

"Nothing to be done. Still, they sent people whose skill is genuine, so We ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠can hardly protest."

So saying, Regina set her cup down. Several documents lay stacked upon the table.

"Variables may well arise even while the Hero is carrying out the mission. We can try to predict the Demon King's army, but they often move irrationally, and by no fixed pattern. He could be in danger."

"……."

"But We believe this. That the Hero will rise through that hardship and achieve a growth greater still than what he has now."

The uppermost sheet. It was crowded with entries.

In the end, the Hero would grow, whichever way events turned. Not a groundless hope. A belief founded on certainty. She was worried, of course. On the other hand.

"Still, he has companions now. It shouldn't be as hard on him as it was before, should it?"

The confidence in her voice had me expecting something myself.

...Or so I had thought, and that had still been true until only a few hours ago.

"My words, Sir Hero? I follow none but the will of God."

"The Hero? That's still only a human, isn't it? Why should I take orders from some human?"

"Forget that—are you actually the Hero? Some scrawny little runt like this? I don't listen to anyone weaker than me."

Your Majesty. You didn't check their character, did you...?