Chapter 3: Hero and Dark Lord

 

 

 

Chapter 3: Hero and Dark Lord

 

EARTH-BREAKING silence filled the shrine atrium after Aki’s unbelievable proclamation.

W-Was that a bad suggestion? It sounds pretty absurd now that I think about it.

Feeling awkward, Aki nervously lifted her head. “U-Um, Elias—” she tried to break the silence, when Elias interrupted her.

“Let me get this straight. You’re saying you will act as my secretary?”

“Y-Yes. I was thinking I could take over managing your schedule and help with your daily needs…” Aki folded her fingers together and cast her eyes down.

Leo, who had been watching in silence, burst out laughing. “I get it! The Hero’s Secretary, huh?! It’s unheard of but sounds amusing. To be honest, we’d have an easier time if you took over the journey’s records too.”

“The journey’s records?”

“Yup. The Hero’s journey needs to be recorded so it can be passed down as a story to future generations. The Hero Party needs to record what they did and where they went every day like a diary. The person who has to put the records into story format later on would probably have an easier time reading your writing over mine or Elias’ illegible letters.”

“That makes sense.” Aki nodded.

From what Leo said, the Hero’s journey needs to be written like a biography and passed on to future generations. It’s easy enough to record our daily life and it will be a good way to learn about this world. I’m glad there’s something I can do to help! Aki hummed with excitement over her newfound purpose.

Elias puffed out his cheeks at Leo. “Whose writing are you calling illegible? My writing is prettier than your scribbles.”

Leo lifted an eyebrow. “Scribbles, you say? You’re one to talk. Your writing isn’t much different from mine. Besides, as long as I can read it, there’s no need to make it pretty.”

“I won’t show anyone my writing either, so what do I need to make it neat for?”

“Are you stupid? Being a Hero with ugly handwriting will hurt your reputation!”

Elias and Leo pressed their heads together and fired off comebacks for everything the other one said.

…In short, neither Elias nor Leo have nice penmanship. From their quarrel, it sounds like they’re equally bad at it.

Aki took both of their hands in hers as they fought. “In that case, I will take over as the person responsible for writing the journey’s records in place of both Elias and Leo who have ugly handwriting!”

“You didn’t have to emphasize the ugly handwriting part!” Leo grumbled. Elias and Aki burst out laughing.

“Okay, Aki, next we want to introduce you to our other party member, the Priest Johann, and have him give you a more in-depth explanation about our journey. We need to change locations, but are you too tired to do more?”

Aki quickly waved her hand in front of her face. “I’m all right. I’m actually pretty surprised about this, but I really don’t feel tired.”

She couldn’t believe how she didn’t feel any exhaustion. Thinking back, she realized she left for the parallel world as soon as she came home from a long day at work and hadn’t gotten any sleep. Who knew how long she wandered in the black space of the black hole for? Oddly enough, she didn’t feel the least bit tired. Perhaps traveling between parallel worlds affected her internal clock like some form of interdimensional jetlag. She wondered if that was a side effect of the Goddess’ power.

“Heh. How strange. The concept of time might get adjusted for people from both worlds. Well, that’s not something we humans can do anything about though.” Leo shrugged.

“You think so? I am pretty curious about it. Does time flow the same for this world and my world? Or does time act differently altogether? Or is it possible time has stopped in the world I’m absent from?”

“Well, the sheer fact we call them parallel worlds makes the theory of time stopping in the world you’re absent from complete nonsense. If two worlds exist in the same space and time, time should pass consistently regardless of where you are. I’m not sure how to calculate for speed and progress differences though.” Leo’s excitement revealed how much he enjoyed coming up with new theories to explain the unknown.

He grinned at the impressed Aki. “I’ll look into it for you. Mages like me are predisposed to researching and studying.”

“Heh, you are actually good at studying, Leo!”

“What’s with the actually part of that statement?”

Aki giggled at his indignation. His appearance gave off a brusque impression, but his intellectual side shined from his every word. He seemed like the type who would lock himself up in the library all day to study.

Maybe the Mages of this world fall in line with the scholars and researchers of my world… I’ll go straight to Leo if there’s anything I don’t know while I’m here.

Leo plopped his big hand on top of Aki’s head and turned to Elias. “All right, Elias, I’ve got to get to work on the final preparations, so I’m leaving Aki in your care for now.”

“Okay. Take care not to overexert yourself either, Leo.”

“Oh, Leo, do you have to go do something now?”

Leo was taken aback by Aki’s unexpected reaction as she leaned toward him like a child not wanting to be left behind by their friend.

“Yeah, just for a bit. Come on now, even if you don’t give me that lonely look, we’ll meet up again real soon! Don’t worry so much!” Leo teased.

Embarrassed by her actions, Aki’s face turned red. It wasn’t her intention to appear lonely. Learning one of the only people she knew in this new world was suddenly going to leave made her forlorn.

She grudgingly lifted her chin. “I-I wasn’t making a lonely face or anything like that! More than loneliness, I was thinking I needed to thank both of you before we part ways!”

“Thank us?”

Elias and Leo stared at her in wonder. She looked at both of their faces before vigorously bowing her head to them.

“Um, this is coming a bit late, but thank you very much for saving me! I didn’t receive any powers from the Goddess, but I will do my best not to slow you down during our journey together!”

Elias and Leo exchanged looks and both flashed bright smiles at the same time.

“No problem. Don’t worry about getting in our way. We’re still inexperienced ourselves. Right, Elias?”

“That’s right. Let’s put our strengths together and do our best.”

Leo put his arm around Elias’ shoulder. Elias chuckled.

Aki was truly glad they were the first people she met in this world. If Leo hadn’t saved her with his summoning magic after she recklessly jumped through the black hole, she may have fallen to her death without being able to do anything about it. And even if she had somehow landed safely, she would have been stuck wandering around not knowing left from right in this foreign world.

I have to make myself useful to the people who saved my life!

Leo casually waved to a fired-up Aki, and left the atrium. Left alone together, Elias and Aki naturally made eye contact.

I feel nervous being alone with him… Even more so because of how handsome he is.

Aware or unaware of her internal turmoil, Elias smiled gently to calm her nerves.

“Aki, I know this is sudden, but we should get going too. Follow me.” Elias walked over to the door and held it open for her like a gentleman. She ran toward him with her heart racing.

“Okay!”

Wow, it’s so spacious!

They exited into a hallway with a sturdy masonry floor covered by a rouge carpet extending farther than Aki could see. She fell in step next to Elias and walked the hallway for some distance until they eventually turned in to another corridor where a courtyard abuzz with people came into sight. Flowerbeds abloom with pink and white flowers colored the courtyard, and in the center was a gorgeous water fountain made in a geometric design, reflecting the sunlight in dazzling patterns across the cobblestone.

“Amazing! It’s so beautiful!” Aki stopped to take in the beauty.

Elias halted beside her and looked across the courtyard. “Thank you. This is our country’s imperial castle. Isn’t it full of life?”

This is the imperial castle? So that means the shrine I was summoned to was inside the imperial castle too. Aki thoughtfully took in the information and memorized their location before looking up at Elias standing several inches over six feet.

“I had the preconception castles were quiet. There are more people than I would expect here.”

People dressed in different clothing styles busily came and went through the hallways, corridor, and courtyard. Some people had even stopped to idly chat, happily exchanging information. Aki had imagined a castle as a quiet space with just a few soldiers, maids, and servants here and there, but this castle was jam-packed with enough people to fill a small city. From the vast difference in appearance and clothing, she guessed people from different countries and cultures gathered in groups inside the castle grounds.

“Yeah, we might have more people than your typical castle. Especially since our royal family has opened a section of the imperial castle to outsiders. Many scholars, researchers, and exchange students have come from other countries for scholarly reasons.”

“Wow. You have an open-minded king.”

Opening not only the imperial capital, but the imperial castle to people from foreign countries must mean this world is fairly stable and peaceful. It’s hard to believe this is a world where a war is regularly fought between the Hero and Dark Lord. Are the world’s peace and the Hero and Dark Lord’s battle unrelated?

Aki walked alongside Elias as they slipped out of the courtyard and moved to a separate brick building inside the castle grounds. Elias stopped in front of the first wooden door once they entered the building. He stretched out his long arm and lightly knocked on the door.

“Johann, are you here?”

“Is that you, Elias? The door is unlocked. Come in,” answered a pellucid, boyish voice from inside the room.

Elias pushed the door open to reveal the boy called Johann standing inside the unadorned room. The pretty boy possessed smooth silver hair that touched his shoulders, blue eyes, and androgynous facial features. He was clad in pure-white vestments that nearly reached the floor.

Wow, another pretty boy joins the ranks of good-looking people I’ve met in this world. Aki stared at the boy, blinking several times to confirm he was real. She thought both Elias and Leo were handsome, but Johann had a captivatingly beautiful face too. His fair skin coupled with the pure-white robe decorated with gold embroidery gave him the effect of a radiant angel.

Johann glanced at the speechless Aki, who was enraptured by his looks, and turned his attention back to Elias. “Elias, is this lady the Hero’s Right-hand for this generation?”

“Yes. Her name is Aki. She’s going to be my secretary.”

Johann blinked at Elias’ remark. “Do you mean she is going to be the Hero’s secretary? That is an interesting way of thinking.”

“Apparently, she worked as a secretary in the parallel world. She wants to use that special skill for us.”

“I see. That sounds promising.” Johann nodded at Elias’ introduction and surprisingly broke out in the cutest broad smile. He walked over to Aki and held out his right hand. “My name is Johann Clarence. I warmly welcome you to our world, Miss Aki.”

Aki took hold of Johann’s snow-white hand and shook it. “Thank you. I am still inexperienced at all of this, but I hope we can get along, Johann.”

Johann looked Aki in the eyes and smiled. Elias, who had been watching over them, turned on his heel to leave. “All right, Johann, I’ll excuse myself here.”

“Very well.”

“Wait, Elias? Where are—”

Elias flashed a smile at Aki and left the room before she could stop him. She had been under the impression he was going to listen to what Johann had to say with her. Catching onto Aki’s sudden disconsolate feeling of being lost over what to do without Elias, Johann’s kind smile reassured her.

“You needn’t worry, Miss Aki. What I am about to discuss with you would be hard to talk about with the ‘Hero’ present. Elias must have left beforehand out of consideration for us. Please take a seat.”

Aki nodded and perched on the edge of the red cushioned bench he gestured toward. He sat directly across from her, his gaze piercing right through her. She swallowed hard, wondering what he was about to tell her.

“Allow me to cut to the chase and frankly ask you: what do you think of Elias? Isn’t he a fine man?”

“…Beg your pardon?”

What is he suddenly asking me? Aki’s cheeks turned slightly pink at his unfathomable question. I can’t deny Elias is handsome and has a sweet personality. Not to mention, he’s a young man the world views as a hero. With all those charming points, he is undoubtedly suited to being defined as a fine man.

“I-I guess so. He seems kind and cool.”

“Doesn’t he? The ‘Hero’ is made to be just such a person.”

“…What?” Aki’s head jerked up at Johann’s casual remark. She carefully examined his face.

What did he just say? The Hero is made to be that way?

“…Um, what do you mean?”

“Both the Hero and the Dark Lord are people brought into existence by the necessity of having to fulfill those roles. They are created with an attractiveness to catch the eyes of the masses and expert skill in both literary and military arts. They are meant to be the center of the entire world’s attention after all.”

“H-Hang on a minute!” Aki jumped from the bench. “Are you saying the Hero and the Dark Lord were intentionally created?”

“Exactly. You could call them artificial life, however it is not the people of this world who created them, but the one we call Goddess who fabricated this very world.”

“Goddess…” The shock was so great Aki flopped back against the bench’s backrest.

Is he talking about the same Goddess I failed to meet on my way to this world? If what he says is true, Elias is an artificial life intentionally created by the Goddess. Does Elias know he was created?

“…Of course, Elias is aware he is an artificially created life-form. The only people who know of this are Elias, Leo, myself—members of the party joining the Hero on his journey—the kingdom’s most powerful person, the king, and select members of his consul. Normal citizens only view the Hero as someone who has come to arms to protect the world by defeating the Dark Lord. However…” Johann paused.

“The fateful battle between Hero and Dark Lord was not established for such an enigmatic reason. You were summoned to this world to serve as Hero Elias’ Right-hand. As such, you need to know the truth behind the roles they bear,” he continued, testing her with his words. Aki kept silent.

The Hero and Dark Lord of this world were created by someone or something they called a goddess. Some deep meaning was hidden within the grand battle taking place between them over the generations. From what Johann said, Aki and her younger sister were about to be pulled into a grand-scale war. But Aki recklessly came to this world to save Nako. She couldn’t return home without her.

Aki returned his gaze and shook her head. “…Honestly, there is so much I don’t understand yet, and I’m concerned about how much I can do here. But I resolutely came to this world to rescue my younger sister. So please allow me to do whatever I can to the best of my ability!”

Johann’s eyes widened in surprise at her as she keenly clenched her fists.

“Thank you… To tell you the truth, you were only led to this world because you chased after your younger sister, resulting in you essentially being pulled into our circumstances. I did not want to force you to help us, but you seem like a dependable person. Please assist Elias the best you can.” Johann deeply bowed his head.

He deliberately stood from the bench and grabbed an antiquated book from a wooden bookshelf in the back of the room. He returned to the low table resting between them and spread the book out for her to see.

“In that case, Miss Aki—no, Aki—allow me to tell you about the secret truth behind the Hero and Dark Lord’s true role…”