Chapter 3: Am I actually really weak?

Huh, what is this? Does the imprintment fail? I am happy though, I won't be subjected to mind control. This is nice, very nice. If it's like this, an escape is not impossible in the future.

"Hey, I am your master, My name is Erika Vilise."

Erika Vilise huh, good name. It sounds like the name of an aristocrat. As far as I know, only nobilities and royalties have last names right? The king also said that it's a joint effort by many countries. Could it be that she is a daughter of a noble? Being part of royalty is also not out of the question. It would be nice if she's a commoner though, being a nobility might mean that she didn't know how harsh the world is. All the work is going to pass to me, you know?

"Heeyyy, are you listening? Do you have a habit of going lost in your own mind?"

"Ah yes, I am sorry."

Silence, deafening silence. What do you expect of me, woman? I don't know anything about this world. I don't have any knowledge nor the etiquette, I don't know what to say! What if I offend you huh? I don't want to die, so the best case is to not say anything!

"Sigh... this is going to be hard. I am Erika..."

Ohh... names, we're introducing ourselves. I thought being an homunculus an all, I don't have a name. Hmm... What name should I give? It might look simple, but in my circumstance this is a big problem. Should I give my name, the original one from earth? That might be the most obvious answer, but if I had another name here and someone points out that I am giving a fake name, there might be trouble. I could also make up a name, this has the same risk as giving my real name but I can have a cool name to use. Should I pick names from legendary heroes? Like Pendragon or Siegfried.

"Wait, I am sorry. I forgot homunculus might not have a name. Let me give you one."

A free way out! I will take it, although I have to ask. It's just a name right? Why are you making such a sad face? Not long after, she smiled.

"White! From now on your name is white!"

Lazy! Too lazy! What kind of treatment is this huh? Are you naming your pet? It might be kind of like that but have some more effort in doing so! This is because of my hair and eyes right? Give me a better name!

"Hmm... you don't like it huh. I can see it from your face... How about Whyte? It's White but spelled with Y?"

How does that change anything!? Lady, do you have a bad naming sense? Does the spelling matter when a name is pronounced?

"This discussion is now over~! From now on your name is Whyte!"

"Alright."

"And it seems right now other heroes have also finished too. Let's go."

"What about the other homunculus?"

"Let her be, she will be given a blessing by the church anyway."

"And I won't?"

"I forgot you might not know."

What is she talking about? Does she realize that I am not from this world? Did the gods give me cheats when they transferred me to this world?

"You have no mana. You are not suited to battle."

Haaaaa??? Does no mana mean I am weak? She said I am not suited to battle, so that means I am weak as hell right? Why does she pick me then?"

"The look on your face means you are wondering why am I picking you right?"

"Yes."

"Because you have no mana at all."

"I don't understand."

"You really don't know the founding story of The Kingdom of Heroes?"

The Kingdom of Heroes? Is the kingdom named Heroes? Seems kind of a weird name to give to a kingdom. Or is it the other possibility, the kingdom founded by heroes?

"Weird, I thought every child knew the Legend of Six Heroes."

"My parents... didn't tell me."

Of course they didn't! They are not from this world. Shit, is she suspicious of me?

"You don't need to explain. I understand. Let's talk while we walk, we won't be attending the feast anyway."

Safeeeeeeee! I don't know what kind of misunderstanding she's having but it doesn't matter! By the way, what did she just say? There's a feast and we won't be attending it? Why!? Sigh... It's not like I can attend by myself, it would be weird for an unaccompanied homunculus to be there alone. Hasta la vista good food.

"The legends began in wars between demon folks and humans many years ago. The war has waged for about 100 years, then suddenly out of nowhere there comes The Legendary Six Heroes ending the wars only in the short span of a single year. The party consists of a holy knight, a saint, a fighter, a mage, an assassin and finally, a homunculus. It was said that they were enough of the atrocious actions caused by demon kind. They bravely fought the demon folks, killed the demon lord and ended the 100 years war. After that, the holy knight took charge of people after the war and created a new kingdom, The Kingdom of Heroes, Varitia."

A standard hero story I guess. But something is strange, if they really ended the war then why is there a need for the six current heroes?

"But the reality is different, the Six Legendary Heroes weren't humans. Rather they were a party of different races declaring war to the whole world simultaneously. When there's wars, there are parties that benefit from it, the rulers at that time also thought the same. That's why the 100 years war is actually an unnecessary war, the demon folks and human leaders had sacrificed people to enrich themself, that whole time they were actually colluding!"

"That's..."

"At present, history repeats itself. The descendants of the heroes have forgotten why their ancestors fought in the first place, no doubt there are many people who thought the threat of the new demon lord is actually real. However, in actuality it's all a big farce. We're basically sent to our death, if we survive we're regarded as heroes and if we die we will be regarded as dead heroes."

"And how does this relate to me not having mana at all?"

"What do you know about mana?"

"Mana is a stuff that lets you use magic...?"

"That's true but it's incomplete. Mana is basically something that let's people alter reality. With mana you can do a lot of things, conjure fireballs, make rain, strengthen yourself until you are able to lift boulders with one hand. What you need to know is that only people with mana can receive blessings from gods and goddesses."

"So, I can't receive God's blessing?"

"You can't. But you can receive something else called God's Gifts."

"What is the difference between those two?"

"It's a bit hard to explain but the easy way to differentiate those two is to see the ability they perform. Let's put it this way, imagine you want to light a wood on fire. If you have a blessing you can learn the ability to convert mana into fire without using magic, let's call this the blessing of fire creation. If you have gifts, you can just create fire instantly."

"So gifts are basically those abilities without any effort?"

"Right, but gifts can grow stronger the more you use them. Usually people can receive one or two gifts in their lifetime, but sometimes there are others that receive more."

"Okay, so how does this relate to me and the six heroes story?"

"Like I said, sometimes there are others that receive more than one gift. The one thing that is similar across all of them is that they all have no mana. There are records in history of manaless people receiving more than one gift and the holy knight is one of them."

I see, if you need power as fast as possible then gifts are the way to go. Blessing might be similar, but if it takes too much time then it's practically useless. If one can receive multiple gifts that are similar to the legendary knight, then it might be better than ordinary blessings.

"Although it might be a gamble, if you get something that could possibly be very powerful then I say it's worth the risk. Although, if you get gifts that are useless for battle then it's also not a problem. I am the strongest mage after all."

"That's reassuring to hear."

At least I won't be thrown away if I am useless.

"So how does one acquire these gifts?"

"... ... ..."

Huh? Is this girl actually serious?

"I don't know."

"Yes?"

"I said I don't know! There's nothing written in books about obtaining gifts you know! People that have gifts usually just say when they woke up, they already have one! I own you right now, so you need to figure it out yourself!"

How unreasonable. How could you expect this pitiful homunculus to know things that the strongest mage even doesn't know? See, there's a reason why people don't flaunt their title everywhere. Right now in my eyes, she seemed a bit pitiful.

"I-I am sorry... I didn't mean it like that. I just got a bit psyched up, you know."

"It's fine, I am your homunculus after all. Treat me however you want."

She looked too guilty, did she say something that she shouldn't have? I mean it's technically the truth that she owned me.

"My countries doesn't support slavery you know."

Slavery? I thought I am a homunculus? I mean it's true that the concept is quite similar to slavery but if I am the creation of man, then isn't it fine?

"I am a homunculus, it's okay."

She sighed heavily. That's kinda cute.

"Listen here okay? Homunculus doesn't exist."

"But you just told me that one of the six heroes is a homunculus."

"Yes, it used to exist at some point in the past. But the method of creating one is already lost to time. The hero two hundred years ago is one of the last homunculus ever existed. Whyte, you are not homunculus. You are a human."