Mushoku Tensei | Sin of Avarice

I was a greedy man, even I recognize that. Perhaps it was because I was born with nothing that I yearned for everything, to hold everything this world held in my own two hands.

Born in a dirty alleyway, brought up in an orphanage barely concealing the horrors of human trafficking, and living a life no better than a rodent, it was natural my morals were skewed in such a way.

All of that culminated in my creation. My birth was the birth of a man widely considered a monster birthed from greed itself but who could be blamed for having such thoughts?

I was exceptionally greedy to the point where I was frequently compared to famous tyrants from eras gone by. I crushed others to get what I wanted, what could I possible be but a tyrant?

But what did I receive from such a life? Betrayal, distrust, scrutiny, disgust, and a plethora of different emotions were the only emotions turned my way.

No matter how much I held in my hands I always lacked one thing, one crucial thing that may have prevented this monster from being born.

A family.

It may seem ridiculous or even something so naive and foolish that only children would believe it but it was true. No matter how much I held I could never replace the hole in my heart born from a lack of affection.

I was the richest man in the world, a widely famous scholar, and a famed athlete, and yet I could never receive true, unrestrained, unconditional love.

The only form of 'love' I had ever received were stares of lust or greed for my resources from those lucky enough to get close to me. I had never truly been loved in my life.

I was the most well known man in the world commonly believed to envy no person no matter how famous but that was not true. I envied children with all my being.

The childhood I could have received, should have received, and wished for desperately but had always been out of grasp was in their hands from birth.

I was always envious of that but at the same time, I was… relieved if you will. I was happy that there were children who wouldn't turn out like me, like a monster.

In the end, my love for children was one of my few features that were frequently praised though it was a shame that others used it as a shield to foolishly defend the path I have walked.

While my sins heavily outweigh any blessings I may have earned I would be overjoyed to know even one child had been helped by the money I pooled into their lives and safety.

But sadly my time had come.

My associates had poisoned me to covet my assets for themselves. I had known about it beforehand but I let it go on.

If there was no hero to slay the monster then betrayal would be the most fitting end. Perhaps my end will be made into a fairy tale in the future with such a novelesque ending.

The end of the monster of greed was ending how it began, completely alone. I may be in a hospital but it felt no different than the alley I had been born in.

Looking at the white walls of the hospital I couldn't help but think of what could have been. I was undoubtedly talented so what would have happened if I had a second chance?

Would I have followed the same path? Would I have been a better man, no a better human? Perhaps I would have a family of my own.

Maybe it was because of all my mental rambling but I felt oddly dissatisfied. I've always understood that I was no saint and that my death would come by my allies rather than nature but now that I am here experiencing death I couldn't help but understand that…

I don't want to die.

|SoA|

Light struck my eyes, momentarily blinding me. The sudden influx of light seemed to awaken all of my senses as everything suddenly felt many times more prominent.

I could feel the slightest breeze on my flesh, there was a constant low ringing in my ears, my nose seemed to take in every scent all at once, and the taste of my saliva seemed unnaturally apparent.

However, none of those oddities made their place in my mind. Rather the question of HOW I was alive took root in my consciousness.

I had ingested a dose of potent poison numerous times the necessary amount to ensure I could not be saved, there was no way I had possibly survived.

Yet here I am, breathing, thinking, and feeling. I was undoubtedly alive but the fact I was alive was a mystery I couldn't comprehend.

Rather I didn't want to understand. I desired death more than any other being in the world for my sins, the only reason I had not taken my own life was to receive a fitting end I deserved.

Before my thoughts could descend down the rabbit hole of depression that was my will to live, my eyes adjusted to the light that had previously blinded me.

Before my eyes were two people, no giants whom I had never seen before though that was hardly surprising.

The one holding me was a young woman of immense beauty. She had blond hair styled into a small ponytail and her figure was filled in all the right areas. If my sin had been lust rather than greed I would surely be immensely attracted to this woman.

However, I was much more attracted to the man beside her. He had fairly long sandy blond hair and emerald green eyes full of unconditional love and confidence however he did seem to be perverted if his hand placement was anything to go by.

While he was handsome I was more attracted to his unwavering confidence. He had the stature of somebody well-trained in martial arts however he also appeared to have become ever so slightly overconfident.

Naturally, I wouldn't know for sure as I had never spoken to the man however I was quite confident in my ability to read people from the smallest of details. The fact that this man had his heart on his sleeve helped as well.

Nevertheless, my attention wasn't solely focused on the two who seemed to be in their early twenties at the latest, rather I could barely draw my eyes away from how colorful the world seemed to be.

There were colors of all ranges floating in the air creating the illusion of a mystical rainbow flowing through wherever we were.

My first assumption would be that I had somehow become color blind in a strange, undiscovered way however I could swiftly remove that option from my mind.

Around each of the two young 'giants' that held me a glow of varying strength and color emanated from their bodies. From the woman, it was a faint white with a tinge of emerald green while the man had a deep silver glow emanating from his body.

While the woman's 'color' was thin like mist, the man's was a deep shade of dark silver that overpowered the other colors in the room. It was something so out of the norm that I could safely remove most 'normal' reasons.

With only the supernatural or odd reasonings being left even remotely reasonable albeit unbelievable I could make one conclusion.

I had been reincarnated.