《World of Heroes》


 Prologue: A New Demon Lord

    She awoke in a void.


    Strangely, it wasn''t scary. The void wasn''t exactly comforting, but it wasn''t exactly discomforting either. Clearly, death wasn''t all it was cracked up to be.


    Really, the scariest thing about it was that she couldn''t remember her name. Or any names, come to think of it. It was as if all the names she knew had been carefully scrubbed from her memory.


    Or were they? Now that she thought about it, she could still remember the names of celebrities and characters. Really, the only names missing were from people she personally knew. Most of the memories from her previous life were intact, and it was understandable that she didn''t remember how she died, but she wished she knew what her name was.


    "Maou."


    Suddenly a voice came out of the void. Maou? The Japanese word for demon lord? Strange that that of all things came booming out of the void.


    "It is your name. That is what you were wondering, is it not? That would be the most glaring hole in your memory."


    That... was not her name. It wasn''t. She could feel it.


    "Well, your old name has been erased. This is your new one."


    Maou was a little upset, but that seemed to make sense. Wait...


    "Who''s speaking to me? How are you reading my mind?"


    The voice came again, except this time, instead of booming from the void in all directions, it came from directly behind her, much more quietly.


    "I was."


    Maou whirled around to face the voice, absently noting that her feet were suddenly touching some sort of ground. She turned to see a gorgeous woman with long, wavy, blonde hair. She wore a shimmering white dress, and her eyes seemed to shine with many colors, shifting like the northern lights. She floated in a reclined position, looking lazily at Maou.


    "For the record, I wasn''t reading your mind," she drawled with a slight smirk, "It was pretty clear what you wanted to know."


    Maou narrowed her eyes suspiciously.


    "You responded to me earlier. When I thought that Maou wasn''t my name."


    "Did I now?" she said, "Well, even if it seemed that way to you, I was simply finishing my previous statement."


    Maou raised an eyebrow. She didn''t really believe this ugly little bitch was telling the truth. Sure enough, as she thought that, the woman''s face twitched angrily. Mind reader confirmed.


    The woman''s smirk faded, but was then replaced by a grin.


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    "Clever," she said, turning to face Maou more properly. "I think you''ll be a wonderful fit."


    Before Maou could wonder what she meant, the woman continued.


    "I am the goddess of Alvaria, Libertile. And I would like to have you help me."


    Maou was skeptical. "....With what?"


    "Well, I would like for you to become the new demon lord there," she began, "hence the new name. You''ll be in charge of an army of monsters, and have your own dungeon to manage. Your job is to fend off the heroes that come at you, and generally cause chaos and destruction among the human territories. Burn some villages, kidnap some princesses, all that good stuff. There are-"


    "Wait wait wait," said Maou, holding her hands up. "You said you''re a goddess, right? The one charged with protecting humanity? Why would you send me there to fight them? Isn''t that.... counterproductive or something?"


    The goddess shrugged and said, "First of all, I never said I was humanity''s guardian. Besides that, humanity needs something to do, or they''ll start fighting each other, and I need something to do, or I might start breaking things out of boredom. So... Demon lord! Good ol'' fight to keep humanity on its toes."


    "I feel like I just heard something dangerous..." Maou muttered.


    "I''d say me getting bored is rather dangerous, yes."


    "You''re not supposed to admit it!" Maou shouted in exasperation.


    "Well most people wouldn''t want me admitting I could peer into their mind either, but you insisted on cracking that case wide open. I thought you''d prefer honesty."


    Maou didn''t really have a counter to that, so with a sigh, she simply moved on.


    "Alright, so I''m to go around destroying places until some hero defeats me?"


    The goddess gave a ''so-so'' gesture as she responded, "Kind of, but not really. First of all, you''re not really meant to destroy too much. There are other evils out there to really try and wipe out humanity. You''re not meant to be the worst threat, just the most consistent one. Your main job is to be their common enemy, so they fight you instead of each other. Frankly, if you could pull that off without destroying anything, I wouldn''t stop you, though that would be quite boring for me.


    "Besides that, there''s a reason I''m giving you a dungeon. You''ll be a lot weaker outside of it, though still stronger than most, and while your monsters will be the same as normal, you can''t revive them if they die outside of the dungeon. You can travel around, but I suspect you''ll spend most of your time inside that dungeon."


    Maou pointedly ignored Libertile''s second dangerous statement and responded, "So I''m supposed to just sit there and wait for the heroes to arrive?"


    The goddess shrigged. "Well, you''ll need to be more aggressive than that to keep their attention on you, but for the most part, yes. Going over all the finer details would take way too long, so I''ll leave you with a manual when you get there."


    "Uh-huh... and what if I refused?"


    Libertile''s eyes widened, as she blinked at Maou in surprise, then she pasted a smile on her face as she said, "Well in that case, I''d send you off to Limbo."


    Maou was confused. "Is that not where we are?"


    The goddess burst out in laughter at Maou''s response, tumbling through the void as she laughed hysterically.


    "Hahahahaha! Ahaha! Ahhh, no. No, Limbo is a much less peaceful place. It''s the place in between after all, where all the aberrants go. This place is a subdimension I created to talk with you. Can you imagine? This place! Limbo! Oh, that is too good!"


    Given Libertile''s reaction, Maou was suddenly very concerned about the casual way she delivered the initial threat. Despite knowing the goddess was reading her mind, Maou forced the fear out of her voice as she said, "Well, it sounds like I don''t have much of a choice then. I suppose I accept."


    A grin spread across the goddess''s face.


    "Wonderful."


    Then, just as quickly, it vanished, replaced by a small, happy smile.


    "Now then, I suppose I should send you off."


    She waved her hand, and suddenly Maou felt a hole open up beneath her. As she began to fall, Libertile waved at her and said with a sing-song voice,


    "Good luck~"

 Chapter 1: Tutorial

    She awoke in a room this time. Sitting on a chair. Or more like¡­. A throne.


    Yes, a throne. Maou found herself in a throne room, looking about as large and opulent as one would expect such a thing to be. Extravagant black and red throne, red carpet leading in from the door, blue flames lighting up braziers on the walls. It was everything a demon lord could ask for.


    Well, a new one, anyway.


    As Maou was getting her bearings, a book popped up in front of her out of thin air. She caught it before it could tumble to the ground and inspected the cover.


    ¡°Dungeon Keeping for Dummies! Even a Baby Can Be A Demon Lord!¡± ¨C by Goddess Libertile.


    This was going to be irritating.


    Opening the book only confirmed her suspicion, as her vision was filled with Libertine''s laughter.


    ¡°AHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, you should see the look on your face, you did not like that! Ah, anyway, this will be your guide to all things dungeon. This first chapter will guide you through the basic knowledge all baby dungeon masters are born with. Pay attention now!¡±


    Maou let out a frustrated sigh, but she supposed this was knowledge she would need. No matter how irritatingly the goddess might put it.


    ¡°Alright, now that you''re done brooding, let''s begin. First things first, as lord of the dungeon you should be able to feel the entirety of your domain if you focus on it. It''s a rather essential ability, so try to master that before you move on.¡±


    Maou looked around the room, eyes stopping on the giant entry door. She tried to focus on knowing what was on the other side of the door. Which accomplished precisely nothing, no matter how hard she squinted.


    Taking a different approach, she closed her eyes and tried to reach out and touch the dungeon, but with her¡­ mind¡­ hands? It was strange to think about, but it seemed to work. Suddenly she could feel that there was a small cave on the other side of the door. Reaching further, she felt that the cave led to a tunnel, which had another cave on the other side. For some reason she couldn''t feel past the exit to that cave. Assuming it led outside, she turned her eyes back to the book.


    ¡°Good job! You''ll need to be able view the whole dungeon subconsciously at some point, but the hand thing is good enough for now.¡±


    Maou narrowed her eyes at the book. She had been trying to write it off as predictions until now, but the goddess was definitely responding. What happened to not wanting to go over the finer details?


    ¡°Yeeeaaah, I thought about it for a while after you left and decided that I should probably stick with you for the tutorial at least. Anyway, now that you''ve figured that out, on to something that might be a little more important. Summoning your first monster. If you focus a bit on your desire to summon a monster you should get a vague feeling of the cost. First monster¡¯s free, so once you¡¯ve got the feeling, just stretch out your hands and shout SUMMON! Be sure to do it at the top of your lungs for maximum effect~!¡±


    Resolving to say summon as quietly as possible, Maou set down the book, then rose from her throne and headed to the center of the room. Closing her eyes and focusing once more, she felt a magic circle and several monsters show up in her mind. She could feel that each of the monsters cost an amount of¡­ something. What, she didn¡¯t know.


    The magic circle felt like it cost nothing, so Maou assumed that was meant to be her first summon. Stretching out her hands, she declared, (quietly but firmly,) ¡°Summon.¡±


    The air suddenly whipped into a frenzy as a magic circle began to appear in front of her. Glowing red runes slowly drew themselves on the ground of the throne room as Maou watched on in fascination. Once the circle was completed the light intensified for a moment, then dimmed, as a kneeling shape formed above the circle.


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    When the light faded, what stood there was a girl with green skin. She was wearing tribal clothing, with furs and teeth, and seemed to have a bone dagger in one hand as well.


    Maou felt safe in assuming this was a goblin.


    The goblin rose, scanning the room curiously. When she spotted Maou, she grinned, and started waving enthusiastically.


    ¡°Nice to meet¡¯cha, boss!¡±


    Maou was a bit surprised by the sudden greeting, but quickly recovered. She tried to sound dignified as she responded.


    ¡°Nice to meet you as well. What¡¯s your name?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t have one!¡± the goblin responded instantly.


    Maou hummed. ¡°Then I suppose the first order of business is giving you a name.¡±


    The goblin immediately perked up even more, and approached Maou excitedly.


    ¡°Really? You¡¯re really gonna give me a name?¡±


    Maou was taken aback by her eagerness. Was this one of those worlds where naming a monster is some special ceremony? Maou couldn¡¯t exactly back out now, but she needed an excuse not to do this for everyone.


    Maou gave a confident smirk as she responded, ¡°Of course. You¡¯re my first servant after all. It wouldn¡¯t do for you to be nameless.¡±


    The goblin bounced impatiently as Maou contemplated. She didn''t exactly want to stick with the Japanese theming. She also wanted a name that meant strength, a symbol of her expectations for her first monster.


    ¡°Vi.¡± she said eventually. ¡°From now on your name shall be Vi.¡±


    The newly dubbed Vi beamed as she hugged Maou tightly.


    ¡°Thanks boss! You''re the best!¡±


    Once Vi had backed up again, Maou noticed that a strange symbol had appeared in Vi''s right eye. She supposed it was a mark of a named monster.


    ¡°Glad you like it.¡± said Maou, before straightening up into a more serious posture. ¡°Now, I''m still setting up, so for now, just keep an eye on that entrance over there, okay?¡±


    ¡°You got it boss!¡± Vi said cheerily. She then marched over to the entrance, sat down, and stared at it intensely.


    Maou chuckled quietly as she returned to her throne. In the future, she would need her Vi to be more fearsome, but for now this was fine. Sitting in her throne once more, she picked up the book to resume her ¡®tutorial.¡¯


    ¡°You insist on being a stick in the mud, don''t you? Well, anyway, congratulations on your summon. The resource in question is souls btw. Any creature strong enough to be classified as a monster will grant you one soul. (So no, you can''t just hunt animals and farm souls.) You can check the specifics on your own time.


    ¡°The last thing on our agenda is a basic primer on magic. (You''ve technically been using it for the other tasks, but somehow your baby brain still can''t sense mana, so here we are.) Now, I''m sure you''ve watched at least one anime, so go on. FEEL the mana.¡±


    Well, that was entirely unhelpful. And perhaps Maou wouldn¡¯t need to be a stick in the mud if this goddess didn¡¯t insist on being insufferable!


    Maou sighed, then took a deep breath. It¡¯s not like the goddess was that bad, and she did reincarnate her. She figured a little teasing wasn¡¯t worth getting worked up over.


    Shifting focus, Maou closed her eyes and attempted to FEEL the mana. Thankfully, the goddess¡¯s advice wasn¡¯t entirely useless. Referencing anime meant that one of the common methods in anime was the right one. She just had to figure out which one.


    She first tried to visualize it as a sort of stream running through her body, but that yielded no results. After that, she tried to visualize it as a pool of energy, which saw some success. She felt some kind of core inside her body, but the feeling was vague, and she couldn¡¯t feel the ambient mana at all. Then she realized that sensing the dungeon had to be a technique that utilized mana, so she decided to try and work backwards from there.


    Summoning her mental hands again, she tried to figure out what exactly she was doing. As she felt around, she noted that she was able to feel Vi when her hands passed that area. Vi also gave a little start, and glanced around before settling on Maou, so clearly she felt it as well. Seeing as she was able to feel Vi so clearly, Maou wondered what would happen if she tried to sense herself.


    Placing her mental hands over herself, she was a bit surprised at what she saw. Though in hindsight, she shouldn¡¯t have been. She had noticed the long black dress with a slit down the side, as well as her waist length white hair and the black heels on her feet. What she had not noticed, were the more demonic features. The horns on her head, twisting from the side to the front like a crown. Her ears, which had grown pointed, and out to the side. Her tail, a thin rope-like thing which had automatically shifted to accommodate her sitting. Oh, and the wings.


    How did she miss the wings?


    Maou shook her head and focused. While the bat like wings protruding from her back were interesting, they weren¡¯t the important thing right now. Just as she was able to feel her body¡¯s form with her perceptive hands, she also felt mana pressing down on her with the weight of her perception. She spent some time shifting her perception about herself, paying close attention to the way it felt, until she was able to feel the mana even without the weight of her perception assisting her.


    Satisfied, Maou turned her attention back to the book.