“The old man, and now me—well, there’s no limit to our magical abilities. So for all intents and purposes, I’m functionally immortal,” he said with a serious expression. “I inherited that immense magical ability from the old man, along with all his experiences, knowledge, skills, and abilities. He gave all of it to me. He met me at a time when he felt that he had lived enough in this world and was longing for death. He looked at my Hero’s Testament and asked—”
Kyle tore his gaze away from me and continued, a slight fondness in his eyes as he spoke. “He asked me, ‘If you could take off that bracelet, what would you do in this world?’” It resembled the question Kyle had posed to me. “I told him I wanted to live a life of freedom. Not one full of restrictions, being bound by others. But a life of liberty.”
“……”
“After I told him that, the old man said he’d gotten more than enough enjoyment from his life, and if I wanted, he would set me free.”
Kyle was telling me this in simple terms, but I had a feeling the conversation between the two of them had been much more complex.
“So the old man ended up giving me my third life. That’s why I’m here. If I had never met him, I would’ve kept hating and cursing this world until I died.”
I listened quietly. Even though I thought I knew where he was going with this, I didn’t want to interrupt him. He stared straight at me. And I stared straight back at him.
“So this time, I’m going to give you your third chance at life. Cast away that body and put your soul into this one.”
I could tell he had chosen his words very carefully.
“To put it simply, your soul will combine with mine. And the old man’s soul, too, of course. Now, I say ‘combine,’ but what that really means is that my soul, and the old man’s, will be transformed into information. They won’t have any influence on your personality.”
I couldn’t answer.
“Our immense mana, skills, knowledge, experiences, and abilities. They would all become yours. And that would greatly aid you in doing what you want—traveling around the world. The old man was very strong, and so am I. After you inherit those powers, you’ll become the most powerful man in this world.” Kyle smiled, his eyes glowing with sincerity.
“No…”
I finally met someone. I was all alone in this world, and he found me. I’d finally made a friend who could understand how I felt here. A really good friend I could trust my heart with.
And I didn’t want to be alone anymore.
“Setsuna. I’ve lived for more than two thousand five hundred years. You never accomplished anything, back in Japan or here, right?” Kyle wasn’t giving up. “I think you should live. You should go out and see all kinds of things and experience them. Discover the joy of life and reach out and grasp it. Of course, it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. There are many painful things here. This isn’t our world. And the values are completely different. Honestly, it’s not easy to live here.” Kyle was straightforward and honest with me; he made no attempt to hide his concerns.
“But even then…there is beauty here. Things that will move your heart. And I want you to experience them.” He was trying to convince me, but I shook my head.
“N-no.”
“Even if you turn down my offer, I’m still planning on leaving this world. I’m satisfied with the way I lived my life, and nothing’s going to change my decision.”
“What?” Kyle’s response to my stubborn refusal was shocking. I could feel the blood draining from my face.
“Setsuna. If you take this body, my sense of self will disappear. But I can still be with you. You’ll be able to freely travel around this world and go wherever you want. Accept the testament that the old man and I have lived. Just try to take that one step.”
I felt sad and afraid at the thought of being left behind, along with an inexplicable sense of anxiety and loneliness.
Kyle stared at me and calmly said, “I want you to live. I know it’s only been a few hours since we met, but don’t you want to make your friend happy?”
Tears streamed down my cheeks, falling onto the blanket, when he referred to me as a friend.
“The old man and I were both perfectly trained in swordsmanship and hand-to-hand combat. No one else can beat us when it comes to magic or our abilities, either. And you’ll inherit all our knowledge of this world that we’ve gained. Not only will you be equipped with abilities to protect yourself, but I’ll make it so you can also search through the information we leave within you.” Even though it was clear to Kyle that I wasn’t yet convinced, he continued anyway. “You were never able to go outside in your old world, either, were you?”
“……”
“It would be convenient if you knew everything from the beginning, but I think that would take some of the fun out of traveling. So I’ll make it so that the information won’t be shared with you unless you specifically search for it. You like reading books, right? Exploring the world won’t be exciting if you get spoiled beforehand. I want you to travel around and experience things at your own pace.”
My heart wanted to turn down Kyle’s offer. But the more I listened to him, the less I felt that way.
“Think of it like looking for something on the internet. It’s convenient but also a little inconvenient sometimes.”
Kyle sensed my resolve wavering as my eyes darted around. He looked at me and said firmly, “Setsuna. Live.”
That made my desire to turn him down weaken even more—now I was leaning toward wanting to live. As Kyle stared at me, I found myself nodding…and that was when I decided to live.
“All right. I’ll try. I’ll try to do my best. Thank you…Kyle,” I murmured.
He lowered his gaze for a moment and then smiled happily at me.
“Once you begin your new life, I think you’ll understand this immediately…but the old man’s and my abilities will mix with yours. I’m not sure what yours are at this point in time, but as long as you have ours, you won’t ever run into any trouble.”
After I told Kyle I wanted to live, he didn’t seem to be sad at all; in fact, he looked happy. “So it’s not a far-fetched dream for you to actually be able to explore the whole world.”