"...."

I was staring at a certain someone while standing in a completely black space. It was a fat young man nearing his thirties. He still had acne, higenic problems and unkempt apperance.

The person spoke.

"All that has changed is your face. You're still nothing."

It was the me from my previous life.

I suddenly remembered something.

I tried multiple times to become a better person.

But in the end, I was a piece of human trash.

Many memories flashed theough my mind. How I had to live alone and cope with bullying. I was cast aside by my family for being a failure.

That person was so utterly stupid that he had no direction in life. Yes, I’m insulting myself as I gaze at my past life. That stupid person was me.

After growing up in this world, I came to realize why family was important to a person. You need them to push you forward in life. Instead of forcing your love on one person, there are a lot of people you can direct that love to if you had true friends and a family.

My will to live resonated within this dark space. I closed my eyes as I felt a rather unfamiliar feeling in my body. The memories from my past faded away as I gained understanding I didn’t have then.

Find peace with your past self... Only then will you be able to live on as Clyde Astley.

The words of Sol.

My vision distorted once again.

I was in the domain of my two cores. One of which was destroyed.

The broken mana veins were slowly being repaired and binding with my spirit core’s channels. It regained the white glow it always had before.

I could clearly see that my core began functioning as it should. Although slowly, it was fixing itself.

A mirror was in front of me.

“Ah, you’re still as fat and ugly as ever.”

The image of my past self was slowly fading away. In his place was a handsome young man with green eyes and light brown hair. A beauty mark was below his lip. He was wearing a white robe while holding a staff in his hands.

It was probably old Clyde back then as a 25 year old man. The image vanished a few moments later. And there I stood.

A small boy of 14 years old was looking right back at me.

His mouth moved.

Are you going to die pitifully? Did you not say that you’ll become a mage greater than the Great Sage?

My will to live was so strong that it went against the world’s natural laws again.

When was the first time I went against common sense and the world’s natural laws?

Ah, that’s right.

… When I died and reincarnated in this world.

…

…

You better not die this time, kid...

◇◇◇

“Human!!”

A mature woman with black hair was crying as she held onto Clyde’s body. Her red eyes and those black wings…It was Edna in her transformed state.

He realized that it wasn’t a dream when he saw his body rejecting the world’s laws.

‘I feel so weak… but… I’m still alive.’

“E-Edna…”

“Clyde!”

She called him by his name for the first time in a month since she manifested.

His face was buried as she hugged Clyde’s head with loud sobs.

Damian was next to Clyde. He was also unconscious after the pursuit.

“What happened…?”

Edna quickly wiped her tears and began explaining.

It was when he lost consciousness when Edna fired a ferocious Dragon’s Breath. She nearly destroyed the entire west wing of the camp with her power.

Just before she did, however, two men blocked her attack from harming the rest of their members.

Zexel and Indra.

The head and the former head of the assassin clan.

They were tasked with taking out Clyde, Charlotte and the entire Republican army. Clyde had the ability to become an obstacle in the future so Olivia decided that now would be the best time to kill him and his lord.

“J-Just from looking at their eyes, I could tell that I was no match for them in my infant form.”

Edna shuddered as she remembered those two monsters. Zelda and Aubrey were hard enough opponents but then they had to show up.

Edna had no choice. She took Clyde and Damian to where she told Charlotte to hide.

They didn’t give chase since they were confident that their strongest subordinates could handle a mere dragon. Edna might not be any dragon of normal birth but she was still in her infant phase. At the level she was now, she could barely compare to an average adult dragon.

Edna got injured while she was flying with them in the sky. She lost one wing and had to run all the way to this dungeon cave.

Clyde listened silently and then spotted Charlotte sitting in a corner staring at the cave wall blankly. Her eyes were devoid of light.

She remembered the words the current head of the Minerva assassin clan, Zexel said to Edna who told Charlotte afterwords:

––The queen is on the verge of death. Even worse than before you left the palace. Do you want to know who placed her into that state? As a present to when we’ll eventually kill you… It’s the one who gave us this job. And I must say, it’s one of the most highest kill contracts I had in a while. That woman was either desperate or very generous.

It wasn’t words meant for Edna. The words were for her to tell the princess. The one whose mother was at death’s door.

From his words, she knew that it was a woman that ordered the kill on them. And naturally she knew a few suspects.

She had many enemies but only one individual had ever showed her hate for Charlotte in the absence of her father and mother.

‘It was Olivia…’

She might be wrong but a certain part of her was telling her that she was right. That woman must’ve been the one that ordered for her mother to be poisoned and ordered a hit on them.

Charlotte’s heart couldn’t calm down as she questioned if her mother was dead or alive.

“…”

A pair of thin but muscular arms wrapped around Charlotte’s neck.

It brought her warmth and shook her out of her dazed state.

“Clyde…”

Clyde held Charlotte without saying anything. Edna already told him what that man told her.

The queen was on her death’s bed. She might’ve had a year left. Maybe less time.

“I failed as a knight today. My lord almost got hurt and I wasn’t able to defeat our enemies.”

He hugged her tighter.

Defeat wasn’t the right word. Rather, he was no match for Aubrey even if Zelda didn’t intervene. He now knew that every single person of the Minerva clan was a monster.

What would’ve happened if they continued fighting and then those other two also came along? They would’ve been killed no doubt.

As Damian said, his father hated his guts so much that he would tear his own son apart if they ever saw each other.

“No…You did your best…”

Charlotte held his hand. Different from her gentle voice, her head was a mess. Complicated feelings arose.

As Edna said earlier, Clyde’s mana core was destroyed. She didn’t know of his spirit core but even his spirit abilities were limited. He can only use lesser spirits to heal minor injuries or boost his overall strength.

‘Her cheerfulness from before was a lie…’

She was too excited to speak with Melodia again that she didn’t see her mother acting as if everything was alright.

She would die soon since the poison had already spread and caused multiple diseases inside her body. Her immune system was on the verge of collapsing.

No positive thoughts entered Charlotte’s brain as she sat there while Clyde embraced her.

…

After a while…

“Where are we?”

Damian woke up.

It was amazing how he was able to recover so fast from his injuries. His shoulder was already healing.

When he looked around, all he could see was a dark cave.

“Ah, I was only looking around blindly to find a safe place. This cave caught my eyes. I-It was earlier that I realized that I can’t find the entrance anymore…”

Edna lowered her head in embarrassment. As a young dragon, she had little knowledge about the world so she didn’t know the dangers of dungeons.

The dungeon looked like a safe place at first. She thought that the assassins wouldn’t be able to find them inside.

Her plan worked but the same could not be said for them being able to find an exit. With no other choice, the four of them got up and started looking for an exit.