Chương 18: Chapter 17: Almost There

ding For being the light of someone's eye, [Light] advances to level 5. For recruiting your own mother for your weird magical girl fantasies, [Magical Girl Transformation] advances to level 6. You have strict opinions on what the age of a magical girl should be, yet tried to transform someone outside that range, upgrading [Magical Girl Transformation] with [Age Correction]. Level cap of [Magical Girl Transformation] increases by 10.

For increasing the scope of its alterations, [Magical Girl Transformation] advances to level 7. For pushing beyond your limits of mana capacity, again, [Increased Attributes] advances to level 4. You really should pick some simpler spells to get started with.

"Okay, if I don't want to nearly die again, getting into fights like that seems like a better alternative," thought Mystery.

"Those guys were complete pushovers, and I still got four levels and a sub-skill!" The [Barbarian] had actually been silver ranked, and his three party members all bronze ranked. They weren't pushovers by any normal definition, but normal definitions didn't factor in people carrying items enchanted with void defences. Trying to cram void magic into an enchanted item was a bit like trying to store a vacuum in the middle of a pool of water; physics just didn't work that way. Hayedalf had his reputation for a reason.

Of course, having a fight in the middle of a crowded street attracted plentiful attention, with the area being swarmed by guards within seconds. Mystery missed the aftermath, on account of the way she'd completely drained her mana again. She wasn't completely unable to learn, though, and had cast [Magical Girl Transformation] on Kellela while sitting on her head, dropping neatly back into her body once she lost the ability to fly.

She'd had just enough time to watch a grown man being flung through the air like a basketball, albeit with a far smellier hoop.

"That was so cool! It's not really a transformation 'sequence' if a target of the spell gets their super-strength immediately and can keep moving while their clothes are changing, but I suppose it makes more sense than freezing time and is more realistic than expecting your opponents to stop and wait for you. Maybe I can pick up something else later as a sub-skill." While Mystery was trapped indoors waiting for her mana to regenerate enough to move around again, Kellela and Hayedalf headed back to their farm.

There had been enough witnesses to confirm the adventurers attacked first, and while there were questions about whether the force involved in their self-defence had been proportionate, Kellela's status as a [Court Mage] ensured they were asked very quietly, and that people didn't try too hard to find any answer other than 'yes'.

"I hope she's okay, and casting that spell on me doesn't mean she's not going to show up for a week again," said Kellela as they walked.

"If it was harmful, I doubt it would have cast it a second time. My guess about it just being embarrassed was probably right," said Hayedalf, before his brain pointed out the bit of weirdness in Kellela's sentence.

"Wait, she?"

"Well, it feels a bit strange to call her 'it' all the time. Don't you think Mystery behaves like a girl?" Hayedalf frowned as common sense battled the mind-bending effects of the [Hero] class.

"I... suppose?" he said.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, you're completely right. Referring to her as 'it' is rude." In the adventurers' guild of Karn's Vigil, a beaming Rose queued up at the materials desk.

"What materials do you want to turn in?" asked the [Receptionist] politely.

"Twenty goblin hearts, ten wolf fangs and some bits of orc."

"Orc?" asked the [Receptionist] double checking the iron guild tag Rose wore, untucked from her armour now that she was back in the town.

"Ah, my dad killed it, not me. I'm just selling the spoils." The [Receptionist] nodded.

"Good. However ambitious you are, at your level, if you see an orc, just run." Rose smiled wryly, once again remembering the feeling of crushing a solid plank of wood between her fingers. Far stronger than any orc. One day, she'd grow strong enough to do that on her own. No, strong enough to do that to an ingot of steel. She dumped the orc eyes, heart and liver in the glass tray, along with the other valuable monster parts, and the receptionist slipped into the back to appraise them and work out their value.

Left alone to wait, Rose listened in to the surrounding conversations.

"Hey, did you hear Brutus got beaten up? Not just him, either, but his whole party."

"No? How'd he manage that? He usually only picks on people smaller than himself. Did he accidentally pick a fight with a dwarf?"

"Nope. Two toffs walking around town in posh clothing. Not a single muscle between the pair of them, but boy could they do magic. My aunt saw it all. Said the man just clicked his fingers and Brutus's entire arm fell off, and then the woman started glowing and threw his party members clear over the town walls." Rose twitched, the description sounding rather familiar, albeit obviously exaggerated.

"Uh, sorry for eavesdropping, but that glowing woman didn't happen to have pink hair, did she?"

"Now that you mentioned it, yes, I did hear that. And the guy had black hair. Why? Do you know them?"

"Kellela and Hayedalf Catter. A [Court Mage] and [Master Enchanter]. I don't suppose you know where they went?"

"Hah, a [Court Mage] here? As if that poncy bunch would ever step foot outside the capital. They can't function properly without a maid to remind them how to get dressed each morning." This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"I don't know about his wife, but Hayedalf is certainly here," chimed in the [Receptionist] as she returned.

"He called in to sell a bunch of accessories yesterday. They should be going up for sale in the store any time now." A few of the quicker thinking adventurers sidled off to queue while the others were still processing that bombshell.

"That's three silvers, six bronzes," said the [Receptionist], this time talking to Rose alone.

"And I believe they bought a farm out west of here, right up against the demonic forest." The [Royal Knight] read the latest reports from Karn's Vigil. Kellela had shown signs of pregnancy, got into a fight, and used an unknown enhancement spell to toss a bronze ranked adventurer into a pile of manure. They'd certainly had a busy day. What they hadn't done was generate any achievements. The Recorder hadn't spat out a single nameless achievement since they'd left the capital.

If someone or something was targeting the capital, had it abandoned Kellela once she'd decided to leave? But there hadn't been any further achievements anywhere. The farm they'd picked wasn't outside the country's borders. They were still within range. What were the chances of something earning achievements at such a ridiculous pace going a week without getting any? Given the time-frame in which it earned [Novice], [Apprentice] should have shown up by now. Kellela had requested healing magic without explanation.

Did she have reason to believe the parasite was injured? The [Royal Knight] briefly regretted sending them without an escort. Perhaps something had happened en route, or the parasite was injured or destroyed by the teleporter. That would rule out it being a [Hero], at least; the death of a [Hero] would be accompanied by a world announcement. But they were still in the capital when it should have earned [First Spell], a response to his enquiry confirming no signs of anyone without a name earning it.

It was more like the Recorder had suddenly started ignoring the potential [Hero]. The thoughts of the [Royal Knight] were interrupted by a knock on his door.

"Come in," he sighed.

"Sir!" exclaimed the [Knight] upon entering, pulling off a textbook salute while surreptitiously reading the cover of the upside-down report.

"Still haven't given up on little Mystery, have you?"" That little mystery," corrected the [Royal Knight] absent-mindedly.

"How can I help you?"

"No, Mystery with a capital M. The nickname Kellela gave it." The [Royal Knight] jumped to his feet in a clatter of metal.

"She named it? Why wasn't that in the report?"

"It was, sir." The documents on his desk were shoved aside as the [Royal Knight] looked for the relevant folder. Finding it, he flipped through it, eyes manically scanning.

"In a footnote! Something that important, in a footnote!"

"Why was it important? It was only a nickname. I just thought it was interesting behaviour from Kellela; it implied she was starting to empathise with it."

"Because it explains why the Recorder hasn't picked anything up recently. Get down to Rumah Magika and tell them to forward any messages about Mystery!"

"Why would her nickname for it affect what the system thinks it's called?"

"If it was just a nickname, it wouldn't. But since we don't know what it is, we don't know if it's just a nickname. Now, get going!"

"Okay, but first, I came here to..."

"Now!" The [Knight] saluted again, then rushed out of the room, while the [Royal Knight] collapsed back into his seat. A 'nickname' sticking implied that Kellela was the real parent of Mystery, or at least its official guardian. Was the pregnancy real? Had it been that all along? He'd requisitioned the recent statistics from the demonic forest, and activity had certainly been building up there for the past couple of years.

There was also a bigger peak, starting about a month ago, right when Hayedalf claimed his scry ward first started firing. The demon lord and the [Hero] came as a pair. It was a possibility. But it wasn't certain. Similar waves had happened around the births of other heroes, both before and after the birth itself, but they'd also happened in the middle of cycles, decades away from demon lord activity; it was why the current peak in activity hadn't resulted in any great alarm.

It was well known that heroes were brought over from another world by the deities. It was something that irked him greatly; were the locals not good enough? Nevertheless, it was a fact that a [Hero] would acquire memories of a previous life at a young age. What if a [Hero] got their memories back earlier than normal? Say, the day of their conception?

A [Hero] could easily learn any skill they put their mind to, and what else could they do before even being born than to experiment with something like [Astral Projection]. He hoped he was wrong. If this Mystery turned out to be human all along, John was going to be utterly insufferable. Not to mention the average life span of a human using [Astral Projection]... If he was right, immediate intervention was needed to protect the [Hero].

Luckily, all the precautions he'd taken to avoid pissing off Hayedalf would equally avoid turning the new [Hero] against them. But they'd moved to the demonic forest, where the demons would hit first. That wasn't as bad as it seemed; if things followed the usual pattern, the first demons wouldn't leave the heart of the forest for years, and they wouldn't start to strike in earnest until the [Hero] reached around ten years old.

There was time, but he'd need to encourage Kellela and Hayedalf back to safer regions before things heated up too badly. That would happen naturally once the child was born and appraised as a [Hero]. There was no need to take action beyond sending updated instructions to the garrison to ensure the pair were protected. In a barren clearing in the centre of the demonic forest, the embryonic demon lord was growing restless.

Mana rolled off the egg in great waves, phasing through the forest and bouncing back at the borders. The egg swallowed up the returning mana, drawing sustenance from the entire forest. But something was wrong. There was something foreign in the mana. Something holy. Each gulp the demon lord took caused irritation, an uncomfortable itch beneath its growing chitin. Something was polluting its food. Mana rolled off the egg in a vast, angry wave, driving the surrounding fields of monsters wild.

They'd grown noticeably deeper over the past week, but the bulge of the egg still towered above the mass. One of the watching demons frowned at his lord's displeasure and spread his leathery wings, flying north and driving a small band of monsters before him. He would find the pollutant and cleanse it. Alas for the [Royal Knight], this cycle was far from usual. Never before had an unborn [Hero] floated right at the borders of the demonic forest, casually casting spells.

A shining beacon for the unhatched demon lord, long before either side should have made their first move.

μ̵̼͉̐υ̴̡̽̿σ̷̭͓̃̀τ̸͉̤̾̆ή̶͎̱͌ρ̸̤͕̏̿ι̷̬̾͜ό̸͈ (Human) Age: -8 months Occupation: Hero (L) Skills: - Soul's Eye (U) (21/60) >> Sense Vitality (U) >> Sense Soul (R) >> Sense Mana (U) >> Sense Light (C) >> Sense Sound (C) - Astral Projection (U) (18/60) >> Sure Navigation (U) >> Uncontainable (U) >> Tether of Will (L) - Robust (C) (17/40) >> Hardened Soul (R) >> Secured Mana (U) >> Pain Tolerance (C) - Stealth (C) (3/20) >> Camouflage Vitality (R) - Magical Girl Transformation (R) (7/20) >> Age Correction (R) - Light (C) (5/10) - Increased Attributes (C) (4/20) >> Mana Storage (U) Achievements: - Early Bloomer II (R) - First Skill (C) - Apprentice (C) - Survivor of Zarklaxxos, the Arcane Infernal (R) - I Broke The System, And All I Got Was This Lousy Achievement (E) - Astral Explorer I (R) - First Spell (C) - I Broke The System Again, And Now The Administrators Hate Me (E)