"..."
I opened my eyes.
I can't believe it.
To think I actually slept!
Anyone who hasn't experienced it themselves wouldn't understand.
Ever since I was cursed and turned into a skeleton soldier, I hadn't slept a single time.
While practicing Divine Breathing, right around the time my surroundings began to brighten, I experienced an unfamiliar physiological phenomenon called 'fatigue.'
So I closed my eyes, and now I had woken up.
It's still morning.
I wondered for a moment if a whole day had passed, but smoke was still rising from the hearth where I'd put the venison to smoke.
In other words, an hour or two had passed at most.
Even so, my whole body feels refreshed.
It is a moment where I feel genuinely grateful from the bottom of my heart that I became human again.
The boundless emotion washing over me thanks to the little guy waking up before me to say hello is an added bonus.
My precious little friend, which had kept dangling around and bothering me...
After ten years, the little guy finally made his presence known.
That's what I'm talking about!
Proof that I'm alive!
The biggest change from a single night of training was the fairly heavy energy I could feel in my lower abdomen.
I could feel magic power inside the Core that had formed in my lower abdomen.
The commander said knights called this Mana.
While mages called it magic power.
Names like that don't really matter.
I focused my awareness on my lower abdomen.
To guide the magic power out of my Core and move it up toward my chest.
To be exact, to activate the subspace runes carved into my breastbone.
Among the runes etched into my bones, there were three types of spells I was clearly aware of.
The runes on my breastbone had been the very first ones the mages carved into me so they could use me as a walking storehouse.
GULP—!
I'm a little nervous.
Because I couldn't help wondering if the runes might have vanished when I turned back into a human.
"Oh, oh!"
A bluish light rose around my chest.
In other words, the runes were working properly.
FSSSS—!
But the light, just as it was about to grow brighter, fizzled out.
"..."
The mana I'd built up in my lower abdomen had run dry.
Hoping to open a subspace with barely a single night of training was probably asking for way too much, right?
Still, this showed me it was possible.
I had created a Core—something that supposedly took half a year of training to form—in just a few hours.
I had a rough idea why this had happened to me.
I could figure it out based on the stories the knights used to tell.
Though it was a bit different from what I'd learned directly from the commander, anyway.
They said a knight's training was more effective the younger you started.
Because the older you got, the more impurities built up inside your body, interfering with the flow of mana into your system.
Having crossed over from the Demon Realm, my body had been reconstructed upon entering the Human Realm.
Wouldn't my physical condition be practically no different from a newborn baby's?
"Alright! Now that it's come to this, I'll train until I have enough to open my subspace!"
I deliberately spoke my resolve out loud.
Because they said words carried power.
I hadn't reincarnated, sure, but it was no different from being reborn.
A brand-new lease on life.
All those pipe dreams I had desperately wished for back when I was a skeleton soldier, yet could only ever imagine.
I want to make them a reality.
I'm going to train my mana and become a knight.
For now, that's the first goal!
If I accomplish my goals step by step, won't I eventually reach the dream I once laughed off as 'bullshit'?
Alright, time to begin!
Only training can change my future.
***
Because I had accepted mana so effortlessly at the start, I must have underestimated the training.
Who knew it would take nearly a whole month just to open my subspace!
During that time, I had to go hunting several times, and just as I'd feared, I ended up fighting those Orc bastards several times too.
Calling it a fight when it was a one-sided slaughter is a stretch, though—once I built up mana inside my body, I understood right away.
Just how broken this power really is.
In any case,
Once I got my subspace open, all my preparations for the journey were complete.
Because the expedition had expected a short campaign when heading into the Demon Realm and ended up living there for over ten years, the supplies were a mess, though.
Old as they were, I changed into proper clothes and put on a fresh pair of boots.
They were items the expeditionary army annihilated in the Demon Realm had saved up.
They had set them aside to wear on the day they returned to the Human Realm, so wearing them in their stead gave me a strange feeling.
Since the subspace assigned to me was small, it couldn't hold a large volume of supplies.
So usually, only valuables had been kept inside my subspace.
Things like precious metals obtained in the Demon Realm, or rings and bracelets worn by nobles.
Weapons and food had been stored in there as well, so I pulled all the food out and dumped it on the ground.
I had no need for smoked demonic beast meat anymore.
It was just taking up space for nothing.
Slung with a backpack, I left the cave behind.
To return to my hometown, I first needed to head into the human world.
To a city where people lived together.
Travel.
It was one of the things I had definitely wanted to try if I ever became human again.
Because Commander Silverstone had once told me, 'Travel helps a person grow.'
Ever since entering the Demon Realm in my late teens and becoming a skeleton soldier, my mindset had grown pretty bleak and worn down.
Back then, every single word the commander said had been a huge comfort to me.
Maybe I felt an even closer bond with him because he was from the same Kingdom of Arden and was my lord.
So I had looked forward to it,
Yet the reality of finally traveling—one of the things on my wish list—turned out way worse than I'd imagined.
Walk, eat, train, and sleep.
Other than those four things, there was nothing else to do.
Where on earth in this boring, repetitive routine is there anything that's supposed to help me grow?
Travel really doesn't seem to suit me at all.
It just felt like marching all by myself, so to speak.
Anyway,
Spotting a city in the distance, I quickened my pace in delight.
Ever since forming the Core in my lower abdomen, my body, which had felt so heavy at first, seemed much lighter.
Seeing the city before me brought a wave of relief.
Though hazy in my memory now, the scenery didn't seem to have changed much from the cities I'd visited before crossing into the Demon Realm.
"Halt for a moment. Please show a token that can verify your identity."
When I reached the city gates, a man who looked to be a guard held his palm out toward me.
Since I was wearing the necklace-style military tag I'd kept stored in my subspace.
Back in the Demon Realm, I hadn't worn the military tag around my neck. It had only clattered noisily between my bones and armor.
"I am a soldier of the Kingdom of Arden. I stopped by briefly to pay my respects to a senior soldier who left on the expedition to the Demon Realm."
I took the military tag off my neck and handed it to the guard.
"Is that so. Go on inside. Just please don't cause any commotion."
After checking the back of the military tag, the guard looked me up and down once, snickered, and handed it back.
I'd gotten permission to enter the city, sure, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.
For some reason, the guard's tone rubbed me the wrong way.
I was seventeen when I left on the expedition to the Demon Realm.
While I couldn't gauge the exact date, I had lived in the Demon Realm for ten years or more before coming back.
And some young punk barely twenty years old was snickering and grinning at me like he was dealing with a little kid!
At me, who spent years in agony for the sake of the Human Realm and even slew the Demonic Dragon before coming back!
I'll hold it in for now.
Even if I told him, he wouldn't believe me, and I didn't have any proof that I'd killed the Demonic Dragon anyway.
Well, whatever.
What mattered was that I had finally met other people.
And arriving at a city where people lived together mattered even more.
The 98 things I must do before I die.
It was time to start crossing off, one by one, the list of things I'd desperately wanted to try while living as a skeleton soldier.
Now that I was back in a human body, I had no intention of living a boring life.
"I have no intention of causing a commotion. I haven't lived my life that thoughtlessly."
Taking the military tag back and hanging it around my neck, I answered to put his mind at ease.
"I'll... take your word for it."
I had answered politely enough in my own way, yet the guard gave me a weird look.
This guy really... has a knack for getting on a person's nerves, doesn't he?
Not even wanting to deal with him anymore, I walked into the city.
Behind me, the guard clicked his tongue, muttering, 'Why does he talk like a little old man? Ugh, gives me the creeps.'
"..."
Should I march back over there and beat some sense into him?
No, forget it.
Right now, doing the things I'd imagined and desperately longed for since my days in the Demon Realm comes first.
My temper has mellowed out a lot.
Back in the Demon Realm, I would've sent him flying with a single punch already.
Being looked down on even by ordinary soldiers had been so unbearable back then that I'd lunged at them like a rabid dog.
Though later on, once even the regular soldiers learned how to handle mana, I couldn't even let out a peep anymore.
Now that I've become a complete human again, there's no reason to get worked up over something like that.
Letting the guard's rudeness slide generously, I walked down the street.
People walked by full of life.
This was the atmosphere I wanted.
How great is this!
It's a world apart from the Demon Realm, where we were constantly on edge never knowing when a demonic beast might jump out.
"Oh!"
I found the very first place I needed to stop by.
If I want to do the things on my list, money is a must.
Selling off some items at a general store that doubled as a pawnshop to get some cash came first.
JINGLE—!
"Welco... Hrm! What brings you here?"
A hairy middle-aged man who looked to be in his thirties greeted me warmly, only to drop the polite tone right away.
Seriously, when did we ever meet that he's talking down to me right off the bat?
Still, since I'm the one who needs something here, I'll let it slide.
"I came to sell some..."
Just as I was about to finish my sentence, I froze stiff on the spot.
A mirror on display inside the general store.
In it stood a greenhorn kid in a military uniform with a backpack slung over his shoulders, his eyes wide as saucers.
Wait...
"That's me?"
I raised my right hand and touched my face.
The me in the mirror did the exact same thing.
That face... It was the exact same face I'd had when I first entered the Demon Realm.
Though after crossing into the Human Realm and having my body reconstructed, leaving it neglected for nearly a month had left me with a scruffy beard.
"What are you doing? I asked why you came in here."
The hairy man asked with a sour look on his face.
Annoyance was written all over his expression.
"Ah! I apologize. I came to sell something."
First, I calmed my racing heart and unslung the backpack from my shoulders.
No wonder the guard at the gate had acted so strangely toward me.
It must have been because I looked way too young.
"I came to sell some gold."
Leaving the gemstones aside for now, I planned to unload some gold pieces first.
I had come to sell a portion of the items stored in my subspace.
Even so,
Still unable to believe it, I checked my reflection again in another mirror hanging on the wall for sale.
I have no idea what on earth is going on here.
When I crossed back into the Human Realm, did I turn back into the me from the exact moment the curse was cast?
Yet for that to be true, the runes carved into my bones were still intact, weren't they?
"Hrm! I'll give you 30 gold for it."
"I didn't steal or loot this. Can't you see I'm a soldier?"
I didn't know how the current market price for gold was set, but I pushed back first anyway.
I hate getting stabbed in the back.
"Quite the penny-pincher for a young kid, aren't you? Fine, 32 gold. If you don't like it, try somewhere else."
The hairy shopkeeper stared at me for a moment, then spoke with a sullen face.
He's definitely lowballing me.
Seeing how one corner of his lip is twitching ever so slightly.
Going by the market price I knew (from roughly ten years ago?), it was off by about three or four gold, but I should probably settle for this much.
Frankly, that hairy shopkeeper probably figured there was a good chance I'd stolen the gold lump I brought in anyway.
I'll just write the difference off as a handling(?) fee.
"I have a few questions I'd like to ask, and if you answer them, we have a deal. Don't get any ideas about trying anything by force. I'm no pushover."
I decided to lay down a warning first before getting started.
I casually drew Dark Reaper from the leather belt at my waist.
SHING—!
"Gasp!"
Look at this guy... getting all startled?
Then again, of course he'd be shocked.
Seeing a young soldier who looked like an easy mark form a 'Mana Blade' like it was nothing would startle anyone.
A Mana Blade of my level was an ability that basically marked you as a full-fledged knight, after all.
"What do you say? Do we have a deal?"
I deliberately lowered my voice.
I could see the hairy shopkeeper weighing his options right in his eyes.
"Fine. What do you want to know?"
As if he'd brushed aside his hesitation, he counted out the gold coins with an unburdened look on his face and asked.
Judging by how he was counting the money, he'd definitely dropped any thoughts of trying something funny with me.
That was the exact reason I had shown off my Mana Blade on purpose.
Plenty of people in the money-changing business tipped off back-alley thugs on the side.
It was a way of letting him know in advance that I was pretty strong.
Call it a friendly warning that targeting me for no good reason could get him killed?
Now that I'd finished laying the groundwork, it was time to get my questions answered.
"What is today's date? By the Continental Calendar."
"...That's it?"
"..."
What is this guy talking about?
Did he think I was going to ask some grand, earth-shattering question?
I'm asking because I genuinely want to know.
Going by my reflection in the mirror alone, I barely looked any different from before I left for the Demon Realm.
I was sure I'd been in the Demon Realm for over ten years, so wasn't it strange that the body formed when the curse broke looked the exact same as back then?
"Kid, you made me nervous for nothing. It's May 10th, Year 981 of the Continental Calendar. Satisfied?"
Looking relieved, the hairy shopkeeper put the lump of gold away and slid a pouch of gold coins across the counter toward me.
"...Thank you."
As I picked up the pouch, my mind went blank.
What? Year 981 of the Continental Calendar?
I went through hell in the Demon Realm for ten years, and barely over a year has passed in the human world?
That's all?
Wait, isn't this amazing?!
My pipe dream of trying every single thing I ever wanted might not end as just a pipe dream after all.
It's time to get started in earnest.
My—'Bellun Thomas's'—personal training plan!