Void Queen- Are you sure you can afford to keep your mind elsewhere? With someone like me in your presence?

  Then with a teasing tone of voice, she says this. At the same time, she keeps on walking around, still in the same joking way. It’s throwing me off to be honest, everything about her that is.

  “You’re right, I am missing too much information to make any conclusion at all. No point in thinking about it right now, right? I just have to do what you asked me for and beat you at it.”

  With my heart now beating normally, I say this with a calm tone of voice but one filled with confidence, after all, I still am the Hero. Just like always, a smile softly appears on her petite face as I say this and as she walks around, stopping once she is behind her chair. This time around, rather than leaning forward, instead now, she simply grabs the top of it with her right hand. Though I did notice another thing, her silklike hand is for the small side, smaller than average for her size even. Huh, really feminine like.

  Void Queen- You’re right, let’s just get to the point then. The fate you will be playing against is not yours as you’ve realised. Instead, it’s the fate of a young lady, the same age as I am, well in this case a year younger. Unfortunately, a Greater Will decided to curse her, turning her life upside down and fating her with something far worse.

  “You’re putting the fate of an innocent woman in my hands?”

  Alright, time to get serious now. I ask her this with quite the serious look on my face and she did notice that, removing the smile on her face and matching my mood at the same time. Like I said, she’s not stupid at all, she now knows well things are supposed to be serious right now. She was just waiting for me to be the same way.

  Void Queen- Aren’t you used to it? Tell me Hero, for how long have you been doing your job? Or were you given that title on a whim?

  ........

  ……

  …

  I don’t answer her but the silence speaks louder than I could ever in this precise moment. She’s right, after all these years of being the Hero I’ve had more than my fair share of people's fates on these two small hands. They are not small for someone of my size, but it’s a good way to express how I felt before all of those lives. For example, just a few months ago I had to defeat an S rank monster that was attacking a small city. If I for some reason failed at it, the casualties would’ve been enormous, far too high, in other words, the city would’ve been decimated by such monstrosity. Of course, this is far too much for a simple man, for a single man. It does not matter how strong I am, I simply cannot be in all places all the time and to have everyone lives in my simple hands is also a responsibility that I would never hope anyone would have. I was chosen by the world, no, I was chosen by the god himself to be the Hero and therefore I have to act as such. When I see people, my own kind, behaving in a way that puts other people's lives in danger and even worse, allowing the reaper do its job on them, it makes my blood boil beyond those flames of the Majestic Great Fireball spell. And of course, I feel the same way towards her, after all, she’s playing around with an innocent woman's life.

  Void Queen- Don’t look at me in that way, you still have the chance to change it. Your job is to fight against said fate and change for the better! Isn’t that a good thing? It’s something that I could do, you should feel honoured for such a thing.

  “You are giving me a chance to save her? Someone that you put in a bad position? Are you mental?”

  Oh, it seems I am a little angry at her, to be honest, she did switch her mood to a joking one right at the end. Oh well, I just need to keep calm, there is more to this story than meets the eye, after all, I still don’t feel any hostility from her towards me. I might be overthinking as I always do but, maybe she’s asking for help? Is that even possible? She did say that she couldn’t do anything about it, so… I really can’t shake this odd feeling, is it my Hero intuition speaking? Am I starting to see her as a damsel in distress? Her!? Something is definitely not right with me.

  Void Queen- That is correct, I am giving you a chance to save that poor soul. However, there is a flaw in your accusation, but I will let you decide once all of this is over. Unfortunately said Greater Will installed into her the Seed of Destruction in hopes to take control of her and to take revenge into the world, arising chaos with it.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  “The Seed of Destruction you say… The birth of a Demon Lord, you asking me to stop that, is that it?”

  I say this and ask it at the end right after she finished speaking. Judging from her reaction, her pleasing face that she made towards me when I said this more than tells me that it's the truth. But how in tarnation am I supposed to prevent that? How do I stop someone from becoming the Demon Lord? Is that even possible without killing said person?

  Void Queen- It won’t be an easy task to complete, but I think you are up to it, after all, you are the Hero, aren’t you? Just be aware of something-

  “You can fail.”

  Void Queen- The Seed of Destruction torments this young lady, it fills her head with hatred, violence, aggression, any and all of the negative emotions and thoughts that a human being can have. It instigates her to act in such a way, making her a danger to those around her, even though she’s a kind hearted naive girl that unfortunately for her, she loves to help out others around her. This alone makes her quite attractive to be with. She fights those that are evil, but she can only do that, if she of course, does not become herself one of them. Even with this internal battle in her petite body, she still proclaims herself someone who has to protect the good in this world, this forsaken world that threw her off into the wolves the moment she needed help. She is no Hero like you, no, she’s far more than that.

  “She’s the Magical Girl, the one that fights evil and protects the good. That is the motto that someone dear to her asked her to believe in. Something that she could hold on onto if she ever lost her way.”

  She stares at me with a distant look as she ends this, even though she’s looking directly at me, I can tell you that in her eyes I'm not here, but the person she’s talking about. However, for the first time ever, I felt anger from her, frustration as she was telling me about the situation of the woman in question. But then, that was when I felt something, something towards her, pity and even sadness. It is more than clear that there is more to this story than meets the eye, this might be more personal to her than I could even have thought. Maybe this hostage is someone that she knows and she’s awkwardly asking for my help. I don’t know what to make of this, but I did notice that her flower ornament in her head, the magic on it, shone brighter, much more than “normal” for a second or so and I actually felt magic from it. Since I still have my Magic Sense Skill activated, I also noticed a link from it towards somewhere else. A small line it seemed, one that appeared from another dimension. Now that’s rather interesting to say the least, but what does surprise me for one last time is the worried look on her face, one that she made once she got the “message” from said link.

  “Humph, it seems that dummy needs my help.”

  I don’t hear a single word that comes out of her mouth; however, I was able to somewhat make out what she said by reading her silklike lips. As I said, she has a worried look on her face, but this only lasts for how long she says this to herself, from there, she looks at me with a bitter smile on her face. It’s the first smile that is different from all of those she has been giving out, and to be honest, I don’t like it.

  Void Queen- Well, fate sure is inconvenient sometimes, it seems we have to wrap this up. As I said, this young lady's fate is in your hands and you’re tasked to change it as you wish. Whatever it is to save her, let the Seed of Destruction consume her or not, I will let you decide.

  She’s speaking faster than normal, if that does not tell you that she’s in a hurry then her tone of voice will and so the look on her face. She speaks with a slightly higher timber; just a notch higher, she also has a serious look on her face. It’s more than evident that she has to go somewhere but if she does so, I will be left alone. I will be left alone doing god knows what. Am I missing something? Not only that, there is something that throws me off by a bit.

  “As I wish? Isn't it my duty to save her?”

  I say this with a confused look on my face. Of course, I will do my best to save her but why is she giving me any other option at all? This alone is what's confusing me.

  Snap!

  But as I’m questioning myself what her true motives are, she quickly but somehow gently snaps her fingers and when she did so, oh boy the world started to spin around.

  “Argh... My head… What did you do?”

  Yep, she definitely did something when she snapped her fingers but I cannot pinpoint what it was and to be honest, I cannot afford to find it. It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that the world is spinning faster and somehow more violently. Sleepiness is quickly consuming my whole body, making me shut my eyes thanks to it. Oh crap, I will fall asleep if this keeps up, but it seems I don’t have much of a choice… Dammit!

  “I want to know who you truly are first. Whatever you come back for a second time, if I have to end you or if you will go your own way. She already has too much on her plate to be dealing with someone like you, The Hero of this world.”

  These were the last words that I heard from her. After that darkness consumes my thought process, my hearing, my smell, everything is eliminated as I fall asleep.

  Darkness, complete and utterly darkness, that’s the only thing that I’m seeing right now. She really did put me to sleep, now did she? What a sneaky beautiful bastard! I sure did not expect something like this from her. What did she mean by that though? What does she mean by, see who I am? I am the Hero of course, I’m not the villain if that’s what’s referring to, however, I’m also not the good of all. I do try to at least be a decent human being, but I still have my flaws. Maybe it’s not my character but something else? Am I somehow a threat to them and I don’t even know it? This is confusing, way too confusing. I will have to wait for now, it’s not like I can do much right now, after all, I’m sleeping.

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