-Nera-

Luna and the others are getting ready to leave, to fight an enemy that might be too much even to her.

I had gotten comfortable with the belief that there was nothing that could beat her, at least in a fight. Considering how she usually acts in battle I cannot help but worry.

If that wasn't bad enough, that enemy is also holding an entire country hostage. And now that she needs help more than ever I won't be able to go with her, not that I could do anything in a fight anyway, but I would have liked to help her deal with all the difficult social interactions she's probably going to run into.

I guess I would only be a dead weight in a fight, so perhaps this is for the best. And Luna said that she's thought of a way to go unnoticed... But she doesn't have a very good track record with that, I'm a bit worried.

After finally making up my mind to go talk to her, I find her coming out of her room. But there's something about her that looks different.

"Luna, your ears look different."

"HEY NERA! LOOK AT MY EARS. DON'T THEY LOOK DIFFERENT?"

I'm taken aback by her loudness. That kind of yelling would be startling if it came from an average person. When the queen of darkness yells it's absolutely terrifying.

"Uh, I can see that they are a lot smaller."

"I WAS THINKING THAT EVERYONE KNOWS THAT THE QUEEN OF DARKNESS IS AN ELF, SO IF I USE MY FLESH SHAPING TO MAKE MY EARS LOOK LIKE A HUMAN'S NOBODY WILL BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY ME! WHO WOULD GUESS THAT AN NORMAL HUMAN GIRL IS REALLY ME?"

She does look like a human like that, with her ears small and round. But not a normal one, that's for sure.

"You don't need to yell like that, I'm right here."

"WHAT?! I CAN'T HEAR YOU IF YOU SPEAK IN SUCH A LOW VOICE. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF MY IDEA?!"

"I'm not sure if that would help much, you are still as scary as always. And it seems like you are having trouble with your hearing."

"WHAT?! I CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE SAYING. I KNEW THAT A HUMAN'S HEARING WAS WORSE THAN AN ELF'S, BUT I DIDN'T KNOW THAT THE DIFFERENCE WAS SO BIG! HOW CAN YOU EVEN MANAGE TO HAVE A NORMAL CONVERSATION LIKE THIS?"

"It's not supposed to be that bad. I think you must have gotten something wrong."

"WHAT?!"

I pull her ear with my hand and start screaming into it.

"I SAID THAT IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THAT BAD! MAKE YOUR EARS NORMAL AGAIN!!!"

"OK, GEEZ, YOU DON'T NEED TO YELL LIKE THAT!"

And in an instant, Luna's ears are back to their usual pointy forms. The tips lowered, showing how dejected she's feeling.

"I didn't know that you could use your magic like that. Can you also change your face?"

"I can, but it never looks quite right. Look, I'll try copying your face."

"That looks... Wrong." The way her skin stretches and the eyes don't seem to fit in their sockets feels uncanny. M-my face does not look like that, right?

"I know, right? I can also alter the size of my body, but making myself smaller is really uncomfortable and even painful. And making myself bigger takes a lot of mana to create the extra flesh, and it feels kinda pointless."

Mmm, I don't know much about dark magic, or magic in general, but anything that not even Luna can quite figure out must be really difficult.

"I'm sure you'll get it eventually."

"I would have liked to do it before going to the Magnel kingdom. By the way, we are leaving in a couple of hours, are you ready?"

"About that, I need to go back to the Agua kingdom for a couple of weeks at least. My father has finally recovered and I need to bring the proof of my mother's misdeeds."

"Oh, then you are not going to come to the Magnel kingdom?"

"No, sorry."

"YES!!!"

A sudden joyful yell gives away the hiding spot of the person who's been listening to us in secret.

"Ara, are you happy that Nera is not coming?"

"Ah, no. I'm just happy to hear that her father is better. But I'm very sad that she will have to leave us for a bit."

She didn't even try with that lie.

Luna looks at me and claps her hands, appearing to have remembered something.

"That's right! There was one thing I wanted to do before we go our separate ways."

"Something you want to- EH?!"

What is she doing?! She lifted my shirt out of nowhere!

"Ah, I see. I'll help you keep these clothes out of the way so that you can do your thing to her body."

W-what is this witch saying? What thing is she going to do to my body?!

"Mmm, I think that it would be better if I do it behind."

Do it behind?!

"W-wait."

I feel a cold sensation on my back, Luna is doing something with her dark magic.

"Alright, it's done."

"What did you do?"

"I drew a magic circle on your back, the one that lets me open a black gate. I was thinking that if someone were to kidnap you and take you to someplace I don't know, there would be nothing I could do even with all my magic. But if you have that circle on your body, I will be able to open a gate to your position whenever I want wherever you are!"

"I see... I guess that's a good idea. But why did you have to be so misleading?!"

"I was misleading?"

"Nevermind."

I guess Luna is just unable to avoid causing misunderstandings with everything she does and says, and that worries me. Arana, on the other hand, was totally doing it on purpose, and that also worries me.

"Will you be alright going back to your country on your own?"

"Mari will be coming with me, and my father sent a few knights to bring me back. The one who needs to be careful is you, I'm worried about you wilfully walking into an obvious trap like that."

"I'll be fine, you know that I can heal myself from anything, and I'm going to have Arana and the others with me."

Mmm, I'm just going to go ahead and wrap my arms around her. Hugging her is so awkward, her breasts end up on top of my head. But I would be lying if I said that it doesn't feel comfortable.

"Promise me that you will take care of yourself."

"Ah, of course."

"And if it looks too dangerous, run away."

"Naturally, you know that I'm quite a coward."

"That's not true at all."

I guess it's time to leave, I can see Mari looking at us from behind the corner. Her face is all red, I hope she's not imagining anything weird again...

---

 

-Cureva-

 

"Thank you, Paula! I thought I was going to dieee!"

"There, there, don't cry. And you don't need to thank me, getting you out of the trouble you get yourself into is my job."

Silvea gets like this whenever she finds herself in any mildly scary situation. As adorable as it is, I wonder what people would think if they knew that the chosen hero is such a crybaby.

"I'm supposed to be a hero but I almost got beaten by a bandit, I'm nothing but a fraud..."

"Well, that's what we are working on right now, you have been getting stronger at an incredible speed."

At the rate she's going it won't be long before she reaches level 200, the point where it starts making sense to call someone a 'hero'. But Silvea is the REAL hero after all, and a hero has to become stronger to be able to defeat the villain. It's only natural for her to be growing so quickly when the villain she needs to face is so unusually strong, as stupid as that is, that's how this insane world works.

However, she's far from perfect, that damned 'kindness' of hers keeps getting in the way! That guy from before was quite strong for a bandit, but he would never have had a chance if she wasn't afraid of killing him. And then, when she had him beaten, he pretended to repent and she lowered her guard!

I know that for now, it should be enough for her to gradually become used to always being right, if I make sure that all of her actions prove to be righteous she will eventually stop questioning them and will become easy to manipulate. The despair she would feel when she finds out the truth would be so wonderful.

But I am supposed to be her caretaker, I need to ensure her wellbeing. And that's why I decided to bring her to the Magnel kingdom. To get rid of that useless kindness, we should start by taking away her empathy, and this is a place where Solitude has gained quite a bit of influence.

"Miss hero! We need your help. Something terrible has happened!"

A messenger from the kingdom comes running looking quite distressed.

"What's wrong?"

"Our prince offended the queen of darkness during his visit. And now she intends to invade our kingdom!"

"WHAT?! I'm sorry, but what can I do about that? I'm still too weak, and there are a lot of people stronger than me in this country."

That's right, this is a large and powerful country, there are several people above level 200 here.

But what was that about an invasion? Normally, I would assume that it's just another misunderstanding. But that should not be possible with that old man there, I mentored him myself in a past life, back when I was not yet sane.

"I know, but we don't have anyone that can beat her... However, you already defeated her once!"

"T-that's not true... Paula! What should we do?!"

"About that... Give me a moment, I need to go to the bathroom."

"Really? Now?"

When I'm out of sight I take a white rose from my pocket, someone wants to speak to me.

<I will make that girl mine again, and you will help me. You will get your sisters out of the way.>

"Ah, so this 'invasion' was really your doing. But this doesn't seem to fit with Fate's plans, does it?"

I suddenly feel my neck being strangled. There's nothing there but it feels as if a dozen thorns are piercing into my skin.

<You. Will. Help me.>

"Hahaha, sure sure. No need to be so aggressive."

So that's what we are doing now. It would have been nice to have been told beforehand, but I guess life would be even more boring without surprises like these.