Prologue: The War Hero Who Forgot Everything
Dead, I woke up to a strange ceiling.
It was a pattern that was too obvious and clichéd, but I was reborn that way—in a fantasy world filled with magic that only existed in novels.
I had been born into an ordinary family, secretly practicing sword swings in the back mountains while dreaming of romantic adventures like a fantasy protagonist, training in secret all the while. Then, war broke out.
At the time, I was only fourteen years old. In this fantasy world where a commoner's life was worth less than a nobleman's meal, I was conscripted.
Just before the war, in the terror of possibly dying, I trembled while waiting for the conscription order. Then, a hypnotist appeared at each unit.
"For the kingdom! For your families! You must face forward and fight. I understand that you are afraid and scared! But even so, you must fight!"
After a boring and pedantic preamble, the conclusion boiled down to this: they had cast hypnosis on the conscripted soldiers to prevent them from even thinking of deserting.
Hearing that, I was honestly relieved. As a modern civilized person, the line between life and death had always seemed far too terrifying to me.
Instead, I figured I could participate as a war machine. If I was lucky, I'd win and survive; if unlucky, I wouldn't feel pain and could end my life beautifully. It was, after all, a perfect choice for me.
Staring at the hypnotist shaking coins left and right in front of me, thinking that it was too classical a method... my vision blurred as if I'd drunk too much, and the film cut off.
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"We won!! Long live the Leon Kingdom!!"
"Praise the war hero General Arthur!!"
And when I came to my senses, I was standing in a place declaring victory in war, with the heads of enemy commanders clutched tightly in both hands.
Eh?
It's not me, right? It's another Arthur?