Unborn Hero Chapter 52: Crisis of Faith (Patreon)

Little had changed by the time Mystery re-emerged.

She popped out of Kellela to find her bandaged but standing, spoon feeding soup to Hayedalf. He was in a chair, arms hanging limply by his side.

"... Dad... okay...?" whispered Mystery.

"Heck no," he grumbled, as Kellela put down the spoon. "Damn demon severed my spine. I'm completely paralysed from the neck down."

Mystery peered in shock. He may have been grumbling, but he was animated, and didn't seem depressed. How could he still be in high spirits suffering that sort of life-changing injury? Unless it wasn't life-changing? "... Healing... magic...?"

"They tried, but there was too much miasma in the wound. It needs to be purified, but Grace and the few priests we could find at short notice have been concentrating on Rose."

"... Then... stuck...?"

Hayedalf grinned. "I hope not! Once Rose is out of danger, I'm next on the list."

"... Transform...?" suggested Mystery, knowing [Magical Girl Transformation] came with a bonus of free healing.

Hayedalf looked conflicted. "Not that I would let its... side effects... stop me, but I have no idea what sort of effect it would have on a cursed wound. The last thing I want is to heal my injury with miasma trapped inside."

"... Sorry..." whispered Mystery.

"It's not your fault," said Kellela, reassuringly. "That went quite well, all things considered. No-one died, and no-one was injured in any way that can't be healed. Grace's first attacks took care of any miasma in my side, so I'm all better already."

"... Rose..." was all Mystery could reply, remembering the way the demon had poked a hole clean through her lung and out the other side. How close the wound was to her heart. How she'd apparently soaked up all of Grace's time since. Could something like that really be healed? Would Rose want to continue fighting, even if it was?

"She'll need a day or two of bed rest, but she'll be fine. Don't worry," replied Kellela, but Mystery didn't miss her wince. If not for Grace's immediate reaction, Rose could never have lasted until the army's healers arrived. Had the army's healers arrived a few seconds later, Grace wouldn't have been able to keep her stable for long enough for them to matter. Had Rose's level of [Robust] been a little lower, or had she lacked [Demon Slayer II], she wouldn't have been able to endure as long as she had. Rose's life had hung on a knife-edge.

"... Sorry..." Mystery repeated. "... Not... enough..."

"I... really wish I could give you a hug," said Kellela. "Hayedalf, while you're stuck there, use your time thinking of a way to hug souls!"

Hayedalf chuckled despite himself. "Are you trying to get me thrown into a dungeon? And Mystery, you did nothing wrong. That was an arch-demon, and we are inexperienced. We did brilliantly, given the circumstances."

"... But... forest..." she replied, reminded of her new achievement by the mention of arch-demons.

Demon Slayer III (Epic)
Very few have the misfortune of meeting an arch-demon, the lieutenants and champions of the demon lord. Fewer still survive the encounter. Your party has done so, not by hiding or fleeing, but by striking back and slaying the evil. You gain a 50% boost to offensive and defensive abilities when fighting demons, a 20% boost to physical abilities, and effects of miasma poisoning are reduced by 75%.

Same rarity as the previous version, with no new effects. Not that the straightforward doubling of numbers was a bad thing.

Both Hayedalf and Kellela looked conflicted. "Arch-demons aren't common, even in the depths of the demonic forest," explained Kellela.

"No, there's no point sugar-coating it," said Hayedalf. "If we attempt to reach the demon lord as we are, we'll all die."

"... Enchantments...?"

"Yes, I'll certainly be stocking up, but the sort of personal defences that are useful against anything on the level of an arch-demon are single use, and take a lot of time to make."

"... Run... away...?" she suggested.

"Aww... Mystery," mumbled Kellela. "Are you sure we can't hug her? She needs hugs!"

"We'll be with you every step of the way. There's nothing you need to be afraid of," said Hayedalf.

Mystery filed that claim under deeply implausible.

"... Where... Rose...?" she asked, changing the subject.

"In her room," confirmed Kellela, so Mystery flew off through the wall. Another few walls later, and she emerged into Rose's bedroom, where the girl in question was lying in bed, sleeping. Her breathing was so shallow and her skin so pale that she barely looked alive. Thankfully, while she was heavily bandaged, she no longer showed any further signs of physical injuries.

Grace was sitting in a chair facing her, also asleep, a small stack of empty potion bottles on the floor next to her. A priest stood at the other side of the bed, a stream of purification magic flowing into Rose, eroding the last of the miasma that had invaded her.

"I've been such an idiot," thought Mystery. "A selfish, stupid moron. She's fourteen. A newbie adventurer. And because of me, she got thrown into battles against demons. And I thought it was cool. This isn't a TV show. They're real people. They get hurt. And because of me—because I thought she was cute—she's ended up like this... My mum works a desk job. My dad makes stuff. Grace... presumably does princess stuff, whatever that involves, but I bet it doesn't include desperate fights for survival. Rrillandral is the only one who actually wants to be here while knowing full well what she's letting herself in for, but I can't leave Mum. It's too late to back away and hide now. I've dragged her into a fight she should never have been involved with. But I at least need to get the others out and away from me. I know [Fireball] and [Lightning Bolt] already. Let's learn to fight properly, forget the stupid magical girl stuff, and take a properly trained team of knights and mages into the forest."

"Nngh..." moaned Rose, stirring in her sleep.

"... Sorry..." whispered Mystery, hoping whatever dream she was having was a pleasant one.

"Why are you sorry?" asked the priest, looking straight up at Mystery. "I don't recall anyone accusing you of anything."

"... You...?" she asked in surprise, recognising the face of the priest who had once trapped her.

"Me indeed," he replied. "I'm glad to see you've overcome your communications issues."

"... Still... slow..."

"Perhaps, but it's enough to say what needs to be said, is it not? And what needs to be said is not 'sorry'."

"Then what?" snapped Mystery, too quickly for [Telepathy] to convey. "Why does everyone keep telling me I did nothing wrong? I threw a child into a war! I'm no [Hero]; I'm literally a war criminal!"

She followed that train of thought a little further, where it got worse. Far worse. "Rose used to be shy and bashful. Grace used to be... Grace. Now they're both... different. Is that really just from a few fights with demons? Wouldn't that be more likely to give them PTSD than convincing them to embrace joining the magical girl squad? Please don't tell me it's the mind-warping effects of the [Hero] class... Grace's near breakdown, deliberately getting drunk, would make so much more sense if she knew it wasn't something she should be doing but was pushed into because I'd brainwashed her..."

She would have continued, but a horrible burning sensation indicated that she'd once again overtaxed [Astral Projection].

She made it halfway back to Kellela before it occurred to her that she'd only just finished resting. It was far too soon for any sort of degradation to happen. She wasn't going to argue with empirical evidence, though, so she continued her rush and plopped back into her budding foetus.

ding
For yet another mad dash to safety, [Astral Projection] advances to level 23. Will you never learn? After surviving that demon attack, it would be a shame to lose you to your own self-doubt.

"My own self-doubt?" pondered Mystery, before remembering the description of [Tether of Will]. "Oh..."

She'd traded her regular tether for one forged purely of willpower. It was not a situation in which it was healthy to let her will waver.

——————————————————

"And what's your opinion?" the [King] asked a female elf with the appearance of a thirty-year-old, sitting primly on a sofa.

"If they enter the forest in their current state, they will all die."

"'They'? Not 'we'?"

"I won't throw my life away in a fight I can't win," said Rrillandral. "I've watched heroes die in the past, and the way things are, it will happen again here. Whether I went with them will make no difference."

"What happened to change your mind? You were all for it before."

"[Magical Girl Transformation] has a clause that casting it without a good cause results in a weakened version of the spell. The others up-played how much stronger it was in its full form. With their description of the fight against the greater demon, and the gains made since, I was not expecting a struggle against a single weakened arch-demon. I was wrong."

The [King] sighed. "So, what would your advice be? You say that [Diligent Hero] causes Mystery to shine as brightly as the sun to demons, which makes hiding impractical, particularly combined with the way they're making use of humans, unwitting or otherwise. You can't stay here, but wherever you go, all it will take is a rumour to spread, and the demons will find you. Where do you plan to hide?"

The elf took a deep breath. "The Vale," she answered.

A susurration of confusion spread around the room, while the eyebrows of the [King] furrowed sharply enough to turn them into a single monobrow. "The Vale rarely permits outsiders to enter," he pointed out. "And certainly not a [Hero]. Ever."

"Which makes it the ideal place for hiding Mystery. No demon will sneak through our borders, nor will their duplicitous servants. The [Hero] will not be found."

"Ever," repeated the [King]. "Even as their princess, can you countermand an order of your father? I was under the impression your orders explicitly involved keeping the [Hero] away from the Vale. If demons ever did get in..."

"No, but that simply means I have to convince him," said Rrillandral, a brief look of concentration flickering across her face. A few seconds later, an elf with the appearance of a thirteen-year-old carefully crossed her legs. "And Mystery has something truly unique to offer in return for shelter."

"How long?" he asked carefully, feeling out the corners of this new plan. "At what age do you think you'll be ready to attack?"

"Oh, no more than a couple of months," she answered, smiling.

"Wait, you aren't going to wait for Mystery to grow up? To be born?"

"No. With how quickly she learns and the speed at which her mana capacity is increasing, I do not believe that will be necessary. She needs only concentrate on her spells while Hayedalf crafts sufficient weapons. We will leave before Kellela's age regression becomes a strain on Mystery's health."

"I have no objections. Defending our border for a few more months is trivial if the alternative is Mystery's death, leaving us needing to defend the border for another decade. Have you discussed this with the others, though?"

"Not yet. I will do so once their wounds are healed."

——————————————————

Mystery stewed in her foetus, pondering her life choices. "I know Rose. I've been hovering around her enough that even without my recent acquisition of [Translate] I think I had a pretty good handle on her personality. If I tell her to leave, she'll refuse. Grace will be the same, not because she wants to stay, but because she feels it's her duty. My parents are being all parenty, and there's no way they'd leave me. Mum physically can't, anyway, so it's not like I could sneak off and run away with Rrillandral without her."

She pondered further.

"... I've really screwed up, haven't I? I've built myself a fiercely loyal party, completely by accident and quite possibly with the aid of some accidental brainwashing, and yet I've treated them like some sort of mindless video game NPCs. Was that because of the language barrier, making it harder to think of them as people? And now that we can talk, the illusion is falling apart. But I've revealed myself to the demons, and now they'll stop at nothing to kill me and anyone who dares protect me. I can't undo any of it. I should never have learnt [Astral Projection]. I should have just trained my skills quietly, and not messed up everyone's lives. No... actually, even that wouldn't have been enough. Mum knows when I draw on her mana. I'd have revealed myself the moment I learnt [Magical Girl Transformation]."

Mystery had yet to find out about the Recorder. Even without [Astral Projection] or any spellcasting, she'd still have revealed herself on day one. It would just have taken longer for everyone to put together the resulting puzzle pieces.

"I would have needed to sit there waiting around for nine months. How boring is that? Why did the goddess give me my memories before I was born? It just seems stupid. More like a punishment than a reward."

A memory stirred of some slightly odd phrasing, back before her reincarnation. A second memory chased it, of her latest System breaking achievement.

"Uh... Wait. Don't tell me..."

ding
For forming a link between disparate facts, [Investigation] advances to level 4.

After all, Mystery would have created [Magical Girl Transformation] regardless of when she regained her memories, thus giving the elves a workaround for their divine curse. And, to the truly divine, causality was more of a guideline than a rule.

"Dammit! What the hell did I do to deserve that?"

Mystery (Human)
Age: -9 months
Occupation: Hero (L)
Skills:
- Soul's Eye (U) (36/100)
>> Sense Vitality (U)
>> Sense Soul (R)
>> Sense Mana (U)
>> Sense Light (C)
>> Sense Sound (C)
>> Pierce Illusions (U)
>> Sense Miasma (R)
>> Multi-focal (R)
>> Sense Spirit (R)
- Astral Projection (U) (23/60)
>> Sure Navigation (U)
>> Uncontainable (U)
>> Tether of Will (L)
- Robust (C) (20/40)
>> Hardened Soul (R)
>> Secured Mana (U)
>> Pain Tolerance (C)
- Stealth (C) (3/20)
>> Camouflage Vitality (R)
- Magical Girl Transformation (R) (21/30)
>> Age Correction (R)
>> Gender Bending (R)
- Light (C) (12/20)
>> Heterochrome (U)
- Increased Attributes (C) (10/20)
>> Mana Storage (U)
- Investigation (C) (4/10)
- Cosplay (U) (4/10)
- Mana Absorption (U) (4/20)
>> Drain Mana (U)
- Translate (U) (6/20)
>> Two Way (U)
- Telepathy (U) (9/30)
>> Reciprocity (U)
>> Empathy (U)
- Lightning Bolt (U) (2/10)
- Fireball (U) (4/20)
>> Multishot (U)
- Wall of Light (U) (1/10)
- Energy Resistance (U) (1/10)
Achievements:
- Early Bloomer II (R)
- First Skill (C)
- Journeyman (U)
- 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)
- Spell Forger (R)
- Demon Slayer III (E)
- Monster Slayer V (E)
- Curiosity (U)
- War Veteran (U)
- Royal Audience (C)
- Diligent Hero (L)
- Studious (C)
- Pioneering Guider (E)
- Royal Pervert (R)
- I Couldn't Stop Breaking The System, And Now I've Been Smited (E)