Ch.1
“Hey.”
The child raised his head at the call.
Covered in dirt and dust, the child had been rummaging through a corpse’s pockets.
“Hungry?”
Rebiatan asked. Instead of answering, the child’s blue eyes darted around.
His mouth twitched as if he wanted to say he was hungry, but he looked wary.
‘A wise choice.’
No matter how hungry you are, you shouldn’t come running up to a stranger.
But rummaging through a dead soldier’s pockets is a bit much, too.
“Eat.”
Rebiatan took out a piece of jerky and offered it.
“Step away from there first.”
It was difficult to keep watching the child standing near the gruesome corpse.
Even if this place was a bloody battlefield.
“He seems to have been Iosian.”
Looking at the dead man’s uniform, he had been a soldier of Iosian nationality.
Rebiatan plopped down on a pile of rubble and took out a cigarette from his coat.
Lighting it and exhaling smoke, the desolate surroundings came into view.
“I’m from the Empire. I won’t hurt you.”
He offered the piece of jerky again.
Each time he exhaled, long trails of smoke dispersed.
“The war’s over, too.”
The rigid child still wore a guarded expression.
A moment later, the child wriggled closer and accepted the food.
“…….”
“You should say thank you.”
At that, the child pressed his lips tightly together.
Up close, the child’s appearance was even more of a wreck.
His clothes were filthy beyond compare. What was he wearing? Rags?
Tsk. Rebiatan clicked his tongue.
His haphazardly cut hair and the scrawny wrists visible beneath shabby clothes—anyone could see he was a pitiful sight, one who hadn’t received an adult’s care.
But……
For some reason, the blue eyes looking up at him sparkled bizarrely bright.
“Forget it, forget it. Eat, hurry.”
Rebiatan roughly thrust the food at him.
The child bowed and bit off a small piece from the top. The teeth marks left on the hard jerky were tiny beyond compare.
He was a small child.
Perhaps six or seven?
‘Orphaned, I see.’
The village had been reduced to scorched earth by a raid of demonic beasts. Rebiatan hid his complicated feelings and exhaled a long stream of smoke.
“A cleanup unit will arrive soon, so eat and wait. Don’t go near the corpses. You’ll catch diseases.”
The wind changed direction. Rebiatan hurriedly stubbed out the cigarette.
He dusted the debris from the silver hair, and the child stared up at him intently.
‘Damn, what kind of eyes……’
So big and clear? Aren’t they about to spill over?
Rebiatan scratched the back of his head and stood up.
The moment he took a step, the child’s tightly sealed lips opened.
“Mister.”
A surprisingly clear voice.
“Mm.”
“Is the war really over?”
Rebiatan quietly looked down at the child.
“Yeah. It’s over.”
Only after saying it with emphasis did it finally feel real.
Ten years.
A full ten years.
The war between humans and demonic beasts.
Rebiatan had spent a full ten years on that battlefield.
But that was over now. Because he had killed the damned dark sorcerer who started this war.
All that remained was handling the remaining stragglers.
Just like wiping out the horde of demonic beasts that appeared in this village earlier.
But……
Rebiatan scanned the ruined village once more.
“Sorry.”
The child blinked his large eyes.
“For not arriving sooner.”
Rebiatan said as if brushing past, and took a step.
A cleanup unit would arrive soon anyway, so the child would be under their protection as well.
He intended to return to the Empire.
Then, he felt a weak grip on his coat hem.
“…….”
Turning back, that pair of eyes which had strangely weighed on his mind was looking up at him once more.
“……You want to follow me?”
Nod.
“It’s probably not a good choice. Still?”
Nod nod.
“Just in case, your parents…….”
Shake.
“……Other family?”
The child shook his head vigorously.
Unable to watch anymore, Rebiatan grabbed that small head.
“I got it, stop.”
“…….”
His own troubled reflection was visible in those transparent, clear eyes.
He ruffled his hair roughly with a hand.
“Ha, well…… As long as you’re not from the Magical Kingdom, I suppose it’s fine.”
The Magical Kingdom ‘Areukadia’ was a closed-off nation comprised solely of mages.
That country’s citizens could not migrate to other regions without the king’s permission.
Rebiatan let out a long sigh.
‘This is troublesome. He seems like a native of this village.’
But he could no longer turn away from those clear, sapphire-like eyes.
Nor the small hand clutching him like a lifeline.
Indeed.
What did nationality matter to a child who had lost his parents? It must have been no different from the entire world vanishing.
“Come here.”
Rebiatan scooped the child up. He was astoundingly light.
He placed the child on the warhorse that had been drinking water nearby.
Right. He had been feeling quite reluctant to leave the child in a place filled with nothing but corpses.
‘A leech has latched on.’
When he climbed on behind the child, he saw the small, thin shoulders flinch.
‘For now, I should take him to the Empire and find somewhere suitable to leave him.’
Anything was better than this place.
Clop, clop. The horse moved.
Rebiatan controlled their speed as carefully as possible.
“…….”
Warm body heat radiated from his chest against him.
The round crown of a head bobbing. Haphazardly cut silver hair sticking out in all directions. Lips chewing on the remaining jerky. Plump cheeks…… no chance. He was far too skinny.
‘Small for a boy.’
He had forgotten to ask the child’s age.
Well…… they would part ways eventually anyway, so it probably didn’t matter.
“Don’t eat while on horseback. You’ll bite your tongue.”
The child quickly stuffed the jerky away into his chest.
* * *
No matter how much I think about it…… it’s him, right?
It has to be, right?
“Stay back. Sparks will fly.”
That face.
“Why are you trembling so much? Cold?”
That tone.
“Wear this at least.”
The crest on this clothing!
I turned over the inside of the large military coat the man had draped over me.
Stitched into the lining of the deep navy blue allied forces uniform was a personal identification patch.
There was the emblem of the Bamilron Empire and—
‘The crest of House Jebeureuteu!’
As expected, this man is Rebiatan Jebeureuteu!
‘Huu……’
Somehow, tears welled up.
Because the hardships until now flashed through my mind like a lantern show.
So, the forgotten memories of my past life had surfaced in the middle of a damned battlefield.
That’s right. This was the world of a novel.
A war novel called
I had reincarnated as an extra not mentioned a single time in it.
Divided into Part 1 and Part 2, this novel dealt with the war between humans and demonic beasts.
And the male lead was, of course, the human right in front of my eyes.
None other than ‘The Hero,’ Rebiatan Jebeureuteu.
In the original story, right now was the ending of Part 1. Meaning, it was the point right after the First Human-Demon War had ended.
‘Because this very Rebiatan sliced through the dark sorcerer!’
A non-mage killing the continent’s greatest dark sorcerer. As expected of a man worthy of the title of Hero.
But the problem is.
‘This isn’t the end.’
What does Part 2 mean in a war novel?
It means a new war begins.
‘O Dark Sorcerer! Please be reborn and awaken the dignity of mages upon this land once more!’
Just like that insane line of dialogue, the King of the Magical Kingdom harbors wicked intentions and revives the dark sorcerer upon this land.
The reason the dark sorcerer could be revived and run rampant was none other than the fact that the protagonist of Part 1, the strongest being in the world, Rebiatan Jebeureuteu, had died suddenly.
‘(Omitted)—And thus the hero of the Human-Demon War, Rebiatan Jebeureuteu, died.
The continent was plunged into grief.
Taking advantage of that gap, the Magic King succeeded in summoning the dark sorcerer. The once-peaceful continent became ruins once more.
Then now.
Who shall be the one to plant the hero’s sword in this land again?
It was an insane ending.
Readers hurled all kinds of curses at the author’s incredible cliffhanger-rushing skills.
Ironically, thanks to the writing skills that skyrocketed and the characters who exploded with coolness in Part 2, the work was resurrected with titles like [Webnovel Author’s Current Status After Making a Deal with the Devil.jpg], but.
‘I’m a Part 1 character!’
A character who would obviously meet the cliff ending if left alone!
“Ehyoooo……”
Therefore, my conclusion was one.
I want to live. I’m sick of war, too.
To do that, I can’t let Part 1 end.
A peaceful ending must continue forever, forever. Which means……
“The ground will cave in, you filthy brat.”
That I can’t let that hero die!
‘But the problem is…… I can’t remember why Rebiatan dies!’
No matter how hard I racked my brain, the cause of his death wouldn’t come to mind.
Truthfully, I had rushed through the latter half, and because life here was so intense, memories of my past life had grown hazy.
But to forget the most important thing!
‘I have to find out why the male lead dies. To do that, I need to stick right to his side and watch.’
I looked down at my hand. A tiny child’s hand.
There was little a body like this could do.
So really, this was the only way.
“Mister.”
At my solemn voice, Rebiatan raised his eyes.
Perhaps because of his sharply upturned eyes, he looked like a ferocious predator that had just finished a meat meal.
‘When he closes his mouth, he really does look scary……’
But would I back down?
I am more afraid of the crazy author’s cliff ending. So don’t die and get to work, hero!
I relaxed every muscle in my face and spoke with the most harmless expression possible.
“Don’t you need a youngest at home?”
From war novel to slice-of-life. Let’s go.