The Girl Who Hacked The Magic System

PoV: Aurea

"Your Highness, a message from our spy in Viscatya."

An officer just arrived at our office, flustered, carrying. He took a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to me with a respectful bow.

I open it with haste and a bit of worry. Viscatya is the capital city of Castro, so any message from there is bound to be bad news.

'The goddess is back and summoned a hero.'

That was the whole content of the message, which made me let out a sigh of relief. This is nothing unexpected. On the contrary, we made our plans with that idea in hand.

Just one word puzzles me. 'A' hero? Weren't there supposed to be three?

My doubts were dismissed when a message came from our person in Histria, telling of a hero in there as well.

"So they were sent to different countries."

"You should remember that other countries don't possess the communication speed that we have, Aurea."

Lovelace was at my side, as she was called for as soon as I disappeared along with my mother earlier today.

She got really worried when she heard about my disappearing and blissfully relieved when I simply appeared out of nothing back in the office, right in front of her.

This has been a very turbulent day.

"That's true. They probably don't even know about each other's heroes yet."

"And it will take even longer for word to come to the army outside."

"We have to break them before they get wind of it."

"Things will get a lot tougher with Juno around."

"I don't know... I have this weird feeling inside. I've been harboring it for some time now. Why did the goddess disappear? And why would she need to summon heroes in the first place?"

"What do you mean?"

"If she could simply crush us, directly or by boosting the army outside, she would have done it."

"So you mean to say that she summoned the heroes because she can't beat us directly?"

"That's the only reason I can think of. Either she lost too much power from the people abandoning her religion, or she is too injured by whatever thing was keeping her from this world, or there's something else blocking her. Either way, it was threatening enough for her to resort to heroes instead of using her powers and the army she already has."

"But a hero wouldn't be able to make a difference in the war soon after being summoned. They would be normal people from your world, right?"

"Indeed..."

There are too many uncertainties, too many variables. I'm at a loss about what to do.

"We need to learn more about those heroes, Aurea."

"Maybe more than that. Maybe we should contact those heroes. If they are from our world, they might be reasoned with. But I agree, for now we should focus on learning what we can before attempting contact."

"Your Highness, a message just came from Calem."

"Oh, that should be the third hero. Thank you."

:::

PoV: Nakata

After the meeting with the goddess, the three heroes were separated.

The German punk guy, Jonas, was sent to a place where it was said that the war with the dragonkind was at its worst. The place's name is Calem.

The Black girl, a Brazilian named Renata, was given the task of making sure that the demonic heresy doesn't propagate in the smaller Eastern nations. She was sent to Histria and would work from there.

Nakata was sent to Castro, where the new seat of the Church is. Her given mission is to articulate with the head of the Church, Pontifex De Laurens, and then join the crusade against Wesgoth as soon as she learns how to wield her new powers.

They were given a brief explanation of the Adventuring System, the extra abilities that the Hero title would give them, and also how to use the divine blessings.

The three of them were very happy to work with a goddess. And such a nice one at that. Juno was pleasant to the eye and to the heart.

:::

Nakata woke up in a weird room. It looked like some sort of chapel, and there were several people in robes around her.

"Welcome, hero sent by the goddess!"

The one in front of all the others spoke first. He was an old man, and his garments were a bit too fancy. Nakata didn't even need to use the creature analysis from the system to guess who he was, but she used it just to make sure.

"Oh, no need for formalities, Pontifex De Laurens. I'm just an ordinary girl."

One thing that the Hero title does is to remove the limitations of the analysis skill. So she was marvelling at what she was able to learn about the guy through that.

He had an air that she knew very well, and his hidden titles confirmed her suspicions. This is a shrewd old man who is up to no good.

"Oh, that won't do. You are our hero, after all. And you will be treated as such. Come, I will show you to your quarters."

It was only a couple of hours later that some effect wore off, and she suddenly didn't feel that the goddess was such a nice person anymore.

:::

PoV: Urraca

"What is the state of the army?"

"We lost one thousand men in the attack but managed to safeguard the provisions. Also, the boulders were only able to kill the weakest troops, thanks to the goddess' blessing."

Urraca punched the table in anger and frustration at the officer's words.

"One thousand men... This is one thousand too many. Keep patrols in high alert in the mountains. This blunder can't happen again!"

"Yes, Your Highness!"

"And what are the priests saying about the goddess' blessing disappearing again?"

"They seem to be as bewildered by it as we are, Your Highness."

"Damn! Isn't that stupid goddess supposed to be on our side? Isn't this her holy crusade? What the hell is happening??"

Early in the morning the army were in very high spirits, as they felt the blessing of the goddess over them, increasing their stats all around with a huge boost. That was the only reason they managed to keep losses to a minimum when boulders came rolling down the mountains on both sides.

Those boulders were a hit to the morale, but they managed to rein people in.

And then, when the afternoon was nearing its end, the blessing was gone. And nobody seems to know the reason why.