E3 Chapter 12

: Regret

[N POV]

"WAAAAAAAAAAA!" The yell of madness reverberated throughout the dark place.

The boy holds a toddler’s lifeless body while filled with blood pouring from his wounds. The surrounding area was filled with gore and blood.

As he continued to cry, the boy then lifelessly stood and moved towards a clean place within the dungeon.

There, tombs were erected.

Each of them had a name and a death year. It can be seen that every tomb erected there was of toddlers.

Not one of the tombs had a period of more than 5 years. Which means, those that died and were buried below didn’t age more than 5 years old.

"I failed… I’m failing.. Ah... " The boy's body stays haggard as his lifeless eyes search for a scope to dig a hole for the lifeless toddler.

He continues to dig deeper into the ground lifelessly.

As he dug 8 meters deep underground, he put the toddlers’ lifeless bodies within the hole and covered them.

So he plopped on the ground without tending to his injuries. Blood was still flowing from those injuries as the deep meat was carved from his body.

Lying lifelessly on the ground, he slowly loses consciousness and becomes paler every second.

The blood slowly covered the clean area as the blood scent permeated the surrounding area. Monsters within the dungeon started to gather towards that place.

As they saw the bloodied Claude, they started to assault the boy. munching the boy’s body without caring about anything.

Thus, he ended his life.

…

..

.

[Claude POV]

It’s a rare dream. It’s been several years since I received the memory inside my head.

Yes, I’m not a reincarnated person like Rudeus is. Unlike him, who knew everything when he was a baby, I'm a Miko who is still unaware of the power that resides within him.

When do I realize it?

It’s been 2 years since I received that memory. I can feel the incongruity within the memory, like I don’t remember my own age. Then, there was the fact that 2 things happened within a day, like the time I watched Mushoku Tensei. It occurs at the same time as the journal meeting I lead.

From the start of the event, I already understood that the memories inside were too much for a person to have. I mean, I was still 5 at that time. After 2 years of processing the memories, I started to understand the world more. Then, another memory of me being a civil worker entered my brain.

Yes, they are mine, but not strictly mine.

By the memory I read of watching Mushoku Tensei, those like me are called Miko.

The ability allows me to receive memories of myself from another future or another timeline.

What does that mean?

It means there’s a multiverse in this world.

The main universe was from the film, as this one would be another different universe.

However, every universe that sent their memory to me had a bad ending where they died in the teleportation incident.

Or later..

I am the original, while others like Rudeus. They are reincarnated individuals who use my body after my mind shuts down somehow.

The fastest person to die is the one who watched Mushoku Tensei, followed by the person that had knowledge of all kinds of fighting techniques, and then the one that learnt psychology.

Thus, as the day followed, memories filled my brain continuously.

As I could only gather bits and pieces, more would vanish from my head as days passed.

However, their feelings of grief and regret stay inside this tiny chest of mine.

It is etched deeply in my soul, so much so that my body always moves by itself.

Each of the three lives is short but deeply etched within their soul. Their inability to save the villagers creates the power of Miko residing within me, and the world that should continue to sacrifice humans in this incident started to revolve to a better end.

I hope so.

Can I create a better future for the people within the village?

I wonder about that, but these regrets sent to me

I wish I could never feel them again in my mind. Let the bleak future be something the past feels.

…

..

As I woke from the melancholy, I washed my body and started my daily exercise.

"Move! Move your body!"

I said while shouting at the toddlers. I can’t save them all without them training themselves.

While the toddler was doing an essential exercise while playing tag, the others my age and above were challenged by me.

I make fun of them, treat them with contempt, and try to enrage them, then beat them by a small margin to make them want to be better and deal with my better performance the next day.Those that refuse to fight with me will be beaten till they start to fight back.

No matter where you hide, you can’t run from me.

This is a small village; the parents all know me. Knowing what I do will make their children better. They didn’t stop me.

Well, I bribe them with something or another to turn their heads away from my bullying.

which was a traumatic experience for the children.

I only have one month left, and I will do everything I can to prepare the kids.

Each one of them was trained to at least be able to beat a ragtag group of goblins in the outside world.

They need to be able to defend themselves at least.

The toddlers are trained to run at least 5 km without a break, and the boy was taught to beat the goblins at least.

As a result, they increase their chances of survival.

As I continued to create more weapons, I gave myself more time to increase my enchantment, thus allowing more daggers with better performance. Leaving it to the boys and girls for their safekeeping, they either defend themselves against the goblins or humans.

As I trained them rigorously, I also don’t forget to instill cautiousness within the kids’ minds.

Always use doubt in an emergency. Never lower your guard against strangers.

As a result, I learned to mimic spells in order to change my form and disguise myself as someone else.

…

..

.

[N POV]

"...

I hope my letter arrived safely, and please take care of Mother, Lilia, Aisha, and Norn too... Paul, you better take care of my little sisters well, or I will smack you in the head!

Yours truly, Rudeus "

"Hey, I didn’t read the last part before!" Paul complained to Claude that he had read the letter.

"What? You don’t believe me now, Paul? " Claude retorts at the mistrust Paul gave him.

"Oops, my son just called me Paul! He got cheekier by the day!" Paul complained about what Rudeus said in the letter.

"Yessss! He’s an exact copy of yours! Right? " Claude said so, as he mocked his combat teacher in front of their family.

The ladies chuckle at my words and stare at Paul in pity.

He can’t deny my statement since he was worse than Rudeus is. Just look at Lilia...

"Sigh... It pained me when you said that Rudeus’s bad habits were my inheritance. I hope my daughter won’t be like me. " Paul expressed his disappointment by lowering his shoulders slightly.

"Well, I can see a future where Rudeus actually had 3 wives, though. So, he’s better than you in a way..." Claude said this while trying to appear unconcerned, and received glares from Zenith, the Millis religion believer.

"Tomorrow is the 22nd day of the 11th month, right? I hope your gift will safely arrive there...." Claude said, sending his well-meant words to the family.

"Yeah... Sylphy also gave him one, though. I must thank you for the drawing you gave us... Aisha and Norn took a liking to it... " Zenith said, thanking Claude for the picture he drew when he visited Roa with Mike.

"Well, he’s weaker than I expected. Though I’m somehow disappointed, my fight with Ghislaine makes me better. " Claude said, boasting to his teacher about how weak his son is.

"Haha, you freak sure is outrageous… when I thought my child was already a monstrous prodigy, someone even better suddenly shows up in front of me. sigh.. this old bone is hurting... " Paul complained about it, but he didn’t really expect that Claude had already overcome the son he always thought the best.

"Hah, that’s why you should train more and have less time with the ladies in your early days." Claude said, while asserting his thoughts on the wrong ways of Rudeus and Paul’s habits.

He sighed dejectedly, unable to deny Claude’s accusations. While Lilia and Zenith will surely doubt him, they know that Claude is a monster in his own right.

The preparation was all done. I hope the day after tomorrow will not come and our practice will be wasted...

I genuinely hope so.

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[Edited 26/06/2022]

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