Dragon Princess Will Do Her Best To Prevent The World's Destruction

Chapter 75: Why Is It Always The Hero?

"Chloe, the savior of humanity".

The final advice from Princess Roselia echoed in my head as I trekked through the featureless desert.

A brief and vague name, yet one given by Princess Roselia during our moment of farewell. It was the person she asked me to sought out if I were to be confused about the nature of my death, but I couldn't quite grasp Her Majesty's intentions.

Chloe, huh. A name wasn't much to go off of, even if she was attached with the famous moniker of "savior of humanity". Still, for the princess to specifically mention that person, it must mean something. There were stories of humanity's hero, to be honest. There were stories, yet...nobody talked about her.

It was just some vague fairy tales I heard a couple of years ago when I still lived in my original village, but the strange part was the...silence after the hero's journey. You would think someone like the hero would have some degree of interest drawn to her life, no? Yet, all the stories and rumors told about her were just the same thing.

The same good deeds she did, all up until her final battle with the demon lord. What came after? Where did she go? What became of her companions? It was as if those very details were scrubbed from history altogether. In fact, I did not even know about her name until Princess Roselia put the pieces together for me, just as she always have done.

I had only realized the oddity once the princess affirmed that the hero who had saved the world all those years ago...was not the same hero of the Thorium Theocracy that the world knows of today. The fact that the savior of humanity was a girl confirmed that. Somewhere along the lines, the identity of the hero had unknowingly changed. Or it had knowingly, but the masses only cared that there was a hero, and not who the hero was.

I wonder, the hero that I used to admired in my bed time stories, how much of it was "Chloe", and at what point did the hero stop being Chloe...?

Whatever the case was, it seems Princess Roselia had things all figured out. The truth of the matter surely lies within her palms, and this gift was nothing but the final test she had entrusted me. Still...I can't help but to feel somewhat left out when I realized the fact that those in Eden probably already understood the full circumstances already.

Perhaps this was Her Majesty's way of demonstrating to me that I still had much to learn. That even if I had received a second chance from the world itself, there were more things to understand. What better way to teach me that but to send me on a seemingly endless journey of discovery? Ah...truly, no matter where I go, no matter how much I grow, and no far I run, I could not escape the shadow of my savior. Once again, I was left in bated breath as I await for the revelation of her grand scheme once more.

"Isn't that right? You're a fanatic just like the rest of those old folks in the Empire."

"Hm?" I tilted my head towards the voice behind me.

"You have a habit of speaking to yourself."

The girl who still remained under the shade of a dying sun glared at me from beneath her hood.

"You have objections?"

"One day, you will come to understand the greatness of my brother. He...he merely wished to create an ideal world," the last shadow of the Empire murmured.

"You resent me far too much," I wasn't one to ignore her bitterness.

"No. I...more than anything, I hate the Empire. Brother would have never turned out like this if not for that damned place. The two of us could have all just...ran away."

"Is that why you're following me, of all people? To run away, just as your younger self should have?"

"I..." the shadow lingered, hiding her beautiful eyes further beneath her hood. "I wish to see the alternative to his great dream."