episode_0005

Now that it’s my second time, I’m used to the ice.

Lee Han — An 11-year-old boy named Lloyd in this life — sat on a damp rock, staring blankly down at the crashing river water.

The river swollen by heavy rain is rough.

If I throw myself like this, won’t I disappear without a trace?

Sigh.

Lloyd, who was making a mockery, scratched his neck. Ever since his neck was cut in his last life, this place had been itching constantly. And whenever it itched, he would always hear voices.

— Clap clap clap clap clap.

It was the sound of applause from that time again. It was a noise that I had heard constantly since I had my second life. The sound of applause that suddenly tore through my head was getting louder and louder as the days went by.

“I wish you would stop listening.”

Lloyd muttered in despair.

It was an auditory hallucination that still makes my stomach turn every time I hear it.

That’s right, because the applause reminded me of the moment when he was executed.

It was the sound of applause from tens of thousands of onlookers surrounding him.

— Clap clap clap clap clap.

There is no proper entertainment in this world. For such commoners, the most stimulating entertainment is watching executions. They applauded the sight of the guillotine falling on Lee Han’s head as if it were the curtain call of a play.

‘Fuck.’

Lloyd bit his lip.

The sound of applause, as always, dragged Lloyd down into the darkness.

It feels like I’m on the execution grounds again.

The applause was incredibly unfair. The Demon King was regaining his power. If the Demon King were to descend, the first to die would be the powerless commoners. Lee Han stopped the Demon King, burning even the Mana Circuit.

But they were applauding as they watched themselves being beheaded.

— Clap clap clap clap clap.

My stomach churns. I’ve heard it thousands, tens of thousands of times, but it’s the same every time. One of the strings of reason in my head snaps down.

‘stop.’

I had clearly done everything I could to save them. They! Lloyd covered his ears. He wanted to somehow stop the resounding applause. But there was no way. It was an auditory hallucination.

— Clap clap clap clap clap clap!

— The demon from the other world is dead!

The cheers add to it. Yes, they cheered.

‘stop……!’

It’s painful. Just cut my throat and leave me to die. Is it really necessary to do this?

— Clap clap clap clap clap clap!

‘stop…’

I was wrong. I was wrong! Lloyd muttered, sobbing. He apologized without even knowing what he had done wrong. He thought that would end this suffering.

No. I’d rather throw myself into the river.

The river, swollen by heavy rain, surged so strongly and deeply that it could easily swallow a house, as if a large monster was breathing.

“…….”

Lloyd reached out toward the river.

It felt like someone was coming out to greet me.

… If I just throw myself into it like this, won’t everything become happy?

But the attempt ended in failure.

“Are you trying to stop the river this time, my lord?”

Lloyd hurriedly pulled his hand away.

His pupils, which had been clouded, regain their color.

I swallowed hard and looked back.

“I’m not being sarcastic to the owner, Bella.”

“When did you ask me to think of you as my younger sibling?”

“You were the one who asked me to please lower my voice.”

“Which master speaks politely to a maid?”

A girl dressed in a maid outfit grumbles lightly.

Bella, the butler of the Arenberg family. She is only fourteen years old, but her words and actions are mature, and if Lloyd were to look at her from the perspective of someone his age, she would seem like an older sister. The scent of a well-dried blanket from the sun was enough to make those around her feel comfortable.

“Besides, I’m not being sarcastic.”

“Then what is it?”

“Lord, you can stop that river.”

“Do you think I’m some kind of great wizard?”

“Yes. Last time, didn’t you stop the falling building? When you went out to the village.”

“… That’s.”

Lloyd’s brow furrowed.

That was a mistake.

While walking down the street, a building suddenly collapsed, and Bella was underneath.

I reflexively used magic.

Originally, the magic circle should have been burned up during the fight with the Demon King. However, since it possessed another person’s body, the magic was output as if it were only natural.

All the remains of the building were frozen in place.

[Wide-Area Psychokinesis] is considered one of the most difficult magics.

If an eleven-year-old boy had used it, it would have been a high-level magic that would have been perfect for being called a ‘genius’. Bam. Bella muttered with an expression of rapture as she clapped her hands together.

“You used your hidden power to save me!”

“That’s not it.”

“At that time, looking at the floating debris, I also had a gut feeling! Ah! Our young master will become a great wizard!”

“That’s not it.”

“I promised myself that I would serve you with all my heart from now on, because you will become a great person!”

“It wasn’t like that before?”

“Before that, I guess I was a little like a younger brother. When I was serving the master, I only exerted half of my strength.”

“I hate opportunists. So please keep it to half in the future.”

“Woohoohoo. There’s no other boy who would be this embarrassed.”

Lloyd accepted the maid’s hands ruffling his hair without saying anything. It was too much of a bother to point out anything, and it also seemed like it was just establishing a hierarchy.

Above all, whenever I was with this rather innocent maid, my hallucinations subsided. Her touch was full of sincerity. Anyway, even though she was a maid of a writer, she knew manners, so Bella combed Lloyd’s hair neatly again.

“Anyway, the riverside is dangerous when it rains heavily. Last time, I heard that a child from the lower village was bitten by a monster.”

“Now is the chance for the monsters of the water series.”

“So… … .”

— Paaah!

As soon as Bella finished speaking, a giant snake leapt out of the river.

“Whoaaak!”

Bella immediately hides behind Lloyd.

Sigh. Lloyd let out a sigh and raised his fingertips.

A long, torn mouth of a giant snake visible beyond the tip of the hand.

Teeth as large as a human body, and poison that burns the surrounding area with each bite.

According to the continent’s risk species classification criteria, it is clearly a level 5 or higher risk species, which is intermediate.

Its weakness is its long, thin tongue that sticks out from its open mouth.

Lloyd’s brain begins to calculate.

Design and calculation for magical output.

A circuit is completed with numerous straight lines arranged in a messy yet beautiful manner.

Lloyd outputted mana along the circuit.

— Gulp.

Blood flowing from the corner of Lloyd’s mouth.

Lloyd’s body possesses overwhelming talent.

At the same time, the mana circuit is broken.

“Ugh… ”

Gulp. As blood flows out, magical power is released.

Crunch.

The tongue of a snake that came right up to your nose is cut off.

— Kkieeek!

The guy just fell into the river and floated away.

Swish.

Lloyd wiped the blood from his lips and stood up.

He wakes up Maid Bella, who is trembling with her head held by both hands.

“Go in first. I’ll be in soon. You said you were going on a business trip to the next town tonight.”

“Ah… yes. What about you, Master?”

“I’ll go in a little further.”

“Why… why?”

Damn it.

There was a sloshing sound on the still muddy floor.

“I just like this river. I don’t think I’ll be able to see it for a while, so I want to look at it for a long time.”

A second life in another world.

My last life, where I saved others to the point of exhaustion, ended in death. The injustice and exhaustion. And the constant auditory hallucinations were the only legacy of my past life. It must have been post-traumatic stress disorder.

I’d rather die.

He once again engraved the words he had repeated tens of thousands of times. But Lloyd endured. Rather than endure, he simply lived. There were two things that gave him peace of mind. One was Maid Bella. The other was this river.

The swollen river sweeps everything away.

Lloyd wished. That the river would sweep everything away. The horrible memory of her beheading. The memories she had with them. The moment she had decided to change this uncivilized world. He wished it would sweep everything away.

With this fucking hallucination.

And I made up my mind.

Let’s live with the flow, like being swept away by a river.

I wanted to put to sleep the desire for revenge that was flickering in a corner of my heart.

“You shouldn’t jump into the river?”

I turn around to hear a soft voice and see Bella looking at me with concern.

“What do you think of me?”

“An old man tired of life.”

“At least you’d say he’s an eleven year old boy going through a rough patch?”

“… No matter how I look at it, that’s not it. Unless you’re a boy living his eleventh life. ”

“You have an eye for people.”

“I’m pretty good at judging people. Because I’ve lived a long life.”

“Even so, he’s only fourteen.”

Shh.

Bella, who was walking towards the mansion, turns around.

“You have to come in quickly. Your parents are good people. They are very worried.”

topper?

There are no good people in the world.

Lloyd, who had been betrayed at least once, thought so.

“Bella.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t trust anyone. Not even your family.”

“You are so cold, Master. As if you were made of ice.”

“The world is cold.”

“Another old man’s words. The Arenberg family is a good person. Not as much as this cute young master, though.”

Stinging.

Lloyd caressed his cheek, which had been pinched by the maid, with a blank expression.

“…What are you doing now.”

Bella smiled and spun around, the hem of her maid’s uniform flowing elegantly as if it were the highlight of a ballroom.

She blinked one eye and opened her mouth.

“I believe. My eyes. Then I’ll see you when I get back from my business trip.”

Lloyd watched the maid walk away. Unlike her bright smile, the sky was dark, as if it would rain again at any moment.

That night.

Lloyd’s parents sold him to slave traders.

It was a summer with particularly heavy rain.