I reach the university's dormitory while the sky is still painted orange by the sun. When I enter, Andrew and Cal are watching the news on the television, while our fourth roommate, who I haven't met yet, is sitting at the desk in his room, seemingly playing a game on his laptop.
The news anchor is talking about yesterday's events:
"New footage from the most recent invasion made its way to various social media sites, giving us a closer look at the mysterious individual who appears to have saved the day. The National Adventuring Association hopes to find clues as to this person's identity in the new pictures and videos that are now being published. Due to the flames covering her bodies, a popular theory online casts her as a monster who found herself fighting with us for reasons yet unknown. The NAA, however, remains confident that this is one of their members who simply has yet to come forward."
I stop to look at the images that are being shown on screen. This mysterious woman, who seems to have made use of the same kind of power I did during the invasion, is quite eye-catching. While the lack of facial features and the empty eyes give her a rather alien look, there's no denying that she has some pretty nice proportions on the rest of her body. However, I can't help but wonder why she's the center of all this attention when I was also there. Clearly someone must have gotten some pictures of me too, right?
I head to my room and grab my phone, opening the first social media app I find. I mostly interact with other adventurers on that one, so my timeline is unsurprisingly filled with people sharing videos of this mysterious woman, analyzing her powers and combat style to try to figure out her class or even her identity. They're also sometimes being inappropriately horny towards her, with many comments simply saying "would" under the shared pictures.
I eventually come across a video of her fighting, that seems to have been taken by a civilian hiding behind rubble. The caption reads "Aurora appears to be some kind of caster at first, but we can clearly see her use standard Sword Fighter techniques here. I suggest that this might be her actual class while her other attacks are merely additional tricks she picked up."
Looks like the internet decided to name her "Aurora". Fitting, considering the colors of the flames covering her body.
However, as I watch the video, I start feeling more and more anxious. I recognize this scene. Every movement Aurora makes, I clearly remember making. The slash that misses an orc's neck and instead slices open its skull, revealing the brain inside? I remember making that mistake. Jumping on the shoulders of an orc that has just been decapitated to get high enough to spot another orc behind a collapsed wall? Also something I did.
As the puzzle pieces start falling into place, I scroll down nervously, hoping to find something to prove me wrong. However, I find the opposite instead: a picture with a clear view of Aurora's sword.
And it's mine.
When I ordered my sword, I paid a little extra to get the grip wrap in a custom, red color rather than the standard black. And Aurora is wielding a sword with a red grip wrap. I was also paying attention during the fight to every bit of damage my blade sustained, and I recognize exactly the chips and cracks on the picture. I can tell it was taken around the middle of the battle, since that was the exact state of my sword at that moment.
I'm Aurora?
Why would the flames give me a woman's appearance? Obviously the body inside the flames didn't change, I think I would have noticed some breasts attaching themselves to my chest while fighting, and I can clearly see right now that my body is just as it always was, so the flames must simply have created a female-looking shell around me. But why?
As I think about it, I realize that this could be an argument in favor of the idea that my power is borrowed. It could simply be that Aurora's appearance is based on the looks of the power's original owner. This doesn't help me find them, if they exist, but that's a possibility, right?
I now feel even worse about the idea of letting anyone know that I'm the person they're looking for. What kind of wild rumors would I end up having to deal with if I revealed that the woman everyone is looking for is actually a man? Just thinking about the invasive questions I'd have to answer makes me shudder.
Realizing that the inappropriate comments I read were actually aimed at me causes a wave of disgust to wash over me. People really need to be more careful with what they say online, this is absolutely not okay!
I guess Aurora is going to remain missing for a while longer. Probably forever, actually. Now that I can use this power without it leaking violently through my skin and causing out-of-season and out-of-place northern lights to manifest themselves, I'll just keep working as my own self. If the real owner of the power ever asks me to give it back, I'll simply comply. Who even knows where she is right now?
Calmed down and satisfied with my decisions, I stop browsing the app and prepare myself to go grab some food.
"Sir, we found Aurora's weapon in the junk that was gathered on the battlefield."
"Bring it to me."
The situation I find myself in is rather exceptional. Yesterday, an invasion happened. That, in and of itself, is not unheard of. However, an adventurer seems to have used some new kind of power we have never seen before to put an end to it. This individual, who everyone seems more than happy to call "Aurora" until we figure out her true identity, could help us shape the next generation of adventurers. Nobody, however, has any idea where she went.
But that is not my primary concern. Her mysterious power is sure to be coveted by the Free Companies established in this country, and potentially even outside of it. My fear is that if one of them manages to recruit her, assuming she's not already in one, that company will choose to keep the secret of her power to themselves to gain a competitive edge against the others. Such a waste of talent could lead to our demise in the event of a large-scale invasion. As the leader of the NAA, I cannot let this happen.
My employee comes back with the sword. The blade is broken in two and generally heavily damaged.
"This appears to be a perfectly ordinary sword often used by adventurers levels 15 and below. Considering that our estimates place Aurora's level between 55 and 65, it seems unlikely that this was her weapon."
"It's the only hint we have."
I grab what remains of the weapons and take a closer look. At the same time, my employee hands me over a stack of papers.
"Some preliminary tests were already run on the blade. These are the results. The quick version is that they didn't find anything out of the ordinary on it, so no remnant of Aurora's power that could have helped us track her down."
"You said some footage of her fighting found its way on social media, right? Do we know what her class is from that?"
"Yes, sir, people who managed to capture footage of the invasion have since made it available online. Our analysis of it lead to the conclusion that she's a Sword Fighter."
That's something we can work with at least, and explains why she went for that weapon in particular. While Sword Fighters aren't exactly rare, it at least confirms that she's a trained adventurer and not merely a monster who turned on the orcs, as some have suggested.
"Get me the data on all female Sword Fighters who are level 55 to 65 and active where the invasion took place. We might be able to narrow things down further from there."
"Yes, sir!"
I should probably also prepare a meeting with the leaders of the larger Free Companies. If I take the first step here, we might be able to arrange something, even if Aurora happens to be recruited by one of them.
With that in mind, I call my secretary and ask her to organize something for me.
