What… the fuck…?

What the fuck?!

How?

How on earth can she know that?!

My heart was beating a mile a minute but she didn’t stop.

“I believe,” She stressed the word. “This because of many, many reasons. You do not act like a demon. I was there, Derek, in The Great Demon War. I healed our soldiers, I saw the demons, I rarely had to help defend against them. I was ten when it started and twenty when it ended. I know demons. You… do not act like one. You have never met any demons before. You grew up away from them yet still with other people. You want a body changing potion. I believe you were summoned somehow. I have not forgotten the man you defended in the village we met. The summoner. He cried out then. He said “I summoned him.” I know that to be true.”

My heart was beating faster and faster. I didn’t act like a demon? I had made it that obvious? There’d been that many pieces to pick apart?

“You also use idioms that Tyler uses, that only Tyler uses. Phrases, sayings, small social things. I had strong suspicions before we arrived in the jungle. Your lack of knowledge about the most basic of things of this world, from its name, to Abilities, to power rankings, and more. Once we arrived in the jungle… there were many more instances. ‘Spiders’ for example and them not existing here. But there was a moment my belief crystallized. Derek, you said the exact same thing Tyler said after he began to learn Aura. ‘I know kung fu’. You said it in the exact same way. Tyler had been here less than a year and had never left the castle at that time. Other than that, I’ve never once heard of Kung Fu. Tyler explained it’s a martial art from his home.”

Holy crap. I really dropped the fucking ball now haven’t I? That was… not a secret I ever planned on telling anyone.

“Derek…” Konohora said, voice slightly wavering. “There’s… something else.”

I could hear real fear in Konohora’s voice and that scared me.

“You’re too strong Derek. Too quickly.”

What?

“I saw you Derek. I saw how fast you learned footwork from Hiyark. I’ve seen how quickly you’ve grown in strength. You weren’t able to fight Riary at all when you met her. Now? Now you’re about to break into B-Rank after a few months of being in this world. True Heroes… their most notable feature is just how fast they gain strength, skill, and expertise. Your growth speed is…”

Konohora didn’t finish the sentence, just took a deep breath from behind me.

“There’s… never been a Demon True Hero. Never. There’s never been any specific race that’s a part of our world. There have been elves, dwarves, and humans and more exotic races summoned… but they were always the same, a species from a different world. Even when they should have had some innate advantages, unless it was part of their species in that world, they didn’t receive it. There have been elves who only lived as long as humans summoned, because that’s how long they lived there. Dwarves without beards, and more. A Monster-Kin, with a subspecies of dragon, who couldn’t breathe fire.

“But Demons… demons in our world, are always strong. They are born strong, they grow stronger. The idea of a True Hero… with the body and natural inborn strength of a demon scares me Derek.”

I was at a total loss for words. I…. I hadn’t noticed any of that at all! What!? WHAT! My mind… was reeling like it was being repeatedly hammer blowed. This, this, was I a True Hero? Did I…. did I have some kind of fast growth? I tried to think back, to remember. Sure, I’d learned Hiyark’s footwork a little well but was that… so impressive? It seemed natural, easy, just required effort. Okay, okay, what else? What else had I learned? My greatsword? I still knew nothing about that! But I hadn’t… really had any training or a teacher… What else had I even tried to learn? The only other thing I could think of was my Ability-

Oh.

Oh yeah. That. Okay, yeah, I might be… rapidly and quickly learning how to use an Ability I received only a few months ago… and I might be rapidly approaching the B-Rank barrier… when I started off as a weak C-rank…. But how unusual was that really? I mean, demons are born at C-Rank right? It’s only natural they become B! Maybe, maybe I was just summoned strong and-

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No. No, I had an Ability that specifically measured power. Even if the old me had tons of training… I’d be able to kill him. Kill one hundred of myself.

I stared down at my claws in shock. Holy fucking shit.

“Derek…” Konohora’s voice called out to me and I snapped back to attention. “Something like this… every Kingdom, the Empire, all of Human Territory and almost every human alive… would most likely try to kill a Demon True Hero. There would be a second war. No, it might even become a World War this time. I can not see… the Elven and Dwarven race doing nothing when such a major threat existed. If they knew about Tyler as well… and that, hypothetically speaking, A Demon True Hero was his friend…”

My jaw was already dropped but it only got worse. I knew the possibility but it was different to have someone else lay it all out there for you. Especially someone who couldn’t and wouldn’t tell even the smallest of lies.

This was too much, too fast. I had never expected Konohora to figure things out, but in retrospect, I should have. Hell, if Riary wasn’t blinded by hatred and we spent more than a few weeks together, talking constantly, she would probably figure it out too. I wouldn’t even put it past Tyler if I slipped up enough. Not to mention… apparently I might be… a very fast learner. Some could even say a… threateningly fast learner. I’d have to figure out if that was true. But for now…

“Konohora.” I said.

“...Yes?”

I still wasn’t facing her. She didn’t want to see my reaction, she didn’t want more ammo to load up on. She needed for it to be untrue and failing that, needed to absolutely not know. It would take only one person with a few suspicions to ask her, and we would all be dead.

“I think your theory is partially insane.”

“...why?”

“Well… for starters. What on Ero are the chances that two True Heroes just happen to meet each other? Out of the whole of the world, that coincidence just… happens? That’s crazy and insane. No two ways about it. And even more than that… they just both happen to be from the same world? Again… the chances of that are beyond astronomical. That’s the realm of the practically impossible. And finally… even if a human was summoned as a demon, from the same world as a True Hero, and met them and joined their party… isn’t it more likely they’re just some random guy trying to keep his head down and live till tomorrow? To get through his days without any worries or stress? That he doesn’t have any ‘True Hero’ super fast learning at all… and was just summoned strong but untrained?

“To be honest… before you brought it up… I have never once noticed any kind of fast growth from myself. I can say, with even more honesty… that you are definitely wrong about at least a few things, for sure, in your beliefs.”

After all… I wasn’t trying to get a body changing potion because I was a human transformed into a demon. No no, I wanted that long, long before.

“Derek…”

“So!” I turned around, facing a surprised looking Konohora. “I will only say this.” I said with a smile on my face.

“Parts of what you believe might have some weight, others definitely don’t, and I have secrets almost completely unrelated to everything you just said.”

I had to really push on my mind for that last part. The Gem was far too connected for me to say ‘almost completely unrelated’ but, my secret of the time I accidentally wet the bed at fifteen or nearly ran over my neighbor's dog, and more, those secrets were completely unrelated.

“So… I’ll leave you with permanently unconfirmed suspicions.”

“Derek…” Konohora said, looking at me while I just smiled. What more could I say or do? You can’t know, you know you can’t know, and I’ve done my best to muddy the water when you already know the answers. I can’t do more.

Eventually, she let out a deep breath, and smiled.

“Alright.”

“Now, hey, let’s go relax for a little while after all that insanity. The trainer will probably be here soon and-”

There was a knock on the bedroom door.

“...uh, yeah?” I said.

Tyler’s voice carried through. “The Trainer is here. Do you guys need a few more minutes?”

I mentally sighed. No rest for the wicked. Wait, that’s not fair, I’m a pretty nice guy.

“Yeah, we’ll be right out.” I said back.

“So… ready to train?” I asked Konohora, who smirked and nodded.

That was a lot, and will continue to be a lot. Hell, training might actually be dangerous if my growth speed is as absolutely monstrous as Konohora seems to think it is. God… I have no idea if that’s true and no idea what it’ll mean if that’s true. I can’t even fathom it. Apparently, Tyler alone already learns almost 10x faster than everyone else. I don’t know if mine is faster… or doesn’t exist… or I just have a higher starting strength and we learn at roughly the same speed.

Now I was filled with trepidation over learning.

Welp… let’s hope it goes well.