151. Luke (4)
The world began to crumble like a puzzle. Soon after, all the land was scattered to dust, and a storm swept the world. At the center of the storm was something like a red sun.
The world collapsed by something was spinning like powder, and Luke was floating in that space as if he was in space.
But that’s for a while. The world, which had collapsed at an extremely fast pace, began to come together in one place at some point, and then it was reassembled as if time was going back.
I felt so dizzy that I felt sick to my stomach and closed my eyes. A noise like a storm raging. When the surroundings were quiet and there was no sound, I carefully opened my eyes. Then what caught my eye was the academy’s dormitory.
“·······?”
Surely I was on the hill a while ago? He looked around to see if it was a different place, but it was definitely the academy he knew. There was no way I would miss the dormitory I had been living in for several months.
I looked down. There was nothing strange about his body. But there were a few oddities. He must have been wearing a school uniform that looked tattered and looked like a piece of cloth, but he had been fine before he knew it.
If it was like others, he would have repaired it using the self-repair function in his clothes with magic, but he doesn’t have magic. So if your clothes were torn, you had to wear them as they were.
‘What happened…?’
There were only things that could not be understood in Luke’s head. It is not a form that can physically happen. Judging from the circumstances, the time was reversed.
‘But how…?’
There’s no way anyone can do this. Didn’t even Lucia Merigold, who is called the pinnacle of magicians, nail down in her dissertation that time reversal was impossible for humans?
But I soon stopped thinking about it. The academy is a place full of trauma in the first place. Memories I wanted to forget came to mind in an unpleasant place.
Arthur, a friend of his who died by hanging himself. The scene from the first time I saw it doesn’t get out of my head. No matter how many months have passed, no matter how much time passes in the future. It seemed like that scene would never be forgotten.
‘…Arthur?’
for a moment.
Because of Arthur, there was something that came to mind.
‘Perhaps···!’
Now was not the time to think about this. If real time was retrograde, the principle didn’t matter. There was something more important than that.
Luke immediately left the room and headed for Arthur’s room. If the time was retrograde, if it was the time when he would still remain at the academy. Maybe her mother and Arthur are all still alive?
Originally, it was a close distance because it was in the same dormitory, but Luke ran with all his might. A distance that would have taken only a minute to walk was reached in 10 seconds.
Arthur’s room arrived like that.
-Thump!
I almost knocked on the door.
“Arthur! It’s me! Open the door!”
Hanging on the door, I call out his name as if pleading.
– Knocked up.
The door opened and the long-awaited figure came out. Red hair and hazel eyes. The person who opened the door was Arthur, whom he knew.
“…Arthur!”
Luke opened his arms. It looks like he wants to hug you right now. However, the words that came out of Arthur’s mouth immediately forced Luke to stop moving.
“Excuse me, but who are you?”
“···what?”
What do you mean all of a sudden? Surely, if he was in the dormitory and before Arthur committed suicide, Arthur and himself would have been friends.
“It’s me! Luke!”
“Uh… well…”
Is Arthur playing a joke? No, that’s why his eyes looked full of questions as if he didn’t know who he really was.
Is it the price of time reversal? Why am I the only one left with memories? Maybe it’s forgotten by everyone? A word to Luke, whose head hurts from the flood of questions.
“It’s strange… there wasn’t a character called Luke…?”
“·······?”
Apparently he said he was talking to himself, but unfortunately Luke heard it all. After that, Arthur continued to talk to himself without meaning.
Now that I look at it closely, the way he speaks and the way he moves is very different from the usual Arthur.
‘So… isn’t that Arthur?’
Who is the man in front of you? The outside looks like Arthur, but the inside is a different person? is that possible?
“So, excuse me, who are you?”
“ah···.”
Luke thought for a moment. I can’t even explain what happened. If I tried to explain it, they would treat me like a psychopath. But even if I said that he was my friend, he would not be able to understand it.
therefore.
-Call me Luke.
-Yes, Luke. Please take good care of me.
“Hello. I’m Luke. We’re in the same class, so I’m here to say hello. Please take care of me.”
Luke was thinking of starting over.
“Uh… yes. Please take good care of me.”
The two shook hands.
“But what to see is the greeting?”
-Actually, I was looking for someone to train with.
“No, I was actually looking for someone to train with.”
“…from this morning?”
– I went around and asked the kids, but no one was there.
-Of course not…
“Because there is nothing to lose by training.”
“That’s right.”
– So how are you? Why don’t you go to training?
“So how about you? Why don’t you go to training?”
Just like when he came.
Whoever was inside, as long as he was in Arthur’s form, was Luke’s friend.
God-given opportunity. As long as time went back, I thought to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.
***
After that, everyday life went on as if nothing happened. Before that, Luke had one thing to do.
“Keep!”
-bang!
Luke provoked Bernard’s group and called them to a deserted alley. Since they responded to such trivial provocations, it was not difficult to lure them in.
“You-you know who we are?!”
“·······.”
“Say something!”
These guys are no different than before. It’s amazing how people’s personalities are so consistent.
-Suddenly.
This time, as before, his head fell off. With this, both of his subordinates died. All that’s left is Bernard. Dealing with the root cause of everything first. That was the first thing Luke had to do.
“Because you are useless in this world.”
“Wh-what?!”
I didn’t have to bully him this time, so I finished it all at once. What remains in the alley are three severed heads and three corpses.
Luke leisurely left the place and returned to the academy. There were no worries about the mugshot. Because he was a Luke without even magical powers, there was nothing to be pursued.
“Are you training again?”
“Oh, is Luke here?”
Luke and Arthur quickly became friends. Even though the meeting was bizarre, it was like a half and we always went together.
“You’re amazing too. How can you even train during lunchtime?”
“hahahaha···.”
The original Arthur was also a great hard worker to the point of suggesting training from the day he entered school, but the current Arthur is no less hardworking.
His morning started with training. It was nothing out of the ordinary. Even the original Arthur would wake himself up in the morning and forcefully drag him to the training ground.
However, there were a few differences. The Arthur of the previous life felt like he didn’t know much about himself. That’s why I recklessly trained and sparred, but Arthur in this life knew himself well.
Although the amount of training was similar to that of Arthur before, the current Arthur has improved his skills. Of course, the same goes for Luke, who trains with him.
In the first place, since Luke was following the way he came, it did not take long to restore his original strength.
And if it was different from the last life, it was that the number of companions with Arthur increased.
“·······.”
Richie Winchester. She seemed to have a lot of stories. Arthur knew that, but seeing as he didn’t do anything, it didn’t seem like there was anything he could do about it yet.
“Arthur! Fuck me!”
Tia Roseberry. When she was always training with Arthur, she would sit on the bench next to the training ground and cheer for Arthur.
“Watch out, both of you!”
stellar. He said that she was also a commoner like Arthur and himself. A good-natured woman, she was always worried about the scars Arthur and I were training.
For some reason, he said that all of his colleagues were women… but he passed on thinking that having a lot of women was his fate.
The demon tribe invades, the giant monster called Behemoth, which he has never heard of, also invades, and meets a woman called a saint through a competitive battle.
Aside from that, I’ve been through so many things that my mouth hurts to say the least.
Having been together for a long time, I got to know the kind of person he is. A person with a strong personality who is kind and works hard when he has to. That was Luke’s impression of Arthur.
Arthur in this life was amazing. He sometimes showed the appearance of solving an incident before it happened. As if you knew all about what was going to happen.
He seemed to have many secrets. There were so many things that even Luke, who had been together for so long, did not know. But Luke didn’t bother asking. I thought there must be a reason to hide it, so I waited for him to tell me himself.
Time passed like that, it was evening. After training as usual, the two sat on a bench in the corner of the training ground to take a break.
Suddenly, Arthur cautiously spoke to Luke, who was catching his breath.
“Hey, Luke. Can you believe it if a demon invades in the near future?”
drank. If that’s why he came to this world. If that’s why you work so hard Others will criticize him for saying nonsense.
“I can’t believe it either…”
“believe.”
Arthur’s eyes widened.
“You can’t turn my friend into a psychopath.”
“…don’t make me a psychopath at will.”
Contrary to Arthur’s concerns, his party broke through all the obstacles in their way and proceeded. Whether demons appear, whether demons appear, or sometimes nobles interfere.
They went through one by one without any problems. As the year passed by, Luke thought he had passed without incident this time.
Until they come in.
***
The sky was dyed red as if it had decorated the end of the last life.
Not only that, but all the trees outside the walls started to burn. Monsters invaded the empire in droves.
The empire and adventurers responded belatedly, but the empire collapsed helplessly in an attack that lacked time to prepare.
Seeing that, Luke knew. That this was the demonic invasion that Arthur had spoken about, and that it was his fault that ended his last life.
And Arthur, who knew everything, also joined the war… The result was Arthur’s cold body in front of Luke’s eyes.
The Demon God was stronger than expected. His companions, Riche, Tiado, and Stellado. Everyone except Luke is dead.
Of course, Luke’s condition was not good either. I confronted the demon with the determination to die. The result was the corpses of demons and demons scattered around the demons.
Arthur, whose entire body was cut to death by demons, Leechee, who was burned and mummified, Tia, who was trapped in the purple ice that did not melt, and Stella, who committed suicide by biting her tongue after being raped by a demon.
Luke was missing one arm and blind in one eye, but in the end, Luke lived to the end. that was so painful Why did he not die, and why did the Demon God in front of him not finish himself?
again. The sound of heels came in front of Luke. At that, Luke barely raised his head and looked directly at the source of the sound.
A black dress, horns growing over her head, pupils dyed red on her black chin, long hair that reached her waist, and black hair like her own. The appearance of the demon god was quite alluring.
However, unlike its appearance, its majesty was amazing. It felt cool as if the surrounding temperature had dropped just by the presence of the Demon God. Still, there was no tension in Luke. Because I’ve already given up on everything. Looking down at Luke, the demon said.
[It’s a really tenacious life. Maybe that’s your destiny.]
The demon muttered an incomprehensible sound.
[Are you resentful? If so, come find me.]
I didn’t even have the strength to ask what bullshit it was. To Luke who just blinked, the Demon God turned his back and disappeared.
Shortly thereafter, the world collapsed once more.
Time went back again, and as soon as Luke came to his senses, he went to find Arthur. Like the last life, let’s start again from the beginning… This time, Luke decided to stop the demons as well. The moment you try to knock on Arthur’s room.
“Chi-Pal— you bastard writer—!”
Arthur’s voice came from within. The voice was Arthur, but he was a different person from the last Arthur, even if he looked roughly at the situation.