The Tale of Hero Alice’s Social Death

"I'm finally back."

Inside a room on the Gryffin Church's second floor, Alice laid on her bed and fiddled with her phone as she let out a rueful sigh.

Although she had received excellent treatment over at the demon realm, she still felt more comfortable being in the human realm.

After all, being regarded as the Demon King by the Four Heavenly Kings also meant that she would be receiving the Four Heavenly Kings' hopes of invading the human realm. The pressure of carrying such hopes was immense. In comparison, the expectations the human realm placed on her were much lower. Unless the Demon King personally invaded the human realm, she didn't really have to do anything special. She could slack off as much as she wanted.

After informing Heris of her safe arrival through using her ability to connect with the demon realm's internet, Alice quickly found her next target through the human realm's internet—the March Royal School of Magic. Although it had a strange name, it was the best university in the Gryffin Kingdom. The university was situated in the distant Holl City, the Gryffin Kingdom's capital, which was also the place where the Gryffin King resided.

From what Alice heard, Zauna had already taken care of the necessary enrollment procedures for her. Coincidentally, Alice also needed to visit Holl City to visit the king. It had been quite a few days since she first became the Hero. Yet, she still hadn't met any of the human kings. So, it was necessary for her to at least meet with one of them.

Originally, Alice had been rather worried about meeting the human kings. After all, apart from the ability to wield the Hero's Sword, she didn't have any other means to prove her identity.

However, the situation had changed. Now that she had gained the qualifications to use the Hero's Sword, the weapon would no longer be garbage in her hands. Instead, it would become a Law-rank weapon. With the bonus stats she received from the weapon, the Four Heavenly Kings couldn't beat her even if they worked together.

Of course, Alice couldn't walk around with the Hero's Sword all the time, either. She would attract too much attention to herself and risk her identity as the Hero getting exposed otherwise. If that happened, those with malicious intentions would simply need to wait for a time when she wasn't holding the Hero's Sword to assassinate her.

While the sword is good, I can't exactly use it whenever I want.

Alice sighed as she looked at the small box storing the Hero's Sword. Although the small box was a spatial item, it had significant limitations. Moreover, when she held it with her right hand, it was only regarded as a weapon with a "Not Bad" quality. It did not give her the ability to use spatial magic.

Apart from her inability to use the Hero's Sword whenever she wanted, another thing that concerned Alice was the Hero's Sword's name. Because of her mistake, the Hero's Sword's name was now "Hey."

If there came a time when she had to fight against a trash-talking opponent, and the other party introduced their weapon as "Frostpain," while she responded by pointing at the Hero's Sword she wielded and introduced:

"This is Hey, the Hero's Sword that is going to slay you!"

The mood would be ruined instantly.

Why doesn't this Hero's Sword come with a beginner's manual…

Alice sighed again. She had already tried saying a bunch of commands to try and change the Hero's Sword's name, but none of them had succeeded. So, it was safe to assume that the Hero's Sword's name could only be changed once when it switched owners. Fortunately, Alice still had a way to salvage this situation.

Since the program was hard-coded, all she needed to do was find the programmer.

Hey… No. The Hero's Sword also had the Word of God ability. This meant that the Hero's Sword also acted like a phone that allowed Alice to contact God.

Having made up her mind, Alice retrieved the Hero's Sword out of its container and gripped its hilt with her right hand. Then, she closed her eyes and began praying sincerely. She sincerely wished to change the Hero's Sword's name, so her prayers should be regarded as sincere.

Very quickly, Alice found her consciousness blurring momentarily. When her consciousness recovered, she found that the soft bed she sat on had changed into a wooden floor. Then, when she opened her eyes, she found that her consciousness had returned to God's room.

As for the white-haired Loli Goddess, she was snoring on the ground, just like when Alice first visited this place.

Does she have narcolepsy or something? Alice scratched her head as she looked at the sleeping Goddess. Then, she crouched down and pinched the loli's cheek while saying, "Hey, wake up. I have something to ask you."

"W-Who is it?!" The Loli Goddess woke up in a daze and swatted away the hand that was pinching her cheek. Then, when she looked up and saw Alice crouching beside her, she asked, "Why are you back? Didn't you just come over last night?"

"That… I came across a little problem," Alice said with an awkward smile. She also felt that it was inappropriate for her to disturb God for such a small problem. "You should be able to tell the Hero's Sword's situation, right? I accidentally gave it the wrong name. Can you help me reset it?"

"You gave it the wrong name?" The Loli Goddess looked at Alice skeptically. Then, she suddenly thought of something as she said, "Oh, right. You weren't the one who awakened the Hero's Sword. You must not have known that the Hero's Sword can only be used after acquiring a 'true name,' so you must've accidentally given it a strange name, right?"

…You should've said something earlier if you knew that.

Alice couldn't help but find the Loli Goddess to be even more unreliable now.

"Although it isn't a big issue, there is a limit to how many times I can reset the Hero's Sword. It will self-destruct once it reaches 20 resets, so I can only give you one chance to rename it," the Loli Goddess said, not noticing the strange gaze Alice was giving her. Then, she closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again and saying, "Done. You can rename your Hero's Sword once you return. Remember: This is the only chance you'll get. I won't help you if you mess up again."

"No problem." Alice made an OK sign when she heard the Loli Goddess's words. Now that she understood the rule to name the Hero's Sword, if she messed up the naming again, she could only chalk it up as the Hero's Sword's fate and accept it. "By the way, can I take another souvenir with me?"

"Scram!"

The Loli Goddess's face turned beet red, and she sent Alice back with a kick once more.

Upon getting kicked, Alice experienced a moment of weightlessness before she found herself back in her room, feeling as if she had just woken up from a dream. She also noticed that the powerful bonuses she received from the Hero's Sword had disappeared. Although the Hero's Sword retained its Law quality, its other abilities had temporarily disappeared. Thus, Alice had now reverted to being a helpless little girl.

…

[Weapon: Hero's Sword - Unnamed]

[Quality: Law]

[Effect: Strength +1]

[Additional Effect: None]

…

Alice breathed out a sigh of relief when she saw the Hero's Sword's stats. From the history books she read, she inferred that people typically referred to the Hero's Sword by its true name. It was both a Law-grade weapon and the Hero's lifelong companion, after all. It was only right to show it some respect and call it by its given name.

Thus, Alice would be socially ruined if her Hero's Sword got stuck with the name "Hey."

Raising the Hero's Sword, Alice fell into thought as she pondered what name she should give it.

Alice wasn't illiterate on Earth. On the contrary, apart from Chinese, she also knew a few foreign languages. Meanwhile, according to the introduction on the Hero that she read on the human realm's internet, the Hero's Sword's previous name, "Enheria," was an adage that originated from the previous Hero's hometown, and its meaning was "courage." Using this as an example, Alice decided that she could also use a language from Earth to name the Hero's Sword.

Although Alice wanted to name the Hero's Sword using Chinese, this world's language was similar to Chinese. So, it'd feel awkward and lazy if she directly named the sword "Courage." Thus, after thinking it over, she made up her mind.

"Okay!" Alice opened her eyes and earnestly looked at the Hero's Sword she held with both hands. "I've decided! Your name will be 'Khrabrost!'"

Khrabrost, the pronunciation for the word "courage" in Russian. The instant Alice decided on this name, she felt boundless power flooding into her body from the Hero's Sword. This time, she even felt a sense of warmth spreading throughout her body.

Sure enough, the Hero's Sword must like this name.

With such a thought in her mind, Alice checked the Hero's Sword's weapon information again.

…

[Weapon: Hero's Sword - Okay]

[Quality: Law]

[Effect: Strength +8000, Constitution +8000, Speed +8000, Mind +8000, Control +8000, Mana +8000]

[Additional Effect:

Word of God (Passive Skill. When praying sincerely, you can communicate with God and receive God's blessing);

Blessing of Light (Passive Skill. Your affinity with the light attribute is increased to MAX. When you are wielding a weapon blessed by God, exude a holy light that deals additional damage to dark-attributed enemies);

Holy Cross Slash (Active Skill. Releases a cross slash composed of light to shatter the target's soul.)]

…

Goddammit! Can this Hero's Sword be a little more intelligent?!