This Clueless Hero

Honestly, I felt a little strange hearing Galileo thank me so sincerely. It made me remember a bit of why I set out on this journey in the first place.

Not to gain appreciation, but so that people didn't have to suffer as much as they did.

Though that vision had gotten a little blurry, a tiny bit of it always stuck with me. But in the end, it didn't change the fact that I needed to become stronger.

I remember that girl.

She was just an unassuming little girl, but she was very strong. At the time, although I hadn't significantly improved my body through external means, it had become quite tough due to the damage and healing from the constant spellcasting.

I'm sure that while I am stronger now, it wasn't to that huge of an extent. However, I only realized that the little girl moved by the time she slowly removed my heart from my chest.

She was simply too fast.

Simply too vicious.

And too powerful.

As for how I could reach that same level, I did not know. However, I was going to try my best regardless. It seemed that the answer kept going back to power, no matter how far it seemed to stray from it.

I needed to become more powerful.

"Um, are you ok?"

Galileo was giving me a fairly concerned look.

I nodded.

"Yes, I'm fine. Since you all are fine here, I will leave after taking the artifact."

Galileo's eyes widened slightly.

"You don't wish to even greet all the families you've saved?"

I shook my head.

"There is simply no time."

Galileo blinked a few times.

"Surely it will not take much of your time. I can't imagine a few seconds would break you, right?"

I let out a soft sigh.

"Perhaps not me, but the people that I could've saved with that time."

Galileo seemed to be speechless for a moment, but seemed to come to accept my reasoning.

"Alright."

After a few moments, the man with the twig crown came back. He was gingerly holding onto what looked like some glasses. However, what was strange about these glasses was that instead of being two circles that pinched around the nose, there were these weird extensions on the side that looked like they were supposed to go on the ears.

The man walked up to me.

"I am not sure what use you will find with this, but our old chieftain treasured it greatly."

I nodded.

"Alright."

After taking it from him, I looked at it a little closer. It was rather sleek, made of some material I did not know of. As for the lenses, they were a translucent black and had a few cracks here and there.

I hesitated, then put on the glasses.

Immediately, everything I saw changed.

Shadows of various kinds filled my vision, like creatures hopping to and fro. The actual village itself disappeared, revealing what seemed to be a mostly bare plain with only the occasional tree.

These shadowy figures scattered about seemed to notice me the moment I put them on, startling me slightly.

"Are you ok?"

I turned around to the voice and saw the piece of paper a little close, as though inspecting my conditions. The necklace and pale grey light were also behind, seemingly curious as to my sudden reaction.

I coughed.

"I can see something different when I put these on. It's like... the world has changed."

The necklace trembled.

"What do you see?"

I rubbed my temple with the base of my palm.

"I'm not sure. It feels like when my eyes try to focus in on something, it suddenly blurs. Almost like my vision was always blurry and I was fooling myself into seeing something. The best I can tell you is that it appears to be some place with far fewer trees than before."

The piece of paper hummed.

"That is... interesting."

Upon taking my glasses off, I noticed that there was quite a bit of panic.

Galileo shouted.

"Ah! There you are!"

I blinked a few times.

"What's the problem?"

The clamor from the crowd was quite loud, but it calmed down after a few moments. Galileo let out a long sigh.

"You... you disappeared after you put those glasses on. We thought that the monsters had taken you."

I shook my head.

"No, I'm fine. However, these glasses seem to take me to some other place. I couldn't see any of you either."

Galileo's eyes widened.

"Truly? But I don't remember such a thing when I put them on."

I blinked a few times.

"What did you see?"

He rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.

"Um... I didn't feel so good. There might've been a monster, but I couldn't catch a proper look at whatever it was."

I raised an eyebrow.

"...So different people see different things."

Galileo nodded.

"Yes, yes."

I shook my head.

"Regardless, I got what I came here for. I shall now leave."

As I turned to leave, someone tugged onto my pants.

"Wait, you are leaving already?"

It was the little boy from earlier. I turned to him and flashed a small smile.

"There are many people waiting for me, so I must go."

He pouted, clearly unhappy. However, he eventually came to accept it.

"Ok! I'm sure all the people you help will be super happy like us!"

I chuckled.

"I hope so too."

With that, I walked out of the village. Though people watched me as I left, they did not beg me to stay. Instead, they gave their goodbyes. Upon reaching the doors, I teleported out.

And from there, I started to walk once more.

As I got up on top of a hill, I took one last look at the village.

...Then noticed that the light at the top was flickering. No, more than that, the entire sky was flickering. I didn't notice it at first, but the sky in this place was very dull and grey. It wasn't too different from how the sky usually was, so the difference wasn't too striking.

However, now that sky would intermittently change from grey to pitch black.

I furrowed my brows.

"What is happening?"

The piece of paper mumbled.

"...What are they all doing?"

I turned to it.

"What are you talking about?"

The necklace trembled.

"Um, some of the creatures are like, moving in really weird ways."

The piece of paper let out a soft hum.

"Yes, their bodies appear to be twisting in strange ways, almost like they are squeezing themselves through a hole."

After a bit of hesitation, I put on the glasses. The empty plain was revealed to me once more. However, this time the shadows were doing something strange. They were stationary, but their bodies continued to twist.

As they did so, they became thinner. It was almost like they were transforming into pieces of paper. Last time, they noticed my presence and stared at me.

However, this time, I was pretty confident they knew I was here, but didn't care about me.

I looked up at the piece of paper.

"They appear to be leaving this realm for whatever reason."

In response, the piece of paper gasped.

"Could it be possible that they are moving between the layer-like structure this place has?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

The piece of paper excitedly went on a tangent.

"I believe that those glasses should allow you to go further down a layer or two of this place and let you witness those creatures. The reason why they are disappearing is that they are leaving this realm to go to the higher surface ones."

I blinked a few times.

"So they can just... do that?"

The piece of paper exclaimed.

"No, no, no. I believe that what is occurring is some sort of phenomenon where the rigid boundaries of these layers once had become frail, letting things pass over to each side more easily."

I looked around, watching as all of these things disappeared.

However, at some point, I saw... eyes.

They were simply appearing out of the sky, just observing. The creatures here seemed to be anxious as they let out various garbled cries before twisting even faster, as though trying to escape.

The various eyes that appeared were huge and bright yellow. Their pupils were a line, reminiscent of a lizard's eye or a cat's.

The more I thought about it, the more I began to realize that it might be a bad idea to continue staying here. However, I was curious. I wasn't sure when something like this would happen again, so I decided to stay.

The eyes gradually became clearer, as though making their way past a misty fog. By now, nearly all of the shadows had left.

The piece of paper let out a concerned hum.

"I see... I think monkeys looking at you? But how would that be the case if you are in so deep?"

I narrowed my eyes.