I Was Summoned As A Hero, But I Became The Demon Lord Instead

(POV Akua)

Haaah. Every single time I think I'm finally getting sent back to my home world this happens. I really can't even find it in myself to be surprised anymore. What is this now? The 36th world I've been summoned to?

Really? I was in the middle of bathing in the spring of returning with the nine elemental shrine maidens powering the return summoning circle. I was n.a.k.e.d since I figured I'd take a relaxing dip while being sent back. Also, the shrine maidens informed me material possessions such as clothing wouldn't be transported along with me anyways, so there was no need for me to be dressed.

Plus it's not like it's the first time I've been summoned to another world while n.a.k.e.d either, hence why I could keep my cool in this awkward situation. There were a few other returning methods that also didn't allow for the transportation of material possessions as well so I was already used to it.

The only thing different from normal was, it was a group summoning this time. Why do I always end up summoned to another world after I've finished my mission in the world I was summoned to? This has to be rigged, right? Ah, whatever! I just want to get this over with as quickly as possible. I've already spent one hundred years moving from world to world in my attempt to be sent back home.

What's one more world going to make a difference?

"Oi. You in the throne. Where's the demon lord? I'll go kill it quickly so I can be done with this."

"Eh? I'm not you, I am I, the great king Jasper of the Jasper Kingdom."

"You. King. Jasper. I really don't care, just answer the question. Where is the demon lord of this world?"

"Akua, aren't you being a bit rude to the king? He's a king after all, right?"

"Tch. Fine."

"Uh, well. Ehem. Since you asked; no, rather, it is something I must naturally explain. To be quite frank, the demon lord hasn't shown up just quite yet. The prophecy ordains that it should appear within the next eight months. The prophecy also says that it will be the strongest demon lord to ever appear in history and that it will take many heroes working together to bring it down."

Tch. Eight months huh? I guess it's still better than waiting several years.

Shortly after the king explained the situation a guard appeared with the clothes I'd asked for.

"Miss Akua, these are the garments you have requested."

"Thank you."

The guard handed over a long light blue and white one piece that I quickly changed into. I was a bit surprised at how well it fit and how comfortable it was as it was definitely a piece intended for the royalty to wear.

"Oh! Akua, it looks good on you, as one would expect of a natural beauty."

What's with this guy whose been acting like he knows me? As for ten years ago I was in another world, I could tell he was probably someone from my home world, but how could I possibly know him when I've been away from Earth for one hundred years already? He wasn't even born yet, was he?

"Hey you, what year was it when that person you mentioned moved?"

"What do you mean person I mentioned? It was you."

"Forget that for now, just tell me."

"It was 2009."

That's about right, I did first get summoned around then.

"What year is it on Earth presently?"

"Do you actually have amnesia or something? How can you not know that?"

"Enough with your questions, just answer me already."

"It's the year 2019 on Earth."

What?! It's really only been ten years on earth?! Then doesn't that mean that person is still potentially alive? So, there's still hope for me when I finally return then? Ugh, that is if I can ever make it back without getting summoned to another world.

Letting out a sigh I felt a bit relieved at the possibility of reuniting with him. I'd always been stressing about it for the longest time believing my only family was long dead already. Well, the only family I have was someone who acted like an adoptive uncle to me. I was an orphan after all. One day that uncle of mine suddenly took up and left for reasons unknown to me. He left a plane ticket on the counter and told me to take it and head to America where we would one day reunite.

As I child back then, I naively followed his instructions without questioning anything. I somehow boarded the plane without issues. However, there was a freak accident during the flight. It was hijacked by a group of criminals who demanded a large ransom from the Japanese government. During the flight the pilot tried to resist, but was unfortunately killed. It left no one who had experience with flying the plane and it was locked on autopilot. The plane just kept going forward until it headed straight into a storm. A lightning bolt eventually struck it and the plane went down. Right as the plane was struck, being the child I was back then, I lost consciousness from excessive shock and fear.

Afterwards I had a strange dream where I thought I'd met god and I naturally thought I'd died during the crash, but when I opened my eyes next, what came into view were strangely dressed people surrounding me. In my confused state they went on to explain I was a hero summoned to slay the demon lord.

That was how my nightmare of endless world hopping to slay countless demon lords began.

Hah. Will I ever see that uncle who took care of me and raised me up in my childhood ever again? He was the only person in my life I considered a family member. Is he doing alright? He always gave off the feeling of being a lonely wanderer as well. I hope he at least found someone to keep him company during the time we've been apart.

My uncle, XXXXX XXXXXX, please be okay.

Eh? What the? His name?! What was it? There's no way I could forget it. I'm sure I knew his name even in the last world I was in. I'd even occasionally mention him to several acquaintances in the last world. I'd also mentioned him to these shrine maidens on several occasions throughout the course of our journey.

In a hushed down low voice to avoid attracting other people's attention I asked them, "hey girls, do you remember the name of the uncle I've mentioned before?"

"Miss Akua, how could we possibly forget the name of the benefactor to our hero?"

"What was his name then?"

"It was…"

The girls opened their mouths and began to answer before they came to a stop and opened their eyes wide in horror.

"What was it again?"

"It was definitely…"

"You can't remember it either?"

"No, can you?"

"Miss Akua, please forgive our sins of forgetting the name of our hero's benefactor!"

"It's fine. It's fine. Don't worry about it."

There was definitely something strange going on for me to forget something important like that. This had never happened to me before. Well, it was my first group summoning, maybe it's just a temporary aftereffect where our memories are a bit groggy.

Whatever, forget about that for the moment, panicking will do me no good. For now I should just do what I usually do. First I need to determine which side is right and which side is wrong. Humans aren't necessarily the side of good after all. Which side I choose will determine whether I can find a way to return to my home world.

The human side may not necessarily be the side that allows me to return. There have been times when the human side wanted to keep me in their world rather than allowing me to return. From experience, it's best not to bring such things up right away or it will raise their guard and potentially backfire. The last world, I was lucky the humans were kind in nature and allowed the nine elemental shrine maidens to send me back. Of course, it was my bad luck that we got summoned in the process of me returning again.

Haaaah.

Although it might not be such a bad thing for these shrine maidens being summoned to another world. In their world they were caged birds with no freedom. However, in another world they would be able to live freely, at least while they're here. They had fairly impressive strength, so I could see why they could end up being summoned like me. Of course, it was probably me inadvertently dragging them along for the ride.

The shrine maiden I was most familiar with was the water shrine maiden, Umi; she belonged to the first nation that I was summoned to in the previous world. Because we were both aligned with water she was especially affectionate with me, but after I met her, it became a game of gotta catch them all. I had to venture all across the continent and solve their respective nations problems before the nations they belonged to agreed to allow me to use their strength to send me back to my world.

I can only sigh when I think about the last world I was in. In the end, it took three years of effort to reach the point where I could return home, it was one of the longer worlds to get through. Each nation had its respective demon lord which made it nine times more exhausting compared to a normal world. The most annoying part of it all was when the last demon lord fell, he laughed at me as he said obnoxiously, "hehehe you may have defeated us nine demon lords, but you will never slay the demon emperor behind us!"

You could imagine my ugly expression at the time. The jerk didn't even tell me where the last one was. It took two years to slay the nine of them, while I spent a full year just searching for the demon emperor. I bet no one would ever imagine how I found him. I bought a random book from a beggar that had written of several legends pertaining to the demon emperor.

It turned out the demon emperor could not be found, only summoned. When I found out, my irritation level after wasting an entire year searching only to find that out left me fuming. The worst part was, all one needed to do was gather the nine elemental shrine maidens, draw out a complex circle depicted in the book in blood and have them each chant a few lines. In my rage, using the elemental magic I had the best affinity with; water, I took everyone to the bottom of the ocean and summoned the wretched demon emperor down there and quickly finished him off. His expression of horror as the water pressure crushed him out of existence was truly the best revenge I could have had for wasting my time.

After that, I took everyone to the spring of returning and the next thing I knew, I was summoned here.

I still can't believe my horrible luck, but I can only accept the facts. I'm stuck here for eight months at the minimum since the shrine maidens won't be able to send me back unless a place like the spring of returning exists here. The summoning circle below also looks completely different compared to the one at the spring of returning.

"Hey, Akua, do you remember them?"