Heroes Are Heroic, Right?

There's, like, a small chunk of time left for me to be out before I have to get back or lose access to the cubicle I paid for. Was it worth it? I mean, yes and no? Yes, as in I was given some stuff to actually look into. But also no, as in it's getting harder to resist my own self-imposed restrictions and not just looking up everything to get a clear picture about it all. Especially when Kandance has some of those answers but isn't telling me just to fuck with me.

"Hey, Kandance."

Still, there is one thing I wanna ask her about, even if she doesn't have the full answer.

"Hmm?"

I can see she's still looking smug from frustrating me earlier. How full of herself…

"Why do you think they called the people you isekai'd here 'Heroes', anyway? Since… well, think about it. We know that they want the Heroes to like them so that they help out, which implies that there was a time when they didn't. And I seriously doubt that, out of the twenty four previous Heroes, none of them committed evil deeds. Ya know what I'm saying?"

I feel like calling them something related to their status from another world would be more fitting. That or a more neutral-sounding title since someone's allegiance is never set in stone…

"Yeah, I asked that same question during my second visit…"

Ok, and?

"When I asked Catherine, the Hewmitahl Pontifex I picked on my second visit, she said it was 'because even if they aren't a hero for us, they're a hero to somebody' or something similar, anyway."

I guess that makes sense. Many people who do bad shit are seen as someone to look up to if you're the one they're doing bad shit to support. Or if you're mentally deranged and idolize someone who is just straight up a bad person. … You know, this analogy is falling apart the more I think about it, I should stop while I'm ahead.

"How many bad ones have there been?"

"I've only read about the actions of the first nine and… seen the consequences of the tenth, so I can't say anything about eleven through twenty four."

… Wait. Brain gears starting to turn. I'm remembering. This… hey, wait a minute!

"OBJECTION!"

"... Huh?"

Man, that feels good to say!

"You keep acting like it's the tenth Hero who made the Dreimaaz. Your explanation of visits being close to fifteen thousand years ago implies that, and you just said you saw the actions of the tenth for yourself. But everything I've learned here is saying that the fifteenth Hero was the one to create the Dreimaaz!"

"..."

Not gonna respond? Then I'll keep pushing.

"Take a look at the year, for instance. It's 9999 AD, and AD stands for 'After Dreimaaz', right? But that means their creation happened around ten thousand years ago, when the fifteenth Hero was around."

"Nngh…"

Getting a reaction, good…

"And that construction worker from a bit ago. He said his friend looked up to the tenth Hero. So either they weren't as bad as you make them out to be, or your story is inconsistent with the facts!"

"S-so what…?"

Now for the finisher!

"So you've been feeding me false info this entire time!"

"I… I…"

Look who's smug now, heheh! I broke through your lies, ex-Goddess! And… wait, now she's tearing up…?

"N-no… I could have sworn it was the tenth. I remember going down to see what they were doing. It… it had to be her, but… why… why can't I remember?!"

… Shit.

I'm back at Historia's Rest. I wish I could talk with Kandance face to face instead of like this, but there's not a lot of options.

"H-how could this happen? It shouldn't even be possible…!"

She's been shivering and muttering similar things to herself the whole time. I'm not a hundred percent sure what she means, but it's clear that she needs support.

"Kandance. Take deep breaths. Just think about what makes you happy right now, ok?"

I drew up a soft-looking chair icon and let her use it to relax. This isn't my first time in a situation similar to this. I'm not a therapist, though my sister is a licensed one, but I've done something similar to giving therapy before.

People on the internet… not all of them have someone to turn to for help. Maybe they can't afford an actual therapist, or they don't even realize they have a problem. And while I don't usually show it outside of online spaces, I do understand what makes people tick. So I talk to them, I become their friend, and I help them become a better person and hopefully overcome their issues. Why? So they don't have to suffer from the same mistakes I did. Mistakes that still haunt me to this day…

"Ahh… I-I'm…"

"Take as long as you need. We can talk about this when you're ready. And I'll be here if you need me."

Forcing yourself into someone else's problems, as well as making them have to explain them while panicked, is never a good thing. You have to wait for them to be ready and be there for them so that they trust you'll listen. And so, after around five to ten minutes, Kandance talks.

"... Yoru, do you know what happens in worlds where no system to limit people exists?"

She said my name. Well, my God name. That's a good first step.

"I do not, no."

"Well… with nothing restricting what they can and can't learn, it's possible for anyone, even mortals, to continue growing. Both the human mortals of Earth, the many mortals of Fanta Regauss, and ones from other worlds… their potential has no limit. Even under systems, once someone finds a way to circumvent it, they have the ability to do whatever they set their mind to. Even if… it's not something good…"

… I don't like where this is going.

"So… if someone wanted to… and found a method to do so…"

"Wanted to do… what?"

"... I think someone, on my second visit, altered my memories."

What.

"That'd have to explain it, right? Someone made me THINK that it was the tenth Hero who made the Dreimaaz! They made me THINK that that's why I did my second visit! Someone got powerful enough to alter the memories of a Goddess! It has to be the case! It has to!"

"Hey, hey, pause. Deep breaths, deep breaths…"

People can accept delirious, sometimes even incorrect, information when in a heightened state. Especially when it's coming from themselves.

"Let's think about this rationally, okay? It doesn't HAVE to be because of memory manipulation, right? It's possible that you genuinely forgot and got the two mixed up."

I'm gonna have to break my rules a bit, but I opened the MPC emulator. All I do is search "archpontifex second coming" to prove that her second visit happened. And there's a load of pages describing how a supposed descendant of the first archpontifex appeared almost fifteen thousand years ago and gathered six pontifices. As much as I want to click on one and find out more for myself… I resist the urge. Too much info at once could end up hurting Kandance more than helping her right now.

"See? You DID have a second visit. You DID come down a second time."

"A-and someone manipulated my memories during that time, right?!"

"Maybe, maybe not. But it's ok not to remember everything right away. What matters is that you took the first step towards remembering. You realized that you had misremembered."

"I… I did, yes…"

There, she's starting to listen.

"There's no point in wildly speculating this early on. You did the most important thing to solve something like this: realizing that you have a problem."

"Y-yeah…"

Ya know, out of context, it sounds like I'm helping someone with an addiction problem and not a memory problem. But whatever, that's not what I should be focusing on.

"You're not alone in having to solve this, Kandance. I'm here to help you every step of the way. So let's figure this out together once you're ready to do so."

Let them know you are there. That they're not alone. That they have support.

"... I'm… not ready yet, Yoru."

"That's fine. You don't have to be ready right away. Take as long as you need…"

"Okay…"

Before I get up to continue walking back, though, I hear Kandance whisper something.

"... Thank you…"

And I smile.