Chapter 1: Sacrifice And Reincarnation
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I sneaked into the underground hideout of the bandits that night, accompanied by four other kids my age. We had been tailing these bastards ever since they took everything away from us.
Our village was raided by the scum of this world. They killed people indiscriminately, and most of the men that tried to defend us died. Unsurprisingly, they caught most of the women, enslaving them in the process. That night, I was wounded by one of them when I tried to avenge my father. I fell unconscious, and after considering I was dead, they left me behind.
But I didn’t die, you bastards.
My face was scarred, and I also lost my left eye due to it. Unfortunately for you guys, my right eye can see just fine, enough sight to let me slit your throats…
Sigh… Mom… Sister…
“Are you ready?”
A blonde girl of my age asked me this question.
…..
“I am. Let’s do it.”
We saw the bandits celebrate outside their caravan, most of them more or less drunk. We bade our time for the perfect opportunity to retaliate, and eventually, it came to us.
The night was dark, but they had fires lit to give them some light… however, it was definitely not enough.
We sneaked through the shadows as I found my first victim, a lonely bandit. I grabbed my dagger and leaped over his back just as they taught me to do this.
Slash!
“Grueeggh-”
I covered his mouth before he could make another sound and slashed his throat. His body turned limp a few seconds later.
One down.
I sneaked into the caravan he was protecting, finding four slaves caged. They looked at me with surprise.
“Don’t say a word,” I whispered. Everyone nodded in response as I took out my lockpick, trying to open their cages as fast as possible.
One by one, the slaves stealthily ran into the forest as I made sure no bandit was looking in their direction. After that, I looked at the other side. My partners were doing the same, with four other bandits lying dead below the carriages. The slaves inside were in the process of being freed.
We wouldn’t be able to do this if it wasn’t thanks to teacher. Teacher taught us how to fight, even if we were small and weak. Teacher taught us how to kill… and to never forgive the scumbags of this world.
Unfortunately, our plan wasn’t perfect. Eventually, a bandit noticed us from afar and alerted the rest.
Shit.
I ran towards the last caravan while the other four began to distract them. And there they were. Nasty, rugged, wearing rags, and even slimmer than when I last saw them. Looking at them a bit more, their eyes seemed tired.
My mom and my sister…
“Mom… Cecilia…”
They looked at me, but couldn’t properly recognize me. My entire face was horrible after all. But my voice… my mother recognized it. Even after 2 years since then…
“Luna…?”
“It’s me… I finally found you…”
There was no time for hugs. I had to free them! Quickly!
I took the lockpick, a special magic item that teacher gave to us. They had the ability to open locks with ease through the use of the Unlock Spell. I was talentless at magic, but even this spell could be learned after two years of practicing. It was just some basic no-attribute magic, after all.
Clack!
I freed the slaves, including my mother and my sister, their eyes flowing with tears as they hugged me tightly.
“Big sis… Sniff… I never thought I would see you again!”
“I missed you so much… Luna… I-I thought… you were dead…”
“No… I came back… I promised you that I would… enough, we have to go!”
My mother and sister nodded in agreement as they crawled out of the carriage.
FLASH!
CLASH!
Suddenly, an arrow appeared right beside us, barely missing my head as it hit the carriage instead.
They had archers this good?!
“Escape! Quickly!”
“B-But…!”
“Don’t worry about me!”
My mother gritted her teeth as she grabbed my 6-year-old little sister, soon running into the forest with the rest of the slaves.
I saw two corpses of my allies in the ground. The bandits were stronger than us, and definitely had more numbers than us. Two down already… and they, like me, had also come to free their families.
Goddammit! I have to stay here. If I run away, they’ll chase us down. I have to buy time.
FLASH!
Another arrow soon came and I evaded it. In response, three bandits rushed towards me, all three of them wielding axes.
“You bitch!”
“You know how much those slaves cost?”
“Your shitty body ain’t gonna sell for that much!”
I grabbed my daggers tightly, and soon, I shrouded myself in mana.
FLASH!
I leaped towards the one in front of me, evading his axe before using it as support. Then, I jumped over it and his face as I moved behind him… and slashed his throat.
One down.
The other two were left aghast by the sight. I used the opportunity to kill them even swifter than before. I jumped over the one in the left and kicked his face. Using my dagger, I stabbed him in the forehead. He died instantly.
Two down.
The last one began to tremble as he slashed his weapon against me. I barely evaded the hit and gave him a heel sweep in retaliation. In response, he fell over his butt and that was the end of him as my dagger slashed his throat. I grabbed his shield and defended myself from the upcoming arrow.
CLASH!
Who’s firing them?!
I looked around the carriages and found two guys with bows pointed at me. The two other members in my party were desperately fighting off several bandits at once. I could leave them to die here while they distract the rest and reunite with my family once more.
But I can’t. They’re my friends, my brothers. I grew up and trained alongside them. With that in mind, I rushed to help them out. However, a bandit with a spear noticed me, throwing the spear he held at me.
I used the shield to block it, but the spear got stuck and the shield broke. Shitty garbage equipment. The bandit ran away after that, but I jumped over him and stabbed his head with my dagger three times in a row. As his body dropped to the ground with a shriek of agony, I jumped towards my next target.
FLASH!
Sadly, an arrow reached me this time, piercing my back and my left lung.
Fuck.
Doesn’t matter, teacher has countless arrow scars. I’ll be fine, I just have to bear with the pain!
“Luna! Why are you here?!”
“I’m not leaving you behind, Antonia!”
“You’re crazy! Go with your family!”
“Albert, we’ll stick together! We’re also family!”
“You…”
Seeing as there was no way they could sway me, we teamed up and began to massacre the bandits, but they were stronger and had more numbers, way more than three kids for sure. Even though I blocked the upcoming arrows as they came, it was apparent that Antonia and Albert were exhausted. Their mana reserves had already gone down, and they were feeling a headache creeping up.
However, thanks to our distraction, the bandits had all their attention on us. We were doing a great job, teacher.
I moved swiftly as I slashed through the bandits, their muscular bodies couldn’t even defend against the strong mithril daggers.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
CLASH!
I killed one by slashing through his head, but another hit me in the back with a sword. A wound in my back emerged as blood splattered everywhere.
“I finally got you bitch-GEEEGGH?!”
However, that wasn’t going to kill me.
…..
I used my legs, sweeping them as I made him fall. Then, I leaped over his face like a wild beast and started to repeatedly stab him in the face.
Die!
“Luna!”
Antonia and Albert were barely hanging on. They were getting pushed into the forest.
That’s good.
“I’m going to do it! Run!”
“W-What? Are you crazy?!”
“Why do you think teacher left this inside our chests?!”
“But it’s only for emergencies… We can only use it when… when… when we’re sure to die!”
“Shut the fuck up and go!”
I roared like a mad wolf. In response, the two kids grit their teeth, tears starting to stream out of their eyes.
“Please, take care of my family.”
After that, the two ran away without saying a word as two bandits ran behind them. I’m sure they could handle two of them.
The other bandits slowly approached me as they left. I had settled fire around me by taking the torches they had. With the ground having very dry grass, it was easy to make a wall of fire, just as teacher taught me.
“You want to kill me, you bastards? Come closer…”
“You whore!”
“I’m gonna have some fun with you before I kill you!”
“Grab her, quickly! She can barely stand!”
As they slowly approached me, I smile in response.
I infused mana into the crystal in my chest, a special crystal named a Mana Core Bomb. Assassins had one of these to take out their lives before being captured. If you infused mana into it until it’s about to crack, it would blow you up into bits, alongside anyone around you.
“Go fuck yourselves.”
BOOOM!!!
A searing pain enveloped me as the explosion consumed almost all the bandits with it. My entire body was torn apart as my consciousness quickly faded away into nothingness.
At least… I managed to see them one last time.
I was ready to lay my life today.
I’m sorry, teacher…
.
.
.
“Congratulations, you have been chosen for reincarnation.”
A sudden voice awakened me from my eternal slumber. Soon, I found myself in a completely white space. Then, I looked around. I even looked at my own self, but I saw nothing. I couldn’t see anybody either other than pure white.
“Oh right. I guess you want an image of myself…”
Flash!
Out of nowhere, a tall bearded man greeted me.
“Who the fuck are you? Where am I?”
“Isn’t it easy to guess? Haven’t you ever read… isekai novels?”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Hmm?”
The man suddenly examined me before finally understanding.
“Ooh…wait, you’re not from Earth?!”
“I’m not… where is that?”
“I think I’ve committed a grave mistake! I brought the wrong person! Oh no!”
The man began to walk around nervously, thinking about what to do.
The wrong person?
“W-Well, your karma count is incredibly high. You have such a large amount of positive karma that it’s outstanding… however, I committed a mistake. I was going to reincarnate a competent Japanese high school student… damn.”
“What? Japanese? Is that some type of food?”
“You really are not from Earth. Ugh, my elders are going to kill me if they know about this bug…”
“Who are you calling a bug?!”
“T-This… haah… well, I can’t really change it anymore. I’ll bring another one even if it means I have to use more energy. And uh… about you… er… head to that world as well, I guess? Here, take this at the very least. I think this one is flawed, but even a flawed system should help you. It’s the first one I created.”
The man made of white light then handed me something resembling a cube made of silver. It suddenly entered my own faceless head and disappeared. Not long after, a strange shock of electricity covered my whole body.
“W-What the hell did you just give me?!”
“To see your stats down there, just say ‘Status’… anyways, see ya. Be a good girl and don’t interfere with the future hero… bye.”
FLASH!
And just like that, I was gone.
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I felt as if I finally had a body, but it was drowning in a strange and gooey liquid.
Ugh, what the fuck is going on? Where am I right now? I remember that the man said something about reincarnation. Was I going to reincarnate?! Am I a baby inside a mother’s womb, then?
This is… certainly something that… ugh… I feel sleepy.
.
.
.
I don’t know how long time has passed. But when I gained consciousness once more, I was being pulled out of my liquid prison. It was tight and tough to do, but someone grabbed my head and pulled me out. The first thing I saw was the face of a youthful man with short red hair and blazing orange eyes.
“Ooh! She’s a girl!” he said, kissing my forehead.
What…?
“Let me see her…”
Suddenly, I was dragged into a woman. She seemed beautiful, radiant even. Her hair was long and blonde. Also, her ears were pointy, her eyes emerald, green, and her skin pale white.
“So beautiful… look, she has your hair color and my eyes… plus she’s a half-elf. Those pointy ears cannot lie to me… fufufu… welcome to this world, Sylph.”
I guess she’s my mother…
And I guess… I have reincarnated.
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