The Blind Beggar
“Finally… I can sleep….”
The body of the woman in black on the monitor turned into light and began to fade away. As her form vanished completely, the screen went dark and the ending credits began to roll.
“Whew! I finally got her!”
Watching the credits, I let out a sigh filled with satisfaction. “That was a long battle….”
The Saintess Searches for the Hero at the Academy.
Commonly known as Saintess Hero. It was an RPG based on a female-oriented romance fantasy novel. Originally, it was meant to be a romance simulation game, but during development, the combat system—which was intended to be a side feature—grew in importance until the genre was completely overhauled into an RPG.
At first, people doubted whether a game based on a romance novel could succeed as an RPG, but the result was a massive hit! With an absurdly high level of freedom, a thrilling combat system, and the flashy art style characteristic of romance fantasy, it became a masterpiece loved by both female and male players alike.
The developers, sensing the momentum, didn't stop there. They released everything from a "Hero Mode" aimed at male players to a "Custom Mode" where you could create your own character. It boasted a quality that made it hard to believe it was based on a romance novel, and it successfully established itself as a legendary game that swept every award that year.
I had been hooked on Saintess Hero for two years, riding that wave of popularity. And today, I finally reached the end of that long journey.
In truth, I had cleared the main "Saintess Mode" and "Hero Mode" long ago, but… the female character who had just fallen on the screen—the villainess, Iolet Dranice—had blocked my path, forcing me to repeat the battle over and over for months.
Iolet is a character who only appears as a hidden boss in Custom Mode. In the main modes, she’s just a standard villainous noble who gets in the way of the hero and saintess, but for some reason, in Custom Mode, she appears as a hidden boss with stats so broken they surpass the Demon King, the game's final boss.
With an endless supply of mana, she spammed high-damage area-of-effect attacks that swept the entire field like she was breathing, and whenever she felt like it, she’d trigger instant-death attacks. She boasted patterns like the ultimate boss a grade-schooler would imagine.
It had been two years since the game's release, and the boss was so notoriously difficult that not a single person had posted proof of defeating her! Because of this, the community had concluded that Iolet wasn't a boss the developers ever intended for players to beat.
But I had beaten her!
The last few months flashed through my mind like a revolving lantern. Aside from the time I spent working, I had spent every waking moment trying to figure out Iolet's patterns. It was only after I started seeing her in my dreams that I was finally able to clear it.
Just as I was basking in the afterglow of my victory, the screen changed.
Amazing Feat!
You have defeated the great evil that no one else could overcome!
A new possibility awakens.
The trait Sword Saint has been unlocked!
“Sword Saint!?”
As I mentioned, Saintess Hero is a game that boasts incredible freedom. Thanks to thousands of jobs and traits, players could play in any direction they wanted. However, among those countless options, there was no Sword Saint.
With the Hero and Saintess already present, many players had guessed that the Sword Saint—a staple of fantasy—must be hidden as a secret piece, but no one had ever succeeded in finding it.
“I can’t believe the unlock condition for Sword Saint was to beat the hidden boss… that’s way too hardcore!”
My mouth was complaining, but my body was honest. I had already started a new game and entered Custom Mode.
How could I resist? I had already mastered every build there was, and just when I thought I might have to put the game down after finally beating the hidden boss, a new trait—and a Sword Saint one at that—appeared!
Normally, I would have taken my time with character design, but right now, my mind was solely focused on checking the information for the Sword Saint trait. I randomly generated a character design and quickly skipped to the trait window to select it.
“Alright, let’s see what we’ve got….”
You have been loved by the sword.
“Huh? That’s it?”
Usually, when you select a trait, it’s normal to get a detailed explanation of the bonuses or effects it provides, but the Sword Saint trait ended with that one strange sentence. Looking at this alone, I couldn't tell what kind of power it possessed.
“Can’t be helped. I’ll just have to give it a try!”
I figured I’d understand it better once I played. Even though I was exhausted from hours of boss battles, the rush of dopamine wiped away all my fatigue. I pressed the start button with a pounding heart.
At that moment.
Flash!
“Ahhh!”
An intense light erupted from the monitor, filling my vision. At the same time, my consciousness began to fade.
Through my blurring vision, a line of text on the monitor caught my eye.
> The 'World' reacts to the appearance of an existence that shakes the flow of destiny.
> has been bestowed upon you.
> Infinite blessings to you as you begin your new adventure.
When I came to, what I saw—no, what I felt—was pitch-black darkness.
At first, I thought I had been kidnapped and taken somewhere dark. But that wasn't it.
I was just… blind.
When I first realized I had gone blind, I fell into a massive panic. The act of "seeing," which I had taken for granted my entire life, was gone, and the terror was overwhelming… For the first time in my life, I didn't care about who was watching; I just sat there, trembling and weeping uncontrollably.
After crying for a long time and finally calming down, I began to grasp the situation. The emptiness below my waist, the swelling in my chest.
“…No way.”
I tried to deny reality for a moment, but nothing changed. I just wanted to play a game, but not only was I blind… it seemed my gender had changed, too.
A month since I became a woman.
I had managed to figure out where I had ended up. It seemed to be a fantasy world with a civilization roughly equivalent to the Middle Ages. Listening to the conversations of people passing by, I’d often hear mentions of mages or knights, so I was certain.
And what was I doing in this fantasy world? …
“Oh… someone threw away half-eaten bread. Lucky!”
I was busy rummaging through a trash can. Yes, in a fantasy world where mages and knights ran wild, I was playing the role of a beggar.
Tap. Tap.
I hurriedly hid the bread I found in the trash in my clothes, then struck the ground with the stick I held in one hand. Using the sound reflecting off the surroundings, I roughly mapped out the terrain and hid my body between some abandoned wooden crates.
In the beginning, when I first went blind, even taking a single step was a chore, but as time passed, I became capable of things like this. Echolocation, was it? It was easy enough to understand: I made a sound and sensed the echoes bouncing off walls or objects to figure out the terrain.
I had read on the internet once that people who lose a sensory organ sometimes develop a "compensatory organ," where other senses become abnormally heightened. I thought it was fascinating at the time, but I never imagined I’d actually experience it myself….
Still, because I could do this, I was able to rummage through trash cans.
Munch, munch.
“At least I’m not starving today.”
Honestly, I hadn't planned on living as a beggar from the start. But what could a blind woman possibly do in the Middle Ages? Especially without a family.
If I could have used magic, I might have been able to earn a living, but I couldn't even do that. After I naively went out into the streets and was nearly forced into prostitution by some shady people, I had been living as a beggar in the back alleys ever since.
“…I can’t live like this forever, though.”
It was a day-to-day existence, barely scraping by. I felt like I was stuck in a bottomless swamp. But it was also true that there was nothing I could do.
“Whew… I should just sleep. If I stay awake, I’ll get hungry faster.”
Turning away from the hopeless reality, I set my stick down and curled up. The sensation of the cold floor crawled up my back, but I was used to it by now. Whether I closed my eyes or kept them open, I couldn't see anything anyway.
Just as I was about to lose consciousness—
Tap.
“…?”
It was a very faint sound. But it pierced my ears clearly.
Tap, tap, tap-tap-tap!
Rough, hurried footsteps. Someone was running at full speed.
‘Someone entered the alley.’
I’d only been here for a month, but this back alley was practically my territory. I had mapped out the footsteps of everyone who usually came through here, but these were footsteps I’d never heard before.
‘They’re so light…?’
Tap, tap-tap!
The sound of feet kicking the ground roughly and urgently. It was one person.
No—
Footsteps following from behind. Two, three… there were more.
I needed to get out of the way. Whoever they were, running into people in a back alley was never a good thing. I quickly tapped my stick against the floor. The sound spread out and returned, painting the shape of the alley in my mind. Just as I was about to flee—
CRASH!
Something slammed into the wooden crate right next to me and toppled over.
“Hah, hah…!”
The ragged breathing of a young girl. And—
“Damn, she runs fast.”
A low, rough voice. “I’ll give the noble brat credit for her stamina.”
It was clear this was a situation I shouldn't get involved in. I pressed my body back against the floor and held my breath.
‘I am a rock! I am a rock!’
I thought maybe I could get away with it if I just stayed like this… but….
“Now that you’ve run here, this innocent beggar is going to die with you.”
With those words, I felt their gazes fixate on me.
‘Oh, seriously… my life.’