The heat of the large bonfire in one corner of the plaza not only pushed away the cold night wind, it even sent the spirit of the villagers aflame. The sound of cheers, interweaving with the light and lively music really does show a festive mood.
In a place far enough to not be bothered by the noise and heat, but not far enough to be bothered by the cold, we are seated while facing each other.
Doctor Tessa. The village's only doctor. Though she was old enough to be around five-times my age, her face still retains a slightly youthful trace.
And now, only solemnity surrounds her.
"… Where should I start…?"
She muttered with a sigh in a small voice. Then, she fixed her stance and stared straight into my eyes.
"Nazo, you already know about the Gods right?"
Upon hearing the sudden question, I wavered. It is not because I know the answer to her question, in fact, I don't know a thing about the Gods of this world. What bothered me was the hidden hint in her words that "I" have met the "Gods".
I nodded ever so slightly in response. Doctor Tessa breaks into a small mocking smile after seeing my reaction.
"The mission you received is something very important to this world."
She spoke fluently. As if knowing about it right from the start. Even though I haven't told anyone about the mission I was given aside from the girls who didn't really believed me. All of us were just staring straight at her, listening to every words she says.
"The mission you received is actually a mission given to someone that is destined to become a Hero that will save this world. Though heroes appears only once in every hundreds of years, their mission never changes."
The other girls nods slightly. Looks like that was common sense to the residents of this world. Still, was she saying that I am a Hero selected by the Gods?
"… The last hero to appear was approximately 60 years ago. He was a man named Yuushiro, son of a farmer and a certain eastern village chief's daughter. Before him, the last hero was recorder from 280 years ago and the one before that was from 570 years ago…"
There are quite large gaps on the timing of heroes' appearances... Wait. Then…
"Right. Nazo is surely not a Hero. That is because not even a hundred years passed since the last one's time."
She said it in a sharp voice that pierces straight to my soul. So I'm not a hero… I felt relief for a short moment. But then, a question appeared in my mind.
"… If I'm not a Hero then why am I given a mission?"
Right. It was said that heroes are given that mission. The mission of liberating the world from monsters.
To my question, Doctor Tessa only shook her head slightly.
"I don't know… Originally, heroes are assigned after being given that job from the adventurer's guild or by the oracles passed from the Gods. And neither of the two happened. So you are certainly not a Hero."
After taking a deep breath, waiting for us to digest her words, she continued with a grave voice.
"Though, I am sure of one thing. Nazo, you are an Irregular."
I was shocked from her words for a moment. But then, she continued and explained.
"You are neither summoned by the gods nor the people of this world but instead came through your own will and power. In other words, you are an existence that is out of this world. Though this world isn't rejecting you, it isn't accepting you fully too."
Being neither rejected nor accepted… I don't know what to think of that… But now that I heard this much from Doctor Tessa, a new question popped. Why does she know this much about me?
"..."
Doctor Tessa silently stood up and paced towards the side of the table with the light from the bonfire against her back.
"Let me introduce myself fully. I am Tessa Evergreen Pendragon the wife of the last hero Arthur Oliver Pendragon. I am an oracle under the Goddess of Life Sapphire, the one whom have spoken to you inside your dreams."
"""E-Eeeehhh?!"""
The three girls, together with me, muttered in surprise. For me, the part I was confused of was the name. Wasn't the name of the last Hero supposed to be Yuushiro? Also, an oracle of the goddess that spoke to me? There were too many things that bothers me that I couldn't think straight anymore…
"The name Arthur Oliver Pendragon was originally a name bestowed by the goddess through me, the hero's designated oracle. And as most of the time, the hero and the oracle marries each other, just like how we did, I succeeded his bestowed name."
"S-So Doctor Tessa is actually a great person?!"
Nina shouted as she regained her senses. With a wry, painful smile, Doctor Tessa shook her head.
"Though we were hero and his oracle, we didn't achieve much. Just like the previous heroes, we couldn't even reach the nearest dungeon. So I am not that great of a person."
Slowly, everything made sense. How Doctor Tessa knows my background, how she believed I'm from another world easily, and even that letter.
"Right. That letter is something that the goddess told me to write. Then, I passed it to Nina and gave the conditions that the goddess told me, which is when you decide to go on your own. Though I didn't think that it would be for that moment…"
She said as if reading my mind. That said letter contains brief but meaningful words. I took out the said letter from my pocket, unfolded it, and read its contents.
Nanami Kamizo,
Right before the sun sets this day, all of the residents will die. Make haste and decide your own path.
That's what was written on it.
What's more, it was written in English and in cursive, which was far different from this country's letters (Japanese).
That, and the fact that the goddess just spoke to me made me think and act at the same time, leading to us making it in time though a little late.
"… Are you satisfied already?"
Doctor Tessa then asked me a question. I just closed my eyes and leaned back on my chair in response.
In summary, she is an oracle of the goddess of life named Sapphire that was the one who spoke to me in my dream. She was also the wife of the late hero 60 years ago. All my questions were answered clearly and satisfactorily.
"I got no more questions."
That's all that I said. Doctor Tessa nodded knowingly with a small grin.
After that, the girl group chatted with Doctor Tessa for a while. Then, they headed towards the bonfire upon when I decided to return to their house.
Passing through the lively celebration, I directly went to the tree-house and slowly climbed the stairs. Even after reaching the front door of the girls' house, the lively atmosphere isn't toning down at all.
I entered without much thought and was immediately greeted by the dimly lit interior of the room.
With accustomed movements, I picked an unused luminescence scroll from under the wooden drawer and immediately applied mana to it. Of course, I also reactivated the stationary luminescence tools on each corner of the room.
After the room regained a suitable degree of lighting, I sat down on a chair with a plop.
"… Haaaaaa…"
After relaxing my body, a relieved sigh left my mouth. I can't really help it as the fatigue of the whole affair during the day and the shock from earlier was taking its toll.
I leaned deeply on the chair, letting my tired body to stretch out for a bit.
"..."
Without knowing it, I already was pointed towards a path to follow. I cannot help but give a smirk towards the cunning of the goddess that made this perfect chain of 'coincidences' occur.
"… The last thing that I would need would only be a strong motivation and I'm sure to set down this pre-determined path…"
No matter how they pass the problem to me, I wouldn't just voluntarily place myself in danger. The promised reward of the goddess was somewhat precious to me but still, it's not worth risking my live over.
"However, it's true that I need to strengthen my guards a bit…"
No matter what conclusion I had reached, strengthening myself and my allies would take priority. Even if we are just to stay inside the village, we cannot disregard the threat of another demon invasion. I heard that it was considered a miracle to only lose less than a hundred villagers in this attack.
Still, I can't rule out the possibility of having no casualties if we were only a bit faster…
"… Mary, Nina and even Blaire acted as if unaffected by it in front of me… But several villagers showed signs of grief towards the loss of an acquaintance's life."
Given the kindness of the three, there's no way that they were unaffected by those deaths. Which meant that they were forcing themselves in reality.
"To make a girl unnecessarily give consideration towards me… I've fallen quite far."
I felt pathetic. That was the truth. However, there's nothing to gain even if I delve on self-blame. Instead, I should focus my attention on more practical things.
Therefore, only one conclusion comes to mind.
"… I need to make much stronger weapons and tools…"
It was a course of action in line of all the possibilities I would face. Whether I stay, march to fight, or support the main fighting force, it was necessary to improve my current set of equipment.
"And to do that…"
I need to read.
I took out the magic pouch from my belongings stacked on one side of the room. Then, I poured its contents on the floor.
The variety of books, from simple magic circle guides to complicated tactical books, scattered like a landslide in front of me. This made me ponder on which one to pick. However, since I already have set my priorities clear, I picked up four books that caught my attention.
[Magic Tools and Spell Engraving]
[Guide to the Gates of Advanced Magic]
[General Purpose Magic Circles: Extended and Extrapolated]
[Introduction to Mythic Level Enchanting]
These four.
Thus, with my resolve renewed, I started reading in preparation for the future…
But it wasn't that long before my resolve was forcefully changed for me.
Time remaining: 15 days before the fateful encounter.