Ch.68Chapter 68. Telling Tales About My Reincarnation

-Crackle, crackle.

It was time to sleep after finishing dinner.

I took a position in front of the campfire to stand watch, taking time to check the condition of the spear in my hand and my armor.

I had set up sturdy barricades in the corridor connected to the room we entered, but there was still a risk they could be breached like before.

“Oppa. Do you have a moment?”

Perhaps because of everything that happened today?

Garam Lee, who had been tossing and turning under her blanket, finally gave up on falling asleep and began speaking to me.

“Go to sleep. You need to replenish your energy if we’re going to move tomorrow.”

“I can’t sleep.”

“…You still don’t trust me?”

“Ah, no, you risked your life to save me. I’m not shameless enough to distrust you after that.”

Garam hastily shook her head at my question.

I could faintly see her fingers fidgeting under the blanket covering her body.

“…I just wanted to ask you something.”

After such silence, was it anxiety that made her look at me so shyly?

Whatever it was, if that question was keeping her awake, I figured I should address it. I gestured for her to continue, and she immediately asked her question.

“Oppa, you hate Heroes, right?”

“I do.”

It was an immediate answer without a trace of falsehood.

An answer anyone who wasn’t a Hero would sympathize with.

“You’ve seen many Heroes yourself, so you know, right? The atrocities they commit against adventurers and laborers like me.”

I’ve met dozens who acted without knowing their limits and ended up dead after letting their guard down in front of monsters.

Heroes are a breed that inevitably become that kind of person.

Unless the system embedded in human society is overhauled, the increase of such people will continue.

An endless influx of people who are Heroes in name only, and their exploitation of citizens and Foreign Laborers in overwhelmingly greater numbers.

“Then, the reason you formed a party with me……”

“You can resent me if you want to.”

But unlike them, this child lost her self-pride as the price of realizing her limitations.

Her passive behavior in everything would surely be met with contempt from the masses who seek idols.

No matter how difficult it was for me to take care of myself, I couldn’t be shameless enough to openly exploit such a child.

“You have the right to do so.”

Especially since I’m the reason this child has fallen to such a state.

So I thought I should accept whatever words came back to me.

“…No, I don’t resent you.”

But Garam, without a trace of resentment.

She just smiled bitterly at me and spoke.

“You saved me… and more importantly, if I hadn’t met you, I would have acted like other Heroes when facing the same enemies as before.”

She said that perhaps she was alive now because she lost her confidence through that encounter.

The girl who accepted this as an awakening had transformed what should have been resentment toward me into gratitude.

“…Is that enough for you?”

“Yes, this is actually more comfortable for me.”

That was the ending this child chose for this story.

Not revenge against the vicious Hero killer who caused her downfall as a Hero.

But rather the story of a benefactor who gave enlightenment to a young girl and saved her life.

-Crackle, crackle.

Even after that conclusion, the sound of the burning campfire continued.

As I listened to it, Garam, who should have been sleeping, approached me and began leaning against me.

“I can’t sleep, so could you listen to my story a bit more?”

“…Do as you please.”

If she couldn’t fall asleep right away, I should keep her company until she was satisfied.

The introduction to the story I intended to listen to with a light heart was filled with much heavier content than I had expected.

“You know, before coming here, I tried to jump off the school roof.”

“……”

“…No, I did jump. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come to this world.”

Right, one of the conditions for reincarnating in this world is to be on the verge of death when being summoned.

Getting hit by a truck, falling from a building, and so on. The last memories of people who entered this world were typically like that.

This child had fulfilled that condition by her own hand…

At an age when she hadn’t even graduated from middle school.

“I was scared at first. People who were disappointed in me always bullied me. I, who had always been ignored by others, became the object of expectations in this world.”

What awaited this fragile girl who had fled even from her own world was none other than the mission of being the savior destined to save this world.

Having been pushed to her limits in her previous life, her eagerness to be properly recognized in this world must have grown as well.

Pushed around by others, having lost her own judgment.

“I thought I needed to fulfill people’s expectations because of that…”

And she failed.

Because of that, she lost her place, but still she stood up and tried to achieve results despite the stigma of being a fallen Hero.

“…It was wrong, wasn’t it? All of that.”

At the end of it all, having survived to this moment, could one say such efforts were rewarded?

Adventurers like me would consider mere survival more than enough, but ironically, what this world expects from this girl is the appearance of an idol that everyone worships.

As long as she was summoned to this world as a Hero, the world would endlessly impose duties and responsibilities on this girl.

“Well.”

But I knew well the consequences of turning away from such reality.

I had seen those who chose a different path from those called Heroes in the world, though they were few in number.

“As you said, what Heroes do isn’t pleasant to see, but it’s hard to say that accepting such an atmosphere is entirely wrong.”

“Why? You said you hate Heroes…”

“Because even a Hero can’t stand against the world alone. In fact, one Hero I know became a wanted criminal after rebelling against the Empire that created such an atmosphere, and is now being hunted by other Heroes.”

“A Hero became a wanted criminal?”

“What I’m saying is that what you’ve realized is difficult even for adults.”

After all, Heroes are modern people like me. Isn’t it that people with the same sentiments all become morally bankrupt because that’s the general flow?

It’s natural that those who go against such normalcy receive worse treatment than fallen Heroes.

Enduring even that could be considered a choice, like the person I know, but this child is still too young to make such a decision herself.

“So if you don’t know what to do right now, it might be good to continue what you’ve been doing and wait for the right time. If you can’t find an answer, sometimes it’s easier on your mind to just set it aside and live on.”

If you collapse while struggling, opportunities won’t even come your way, but if you keep moving forward even while turning a blind eye, someday you might find an answer.

So I too should limit my hesitation.

My ideal is still far away, but by chasing such a mirage, I’ve grown incomparably more than when I started.

So if I wait and endure a little longer, perhaps I’ll seize an opportunity to properly strike back at those damned skeletons.

“…Oppa. How did you end up coming to this world?”

As I was gripping the polished spear and strengthening my resolve.

Garam, who had by now wrapped herself deeply in her blanket, stared at me intently and asked a new question.

About how I came to be in this world, just as she had shared earlier.

“…Curious about what I was doing when I came here?”

“Yes, perhaps you were like me…”

“Don’t worry, it’s not such a depressing story.”

Come to think of it, how did I end up in this world?

It was two years ago, so I don’t remember clearly… Ah, right, that’s how it happened.

“Well, if I had to say, I was on the 10th floor of an apartment and got hit by a truck.”

“…What?”

“No, let me explain properly.”

Of course, anyone would find it strange if I suddenly said a truck crashed into the 10th floor of an apartment.

I carefully traced my memories of that day and explained to Garam.

“In my previous life, I belonged to the main branch of my extended family. So during holidays, my nephews and nieces would gather at the main house, and those kids would run around throwing toys everywhere.”

“Yes, and then?”

“I got hit in the head by one of those toys, and when I came to my senses, I was in this world.”

“…What?”

“After that, well, I was called to the imperial palace like you, had my abilities verified, and fell to the status of a Foreign Laborer…”

“No, wait a minute.”

Garam stopped me as I was about to continue my explanation.

Her face, which had been tense until now, now showed a remarkably blank expression.

“I don’t quite understand… You got hit by a toy and came to this world?”

“Well, yes.”

“And that toy was a truck?”

“…Maybe?”

I don’t really remember clearly.

The toys they were playing with were car-shaped, and the impact on my head felt quite heavy, so I just thought it must have been a truck.

It could have actually been a fire truck, a transforming robot, or a dinosaur toy, but at this point, does it really matter?

Whatever hit me, I came to this world, and in this world, I had to survive.

“…Pfft.”

A small laugh escaped from the girl’s lips as she gradually realized this grim reality.

I turned to her with curiosity, and I could see a smile gradually forming on her face.

An emotion more vivid than the campfire illuminating the room at this moment.

“Ahaha! Hahahahaha!”

“…Is it that funny?”

“S-sorry. It’s just too funny… Not even hit by a truck, but by a t-toy… Pfft, ahaha!!”

Well, I’m only calm about it because it’s my own situation. If I heard it from someone else, I might have laughed too.

But perhaps because of the gloomy atmosphere that had prevailed until now?

I actually welcomed such a bright reaction.

Even if it was just for a brief moment, I thought such a time was necessary for what was to come.

“You must have had a hard time too, Oppa.”

When her laughter had somewhat subsided, the pitiful girl looked at me with a sympathetic face.

Realizing that the object of her sympathy had shifted to me, I gave an ambiguous smile to deny her words.

“No, well, the hard times in the dungeon were because I pushed myself too hard. Apart from that, it’s bearable.”

“I made a choice, but yours was an accident. Unlike me, who thought even another world would be better, you didn’t have such thoughts…”

“……”

“…Why did we end up in this world?”

-Crackle, crackle.

As the firewood we had brought was almost gone.

As the surface of the last remaining log cracked and sparks flew, Garam turned her back to me for a moment and took something out of her backpack, holding it out to me.

It was a jewel.

No, more precisely, it was a mana core processed for direct use by adventurers.

“…Why this?”

“Right now, this is all I can give you… Please take it if you need it.”

This item, looted from a Hero’s corpse when we first entered the dungeon, was a top-level item that allowed even those without the aptitude to handle magical power to use high-output magic or magical tools.

Such an item was not easy to find even in dungeons.

Yet this child, as if unaware of its value, was readily offering this item to me.

“…Are you sure?”

“I’m not giving it without expecting anything in return. I just think you might be able to grant my request.”

No, she wanted to fulfill her wish regardless of the cost.

As if to show that this was not a joke, Garam placed the mana core in my hand and looked up at me.

“I won’t ask for anything unreasonable. I know enough about this world now.”

Yes, this is a transaction.

Not forcing with the authority of a Hero, but a request made as one person to another, a young girl seeking an adult she can rely on.

“After you’ve already saved my life, I’m not shameless enough to ask you to prioritize me over yourself.”

The girl spoke as if desperately hoping I would accept it.

“But until then…”

Someday.

Until the moment when I, overwhelmed by the harshness of this world, reluctantly abandon her.

“If there’s no reason to leave my side until then, could you stay with me?”

She said that even if it was just until that time, she wanted someone to watch her back on her precarious journey.

For that, she would forget past grudges, give everything she could, and if necessary, even lend the halo of being a Hero.

“…Yes.”

When such sincerity was revealed in the light of the campfire illuminating the deep abyss, I gripped the mana core in her hand and gave my answer.

It’s not just because I coveted this core.

The path I must take will be as harsh as the path this girl must take.

Even if I abandoned this path and sought safety elsewhere, there would be no place in this harsh world where complete peace could be pursued, so I would need to build my strength.

“Let’s survive together, from now on.”

Having awakened my calling from such reality, I gripped the girl’s hand instead of the mana core and made a resolution.

For my own survival.

And to achieve what I myself might not be able to achieve, I would start by raising this child to become a proper Hero.

****

And, as time passed, in a kingdom located at the border of the continent.

-Clatter, clatter.

No, on a road through what was once a dilapidated abandoned city called a kingdom, a horse pulling a carriage repeatedly advanced toward its destination, leaving blue afterimages.

Under a sky heavy with dark clouds, through a foggy forest, past a checkpoint, and into a ruined abandoned city crumbling on all sides…

“We have arrived, Your Majesty.”

At the end, the carriage stopped in front of an old temple, and the coachman released the reins and greeted.

But there was no proper consciousness in a corpse that merely moved as if alive.

What he did was simply recalling memories from when he was alive, continuing to act exactly as he had toward the person he had reacted to at that time.

“…Please refrain from using that title.”

Former King Briton IV, feeling nostalgia from that, quietly stepped out of the carriage, leading his withered body clad in armor.

To head toward the collapsed temple at the center, crossing the traces of the country he once ruled.

“Now I am not a king, but merely a knight.”

Yes, now he was not the king of a fallen nation, but the Azure Knight of Death.

His mission was solely to serve the king of the dead for the sake of his unfulfilled lingering attachment.