Strawberry Devil in a Fantasy World

Looking below at the city of Rotask, the capital of the human kingdom. Things were looking grim and hopeless.

Should I do something...?

In the first place, why are fey beasts aligned with demons? It's kind of strange how they managed to summon this many all at once...

I could tell even from afar that these trolls weren't contracted nor were they controlled. Perhaps there was a history between the trolls and human nation that I wasn't aware of.

Well, it wouldn't surprise me if the Hero King had waged war on those trolls in the past and took their land by force.

If I remembered correctly, unexplored territory laid directly to the east that was could easily fit a country. Moreover, there were at least two demons active in that region which meant one of them was likely Oortez's mindless assistant.

Ugh... What to do!? Eh... I guess they brought it upon themselves. Hmm... I'll just stabilize the mana core and rid of the demons for now? That's a priority.

As much as I love to take that mana core for myself, that might be considered too much interference. Thus, I decided to just steal a portion of it in exchange for stabilizing the super condensed mana core.

From the scientists' perspective, within the mana core, something strange occurred. There was a mutual annihilation of the volatile mana and the harvested mana from people. The net result was that the mana core lost a total of a quarter of its power and miraculously stabilized.

Like that, the crisis of the destabilizing mana core passed.

As for the demons, it was but a simple matter. Before they knew what hit them, they had all been captured or sealed away in my void barriers. When dealing with superpowers, there was nothing better than my void barrier. In total, I managed to capture four demons where two of them were main bodies.

Then, as for the demons' minions, since they weren't evolved enough, I simply left them to their own devices. Some of them were busy doing the biddings of their masters such as using prepared magic contracts to recruit people into their evil cults. Though, since they weren't demons themselves, I couldn't really intervene. At best, I could cut those contract links which wouldn't accomplish a thing without either sides' acknowledgement.

"Now, now, let's see how the heroes are faring..."

In this situation, heroes, regardless of faction, were struggling to survive. The more noble and combat oriented ones ones were on the frontline fending off the onslaught of trolls.

Trolls always had traits such as |rapid regeneration| and the notorious [undying breath] ability. Killing them proved near impossible without having proper equipments.

I watched as an amateur hero after much struggle severed an arm off a medium level troll only to find that the arm had fully regenerated moments later. Even crushing the head would prove useless unless they could be sure that both |rapid regeneration| and [undying breath] couldn't be activated.

It was really painful to watch.

The heroes' bodies due to |hero| trait would be enhanced above their opponents. Taking a few brunt attack wouldn't kill them. However, that didn't mean their weapons and armors could endure the same stress. More often than not, swords would shatter and shields would dent.

In a fist brawl, the trolls that didn't care about injuries would definitely be most advantageous.

"The only thing I can do is assist the heroes in some way? I don't know... Hmm... I can't be a fairy of the lake and grant them holy swords... Or can I? Yes! I'll be a goddess of... Wait... Some of them probably already seen me before. Alright, I have an idea. Let's go with that."

I did a makeover of myself and smirked with delight before diving into the battlefield below.

A hero with crimson hair on his last breath, about to be trampled on by a troll three times his size, his name was Gabriel, that much I remembered. He remained a neutral hero who bravely fought the fey beasts. His valor and courage was radiant and his eyes burning with passion, or so I would loved to have seen. In reality, his eyes were that of frustration and desperation. He was about to give up while his free arm struggled to reach the heaven above.

I chose the fade in effect for my graceful entrance.

"I am Valkyria, chooser of the slain, Arbiter of the Void. Fallen hero, speak your heart and I shall grant that wish!" I declared whilst unleash an aura of divinity and halting the troll's movement at once.

A pair of beautiful white feathered wings that spanned thrice my height, gilded ashen armor over my body like a princess knight, and a luminous slender sword held tightly in my hands, these were my props for the play. No matter how I looked at it, I seemed like a main character instead of the hero gazing upon me. Since I didn't want any publicity, I altered my facial features just for this occasion. Of course, charisma and beauty should be appealing to the hero so I even opted for crimson hair.

How do you like that, Mister Hero? I put in a lot of effort for this, you know? Make an effort to appreciate it, won't you? And, also please make it a doable wish... Please.

"My family, I wish to see them once more..."

I'm sorry... I don't know anything about your family. Darn it. I have to improvise.

"Hmph, I know nothing about them. If you wish to see your family is well, take that into your own hands to see them for yourself. To do that, I shall bestow to you a sword capable of slaying these fey beasts. From now on, you may name yourself the Crimson Hero."

As far as I knew, this hero was fairly pure hearted. Since that was the case, I didn't mind giving him a slightly more powerful sword than the one I gave to Jaco. Anyway, for inanimate objects to possess traits and abilities, they had to have fey cores, meaning I was going to part with a tiny portion of myself. If I stopped supplying my mana or remotely removed the fey cores, they would simply become above average steel swords.

Actually, magitech could probably also possess traits and whatnot but I had no idea how they worked.

The hero, understanding my intention, nodded as I rapidly healed his bodily wound via [genesis]. In seconds, he was able to stand up and regain his full awareness of his surroundings.

"It's yours now."

In his hands now held a crimson great sword imbued with |void edge|, and [corrosion], perfect against the toughness of these trolls and their extreme regenerative ability. By the way, [corrosion] was an ability that was derived from the |chaos| trait of the demon's lineage.

As a bonus, I boosted his endurance and his physical stats. Strictly speaking, I was only temporarily drawing out his potentials. If he overexerted himself, he might end up with broken bones and muscle aches the next day. 

"Thank you," he muttered under his breath as he focused his sight on the fey beast before him.  

"Farewell Crimson Hero. Your fate is now in your hands," as I flew away majestically into the clouds before disappearing.

To the end, he was a man with little words and I wasn't able to spout any cool phrases like, "true heroes are born in times of chaos..." or something like that.

Hmm... I think I've done all I can here. If a country falls, then so be it. Perhaps, from the ashes of destruction, a new nation will birth. Well, I shouldn't prophesize their doom when it's only the capital that is in this state.

With no more demons around here, it was my cue to move on. Leaving a city in this was would leave a bitter after taste but this was no longer my battle. The heroes here should be more than capable. If they weren't, that just meant they weren't suited to be heroes to begin with. In the worst case scenario, they just had to rebuild the city. Nothing lasted forever.

Next, I returned to Ataraxia and gave Mera the green light. The sooner my work finished, the sooner I could relax somewhere and enjoy the rest of my life.

"Mera, you're up."

"Finally!"

"Actually, just a moment, let me just gather everyone here. I want to brief everyone on the current situation then we'll set off."

"Ah fine," She replied with a disgruntled look.

I had everyone including the two fey beings gather in a meeting room. There I informed everyone of the situation within the city of Rotask. Of course, that peculiar demon scholar wasn't around. Oortez might get along with me but that was only because he approved of me. After all, he still had that |arrogant| trait.

During the meeting, I told them my next plan of action which was to assist Mera in overthrowing the elves' leader, a faker.

To fight a faker, I decided to become a faker! A new identity was devised.

"Mother..."

"No. I am your father!" I replied with a deep resounding voice while striking a cool pose.

I took the form of a handsome male elf who was supposed to be Mera's boyfriend. Though, I was probably off by a bit but it was the thought that counted!

"Berry... Please. I have a fiancée... It'll cause a misunderstanding if someone sees me with you in that form."

Kanoko was just shaking her head in disapproval while Smoothie was stunned speechless.

Vintelo shrugged without care and Mufy was falling asleep.

"Ahh... Fine, it was a joke! Heheh," I laughed a bit nervously before adding, "Um... Mera, it's alright if I pretend to be your girlfriend then?"

"What, why? Aren't you supposed to be a contracted hero?"

"Guh..."

We ended up following the original plan.