Hikari Kujo. Her name was known by all in Trinia; she was the legendary hero whose story was passed down even today. As the First Hero, this otherworlder had brought about a great reformation—defeating the Demon King and mediating the Friendship Treaty that connected the three realms.
Yet her journey had not begun with the blessings and high hopes of many.
Once she was summoned and had shared the details of her life, the summoners and the representatives of the various nations were struck with profound regret. They had desperately clutched at the straw of an ancient ritual to call forth a savior from another world. Instead, they had effectively kidnapped a young girl from a world of peace—one without a shred of combat experience.
They sought to send her home, but the summoning magic circle remained unresponsive. The intricate formula for inter-world travel was far beyond human comprehension; unable to understand its workings or determine the cause of the failure, they found it impossible to return Hikari to her original world.
Fortunately, her summoners were men of conscience, even if they were weary from the war against the Demon King Army. They did not demand that Hikari stand on the front lines. Instead, they placed her under careful protection in the royal castle of the country furthest from the fighting—the castle of the present-day Kingdom of Sinfonia.
While the ongoing war between the Demon King Army and the Human Allied Forces made a life of opulence impossible, they took every measure to ensure that Hikari, a traveler from another world, lacked for nothing. Thanks to their efforts, Hikari did not fall into despair, despite the trauma of her sudden displacement.
At the very least, Hikari was surrounded by kind-hearted souls. Even in a situation where the entire Human Realm was exhausted by the war, people looked forward and did whatever they could to help. As she experienced this kindness and watched their struggles, Hikari eventually came to love the people of this world. She began to feel a desire to protect them... to be of help.
Fortunately, she possessed a natural gift. She mastered the magic she was taught for self-defense within a few months of her arrival. Combined with the sword skills she had cultivated since childhood as the daughter of a dojo owner, she had attained formidable strength by the time six months had passed since her summoning.
However, those around her did not welcome her desire to fight. The people she wished to protect loved Hikari for her straightforward, kind nature; for that very reason, they refused to let her participate in the war. No matter how much power she gained, they did not want to involve a visitor from another world in their local conflicts. They tried their best to persuade her to stay safe.
But Hikari’s will was firm. Eventually, the King of Sinfonia relented and gave her a mission. It was an assignment to travel to several cities and investigate the movements of the Demon King Army—a mission of reconnaissance "in name only."
In reality, the cities she was asked to survey were located in areas where safety was guaranteed, including the roads leading to them. It was a compromise designed to respect Hikari’s wishes without actually involving her in the conflict. The king secretly hoped to settle the war by the time Hikari finished her tour of the cities.
...But there was one single "miscalculation" regarding their plans. A companion joined Hikari on her journey—a journey she was supposed to have started alone with a map and supplies—simply because she thought "it looked interesting."
The companion's name was Hapty. She was a girl and a self-proclaimed chivalrous thief whom Hikari had met during a minor incident in the Royal Capital. Yes, the journey of the legendary First Hero began as a most unusual party: a girl swordsman from another world and a thief who called herself a hero of the shadows.
A short while later, a staggering report reached the High Command of the Human Allied Forces. Hikari and Hapty had defeated a high-ranking demon commander by themselves and liberated a town under demon control.
The King of Sinfonia felt a wave of vertigo when he heard the report. It was a tremendous military achievement in a location completely different from the route he had assigned. In fact, he could not fathom how they had reached demon-controlled territory without being detected.
The reason was simple: Hapty. She had tricked Hikari into following her toward ancient ruins in search of treasure, causing the unfamiliar Hikari to get lost. As a result, they had wandered into a city ruled by demons and joined a group of townspeople who were about to launch a rebellion. They defeated the high-ranking demon in charge—a victory born from a bizarre series of coincidences.
However, this victory brought a ray of hope to humankind. Until then, they had lacked any effective countermeasure against the Demon King Army. Hikari and Hapty’s success highlighted a vital weakness.
That weakness was the demons' lack of camaraderie. In the Demon King Army, the majority followed out of fear or force; there was no sense of fellowship. It was a structure where the strong simply ruled the weak. Consequently, by defeating the commander—the strongest presence in that location—the entire force would collapse. No one would seek revenge; once the strongest fell, the rest would simply scatter.
Furthermore, most demons looked down upon humans. Those with power believed it impossible for them to lose to mere mortals. This made a specific strategy effective: pinning down the main force elsewhere while attacking vital strongpoints with a small, elite squad. This tactic was perfect for dismantling an army gathered by force alone.
Taken to its logical conclusion, if the Demon King—the strongest existence in the army—were defeated, the entire force would dissolve. While some might continue to fight, they would be unable to maintain coordination. Infighting would begin, and they would likely vanish into the shadows.
It was a beacon of hope for humankind, who had been on the defensive for so long. There was no way they could ignore it. Ironically, Hikari’s accidental success had established her "track record" as an elite combatant.
Thus, it was inevitable. She was recruited for a unit that would become the cornerstone of future strategy—a small squad tasked with reclaiming occupied strongholds while the Allied Forces drew the main army’s attention. Hikari, whose resolve had been further tempered by her experiences, accepted the proposal.
Of course, the Allied Forces did not rely entirely on Hikari. Laguna, a mermaid warrior who boasted the greatest combat power among humankind, joined the group. Hikari’s journey restarted with three members. During their travels, they stopped at a settlement of Elves who had fled their burned forest. There, they added the High Elf Falce—the Sage of the Forest—to their ranks. Thus, the four members of the legendary Hero Party were assembled.
The Hero Party’s exploits were meteoric. The four had excellent synergy, but the primary reason for their success was that Demon King Fia was simply not paying attention. For Fia, the invasion of the Human Realm was merely a stepping stone. Her true goal was to defeat the God Realm and make Kuromueina the King of the World.
Even the ancient Kings of the Demon Realm had been unable to destroy the God Realm... and to achieve her final goal, the overwhelming presence of the God of the World, Shallow Vernal, stood in her path. The more she thought about it, the more Fia realized the difficulty of defeating an almost almighty being. At the time, no path to victory was visible to her.
Fia had no leeway. Fraying her nerves, she did nothing but search for a way to defeat the God Realm and Shallow Vernal. Consequently, by the time she noticed the existence of the "Hero," humankind had gained a momentum that could no longer be easily stopped. Only then did Fia realize her invasion was faltering, and she finally began to act.
The first thing she did upon turning her gaze to the Human Realm was not to rally the army, but to "dispose" of those who had disobeyed her orders by unnecessarily slaughtering humans or persecuting them for selfish desires. After purging these individuals, she took command herself. The power of a Demon King was immense, and humankind was driven back in an instant.
However, the humans did not lose heart. They rallied their spirits, carved a path to the Demon King's Castle, and sent the Hero Party forward. Following a fierce decisive battle, the struggle between the Hero and the Demon King came to an end.
Hikari Kujo, the Great Hero of history. In many texts, she is recorded as a person of indomitable spirit. That is not incorrect. She certainly possessed a strong heart and overcame countless crises.
But she was also human. She was not always able to look forward without wavering. There were times when words of weakness welled up in her heart, and times when she wanted to flee from the heavy responsibility she carried.
However, she could not let those weaknesses escape her lips. Her environment would not allow it. It was not because she was the Messiah, or because she carried so many lives. She was not in a position where showing weakness was forbidden. Rather, it was the opposite—she was in a position where her weakness would have been too readily accepted.
The people around Hikari were kind. If she had said "I want to run away," they would have allowed it. Both Laguna and Falce would have accepted it if Hikari had said she didn't want to bear the burden of this world. Precisely because she was in an environment that would have embraced her weakness, she could not allow herself to show it.
Yet, there was one exception. What saved Hikari was the fact that there was one person she could show her vulnerability to. Hikari still remembers a conversation from their journey when the party discussed their reasons for fighting.
Laguna’s race, the Mermaids, had been driven from their lands. She joined the fight bearing the pride of her kin to reclaim their homeland. Falce was similar; she had joined to defeat the Demon King and restore the Elf Forest. Both fought as representatives of their races, carrying burdens from which they could never run away.
"...So, Hapty. What about you? Is your goal still to make money?"
In a party bearing the expectations of humankind, Hapty alone was an outlier. Until this moment, the others didn't quite understand why she was there.
In response to Laguna’s question, Hapty looked genuinely confused. "Huh? No, I don't engage in money-making where the risk and profit don't balance out. If I wanted to kill the Demon King for money, there are plenty of better ways to earn it."
"Oh? That's unexpected," Falce remarked. "I also thought your goal was financial. You don't seem like the type to fight for 'the people.' No offense, just my personal observation."
"Hmm? You're right about that," Hapty said. "Honestly, I don't care whether the Demon King Army wins or the Allied Forces win. It doesn't affect my life much anyway."
The answer surprised them. Hapty casually agreed that she didn't care if the humans lost.
"...Then, why exactly are you here?" Laguna asked.
Hapty looked blank for a moment before pointing at Hikari. "Huh? Because 'a friend is here,' obviously?"
"""What?"""
The answer was completely outside their expectations.
"...Well now," Falce said. "That's even more unexpected than fighting for the world. So, you are only accompanying us because Hikari is here?"
"Exactly. It's a simple answer."
Nodding, Hapty took out some dried meat and began to speak leisurely as she toasted it over the campfire.
"...This is just my personal thinking, but I believe that almost everything in this world can be bought with money. Some people say things like pride or the heart can't be bought, but to me, that's just ridiculous. In fact, I'd say things like pride and the heart are the easiest things to buy for a pittance."
Laguna and Falce looked visibly displeased. Hapty’s words sounded like an insult to their racial pride. However, in that tense atmosphere, Hikari wore a light smile as she looked at Hapty.
"...'Almost,' isn't it?"
"...That's right. Almost. Things that can't be bought with money, things that can't be replaced by money... they certainly exist. Of course, what those things are will be different for everyone... Even the pride I called ridiculous is likely a precious thing that can't be bought for Laguna or Falce."
Having said that, Hapty handed the toasted meat to Hikari and continued as she ate.
"...There certainly are things that money can't buy. But the number of those things is overwhelmingly small compared to the things that can be bought. You only find a handful of them in a lifetime."
As she finished eating, Hapty took a cloth from her bag and leaned against a nearby tree.
"That's why... I've decided to treasure them. When I find something like that."
With those words, Hapty closed her eyes and went to sleep. But those words resonated warmly in Hikari’s heart. She was happy that Hapty considered her friendship to be something that could not be bought or replaced. Because of this, Hapty became the one person Hikari could show her weakness to, serving as her greatest pillar of support.
Bonus
Laguna (1,000 Years Ago) Because the Demon King Army appeared close to the Mermaid home, they suffered an invasion very early. Sensing that there was no hope of victory alone after seeing Fia, she immediately abandoned their home and retreated with her kin. After forming the Human Allied Forces, she was begged to become the first monarch of the Hydra Kingdom. She thought she would find a successor once the country stabilized... but she proved to be too skilled as a monarch, and after a millennium, she still hasn't found a chance to quit.
Falce (1,000 Years Ago) The first among the Elves to evolve into a High Elf. She initially refused to join Hikari, fearing for her settlement. However, she was torn by a desire for retribution against the army that burned her forest. Persuaded by her kin, she eventually joined. Later, when the forest was restored by Lilliwood, she became a devout worshiper. She stayed within Rigforresia for 200 years out of regret for being away during a certain incident, only leaving again after Lilliwood placed a barrier over the forest at Kaito’s request.
Transcendent Beautiful Girl? (1,000 Years Ago) Somehow or other, though not to the same extent as Kaito, this one is also quite the charmer.
King of Sinfonia (1,000 Years Ago) Stomach pain might be something that has been passed down through the royal family for generations.