.｡.:✧ Chapter 1 ✧:.｡.

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Ughhh….”

A strange heaviness weighed down my body.

But it was fleeting.

Whaack!

I jerked upright as a thought flashed through my head.

“…Where am I?”

“You’re awake.”

Startled, I turned my head quickly to find a middle-aged man in shabby attire staring at me.

“…And who are you?”

“I saw you lying in the woods and hurriedly brought you here.”

He exhibited an exceedingly cautious demeanor.

‘A Hunter?’

The man looked familiar from somewhere; but I couldn’t quite recall.

Just before something came to mind, I groaned, overwhelmed by memories that suddenly resurfaced.

“What, are you…..alright….”

“Get out!”

“Huh, yes?”

“I said, get out!”

“Yes, yes! I’m sorry!”

With my agonizing shout, the hunter quickly apologized and fled the room.

“Ugh….”

Countless memories flooded my mind.

I had fallen into the sea, losing consciousness in agony.

I thought I had died.

But I hadn’t.

A world I had never seen before.

Something out of a novel, it had happened to me.

But I was not the protagonist.

‘A shitty world.’

In a world where nothing made sense, I was thrown without any power, special equipment, or means of communication.

Power, status, money, connections, talent — I had none of it.

‘Well, talent, I did have.’

No, I didn’t have talent, I just discovered it too late.

It was just that by the time I realized it, there was no turning back.

‘Master… or should I say teacher?’

I didn’t call him that, but he was as good as one.

The one who helped me realize I had talent, and the one who ruined my life.

To me, he was an object of both admiration and hatred.

‘No, it was my own doing.’

In the grand scheme of things, I was the one who had gone astray first.

Nevertheless, the last thing I saw before I died was my Master apologizing to me and then blowing himself up with the Inquisitors.

I was swept up in the explosion and died.

But now, when I opened my eyes, I had regressed.

I remembered exactly where this was.

‘The place where hell began.’

It was surreal.

But it didn’t take me long to come to terms with the situation.

‘Of course. It’s no wonder there’s regression when there’s teleportation.’

Would I regress even if I died again?

‘How could I know that?’

I had no intention of dying again; it was a miracle enough that I was given a second chance.

I had no intention of wagering my life for a trivial curiosity.

‘Regression….’

A sensation I hadn’t felt in far too long took over my body — Freedom.

I haven’t felt that in a long time…

‘Never again… I won’t lose it again.’

This life would never be the same as the last; with that thought, fiery rage welled up within me.

The faces of the disgusting humans who had brought me to my doom flashed through my mind.

‘Revenge…vengeance….’

It couldn’t take precedence over my freedom.

It was also an event that had already passed.

But the desire for revenge didn’t fade easily.

‘Well, fine.’

I could do it if the opportunity arose.

But my safety came first, and protecting my freedom was more important.

Survival and freedom.

Those were going to be my top two priorities.

‘To do that, I need….’

Strength.

I needed it.

In this wretched world, strength was more important than anything else.

In a world where might made right, weakness was synonymous with sin.

I had been weak in the past, and that’s why I had lost everything.

‘This time, it won’t be the same.’

It was different from the past.

My body was strong, and I knew my talent.

‘What I need is time.’

I also needed a minimal social status.

In addition, I had a lot of information that others didn’t know.

Although my information was limited due to my lowly life and the fact that I had been cut off from the world after being captured by my Master, I was confident that it was enough to secure the strength to survive in this world and preserve my freedom.

‘About 10 years worth, I guess?’

Even that was mostly hearsay or experiences I had personally encountered. I wasn’t of high social standing, and this world wasn’t as developed as Earth, where anyone could easily access information. It was an unavoidable limitation.

Of course, that was enough.

‘As for social status… that seems just about right.’

“Hunter!”

“Yes, yes, my Lord!”

The hunter, who had disappeared at my call, appeared and bowed.

In this world, I was essentially nobody. However, having been freshly summoned from modern Earth, I appeared somewhat soaked but was dressed in clean and high-quality attire, with a rather pristine appearance.

‘Even though we couldn’t communicate at first, he was quite wary of me.’

The hunter, whose name I didn’t know when he first found me.

At first, he had mistaken me for a noble. Unique clothing made of fine fabric, even in a remote area, and a clean appearance. Flawless skin with no signs of toil. There were many reasons for him to mistake me for a nobleman.

Despite not being able to communicate initially, he had treated me with great respect. However, as soon as he realized that my demeanor wasn’t noble-like, he changed his attitude promptly.

‘And then he sold me… into slavery.’

A shitty memory comes to mind.

But now, things were different.

We could communicate, and I had enough experience in this world. Deceiving a backwater hunter like him was child’s play.

“Who owns this frontier estate?”

“It is Baron Owalan.”

“Owalan, huh? I’ve never heard that name before. You there, hunter. What is your name?”

Y-You’re asking for my name, my Lord?”

“Yes.”

“My name is… Nenson.”

“Nenson. All right. I’ll be staying at your house for a while.”

“My house, my Lord?”

“Yes. It won’t be long, though. My knight, Sir Flan, will be coming to find me soon when he realizes I’m gone.”

Sir Flan.

It was a name I just made up; a man who didn’t even exist.

But the title of “Sir” was usually given to Knights, and in the eyes of the Hunter, who thinks I’m a noble, it was natural to assume that a knight would be looking for me.

‘It’s a felony to touch a noble.’

And it would be difficult to kill me and completely erase all traces of it.

I’m a noble with a knight as an escort.

If I wasn’t found, the knight would start to send people out in earnest, and it would be impossible for a single backwater hunter to completely erase the traces of a noble.

‘Even if he’s not an ordinary hunter.’

Of course, there were some oddities.

A man with a knight accompanying him is left abandoned in the forest, wet?

No matter how you looked at it, something was off.

But it would be difficult to delve into that point and express doubts, as my appearance does not look like that of a commoner at all.

A commoner doubting a noble’s identity? It would be a severe insult. And the price of that is death, so even if there are any oddities, the other party would never express those doubts outwardly.

‘Moreover, hearing the name of your liege and treating it as if it’s nothing, that’s even more alarming.’

The hunter’s response was as I expected.

“It’s a humble and unremarkable place, my Lord.”

He seemed unsure of what to do but couldn’t bring himself to refuse.

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