Chapter 205: Who Am I? Who Are You? This Isn't You.
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"It's right over there, young lord," said a maid, not much older than myself.
I was being led through the grand halls of the Duchy's royal castle by a group of diligent maids. My mind was a whirlwind of thoughts as I walked, barely noticing the opulent surroundings or the hushed whispers of the servants.
– "But who are you?"
Elara's question still echoed in my mind, but I had chosen not to answer directly. Truthfully, I was too shocked by her current state to form a coherent response. I couldn't be direct about my identity after seeing her, plus I had a feeling that she'd have thrown hands if I dared say that, instead of believing me.
Sieran had understood my hesitation from my silence and had stepped in.
– "He is a half-elf, half-human that I've been nurturing," that's what she had said earlier, her voice leaving no room for further question. Elara had merely shrugged her shoulders and invited us inside, seemingly uninterested in pressing the matter further.
Now, I was headed to the baths to clean myself of the dusty golden blood from the battle. The maids led me to a massive indoor royal bath, larger than a football field, where hot water let out steam, creating a serene and inviting atmosphere. It was to be used by esteemed guests who'd visit this castle, I knew it without the maids telling me since it's… my home.
"I'll be fine from here on," I dismissed the maids with a polite nod and began to undress, their bows and murmurs of "Your Grace" fading into the background as I focused on the task at hand.
The bath was a marvel of architecture and luxury, but its beauty only sent me through a spiral of nostalgia rather than enchanting me with its beauty. I had to entertain a few guests here back in the day.
Its marble floors and walls gleamed in the soft light, and intricate mosaics depicted scenes of nature and myth. Reflection from the large pool rustled in the ceiling and walls, which created a scene almost magical. The water was crystal clear, heated to the perfect temperature, and the steam rose in gentle curls, creating an ethereal mist that hung in the air.
I slowly descended into the water, feeling the heat seep into my muscles and wash away the grime and blood of the battle. I let out a sigh as I leaned back against the edge of the pool, closing my eyes and allowing the tension to melt away.
"...How did she change this much?" I murmured, my voice barely above a whisper. My mind drifted back to the past, to a time when Elara had been so different.
Princess of Ruin? What a joke, she was called the Hero Princess because of how bright she was. People often mistook her to be the hero due to how well her Stellar Mana matched my Divine Light Mana back in the day.
-「It can't be said I'm an early bird, It's ten o'clock before I say a word…」
I opened my eyes for a moment, staring at the ceiling where the water's reflection was dancing. I still couldn't see that sneaky Icon that was playing that old song that she and I used to enjoy. I guess all of my girls had a song they liked.
Closing my eyes again, I felt memories flooding in, the lyrics of Too Sweet allowing me some peace of mind. The young princess' laughter rang through the halls, the grand bath hall seemed to ripple for a moment, and my mind found itself lost in million-year-old memories.
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This story's from a long, long time ago. In my very first life, after I got stabbed by my father's broken bottle of alcohol, although I took him down, the blood loss was enough to end my life as well. I closed my eyes believing darkness greeted me, but what greeted me was the slums of the Imperial Capital, Eldrathor.
I had been reborn, my Eternal Saṃsāra started just like that.
Bestowed with the name of Seriphoth, no last name, I grew up in the slums as an orphan who didn't have a known father, and whose mother died at birth. Such stories weren't a rarity in the slums, and honestly, I didn't mind being an orphan, it was much better than having shit parents like my last life.
It helped that I still had a young adult's mind, so while it was hard to fit in a medieval time's slum, I managed. Everyday life was disgusting, but what could I do?
I just waited for an opportunity. To be specific, I was delusional; all the isekai content clouded my mind and made me believe that I must have the luck of a main character to traverse worlds. Only later would I realize that people reincarnate every day, a trillion souls cross worlds, and less than five survive a year. The multiverse, or whatever was beyond, was a shitfest of dangers, and the novice me was too young and gullible to understand any of it.
So when this clearly wealthy girl sneaked out to the capital to enjoy the night's wind, I played with her. In exchange she bought me food, selling the pieces of jewelry she was wearing.
"Is this really okay?"
"Hey, what do you mean!" The little girl covered by a robe, not even 10 from the looks of it, put her arms on her waist. "How can I see my friend tremble from hunger? Besides, your growling stomach is distracting, I can't focus on the game!"
I smiled and giggled at that. We didn't see each other every day, only once every few months, but we could be easily considered childhood friends. Ah, and I didn't even know her name.
One day, when I hadn't seen her for more than a year, quite an odd sight unfolded in the slums. Even for the slums, it was in one of the remote parts. I had to hide myself very carefully to avoid being detected.
In my fifteen years of life in this world, it was the greatest opportunity I'd come across. And I knew I had to take it.
In front of me, a man in robes was pressing down on a girl in robes. I recognized the girl's blonde hair and golden eyes, it was hard to miss.
"Hehe, the Minister did hire me to just kill you… but aren't you too pretty to just kill off? Hehe, Princess Elara?" Clearly, that bastard hired to kill the princess was a low-class assassin, otherwise he'd have focused on killing instead of ripping the princess' clothes in the back alleys.
Some internal conflict was going on in the royal family, and the young princess barely past fifteen was caught in the crossfire. She apparently had a habit of sneaking out of the castle to enjoy the capital's night, and the assassin took advantage of that to ambush her in an alley.
That's when I stepped in, "Damn, I knew you were some rich girl, but the Princess?" I had already met her before, we played sometimes when she covered herself with a robe. When I entered the alleyway, her eyes sparkled in recognition before her face quickly darkened in shame and fear.
"Ser, r-run! He's an assassin, you're no match! O-or call for help- akh!" the assassin punched her in the abdomen to send the air out of her lungs, and turned to me with a glare.
…My initial plan when I first met her was to befriend her and use her to get out of the slums, enroll in a magic or swordsmanship school, and live a good life. But now that I knew she was a princess, my ambitions were a bit higher.
I was certainly delusional, for I wanted the Throne of the Emperor as a rat from the alleys.
"Ugh, annoying rat," the assassin seemed to think the same too, he called me a rat. He took out his knife, about to rush at me and kill me before I could even notice, but I raised my hands before he could get off from the princess.
"M-man, don't attack me! I just want in on the fun… I promise I won't tell anyone. Well you're covering your face anyway," I said, and the princess' worried expression from earlier turned to horror. She looked at me in betrayal, before glaring at me as if I had already done the deed.
She spat at me, and despite there being a considerable distance between us, her spit reached my face. The assassin laughed at it. "What a disgusting fucker, I thought she was your friend? Not surprising since you're a sewer rat."
"Man, I'll help you hold her down, won't it be annoying if she wiggles too much when you… well, you know?" I slowly took a step forward, and the assassin raised a knife at me again. What a low-class bastard, if he's so good he should have just killed her instead of trying to molest her.
"Just keep in mind, I can cut you into a hundred pieces before you can even take a step. So don't try anything foolish," he said, lowering his knife. I put my hands down with a sigh, and slowly approached the princess. I chuckled as I looked at her enraged expression, grabbing her arms and locking them on the side.
"Hehe, good, good, keep her like that."
"You… I thought we were friends…"
I just scoffed at her, reaching out a hand and caressing her face even as she shed tears. She spat at my hand, which amused the assassin. Instead of wasting time, he pulled his pants down and spread the princess' legs.
When he grabbed his disgusting shaft with his hands to position it properly, that's when I made my move. My hand slipped into the dagger hidden in my boots; such a blade was necessary to survive in the slums. The assassin's eyes went wide and he raised his forearms to cover his face, but my target was his disgusting little thing.
When blood splattered across the princess' abdomen, accompanied by the bastard's screech of pain, my knife followed to his throat next. A man in such pain couldn't exert much strength even if he was leagues stronger than me, however, he was still a trained assassin when I was a nobody. His knife slashed across my chest, but not deep enough to kill me. I groaned through the pain and plunged the knife into his throat.
The assassin died a dog's death, Gaia System's message of level-ups greeted my eyes, and I quickly reached out a hand to the shocked princess.
"Elara, are you alright?! Sorry, I had to act-"
A third party interrupted us then, a kick slamming against my waist. I was sent flying and slammed against a wall, feeling multiple rib bones cracking.
"You fucking bastard! Princess are you alright?!" It was her maid, Anoria, the vampire, who rushed to help her.
[Your Health is in a critical state! You're dying!]
[...You have committed a Heroic act in quite an odd fashion. You've earned the Creator's interest.]
"Anoria!" Yet, the princess pushed her away and rushed toward me instead. "He saved my life, you stupid girl! Quickly, take him to a Healer!"
…How lucky the timing was. If this vampire had come just thirty seconds earlier, she'd have found me pressing down on the princess. I'm unsure if she'd have lost against the assassin or not, but the commotion of the fight would have surely alerted others, and I would soon have been branded as a man who tried to molest the princess and would have been executed in public.
Luck was by my side today, even though I was dying with fractured ribs in my lungs.
Next time, I should be more careful with my actions. Still, I was surprised by the princess' attitude. Instead of being worried about herself, that she was almost assaulted, that there were many injuries across her body, she remained a strong-minded woman till the end and chose to help me before herself.
-「I take my whiskey neat, My coffee black and my bed at three…」
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That wasn't the first time we'd met, of course, as mentioned we used to play together when she sneaked out of the castle in her robes. However, that was the first time I learned she was the princess, and so I received benefits worthy of her title.
"For saving my daughter, I shall bestow upon you the title of [Knight]!" Although I didn't have the skills of one, the Emperor ascended me to a Knight position. It wasn't just an empty title either; since thanks to the existence of the Gaia System, receiving that title from the Emperor granted me a whole new [Class].
I was also taken as a trainee soldier for the castle, and over time, my tenacity and the titles of [Reincarnator] and [Traverser] proved helpful. My growth speed was intense, and the princess was very happy seeing me grow. She wasn't allowed to sneak out anymore, so she was happy to have a friend from the outside live in the castle.
However, she had to maintain distance from me since I was not her personal guard, and she had a Fiance so being seen too close to another man could create rumors. Still, we kept a good relationship.
"Compared to the slums, this is heaven."
She had giggled like a proper lady for once when I said that, rather than the tomboyish laugh she usually let out. On top of that, she gave me a warm smile that seemed to melt my heart. "I'm glad you think that way. Enjoy yourself more, you kiddo."
Life was calm, and everything was fine, my progress was smooth. I had a clear path ahead, and although climbing the Emperor's throne seemed quite the impossible task since my delusion had cleared a little, I still hoped for a noble's life a few years down the line.
However, all those dreams came to an end when the Northern Duke, who was also the father of the Princess's Fiance, betrayed the Empire and assassinated the Emperor.
It wasn't a sudden assassination either, he had considerate forces in the palm of his hands, and a thorough plan to overtake the Empire. Everyone supported him when he crowned himself as the Emperor, and to remove any possible resistance he chose to kill the Princess.
But to reach the Princess, his forces had to go through me first.
Against an endless army, I remained the lone knight who protected Elara. She faced my back while I faced the enemies and assassins. We fled the castle with the help of her maid, who led us to an old hideout outside the Empire once owned by her vampire ancestors.
We hid there for how long? We spent years there, and both the Princess and I trained to grow stronger. She was already quite good at using the spear, but she grew even better with the drive of revenge and the desire to regain her empire.
The vampire maid, on the other hand, was having a hard time controlling her urges. She couldn't possibly bite the Princess, so I let her drink my blood instead.
"Erm… h-hey, I think that's enough…"
Turns out the blood of A Traverser was better than anything else she had tasted, as I had traces of dimensional energy in my veins. We almost crossed the line, but the presence of the princess who was watching us made us hold back our carnal desires.
In this place, the three of us got quite close, although nothing physical happened between us since the maid didn't want to steal someone who her lady liked, and the Princess didn't want to get distracted from her goal. She was a very strong woman, in both body and spirit.
Oh and, I hadn't yet been chosen as the Hero.
That happened when the three of us had to flee the hideout.
"Stay… stay back!"
The empire's knights found us and we had no choice but to run for our lives. It was hard to do so, however, as one of the knights was the Demon King's spy who was trying to rise through the rankings fast. Capturing the princess would have granted him just that and despite all of our efforts, we were easily outnumbered and defeated.
"Fuck…"
Yet the willpower of a man protecting two ladies was stronger than I realized. A town of innocents burned behind me caught up in the crossfire between us three and these Knights. I knew I had to win for their sake, otherwise, the few who were alive would also be killed to stop the news from spreading.
So I stood with my body broken, standing before the two subdued ladies like a fortress, and my sheer willpower cut through the enemies.
The battle raged for hours, and yet I didn't fall. The demon's underling was harder to battle, however, his sword almost ended me a hundred times. At one such time, when I was sure my luck had run out, a brilliant rainbow exploded down upon me from the heavens.
[Goddess Galaxara is looking at you.]
The world paused, graying out, and a series of system messages greeted me.
[O' my child, your unbreakable will, tenacity, and your limitless desire to protect the weak has reached my heart.]
[Will you be my Hero and save the world?]
Such an offer when I was in a desperate situation, just about to die? My answer was easy. With the Hero's power, I saved the day, and then I saved the Kingdom.
We crowned the Princess' illegitimate brother as the Emperor due to his bright and righteous character. It was not a bad decision, but I was a little bummed since I wanted to be the Emperor by marrying the Princess. Sadly, the Princess who went through a series of life-and-death journeys didn't want to become the Empress. She had only pursued revenge, and now that she succeeded in it, she wanted to save the world with me rather than rule the Empire.
So as per her wish and the Goddess' will, we went on a journey to save the world, starting up the [Hero's Party].
To this day, I have those times engraved in my memories as clear as crystals.
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Author Note: Since Rank goals aren't really working, we'll try a vote goal instead. We're at 711 Powerstones right now. If we reach 1000 in 24 hours, I'll post 2 chapters tomorrow. Let's go!
[711/1000] Powerstones.
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