I'm Not That Kind of Person
I realized I'd been transmigrated in the winter of my sixteenth year. More precisely, I realized I had fallen into a romance fantasy novel I'd read in my previous life — and not as the protagonist, or the villain, or even a named supporting character. As an extra.
Kyle Everhart.
Third son of a small barony perched on the northern frontier.
I had no memory of this name appearing directly in the original. I hadn't remembered the Everhart name because anyone in the family mattered. It was because of a single sentence, mentioned in passing in the early chapters.
The Everhart Barony was laid waste by a monster wave that erupted from Blackwood.
That was all.
It didn't even say who had lived or who had died. The problem was that when I recovered my memories, that monster wave was barely three months away.
So I told my family. The monsters in Blackwood, north of the territory, were behaving strangely — we needed to evacuate.
Naturally, no one believed me. A sixteen-year-old third son suddenly prophesying a massive monster attack? Believing him would have been the strange part.
Still, after days of screaming and clinging, I managed to persuade my father. Send a scouting party, at least, just in case.
And three days later, one of the knights who'd gone out on reconnaissance came back missing an arm — along with a report that hundreds of monsters were moving south from the depths of Blackwood. An evacuation order was issued for the Everhart Barony that very day.
Thanks to that, unlike in the original, the territory didn't fall. My family lived.
But I never went home again.
The reason was simple. The monster wave that had struck the Everhart Barony was adorable compared to what was coming.
A few years on, war would break out between the Empire and the Northern Alliance. In the Imperial Capital, warlocks would perform a large-scale ritual. A sealed Ancient Species would awaken and wipe an entire city off the map, and later even the Northern Archduke — once the greatest power holder in the Empire — would turn his blade against the Imperial Family.
And at the center of every last one of those events, there was always the same person.
The original novel's heroine.
Adelia von Arsein.
As long as I didn't go anywhere near that woman, I'd be fine. That was my conclusion.
If the world was dangerous, I just had to get away from the world. So I hid myself somewhere almost no one ever went.
The massive mountain range that split the Empire's west from its north. The Greyhorn Mountains.
Sheer cliffs, fog so thick there wasn't even a proper path, and powerful magic beasts crawling everywhere. At the time, I thought it was an insane choice.
But somehow I survived. And before I knew it, fifteen years had passed.
"Hnn."
I lay on the wooden platform, staring at the sky. Not a cloud in sight. The sun was warm, and the wind rolling down off the mountain was just cool enough. Clear water ran in the stream out front, and nameless birds called from the forest.
A perfectly flawless afternoon.
I closed my eyes, satisfied.
That was when it came.
A deep, guttural roar exploded not far away. Birds burst from the trees all at once, and even the surface of the stream shivered.
I opened my mouth without opening my eyes.
"It's loud."
The roar cut off at once.
A moment later came the sound of heavy footsteps drawing closer. Thud. Thud. I finally sighed and pushed myself up.
A massive shadow emerged through the trees.
A gigantic bear, covered in black fur. Its shoulder height alone towered well over a grown man, and it had three heads. Spikes of black hair jutted along its back.
A Black Crown Bear.
The first time I'd run into him, I'd been certain I was dead. Not anymore. He came right up to the house and lowered all three heads at once, then set a huge wild boar — the one the middle head had been carrying — down in front of me.
"Again?"
Grrn.
The left head rumbled softly.
"You brought one yesterday too."
Grrn…
"I live alone. How am I supposed to eat something that size every day?"
The middle head glanced at me, then nudged the boar a little closer with its paw. I pressed my fingers to my brow.
Fifteen years in these mountains, and I'd met every kind of magic beast there was. I'd been looking at this one's face for eight years already, so by now I could more or less tell what he was thinking just from his expression.
"You brought it because you didn't want to eat it, didn't you?"
All three heads looked away at once.
"Take it back."
Grrn…
His ears drooped.
That was when it happened.
A massive boom rolled in from far off — toward the outer edge of the range.
"Magic?"
An explosion that size was rare in these mountains. It didn't sound like beasts fighting, either. That was unmistakably human magic.
"Did people come in?"
It wasn't as if human footsteps never reached the Greyhorn Mountains. Herb gatherers, mercenaries, unlucky adventurers — they wandered in from time to time. The problem was that most of them never made it past the foothills. They ran into a magic beast, or lost all sense of direction in the thick fog. The last time I'd seen a person anywhere near here had been seven years ago.
I looked at the Black Crown Bear.
"Go check."
He tilted his heads.
"If there are people, bring them. If they're dead, leave them."
Grrn.
He turned. After a few steps he glanced back at me.
"What?"
Drool was hanging from the corner of a mouth. I narrowed my eyes.
"People aren't food."
Grrrn!
All three heads bellowed at once, looking thoroughly wronged.
"Who was it that came back with that hunter's pants in his mouth last time?"
Silence. I snorted and lay back down on the platform.
If they were alive, he'd bring them. If not, he wouldn't. It wasn't the kind of thing I needed to get up for. More importantly, I was in the middle of something critical.
A nap. One of the few hobbies I hadn't skipped once in fifteen years.
I hadn't had my eyes closed long before footsteps approached again. This time it wasn't just one set. The heavy tread of a magic beast, and two human sets following behind it.
So they were alive.
"You back?"
I waved a hand without opening my eyes. No answer. Odd enough that I lifted my head — and met the eyes of the two people standing in front of the house.
One was a young woman. Silver hair that reached her waist was matted with dust and blood, and the silver-white armor wrapping her body was broken in places. In her right hand she held a longsword with the blade snapped halfway down.
Beside her stood a red-haired, middle-aged knight.
Both of them were in terrible shape. Neither seemed the least bit interested in their own wounds, though. Every bit of their attention was locked on the space beside me — more precisely, on the Black Crown Bear sitting there as meek as a house pet.
The middle-aged knight's lips trembled.
"Black Crown…"
"Hm?"
"The high-tier magic beast they call the ruler of the Greyhorn Mountains. A Black Crown Bear…"
I looked at the one sitting next to me.
"You?"
Grr?
He looked like he was hearing it for the first time. The knight's face hardened at the sight.
"A-are you conversing with that beast?"
"I wouldn't call it a conversation. I've just been looking at him long enough to get the gist."
"…"
"What?"
"It's nothing."
The knight shut his mouth.
That was when the silver-haired woman stepped forward.
"Are you the one who saved us?"
Her voice was composed, but her breathing was still quite rough.
"Wasn't me. He brought you."
I pointed at the bear. The Black Crown Bear puffed out his chest as if he expected praise.
"I did tell him to, though."
The silver-haired woman was silent for a moment.
"That beast follows your orders?"
"Sometimes."
"A Black Crown Bear?"
"Yeah. That's our Blackie."
A fucking racist name, but it wasn't a person, so who cared.
All three heads turned to look at me at once.
"What. You don't like it?"
Grrn.
"Then come up with a new name yourself."
The middle-aged knight's expression did something complicated. I ignored him and looked the two of them over.
"Let me see where you're hurt."
"I'm fine."
The silver-haired woman answered. I pointed at her side. Blood was still running out from under the armor.
"That's the kind of thing you can only call 'fine' after you're already dead."
She closed her mouth.
"Wait here."
I went inside and brought out a wooden box. It was packed with herbs I'd gathered in the mountains. I pulled out a few blue leaves, a plant with a silver stem, and a dried red mushroom, and the middle-aged knight's eyes went wide.
"S-surely that isn't Moonlight Herb?"
"This?"
"It's a top-grade medicinal herb even the royal palace can barely obtain!"
"That so?"
I tossed it into the mortar without a second thought.
"Wait! Isn't that red mushroom Blood Cap? The toxicity is so strong that if you use it wrong, your heart will stop!"
"If you use it raw, yeah."
"Then how…"
"You just mix it with this."
I added the silver stem. The knight reeled again.
"Silver Root as well?!"
"You're loud."
I crushed the herbs in a rough mash, then set the broken-down ingredients on my palm and let mana flow through them.
A soft hiss. The toxins left in the herbs broke down, and their separate properties melted into one. Red and blue energy folded through each other a few times, then settled into a clear liquid. I split it between two cups.
"Drink."
The middle-aged knight looked from the cup to my face and back.
"This… you want us to drink this?"
"If I wanted you dead, I wouldn't have had you brought here."
The silver-haired woman hesitated a moment, then lifted the cup and drained it in one swallow.
"Your Highness!"
The knight cried out in alarm. I blinked.
Your Highness?
The woman drew a deep breath. A moment later, the blood running from her side stopped. The open wound began to close at a visible speed, and color returned to her pale face. She looked down at her side as if she couldn't believe it.
"The wound…"
"It didn't reach the bone, so it'll heal fast."
"Fast?"
The knight muttered, dazed. I held out the remaining cup.
"You drink too."
This time he didn't refuse. While the knight knocked the medicine back, I looked at the silver-haired woman.
Your Highness. There weren't many people in this country you'd address a young woman that way. Add a sword-wielding imperial with silver hair and violet eyes.
It couldn't be.
"What's your name?"
Her brow shifted slightly.
"You're asking for my name?"
"Yeah."
She looked at me for a moment, then answered slowly.
"Adelia."
A bad feeling crept up my spine.
"Adelia von Arsein."
My expression froze. I was screwed.
Adelia von Arsein. The original novel's heroine. The Emperor's only daughter, and the woman who would later be tangled up in every event that shook the Empire to its foundations. I had come to this mountain specifically so I would never run into her.
And after fifteen years of hiding perfectly well, the original heroine had walked up to my front door on her own two feet.
I turned my head, slowly. Blackie was wagging his tail, eyes shining, waiting to be praised.
"Hey."
Grr?
"No dinner tonight."
All three faces froze at once. Adelia looked at me, puzzled.
"Do you know me?"
"No."
"Your expression froze the moment you heard my name."
"My face always looks like this."
"And just now you told that beast it wouldn't be getting dinner."
"That's a separate issue."
Adelia's eyes narrowed. Fifteen years of barely seeing another human being had apparently wrecked my ability to lie. I cleared my throat.
"Anyway, you're treated, so rest a bit and then head down. Blackie'll take you as far as the foot of the mountain."
"Please wait just a moment!"
The middle-aged knight dropped to his knees without warning. I frowned.
"What is it?"
"I have a request to make of you."
"No."
"I haven't even told you what it is yet!"
"I've got a pretty good idea it's going to be a huge pain."
I didn't want to hear it. I didn't want to get involved with them, either. I turned and started for the house.
Then Adelia's voice reached me from behind.
"A rumor has been circulating through the Empire for a long time now."
I didn't stop walking.
"That deep in the Greyhorn Mountains lives a sage who has cut all ties with the world."
I stopped.
"…What?"
"He has not shown himself in decades, and even his name is unknown, but they say the mountain's magic beasts do not encroach upon his territory."
I turned around, slowly. Adelia was looking at me.
"They say he fells great trees with a wave of his hand, tames high-tier magic beasts, and concocts miraculous medicines that can heal any wound."
"That's a hell of an exaggeration."
"I thought so too, until recently."
Her gaze slid to the side. Blackie was lying obediently on the ground, watching my face. Then her eyes moved to the side of the house — a massive boulder I'd hauled over years ago because it didn't get enough sun and I couldn't be bothered to deal with it otherwise.
And across the stream. A cliff sliced off in a perfectly clean plane. I'd been chopping firewood, the axe had broken, and in a fit of anger I'd cut it with the edge of my hand.
Adelia looked at me again. The light in her eyes had changed. It was something close to certainty.
"I've found you."
"Whatever it is, it's not me."
"I haven't said anything yet."
She took a step forward.
"Kyle Everhart."
My body went rigid.
"…"
This time I was genuinely shocked. A name I hadn't used once in fifteen years.
"How did you know?"
"I see."
Adelia smiled, faintly.
Ah, shit.
"You were fishing?"
"That confirms it."
"…"
I'd been had. Imperial types really couldn't be trusted.
Adelia straightened her torn cloak, then laid her sword on the ground. And dropped to one knee.
"What are you doing?"
She was a princess. The Emperor's daughter, the original novel's protagonist — and she was bowing her head in the mountains to a man who'd been living sloppily out here for fifteen years.
"I formally make this request of the Hermit of Greyhorn."
"Hermit? There you go making it sound all grand again."
"No."
I answered at once. Adelia's eyes went wide. The middle-aged knight looked just as stunned.
I walked into the house without a second's hesitation and pulled the pack off the wall first thing.
This mountain was a lost cause. Fifteen years was long enough.
Time to find another one.