Part 1
I fell out of the bed. My body is sweaty and I feel sick.
“Ha, ha, ha. That dream again.”
It’s a dream where I become a Hero and fight against the Demon Lord. I don’t know how many times I’ve had that dream.
I know who I am very well. Just a villager, nothing more nothing less.
“Is the sun already rising?”
I looked out the window and saw that it was dawn. Just the right time to get up and head to work.
I change from my sleepwear into my normal clothes. I take a bite out of an apple, that’s my breakfast.
I put on a large basket on my back and also get my work tools. With this, I’m ready to begin another day.
“I’m going, dad, mom.”
No reply comes, not that I expected any. My parents are already dead, they were attacked by monsters. This is just an old habit.
Part 2
I head outside the house.
The village I live in is fairly large and is divided into three areas: the commercial area, the residential area and the agricultural area.
The residential area is surrounded by waterways and full of greenery. From there, I make my way to the agricultural area.
I make my living as an apple farmer.
My parents died and I’m all alone now, but I manage to survive thanks to the house and apple orchard my parents left me.
I reached the orchard.
“The harvest is finally here.”
I smile at the apples. They’re quite good looking, it looks like it’ll be a good harvest.
I climb on the tree and start putting the red apples on my basket one after the other.
I hear a voice inside me.
Is it okay if I stay like this?
Isn’t there something else I should be doing?
Is it alright to not become stronger?
“I’m being too hasty. I haven’t even gotten my class yet.”
Once humans reach 14 years, they awaken to their class. Depending on the class, various parameters are strengthened. If you don’t have a fighting class, then you can’t fight properly. And skills are also granted depending on the class.
For example, if you are a Swordsman, you can learn sword skills and easily increase your proficiency. On the other hand, if you’re a Magician, you can’t fight with a sword.
Sure, you can pick up a sword and swing it around, but you’ll never be as good as someone with the right skills. You’ll also be missing points in physical attacks and stuff like that.
There’s still 7 days until my fourteenth birthday.
I’ve decided that, if I happen to get a good class, then I’ll leave the village and go on an adventure.
Right now is the time for harvest, the time to turn fruits into gold. I won’t have money troubles when I go on my adventure.
With that small hope in my heart, I continued harvesting apples.
Part 3
By the time I finished my harvest, the sun had begun to set. Just as I decided to go home, I heard a scream.
Could it be?!
I hurriedly run to the source of the scream. I reach a field of wheat.
On that field, I see something that shouldn’t be there. A wild boar monster with short legs and a stone shell was attacking the villagers.
“A monster?! Did it pass the defensive walls?”
The villagers are just normal farmers, their classes aren’t combat focused, so there was no way to take care of that monster. I’m also a farmer, but I don’t even have a class, so I can’t fight either.
After a while, the guards should come and deal with the monster. But…
“Anna-san!”
I saw a familiar face. She’s the woman who took care of me after my parents died. She doesn’t have any children of her own, but she and her husband took care of me as if I was their own child.
Anna-san stumbled and failed to escape. At this rate, she’ll be killed before the guards arrive.
But, even if I go, nothing will change. Far from a combat class, I don’t even have a class.
That’s wrong. Why are you afraid of a monster of that level? I know that type of monster. Knowledge is also a weapon, status isn’t everything.
The voice in my head seemed stronger than usual. By the time I noticed it, I was already
Somehow, I know that monster.
That monster isn’t a boar. It’s a Rock Maul. It’s a mole kind of monster.
That’s how it was able to pass the walls, it dug under them.
But it has a fatal weakness.
Its eyes have deteriorated and it can barely see. It relies on the Eimer organ at the top of its nose to find prey. It detects the vibrations transmitted on the ground.
It’s only weakness is that organ, which isn’t covered by any rocks. It probably can’t do its job if it’s covered by rocks.
It’s right there for everyone to see. Even the powerless me can damage it.
“Haaaaaaaa!”
I sprint and jump. It feels the vibrations coming from the ground. That means it can’t detect me in the air.
I landed and grabbed onto the neck of the giant stone boar, or rather the stone mole. He didn’t notice it until it was too late.
I stabbed my knife at the Eimer organ on its nose, the weak point not covered by rocks.
“Kyuiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!”
The stone mole goes on a rampage and I’m easily shaken off. I stare at its nose.
With my current status I can’t even kill it, only hurt it. If I can’t kill it by sticking a knife into its weak point with all my strength, then there’s just nothing I can do.
It’s frustrating. I bite my own teeth.
What’s your objective? Why are you trying to kill it when you’re supposed to be helping her?
Hearing the voice in my head, I come back to my senses. I rush to Anna-san’s side, help her up and leave the place with her.
The stone mole is violently rampaging, but it doesn’t sense either me or Anna-san.
“Keyaru-kun, thank you. But is it okay to anger that monster?”
“It’s okay. He can’t sense anything anymore.”
It only has one sensory organ, and it’s damaged. That’s enough for my objective of saving Anna-san. My goal was never to beat it. I’ll leave the rest for the guards to take care of.
Part 4
After a while, the guards showed up and defeated the stone mole.
Everyone praised me for helping Anna-san, and then scolded me for being reckless.
“Ever since you were little, you said you wanted to become a hero and save everyone. If it’s Keyaru, then maybe you really will become a hero.”
Anna-san said that to me after scolding me. She said it while smiling.
Become a hero and save everyone, that was my dream. Ever since my parents were killed by monsters, that’s what I decided to do. That’s why I wanted to become strong, so no one would be sad.
“Oi, Keyaru, weren’t you afraid of such a big monster?”
Ainsu, a big strong man, asked me.
“I wasn’t scared.”
“Oi oi, that’s a problem. Don’t be too reckless.”
When I fought that stone mole, my heart was strangely cold. I don’t think I was reckless, I knew its weakness and took advantage of it.
It should have been the first time I fought a monster like that, but I felt like it was part of my daily life.
Does it have something to do with the dreams I have every night? As I was thinking about that, the voice echoed in my head again.
Become strong, enough to not lose to anyone. I’ll teach you all I know for you to become strong. I remember the experiences of many adventures and sages. Use it all to get stronger even a second faster. Get the spirit eyes. The eye that can see everything in the universe.
What’s this? I never heard the voice so clearly before.
I say goodbye to the villagers surrounding me and leave. Alone, I ran.
“What the hell is this?!”
My legs move naturally, as if guided by something.
I now know that the forest near the village there’s a point of connection with the spirit world. If I can speak the ancient words and perform the ritual, I can get the spirit eye.
Just like with the stone mole, I somehow know this. The best time is in five days, when the stars align. If I miss that, the next time is in 34 years.
Thinking about it with common sense, this voice can only mean I’m going crazy. But somehow, I can’t make myself ignore it. I feel like, if I do, I’ll lose everything.
Being weak is a sin, it has that kind of feeling to it.
Once you get the eye, you’ll remember everything. I can’t afford to repeat it all again. This time, I’ll live a happy life for sure.
I start feeling impatient. I feel like, if I go there and get the spirit eye, I’ll be able to understand everything.
With a few apples on my bag and the clothes on my back, I started running towards a place I shouldn’t have known.
That’s when I realized, I was laughing. I see… I’m looking forward to it then. Then let’s go retrieve the true me.