Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Death
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First life.
The over twenty years I lived on Earth.
Half of my life was spent studying, or so it feels.
I'd been going to cram schools since elementary school.
And yet, they said I was starting late.
Elementary, middle, high school.
I studied as my mother told me to.
By the time school and cram school ended and I got home, it was already night.
I made it into a top-tier university in Seoul.
My mother was disappointed.
But I was happy enough.
The endless grind of exam hell was finally over.
Was university life good?
Not really.
Starting my freshman year, I began studying English.
She said I needed to finish with English first to prepare for everything else.
After my freshman year, I went into the army.
It was tough. All I remember is the hardship.
I got discharged and graduated university.
They say there's a basement below the basement?
That was me.
I barely scraped through university, only to become a job hunter.
I had to compete with the top students.
I failed multiple times.
Every time I tried to lower my standards, my mother opposed it.
I wasted a few years like that, then landed a job at a small company.
I think that was the first time.
The first time I fought with my mother.
"After all I've done to raise you!! You're going to a small company?!!"
"Mother, I've done my best!"
"You didn't try hard enough! Effort! If you'd worked harder, this wouldn't have happened!!"
I left home.
I got the job at the small company.
My salary was doled out in 13ths.
The last bit called severance at the end.
The paycheck I thought was low got even smaller.
After paying rent, eating, and buying a few clothes, nothing was left.
It was exactly the bare minimum to cover food, clothing, and shelter.
That was when I finally understood why my mother had insisted on a big corporation.
Safety standards at the company I worked for were lax.
Work was constantly dumped on the underlings.
My body was worn out, and the job was dangerous.
And so my first life ended.
Second life.
I possessed the firstborn son of the Frontier Viscount Family.
Elwin had a major accident at age ten.
That's when I entered his body.
Looking back now, I suspect even that incident was Brilda's doing.
Just like how she used the Black Orc to kill me.
Either way, I lived this life with all I had.
I put in fierce effort, just like my mother had said.
For two years in the viscounty,
my engagement to Alensia, even in the Vampire Duke Family—
I gave it my all.
So what happened to my life?
Was 'hard work' not the answer?
I was at a disadvantage, in a field I wasn't good at, and I just kept grinding away.
They said I didn't fit as a noble,
that I lacked a noble's charisma.
That I couldn't deceive people or handle them.
...
And even that I was passive.
What would a non-passive life look like?
Would my life have been different if I'd taken the initiative?
Elementary, middle, high.
School and cram school hell.
When everyone was striving for good universities,
should I have said NO?
Or if I'd gone somewhere other than economics in university?
If I'd entered a department I actually liked, would it have been different?
When my mother told me to aim for certain grades, should I have said NO?
The draft system back in Korea.
Should I have said NO when they forcibly dragged me to the army?
Should I have gotten a medical check and dodged service, or something?
Or gone to KATUSA to learn English, or to an industrial post to earn money?
Would I not have wasted a year and a half that way?
The same in this other world.
When everyone wanted me to act like a noble,
should I have said NO and done what I was good at?
When Alensia suggested breaking off the engagement,
should I have said NO?
When Brilda told me to fight the Black Orc,
if I'd said NO, would I not have died?
Alensia was right.
I am a passive person.
In elementary, middle, high school, I lived as my mother directed.
I went to school and cram school.
In university, I followed what my seniors did.
I just went to the army like everyone else.
The same in this other world.
Rather than setting my own direction,
I focused only on running forward.
Without even knowing where it led.
If a third chance is given.
Not just effort, but I'll set the direction myself.
Not the path someone points to, but my own path.
I'll live that way.
"Should we leave the Heir's body here?"
"Madam says to cremate it with the other corpses."
"But he's still the Heir..."
"Some people like it. Says it's treating the Heir and the territory folk the same."
We gathered the bodies in one place and cleaned the surroundings.
A prayer service for the dead would start soon.
After finishing the cleanup, I stood with the others.
Moments later, Brilda Frontier ascended the platform.
"The Black Orcs headed this way. I sent my beloved son Elwin, along with knights and soldiers, to stop them."
Brilda's eyes reddened.
Tears for her son's death.
"In that battle, the Heir and twenty-seven soldiers perished. Let us all pray for them."
I closed my eyes.
Rumors had spread about how fierce the battle with the Black Orcs was.
The Heir had fallen in that fight.
May the gods bless them.
I prayed earnestly.
"Uh...?"
"Wh-what!?"
Talking during prayer time?
During the prayer for the Heir and soldiers, no less.
"Uh..."
"How..."
The murmurs grew louder.
Still, I kept my eyes tightly shut in prayer.
May the Heir and soldiers find rest in the gods' embrace.
May they spend peaceful times there.
"It's the Heir!!"
"It's the Heir!!!"
"Waaaaah!!!!"
I could no longer keep my eyes closed.
The late Heir, alive?
What nonsense was this?
I opened my eyes.
"Uh..."
The same sound escaped my lips as everyone else.
"How..."
From the pile of bodies.
One person walked out.
The Heir emerged,
and at the gruesome sight revealed, everyone fell silent.
Black hair.
Torn armor.
And dark red blood covering his entire body.
I glanced at Brilda's expression.
Brilda was frowning.
Why isn't she happy?
This thought halted amid the cheers.
Someone's shout broke the silence.
"The Heir has risen!"
"Waaa!!! Oh gods!!! Thank you!!"
"Oh gods!!! We thank you for your blessing!!"
"Waaaaah!!!"
A miracle happened today.
The prayer service instantly turned into a celebration.
The raucous welcome ceremony finally ended,
and I sat alone in my room.
"So the tutorial completion condition was death?"
There was a reason I couldn't clear it.
It was a condition I never could have imagined.
No, even if I had imagined it, I couldn't have tried it.
I confirmed completion,
and the text that had tormented me for six years vanished.
I waited three seconds.
Then another ten.
"Hm... that's it?"
No further explanation came.
I pondered with only the given info.
Which was just the Skill Point, of course.
"First things first, time to learn a skill."
The moment I tapped the Skill Point,
countless words filled my vision.
Fireball.
Shield.
Heal.
Charge.
Heavy Strike.
...
Digging.
Trade.
Sword Crafting.
Clothing Crafting.
...
There were too many to read them all.
"Learn one of these?"
The first that caught my eye was the Earthquake spell.
I'd seen my father use it before.
He'd annihilated a monster unit with it.
That sight was etched in my memory, unforgettable.
"If I learn that..."
I selected Earthquake.
But I couldn't learn it.
To learn Earthquake, I needed to master several lower Earth magics first.
"Too bad. Then..."
At that moment,
a new notification appeared.
Farming on Monster Island(In Progress)
HINT) Earth Restoration skill
This time, it even kindly included advice.
If you're going to be this helpful, why not explain the tutorial properly?
"No, wait—if I'd learned a skill first, that would've been a disaster!"
I reopened the skill list.
Selected Earth Restoration.
"Whoa... why so helpful this time?"
Thinking differently, it meant this was that important.
What caught my eye was the third line.
Per the system explanation,
professions are broadly divided into lifestyle and combat types.
Various jobs fall under them.
For example, Farmer is lifestyle.
Swordsman or mage would be combat.
"And it's telling me to go lifestyle?"
What is the flower of fantasy?
Sword in one hand, magic in the other.
The so-called magic swordsman.
And I'm supposed to be a Farmer?
One that locks me out of combat professions forever?
My eyes went to the magic category.
Earth magic, specifically.
The Frontier Heir with no magic talent.
How many people had been disappointed?
"Still... I guess I need Earth Restoration?"
The only way to get Skill Points right now is missions.
I need to learn the skill that helps complete the mission.
I selected Earth Restoration.
The moment I hit 'Yes',
Now I see why the system recommended this skill.
The mission is Farming on Monster Island.
To do that, one thing needs fixing.
The demonic energy plaguing Monster Island.
This skill seems able to remove it.
"Farming, huh..."