Chapter 2 - The Incompetent
Swaaaaaa—
The rain pouring fiercely from the sky soaked my body cold. I
'm cold.
I'm hungry.
I'm in pain.
Leaving such trivial feelings behind, I dragged my heavy body onward.
I just kept moving forward.
…How long did I walk like that?
"Lael! Lael!"
A welcome voice called from the distance.
The people who, no matter who I was or what kind of person I was, always showed me unconditional love.
My parents.
But in this moment, I resented them more than anyone.
"Lael! Are you alright?! Where did you go! Mom was so worri…."
My mother embraced me tightly, showing tears.
It was warm.
"You… what happened to your face!"
Just then, my mother saw the wounds on my face and cried out in surprise.
She unconsciously tried to raise a hand to my face, but as if remembering something, she dropped her head and pulled her hand back.
I knew the meaning of that gesture.
It was because healing magic didn't work on me.
Because my body couldn't accept mana.
"It's okay now. It's okay. Let's just go inside, the rain is too…"
My mother pulled weakly at my shoulder.
But I didn't move.
There was something I absolutely had to ask.
"Mom."
I carefully opened my mouth.
I asked the question I had wanted to ask countless times but had never once uttered.
"Why did you give birth to me like this?"
"…Huh?"
"Why do I have no mana… why can't I use even that simple basic magic?"
"Lael, that's…"
"Why me! Why… why am I so powerless…?"
"..."
"…Tell me."
Swaaaaaa—
As if representing my heart, the rain fell even harder.
To the point where I couldn't tell if what was streaming down my cheeks were tears or raindrops.
"…I'm sorry."
What followed shortly after was my father's brief apology.
"…I'm sorry."
Next, my mother also apologized while holding me in her arms.
She begged for my forgiveness.
I shook my head and answered them with trembling lips.
"No… that's not what I wanted…"
In truth, I know.
I know my parents did nothing wrong.
In a world where magic is everything, who would have wanted to give birth to a child with no mana?
But I was born this way.
In a body with no mana.
In a body that could not accept mana.
As a useless existence.
I was born.
"I was just…"
Frustrated.
With myself for being able to do nothing.
With myself for being unable to even resist when kids younger than me would hit me and take my things.
With myself for not trying to become strong, for not even being able to try.
And even with the fact that my existence was blocking my parents' path forward.
I was frustrated by it all.
"Lael! Lael…! Lae—"
It's cold.
My consciousness grows distant.
On days like this, I sometimes have a dream.
A dream where I become stronger than anyone else in the world.
In the dream, I use a mysterious power that isn't mana, and I fight using a peculiar tool that isn't magic.
I know that it's just a dream, but the dream is so vivid that I am mistaken every time.
That maybe, the real me could also become this strong.
But a dream is just a dream.
When I open my eyes, what greets me is a cold reality.
Even so, I have the same dream every time.
I wish for the same dream.
That one day, such a day will come.
That it wasn't just a dream.
"Heok…!"
I shot up with a start.
My whole body is damp, drenched in a cold sweat.
"Wha-what is this place…"
I quickly scanned my surroundings.
A bookshelf with about ten books on each shelf, a beige desk and chair, a clothes hanger with dozens of men's clothes on it, and a full-length mirror next to it.
Finally, the soft bed I was sitting on.
"Whose room is this?"
Judging by the size of the room and the items, the owner is a male in his teens.
But I was supposed to be dead, wasn't I?
In front of three Archmages, at that.
"How am I alive… Ugh…!"
In that moment, a headache so strong it made my mind reel struck me.
At the same time, an unfamiliar memory began to flow into my head.
"Keuk… what is all this…"
Lael Peron.
The memory of a child with that name.
Why is someone else's memory suddenly flowing into my…
"No, this is…"
It's not someone else's memory.
Lael's memory, which is to say…
"It's me."
It's my memory.
"I am Lael, no, I wasn't Lael… but this is…"
It's confusing.
A feeling like my brain is being scrambled haphazardly.
Just then, the full-length mirror nearby caught my eye.
As if possessed, I approached the mirror.
"..."
Black hair and black eyes.
A youthful face and a skinny body.
Reflected in the mirror was not the Sword Master Luke Erwell, but the 15-year-old boy, Lael Peron.
Only then did I realize what had happened to me.
"So all of it… wasn't a dream."
The dreams Lael had weren't fantasies, but memories of a past life.
In other words, I have been reincarnated as Lael Peron.
"Ugh…"
However, a significant portion of my post-reincarnation memories were still missing.
It felt as if the memories of my past life were being overwritten on top of my current life's memories.
Jjaenggeurang—!
Just then, along with the sound of something shattering, I heard a familiar woman's voice.
"Lael!"
I turned my head in the direction of the sound.
There was a woman running toward me with a relieved expression.
"...Thank goodness."
She hugged me tightly.
"I was so worried you wouldn't wake up…"
At her tearful voice, I felt a lump in my throat without realizing it.
I carefully spoke to her.
"I'm sorry, Mother."
It seems that the memories from after my reincarnation come to mind as soon as a trigger is met.
Elia Peron.
The moment I saw her, the memories concerning my mother came back immediately.
At this rate, it felt like I'd be able to regain all my post-reincarnation memories soon enough.
"You suddenly collapsed and didn't wake up for three days… Mom thought something was really going to happen to you…"
"I'm sorry for worrying you. I'm okay now."
"A-are you sure? Is there anywhere you feel uncomfortable?"
Elia asked, checking me over. I waved my arms around as if to reassure her and replied.
"Yes, I'm perfectly fine. But I am a little hungry…"
"Oh my! Of course, you are. Just wait a moment! I happened to have made some beef stew, your favorite."
She said so, then gave me a light kiss on my forehead and quickly left the room.
"Beef stew, huh."
In the past, too, if I were to pick my favorite food, beef stew would probably be the first on the list.
It seems some things haven't changed, even though I've been reborn.
Although, of course, far more has changed.
"…Hah, 300 years."
I turned my gaze to the calendar.
A hollow laugh escaped me automatically.
Today is August 21st, year 102 of the Divine Calendar.
Exactly 301 years have passed since my death.
And in that time, the world has changed greatly.
Just as those Archmages who killed me wished.
"So the final attack failed in the end."
Even in Lael's memories, the familiar names of those three remained, albeit faintly.
Aslan, Mel, and Sacnil.
Aslan had become the emperor who rules the entire continent, Mel was called the Saintess, and Sacnil, the Transcendent.
In other words, all three of them were still alive.
"They must have created some kind of magic to halt their aging."
It has been 300 years.
A human lifespan is barely 100 years, so it wouldn't make sense otherwise.
"Those bastards…"
As I thought of their faces, a strong anger surged from within my chest.
For the world they wanted to have come to pass meant the death of all swordsmen.
And for that to be possible…
"What the hell do they think humans are!"
I slammed a fist, clenched so tight it could draw blood, onto my thigh.
If they had seen humans as humans, or at least felt they were fellow living beings.
A great massacre targeting half of humanity would never have occurred.
Grit—
To them, that massacre must have been no different from cleaning up trash.
If those bastards had even a shred of conscience, they wouldn't be able to live so shamelessly with their heads held high as they do now.
"..."
However, the reason I am this angry isn't only because of them.
No matter how vicious those humans were.
I had a chance to stop them, and I failed.
The cause is clear.
'If only I had been a little stronger…'
After reaching the level of a Sword Master, I stopped trying to become stronger.
Even though I could have become stronger, I didn't.
It was because I deluded myself into thinking that since I had become the strongest on the continent, that would be enough to protect my precious ones.
In the end, it was my complacency that led to my family, my city, and my swordsmanship disappearing from the world.
"Hoo…"
Dozens, no, hundreds of regrets washed over me.
If only I hadn't been born into a great magic house.
If only I hadn't had more mana than others.
If only I had picked up the sword a little sooner.
If only I had loved the sword more.
A world like this would not have come to be.
"Lael?"
Just then, the voice of a man suddenly broke my thoughts.
I turned my head to where the voice came from.
Standing there was my father, Lian Peron, holding a bowl of beef stew.
My father quickly put the food down and came to me.
"Are you alright? You don't look very well."
At Lian's words, I belatedly came to my senses.
I hadn't even realized my hands and feet were trembling, so intense were my emotions.
I took a deep breath to calm myself, then smiled to reassure my father.
"I'm okay. I had a nightmare before I woke up, I think it's because of that."
"I see. …If it's a nightmare, was it the same dream you talked about before?"
"Ah, yes… that's right."
I nodded.
He wouldn't know that it was about a past life anyway.
"Hmm…"
But Lian's reaction was a bit strange.
He looked too serious for a father simply worried about his son's nightmare.
Lian mulled it over for a long while, then finally stroked my head and opened his mouth.
"…You know, son. As long as our Lael is healthy, that alone makes me happy. Even if your body has no mana, we will always…"
"W-wait a minute. What did you just say?"
Did I hear him wrong?
I thought he said my body has no mana.
No, that can't be right.
A person with no mana in their body.
Even in the past, I had never heard or seen of such a person.
"Your mom and I will always love you."
"No, before that."
"…I'm sorry."
"Did you say… my body has no mana?"
My father couldn't give an answer.
It was as if a feeling of guilt was crushing him.
I immediately closed my eyes and focused my mind. It's my body, so I should be able to tell if there's mana or not just by checking.
"…No way."
And the result was truly surprising.
Nothing.
Not a single speck of mana existed in this body.
…Which means.
"Lael? What's wrong?"
"No. It's nothing."
I can utilize 100 percent of my Aura.
My past self could only utilize 10 percent of his Aura.
In other words, I can become 10 times stronger than in the past.
And if that happens.
'This time, I won't let them take anything from me.'
I will no longer be complacent. I
will no longer be powerless.
And thus, everything that is precious to me.
"Father, may I be alone for a moment?"
I will not lose them again.