She Becomes The Hero In Another World 10 She Joins The Competition

"Uwaah! I should have known! If it wasn't being a ruler, then it had to be the hero version of Isekai genre! I'd be lucky enough as it is just to survive, but now, I'll have to go defeat the Demon King or something! And then there's usually the part where they can't return-why didn't I confirm that part earlier!"

She paced back and forth muttering to herself, as she hugged her arms. Then she took a deep breath and slapped her cheeks.

'Yup! It hurts-ouch!'

"Focus, Robin! You just received new information. Now you've got to consolidate the info and reconfigure your goals for the time being!"

She took out a small notebook from her magic bag.

"Let's see...Money, Food, Shelter-for now-, new clothes, magic bag: I've easily gotten ahold of these things. But, just because it's easy now, that doesn't mean it won't get more difficult in the future. Don't get complacent, just because you finished a few tasks, Robin.

"Tomorrow, hopefully, I can acquire that amazing sword. Oohoo! Just thinking of holding a Hero's Sword is sending shivers up my spine. It's the stuff of fantasy, after all!"

Then she paused, and looked out the window.

"Ah, but those magic plant monsters were real too...And they're probably just cannon fodder compared to the real thing. If I reach out my hand to grab that blade, can I honestly bear the responsibility of what comes behind it? Can I continue through fire and frost, mountains and valleys until my job is done?"

She wondered, looking at her hand.

"We'll put that aside until later. What's left on the list from yesterday? Hmm....Possibly learning some magic. I also need to test the n.o.bles of this country. If they are good and upright, then all is well. But...if they aren't...then I feel it isn't right to face a lion with a pack of hyenas at my back. In that case, I may have to flee."

She tapped her chin in thought.

"Well, no matter how much I add on top of the list, at the end will always be 'Finding a way back home.' I think that should be good for now! All right! Sleep time!"

She jumped in the bed, hoping to quickly find her way to sleep.

But that night, many were finding that sleep was very hard to find.

She frowned, and tossed and turned in bed, but she just could not settle down at all! Finally, she sat up, and glared at the full moon, before giving up on sleep. She took out her sketchbook, and started to draw snippets of the town from her memories.

Fillling an entire page with small snippets and sketches, the last thing that she drew was the sword, thrust into the stone. For some reason, drawing it came very naturally to her. Instead of the rudimentary shading that she gave her other sketches, this one had detailed shading layered into it, to the point where it almost looked like the real thing.

When she had finished drawing it, she gave a loud yawn. Finally feeling a bit tired, she returned the book to her magic bag, and went back to bed.

-----------

It seemed like she had slept only five minutes when the morning bell rang out that it was 8am. Sitting up limply, Robin felt certain that there were dark circles under her eyes. She rubbed her eye, slowly, gathering her mental strength to jump-start the part of her brain that was in charge of awake-ness.

She was tempted to just go back to bed. But, breakfast was only served until 9am, and she had no confidence in being able to wake up in time for it. Then she realized that she had money, and could most likely just buy herself something to eat outside. And she was even more tempted than ever to just lie back down, and sleep.

She sighed. And hoisted herself out of bed all the same. Sleep was for the night. And money was something that should be saved and spent carefully, not splurged upon a lapse of discipline. She splashed cold water on her face to wake herself up and looked out the window. Today was going to be a rather busy day.

--------------

As she headed out of the inn, she was surprised to see a line formed down the side of the street.

"whoah! That's a long line! I wonder where it leads?" She looked in the direction it was flowing. It was headed towards the courtyard of the sword in the stone.

"Right. I should have guessed." She tapped her temple, thoughtfully. She had wanted to find a good place to view the sword-pulling event from. Where would that be?

"Ah! That place should be good!" She decided, running down a few side streets, but still heading in the general area of the Courtyard of the Sword in the Stone.

--------

Christian sat in the raised Pavillion, overseeing the rough, rugged men pull their muscles and backs out of alignment, sometimes dislocating bones, in their attempts to pull the sword out. To the side, an expert team of healers was at hand, to reduce and eliminate the damage due to overburdening themselves. But the line of people yet to try their luck had no signs of growing any shorter.

He watched, feeling mildly impatient. Where was he? When was the Hero going to show up? What he didn't know was the person he was looking for had found a good vantage point to watch in a nearby tree.

While those standing in line were starting to sweat from standing out in the sun, Robin was confortably enjoying the shade and the cool breeze from her perch in the tree. She had even gotten bored and dozed off in the middle.

Thus, the morning gave way to noon. And the food stalls were getting good business, since they had set up across the street from the long line. At that point, everyone was hungry, but no one was willing to leave their spot in line. Luckily, these men didn't have to leave their spots today.

Young boys, acting as runners, would take the order of a person in line, receive their coin, then walk up to the corresponding food stall and get the man's food for him. These youngins earned quite the amount of coin that day.

They were fetching food and drinks, water-dampened towels, and iced desserts to cool people down. Each time would earn them a small copper coin. 5 zetu wasn't much. But if one was quick, then that 5 zetu could easily be turned into 500 zetu by the end of the day.

But, even during the lunch hour, men were attempting to wrench the sword out of the stone, to no avail. The healer team had split into half to eat their lunch in shifts. But, Robin was so tired from last night, that she was still dozing on her perch up in the tree.

The afternoon slowly gave way to the evening. Finally, a little before sundown, the last man in line tried his hand at pulling the sword out. But, it was useless. The sword would not budge.

"Is there anyone else willing to try their hand at the sword? ANYONE?" Keith yelled out, hinting at Robin to make an appearance now. The crowd was quiet. Most of the men had gone home, both their hearts and their backs stinging from the slap to their pride. But, in that silence, Keith picked up a soft snore.

'Ahah! That's where you are!' He grabbed a stone from the ground, and threw it into the tree near the sword.

THUNK!

"Ouch-Aaaaah!" Robin was able to save herself from falling to her death by grabbing onto the limb at the last second.

"What is wrong with you! Didn't you know that disturbing my sleep is dangerous!" She scolded Keith, as she swung herself down from the branch, landing on the ground, unhurt-aside from a b.u.mp on her head from the rock. She rubbed it ruefully.

The people in the crowd chuckled at this exchange.

"AHEM! Does anyone ELSE wish to try taking the sword out of the stone!?" He glared at Robin, trying to give her a cue to act.

Robin frowned at him, begrudgingly, then she looked at how long the line had left to go-wait, there wasn't anyone left in line! Moreover, the sword still remained in the stone, a testament that no one else had been able to free it.

'Fine. If you will accept no one else, then I suppose I will accept you for the time being.' She gave up.

"I suppose I would like to give it a try." She spoke up. The remaining crowd broke out into chuckles. This skinny beanpole of a lad was going to attempt pulling a sword that even the most muscled of barbarians could not lift? What kind of joke was this?