NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9: Could I Really Be The Hero?
Even until the end, Zauna failed to figure out where her panties had disappeared to. After all, by the time Zauna woke up, she had already missed the scene of Alice holding her underwear. Instead, what Zauna saw was Alice holding up her right hand and calling down a golden curtain of light from the sky. No matter how Zauna thought about it, there was no way she could link Alice's holy appearance with that of an underwear thief. It was even more impossible for her to figure out that her bear panties were the origin of the divine light curtain and humongous mountain.
Not to mention, Alice had also provided a theory to the disappearance of Zauna's panties, saying that the wolf king's fireball might have burnt it previously. Although Zauna couldn't understand how the wolf king's fireball managed to burn her panties while leaving the lower half of her robe intact, this was also the only plausible reason she could think of right now. Hence, Zauna decided not to continue looking into this matter. Instead, she focused on bearing the airy feeling while leading Alice back to human civilization.
Fortunately, there was no one else here except Alice, so Zauna didn't have to worry about more people noticing her lack of underwear. As for Alice's identity, although Alice herself insisted that she had lost her memories, Zauna still believed that the blonde girl was someone related to the Hero. Even if Alice wasn't the Hero, she must be something like the Hero's companion. Otherwise, there would be no explanation for how that divine phenomenon came to being.
"Even if I am the Hero, there's no Demon King right now, so wouldn't me being a Hero be pointless?" Alice said.
Currently, Alice and Zauna were standing on a spacious stone road that ran through the Gryffin Forest. They had arrived at this road thanks to the guidance of an alchemy program on Zauna's phone. Although rarely anybody used this road, Zauna could still use her mobile phone to call for a car to pick them up. Seeing all of these things, Alice had to admit that this world was not in the Middle Ages like she had expected.
Meanwhile, the two of them were currently having a chat while waiting for the ride service Zauna called.
"No, the Hero coexists with the Demon King. If the Gods have chosen a Hero, that means a Demon King will awaken," Zauna said as she looked at Alice the Amnesiac with a solemn expression.
"We still don't know who the Demon King of this era is, but according to what I learned in history class, every Demon King that awakens will first pretend to be an ordinary individual and accumulate their strength in secret. Only after the Demon King is unable to hide their strength will they reveal themself. Meanwhile, the Hero is an existence that would often only appear after the Demon King of that era cannot hide their strength for much longer. So, Alice, if you are the Hero, it won't be long before the Demon King reveals themself. You need to bear the responsibility of defeating the Demon King!"
"But I don't want to fight the Demon King at all…"
Alice got goosebumps when she heard Zauna's words. The more she listened to the apprentice magician, the more she felt that she was the Hero in question. Although she hadn't spoken to any Gods thus far, there was no question that she had been transported to this world. Moreover, she had even gained an inexplicable ability that allowed her to turn any object she wielded into a weapon. This ability might very well be a gift from the Gods Zauna mentioned. If that was the case, there was a high possibility that she could be the Hero.
"Why? If you become the Hero, you'll get to enjoy boundless glory." Zauna couldn't help but be puzzled by Alice's complaint. "There are many people who wish to become the Hero but can't. The Hero theme is also almost always found in the most popular knight novels found online. Though, the titles of recent novels have started deviating into a new direction."
Is this really another world?
Whenever Alice heard these familiar terms coming out of Zauna's mouth, she couldn't help but ask herself such a question. If she hadn't watched the magic showdown between Zauna and the wolf king, she would've probably thought that she was still on Earth.
Nevertheless, Alice was unable to emphasize with the people that were wishing to become Heroes at all. Rather than take on incredible risks to fight the Demon King and be praised as a legend by the people, Alice wanted to just survive and find a way back to her world instead. This difference in opinion was probably a result of the two worlds' differing education methods, and this world's education most likely placed great importance on things like glory and whatnot.
While Alice could indeed pull an Unlimited Panties Works and toss out Artifact-level skills as if she were launching fireworks, her enemy was the Demon King. There was no telling how powerful a Demon King was exactly. On the off chance her panties couldn't deal substantial damage to the Demon King, she would be doomed once she ran out of panties. With her single-digit stats, the Demon King could probably kill her with a sneeze.
"Regardless, even if you don't want to be the Hero, I should still take you to the church. The church should have a way to test whether you are the Hero or not," Zauna said. Then, she caught sight of something appearing at the end of the road and said, "I think our ride is here, Alice."
Alice quickly followed Zauna's line of sight when she heard the latter's words. Then, sure enough, she spotted a white, streamlined vehicle quickly driving up to them from the end of the road. And judging by the car's aerodynamic shape, it was evident that the people of this world still researched science despite the existence of magic. Only, rather than fossil fuel, the cars of this world operated on mana.
Although Alice had practically no mana in her body right now, after her two brief experiences of having her body filled to the brim with mana, she could tell that the approaching vehicle was driven by mana. And realizing this fact, Alice concluded that the technological standard of this world was not the slightest bit inferior to Earth. In fact, because of the existence of an additional energy source known as mana, some aspects of this world's technology might be even more advanced than Earth's technology.
Alice couldn't help but feel a little frustrated by this situation. Of the novels she previously read, the Earthlings who had transmigrated to another world would generally look at the alien world from the perspective of an urban resident visiting a rural area. Yet, her situation was the exact opposite. She felt like a country bumpkin visiting a big city in this world.
From the conversation she had with Zauna, Alice also learned that this world's human history went as far back as tens of thousands of years ago. Although the interference of the demons and beastkin had obstructed the development of human civilization to a certain extent, humans had still managed to prosper nevertheless.
Hence, it was unlikely for Alice to rely on her knowledge from Earth to live a wealthy life in this world. The only thing worth celebrating was that she wouldn't have to be worried about boredom, unlike other transmigrators. After all, mobile phones and computers existed in this world.