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–––Diaria’s viewpoint

I’m Diaria, an elf living in a country called Zelvis, to the north of the large kingdom of Bordaule in the center of the continent. My country has a unique political system known as republicanism. Lately all the countries around us have been making a lot of noise talking about a resurrected Demon King and the return of heroes, but Zelvis remained calm…at first, until from one day to another I found myself being appointed as a hero.

“Sir, please let me step down!”
“Calm down Diaria. Your cute face gets spoiled when you get so riled up.”
“Who cares about my face! Why is it that I’m the hero now?! I clearly remember saying I refuse to do this before!”

As I kept complaining to the president, he just turned his face away in discomfort. He was always like that, whenever there was any problem, he would wash his hands and pass it on to someone more capable. He seemed to lack a lot of responsibility, but somehow he was able to keep the congress together. Maybe being able to deal with things in that way was useful in his line of work, but for me it was simply annoying now.

Everything started a few days ago, with a message from Bordaule. By now, everyone already knew about the resurrection of the Demon King, and while on the surface everyone was working to defeat that fiend, there were a few countries like Zelvis that only pretended to prepare, but in reality were simply hoping the other countries would take care of it without much effort from our part. I felt ashamed knowing my own country would act that way…but then things changed with the newest report, with information that our higher ups could no longer ignore.

That led to the hurried creation of a large martial event. People from all branches of life were called to participate in a knockout tournament with a generous prize for the winner. I was already part of the military, and my low salary always kept me with a lean wallet, so I decided to take part in the tournament without thinking about it too much, never expecting it would be the worst turn of fate in my life.

Put bluntly, my power was barely above the average of all the participants. But somehow I won the first round, and things got worse when I continued winning. For as long as I remember, I always had good luck when it came to drawing lots, or gambling, even if I was not paying much attention my bets would almost always hit.

That I kept winning in the tournament was also mainly because of my luck, my opponents would turn out to be much weaker than me, or they were already wounded from past rounds and would withdraw, so I rose up through the brackets without really breaking a sweat. Something else that made my victory possible was the way the tournament was organized, I only had to fight one person in each bracket to move onto the next, rather than competing against everyone at least once.

The board who organized the event seemed to think that the luck to survive any situation was also an important trait for a hero, so thanks to that…or rather, because of that dumb reason, they decided an elf with half-baked abilities like me was still the rightful winner. I still remember that day like it was yesterday, a presenter trying his hardest to keep things lively, me standing to his side holding the prize money with a confused look, and the audience looking at me with unamused eyes. Then there were a few sparse and lifeless claps. I don’t think there has ever been any other hero that was born in such a sad situation.

“Do you have any words to express your joy for winning the tournament?”

The presenter’s voice was echoed through the entire event venue thanks to wind magic. That also meant that my dry and intermittent voice was also being transmitted similarly.

“Umm…I’m sorry. I don’t want to become the hero.”

I said that between tears before I darted away from that place, the shocked looks of the presenter and the audience following me. After that, I called in sick and skipped work for two days. I figured things would have calmed down after that time, but when I stepped outside, the first thing I saw were posters announcing the birth of a new hero.

“Wh-wh-wha-what is this?!”

The posters had my name written on them, as well as a drawing of my face just like I saw it in the mirror every day. For a moment I forgot about reality, just admiring how good of an artist it was to draw that so well, but then I stormed inside the council, this country’s most influential institution. Usually, any civilian attempting that would be thrown out or arrested, but whether out of good or bad luck, I had become the hero so I was let in after a glance at my face. I went straight to the president’s office and began yelling at him.

“Anyway! I definitely don’t want to be the hero! Going to fight a Demon King or whatever would be suicide for me!”
“But you see, I can’t just willfully change the outcome of a fair and square selection method. You ought to be aware of that much as a citizen of Zelvis.”
“Uh…”

Being a republic, there was no sovereign ruler in Zelvis, unlike other countries. That meant there was no one who stood above the law, and when it came to be judged, everyone stood as equals, no matter what age or gender one was. Even politicians or foreigners, once they took a step inside Zelvis, the law was absolute. The council had agreed on a fair selection method to elect the hero, and through it, I was chosen, there was no going back now, no matter how I myself felt. But even then, I had no desire to waltz into danger and die. I did not care if I had been chosen through the law, reality simply made it impossible for me to successfully take that role. There had to be some way out for me!

“Th-then at least pair me up with someone really strong! Like the semi-finalists of the tournament at least. If I go alone without someone strong like that by my side I’ll just be a snack for the monsters!”

If there was no way to change my position as hero, then at least I had to find a way to save my life. Or to be more precise, I had to get a meat shield. If it was someone who could take my place and kill our enemies, then even better, but I wanted to keep my expectations in check. But rather than take my brilliant advice, the president once again looked away.

“…I understand what you’re trying to say. Sending you alone as our hero is wishing for too much, so we already tried to reach out to strong people to help you, who can walk to your side and accompany you to the Haunted Lands to defeat the Demon King.”
“A-and so? What was their reply?”
“…Everyone refused. They said they wouldn’t want to stand next to a girl with such luck that she can go through an entire tournament and have all attacks miss their mark on her.”
“What does that even mean?! It can’t be that bad! And it’s not like I won because I wanted to!”

Thanks to my good luck I won the tournament, but because of it I also would have to go alone. Was it really correct to call that good luck? I highly doubted so.