I Became the Sword Saint

I was the dim-witted, brainless loser from the poor orphanage.

Thinking about it, I had a lot of problems back then.

Even though I grew up in an orphanage where many kids lived together, I had zero sense of awareness.

If you asked me to do something, I couldn't do it properly, and I had a bad reputation among my peers.

Living without a brain like that, eventually an incident happened.

“Klein, you damn brat! You were supposed to buy bread, not eat it!”

“Ugh!!”

It was the day I was supposed to buy bread for the orphanage bully group.

Instead of delivering it, I ate the bread on the way back.

At that time, my thoughts were simple: I was just hungry.

“Shit, the guy with no money eats the bread too!”

“Argh!!”

Apparently, the guys who had been accumulating resentment for a long time beat me mercilessly.

In the alley behind the orphanage where the director and nuns wouldn't come.

I started getting beaten to death in a place where no one would help.

“Wait! I'll buy it again!”

“Ugh!”

“Where are you vomiting? You're going to die.”

“Slap!”

That day, the level of violence kept increasing, and I thought I was going to die from just eating the bread.

Because I was one of the many kids and the weakest one.

Even if I died, no one would look for me or care.

At that time, I had nothing but memories of a miserable life, and I was about to give up on life.

Then, with some strange noise in my head, something echoed.

The violence continued.

“Even make up a lie, you loser!”

“Even if you disappear, no one will care?”

“No one needs you. Just die here.”

Soon, with a beep sound that rang in my head, the fog that bound my thoughts disappeared.

All memories from my previous lives were restored in the body of 17-year-old Klein.

“These idiots blocked my attack?”

“Hey… this guy… his eyes look weird? Did he eat bad bread?”

It seemed like it took less than 10 seconds to suppress those guys.

“Ahh!! My leg!!”

The guy in front of me used a joint lock that no one had ever tried and shattered his ankle,

“Shit what the hell!! Ugh!!”

“Ahh!!”

The other two guys also used perfect boxing techniques to put them down, even though it was their first time.

The guys who were just about to beat me to death were now rolling around at my feet.

And with my memories back, I thought with my first clear mind.

“Where am I?”

This seemed to be my second life.

The first life: a 29-year-old ordinary office worker.

Just a normal person who worked all day, went home, and played games.

The trigger was on Friday, excited after work, running a red light and getting hit by a dump truck.

And in the second life, I woke up as the protagonist in a cyberpunk game.

Since it's a very popular work, as soon as I woke up, I knew where I was.

I survived in the cyberpunk world without blood or tears, honing my skills.

There was a bit of a regret, but I followed the story flow and reached a mediocre ending.

The ending where I discarded my collapsing body and backed up my memories to the mainframe of a megacorp.

Honestly, it was a bad ending, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠since I wasn't playing a game but moving my body, it was hard to go against the story flow, so it ended up like this.

The last memory of the second life was sleeping with the vague belief that I might wake up again.

And when I woke up, this was the situation.

The three bully guys who were tormenting me were rolling around saying they were dying, and I was standing in front of them.

“Ah… my head hurts.”

The memories of the first and second lives mixed with the memories of 17-year-old Klein so far.

I barely held my throbbing head and organized the situation.

‘Is this my third life in a fantasy world… I’ve never been to a place like this… novel… game?’

Until I turned 17, the old dim Klein had never been anywhere except this small village and near the orphanage; he was a greenhorn.

I was full of things I didn't know about this world and had little information.

And despite the body being a human who hadn't been cyberized, a system AI voice was ringing in my head.

I couldn't understand what had happened.

“Ah.. I don't know. Display system info. Check current status.”

The Murakumo Corporation that I entrusted my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠memories to, the body they made that I had never heard of…

It seemed they had successfully moved my memories into a special body.

In the end, humans made artificial humans… amazing.

It seemed there was a neural AI chip embedded and the body abilities were excellent.

Nevertheless, it felt like a pure body with no implants at all, which was amazing.

It was a situation where my mouth would drop at what kind of monster they made, but,

“So where am I…”

I was alone in the world I had never seen before, carrying this amazing new body.

First, I left the suffering guys and exited the alley next to the orphanage to the street.

After all, I was about to leave the orphanage soon, and I had messed up a job, so there was no reason to stay there anymore.

If I went back, it would just cause unnecessary trouble… I didn't want to deal with troublesome things.

After my head was somewhat organized and I had obtained the second life, I had one goal.

This life was to live normally.

The absurd traffic accident from the first life… the harsh cyberpunk life from the second life…

My wish was to live a bit normally and then die.

I was tired of playing big shots now.

Of course, there was something I had to do first…

- gurgle

How long had it been since I ate bread, and I was already hungry.

Was this special body having fast digestion…?

But I had no money or anything now.

It seemed I should prioritize survival over learning about the world…

While I was wondering if I should do some manual labor, a piece of paper blew in the wind at my feet like fate.

- whoosh~

I picked up the paper that caught my eye and read it.

“Mercenary unit recruitment… another recruitment flyer… wait… lodging provided…?”

This was it!

If I became a mercenary, I would naturally get information by solving various incidents.

I could also solve lodging and earn some money.

It was the collection of all the things I needed most right now.

Even in the previous life, I did the grueling mercenary life, but it was a bit off-putting.

But now, there was no time bomb in my head, and I could work leisurely.

I immediately moved to the location written on the flyer.

Just one year, one year only. Gather money and information, settle in a rural village, and start a happy life.

**

“Hey~ Klein, tell me any story.”

“I’ll tell you the legendary tale of Cyber City.”

“That’s already been told dozens of times… anyway, done.”

…

Boring.

Even in a fantasy world, if you’re a mercenary, you receive requests, hunt monsters, or solve incidents, right?

Six months into the mercenary group.

I was doing gatekeeper duty in a small village on the border.

The mercenary group… no, if it's like this, change the name to subcontractor…

As soon as I joined the mercenary group, I took a test that wasn't even special,

“Hey, new guy! You're pretty smart. Your calculations are very accurate… There’s a job that fits you perfectly.”

“Are you in charge of the mercenary group's finances?”

“No… It's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a very important job. It can be said to be our mercenary group's main source of income.”

After saying that, I was assigned the same gatekeeper role as the other new guys.

If that's the case, what was the point of the test…

But it had some advantages.

It was near the southernmost border of the kingdom, far from the Demon Realm, so it was peaceful enough to be boring.

It was just looking at the neighboring country's fields blankly.

Although there were enemies, they paid money, and in a small border village with not too big or small mercenary group members, I could hear some information about this world, so I wasn't particularly dissatisfied.

“Haaah.”

But the biggest problem was overcoming this boredom.

“Klein, what are you going to do with the money you save?”

At the moment of boredom, Wilhelm, the senior who was next to me again, spoke up.

He was a kind person who helped me from the beginning of my mercenary life by telling me common sense I didn't know and various stories.

“Just buy a house in a small village and become a lumberjack or something.”

“What? A man should have big dreams! When you're around the same age, you're going to cause a big fuss trying to become a hero once.”

Heroes… In this world, it's been a long time since the conflict with the Demon Realm, and heroes appear once in a while.

Because of money and achievements, one representative pops out in every neighborhood like a local specialty.

So, it's a trend for kids my age to become heroes and aim for instant wealth.

Becoming a hero has many good points, like royal support and status in the region.

But he said he hadn't seen the Demon King's face for a long time.

In the end, it's just a small elite suicide commando unit that invades the Demon Realm?

Because my motto in this life is to live peacefully and safely, I had long since disappeared from interest.

“I prefer peaceful things~”

“Yeah, you've been consistent from the beginning to now… well, I earn money and give it all to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my family, so there's not much difference, haha!”

After exchanging trivial stories with my senior Wilhelm, today's peaceful gatekeeper day passed.

It was clearly peaceful as usual, but an incident happened without warning.

“Run!!!!”

The guard with a face full of blood ran desperately to the gate.

He ran straight to us and shouted while panting for breath.

“Run!! The Empire! The Empire's army is coming!!”

The peace was shattered in an instant.