The Promise of the Afterlife and My Second Life in Arcadia
Once, dying was something ordained for humans, and after that came judgment.
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Death had been surprisingly quiet.
No screams, no thrashing in pain, no regrets at the final moment.
But
*Haa... there are still so many yuri characters I never managed to route...*
I had been madly obsessed with that game right up until the moment I died.
The game I was talking about was the open-world medieval fantasy title .
It featured the usual cast—Demon King, hero, saint, emperor, and so on—and it was the standard medieval setting.
Still, thanks to its beautiful art style and high freedom, it had become hugely popular, and among the many players who chased unusual routes, I was one of them.
Rather than empty, I was simply calm. Like the countless days of repetition I had lived through, I slowly closed my eyes without any lingering attachment.
That was the last moment I remembered.
Once, dying was something ordained for humans, and after that came judgment.
'What?'
A strange voice echoed from the darkness.
Soon after, with a metallic clank, something began to move.
It was a scale.
It seemed to have weighed my sins on one side and my good deeds on the other.
A long silence.
Then the voice spoke again.
"Your sins are by no means light."
'…….'
"But."
A small question slipped into the voice for the first time.
"Even though you've shouldered so many sins, why is the other side of your scale so heavy?"
I couldn't answer.
"Even the small help you gave someone, the hand you didn't turn away, to you it must have been nothing more than something ordinary."
A brief silence fell.
"You didn't expect anything in return, didn't hope for gratitude."
'…….'
"You simply reached out your hand when you saw someone in front of you looking troubled."
A low, quiet voice echoed in the darkness.
"Those countless moments you considered unimportant, to my eyes they were never small."
"You have shown mercy to countless people."
The voice grew softer after a moment.
"So this time I will show you mercy."
At that moment, the darkness before my eyes flooded with light.
"Go back and live again from the place you longed for most."
The moment those words faded, a flash of light.
And when I opened my eyes once more—
*Ugh... it's so bright...*
"Kyaa..."
A strange sound escaped my throat.
'Where... where am I?'
My brain hadn't yet fully processed what lay before me, but what was even more bewildering was the fact that I couldn't form words properly.
I quickly looked around.
A strange ceiling.
A strange voice.
And a strange woman holding me in her arms and smiling happily.
'......Is this a reincarnation into another world...?'
I tried to move my body.
But it wouldn't obey.
My arms, my legs, even my voice felt foreign, as if they weren't my own.
At that moment, the first thing I noticed was a small, delicate hand.
'......Wait.'
Instinctively, I checked below me.
There was nothing.
'......What?'
For a second my mind went blank.
'......Me, a girl?'
"Your name is Cecilia. Hehe, Cecilia Arzenhart."
Cecilia?
That was a girl's name.
I couldn't speak for a while.
A moment later
'Live again from the place you longed for most.'
No way... for real?
Only then did I realize.
I had been reincarnated as the character Cecilia Arzenhart, the one in the game that was the hardest to route.
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[Arcadia Empire Year 515]
Clang! Kaaaaang!
"Wah, Miss! Just a moment, ow!"
Ka-ka-ka-ka!
"Wait, wait a sec! Eeeek, save me!"
Keng! Ujijik!
After the brutal clash, the opponent's wooden practice sword clattered to the floor.
"Kek... keheok... I yield, I yield..."
"How is it? You've gotten a lot stronger, haven't you?"
It had been fifteen years since I had obtained my second life as a woman. Right now, I had just finished a sparring match with Elysia, my personal maid and swordsmanship instructor.
"Kek... hah... *sigh*... Miss is too mean. This is abuse, isn't it?"
Looking at Elysia, whose cheeks were puffed out like a squirrel, I smiled faintly and sheathed my sword.
"Hehe. It's all thanks to how well you taught me, Unni."
"You speak so well! Anyway, I lost!"
Elysia slumped to the floor and gasped for breath.
"I won, right?"
"Are you boasting about it so proudly now?"
"Yes."
"...Haa. I never imagined this would happen when Miss first picked up a sword."
It was only natural. This body was the owner of overwhelming talent destined to become the head of the Empire's Knight Order in the future.
Elysia stared at the blunt wooden sword lying on the floor with a dazed expression and muttered.
In the original game, Cecilia Arzenhart had always been a pure noble lady like a flower in a greenhouse, receiving the love of all because she knew nothing of the world's realities.
And I was still perfectly playing that role.
Even though I had hidden a monster's swordsmanship behind the mask of that pure yuri-like lady.
On the surface, I was still just the delicate noble daughter of a duke's house who could be broken at the slightest touch.
"Miss's hands are so delicate, yet how ruthlessly you wield a sword..."
Elysia, still sitting on the floor, looked up at me and rubbed her arm with her hand.
Deep admiration shone in the eyes of her teacher gazing at her student.
"Ouch."
Elysia rubbed her elbow with her other hand and grumbled.
"Huh? Did you get hurt somewhere?"
I knelt in front of her. Then, gently grasping her arm, I slid my fingertip over the reddened area.
"Let me see... Oh, it's really swollen and red."
'......'
As my clumsy touch reached her arm, Elysia widened her eyes like a startled rabbit and covered her blushing cheeks.
"If you keep this up I'll cry. Here, blow on it—"
With a light breath, Elysia pulled her arm back in confusion.
"Ah, Miss...! I'm still a child, you know! I can do this myself!"
Her cute pout as she covered her red ears made me laugh playfully and lightly tap her cheek.
"...!!!"
"Pfft! You're acting so embarrassed? You'll burst! Come on. I'll apply ointment."
Laughing, I stood up and offered my hand. Elysia glanced at it, her ears turning scarlet, then reluctantly took it.
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We moved to the reception room and sat side by side on the sofa. I applied a soothing ointment to her swollen elbow and spoke in a calm voice.
"Elysia."
"Yes? Miss?"
"I'm going to join the Empire's Knight Order."
Unlike the original, I could have lived by swinging a sword around in peace, but I had no intention of wasting this overwhelming talent or just playing the noble daughter.
And more than anything, there was one person in the Knight Order that I had longed to meet for a very long time.
The hand rubbing ointment on her arm froze at my calm declaration.
After a moment, the Elysia who had frozen in place slowly lifted her head and looked at me. The embarrassment from moments ago was gone, replaced by a dense mix of confusion and bewilderment.
"K-Knight Order...? What are you saying all of a sudden, Miss!"
"It's not all of a sudden. I've been thinking about it for a long time."
"Nooo! What kind of place is that?! It's a brutal place full of beast-like men! Why would you, such a gentle and lovely Miss, go to a place like that!"
Elysia clutched the hem of my dress tightly and clung to me.
Her reaction was a bit extreme, but I lightly dismissed it as my usual 'overprotective dedicated maid's delusions' that worried about my well-being.
Since she had always been the one who supported me like a flower in a greenhouse, it was only natural that she would be terrified by the news of joining the Knight Order.
*My teacher is overprotecting again.*
But I didn't know.
That her eyes were no longer just worried, but shaken by excessive obsession and anxiety.
I secretly laughed inside and gently stroked her head with my palm.
"Why are you so restless? Are you worried I'll run away somewhere?"
"Running away isn't the issue! There are strong and talented men everywhere in the Knight Order, and if Miss goes there..."
I thought she was just like a mother worried about sending her child out into the world, worried something might happen to me in that place full of rough men, or that I'd get hurt in the fray.
"Even if Miss is better with a sword than I am, the world is wide and there are many strange people out there..."
In the end, Elysia cried out in frustration. It was almost a desperate scream to keep me away from her sight.
"I want to go with you too!"
"Huh? Elysia, you want to follow me?"
"Of course! Wherever Miss goes, I'll stay by your side like a shadow. Do you really think you can send me away alone?"
Elysia raised her chin with a determined expression and strongly asserted her right.
She looked like a fierce beast growling to not be taken away, or an extremely devoted protector who would do anything to stay in my arms.
But I lightly waved away her ambitious plan and firmly refused.
"No. Elysia has to stay in the duchy."
"Huh? What? Miss, what did you just say?"
Elysia's eyes widened in shock.
"The Knight Order isn't the duke's duchy. And it's impossible under the regulations to begin with."
The Empire's Knight Order required new members to join as commoners, without personal attendants or maids, to prevent noble descendants from bringing their own subordinates and using underhanded methods to enjoy easy military life or bringing in all kinds of supplies.
Personal servants or maids were absolutely forbidden.
"But...! How can you do combined swordsmanship training without any attendants?!"
"Don't worry. Do you really think I'm still the fragile Miss who needs worrying over?"
I shook my head and smiled.
"Miss...! You're leaving me behind? That's so mean!"
Elysia cried out and grabbed my sleeve tightly.
Her expression, on the verge of tears, made my heart soften for a moment, but I coldly pulled her hand away and lightly tapped her head.
"Elysia, be strong. I'm not going away forever, right? I'll come visit sometimes."
Of course, I would become the head of the Knight Order and spend the rest of my life there.
"Hic..."
"Don't cry. I'll write you periodic letters, and every vacation I'll return to the duchy first."
In the end, Elysia bit her lip with a pained and sorrowful expression and lowered her head.
Putting aside that pitiful reaction, I calmly organized my plans for the future in my head.
The Cecilia Arzenhart from the original game had been a pure noble lady whose gentle, pitiful smile made everyone want to protect her.
That was the Cecilia people remembered.
And I intended to wear the mask of the 'pure noble lady' from the original perfectly inverted.
Right after joining, there was one person I had desperately wanted to meet.
Among the many routeable characters, the single one I had never managed to route.
—Rhea Astelia.
In the original, with her cold personality and flawless swordsmanship, she was called the 'Mad Dog of the Knights' and was an unroutable character who didn't open her heart to anyone.
She was also the main NPC who troubled the protagonist's party.
"Alright, then..."
I walked to the window and quietly looked up at the night sky of the duchy.
*I'm looking forward to it.*
I was already excited to see what shape Rhea would show on this new stage, the Empire's Knight Order.
With the mask of the pure noble firmly in place, I smiled softly.
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