Since I have some time, let me talk about myself.
My name is Kyle. Kyle Grapheme. I’m a twenty-eight year old single mercenary. My role in the hero’s party is in the vanguard.
I was called by the country to travel with the others to defeat the demon king three years ago. And recently, Mirabel told me said demon king is one of my trusted companions.
I didn’t think my stomach would hurt this much after reincarnation.
Yes, I was reincarnated into this world. I died after saving a colleague that was about to be hit by a truck, and through this boilerplate scenario, met the goddess Mirabel.
It’s quite common, but apparently I wasn’t supposed to die, and it was her mistake that killed me. To make up for it, she asked me if I wanted to be reincarnated with a perk.
I can’t say I didn’t feel any attachment to my old life, and it was hard for me to accept that it was over, but I didn’t have much choice.
“But you’re not getting anything too great as a perk.”
“Creating stuff from nothing?”
“No way.”
“A magic eye that kills someone just by looking?”
“How violent. No.”
“Be really popular with the ladies?”
“You should work on that yourself.”
“Infinite mana?”
“Even a god doesn’t have that.”
“Immortality?”
“Trying to be a god, are you?”
She was surprisingly not flexible about that. I decided to just ask her what I could do, and she said I could have something like higher abilities than others. Like being a prodigy with the sword.
I said sure, and with that settled, I was reincarnated. Goodbye, Takahashi Atsushi.
But the life that awaited me was more turbulent than I thought.
There were kings and nobles, but I was born as the second son of common farmers.
Skipping ahead a bit, when I was seven, the village where I lived was attacked by bandits. Even with my perk of higher abilities than others, I was still a seven year old. I was no match for adults, and sadly, had no talent for the magic of this world. Simply put, I couldn’t do anything.
The reality of this world was much crueler than I thought.
The village was burned, men and children were killed, and so were the women after being assaulted.
It was survival of the fittest, and the weak perished. I was the only survivor in that village. It wasn’t like I did anything to warrant that, my family in this world gave their lives to protect me, and I miraculously survived. That’s all.
I survived because I was hidden under the bodies of my parents, older brother and older sister.
And it was a mercenary called Lysette who saved me from that pile of corpses and told me what happened.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get here in time. I’m glad you’re alive.”
She said as she hugged me, but I couldn’t accept it. I pulled her away from me, and looked at the corpses that were my family.
I was getting to my late twenties in my old world, meaning I had been alive for over thirty if we added it all together, but my heart couldn’t take it, and all I could do was cry.
“I’ll take you with me!”
“You can’t raise him while working as a mercenary! I feel bad for him, but he has to stay.”
“I can! He’s not going to bother anyone! I know it won’t be easy, but he’s my sister’s kid. I’ll take him!”
“Lysette…”
As I saw her argue with the others, I felt completely detached.
But in the end, Lysette pushed through, and took me.
At seven years old, I lost my family and joined a group of mercenaries.
After that, I started training even harder. I was supposed to be working hard, but leaned on my abilities too much. Maybe if I worked harder before, I could’ve saved at least my family. In the end, all I had were regrets.
I killed a person for the first time when I was ten. It was on our way to eliminating a group of bandits as part of our mercenary work. Lysette stayed close the whole time because she was worried.
I was so entranced in the battle and desperate to not die, that I killed him without thinking much of it. The sensation of cutting someone down didn’t leave my hands, and when I remembered the smell of blood and the face of the bandit as I cut him, Lysette rubbed my back as I threw up.
But I got used to it. Or rather, I got numb to it. Also, the idea of my friends getting hurt was worse than the bad feeling I got from killing. It was also around this time that Mirabel started appearing in my dreams.
It had been a while, but she looked sad and apologetic.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t think it would turn out like this. Do you hate me?”
“No. If I’m going to resent anyone, it’s me for not being able to do anything.”
“I see…”
It felt she was about to say something, but held it back.
After thirty seconds of silence, she reached out to me with her right hand.
“This is against the rules, but I will make an exception. Take this, to make your life a little easier.”
A pale blue light gathered in her hand, and flew into me in a straight line. I didn’t even have time to brace, as it disappeared as if melting into me.
“What I gave you means you can’t be tampered with. Basically, you’re immune to status conditions. You can’t get poisoned, paralyzed, cursed, or brainwashed. It negates anything that would influence you badly.
However, things like magic and swords work just fine, so be careful!”
I got another perk.
After that, Mirabel started appearing from time to time. In my dreams, of course. She would tell me not to push myself too hard and to rest, like a sort of nagging mother.
She also taught me how to train and handle a sword. Because of this, I became noticeably stronger. At just fifteen, I was already the strongest in this band of mercenaries. All thanks to the abilities and instruction given to me by Mirabel.
When I was twenty, Lysette died protecting another mercenary. I lost my family again.
I cried a lot that day, and Mirabel appeared in my dreams again, concerned. Looking back, I sure cried a lot.
Half a year after losing Lysette, I left the band of mercenaries. There was the fact that I lost my family too, but it was mostly because I got Mirabel’s stamp of approval that I could make it on my own.
As a freelance mercenary, I traveled while making money taking down monsters and bandits. And gradually, word about me being a strong mercenary spread.
When I was twenty-five, I started hearing about the return of the demon king, and how it would destroy humanity. I felt like there were more monsters too, and they were more violent. I also heard some people say they saw demons, who they had only heard about in fairy-tales. I knew something was going on.
Soon after that, I was summoned by the country.
The increase in monsters and emergence of demons were brought about by the return of the demon king. At this rate, demons would destroy the world.
Defeat the demon king and save the world, is basically what I was told.
And that was how I joined the hero’s party.
I left on a journey with the others to defeat the demon king, and save the world where my family and Lysette were born.
Three years later, I found out the demon king was among us.
The suspects are the other five members of this party. It sounds harsh, but since they all have criminal records, I feel like I’m bound to find evidence that indicts them all if I look.
I feel like a detective.
Well then, that’s enough talking. Let’s bear this stomach ache and look for the demon king.
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