I’m Abel, a mage who reincarnated from two hundred years in the past, an age where those possessing Amber Eyes like myself were persecuted and discriminated against. This treatment didn’t stop, even when I was working to help vanquish the demon king.
It would’ve been easy to forcefully shut my detractors up, but using fear to try and remedy their deep-seated feelings wouldn’t solve anything. So instead, I decided to try reincarnating myself into a time of peace far in the future, and sure enough, I was successful.
Certainly, the time into which I’d been reincarnated was peaceful. But it wasn’t without its difficulties. Due to a certain chain of events, I ended up stuck with an annoying boy who wouldn’t stop following me around wherever I went.
“Hey, Abel, let’s play!”
The door was flung open, revealing a young boy. He had dirty-blond hair and was a little on the chubby side. It was Ted. His leg was wrapped in a cast from his fall off the roof, which had partially been my fault. I’d healed his leg, which should’ve meant he could walk without a cast, but his physician had still insisted upon it, with the added instruction of avoiding any kind of heavy exercise.
“Sure. What do you want to do today?”
Getting to move around a bit would probably make Ted happy. This worked out for me as well, because I wanted to get some light exercise in.
“Oh—I know! How about we go to the forest behind my house?”
Hm. I’ve never been there before. There were a lot of modern customs that I’d been trying to catch up on, which left me with no time at all to explore outside of the town.
“Okay then, let’s go.”
“Yay! Let’s get moving!”
I was almost impressed by how easily he’d forgotten his own doctor’s instructions to take it easy. I’d healed his leg, so it would be fine, but it really was just in one ear and out the other for him when it came to instructions.
“Master Abel, I’d advise against going into the forest.” Lilith entered the room, her long silver hair glinting in the light.
She was a beauty, and the owner of the house I lived in. She was also the very same demon that I’d rescued two hundred years ago, and now she was repaying that favor.
“Why not?”
“I heard reports of a magic beast appearing in the forest last night.”
For whatever reason, rather than discouraging him, this only served to excite Ted. “R-Really?! A-A magic beast?! I wanna see!”
“Why, though?”
“’Cause they’re cool, obviously!”
They...are? I tilted my head in confusion. Lilith cleared her throat.
“Magic beasts were largely defeated by the heroes of the past, so their numbers are much fewer in these times. Sightings of them are incredibly rare.”
Ah, I see. Back in my day, I’d certainly taken out my fair share of magic beasts. The world had been crawling with them before, but now they’d practically become endangered.
“With that said, I ask that both of you stay inside today.”
“Hmph. Fine, if you say so,” Ted said in disappointment, before going home.
After confirming that he’d left, I spoke up. “Why can’t I go out, though? Do you think a magic beast could possibly do me in?” I asked her in a low voice. If she really thinks that little of me just because I’m in a kid’s body, then that kinda hurts.
“I promise you, that’s not what I’m thinking at all, Master Abel. There aren’t many people in this world who are capable of defeating magic beasts.”
Oh, now I get it. The ability level of mages had plummeted since my time, and the cause of that could’ve been any number of things. It could’ve been because the war against demons had ended, or because magic tools had been developed, or maybe because for some reason all magecraft records before my time had been lost. Regardless, modern mages were extremely weak. Coincidentally, magecraft was particularly effective against magic beasts. In other words, if modern mages struggled against magic beasts, then it really spoke volumes as to how low they’d sunk.
“So it’d draw unwanted attention if I took one down.”
“Precisely. Knights from the royal capital will be arriving tonight to do battle with the magic beast tomorrow.”
“Do battle with”...but not “exterminate” or “defeat,” huh? It seemed that engaging them in combat and just hoping for the best was all they were capable of.
“Okay then. I was kinda looking forward to fighting one of them, though. It’s been a while, after all.”
“As much as I would’ve enjoyed seeing your gallant figure in action, I would advise you to sit this one out,” she said, gently smiling at me.
I nodded back at her, and stared out the window towards the mountains.
✦ ✦ ✦
That night, the Rhangbalt territory was a little livelier than usual—not because of a festival, but because of the excitement before a battle. I was all too familiar with this. I watched from the window as soldiers marched in, talking merrily with each other.
To me, magic beasts were no big deal, but they were massive threats to the people of the modern world. The knights were so talkative because they were nervous about losing their lives in this fight. This, at least, was the same as it had been in the past—some things just never changed.
As nostalgic as it was, I couldn’t help but heave a sigh. The magic beast they were going to take out was a bear-type beast known as a kamui. It was an extremely low-level magic beast, and very weak to fire. Shooting a few flames at it would be enough to make it flee. The mages that had come should’ve been able to repel it without any difficulty.
I went downstairs to get something to drink. Lilith wasn’t home today, because apparently she’d been enlisted to help make sure that none of the residents were hurt. She’d always been a softie.
As I was pouring myself a cup of tea, I heard a knock at the door.
“Sorry—please open the door!”
Who is that? Judging by the tone of voice, it was a guy. I furrowed my brow and answered the door.
“Is Ms. Lilith here?”
It was a muscular middle-aged man with dirty-blond hair, a beard like a lion’s mane, and beautiful Crimson Eyes. He was the spitting image of a noble. I knew him as Evans, the lord of this land as well as Ted’s father.
“Lilith is out at the moment.”
“Oh... Maybe you can help instead. Have you seen Ted?”
Hm. He seems troubled. After the entire incident with Barth, Evans had been treating me well. I decided to answer him truthfully.
“No, I haven’t seen him. Is something wrong?”
Evans nodded, his breathing ragged. “I can’t find him anywhere.”
“Oh, no...”
“If it’s as I fear, he may have tried to go find the magic beast. If Ms. Lilith isn’t home, then I’ll need to ask the soldiers to help rescue him.”
Evans bowed, thanking me before shutting the door. Did Ted really go to find the magic beast? Sure, he seemed interested...but it’s a wild animal. It’ll kill him.
I went back upstairs. It’s not like it would have left me worse off if he stopped coming around. If anything, I’d be able to read my books in peace. But still...it’d be inconvenient to lose my exercise partner. And I could only imagine how annoying things would get if the son of a lord was killed, to boot.
I donned my coat and muffler before opening the window. I used Body Fortification, strengthening my entire body so that even as a child, I could achieve superhuman strength.
I jumped out into the eerily beautiful starry sky, my sights set on the forest. The forest stirred almost as loudly as the sea as the wind rushed through it.