Step! Floating noises!

  Once there, we are met with even more chaos than before and the hope of finding anything in here might as well have gone into the void thanks to it. First of all, at least on the other side there are a few areas that are intact, not many but still present. Here on the other hand, I really can’t say that is the case. Not only that, there is a massive pile of debris somewhat in the middle, not visible when we were in the entrance nor behind the stairs. Secondly, I don’t see a book around these areas, not even a single one and I mean that. Maybe this time around we are not looking for a book but something else instead? Welp, we will only figure out once we find what the bookshelf wants.

  Step! Floating noises!

  Thinking about it won’t lead us anywhere and since Miss Pink Orb seems a little down for some inexplicable reason, I feel the urge to find something quickly so that she can cheer up even if by a single percentage. Although that seems to be proving hard as the magic line is going everywhere and nowhere at the same time, “forcing” us to walk around in this entire side and I mean it, stopping only once we reached the pile of debris. Now that I’m looking at it better, the ceiling above us has a massive hole on it, or it’s more correct to say that the floor above us has the hole. I hope that this hole won’t difficult our lives once we are up there but, in any case, I can always use Anemo magic to move us around in the unfortunate event that we don’t have a footing.

  “Well, I think this is the spot as the magic line leads us here.”

  “That seems to be the case.”

  Man, she really seems to be sad, did something happen in the real world? That can explain her drastic change in mood.

  “Although, it seems we have to get our hands dirty. Mine in this case as all of these debris are in the way.”

  Ah! What an excellent observation from yours truly! I mean, what else could I have said? The magic line ends here and with a quick search with Magic Sense and Magical Eyes, I can confirm that this is indeed the destination. I can say this not only thanks to those skills but in this area, the magic present here is beyond low and the magic line is easily highlighted because of it. However, luckily for us (not really) the pile of debris is filled with magic, not much of course but enough to force us to have a look around on it, getting my hands dirty in the process. The debris itself is nothing special, a few pieces of wood, some bigger, others smaller but all of them are broken. There are a few pieces of concrete which I imagine to be the beams that support the upper floor as if it was made of wood, I think it couldn’t support the weight as I imagine it to be quite high. Although, if something is weaker than the other, rather than using one at the time, just use two or three instead so that you can offset said weakness. Either way before I go into a tangent about construction, the debris is filled with dust and I mean that, so much so that you can even see a few dust particles fly around thanks to my breathing as it’s “destabilizing” them, making them dance around because of it. But mind you, I’m breathing normally. The moment I put my hands on the debris a massive dust cloud “explodes” with it, something that I was not expecting to happen.

  Ah man, I’m definitely going to sneeze because of it and when I do so, I ain’t sopping anytime soon.

  “Can I help you? I don’t think I can do much in this form but... I-I don’t want to stay still and do nothing…”

  “Ah, don’t worry too much about it. In your circumstances I more than understand what you can and cannot do but that does not mean you cannot do anything.”

  Call this man intuition but, I think I have figured out what the “problem” is with her. At first, I thought that I did something but then I changed it into something that might have happened on her side of the universe but with what she just said, I was more than way off. I think and believe that she's feeling “useless” and I can see why she would. However, I don’t agree with her at all after all, we are two different individuals with different abilities, skills and so on. Right now, she cannot do much, but that is only physically, she has other possibilities that she can use. Putting magic to the side, she still has the ability to think and that alone, it’s as much important than any other factor. She can “guide” me around. I might and will miss something as I explore this library, two pairs of eyes are better than one after all. What I’m trying to say is that, she can definitely help me out even if she does not think in that way. I just need to find a way to tell her, to make her see that…

  “Think with me, previously if you didn’t comment that you could see traces of magic that went in several directions while others were simply standing still, I wouldn’t have quickly figured out what to do.”

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  “I just happened to say it as I was confused on what we were supposed to do… I didn’t do anything special and still haven’t done anything.”

  Argh, this is going to be much harder than I was expecting. I have no clue where this lack of confidence is coming from but, even if I want to help out, I will only be able to go so far. At the end of the day, she’s the one that needs to gain confidence by herself, not me temporarily boosting her confidence as it won’t last for much longer than the length of my sentence. Though as I said, that does not mean I cannot do anything for her and as the Hero, I cannot simply stay still doing nothing when a damsel in distress needs my help.

  “Look, just having you by my side is already something that I’m really happy about it. Add the fact that you are this willing to go for Kiana then, that alone I’ve put you high up in my consideration.”

  “Uhm-Huh-Eh?”

  “However, you have to understand that, depending on the situation at hand, we might not be useful in the way we want to be. The way that we desire and hope to be useful to others.”

  “But-”

  “Let me finish...”

  Pat!

  Just as she was about to refute my point of view, I quickly stopped her as I still haven’t finished expressing my thoughts and way of seeing life into the world, but more so to her. However, I didn’t stop her by speaking loudly or by being aggressive, abruptly stopping her in her tracks. In fact, I simply brought my right hand upwards a little bit and towards her, gently allowing gravity to apply its rule on it, making it fall towards the orb because of it. I have no clue if she actually felt anything and now that I’m saying this, I hope not as I got a little too comfortable after all, we have only met a couple of minutes ago and yet, it feels like an eternity for some reason… Huh, that’s what happens when you lose the sense of time but, moving on, I still have to finish my train of thought.

  “I’m not very good at scouting and I’m also a little clumsy, I know that you think you did absolutely nothing to help me out but, thanks to these drawbacks of mine, I would’ve taken a good amount of time to figure something out.”

  “But you still would’ve figured it out at the end…”

  “Most probably and you know why?”

  “Uhm, because you are the Hero?”

  “Because I don’t quit when I’m having a hard time.”

  Dammit, she really did go that route, now did she? And that of course forced me to be this arrogant in fact, depending on how she takes this I might as well have insulted her instead, called her a quitter with it. Tch, just because I’m the Hero of her world does that mean I should be able to accomplish everything and anything that I so desire? “But you were blessed by the gods! Of course, you can do anything in the end!”. Nonsense I say. These are words from a weakling that is too afraid to fail. Just how many times did I fail? I’ve lost count of them…

  People have died because of my failure.

  Villages have been razed and destroyed because of my failure.

  I have lost someone extremely important to me because of my failure and weakness.

  And yet, just because I’m the Hero it means that I can’t fail? That I don’t understand normal people's failures and struggles?

  “I’m a human just like you. I have many flaws, I have failed several times and that stone you are holding, it’s the proof of such. And yet, here I am, going forward towards the horizon while doing my best to accomplish the duty that was bestowed to me by the gods. Something they did without any type of consent from me.”

  “I-I… I’m sorry…”

  “Don’t apologise, there is no need for such. I also began as a weakling. I might have the blessing of the goddess but, if I didn’t train my hardest to be able to use it, I wouldn’t be here today.”

  She really has no clue just how hard I worked to be here, to reach this strength, to learn these skills, spells, how to use a sword and so on. Yes, the blessing made the ceiling so high that I think I can improve forever but, I still have to improve as otherwise, I won’t reach the never-ending ceiling. I still have to get my Heroic rear end out of the “sofa” and train hard so that I can get a glimpse of the ceiling. If I didn’t do so, I would stagnate quickly as once my body stopped growing, I would also stop getting stronger. And this increase of strength is thanks to how humans grow, just like an animal would and even monsters. My child version will always be weaker than my adult version. All to say that, I worked really hard to be where I’m currently am and even then, I still have much to do as The Void Queen magic energy is out of this world for example. There are beings stronger than me in our universe, I’m not even counting those from the Bubble Universes as they seem to be endless.

  “I didn’t mean to diminish your hard work…”

  “Once again, there is no need for that. We are just talking, exposing to each other our way of seeing reality. Or in other words, getting to know each other. Have more confidence in yourself and don’t be afraid to say what you’re thinking in fact, please tell me. I would love to know.”

  Oh wow, I really do have a soft look on my face, now do I? At least that’s what it seems. My blue eyes are mellow, I also noticed that I have a soft smile on my face and for some reason, I still haven’t removed my hand from the orb. But I do hope she got my confused message as I was trying to get her to see her own value even if she right now cannot do anything. I did go on a tangent for brief moments. I do believe she has much to say but either she’s timid, awkward or thanks to that lack of confidence of hers that she does not say anything, does not let the world know just how great she really is and I do believe that. If she’s willing to go this far for her friend (I hope they are) it already tells everyone that is fortunate enough to witness such a selfless act that she's a good person that cares about others.

  “I-I will try to do that…”