When next I opened my eyes, I discovered I was in a temple. It appeared to be an ancient structure made of white stone. If I had to compare it to something, it’d be the Parthenon. There was no escaping that plane, and a part of me wondered if I’d dreamed the whole ordeal.
“Nope, that wasn’t a dream. Everything you just experienced was real. You were the world’s greatest assassin, but in a moment of carelessness, you allowed yourself to be assassinated. Ah-ha-ha…ha-ha-ha-ha!” A woman with white hair, dressed in an equally white tunic, burst out laughing. Actually, not only were her hair and clothes white, but so was her skin, her eyes—everything about her was that alabaster hue. To top it all off, she was strikingly beautiful.
Whatever she was, it was clear she wasn’t human. Her beauty was too flawless, as if she’d been carved by a master sculptor. The frank tone she was speaking with could not have been less appropriate, however.
“… Um, would you mind explaining what’s going on here?” I asked.
“You’re dead, and I summoned your soul to this place. Oh, I’m a goddess, by the way!” she explained.
“Do you bring every single dead person in for an idle chat? If that’s the case, then considering the number of people who die every day, there must be as many gods as there are stars in the sky. Either that or you have way too much free time. Or perhaps you had a special reason for summoning me here.”
“You got it on your last guess. Typically, souls are immediately wiped clean and recycled. We gods are very busy, after all.”
Throughout the conversation, I’d been trying to ascertain the validity of this odd woman’s statements by paying careful attention to the movements of her face, the intonation of her voice, her perspiration, and anything else that could’ve betrayed a lie. Unfortunately, everything about the way she carried herself was normal to the point of abnormality, almost like the so-called goddess knew what I was going to do before I did it and was having a bit of fun. It was unsettling, to say the least.
I knew how to play her game to a certain degree, but she was far superior, to a point where it extended beyond the capabilities of a human being. That’s what convinced me she really was who she claimed to be.
“If that’s the case, then may I ask why I was summoned here?”
“Wow, you’re a quick one. I’m giving you a choice. You can have your soul wiped clean so that you’ll be reborn as a brand-new person. You’ll be a cute little baby without any idea of who you used to be! Or, in exchange for taking on a little request of mine, I can transport your soul into another world and allow you to be reincarnated with the knowledge and experience from your previous life intact.”
So, if I went with the former option, I wouldn’t be me anymore. I’d become an entirely different person. The latter option would, in a sense, allow me to continue my current life. That seemed like a far more appealing proposition.
Spending my entire life as a weapon only to be betrayed and killed by my master in the end was an incredibly painful way to die. Starting again with my memories intact was a good chance for a do-over.
However, I could think of only one reason why I was handed this offer. The goddess’s “little request” was obvious, and I knew I wouldn’t like it.
“So, regarding the condition for the second option… Who do you want me to kill?”
“Ever the sharp one, aren’t you? That’ll make my job much easier. Though I’d expect nothing less from the soul I set my eyes on. I want you to assassinate a hero in a world of swords and magic. I need it done within eighteen years of your birth in that new world.”
“A world of swords and magic? A hero? Are you making this up?”
No sooner had I asked the question than knowledge of that world flooded into my mind. Instantly, I knew about the structure of that place, the art of “magic,” the culture, and the level of technological advancement. I even learned about the concept of “heroes,” such as the one I had been tasked with eliminating.
It was a world completely different from my own.
“This hero we’re talking about saved the world, didn’t he? Why does he need to be killed?” I asked.
“Sixteen years from now, after this hero defeats the Demon King and saves the world, he will use his power for his own selfish desires, plunging the world into chaos on a scale that will far surpass the reign of the Demon King. Then, two years after that, or eighteen years from now, that world will fall to complete ruin. I would like you to kill him before any of this comes to pass.”
“In other words, once the hero overthrows the Demon King, he’ll have outlived his usefulness,” I surmised. Somehow, I felt an affinity for that man who would become a villain.
“We would have left him alone if he didn’t cause any trouble, but he just had to go and make such a mess of things that I had to get involved. Ugh, how annoying!” the goddess whined.
This was a world where magic existed, and a good number of people possessed physical strength that far surpassed what was possible in my world. Their level of technology ranged from as far back as the Middle Ages to as recent as the mid-eighteenth century, though magic likely supplanted a lot of the more advanced science my world had.
My soul was to be transported there for the sole purpose of assassinating a hero.
“So I’m to dispose of this hero once he kills the Demon King and is no longer needed. Will I have to worry about suffering the same fate once I kill him?”
“Didn’t I just explain this? It’s only because he’s causing so much trouble that we have to get involved. Plus, you lack his power, and if you had the capability of obtaining it, I wouldn’t have chosen you in the first place.”
The goddess put a hand to my chin and gave me a bewitching smile.