An Unborn Hero

Royal Corrupter (Epic)

There previously hasn't been an achievement for distressing people by forcibly dressing them up in outlandish outfits, else you would have earned it ages ago, but your latest effort was so completely misguided, so utterly lacking in judgement, that we couldn't help but invent one for you. We considered a variety of names. 'Embarrasser of Young Girls' or 'Bereft of Any Sense Whatsoever', but we felt that something that captured the extreme breakdown you've caused in Grace's mentality was warranted. Congratulations on the corruption of what used to be a very prim and proper princess. Keep it up and in a few weeks more you'll have her happily dancing through the streets of a busy city as Jasper White without a shred of embarrassment. It's still a bit soon for tight spandex bodysuits, though, given that this world has no similar fabrics and has never witnessed their like before. Now, what would be an appropriate reward? A boost to the power of people you transform that scales with their embarrassment would be appropriate, but we're worried the resulting horror you'd inflict on people in the name of strengthening them would result in your party deciding the demon lord was the lesser evil. So let's turn it around and use this as a chance to spare your victims some of their pain. With this achievement, embarrassment isn't suppressed, but your victims find themselves better able to work through it. Never again will Rose feel it necessary to flip a skirt to shock a princess out of a horror-fuelled stupor.

"Uh..." thought Mystery. "Putting aside the fact the description mentions Grace and Rose by name, was it really necessary to refer to them as 'victims'?"

"There, there," comforted Rose, gently running her fingers through Grace's hair as the pair sat next to each other on Grace's bed, the other party members having left to let Grace recover from her trauma in private. "It's okay. It's all over now."

"... Covered... everything..." pouted Mystery.

"Covered everything, yes, but hid nothing," pointed out Rose, who, as the local deities had pointed out, had never previously seen anything quite like spandex.

Mystery pouted harder, before taking a closer look at Grace's face. "... Smiling..." she complained.

Rose leant forward, taking a look for herself. "Hey!" she exclaimed. "You've already recovered!"

"Yes, but you playing with my hair felt nice," shamelessly declared the [Magical Princess].

"Seriously. When are those two going to admit to... whatever the hell it is that's going on between them?" thought Mystery to herself, before remembering Rose was fourteen and Grace fifteen. "A few more years, I suppose..."

"Mystery, I appreciate the effort, but just stick with the original costume, please," pleaded Grace. She may not have considered it ideal, but at least it was a known quantity. "In fact, don't even worry about the tights. I know you mean well, but... to be brutally honest, I don't trust you not to somehow make things even worse. Sorry."

"Aww, but I wanted to see you in shining armour," giggled Rose.

"... Maybe if we're somewhere very private," answered Grace in a smaller voice, because the [Royal Corrupter] was making good progress in breaking her, and the thought of being a gleaming knight wasn't completely horrifying.

"Oh! That's a good idea. We should totally have a joint dress-up session," declared Rose. "Once all this demon business is done with, I mean. Just me, you, and a locked, windowless room."

Mystery froze, wondering if her prediction of multiple years had been multiple years too pessimistic, but Rose showed nothing on her face but innocent enthusiasm.

"I want to try on every one of your dresses," she continued, still with the same innocent smile.

"Really? Why?" asked Grace. "That doesn't sound fun at all."

"Because that ball was the first time I ever got to try on a posh dress, and I was too nervous to enjoy it."

"Again, I'm not sure what there is to enjoy? Formal dresses are a pain. Often literally."

"Isn't it obvious?" asked Rose, and despite her smile barely moving, the innocence was suddenly nowhere to be found. "Trying something you don't normally get to do is fun. I don't normally get to wear posh dresses, but you do, so I can try them on, and you can try on my clothes in exchange. Things like..." she paused for dramatic effect, then whispered into Grace's ear, almost seductively; "... trousers."

Mystery almost fell out of the air. "Seriously?" she thought to herself. "With that build up, I thought she was going to propose some sort of barely there lingerie. Not that I know why Rose would own anything like that, but still..."

Grace perked up. "Trousers? I have to admit, your outfits do seem a lot more practical than mine."

"Seriously?!" repeated Mystery to herself. "Grace is actually getting excited about that? Sheesh... I can see why spandex was a few steps too far."

ding

You don't say. [Investigation] advances to level 5.

"Shut up!"

Leaving the pair of lovebirds to their respective fantasies about impractical-but-expensive and practical-but-common clothing, Mystery floated back out of the room, where Rrillandral was waiting in Leaf Green form, leaning against a wall.

... No, she may not have been with the elf that long, but Mystery had got a good enough handle on her personality to know that Rrillandral would never lean against a wall.

Mystery looked more carefully, seeing past the dress and trying to pay attention to the face.

"... Your... majesty...?" she asked hesitatingly.

"Got it in one," he smirked. "Now, what am I to do with you?"

"...?" asked Mystery, a little too shocked to put words into her [Telepathy]. She would rather the elvish king didn't do anything with her. Even if the fact he was currently disguised as a little girl made it somewhat harder to take him seriously.

"You just thought something rude, didn't you?" he commented, giving a very obviously fake pout. "I don't even need my own [Telepathy] to work out that much."

"... Wasn't... rude..." replied Mystery.

The fake girl grinned, and then his eyes narrowed and his smile flattened, and Mystery froze in his glare like a deer in headlights. Despite her lack of sweat glands, she felt like she was sweating buckets, pinpricks breaking out all over her non-existent skin.

"Please don't get the wrong impression simply because I normally act laid back," he spoke, and his voice echoed oddly in Mystery's mind, each word seemingly having a crushing weight to it. "I am Brylyndril, the [Monarch of the Vale], and I have lived through dozens of cycles. There is a reason my Vale and I have remained stable for so long. Remember where you are, and what you're trying to do. A [Hero], trying to end a cycle before it even begins. A laudable goal indeed, but not an easy one. And you're involving my daughter, who's too wrapped up in your uniqueness to fully process the danger she's putting herself in. If you doubt yourself again, in the middle of the demonic forest, you will not be the only one that pays the price."

"..." replied Mystery, trying to apologise, but the [Intimidation] of the [Monarch of the Vale] was pressing down on her so hard that her [Telepathy] failed.

"Rrillandral wants you to learn more magic. To enter the forest as a full battlemage. It won't work. You do not have sufficient mana, and that hurdle can be overcome in no way other than time. Your nascent physical body is simply too small a container. For the same reason, you cannot rely on conventional equipment to increase your capacity, nor mana potions to recover what you spend. You may only sponge off your mother. On top of that, yes, you level quickly, but not that quickly. Of the new spells you've learnt, none have even reached level five. Insufficient to harm any demon of significance. No; if you are to win this, you must play to your strengths. Yes, there is a sub-skill or two you need to pick up before venturing into the forest, but for the most part, you should trust in your teammates to cover your weaknesses."

Mystery pondered, wondering where he was going with his monologue. It was true her lightning magic hadn't done anything to Lilith beyond causing a sub-second distraction, but as Lilith had proven, a sub-second distraction in the middle of a fight was sometimes all that was needed. Although if all she was going to be doing was distracting, she didn't need higher levels. And what were her strengths? Was the elven monarch telling her to concentrate on being a magical girl mascot? Because as Rose kept pointing out, there had to be more effective ways to fight than drawing on the Earthen magical girl fandom and deploying little girls equipped with fanservice-heavy frilly dresses.

"You're thinking something rude again, aren't you?" he smirked, finally releasing the pressure. "About yourself, this time. I'm fairly sure you know how new spells are made?"

"... Image... Words..." stammered out Mystery, still finding talking difficult, despite the king toning down his [Intimidation].

"Close enough. Yes. To sum up the process in a single sentence, a mage builds up an image, then links the image to an activation phrase. Likewise, you could sum up the sun in a single sentence by calling it the corpse of a long-dead goddess. Yes, it's true, but it misses so much. The blessings of mana, light and warmth, for a start."

"... Corpse...?" whispered a rather alarmed Mystery. The local sun looked perfectly circular as far as she could see, and not at all dead or rotting.

The [Monarch of the Vale] just grinned. "You're lacking in common sense. Coming from Earth, you probably think the sun is just a boring ball of burning gas."

"... Fusion... actually..." complained Mystery, who didn't have much interest in astronomy, but certainly would never have called the sun boring.

"Whatever," replied the elven king, waving a hand dismissively. "Rrillandral is the only one interested in that stuff. My point is, magic reacts to what you believe, and what you believe is wrong. That is your second greatest strength; it's incredibly difficult to form an image that runs counter to your common sense, but your common sense is completely off kilter. There have been... experiments... in which children are raised in isolation, or taught deliberately incorrect information. Results have always been poor; it's something that's difficult to fake. You have no need to fake it."

"... Second...?" asked a curious Mystery, latching on to that single word.

The [Monarch of the Vale] smirked. "Mana is utterly ubiquitous. You can't create a manaless room. You can't hide from it, or block it out. But not you. You were raised on another world. One without mana. You had the opportunity to create an image somewhere mana didn't exist."

"... So...?"

"One of the details you missed out in your description of how spells are created; the stronger the image before it's linked to an activation phrase, the more efficient the resulting spell. But there are limits. As the image solidifies, the mana wants to make it a spell. It'll latch on to any stray words, any stray thoughts, and so we end up with spells like [Meteor Storm], in which a mage aimed to create the strongest offensive spell possible, and accidentally ended up with the activation phrase 'Hurry up, I'm absolutely busting for a wee'. Did you honestly think no-one had invented body enhancement magic before? There is literally a spell called [Strength]. It doesn't even need a spell; there's the [Active Reinforcement] sub-skill for [Increased Attributes] that permits the user to burn their mana to increase the effectiveness of the skill. And in terms of efficiency—the size of the boost compared to the mana expenditure—I have never seen anything on the level of [Magical Girl Transformation]. It's not even close. And, from what my daughter has told me, they aren't even using your spell properly."

"... Not... properly...?" asked Mystery, feeling a little insulted.

"A low-levelled [Apprentice Swordsman], using your spell for the first time, beat a demon. A weak one, for sure, but still a demon. But you couldn't talk to her. You couldn't explain your image, and so she was limited. Just like the way casting it without purpose weakened them, teaching them [Transformation Sequence] strengthened them. Now that you can communicate, you need to share your full image. The closer they match it, the stronger they will become."

"..." replied Mystery as the sheer enormity of the excuse smacked into her like a cart of illegal mushrooms.

Here was the king of elvenkind, thousands of years old and presumably very wise—yes, definitely very wise, despite his odd behaviour—telling her that she needed to go all out in teaching her magical girls to... well... be magical girls. Emphasis on the word 'needed'. The literal fate of the world depended on it!

... Maybe. People had mentioned summoning a new [Hero] when the first failed, so it probably wasn't a world-ending event, but it would certainly be a Mystery-and-friends ending event. But the exact consequences didn't matter. This was no time for logic. This was a time to be thinking up cool catchphrases to shout before attacks. To ponder how to explain to Grace the concept of fan-service without causing her heart failure. To sort out their day-to-day clothing to better match their colour theme.

Mystery's glee was cut short when Grace's door slammed open, the terrified [Magical Princess] nervously glancing each way down the corridor.

"What just happened?" she asked, eyes settling on the [Monarch of the Vale], but not realising who he was. "[Danger Sense] just fired so hard I was expecting the entire tree to explode. And I didn't even have [Danger Sense] ten seconds ago!"

ding

For holding a full conversation, even if you were mostly on the receiving end, [Translate] advances to level 7 and [Telepathy] advances to level 13.

You have endured a powerful use of [Intimidation] without so much as pissing yourself, upgrading [Robust] with [Strengthened Will]. Level cap of [Robust] increased by 10. Yes, we know you physically can't piss yourself yet, but that message is a standard one.

For experiencing a new aspect of injury, [Robust] advances to level 22.

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) (22/50)

>> Hardened Soul (R)

>> Secured Mana (U)

>> Pain Tolerance (C)

>> Strengthened Will (U)

- Stealth (C) (3/20)

>> Camouflage Vitality (R)

- Magical Girl Transformation (R) (22/30)

>> Age Correction (R)

>> Gender Bending (R)

- Light (C) (12/20)

>> Heterochrome (U)

- Increased Attributes (C) (10/20)

>> Mana Storage (U)

- Investigation (C) (5/10)

- Cosplay (U) (4/10)

- Mana Absorption (U) (4/20)

>> Drain Mana (U)

- Translate (U) (7/20)

>> Two Way (U)

- Telepathy (U) (13/40)

>> Reciprocity (U)

>> Empathy (U)

>> Guarded Mind (U)

- Lightning Bolt (U) (3/10)

- 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)

- Royal Corrupter (E)