Prologue: Death Came Without Warning
Death came without warning. Courtesy of the weakest monster there was—a horn rabbit.
"Ugh."
My stomach, pierced by the horn rabbit, throbbed with agony. I glanced around, hoping someone might help, but all I got were indifferent stares.
"Hey, check that guy out."
"No way he got stabbed by a horn rabbit, right?"
"Doesn't look that bad. Slap some salve on it and he'll be fine."
Here I was, dying, and they acted like it was nothing. It felt so unfair—but then I remembered that in this world, adventurers didn't die from a hole in their gut. They had potions and healing magic, miracle cures at their disposal.
Of course, that meant nothing to me, a transplant from another Earth.
Unfair.
Was the lack of mana really such a massive gap?
As pain and despair had me staring up at the sky, someone approached with heavy footsteps.
"Unbelievable."
It was a girl, her voice dripping with irritation. She was one of the top adventurers dispatched from an elite guild to protect newbie hunters.
"You know you're the famous homeless bum around here, right?"
"M-me...?"
Was I famous in the neighborhood? No one had ever talked to me before, so I wouldn't know.
"You're always causing trouble like this. If you've got no talent, go find another line of work."
"S-sorry..."
I wanted to find other work, but I had no ID. My mana-less body was far frailer than the locals', too. In the end, I had no choice but to scrape by in the Beginner Hunting Ground, open to anyone—and even that was hell for me.
It was unfair, but to survive, I needed her help. For now, all I could do was take the scolding in silence.
"P-please, h-help me..."
"Why do you keep pulling this? The guild can't bail you out every time."
"I'm really sorry..."
I lowered my eyes under her criticism. Maybe my submissive attitude pleased her, because the lecturing stopped.
"Sigh. Fine, let me check your condition first. You okay with that?"
"Y-yeah..."
I nodded weakly, and a translucent window bloomed from her fingertips. I'd heard that reading someone else's physical stats was an incredibly rare skill—and this girl right in front of me had it.
"A bit of bleeding."
She read off my info, then froze at one part. Her gaze was locked on the gender field.
"You're a girl?"
She looked genuinely shocked. I'd hidden it under ragged clothes caked in dirt, but now that it was out, I felt hollow.
Oh no...
I was too embarrassed to compliment myself, but my looks were angelic enough to turn heads. The problem? I had no home, no ID, no mana. Prime pickings for something horrific.
I knew how brutal people in this world could be, so I'd disguised myself as a boy just to stay alive.
"No wonder you seemed so androgynous..."
She muttered to herself and kept scanning. Then, as if on cue, both of us voiced our confusion at the same time.
"Eighth year?"
Where it should've said my age, there was this loaded phrase: eighth year. I'd put it there myself eight years ago, when I first arrived in this world. It made sense to me, but the girl in front of me clearly wasn't buying it.
"It says eighth year for age—what's that supposed to mean? You're not eight years old."
"I, e-eight..."
I'd lived in this world for eight years. I wanted to tell her that, but the pain in my gut was too much to speak. All I could manage was holding up eight fingers.
"N-not eight years old, right...?"
"E-eight y-years... *cough*."
Blood surged up my throat. It trickled down my chin, staining my shirt crimson.
"Ah..."
Was this really it? Was I going to die like this? My eyelids grew heavy, and as they closed, I heard the girl's frantic cry—one last time.
"You're not eight, right?! Right?!"