I watched her leave, and then looked at the book in my hand, an adventure story about a young alchemist who journeyed across a dangerous land to gather the ingredients he needed to cure his wife. I remembered reading this one. It was also one of the few romance stories that she liked.
Regardless of whether this was a dream, a hallucination, an illusion, or whatever afterlife awaited humanity, I decided to do as Ms. Nadine told me. I found the shelf where this book went and placed it in its proper spot. Then I went to the counter where several other books were stacked. I studied them one by one, pulling the memory I had of them from my head, and then placing them where they belonged. It was almost frightening how quickly my memory was coming back to me.
And while I did this mundane task, I created a theory on what could have happened to me.
When I fought against the Great Overlord of the Seventh Realm, our final attack had caused spatial distortions to appear around us. Spatial distortions were created when a technique was so powerful it caused tears in reality; it warped reality in a way. During those last few seconds, I specifically remember the Great Overlord of the Seventh Realm bringing down a massive sword composed of the darkness element, which I had met with my fist containing light, lightning, and water compressed together. The world had gone black and I woke up in my old room back in Nevaria immediately thereafter.
I think what happened was the spatial distortions from our clash had warped the fabrics of reality and sent me back in time. Granted, there was also a chance of it being one of the former possibilities I had already mentioned, but I think this one was more plausible. No, maybe it wasn’t. However, I wanted more than anything to believe that I’d gone back in time.
Because if I really did get sent back to the past, then it meant she was still alive.
As I thought about her, an almost irresistible urge swept over me to find that woman, sweep her off her feet, kiss her senseless, and then make love to her under the moonlight. The desire to do just that was nearly overpowering. In fact, before I even realized what was happening, my body was moving toward the door. It took everything I had to stop myself. I closed my eyes, took several deep breaths, and shook my head.
Idiot. You can’t go see her now. Not when you are like this. Besides, she often frequented the library back then. If this was the past, then we were bound to run into each other at some point.
After I finished putting all the books away, I went behind the counter, sat in the chair, and pulled out a quill, some ink, and a sheet of parchment from a drawer. I quickly scribbled on it:
Goals now that I have gone back in time:
1.Save Nevaria from the Demon Beast Invasion.
2.Meet Kari.
3. Marry Kari. We never did get married officially in my previous life.
4. Give birth to Kayli.
5. Defeat the Great Overlord of the Seventh Realm.
I frowned as I stared at my list of things to do. It was an admittedly simple list. However, not all of it would be easy to accomplish.
The first one and last one would be particularly tough. From what I remember, the Demon Beast Invasion happened when I turned twenty, and from what I saw in my mirror after waking up, I was currently 17 years old, or thereabouts. This meant I had three years maximum to prepare. That was a lot of time, but there was one little problem that kept me from feeling good about this goal.
I wasn’t sure how to prepare for this.
I suppose the first thing I should do was figure out how strong I was. I’d gone back in time after being injured in a great battle. Did I still possess the same strength I had before? My physical prowess definitely wasn’t up to snuff given how scrawny I looked in the mirror, but what about my strength as a spiritualist? I would need to figure out how strong I was before I could do anything.
As for number two… I wasn’t actually sure I needed to do anything yet. Much as I wanted to rush over to her and proclaim my undying love, I was at least aware enough to know that wouldn’t be received well. She probably didn’t even know I existed right now.
The thought caused an ache to appear in my chest.
Because I had arrived late for my shift, I stayed until it was time to close the library, which was right around the time the sun began going down. The sky was painted in hues of oranges and reds as I wandered the street. I wasn’t traveling to my room, however, but was instead traveling further out.
Nevaria was a city state. I didn’t know how big this place was because I’d never bothered figuring that out before, but Nevaria was made up of several sections. There was the city section. This could be considered the inner part of Nevaria, where most of the population lived. Once someone traveled outside of the city gates, they would be met with large plots of farmland and open plains—at least, if they traveled east.
I was traveling north.
Using the memories I vaguely recalled, I headed up north. As I moved, I glanced at the large mountain located in the center of Nevaria. It was more of a hill than a mountain, though it was far larger than any normal hill. It looked like someone had found a small mountain, sliced a good portion of the top off, and then created a villa on the newly created flat surface. The building located atop this mountain, surrounded by a large stone wall, was the Imperial Royal Palace where the Astralia Royal Family resided.
“Kari…” I mumbled softly as once more the desire to see her overcame me. I resisted by turning away. “Please wait for me.”
Nevaria was surrounded by a large fortification. The rampart was made mostly of stone, and it towered over me by a good twenty meters at least. As I closed in, I could see several soldiers patrolling the top, while a pair of guards stood before either side of a massive gate, which, fortunately for me, was currently still open.
The guards wore dark lacquered armor over a chain mail tunic. Their brown pants were slightly baggy but looked easy to move in. One of them was carrying a sword and a buckler shield, but the other held a spear in their dominant hand. All of them had a black cloak thrown over them with the symbol of the sun stitched onto the left breast.
These were the Nevarian Spiritualists, the first line of defense against potential Demon Beast incursions.
There were quite a few people still coming and going through the gate, so no one paid me any attention as I slipped past… well, one of the guards did glance at my hair, but other than making a face, he didn’t do anything.
I wandered around a bit more before journeying toward a large forest with trees that were almost the same height as the rampart surrounding the city.
Nevaria was surrounded by a mountain range on three sides: North, south, and west. These mountain ranges were all connected to one another. They formed something of a crescent moon with Nevaria at its center. I didn’t know if Nevaria had been built in this location as a strategic move to keep the people safe from an invasion by other humans, but I think part of the reason the Demon Beast Invasion happened was because this city state was so close to their territory.
I wasn’t sure how far I should go in, but I wanted to make sure I was far enough away that I wouldn’t disturb anyone who was sensitive to Spiritual Power.
Honestly, I wanted to head into the Demon Beast Mountain Range, but entering that place required a person to either be a Nevarian Spiritualist, a member of the Royal Guard, a noble, or have special permission to enter from someone who was at least a captain in rank in the Nevarian Spiritualists.
I eyed the large gate that sat before the gorge that would take me to the Demon Beast Mountain Range. It was being protected by another pair of guards. There were several more guards walking across the rampart up top, and two more stood on the towers located on either side of the gate. After staring for nearly a full minute from a spot I’d chosen to hide behind, I slipped away and wandered deeper into the forest.
It was dark as I walked, made all the darker by the light slowly disappearing as the sun moved behind the mountains. The canopy overhead also blotted out the stars. Despite this, I
walked with surety, stepping over roots and around trees.
Passing by trees, shrubs, boulders, and ponds, I eventually arrived at a very small clearing. It didn’t look like much. There were patches of grass here and there, but most of it was made of dirt, and several large roots were shooting through the ground and twisting around each other. As I stepped foot into this clearing, the sound of trickling water reached my ears. I took a deep breath. The fresh floral scent calmed me a lot more than I expected. I guess I still wasn’t used to the smell of the city anymore.
“I guess this will work fine,” I muttered to myself.
After hesitating for a moment, I sat down on a patch of grass. Crossing my legs, I placed my hands in front of me, my palms about four paces apart, and took a slow, calming breath. Reaching into myself, I prepared to access my Spiritual Power to see just how strong it was. However, the moment I reached into myself, something unexpected happened.
“Hrnk!”
Almost the moment I reached inside of my own psyche, an overwhelming pressure slammed into me. Spiritual Power burst from my pores. This Spiritual Power took the shape of a massive blue pillar with arcane bursts of lightning shooting out around me, extending far into the sky as it broke through the canopy of trees. It was so unexpected that I couldn’t control it, and when I finally got the sense to try, I realized with some horror that it was beyond my control!
I gritted my teeth as the pressure continued pushing down on me, becoming so strong it affected the environment. The ground cracked. Several tree branches broke apart overhead. A boulder to my left shattered. Water gushed from beneath my fingertips as lightning arced into the sky. I bit the inside of my lip and the sweet taste of blood welled up in my mouth. Everything was going dark. My vision was getting spotty. What the fu—
Hilda had been sleeping with her husbands when a powerful Spiritual Pressure blanketed the city of Nevaria, startling her so bad she almost leapt to her feet. She and her three husbands sat bolt upright in bed. All of them looked at each other before scrambling out of bed as one.
Quickly finding a nightgown to cover her naked body, she joined her husbands in looking out the window to stare at the direction where the massive surge of Spiritual Pressure was coming from. Fortunately, she didn’t have to look far.
“Now there is something you don’t see every day,” she murmured, rubbing her arms as goosebumps appeared on her skin.
A massive pillar of blue Spiritual Power was jutting out of the forest, swirling around like a tornado as bolts of lightning arced out of it. Several bolts struck a tree, tearing through it with ease, but most of them ascended harmlessly into the sky. Hilda was so surprised by the sight that she and her husbands could do nothing but stand there until well after the intense Spiritual Power had dissipated. Only then did she consider giving her husbands orders.
“Valence.” Hilda turned to her first husband. “Gather the Imperial Royal Guard and have them investigate that Spiritual Power. Do so quickly. I have no doubt there are members from the Three Heavenly Families already getting ready to send people as well. Do not let them beat you there, especially the Leucht Family.”
“Yes, My Queen.”
Valence bowed to her before hurrying into their closet to get dressed. She watched him until he disappeared, then turned to her other two husbands.
“Rainer, Dante, I want both of you to gather Edgard, Felix, and Hellen and head over there with a squadron.” She gave the two a stern look. “Do not search for the source. Instead, command the Nevarian Spiritualists to cordon off the area so no one can get in or out.”
“Do you think whoever released that Spiritual Power is hostile?” asked Dante as Rainer bowed his head and ran into the closet, passing Valence who came out in the golden armor of an Imperial Royal Knight General.
“I am unsure, but I do not think so.” Hilda paused, though not for long. “That release of power felt more like an accident to me, as though someone had been training and their Spiritual Power went out of control. I’m more concerned that someone from the Three Heavenly Families will find a powerful ally to pressure us with if they get to this person first. If the Leucht Family were to discover this person and get them to join their family…”
Dante didn’t need to hear anymore. His normally lackadaisical expression was nowhere to be seen. After nodding in acknowledgment of her words, he went into the closet, came out dressed in the silver armor of a Nevarian Spiritualist Commander several minutes later, and then followed Rainer out of the room.
Hilda watched them go before turning her attention back to where the Spiritual Power was—had been. The last remnants had finally dissipated. However, that hardly mattered now. Anyone who was even a little bit sensitive would have felt that powerful and dense Spiritual Pressure, and anyone with eyes would have seen the pillar of Spiritual Power rising into the sky…
With that thought in mind, Hilda slipped out of her nightgown and wandered into the closet. It was a large space. It needed to be since hers and her husbands’ armor was there. Unlike her husbands, she did not don armor. She slid a pair of white silk pants up her hips, slipped into a long-sleeved shirt that showed off hints of her stomach and cleavage, and then threw on a light purple cloak that was bedecked with jewels. Since she would probably end up in several meetings soon, she also slid her feet into a pair of well-crafted slippers.
Done changing, she wandered out of her extravagant bedroom and down a hall made of gleaming white tiles. Spirit lamps illuminated the way as she walked across a purple rug that extended down the large hallways. Taking a number of turns, she eventually arrived at a door.
She knocked once.
“Kari?” she said. “Are you in there?”
A barely audible sigh came from the other side of the door. “I am here.”
“May I come in?”
“… You may.”
Sighing in relief, Hilda pushed the door open and walked inside. The room on the other side of the door was spacious and not the least bit girly. There were no decorations on the wall, no shimmering curtains. Bookshelves lined most of the wall space, though there was also a door leading into a closet and another that led to a personal bathing room. A large bed with a canopy sat in the center of the room and a desk had been placed in the far-left corner.
Her daughter was standing by an open window and staring into the distance. It didn’t escape Hilda’s notice that she was staring at the spot where the pillar of Spiritual Power had been.
“I came to check in on you.” Hilda smiled as she wandered up to Kari. “Is everything all right?”
Kari sighed but didn’t turn around. “I do not see how anything can be all right when I’m several breaths away from being sold off like chattel.”
Hilda frowned at her daughter’s words. “We’re not selling you off to anyone. We’re merely discussing the possibility of an arranged marriage.”
“That is the same thing to me,” Kari muttered. “I wish you would just tell them I’m not interested.”
“Even I don’t have the power to outright refuse their proposal.” Hilda wore a dry smile as she stepped up to the window and stood by her daughter’s side. It was large enough that both of them could look out while standing several paces apart. “Were I capable of such a thing, I would have shot the Leucht Family down a hundred times already.”
Kari’s only response was to sigh again.
Hilda could only curse her own powerlessness in this regard. Were her daughter the eldest, or even the strongest, among her four children, she could have told the Leucht Family exactly where they could stick their proposal. However, Kari was not only the youngest among her children, she also wasn’t the strongest. In this world where the strong ruled over the weak, she did not have the right to deny the proposal out of hand, especially since the Leucht Family wielded a lot of power themselves.
Fortunately, they could not demand for her daughter’s hand yet, though she knew they would try within the next few months. The Grand Spiritualists
Tournament was coming up soon. She was sure they would try something then.
“Did you sense the Spiritual Power just now?” She changed the topic. “It was quite impressive.”
“I… yes.” Kari furrowed her brow. “That Spiritual Power was quite strange. It felt oddly familiar somehow.”
“Familiar?” Hilda asked. However, Kari didn’t say anything more on the matter, and so Hilda turned back to the window.
She hoped her husbands would discover something soon.
I wasn’t sure how long I had been unconscious for, but it couldn’t have been long. The sky was still dusky when I opened my eyes. Night had yet to truly fall.
As I became more aware of my situation, I realized that I was lying in something of a crater… and that my body hurt. A lot. I remembered one time when I had been learning how to cook so I could surprise Kari with a home-cooked meal. I burnt my hand at the time by touching the stove. This felt like that, except it was inside of me and spread across my entire body. Yes, it felt like I had been cooked from the inside out.
There was also a puddle of water in the bottom of this crater. My back was soaking wet.
My body howled in pain as I slowly sat up and crawled out of the crater. My legs were shaking, my arms had the strength of soggy noodles, and my body was burning. I gritted my teeth and pushed past that feeling. I needed to get away from this place. There was no way someone hadn’t sensed me releasing my Spiritual Power, and the last thing I wanted was to get caught by someone I didn’t know.
After crawling out of the crater, I headed away from the clearing in the opposite direction I had come. The gate I had used to get here was the closest to this location. Logic dictated that anyone seeking to discover me would come from there.
I decided to travel further away from Nevaria. Since my current location was somewhat north-east of the city, I headed more east.
My breathing grew ragged as I stumbled past trees and carefully watched the ground for roots I might trip on. I hadn’t noticed it until the pain struck me, but my body seemed somewhat dissociated from my brain, or perhaps my spirit. My body was in agony. It was howling at me. This body clearly wasn’t used to feeling pain. However, my spirit and mind were firmly rejecting that agony. It was like they were telling me one thing, while my body told me another.
WIEDERGEBURT: Legend of the Reincarnated Warrior: Volume 1 Page 3