A grand ceremony was underway in a magnificent palace.
The decrepit old king, the solemn Pope, the young noblewomen, and the generals had all dressed in their finest. Their faces were solemn, yet brimming with excitement.
Because this ceremony was being held to honor “that Hero.”
No one knew where he had come from. No one knew his real name.
But with nothing but a sword in his hand and magic so masterful it seemed almost divine, the Hero had brought both the demons and the terrifying beasts crashing at his feet, reducing them to heaps of scarlet flesh.
Humanity had been able to live in peace ever since. Fear was now something found only in the history books.
His achievements were so great they were without precedent… The people cheered, and quite a few girls wanted to rush forward and offer themselves to the great Hero.
“Hero, thank you for protecting our homeland!”
“Lord Hero, could you wink at me?!”
“No fair, Lord Hero is so handsome, I’m melting!”
…
At the sight of all this, the Hero simply smiled faintly.
No one knew he wasn’t from this world at all… He was a traveler from another world, a young man from an ordinary one.
After losing eleven matches in a row, he’d stayed up all night because he wanted to win just one—and died suddenly from exhaustion. By a twist of fate, he’d ended up in this world.
He hadn’t known a thing when he first woke up, but it didn’t take long for him to show the knowledge and abilities unique to someone from another world.
Those fearsome demons weren’t so scary after all. By bringing modern knowledge to the Middle Ages, he’d greatly advanced society. They’d given him countless titles: a genius with both brains and brawn, the hope of the old kingdom, and many more.
Of course, all that was in the past now.
Besides, he’d earned so many honors that the Hero no longer cared about them… What he cared about most was the old king’s promise: if he protected the kingdom, the king would give him the beautiful, snow-white princess—and pass the throne on to him as well.
That was why the Hero had always kept himself chaste. No matter how many women threw themselves at him, he’d never given them a second glance.
After all, if you’re going to build a harem…
you should wait until your queen is there before you start one…
They said the princess never showed herself in public, but she had large eyes and long silver hair that flowed down her back. She carried herself with effortless grace and was, quite simply, the most wonderful person in the world.
…
And now, at last, it was time to fulfill the promise.
The Hero laughed heartily. The old king shakily descended from his throne, clutching the crown, and came to stand before him.
“Hero, I’m deeply grateful for everything you’ve done for this kingdom.”
“You’re welcome. It was my duty.”
“Then the throne is yours… My daughter is already waiting in her chambers…”
As he looked at the crown and keys the old king had handed him, the Hero felt as if the whole world were in his grasp.
At last, the moment had come. At last, he could lose the virginity he’d carried over from his previous life~
But…
Before the Hero could reach out and take the keys,
a familiar sensation struck his chest…
…
Thump!
…
…
(Hey, hey, you’ve gotta be kidding me, right?)
I’d died of heart disease before. I knew this feeling all too well.
It was the pain of my heart as if it were tearing apart, and the suffocating sensation that my breathing had stopped.
The agony quickly spread through my whole body. I wanted to reach out and take the crown, to take Her Highness the Princess’s key. But my outstretched fingers froze.
“Hero? Lord Hero?”
“Oh no, the Hero’s collapsed! Somebody, help!”
People cried out all around me, but I knew the kingdom’s medical skills couldn’t save me.
So…
(How… How did I die again…?)
(Damn it, I don’t want it to end here! I still haven’t won the princess’s heart, and I still have so much kingdom-building to do.)
But I didn’t have the chance to make any of it happen.
My consciousness began to slip away,
and once again, I died in this world.
…
…
…
…
I didn’t know how much time had passed.
All I could feel was darkness all around me.
Maybe this was what the world after death was like.
Empty. There was nothing at all.
You could feel yourself drifting. You could even feel that you still had the strength to think.
But
you didn’t want to think at all.
Because the moment you did, you’d realize you were dead. You’d realize you’d never feel the sunlight again.
Life in the real world was so wonderful,
but the world of the dead was so boring and cold.
Once you understood that, you’d feel more and more despair.
Endless loneliness and silence would swallow you up and turn you into a monster.
So
it was better not to think about anything…
Just stay still and keep sleeping. Forever.
…
But just as I closed my eyes again,
after who knew how long in silence,
a mechanical voice sounded in my ear…
…
『Savior No. 114515, congratulations. You’ve been given another chance to travel to a different world.』
…
“Huh?”
Maybe it had been too long since anyone had spoken to me.
At first, I couldn’t even understand what the voice meant.
A savior?
Congratulations to me… What kind of nonsense was this?
…
But I didn’t get the chance to think it over. The mechanical voice quickly spoke again:
『You performed exceptionally well last time, so in this new world, you’ll once again be given the role of a world-saving hero.』
“W-what?!”
My head throbbed, and countless fragments of thought flooded back into my mind.
Memories from before I died. Memories from after I became the Hero. Memories of being alone, and of being with others… Not all of them were happy, but they were what made me who I was.
A one-of-a-kind individual.
…
…
My thoughts fell into place. In an instant, my will returned.
The mechanical voice echoed in my mind, and I couldn’t help asking, “What did you just say? I have another chance to travel to a different world?”
『That’s right. You can return to the world and live again.』
“Live again?”
My first two lives hadn’t exactly been perfect.
I’d died before I could reach the shore of happiness.
But did that mean I should give up on living again?
No. Absolutely not.
No matter how many times I had to go through pain, I still thought that life was the most wonderful thing of all!
I was going to live. I was going to travel to another world again.
So…
“How do I do it? Tell me, quick!”
『Please don’t rush. This time, the world you’ll be traveling to is extremely difficult. So a young girl will accompany you as your partner.』
“A young girl as my partner? Like a companion?”
『That’s right. You can now customize your appearance. Please note that once you confirm it, you won’t be able to change it.』
…
…
The pitch-black world vanished before my eyes.
And what appeared before me
was a character-creation screen featuring a beautiful girl…
