The next morning, I woke up early, quickly washed my face, drank a glass of water, and headed to the front door.
I was so nervous today that I didn't think I'd be able to eat breakfast.
Suddenly, my sister was already there at the entrance, and silently handed me a small bottle.
Oria Ruud. The second child of the Ruud family, she was a stunning beauty with dark brown hair.
She usually wore her chest-length hair down and stared intently at anyone with her big eyes, which seemed to make any man who was staring at her felt uneasy.
The small bottle that she handed over contained a sparkling, transparent liquid.
When I realized what was inside, I couldn't help but tear up.
"Big sister……" (Fia)
"If you are attacked by a monster, drink this immediately. Then run away. That's great!" (Oria)
The bottle contained a healing potion.
Although it's called medicine, it's not something made by an apothecary. This sparkling light could only be created by magic. It's a medicine made by the saints, who has imbued it with healing magic.
There were only a few saints. And due to the amount of magical power each saint had, they could only make a few potions per day.
This meant that the drug was sold in limited quantities and was extremely expensive.
"Recovery potions are not a panacea. They cannot heal deep wounds, and they are ineffective against missing parts. Therefore, the best thing to do is to avoid injury. Okay?" (Oria)
"...Thank you, big sis." (Fia)
I was happy to know that my sister cared about me so much.
For the sake of my sister who was cheering me on, I strongly wanted to bring back a magic stone as big as possible.
"...You were thinking something strange just now, weren't you? It's fine, a magic stone is a magic stone no matter what size it is. Bring back the smallest, lightest magic stone you've ever seen!" (Oria)
For my sister who helped me reexamine reality, I wanted to bring home a magic stone that was as small and light as possible.
...Now, having said that, the chances of encountering monsters were not high.
There weren't many monsters near residential areas because adventurers and knights regularly exterminated them.
You wouldn't encounter any monsters unless you went deep into the forest.
"Hmm." (Fia)
For now, I'd walk through the knight territory towards the forest.
Insects hopped around my feet, and occasionally rabbits and foxes popped up, but no monsters appeared.
"If possible, a one-eyed mouse would be best. It's small and weak, and preferably a single one that's searching for food."
That's right, the One-Eyed Mouse was making his home in a cave. Maybe there was a cave on the eastern side of the forest...
My feet naturally led me towards the east side of the forest.
"Oh, I'm surprisingly calm." (Fia)
I tried speaking louder to check my condition.
Yeah, okay.
Considering it's my first time facing a monster on my own, I'm pretty calm.
I'd been training with the sword every single day, and my comrades in the territory had said that I'd made a lot of progress in the past year or so. There shouldn't be any problems with the monsters around here.
In these cases, it's the belief that matters. It can be done. It can be done!
Then we walked for about an hour.
As I looked around attentively, I suddenly noticed that it was unusually quiet.
Oh, come to think of it, I hadn't seen any animals at all...
...The back of my neck was tingling.
Oh man, this is kind of dangerous.
As I slowly backed away, I heard a faint groan.
………………….
…………….
Yeah, I knew.
The right thing to do would be to leave this place quietly.
But for some reason, my feet cautiously walked to the bottom of the large tree, searching for the owner of the voice.
Then, at the base of a tree, I found a bloody baby bird.
Probably about a few days after birth.
A black baby bird with its small body curled up, blood spurting out, and breathing heavily.
Its eyes were closed, and if this continued it would be dead within half a day.
A weak, tiny chick about to die.
But why? When I saw the chick, I couldn't stop trembling.
……What should I do?
Is this chick really just a chick? Is it right to help it? Or is it right not to help it?
Of course, I was the only one there and had to make my own judgment.
As I continued to look around, the chick suddenly opened its eyes.
Blue eyes. Eyes that were as clear and blue as the clear sky.
It looked at me with those pleading eyes.
Then, my hands moved on their own and I gave it the healing potion that my sister had given me.
"It's okay, it's okay," I said, stroking the chick's body.
The chick just lay there limp, doing nothing, when suddenly it began barking, "Grrrrr!!"
Oh, I see!
Healing potions healed wounds by forcibly increasing the user's healing ability, which was why the healing process was so excruciating!
"It's okay..." (Fia)
"Bwuh," I said, my hand trying to reach out stopped mid-air.
Because the suffering chick was growing bigger and bigger right before my eyes.
It grew several times larger than me, then let out a roar and latched onto my shoulder.
Its fangs sank into my shoulder and tore it off easily.
...Ah, that's right.
In an instant, my consciousness became hazy and I suddenly realized something.
There were no black birds in this world.
The only creature with black wings was the legendary monster "Black Dragon."
It was said to be a monster of the highest level of danger, and even 100 knights would not be enough to defeat it.
I guessed when they suffered a life-threatening injury, they transformed into a juvenile form in order to recover.
Facing me, dazed from blood loss, the black dragon once again opened its mouth wide.
Ah, with this, I'm gonna die...
This was not about training or getting stronger. This was about whether an ant could defeat an elephant.
...Come to think of it, at the moment of death, I remembered many things that happened from when I was born until died.
"...15 years of life. That's a bit short. The highlight of my life is..." (Fia)
The black dragon bit into my side.
Red sparks flew in front of my eyes along with a burning pain.
But, for some reason.
At that moment, what I remembered wasn't the various experiences I had had in my 15 years of life, but memories from my past life.
The memories of my past life, in which I made full use of the power of the "Great Saint," which had now become nothing more than a fairy tale.
"Huhuah, what kind of nonsense power is this? It's going to destroy the laws of the world!" (Fia)
After being bitten by the black dragon and losing a fatal amount of blood, I remembered my previous life.