It's Because You Said There Would Be Candy!!

There are places in the world one mustn't tread out of pure curiosity.
For example, wandering the forest with a danger warning in search of fruit. That one was the worst. Because of that, I ended up in tears, chased by a wolf. My parents gently used their fists to teach me the foolishness of my actions. A number of stars twinkled in the backs of my eyes when they did.
Also, don't touch the white wall with a 'do not touch' sign leaned against it. That one was also terrible. I ended up scrubbing my fingers on the verge of tears. The owner of the newly built house, the friendly old blacksmith (bald, macho) gently pat my head with his fist. I got to meet my late granny, and have a conversation with her for the first in a long time.
The one with a bit of a tomboyish youth, I, Marie, had turned twenty eight this year.

... Yeah. I became the splendid Lady the general public gossiped about, who missed her chance at marriage. Yeah, yeah.
But that couldn't be helped.
My parents both ran a bakery. I was fifteen when I lost them to an epidemic. Thinking there was no way in hell I'd lose the store they treasured so much, I resolved myself, took a loan, took over the enterprise, frantically studied, earned up money, somehow paid off my debts, and got the business operational again. And when I looked at myself, I was already at this age.
Yep, so there was no helping it. My best friend already has three children, carrying a fourth, she had become a fine mother, but there was no helping it. That's what I told myself. I mean, I was way too busy. I don't envy the lifestyles of others. I don't freaking envy it, I tell you.

Early in the morning, I'd stock up and prepare ingredients; during the day, I'd sell bread and candy; when night came, I'd prepare for the next day, take bath, and fall asleep like a log. As I was living that life without a fragment of glamor, I came across that peculiar gathering on a regular vacation day for the shop, as I was aimlessly wandering the capital.
In a corner of the street, a remarkable throng had formed, so I peered in with the pure question of 'why?' to see a large mercenary-ish man pulling at a gilded sword stuck in a stone with a bright red face.
After that, a wide variety of people took up the challenge, but it wouldn't budge. What's this, a contest of power? Or so I thought as I watched over it, when it had already come to my turn.
Well since I was already there, why not take a whack at it for old time's sake. And as if the scenes from before had been a lie, the gilded sword parted from the rock. The hell's all this, now that was easy... Or so I was shocked, as my heart beat over the possibility of a reward for all this. I turned to the one standing to the side, with splendid facial features, a man who gave off a minister-of-the-castle vibe.
No~ I was just a bit lucky there. Eh? What's the trick? Well let's see here, instead of the wrists, get power from your shoulders, and give it a light tug, perhaps. It's just like popping the tight cork off a wine bottle... or so a stream of questions and answers were being prepared in my head, but the old man wouldn't open his mouth at all. No, his mouth was open, but no one around let out a word of their voices.
Just what could this be? I gazed over my surroundings, and spotted a billboard posted up.
On it, was written inciting words that sounded like a joke.

And it was only at that moment I had noticed them.

『The one who pulls the sacred sword from the stone shall be granted the title of, 'Hero'.』

... Yeah. It looks like I haven't advanced a single step from my childhood. Ha. Ha.

☆彡

The result: they gave me money and equipment, and drove me out of the town.
No, driven out may not be quite accurate.
They made a petition for me to go away.
They wanted me to go defeat the demon king that had revived.

The king of my own country did.

I questioned his sanity. No, I mean just think about it. I was but a pastry chef running a humble bakery. For some reason, not only women, but fighter-looking men gleefully bought the cakes and biscuits I baked, so we had a bit of a strange clientele, but that was all. We were a completely normal bakery. When it came to fights, I'd never once been in one since I attained mind and matter.
To ask a lady such as I to go slay the demon king, are you alright in the head? I diluted those words a hundred times, and coated them with lemon icing to give a kind, bitter-sweet and awesome explanation, but it didn't work out.
It seems the demon king had only just revived, and after he fully regained his strength, it would be difficult to completely defeat him, he said. By a stroke of luck, the court magician had detected the feeble Demon King's mana, and now was the chance left to humanity to slay him... Also, 『The other countries have already found and sent out heroes, so we'll be in hot water if we're the only ones not doing anything』 he said something like that, and I'm pretty sure that one was the largest reason.
What's more, the other three heroes had journeyed out alone, so they wouldn't even give me a guard.
Just what do you want me to do? I tried to soften up the phrase, I don't give a damn about your country's dignity, but the whole country was already ablaze with a, 'with this, we can finally defeat the Demon King' atmosphere, and there was nothing I could do about it.
So after spending a week carefully preparing for a journey, I reluctantly left the capital I had become accustomed to.