—–

I looked at the sunrise from the horizon.

It had been around five hours since we finished our work in town. We spent the five hours after killing Allen hunting down the three Aristocrats that conspired with him into this whole ordeal.

We found out a lot about the schemes they had with my family, and it seemed that they were the holders of a special treasure and tons of money, so they wanted to fuck them over and bring them to ruin, which started with taking my life.

Maria, well, my past self, which I don’t remember, actually was a happy-go-lucky Adventure girl. She wasn’t bad, nor was her reputation either. She was also heroic and charismatic, going around town to town after defeating monsters and diving into dungeons with other Adventurers.

She had even become a D-Rank Adventurer and was soon raised into a C-Rank Adventurer. But everything went downhill when one of her party members died in an accident, and another party member blamed Maria for her curse, something only a few knew about as she was born with it.

The guy that blamed her seemed to have been a close aristocrat kid of her childhood… To think that due to him, her death would be orchestrated till the very end. It just feels so bitter knowing I cannot even remember my past. Yet, I am also relieved I don’t remember it, or… I wouldn’t really be the same as I am now.

So many tragedies…

It’s been years since I died, and my family was caught in the aristocrats’ plans and walked right into their hands… My family was assimilated into them, and they got their hands on my family’s enormous wealth and treasure which was said to be something left by the Dark God, a Fragment of Evil which was sealed long ago by Heroes.

Apparently, my family are descendants of heroes… Sheesh.

The last thing they knew about my parents is that both died in an “accident” while traveling to another duchy.

A group of bandits assaulted them and killed them. The corpse of my mother was found violated and disfigured with punches and kicks all over her body. My father had his limbs cut off and was burned alive.

…

Even though I don’t remember them, I can’t help but feel a wave of unquenchable wrath.

Rotten…

Lucifer was right!

All these bastards…

Humans are the worst!

.

.

.

…No.

I can’t generalize… There is always good and bad people in this world.

Well, there are other things I can think about to calm myself.

Such as… it seems that I have a young brother.

I don’t know where he is.

The last thing they knew about him was that his aunt had taken him and moved to another duchy…

My brother’s name was Arthur Belle.

I will find him.

I have to.

I feel responsible for the past Maria, so I have to do this for her.

I cannot let this boy die…

I hope he’s okay…

Ugh.

Oh right, the Fragment of Evil was moved towards the capital of the Kingdom, so if I want to get back the treasure of my family that our ancestors left for us to guard, I will have to wage war against the whole nation.

Fine by me.

And… there was someone else.

A guy. The guy that cried for me when I was executed.

He wasn’t my brother, by the way.

Apparently, he was my closest childhood friend, Jonathan Albraun, who was coincidentally the stepbrother of Allen.

His whereabouts are unknown, but it was said that he mourned my death every day and came to visit my grave regularly…

He used to be a bright man, but after my death, he changed.

He disappeared two years ago; some had said he went to find a way to revive me.

This whole scheme against my family was bigger than I thought.

It didn’t simply involve a group of aristocrats. It even involved the King and the royal family.

All for this damn Fragment of Evil…

You damn bastards…

“I am going to burn this Kingdom to the ground,” I muttered.

Lucifer looked at me expressionlessly.

“Hmph, so you’ve decided,”

“Indeed…”

“Burn! Let’s burn it all!” Partner cries out.

Agh… Let’s calm down for now.

We had already run away from the Duchy and were resting far away, in a very open forest, sitting on a log.

Lucifer, Partner, and Kuro were enjoying roasted Wild Boar, an E-Rank monster we hunted just now.

I gained EXP from slaughtering the other two Aristocrats and eating their souls as well.

I also killed their guards because, on one occasion, they spotted me. But with that and the boar, I had maxed out my level cap again.

Also, there were some confusing things about the System that I didn’t know about. Apparently, you keep your level sometimes after evolving, if the evolution is not strong enough, and other times it goes back to 1.

Kuro’s level went back to 1 after evolving, while Partner had kept her level 10. Now, she was also maxed too and she was about to evolve as well.

Uegh… I feel all bitter and gloomy now, fitting of a ghost…

“*SIGH*…”

“You’re still sad?” asked Lucifer.

“Don’t be sad!” Partner said.

“I-I am fine… I just… Ugh, it is not nice to know so much horrible stuff right away,” I muttered.

“Hm… I understand how you feel. I’ve lost everything as well… But now, this is a new beginning. We have to strive forward, survive, and avenge the fallen… I am sure that if their souls were intact, that they must have been cleansed of their memories and reincarnated through the wheel of reincarnation… Let us pray for their second lives to be better than their previous ones,” Lucifer tried to comfort me.

“Pray?”

“We all follow a god or pray to them in this world. Praying to Hel, the Goddess of Death, is often a good way to ask for the souls of the fallen to have better reincarnations,”

“I see… I hope they can be okay… wherever they are….”

“I am… sure… they will!” Partner shouted before hugging me.

“Aww… Partner, you’re so sweet! Not like that grumpy dragon that doesn’t hug me!”

“W-Why would I hug you?!” Lucifer shouted.

—–