Suddenly, a stark white world sprawled before me. Iād never seen such a sight, and as a dumbfounded expression took over my face, I quickly looked around.
āEh, what!? What is this place!? Ah, eh, eh!?ā
Whether I looked to the right or to the left, it was just endlessly flat and white. Actually, above and below were white too. If I canāt see the sky, does that mean Iām inside some kind of building? Trapped? Kidnapped? Why me? How?
āā¦Wait, wait, wait. Letās calm down. Letās first sort out the situation.ā
Just a moment ago, I was exterminating mole crickets. Pest control in the field was an essential part of a mercenaryās job, and I had ventured into the forest to destroy a mole cricket nestā¦
āā¦Was it really like that?ā
The scene that came to mind should undoubtedly be my everyday life, but for some reason, I felt a strong sense of discomfort. I feel itā¦ but there shouldnāt be any discomfort in such an abnormal situation. Actually, everything around me was a mass of discomfort.
āDid I hit my head? If this is a dream Iām seeing after fainting, thatād be greatā¦ No, it wouldnāt be. If itās a dream, it should be more funā¦hmm?ā
Being restrained and thrown into a prison cell would be troublesome, but the complete freedom of having nothing at all here was even more so. Iām not asking for the luxury of someone to talk to, but at least somethingā¦ As I squinted and looked around, a table and chair suddenly appeared in a place that had been empty a moment ago.
Weird. Really weird. There was definitely nothing there a moment ago, but now when I looked right, left, and right again, there was a table and chair. I donāt understand. Itās my principle to stay away from suspicious things like thisā¦
āWell, I canāt ignore it.ā
The moment I look away, if the table and chair disappear, I will indeed be reduced to a mere existence rolling around like a caterpillar in a blank world where there is nothing. As I nervously approached the table, there was also a stark white book. When I picked it up and opened it, it was filled with very self-serving content.
āWhat the hell is this? A hundred different worlds, exileā¦ Any way you think about it, itās crazyā¦ā
What I should do was written, but I had no idea why I have to do such a thing. As I frowned and looked to the side, there was a white wall and a door attached to it that had suddenly appeared.
I let out a big sigh, then turned my gaze back to the table. Iām not surprised anymore by the crystal ball that has appeared just by looking away for a few seconds. This is the kind of world this is, Iāve been saddled with an impossible task by someone who can do this, and I have no choice but to do itā¦ In essence, thatās what it means.
āMy only hope is this crystal ball thatās supposed to give me some kind of mysterious power. Now thenā¦ā
As soon as I put my hand on the crystal ball, I could feel a strange heat flowing into me. Next, what came to mind was the name [Flagmaker] and the details of its ability.
āI see, I see, so this is how it isā¦ can I somehow manage this, maybe?ā
If itās not about me doing something, but about something happening on its own, then even I, a mere mercenary, might be able to join something as outrageous as a hero party. In fact, it would be troublesome if I couldnāt. I want to get out of this inexplicable world as soon as possible and go homeā¦ back to my original world.
āAnyway, letās just try doing it. Then letās start right awayā¦ hmm?ā
Just as I was about to leave, feeling like I no longer needed to be here, I noticed an object on the table that was the first non-white colored entity in this world.
āAnother book? Whatās thisā¦ {Records Of The Heroās Story}?ā
The title was written in gold foil on a brown leather-bound book. There were other things written too, but those parts had been scratched and scraped off, making them unreadable.
āI donāt quite understand, but should I read this too?ā
Lowering my hips that were about to stand, I sat back down to read the newly appeared book. Upon opening the book, what was written was a heroic tale of a hero Iād never heard of.
āHero Burn? Whoās that? Ah, could this be the hero from the other world?ā
Muttering such things, I continue reading the book. A child born in a rural village aspires to be a hero, inspired by the stories he heard in his youth, and leaves for the city. There he has a fateful encounter and awakens to the power of the hero with his companionsā¦ itās quite a common developmentā¦ up to a point.
āEh, youāre kidding me!?ā
In the middle of the story, the heroine who was a companion suddenly reveals to the hero that āThe man we traveled with is the Demon King, an evil existence who stole the power of God.ā Hearing this, the hero, caught between doubts and trust, pierces the male companion with the āHeroās Swordāā¦ and as a result, the male companion dies.
āWowā¦ But whatās with this development? Shouldnāt something like this have more foreshadowing from the beginning? Suddenly hearing such a thing and dying the next day, isnāt that a bit too sudden?ā
Just because he had the same name as meā¦ well, Ed is a common name, so there must be many aroundā¦ I feel a certain uncomfortable emotion. But since thereās no author in front of me, thereās no point in complaining, so I continue reading the storyā¦
The overly positive hero keeps worrying about stabbing the manā¦ the Demon King, and the elf girl who always cheered everyone up seems to have reversed her outgoing character to a more reserved one due to the effect of her mind control being lifted.
And as the presence of the elf Lunaritia faded, the one who started to shine was the priestess Euralia, who had taken in the power of God recovered from the Demon King. She began to wield a power that was completely different from her predecessors, and honestly, it felt like it became just about Euralia.
Itās kind of like the protagonist has changed, even though the perspective remained with the hero. This was an interesting experiment in its own right, but of course, thereās no sense of unity in the story. It would be better to divide it into two volumes and sell it as separate books. Readers will definitely be confused. I am too.
āThis is terribleā¦ well, itās a bit interesting, but terrible.ā
Thereās a saying that innovative methods that no one has ever tried before are usually things that someone has tried but found to be no goodā¦ and right now, Iām strongly feeling that. If at least the elf was also powered up, the balance could be maintained, but itās only the priestess. Certainly, this wouldnāt get read to the end if it were left lying around here.
āWell, thereās no point in complaining about it here. Now, letās continueā¦ huh.ā
I continued reading the story, which had taken a confusing turn. The priestess woman defended against enemy attacks with the power of God, the priestess woman broke curses with the power of God, the priestess woman gets thanked by villagers and almost had a noblemanās son forced on herā¦ I reached the final page just as I was starting to lose track of whose story this was.
āā %*& World {Records Of The Heroās Story} The Final Chapter: True Peace, True Faithā
Thus, after a journey spanning three years, Hero Burn and his party finally succeeded in subduing the Demon King. Despite the cries of joy resonating throughout the world, the humble hero did not boast of his achievements, but merely smiled quietly.
Afterward, having fulfilled their great responsibility, the heroās party disbanded, each going their separate ways.
The elf, awakened from brainwashing, disappeared somewhere after reporting the defeat of the Demon King. There were rumors that she had not completely broken free from the Demon Kingās brainwashing and, in order to resurrect the Demon King, she had turned to dark magic and had been eradicated from the world by the hand of the hero. However, Hero Burn only gave a vague smile and said no more.
Hero Burn relinquished all of his fame as a hero, as well as his status and wealth, and returned to the rural village where he was born. Distanced from people due to a heart hardened by strife and a painful betrayal, time gradually healed his wounds. At the relatively late age of thirty, he married and built a very ordinary family, fulfilling his life as a villager.
Finally, the priestess who harbored the power of God in her body used the funds entrusted to her by Hero Burn to establish a church worshiping the only God in this world. She, who had thrown away all she gained from defeating the Demon King in pursuit of true faith, became the greatest entity in history in name and reality, dedicating her life to prayer.
Her exceedingly beautiful and noble way of life satisfied God greatly, and He shed tears of joy. These drops washed away the evil existence of the Demon King, and thus, the world took its first steps towards true and pure peace.
āNo, it definitely became a story about this priestess Euralia!ā
As the development turned out to be unexpectedly as I had anticipated, I unconsciously slapped the spine of the book. Whatās this? Did they want to write a story where the priestess was the protagonist, but were afraid it wouldnāt sell, so they put a male hero in the first half as bait for the readers?
āPhew, I feel so drainedā¦ well, this should be enough.ā
I raised my eyes and put the book back on the shelf, which had been there at some point, but it didnāt seem like anything else was going to happen. I stretched and walked toward the only door in the room.
āWell, shall we go then? To another worldā¦ I wonder what it will be like.ā
Excitement at the unknown adventure, major anxiety, a strong obsession with āwanting to go homeā, andā¦ something I couldnāt put into words that stuck in the corner of my mind. With all these feelings in my heart, I opened the door to a new world and stepped forward.