Chapter 3: Chapter 1 [Luna]

Good—Morning World! It is I, Luna Amenthys.

Today marks yet another wonderful day. I am once again another step closer to my ultimate goal. What is that goal you ask? Naturally, World Domination!

...Well, all jokes aside.

I am currently on the Halyxeon continent, one of the major continents of this world.

It's been four years since I was born, during which I've come to learn quite a lot of things. There's also a few things that irked me a bit... no not a bit, A LOT actually.

First of all, why is my name Luna? There's literally only one letter missing compared to my previous life name. Couldn't I have gotten a cooler new name? Was my previous life's first name just plastered on my forehead when I was born?

Secondly, I've been reincarnated as a girl. Do I even need to elaborate on this? Not that there's anything wrong with being a girl, but I used to be a man damn it! I'd have preferred to stay that way at the very least.

Thirdly, and perhaps what irked me the most, is the fact that I can't learn magic yet. Are you kidding me?! This is a fantasy world damn it, magic is the first and most critical thing about this genre!! What do you mean I can't learn magic till I'm five!!! What happened to the fantasy cliché where the earlier you learn magic the better?

...Haaah— Calm down me, if you linger on this too much you'll just end up needlessly exhausted. Besides, there's only one year left, endure just a little bit more.

To clarify, most races are not born fully adapted for mana. Much like how a human child is not born fully able to walk, it takes a bit of time and growing before a person is finally able to utilize mana. This process is called Mana Awakening. Which of course varies from race to race, and there's even beings like dragons (how typical) who don't have such weaknesses.

On another note, the term humans and humankind no longer refers to one race. It refers to the combination of Sumians, Elves, Dwarfs, Beastmen and so forth.

To begin with, there's only two kinds of major categories in this world. The Humans and the Demons, who also seem to be composed of many different races.

Well, with the exception of the Mythical Races at least, though I'm not really clear on this since I can't find much information on them.

By the way, I'm a Sumian. Which I'm just going to assume is what the Humans of my previous life are called in this world, considering appearance and biological(?) wise. Not that I know much about biology in the first place.

The typical Sumian child takes about Five years to fully adapt and finally awaken their mana, hence my current predicament. Naturally, there are early and late bloomers, but for the most part it stays the same.

*Knock*^[×3]

"Your Highness, it's time for breakfast"

From the door, I heard the call of a maid. Oops, it seems I dawdled on for a bit too long.

"I'm coming! Just give me a minute."

I sprung from my bed and immediately went to the dresser. I changed to a more appropriate clothing, before finally taking a hair brush and looking at my reflection. 

Appearance wise, I had the average height of a four year old, white tender skin, along with gray hair that reached down to my waist. Yep you heard that right, GRAY, not platinum or silver, just plain dull gray. Nice job pops, could've inherited mom's beautiful golden locks but nope, we just couldn't have that can we?

If we're talking about what's most striking about me, It would be my eyes. My left eye had a dazzling gold hue while my right eye had a vibrant shade of sky blue. I've always wondered how they came about, considering pops had purple eyes while my mom had green. Maybe some sort of atavism?

Speaking of which, the first time my old man saw me he muttered something along the lines of "Those eyes... it couldn't be" while frowning, which made me panic a bit thinking they might be some sort of cursed set of eyes or something. Though considering he never treated me badly, I'm probably overthinking it.

I finished brushing my hair just as I had been lost in thought, it's time to head for the dining area.

Ah? It seems there's something I've forgotten to mention? Oh, that's right!

Actually, I am in fact the 7th princess of the Amenthys kingdom.

A royal so to speak.

Looks like I gotta go find some Shining Hero to safeguard this Damsel(lol).

_________________________________________________

 

I quickly ran downstairs to the dining room.

As you can probably see, despite being a princess I act nothing like those so called graceful and dignified princesses in fairy tales. Funnily enough, from what I know about my siblings, not a single one of us could be considered prince or princess like.

"Good morning mom!"

"Good morning Luna."

My mom greeted me with a smile. She shone stunningly despite wearing a relatively simple white dress, though she'd look beautiful in whatever she wore in the first place. She looked around her late twenties at most, which is unbelievably young considering what her real age should be. I once honestly suspected she was from a long lived race.

I immediately sat next to her, which probably broke a few rules of etiquette, not that it mattered to me. The food was already served in the table so I unceremoniously began to eat.

"Are you going back to the library again?"

Mom asked while wiping around my mouth with a napkin. I swear I wasn't this messy back then, probably being in a kid's body caused me to mentally regress a bit too.

"Yep, there's still some things I haven't finished reading."

I answered after swallowing my food, I had enough courtesy to at least not speak while my mouth was full.

"I see, Vairon did give you a lot of books last time. But Luna, while it's fine to read lots of books, you should play out in the sun a bit more."

"Don't worry mom, I will."

By the way, Vairon is my older brother and the 3rd prince of Amenthys Kingdom. He's what one would call a magic nerd who secludes himself up for months on end researching sorcery and what not.

I quickly finished up my food and immediately set out for a different section of the palace. But on the way, I had a rather unexpected encounter.

"Leila?"

"Oh! Morning Luna, where you heading to this early?"

Standing across from me was an eight year old followed by a maid. She had light pink colored hair tied into pig tails, along with a pair of clear purple amethyst eyes. She was wearing a pink dress that complemented her hair, while in her hand was a tiny wand. Needless to say, she is my older sister and the 6th princess of this kingdom.

"The library, still haven't finished the things Vairon gave. How about you, doing that Spirit Magic thingy with mom again?"

"Yup, auntie Anna's unique magic really helps me out a lot!"

Damn it! more magic stuff that I can't be NOT jealous of. Apparently her spirit magic and my mom's unique magic is compatible or something. Because of this, she often comes to mom to help better learn her powers and what not.

On a side note, she's indeed my sister but from a different mother. The lucky old geezer has two wives, namely the queen Melina Roseheart and my mother Anna Lindsilk.

Honestly with this lineup I half expected some palace drama, but was surprised with the lack of it. In fact, mom and the queen were very much close to each other.

The queen visits mom for tea or something whenever she has free time, often bringing some sort of gift for me along the way. Mom also apparently visits her occasionally.

They just seem to enjoy one another's company overall.

...Actually, aren't they closer to each other than they are to the King?

Never mind, lets not think about this too much. That's the old geezer's problem, good luck to you pops.

I made bit more small talk with Leila before parting with her and proceeding to my destination.

The library was located in an extended room of the palace, and was smaller than what I expected it to be.

It was called a library, yet it was actually just filled with mostly unimportant books. They ranged from diaries of previous generation nobles complaining about life (how in the hell did those even get here), cook books, pet related books, and many more miscellaneous information.

Of course, what I focused more are books that hold vital information about this world. History, landmarks, Important figures, you name it. Unfortunately critical info obviously wouldn't be held here, and most things I've learned about the past are just historical events told in the style of kids story books.

...Well, I won't deny that I've read purely fictional novels and story books, but those were mostly for entertainment purposes okay? I don't exactly have a lot of things to distract myself with, I cant even play outside without mom sending someone to keep an eye on me.

Not that I can blame her for being cautious, after all the silly and somewhat dangerous antics I've been doing from time to time.

Now for actual informative books? I did ask about them from the king and my older siblings, only to unfortunately find out that every detailed history books and all other important books are generally written in some sort of encrypted magic text that, you guessed it, need MAGIC to read.

I ended up settling for more stupid kids books that should at least (hopefully?) be somewhat historically accurate.

Honestly, I'd prefer to explore this world with my own two eyes instead of reading about it, but I'm stuck this way for now because of my young age.

What about being unable to be an adventurer because of my identity? It's surprisingly the least of my worries.

Even without mentioning my eldest sister, the 2nd princess of this kingdom, working as an adventurer herself, there were already countless precedence of royalty being an adventurer before our generation.

The reason for this is the fact that the Amenthys kingdom itself was said to be built by a very powerful adventurer. It's also probably due to this that it sort of became an unwritten rule that each generation would have at least one prince/princess be an adventurer.

Anywho, even among the books I've received this time, there's not a lot of them that are actually interesting.

Most children's book in the end are relatively simple, which shouldn't really be that surprising. I mean just yesterday I read a stupidly exaggerated story about a Sumian grand sorcerer who lived a thousand years, and another about a warrior who fought off hordes of monsters by himself.

Well, this is a fantasy world so I really shouldn't be complaining.

Though there is one particular book that caught my attention this time, and it was something I specifically asked my brother for.

'Heroes and Devils'

In many of the fictional story books I've read, a good portion of them seem to reference Heroes and even occasionally Devils.

Rather than themselves being protagonists, Heroes and ex-Heroes often appear to aid the protagonist out of their sticky situations or even become a sort of mentor for them. Even if they don't appear directly, they tend to get mentioned in the background one way or another.

Initially, I just thought it was a recurring trope since it's natural that people admire or idolize heroes. But the way they are constantly depicted just really struck me as odd.

Whenever I read about them they don't seem to be portrayed as a person, instead they seem to be treated a like some sort of godlike or supreme existence. Like a wish granting genie or fairy godmother of those old stories in my previous life, they practically act as a living deus ex machina. From tearing down dimensional barriers, halving entire continents, to even outright reviving the dead.

What in the actual f*ck are Heroes?! Where did people get this image of them from?!

The same could be said about Devils. They act as the arch nemesis of Heroes, and are just as absurd an existence as they are.

Devils seemed to be depicted as the symbol of terror and the source of evil. They are feared across all races alike; whether they be demons, humans, and even mythical creatures. Despite the few times they are actually mentioned or shown in writing, this portrayal seemed to stay relatively consistent.

Obviously I couldn't hold my curiosity and asked everyone about it. The old man just brushed off my questions about it, for some reason he seems to avoid this subject with me. Everyone else either don't know or don't care enough about this topic to talk about it.

Though I did at least find out that Heroes and Devils do indeed exists rather than just a repeating writing trope.

And so came this book, which I finally obtained after endlessly pestering Vairon. It was a transcription of an expository book written in magical encrypted text.

...Though looking at how thin it is, that lazy jackass evidently didn't transcribe everything. 

Whatever, no use complaining so just roll with it.

I opened the book and started browsing through it.

◊◊◊

Heroes and Devils are both considered peculiar existences in this world.

It is said that every thousand or so years a Hero and a Devil is born simultaneously.

It's unknown where Devils spawn from, as there had been no records thus far of a Devil being conceived by anyone. Thus it has been largely believed that Devils are not birthed naturally.

You are reading story Mirrored Journey – A Hero & Devil’s Tale at novel35.com

Heroes on the other hand seem to be born out of the majority of intelligent creatures, though they appear more commonly among the human races. However, so far there have been no history of a Hero being born amidst the mythical beings.

Each Hero and Devil are stated to wield extraordinary strength that can outclass even the strongest individuals within their generation. Additionally, they are said to have no limit in how much they can grow their power.

Perhaps this endless potential of theirs is what allowed them to become peerless outside of their own kind.

Nevertheless, despite their overwhelming abilities, their existences are relatively short lived. As they are always fated to clash with each other, often resulting with both perishing.

Heroes that do survive the battle consequently lose their identity and power as a Hero, returning to normality, albeit retaining some measure of strength they once wielded.

Strangely, every Hero and Devil are deeply connected with one another. Heroes and Devils of every generation are always equal to one another in strength, with only their proficiency and mastery of their powers differing.

Additionally, as they develop, they start being able to sense each other's direction and whereabouts.

It is unknown when, how or why the cycle between Heroes and Devils began. Since recorded history of their existence dates back far beyond the ancient times.

Interestingly, in the past both Devils and Heroes seemed to have been referred to by various different epithet.

The Heroes had once been called as Paragons, Saints and even Angels.

While Devils had once been titled as Archfiends, Abyssals and Chaos Lords.

◊◊◊

Unsurprisingly, I completed reading the book rather quickly.

From the descriptions in the book, while Heroes and Devils aren't as over the top as those novels depicted them as, they still do seem remarkable to say the least.

Also, since the last cycle was about 900 something years ago, I might actually live long enough to see the next cycle.

It doesn't really seem far-fetched since for some reason the stronger a person is, the longer their lifespan. Needless to say this still varies from race to race, with Sumians generally being in the shorter end of the stick.

Now that I think about it since the last Hero was an Elf, is it possible that they're still alive?

Hmm... Well this is a problem for the future me so solve, I'll look into it when I have the chance.

Regardless, I finished the book early and still had plenty of time before lunch. So I just took another novel I haven't read yet on in order to pass time.

______

___

—na

—llo to Luna

"HEY LUNA!!!"

"Hieeeh?!?!"

I nearly jumped from my seat, as I made a weird screeching sound and almost threw the book I was holding in shock.

"Eh? Nina?"

I looked up in surprise, only to see a girl around ten years old towering over me. She had golden flowing hair paired with bright turquoise eyes, wearing an overall green dress. She was staring at me discontentedly, while her hands were holding her hips. It was Nina, my cousin who visits us on rare occasions.

"Why are you here all of the sudden?"

"Why? Am I not allowed to be here?"

"No one said that."

She stared at me a bit longer before sighing and sitting down beside me. 

"Do you always have to read here alone? Why don't you play with your family more?"

"Can't, Mom and Leila are doing their magic. And you already know the rest of them aren't here."

Honestly our family dynamic is just all over the place. Every one of my siblings just wants to do their own thing, and none of them want the throne whatsoever. Its no wonder the old man is constantly under stress.

My eldest brother Aiden, the crown prince, is a sword fanatic who just wants to exclusively train his swordsmanship. He's always trying to pass the line of succession to Vairon, who is obviously having none of that.

My eldest sister Lenora, on the other hand, is apparently a battle maniac who just loves fighting. She just left the kingdom as an adventurer in search of opponents to sate her lust for combat, and I have never once met her in the four years that I've lived.

Though she at least sends letters, so she isn't completely out of touch with us.

Then there's the painter, the alchemist, the spirit mage, and then there's me. And of those four, only two remain in the kingdom.

Again, the only reason that I haven't left to pursue my hobbies yet is because I'm too young. And I'm pretty sure that's also the case with Leila.

Sorry dad, seems like your proper successor still hasn't been born yet.

"...Sorry I asked."

"You don't really have to be sorry about it."

I could practically see the concern in her eyes as she looked at me. Seriously, even though this topic isn't really something I was bothered by.

"Lets go play outside."

"uh, no I—"

"Come on, It'll be fun."

She took my hand, giving me a bright smile with her pleading eyes.

"..."

I sighed inwardly and gave up resistance, no use in making this unnecessarily awkward.

"You know, I'm family too. So if you feel lonely you can always visit me."

"...yeah..."

We started walking out of the library as she pulled me along by hand, I fell silent looking at her cheerfully strolling.

'Family huh...'

Talking about family so much just ended up reminding me of my past life's family. 

'I wonder how they're doing'

Surprisingly, I wasn't all that deeply concerned about them. I had an elder sister and a younger brother, so I wasn't worried no one would take care of my parents. While I'm sure they probably would've been very sad about my death, they definitely wouldn't despair over it. 

With regards to everyone else, while I did have a lot friends, I wasn't close enough with them that they'd be all that sad about my passing.

As for Niel...

 

...uh...

 

—Yep, I'm worried now. Well, sh*t. This is exactly why I didn't want to think about this.

My best friend Niel is, to put it lightly, the biggest weirdo that I've ever met. He is remarkably strong in all the right places, and yet strangely fragile in all the wrong places.

He's capable of the most unnatural and absurd feats that I never thought possible, so much so that I've even questioned if he's human on several occasions. He can somehow keep calm and even excel in problematic situations, I don't know how many times he saved our asses from all sorts of trouble.

...Though I guess I did push my luck a little too far last time...

And yet hes able to instantly vaporize any cool impression of he could've left.

Despite practically being facially paralyzed, he was surprisingly expressive. He can get depressed over the stupidest reason, yet acts all smug over an achievement that no one would be astonished by.

When we were young, I remember him once getting upset because he couldn't bring me along to a short trip to a store. I recalled thinking it was such a silly thing to be sad about.

But then I could tell he was downcast the whole day, even though he tried to hide it. Seeing him like that reminded me of our first meeting and our first farewell, I couldn't help but feel powerless.

Over the years he did appear to grow and mature, yet his somewhat simple personality never completely went away.

In the end, the image of that desolate boy that I just couldn't leave alone was deeply ingrained with me.

Outside of our family he was only ever close to his adoptive father, who was always busy, and his caretaker. Yet unexpectedly, the person he was most attached to was me.

So as ironic as it sounds, the person who would be most devastated of my departure was probably none other than him.

But, if it's him, he should be able to get over it right?

...right?

—please someone tell me I'm right.

Damn it Niel, you bastard! In life I worry for you, and even in the afterlife you still somehow manage to leave me anxious.

Give me a f*cking break.

______________________________________________________________

 

On the other side of the world, upon the room of a large cabin deep within the woods, sat a young dark haired boy.

His crimson eyes seemed to glow mystically as he gazed intently at a peculiar blank book. One of his hand steadily turned the pages, while held on his other hand was an apple like fruit that he leisurely ate.

This scene seems to continue forever, until an odd chill sprung from within the boy's spine leaving him to shudder briefly.

The boy frowned in confusion before starting to scrutinize his surroundings, only to find nothing unusual. 

As he slowly calmed down, he thought to himself.

'Did I get sick?'

 

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