"Aria!"

For the first time in a long time someone calls me by my name, and then this person jumps in my arms... Though, I really missed this.

—

I was on my way to the other two giants, then one of them suddenly died! So I rushed here and saw two humans and a walking wolf almost dying to this massive monster, so I killed it, and on the way discovered that the mana used by my weapon actually is limited, the more uses, the more mana it spends, so I ended the fight with a punch!

Then I walked to the humans, and it happens there's a single human here, I imagine, at least, the girl has pointed ears, so she should be an elf! But more than that, this girl is my best friend all the way from my past world, Olivia Allen! I could never mistake her face.

As Oli hugs me and cries, I look at the other two, the boy is unmistakable M&M, the wolf though, is he also a reincarnation? But ah, they sure look scared.

"Ayla? ##### ## #######?"

"##### Aria! #####? Also, use the language from our old world, I guess she can't understand the one from here."

"...Right."

Pretty sure she doesn't plan on letting me go anytime soon, well, no problem keeping her in my arms a bit longer I guess...

"Are... Are they also reincarnations?" - I ask.

"Yeah! That's M&M, and that is Pietro! You remember them, right?" - Says Oli while pointing at each of them.

"M&M huh, I remember he hated me since I came up with this nickname..." - As I speak, a faint smile forms on my face, right now I'm filled with nostalgia.

"Ah, I don't think he ha-"

"Ayla, mind to calm down? You're hugging a demon y'know." - M&M cuts off... Ayla? Not Oli?

Ah, makes sense, they've probably lived a long time in this world, they probably gained new names here. And I'm really a demon... And the way he spoke, demons are probably a big deal, in a bad way, that is.

"Um, A-Ayla? Could you explain some things?" - I ask.

"Uh, sure! Right!" - Oli says as she moves to my back and hugs me from behind even tighter.

"Alrighty, guys, this is Aria Angelskind, the class rep. from our old world, I'm sure of it, there's no other way, don't question it, I won't entertain your complaints!" - Pretty direct, but thanks for the introduction - "Aria, that blonde over there is Michael Miller, M&M, as you called, here he's called Casimir Archibald, he's a prince, we call him Cass because his name sucks."

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Yeah, if I was called Casimir I'd also choose to be called by a nickname.

"Ah, and he's also a hero I guess, but anyways..." - Hero? Is that the kinda thing you just say and move on? - "The other one is Elijah, formerly Pietro. He is from the beastfolk race, specifically he's a wolf beastmen, not to be confused with the demi-humans, if you say that he'll get mad. That sums up everything I guess, any questions?"

"I do-" - As I try to speak, Elijah cuts me with his own question.

"For starters, can you make her keep all that aura inside? And Cass, trying to match it is clearly not working, so you stop too." - Aura? What is that? Am I leaking aura, whatever it might be? And Cass is trying to mat- Oh, is that why he's covered by a golden... Well, aura?

Oh, and is that why my vision has been reddish for a long time now? Welp, that's embarrassing.

"Alright, let me see... Aria, aura is primarily magic power, but can be used for other things. If you have more aura than your body can contain, it'll start to leak, to stop it, try to condense the aura inside your body, something like... Hardening your stomach."

"Aura, not mana?"

"Mana, the concept from our old world is the same as aura in this one. If you call it 'mana' no one in this world will understand."

Huh, so why did my weapon tell me about mana? Well, I'll worry about that later. Condensing my aura, it's like hardening my stomach... Like this?

"Yeah, exactly like that! Now, any more questions?"

After containing my aura, my vision became clearer, it's not reddish anymore. Those two seem to be more at ease now too.

"So," - I jump in before I can be cut - "What's that about heroes?"

"Well, this world has heroes... And demon lords, but don't worry about them. Everyone born with blond hair is considered a hero, they're WAY above every one, be it in aura capacity or sheer strength, Cass over there is one of them, and at the Exousia Academy there is one more, though she's... well, don't worry."

"And about demon lo-"

"That's taboo, I won't talk about that nor do you need to know, it's better that way."

"That makes no sense..."

"Now it's my tur-" - Ayla gets cut by Elijah.

"Aria, I'll say it as common people see it, you're a demon, all demons do is bring chaos and destruction, it costs an experienced hero's life to take down a demon, your kind can only be killed if all the body is eradicated. The more you live, the more aura you produce, as a result the higher is the cap you can hold, you probably know that, you can regenerate every type of damage and isn't affected by diseases. That means you demons are utterly uncontrollable, you get that?"

"Uhum!" - I answer, this guy can be really intimidating, huh.

"With Ayla here she'll drag you with us no matter what. So, how can we trust you? What guarantee do we have that you won't go mad?" - As I think of an answer, Ayla tries to jump in, but is cut off - "And you stay shut, old hag."

Old hag? She is an elf, so I wonder how old she really is... But now I need to give him an answer.

"I... can't, really. Since getting reborn I've killed everything that tried to kill me, that's how I live and how I plan on living. I want to live, so I'll do everything to stay alive. Still, that doesn't mean my means are murder and destruction, so... As long as I'm fine, I won't be 'chaotic' as you said. I'm totally fine following your rules."

He stares at me, did my answer not satisfy him?

"...I guess it's fine, this answer was pretty bad, but not enough for me to wanna deal with Ayla."

"So I passed?"

"Guess so."

"Alrighty then! Aria, you're part of the Hero Party now, and no, Cass, you don't have a saying on this." - she says with a satisfied face, I look at Cass as if to apologize, but he just sighs and walks away - "Let's get going! Time for the second quest, I'll fill you in on the details later, Aria."

"Ok..." - I say hesitantly, then start to walk right behind them, Ayla still clinging on my shoulder.

And with that I now am tagging along with the heroes of this world.