One-Shot: Part 2

"Welcome home, papa!" [Elena]

"I'm home, Elena. Are you hungry?" [Raymond]

"I am! I was outside playing with other kids, what took you so long?" [Elena]

"Ha ha.. I'm sorry about that, I just had some important business to attend to- hm?" [Raymond]

I noticed her hiding her left arm behind her, it happened again, huh. I need to scold those kids when I see them next time.

"What is it?" [Elena]

She must've noticed that I'm being suspicious. Anyway, it would be better if I patched it up immediately.

"Elena. Show me your arm." [Raymond]

"Eh? W-why? I'm not hiding anything…" [Elena]

"Elena." [Raymond]

She looks at me a bit frightened. Did I scare her? She then proceeds to show me her left arm as she looks down.

"I was right. They injured you again. Let's get you patched up." [Raymond]

I gathered mana on my right hand and healed her wounds. I then patted her on the head.

"I'm sorry for taking so long, it must've hurt." [Raymond]

"N-no! It didn't hurt at all! After all, papa has taught me how to control my magic. I didn't fight back because I am strong, that's what you told me, right?" [Elena]

Elena has a good amount of magic, so I told her to be careful and not use it on normal people. She did not have tremendous magic like what the legends told us about the power of demons though. So I'm a bit suspicious, could it be..?

"Hey papa…" [Elena]

As I was lost in thought, Elena tugged on my shirt.

"Am I really a demon?" [Elena]

"..." [Raymond]

"Of course not, you're my daughter. You're the daughter of the hero. How could you be a demon?" [Raymond]

"But everyone says that I look like the demon in the legends…" [Elena]

"Don't listen to them. You just look different because you're special. Since you're my daughter, they're probably jealous too, you know?" [Raymond]

"Really?" [Elena]

Her eyes suddenly seemed to shine and she became a bit happier.

"Yes, really. So shall I cook now? I brought home some meat." [Raymond]

I smiled and showed her the bag of meat I received from the butcher.

"Wow meat! I haven't had any meat for a week now! Let's have a barbecue!" [Elena]

She jumps up and down from joy for finally having meat. Although I am a hero but I'm no noble, I refused the title since I know I'll just have more duties alongside it. And since adventurer jobs are getting tame now, it's also not paying too high. But at least, we're still able to live fine even with those.

"Oh papa, are we going to train too today? You said that you will teach me the final magic technique that you know of." [Elena]

"Ah I'm sorry, sweety. But Let's skip today and let's just train tomorrow. Papa has something to do later." [Raymond]

"I see… alright then, if you say so." [Elena]

She looked a bit down, she was probably looking forward to learning the last magic technique I know of.

"Well, well, don't be so down. We're going to eat good food today! If you make a sour face the food will taste sour too, you know?" [Raymond]

"Oh yeah, we were going to have a barbecue!" [Elena]

"I want to eat now! Let me help you cook, papa!" [Elena]

"Alright, just calm down. First get me the grill and the….." [Raymond]

I just hope that every day is like this. I don't want it to change, I never would want it to change. I just want everything to stay the same for the rest of my life. But I know that day will eventually come.

After eating, I spent a bit more of my time playing with Elena.

The reason why she acted as if she didn't know the exact description of the demon in the legends is because it appears that she has amnesia. Although it's not any normal amnesia, I am sensing some kind of magic going on in her brain. I can only assume that years ago, she casted some kind of mental magic on her own to make her forget her trauma.

After a while, when it was getting dark, I headed out to find the answers that I needed. I'll head inside the city to find the professor.

I used Light Step to reduce my weight and make me run faster, in just a few minutes I managed to reach the city gate.

"Hey, it's Raymond! What brings you here at this time?" [???]

"Oh Alan, nothing much. I'm just here to see the professor. By the way, I wasn't aware you were on night duty?" [Raymond]

"Ah that's right, I was given a chance to be promoted to an inner-wall guard with higher pay, of course, or I would remain as an outer-wall guard but night shift. The pay wouldn't be as high as the guys inside but still higher than your typical gate guard., so I took the promotion." [Alan]

"Why didn't you choose being an inner-wall guard though? I'm sure it's much safer there and as you've said, higher pay too." [Raymond]

"Of course I wouldn't. The reason I became a guard in the first place is because I wanted to be able to greet my adventurer wife every time she heads in and out!" [Alan]

"Oh right, Grace, she's an A-Rank, right?" [Raymond]

"Yeap she is. She's so strong and reliable that I'm sometimes wondering why she picked a lowly villager like me…" [Alan]

"Come on, don't be like that. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses." [Raymond]

"You're right, everyone does- except for you, mister hero. Hahaha!" [Alan]

"Ah come on, don't do that. I'm going to puke every time someone calls me a hero. I'm just a normal villager now." [Raymond]

"Yeah, yeah, sure whatever, mister hero~ anyway go ahead now, I still have a job here to do. Take care, Raymond." [Alan]

"You too, Alan, see ya'." [Raymond]

After chatting a bit with the gate guard, I used Light Step again to quickly get to the library and meet the professor. And in just a moment, I was there already.

"The lights are still on, thank the heavens, I thought I was late." I mumbled to myself.

"You are not, come inside. I knew you were coming, hero." [???]

"!?" [Raymond]

I was a bit startled when I heard someone talk from the inside, how did I know I was here? I used Light Step. Not only does it reduce my weight but it also dramatically decreases the sound that I make. Is it because of my mana? But normal people should be able to feel it, unless…

I can't worry about this right now, I'm here, might as well meet the person who called out to me.

I opened the door and found a man who's slightly shorter than me sporting a long beard that reaches the floor. He's wearing robes with magical essences in it and he is holding a staff on his left hand that contains a large amount of magic. He is the professor, isn't he?

"Yes, I am the professor you're looking for. And yes, I was able to detect you not because of sound but because of your mana. Who else in this city would exude that amount of mana but the hero himself?" [Professor]

"Did you just read my mind..?" [Raymond]

"I didn't. It just seems that those were the answers you were looking for." [Professor]

"I see. Then since you know me already, let me cut to the chase and ask-" [Raymond]

"Whether your daughter really is the demon in the prophecies or not?" [Professor]

"You really read my mind…" [Raymond]

"Hahaha. I did not. I just knew. I'm a master of magic so of course, monitoring this city should be enough to do. So I just know what you were going to ask since I've seen your daughter plenty of times already." [Professor]

"But we live on the outskirts though..?" [Raymond]

"Exactly." [Professor]

"Ugh.. that girl… is she sneaking inside the city even though I told her not to? I'm going to have to scold her later." [Raymond]

"Don't be like that, she's just a kid who is curious about her surroundings." [Professor]

"Anyway, I think I might have an answer to your question." [Professor]

"..." [Raymond]

"She is supposed to be a demon of the prophecies, a calamity that humanity cannot hope to overcome. Even the great hero from centuries ago only managed to fight a demon to a draw, meanwhile the first one was too strong for that generation's hero." [Professor]

She waves his right hand and a book flies seamlessly towards him. He flips it open and reads through it.

"But the problem is, she lacks magic. You as a hero have even more magic than me, a wizard who has dedicated his life to magic. Yet she even has less magic than the empire's knights. Even the lowest ranked knights would be able to deal with her, although they might suffer some casualties, but she'd be defeated in the end." [Professor]

"Can you not just ask her where she came from? No- you probably can't because if you could, you would've done that long ago." [Professor]

"Yes, I detect some kind of mental magic in her brain. It's probably to block her traumatizing past. I could dispel it but, I would rather not." [Raymond]

"That is the correct choice, it'd be on our consciousness if it turns out she wasn't a demon and just wanted to forget her past." [Professor]

"Hmm…" [Professor]

The professor appears to ponder as he strokes his long beard.

I looked around me and saw a lot of books, but what piqued my interest is that it's not just random books- it's books mostly about the legends of the hero and demons. Is he researching about them?

"Professor. You seem to have a large amount of books about heroic tales and about demons. Are you interested in them?" [Raymond]

"Ah! Yes, I am. In fact, I am researching about heroes. They always say that a hero is made through sacrifice, but what do they mean by that? And it's the gods who are the ones who bestow upon them heroic strength. But as a man of the arcane, how can I believe that their strength was just granted by the gods?" [Professor]

He appears to be a bit angered.

"It's like telling me that despite giving my entire life to magical research, the gods won't care about hard work and they'll just grant someone heroic status for sacrificing enough. Haven't I sacrificed enough too? I sacrificed my entire life for magic, then why am I not a hero?" [Professor]

"Have you managed to find any clue about being a hero?" [Raymond]

"No, not until now." [Professor]

The professor closes his book and turns to look at me.

"I was unable to meet any hero in my life so far, until you came. Now tell me hero, what happened for you to become a hero?" [Professor]

With a serious look on his face, the professor practically asked me to dig up my past.

But if it's for her, for my daughter, then I'll recall everything, even if it pains me to do so.

I took a deep breath and started talking.