“Argh!”
“Are you all right?”
What is this?
I was lying comfortably in bed, but now I’m suddenly standing on the ground with both feet.
It happened so quickly that I nearly lost my balance and fell.
I pinched my cheek.
“Ow!”
“What is wrong? Is there something on your face? Shall I take a look?”
“Huh? Ah, no.”
It isn’t a dream.
“Is that so? Then shall I continue my report?”
Her face was hard to see beneath her hooded robe, but the person before me was definitely a woman.
The long red hair spilling from beneath her robe made that clear, but more than anything, her voice was feminine.
If she was reporting to me, did that make me her superior?
“Wait.”
I needed to assess the situation.
It was broad daylight, and I was in an alley. There were buildings beside me... They looked like something straight out of a medieval fantasy.
Come to think of it, my head felt stifled. Was I wearing a hooded robe too?
Shhk.
“If you take that off—!”
“Why? It’s suffocating.”
“That may be so, but...”
“You should take yours off too. You look stifled.”
“...If that is your command.”
When she pulled back her hooded robe, the woman’s face was revealed. Her cheeks were pale enough to look bloodless, and a uniquely shaped scar marked one of them.
‘That scar... Is this woman Saya?’
There was no doubt about it. Just as the novel had described. She was Hess’s lieutenant.
“Saya?”
“Yes, what is it?”
Then that meant—
“It feels like something broke out on my face. Do you have a mirror?”
“Yes, here.”
Reflected in the mirror Saya took out was a handsome man with silver hair and violet eyes.
‘Hess!’
Did I do it? Am I really going to live as the strongest in the world?!
Sniff.
“Are you crying?”
“No. I must have pinched myself too hard earlier. My eyes are watering.”
You must have pitied my life and bestowed a new one upon me.... Sniff.
“Nothing appears to have broken out on your face.”
“Hmm. You’re right. It felt like the skin beneath my eye was twitching. Maybe I’m deficient in magnesium.”
“Mag... Pardon? What did you say?”
It seemed Hess had been meeting Saya in secret, away from prying eyes.
Wait... Saya was still alive? What point in the timeline was this?
“Anyway, continue your report.”
“Yes. The ring’s crafting has been completed, so I brought it.”
Saya held out a gold ring. There were no patterns on the outside, but what looked like an inscription had been carved into the inside.
‘It’s the beginning of the novel?’
Hess, who appeared from Part Two onward, was already wearing the Ring of Dantalion at that point.
But he was only getting the ring now. That meant this was Part One. It felt like this was right at the beginning.
‘Tch, this just got a little more troublesome. It would’ve been better if it were after the ending. It’ll take some time to become the strongest in the world.’
Still, it wasn’t bad.
Hess, the second-in-command of the Dark Order, the guild that ruled the underworld, was a formidable presence from the novel’s beginning to its end.
As long as things followed the predetermined ending, everyone who could threaten Hess would disappear.
Then the world would be mine.
Well, Lloyd would take care of the story’s progression on his own.
“That concludes my report. The new hideout will require a little more time. I will meet you again at midnight and guide you there.”
“Fine.”
“Then I will see you at the next meeting place you designated.”
...Where was that?
“No. We’ll meet here again.”
“Pardon?”
“We’ll meet here again.”
“Ah... Then I will see you at midnight. But should we not change the meeting place, at least?”
“Do you object?”
“No.”
Saya gave a small bow, pulled her hooded robe back over her head, and left the alley.
‘Saya obeys Hess’s words too well. That’s the problem.’
She never doubted anything Hess said.
Anyway, where was this place? I should look around. But—
‘I can’t walk around in the infamous Hess’s appearance.’
As described in the novel, he put the Ring of Dantalion on the index finger of his right hand. Then, when he gently rubbed it with his thumb,
Whooosh—
Hess’s appearance completely changed.
‘Even without a mirror, I know exactly what I look like. The appearances this ring lets me transform into are fixed.’
With Hess’s conspicuous appearance, he could not walk around freely in broad daylight. That was probably why he had been wearing a hooded robe.
But with this ring, Hess could pretend to be someone else as much as he wanted.
‘A retired adventurer named Henrik.’
Hess had been able to act as the mastermind in Part Two because of this false identity, Henrik.
***
After leaving the alley, he walked aimlessly toward the sounds of people until he soon came upon a market.
Countless extras whose names had never appeared even once were all living their own lives.
Most of the goods sold at the market were unfamiliar, but now and then, he saw something he recognized.
‘Meat!’
There was heaps of meat whose smell alone was familiar. If I bit into it, it would probably taste just as I remembered.
‘It’s not as though I came out without any money.’
When he slid his hand inside his robe, he felt another layer of cloth.
After feeling around, he found a pocket.
Jingle.
‘Heavy—’
He could guess what it was from touch alone.
There were quite a lot of coins. They were so heavy that at first, he thought he was carrying around a lump of metal.
When he took one out, the gold coin gleamed with an elegant pattern carved into it.
‘I don’t know how much it’s worth, but this much should be enough to eat and lounge around for a day, right?’
Saya said she would guide him to the hideout at midnight. Once he got there, he could order his subordinates around and live an easy life.
‘Heh, it’ll be hard to wait until tonight!’
A shabby street stall assaulted his nose with the rich smell of meat.
Unidentifiable cuts of meat dripped juices as they sizzled to a golden brown.
‘Unlike Hess, Henrik is someone who knows manners. Be polite.’
He relaxed his expression and flashed a smile.
“One piece of this, please.”
He must have spent so long with a hardened expression that the corners of his mouth trembled as they lifted.
“Yes, sir! Coming right up!”
As he watched the merchant slice and pack the meat, he fiddled with the gold coin in his hand.
‘How much could it cost?’
“Here you are, sir!”
“Thank you. Please take this.”
“Yes, yes! Tha... A gold coin?”
What was wrong? Couldn’t I use this?
“Do you have anything besides gold coins, sir?”
He discreetly pulled back his robe and looked into his pocket. There were only identical gold coins.
“Can’t I use these?”
“No! That isn’t it! Just a moment, please!”
The merchant rushed inside, and it took quite some time before he returned.
He held a sack in his hand.
“We do not often get customers paying with gold coins! It took some time to take out the silver and copper coins. Here is your change!”
...That was rather a lot of change.
When he lifted it slightly, it was quite heavy.
He looked into his pocket again and estimated the number of gold coins he had.
‘There are at least thirty.’
And this would not be all. There would be far more piled up at the hideout.
No, it would not matter even if there was no money at the hideout.
After all, I’m Hess. Sending subordinates out to bring back money would be nothing.
There was no point taking the change only for it to weigh him down.
‘...But suddenly being rich, it somehow doesn’t feel real.’
His poor life in reality came to mind. In other words, his entire life came to mind.
After that, even though he had become the mighty Hess, the change that would probably become dead weight felt precious to him.
‘Should I just take it and lug it all around? There’s nothing wrong with being thrifty, right?’
That was when he noticed the merchant’s weathered face.
‘...Come to think of it, what I need right now isn’t meat or change.’
Information.
“Keep the change. It’s yours.”
“Pardon...? S-Sir?”
“I have a condition in exchange.”
The merchant stared at the sack of change for a moment before speaking.
“Please, tell me.”
“This is my first time here. If I come with questions about this area when I need to know something, could I get information from you?”
The merchant thumped his chest with a fist.
“You came to the right person! I was born and raised around here. Come by anytime!”
Henrik smiled lightly and left.
A moment later, a man’s voice rang out behind him, calling for his wife and cheering as he held the bag of money.
‘Even if you have a lot of money, what matters is how you use it.’
The moment he thought that, a figure with an unusual appearance caught his eye.
A beggar who looked far removed from money.
The beggar was visibly frail and filthy. As though he had not eaten anything, he shuffled along while staring only at the ground.
‘A beggar among all these extras scattered around without any real purpose. The lowest of the low.’
Clatter, clatter.
A carriage raced toward him from the opposite direction.
Its luxurious exterior was obvious even from a distance. It made a perfect contrast with the beggar.
‘How strange. It’s my first time seeing a real moving carriage. It’s going faster than I expected.’
But something was off about the coachman.
His movements looked frantic. Before long, the horses whinnied as though they had gone mad.
Neighhh!
‘Did something happen?’
The closer the carriage came, the faster it seemed to be moving.
Though he had never seen anything like it before, a powerful instinct told him that its speed was not normal.
“What is that?!”
“Watch out!”
The people in the carriage’s path hurriedly got out of the way.
The horses continued to run wild.
Before long, both the carriage and the beggar were in his field of vision.
Clatter, clatter.
The beggar, who staggered along while staring only at the ground, was completely unaware of the carriage.
Then,
‘...The beggar is glowing?’
It had only been for a moment, but he had seen a faint light coming from the beggar.
He wondered if he had seen it wrong, but there was no doubt.
‘There’s something about that beggar.’
Clatter, clatter.
‘At this rate, he’s going to get hit by the carriage.’
At that moment, every muscle in his body rapidly contracted.
‘This feeling... I’m light?’
As his muscles contracted, immense pressure built up within them, yet at the same time, he felt as light as though he could fly away.
He felt an inhuman athletic instinct, as though he could cover ten meters with ease in a single step.
‘I can do this, can’t I?’
Tap-tap!
Just two steps. That was all it took to reach the beggar who had been far away.
“What are your eyes for, you beggar?!”
He grabbed the beggar and dove with him, and the runaway carriage barely grazed past them.
‘Whoa, this is...!’
These reflexes were incredible. Was this really my body? I was overflowing with strength, yet I felt unbelievably light.
So what was with this glowing beggar? Was he some special NPC?
“Ugh, the smell... Hey, are you alive?”
The beggar had not made a sound while falling in his arms.
His body truly had no strength at all. If the carriage had hit him, the beggar might have died.
“......”
He was blinking, so he had not died... But in this state, was he any different from dead?
“Watch where you’re going. If it hadn’t been for me... Huh?”
Wait, could this be...?
[Lloyd]
[Level 1]
...A status window? This beggar is Lloyd?
At that moment, the opening of the novel came to mind.
― Lloyd was run over by the carriage. But that too was fate. The person who stepped down from the carriage, which came to a stop only after striking Lloyd, was a benefactor. ―
‘Lloyd’s future master is riding in that carriage.’
It really was just the beginning.
“...Move.”
Lloyd muttered in a voice barely above a whisper before getting to his feet.
He had gotten thoroughly covered in dirt during the rescue, but he had already been so dirty that it did not make much difference.
As though he knew that himself, he did not even brush off his clothes and simply began walking in the direction he had been going.
‘...This won’t do.’
The person in the carriage takes the dying Lloyd to his estate to save him. No, he has to take him.
There, Lloyd barely survives and learns swordsmanship from his benefactor. That is how the story is supposed to begin.
Clatter, clatter.
“Whoa!”
“Watch it!”
The carriage was still running wild.
‘It’s still okay. I just need to bring the two of them together, right? I can do that.’
Then,
As the carriage entered an intersection, another carriage appeared from its side.
CRASH—!
The horses of the newly arrived carriage slammed head-on into the passenger compartment carrying Lloyd’s benefactor.
Murmur, murmur.
Soon, the people nearby rushed toward the accident scene one by one.
‘...No. People don’t die that easily.’
When he hurried over, a man was lying on the ground, bleeding.
There was so much blood that at first, he thought the coachman or someone else had been injured too, but the only one who had fallen was the man.
The clothes he wore, bearing distinctive adornments, were being soaked in blood.
‘...That’s the adornment.’
There was no doubt. It was him. And—
He was definitely dead.
‘...I’m fucked.’