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The Holy Sword descends from the sky,

and a Hero rises on this land.

Selian takes a step forward and reaches out for the Holy Sword, grabbing its hilt.

Whoosh.

No, she was about to grab it.

Everyone watching this situation is bewildered, and Selian, frozen for a moment by the sudden event, tries once more to reach for the Holy Sword, but—

Whoosh.

Once again, the Holy Sword avoids Selian’s touch as if it were alive.

“Ugh…!”

Selian quickly flails her hands to catch the Holy Sword, but it simply evades her grip.

In fact, the Holy Sword distances itself from Selian and begins to approach me instead.

What’s going on? Why is it coming this way?

Trying to move to dodge the approaching Holy Sword in this bewildering situation, I find it following my movements closely.

“Um, Selian…?”

I turn to Selian for help, but she is merely staring at me and the Holy Sword with a stiff expression.

For Selian, who was expected to become the Hero as a descendant of the Hero, this must be a rather upsetting situation.

Stuttering, unsure of what to do, the Holy Sword starts tapping my hand with its hilt.

Should I grab it or not? While lost in thought, I notice the Demonic Beings shifting their attention towards Professor Selene outside the pillar of light.

Right. There’s no time to waste like this. I can ask about the Holy Sword later.

I spread my palm open and grabbed the Holy Sword.

And in that moment, a stronger light emanated from the Holy Sword again within the pillar of light.

As the pillar vanished, I could feel the Demonic Beings that had been causing us trouble now on high alert, but I wasn’t overly tense about it.

A surge of vitality filled my exhausted body.

But it wasn’t confidence born from just that.

Perhaps the Demonic Beings felt something unusual as they attempted to charge at us again, but I was already a step ahead.

I easily caught the one leading the charge from behind.

With a simple strike, I severed the neck of the one caught from behind, yet it looked at me without realizing what had just happened as its head went sailing through the air.

While the other Demonic Beings were thrown into confusion, I moved my feet again.

I wasn’t just moving quickly. The Demonic Beings had simply failed to read my presence.

I was within the field of vision and senses of these Mid-tier Demonic Beings, and I easily evaded their recognition and detection as I moved stealthily.

This wasn’t a clumsy attempt from the previous time in the maze where I had specialized help to awkwardly erase my presence.

This was my own strength, though it wasn’t entirely mine either.

It was part of the level I would someday reach in the future.

As an Assassin, as a swordsman, it was one of the levels I would achieve in the future.

I had only borrowed this level temporarily with the help of the Holy Sword. However, I still felt a lack because I couldn’t fully harness the power of the Holy Sword and the Hero.

Of course, even that was a powerful force that would be of great help right now, but if I were to say it was somewhat disappointing, it felt like the Holy Sword was drawing a line, declaring that my limit was only this far.

Even so, if the goddess’s energy that filled this place were to vanish, the power would quickly dissipate.

Even amidst this step-by-step movement, there was a heavy burden on my body.

But it didn’t matter. By then, I would have already escaped this crisis.

And just like that, in just a few minutes, the Demonic Beings and Demonic Beings that had threatened us and killed Professor Hilpin lay fallen, their necks severed.

*

“Let’s return to the Academy.”

No matter how urgent the matter in the Capital, it wasn’t worth risking the current situation.

Although the carriage was damaged, the horses that couldn’t escape too far were safe enough, so we could each ride back two at a time.

As for Professor Hilpin’s corpse… he was in such a rush to return that we buried him and marked the spot instead.

“Hey, Selian…”

“Later. We’ll talk about it later.”

I realized only after grabbing the Holy Sword that it had already completely chosen me as the Hero.

Why did it choose me as the Hero when my limits for the future were very clear?

Considering Selian’s talent and her current state, it could be expected that she would undoubtedly surpass me in both potential and the qualities required of a Hero.

After all, Selian is the descendant of the Hero.

But ultimately, it was I, chosen by the Holy Sword and the goddess as the Hero.

I didn’t know what to tell Selian, but I couldn’t just stay silent, so I tried to strike up a conversation, but she refused to engage with a stiff face.

The return to the Academy was truly an emergency.

The fact that Professor Hilpin, who held a relatively high position, had died shocked the Academy, and the news that the Saint almost lost her life to the Demonic Beings was met with horror.

Among all this commotion, what people talked about the most was that I had become the Hero, not Selian.

I couldn’t participate in classes for a while, being pulled here and there.

I even met with the Academy’s Chancellor, whom I had only seen during the entrance ceremony, as well as high-ranking officials who had emerged from the Temple.

“Don’t rely too much on the power of the Holy Sword and the Hero.”

With just that remark, Selian treated me as she had before.

Her demeanor seemed as if nothing had happened, leaving me feeling more awkward than her.

However, both Selian and I consciously avoided discussing anything related to the Hero.

One change I noticed in Selian’s behavior was that she, who usually didn’t visit the Temple often, had been going there for several days. At times, it seemed she was meeting with Mariel separately.

She must have lived her entire life up until the age of eighteen with the premise of becoming the Hero.

In this scenario, losing the title of the Hero to me must have been immeasurably painful for her.

Despite being busy for various reasons day by day, I continued to train and swing my sword as usual.

“Haap!”

With Selian absent, I sparred with Anne today.

However, within just a few exchanges, Anne was on her knees before me.

It seemed that the focus of Anne’s abilities was disproportionately centered on the unique aura of Claire, making her somewhat disadvantaged in dueling.

“Ugh… I lost again.”

“Even so, this time was pretty close.”

Without hesitation, I extended my hand toward Anne, who declared her defeat.

Anne grasped my hand and stood up, continuing to speak.

“I was already having a hard time beating Elysia… but ever since you became the Hero, everything seems to be changing daily.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah! You’re not secretly training behind our backs, are you?”

“We share a room and almost spend every day together, how could I do that? It must be your misunderstanding.”

“…Is that so?”

Seeing Anne mimic the way I just spoke made me chuckle.

I pretended not to notice in front of Anne, but in reality, I was the one who felt her words the most.

Even though I said my growth had accelerated, it was to a degree that even I was surprised.

Perhaps this is one of the powers of being the Hero that Selian talked about.

Conversely, I was getting concerned that the level I had reached when I first gripped the Holy Sword might soon be my limit.

“So, you’ll take me with you, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“What do you mean, what? Of course, I’m talking about inviting me to the party to hunt down the Demon King. Or were you planning on leaving me behind?”

“Well, I haven’t really thought about that yet…”

“No way! I’m definitely coming with you!”

And with that, Anne dropped her Great Sword to the ground carelessly and wrapped her arms tightly around my waist.

“Hehe. You can’t escape now.”

The Hero party… I was just pondering whether I should accompany Selian or not, and now I found myself being the one involved.

By the way, it seemed I needed to start a conversation with Selian regarding the Hero soon, but each time I stand in front of her, I could never find the words.

How can I naturally bring up the topic?

“Elysia. Let’s spar this time.”

While I was contemplating this, still holding Anne around my waist, I realized Selian had entered the training hall without me noticing.

She seemed to have finished warming up already, moving her limbs with fluidity.

“Shall we give it a try?”

Seeing Anne step aside, I took my stance as well.

In the past, it would have undoubtedly been a crushing victory for Selian, but considering my recent surge in skill, I thought it might be quite a contest.

“Then let’s go.”

Selian struck first, closing the distance and swinging her sword lightly.

Clang!

As it was a light attack, I easily blocked her sword.

Then Selian let her blocked sword slide and attacked again, again, and again, swinging her sword with determination.

Each time she swung, each jab was a bit quicker, sharper, as if she were testing my skills.

It was an attack that didn’t give me room to counter.

And after barely twenty clashes of swords, I found myself easily subdued by Selian.

As much as I had grown stronger, Selian had also advanced further ahead.

To think I couldn’t catch up even with the power of the Hero; I really didn’t understand why I became the Hero.

“…Let’s visit my family home this weekend.”

“Are you talking about Deretia?”

“Yes. There’s also a summons from my father, and there are various materials regarding Heroes in my family home. We can discuss the Hero and future matters there.”

Selian brought up what I had been pondering about how to approach the topic.