[Reality Shift, Purification, Elegantification]

“I can’t believe I keep losing to that annoying redhead!”

An incredibly aggravated voice echoed through a dusty library, along with a couple of stomps. It didn’t matter how ancient this place was, the owner of the voice didn’t care for stuff like that, nor did she care for anybody but herself and her beloved lord!

She was Tera, the terrible twin-tailed minion of the Demon Lord! Sure, she wasn’t the biggest or the baddest minion in the whole world, but she put in good work! The Demon Lord praised her a lot for what she did, and as long as she got the praise she deserved, she’d do anything!

Which was why she was so frustrated with the girl that fought back against their tyranny! That redheaded Princess who didn’t act like a Princess! Why did she dare fight back against them, when she was a royal in her own right!? Why didn’t she just sit on her ass and rule over the peasants like a good dumb Princess, instead of trying to punch through her every time they met!

“I hate that girl! I hate that girl so much! If it was up to me, Princess Rekka would be eating my sweaty feet and saying thanks for giving her the meal!” Tera cried out inside this dusty old place, very nearly kicking up a tornado’s worth of dust from her temper tantrum.

In the middle of her angry ranting, she ended up punching one of the shelves, and a bunch of books started to fall down towards her. They threatened to bury her right then and there.

At least, if the terrible minion didn’t use a bit of the magic. In the blink of an eye, her twintails swung through the air like a bunch of finely-aimed blades, carving all of the books into simple chunks that could be stacked with ease. She didn’t even bat an eye, she just brushed her hand against her blade-like hair-

And immediately received a single book straight to the head. It seemed like she had missed one. She almost fell over from the impact, but she managed to gently lift the thing off her head as the impact left behind a cartoonishly huge bump on her head.

“Hmph, stupid book…” Tera muttered as she rubbed the bump and slowly healed it with a bit of her magic. She could manipulate her body using this magic, so fixing it wasn’t a problem. What concerned her more was how the book avoided being cut into chunks.

The bratty minion broke the thing open, and…

“What?! It’s empty!? What’s the big deal!?” She cried out, tossing the thing against the floor. How rude! Not only didn’t it break apart, but it also didn’t have anything inside! How completely and utterly rude!

Once Tera took a few minutes to breathe and clear her mind, she picked it back up and started turning the pages. There had to be an explanation. There just had to be. People didn’t just make books to then fill them with nothing. Even if she didn’t care for the books that didn’t have pictures, at least they had something!

As she finally reached the back, sweat was running down her face. It was completely empty. And she didn’t know what to do with it. But there was a single line on the cover, one that started to kick her mind into gear.

“Journal of the Hero.”

She knew about the Hero. At least, from what the Demon Lord told her. And how that annoying Princess kept saying she didn’t care about the legacy of the Hero. The Hero was a figure that had so much power that they could wipe out the entirety of the demons in one fell swoop. And by their side would always be a devoted and dependent lover.

That’s it. Devoted and dependent. If she could figure out a way to utilize the concept of the Hero, she could ruin the annoying Princess. Not only would she be forced to love her… She’d be utterly useless! And she’d be devoted to her too! She’d humiliate her, she’d stop her from acting against her role, and she’d get a cute wife! ...Wait, that last thing wasn’t a good thing, she hated her! Hated her guts more than anything in the world!

Tera grinned as she closed the book and slowly started looking around. To think that the old Grand Wizard’s abode really had something she could use. Maybe she should pay attention to what her minions told her every now and then. Nah, probably not. They were more useless than anybody could ever want.

Now, she just needed to lure in the annoying Princess, and the real fun could begin…

---

“Can’t believe the old Grand Wizard decided to leave his library unattended. Of course it ended up being taken over by the demons.”

The voice of a young lady echoed through the library as she made her way inside. A short-haired redheaded girl who always wore her royal earrings to signify her status, those brilliant rubies that her mother had given her. But the rest of her attire betrayed her status, because she wore clothes that were easy to maneuver in. A simple and short top that was a bit too loose and showed off more than it should, and a pair of spats that were so tight that you’d be hard pressed not seeing something you probably shouldn’t.

She was Princess Rekka. A fiery soul who would never bend to anybody. A girl who had been raised to take over the Kingdom, but she didn’t want to settle down until she had proven that she could inherit the throne with a good conscience. Helping out the Kingdom by beating the demons? She needed to do something like that, otherwise she wouldn’t feel satisfied.

Which was why she was here. The old coot that tried to teach her magic once had told her that he felt a strange disturbance in his old library, but all of the defenses had been broken so he could only detect the presence. It would require somebody like her to check it out for real, and then deal with whoever had been trying to ransack his old abode.

“Why didn’t he just move all his books to the royal library? That thing stretches on for miles, and he still hasn’t filled the entire thing.” Rekka complained, before slowly closing her eyes and sighing. “Right. I know. Because he’s been spying on my mom and creating erotica using his magic and the mental image of her body. That’s why I didn’t bother learning anything from him…”

As she kept going through the library, she quietly let her mind wander. This was a routine that she had gone through so many times. And yet it never got any easier. Exploring and finding demons… It was fun, but tedious at the same time. No wonder the last Hero decided to stop reincarnating, if they had to do this every cycle.

Well, that’s why she was here. With her mother’s gift always there to remind her of what she was fighting for, and the techniques that the old Hero taught her in her dreams… It was her time to shine.

Which is exactly why she ended up stepping on the wrong panel and triggered a magic trap. Because of course she did. Somehow, someway, she always triggered traps if they existed. Hell, there was one time she managed to trigger a trap that had just been laid down by one of her enemies! It wasn’t fair.

“Ahahahaha!” And on cue, a certain annoying twin-tailed girl decided to make her appearance. The black-haired terrorizing twit, Tera. “You keep falling for these traps, Rekka, and I might just have to make new ones so we don’t get tired of the ones you’ve already worn out!”

“Very funny, Tera! Now get down here so I can pummel you like I’ve always done!” Rekka shouted up at the girl. Really, she wanted to give her a thorough fisting. Something to work through the mood that was hovering over her head right now!

Tera grinned as she slowly but surely floated down to the ground. To contrast the girl wearing such boring clothes, she wore a dress decorated with all sorts of devilish jewelry to make her stand out. One might even call it overcompensating for the fact that she was short, flat chested, and generally unappealing even before you factored her rotten personality into the mix, but if you as much as said that to her face you would probably end up losing said face in a horrible ‘accident’. If you weren’t outright turned into ash.

“Aren’t you wondering why I decided to check this place out?” Tera asked, before pulling the overly durable book out of her dress. “Because trust me, the old coot’s got terrible taste in books. No pictures! What, do old people not like pictures?!”

Rekka rolled her eyes, until she laid her eyes on that book the girl held… She knew what that was. “Tera. Put that down. Right now.” Her voice turned more serious than it had ever been before. Because she never expected to see that thing ever again.

“Oh? You recognize the Journal of the Hero? Well then I’ll skip the bragging!” The bratty minion cried out as she poured her magic through it, letting the book burst open as the pages turned on their own. “I’ll use the Hero’s status to fix this annoying world! And you’ll finally stop beating me!”

“That’s not how it works, you don’t know what you’re doing!” Rekka shouted as she tried to free herself from the brat’s magic. Unfortunately, after having trapped her in so many traps over the last year or so, she made sure that every trap was impossible to escape. Just in case she ever needed to brag right to the annoying Princess’ face.

The magic pouring through the book, originally dark and gloomy and spiky, started to turn a bright gold as the book finally stopped turning. And on the very first page, in bold gold lettering, a single sentence was written.

“Thus began the journey of the Hero, Tera.”

In that moment, the golden magic burst out. It didn’t just cover the two girls, but rather it started to warp away at the world itself. They could see the air stretching and bending to deal with what just happened, with the dust from the library disappearing as the magic washed over it.

Tera laughed, even if she didn’t understand what was happening. She just knew that if the Hero’s legendary reputation was true, then it would result in her eternal victory over that annoying Princess from this moment onward…!

...Why did she call her annoying again..? It didn’t feel right to call her annoying… W-Wait, no, she was… wasn’t she always trying to get back at her for… w-what was she..

Rekka had a front row seat to what Tera had just unleashed. She knew about the power of the Journal of the Hero. It had been completely erased for a very good reason. The original Hero had tried to erase their involvement so they could rest.

By writing her name in the Journal, she was now the Hero. Which meant that she had to embody the values of a Hero..!

Tera trembled as her hair straightened and grew shorter, until it barely reached her shoulders. The black shade of her hair, which had been deep to try and reflect her alignment, now grew a little lighter.

It wasn’t just her hair that changed. Her body was being stretched out in a matter of seconds. A Hero could not be short. A Hero needed to stand tall and stand at the front of the pack, leading them to victory and towards the peace that would bring them all together.

As she grew bigger, her assets naturally grew as well. But she couldn’t show them off in the same fashion that she had before. Her jewelry-covered dress quickly turned plain, yet formal at the same time. She wore a cloth uniform that wasn’t unlike that of the Knights back in Rekka’s kingdom, though with a little extra flair. The kind of uniform that was always gifted to the Hero upon their reawakening after reincarnating.

Finally, embedded in her ears… Were the same sort of rubies that were embedded in Rekka’s earrings. They were the symbol of the Hero. Which was the reason why her mom had given her those earrings in the first place, to try and give her a bit of the Hero to remember him by.

Her mind was a jumbled mess. She knew that she had a close connection to Princess Rekka, but she didn’t understand what that entailed. Her feelings were strong, but their nature was unclear to her. If they were this strong, did that mean… She loved her? Naturally. A Hero always had somebody that they loved, to make sure they stayed on the right path.

“Princess Rekka.” Tera said, kneeling down before the tomboy Princess as the magic that held her slowly faded. “It’s always a pleasure to see you.” She didn’t even register her surroundings. Just the girl that she served and loved…

Rekka snickered a little as she looked at how different Tera was, now that she had been forcibly changed into a Hero. “P-Pleasure’s all mine, Tera.” ...Wait, was that a stutter? No, hold on, the book wasn’t going to…

Unfortunately for the Princess, the Journal needed a matching love interest. And since Tera’s feelings for her were so powerful, even if they were originally negative, she had to accept them.

Since she was ultimately rather powerless, she was quickly swept aside by the changes. Her comfortable clothes turned into a massive, cumbersome dress. Her hair lengthened and curled into beautiful crimson curls that reached all the way down to her hips, while the rest of her body prettied itself up in the same fashion. Long nails, makeup that accentuated her cuter side… And most importantly, the fiery spirit disappearing in her eyes as reality settled her into her new role.

“U-Uhm. T-Tera?” Already, her heart had filled with doubt. She could barely remember her old self, especially in the presence of the woman that she loved. “C-Can we leave this place? I-I don’t… I don’t want to be hit by a stray book falling from a shelf.” She muttered, embarrassed to admit such a silly fear…

Tera smiled, and without even hesitating she picked up her Princess and carried her like a bride. “Anything for you, Princess Rekka.” She said, her smile as bright as her love for the girl in her arms.

Rekka felt her cheeks flushing bright red as she just leaned in to the knightly Hero’s arms, gasping and panting as they slowly made their way out of the library. She’d have to reward her handsomely once they got home. With a feast! A-And she’d make the food properly this time..!

Slowly but surely, the world around them adjusted to allow for the Hero’s existence. But at the core of this changed world laid a romance that had been building ever since those two met a mere year ago.

To think this was the way that Tera and Rekka, mortal enemies, would admit their growing love and appreciation for one another...