What? Have they found me this quickly!?
Sitting bolt upright in bed, Ron’s eyes instinctively shifted toward the window, the only possible escape route at the moment.
‘No, that’s Lifa’s voice…’
Having been momentarily dazed by the sudden turn of events, Ron reached up to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead once he regained his composure.
“I’m coming.”
After a moment of hesitation, he responded to the increasingly persistent knocking. Ron stood up and walked over to open the wooden door of the cabin.
“Master —”
The moment the door opened just a crack, the figure of a young girl dressed in a short knight’s breastplate and black tights forced the door wide open and threw herself directly into Ron’s arms.
“Li… Lifa.”
The sudden impact pushed Ron straight back onto the bed.
As his gaze fell upon her, he saw a single transparent ice crystal attached to a silver headband, reflecting a soft glow against the girl’s blonde hair in the light of the setting sun.
“Please don’t leave Lifa behind…”
Beneath the tips of her hair, the girl’s emerald eyes shone as bright as jade.
Realizing the boldness of her actions, Lifa tried to hide her panic behind her crimson cheeks, but the hands gripping Ron’s waist only tightened.
Lifa Serena.
She was the disciple Ron had taken in three years ago after fleeing to this small village to live in seclusion.
As Ron had lamented not long ago, the slave girls he had raised were not all as simple and easy to deceive as Isis.
Furthermore, as they grew rapidly within their respective factions and powers, their inevitable interactions nearly exposed Ron’s secret identities and existence on several occasions.
There was also one most important point.
Almost all the girls displayed an obsession and persistence toward Ron that far exceeded his expectations. This caused most of his ‘scripts’ to deviate and drag on repeatedly.
In order to live to see the ending animation, and to ensure the truth of his ‘blackening cultivation’ did not turn into a massive, bloody field of jealous confrontations due to premature exposure, Ron had eventually chosen to go cold on the remaining slaves, severing ties before making his escape.
He had hidden in this remote village to study the history of the continent, lying low until now.
“Master, why aren’t you saying anything?”
The two maintained their ambiguous position until Lifa snapped out of her shyness and reluctance. With her cheeks flushed, she released Ron and stood up.
“When I came back from clearing out the demonic beasts, Grandpa Village Chief said… Master suddenly left a lot of things behind and might be leaving the village soon!”
The usually lively girl was exceptionally dejected. Then, as if suddenly thinking of something, she raised her arms to block the path in front of Ron, as if this could stop him from leaving.
‘I actually… do want to leave.’
Ron, who was still pondering how to respond to Lifa, gave a bitter smile in his heart and whispered in a voice only he could hear.
He had just stubbornly tried to call out to the game system again, but other than entering the mailbox, no other functions responded.
“What did Master just say?…”
“Anyway, it’s not true, right? About Master leaving the village!”
Lifa’s tone grew somewhat excited. She leaned in toward Ron, her fingers encased in black knight’s gloves pressing against her full chest.
At such a close distance, the sweet breath exhaled by Lifa made Ron’s thoughts even more of a mess.
Even if he had accepted the fact that he had traveled into the game world, the moment he thought about his past actions and the slave girls who might still be looking for him…
‘This is a disaster.’
Ron’s scripts and plans were all built on the expectation that the game would end in its fifteenth year.
Like a temporary building with a short design life, Ron knew very well that once the deadline passed, the suspicious points in his scripts could collapse and be exposed at any time.
At the same time, with the strength and authority of the slave girls continuing to grow, he had no doubt that at any moment, someone else would knock on his door like Lifa, only to hack him to death and divide his body among all the ‘victims.’
“Master, Master, what’s wrong with you?”
‘No, I don’t want that to happen!’
In his terrifying imagination, Ron completely ignored Lifa’s shouts, feeling himself break into a cold sweat the more he thought about it.
The reason he could be so reckless in the past was because he relied on the fact that this was a game world, where he as a player could constantly load saves and resurrect at specific save points.
But what about now?
The mail said that the fake game had ended.
Was he really supposed to just wait in the village for them to find him, then kill himself to end it all?
“As I thought, Master is still going to leave?”
Ron’s long silence caused Lifa to misunderstand. The girl’s raised hand fell dejectedly to her waist, and her blue-and-white knight’s skirt stopped swaying after the movement.
“Even though Master said… he wanted to see Lifa become a female swordsman like the Hero Isis…”
Tears began to well up in her emerald eyes. Seemingly certain that a parting was imminent, Lifa dove into Ron’s arms again and began to sob.
“Lifa…”
Belatedly realizing there was a crying girl beside him, Ron, whose thoughts were in a jumble, couldn’t think of anything to say to comfort her. He could only reach out and pat Lifa’s head.
“Ugh.”
It seemed that Ron’s head-patting actually had an effect, as Lifa stopped crying once more.
“The Hero… Master said that a Hero cannot shed tears…”
Hearing those familiar words, Ron’s heart trembled for some reason. He looked down and met Lifa’s gaze.
“Lifa understands.”
The girl haphazardly wiped away her tears with her hands. After taking a deep breath to stabilize her emotions, she stared at Ron with an extremely serious and solemn expression.
‘Ah? What do you understand?’
Having spent years together, Ron knew Lifa’s innocence and simplicity very well; she never hid her emotions or thoughts. But seeing her this serious was indeed rare.
“Grandpa Village Chief always said Master was some kind of big shot, and that you might be living in seclusion in the village because you ran into trouble.”
Lifa sat on Ron’s lap and began to state her reasoning.
“Now that Master is in such a hurry to leave… it means that trouble has found you again.”
‘Surprisingly accurate?’
Ron’s eyes widened, and Lifa’s next words were like a bolt from the blue, clearing his chaotic mind.
“So, please let Lifa protect you!”
“Lifa can already repel the demonic beasts that attack the village by herself now…”
“Master, you can believe in and rely on Lifa as much as you want~”
Being hugged again by Lifa in such a proactive and somewhat forceful way, Ron suddenly realized that his life in another world might still be salvageable.
Because his ‘blackening cultivation’ plan collapsed earlier than expected, Ron had hidden in this small village during the twelfth year of the game.
He rented this wooden house from Lifa’s family and began to study the continent’s history.
Perhaps it was to kill time during the boring hours, or perhaps it was a way to channel some sentiment and memory of the previous slave girls.
When Ron discovered that little Lifa was teaching herself swordsmanship and seemed to have decent talent, he agreed to the village chief’s request to take Lifa as his disciple.
They had spent nearly every day and night together.
Because her parents had died in a demonic beast riot years ago, Lifa, who had lived alone for many years, grew closer and closer to Ron.
Furthermore, throughout the teaching process, Ron found that he had still underestimated Lifa’s true talent.
Whether it was sword techniques or combat skills, or even learning parts of magic theory at the same time, everything seemed quite easy for this little girl.
“Lifa, are you the true heroine of the next version of this game?”
He had once made such a joke, leaving Lifa completely confused.
However, Ron knew back then that there wasn’t much time left in this save file. Even if Lifa was talented, he wouldn’t be around to see her future truly bloom.
So, in the final year, he basically left Lifa to farm the nearby demonic beasts alone, calling it — improving practical combat experience.
‘But now, the situation is different…’
His thoughts returned to reality after clearing up.
Ron enjoyed the warm and soft embrace of the girl in his arms, and he now had a definite plan.
“Lifa, I am leaving the village and I won’t be coming back.”
Ron used his hand to tidy Lifa’s slightly messy long hair, his tone gentle yet certain.
“!!!”
He could feel the girl’s body tremble as he said those words, then he changed his tone and continued,
“But.”
“I wonder if Lifa is willing to come with me? With me…”
“To begin the adventure of the Hero Lifa?”
Issuing the invitation with practiced ease, Ron knew everything was settled when he saw the look of disbelief in Lifa’s eyes as she looked up.
In order to deal with the past slaves who could come looking for him at any time, he needed a companion to fight alongside him, or at least someone he could trust.
Regardless of whether it was a desperate gamble or not, other than Lifa, Ron couldn’t think of a single suitable candidate right now.
‘Even though, at the beginning, I just thought it was fun to raise a cute little village girl into a female swordsman…’
A calmed Ron showed a smile. After suppressing his original unspeakable intentions, he stood up.
“I know it’s a bit sudden.”
He extended his right hand to Lifa, who had also stood up and had taken several steps back in a daze.
“But Lifa, are you willing…”
“I’m willing!!!”
Without even waiting for Ron to finish his sentence, Lifa grabbed his hand. Her beyond-words excitement and pleasant surprise obviously threw all her previous bad moods to the back of her mind.
Perfect, the plan is a success.
Ron breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, he had left Lifa to her own devices for a year. Although they interacted daily and he occasionally gave her a few pointers, he wasn’t entirely sure of Lifa’s current thoughts and specific situation.
“Then wipe those tears away, go back and have a good rest, and get your things in order. We set out tomorrow morning.”
“Eh! Tomorrow morning? It’s already dark today. Is Master Ron in such a hurry?”
“Well — a Hero’s journey starts whenever they feel like it~”
“Oh, oh, Lifa understands!”
The despicable Ron bluffed the simple girl with a serious face, just like he used to treat those girls in the past.
And on the journey they were about to embark on, certain encounters had already been quietly predestined.
“Then see you tomorrow morning. Lifa, remember to bring those things I left for you.”
After seeing Lifa out of the wooden cabin and watching the girl’s figure disappear at the end of the path through the fields…
Ron, who was about to turn back to his room, suddenly paused.
**[Ding—]**
**[Prologue: The Journey of Adventure Unlocked]**
**[Rewind Rebirth Count +1, Rewind Rebirth Point: Unknown Village]**
**[Remaining Rewind Rebirths: 1]**