Visit from Oneself

"My life was one that was destined to be one of success. An epic adventure of defeating evil and reigning supreme. Yet, that all collapsed after I met with the Yrikset Kingdom's princess—Rachel."

Where was I?

"She came into my life for just a few moments, but it completely wrecked it all. Our fates intertwined for a single moment, and her fate poisoned my own"

Was that . . . Berizk?

The face of the one narrating this story was the same as this new body, Berizk Shiwrn.

What the hell happened to the guy? His eyes looked dead, and his body looked dried up; dark hair that matched his worn and torn clothes flowed from his head down to his waist forming a sense of roughness.

Furthermore, there was no need to think about what he said. The Princess he was talking about was most definitely the same as the one I had just met.

"I was excited. I thought I was getting the recognition that I deserved for being a hero, and that finally someone appreciated my help."

Snap.

He clicked his fingers and one of the walls started displaying something.

It was Berizk, being brought into the castle by the Princess. 

"She invited me to a room privately, so she could give me a reward for my work. Whilst she was bringing me into the room, she tripped. I, being the valiant hero I was, caught her before she fell. I should've realised straight away - how could a 3rd star warrior trip. 

"That devilish smirk she pulled when I grabbed her still creeps me even now as I watch through these memories. She had fallen in an odd position, making it an awkward placement for my hands."

"Her eyes twisted into disgust and she pushed me off, stating that I was to publicly apologise to her and reveal my 'sin' of holding inappropriate thoughts against her to everyone. I had let some of my mana flow through my hands when catching her, leaving mana imprints on her. The perfect evidence."

No way.

Ah, seriously, how distasteful. False accusations, out of all things? Though in different forts, it seemed both me and Berizk shared the misery of suffering under the accusations of another.

It all matched up; the princess shown on the screen is the same as I just saw, and the principle behind why they meet is the exact same.

He was showing me what happened just before I transmigrated.

There was nothing to ask about what crime I had committed, I hadn't even done anything.

Was that why she was surprised? Because I apologised when I did nothing wrong?

"Of course, I fought back against it trying to explain that I was just trying to stop her from falling but the commotion I made started attracting the maids and by then it was too late. Word spread that the hero attempted to force himself onto the Princess before I even personally publicised my 'sin'."

"Eventually, I got hold of information that revealed she had done it due to a Hero who she had romantic relationships with wishing to eliminate me from the Hero Race. The weakest Hero was what they called me back then, and even with my minuscule power I had aggravated another Hero."

"She saw no harm in removing a weakling like me, so she did it without question. Though a Hero is valuable, the princess saw the contentment of a far superior Hero to be worth more than the future of the weakest."

Crazy!

She ruined someone's life for the sake of a romance probably wouldn't even last?

Looking at the old man's face, I saw not a single change in his demeanour. It was as if this wasn't his life he was reciting about.

"This was the first event that ruined my life. After I publicly spoke, the entire kingdom demonised my name for trying to ruin the Kingdom's future leaving me no choice but to hole up in the academy, though that is another chapter of my hell."

Berizk seemed to be finished with his story, as he started to stare into nothing but as seconds passed he spoke once more, though in a lower tone than before.

"I had fantasised about the revenge I would take on her countless times. I dedicated my entire life for a period just trying to cause her damage. And indeed, I found something. Material to ruin her position as a ruler of the people with."

"She was directly responsible for the massacre of 3 villages in the outskirts of the Yrikset Kingdom. A royal was killing her own subjects. Her reasoning? She found it fun, watching the innocent people squirm like worms trying to escape their death. Though she stopped after her 3rd village, it was not due to her own will but rather because she had been caught by her father indulging in such activities."

"She got off lightly, facing no permanent damage. But if the public had found out, even she would be be in danger. To soothe public outcry, she would have been forced to take up atonement, and possibly even executed."

"An instant execution for the recipient if anyone revealed to the public information about them killing 3 village."

"But who was I? The Kingdom's trash, who wanted nothing but the Kingdom's ruin. It was treated as just nonsense from a jealous man by the common people, and the people who truly knew simply shut it down."

"My revenge was useless."

"It was on the 19th day in the second month of Year 567 that she laid her hands on the second village. She trapped me just 3 days later. Had I known it before, I could've saved myself but it was too late."

For a second, hatred spewed out from his mouth but it returned to his regular dead tone. The man remained still without a single muscle fibre twitching, with his hands keeping his head up.

'I can definitely use this.'

Whilst calculating if this could help, I began leaving my trance-like state of surprise and began to attempt communications with the old man.

I tried speaking up, but my mouth wouldn't produce any sounds nor would my body move to produce a gesture of thanks. He started to stare off into the distance, breathing in an erratic manner.

"Blessed with time, and born through the River of Fate, I offer you a gift riddled with the taint of Space. Yykra Siere, think not of this as an accident. Try to remember."

[■■■ is descending onto the mortal plane!]

[Ruins of ■■■ is interfering!]

[Laws of Causality are being twisted under ■■■'s will!]

[Mortal Plane begins to accept ■■■!]

[Heavenly Laws have weakened!]

[Berizk Shiwrn has inherited ■■■!]

"Hey, what's happening?! The hell is all this about!"

He chuckled, before continuing "I guess it had to end up like this, huh? Ah, call out [Revelation] to get some clarity in your journey, Yykra. Wait, no, you're Berizk now aren't you? Good luck, Berizk."

The cube I was in started dimming, alongside it constricting. It became smaller and darker, until it ceased to exist and so did I.

Like that, I regained consciousness with a strange heart.

—

"Sir-"

"Sir Hero!"

Haaaaaaa!

My body felt lethargic but I forced myself to get up from the ground.

"What happened Sir Hero?"

'I don't know either, fuck.'

Who made such a complicated holiday? The future self of this body came back in time to warn himself? No, but then why did he look like that?

And…those blanks?

'Nevermind.'

It was wholly impossible for me to figure anything out as of now, and the purpose of why I was here.

Rather, there were more interesting matters.

Reputation.

The difference between Berizk succeeding in his revenge and failing was simply his reputation. And though slightly conceited, I considered myself to be well versed in the matter regarding reputation. After all, it wasn't easy for me to get those explosives as a jobless 20 year old—I had made some bullshit organisation to try to get people to fund me with some money.

What was it again? The world was going to end soon or something, and that I would guide the way? Ah, I couldn't remember. It was fun though, as I'd even made it large enough to be recorded on television once for my group. But that was besides the point.

The Weakest Hero.

That was what he called himself when explaining his story. A title like that was a clear giveaway to this body's reputation.

Actions that formed opinions in people's mind were crucial to build up your personal brand and the more favourable the opinion, the better. When opinions became shared amongst a large number of people, it evolved into a reputation that followed you and acted as a passive buff for all your actions.

And what bigger cheat code was there than to be good-looking in creating good impressions to others?! How come he didn't manage to become popular with a face like this? Placing an amicable smile on myself, I looked straight at the maid and answered.

"Sorry, I was just tired from training my muscles really hard beforehand!"

The maid simply gazed at me.

Fuck. Why would I sound so excited about training? Ah, damn it, I'll build a cold and mysterious reputation instead.

"Sorry."

"It's alright Sir Hero!"

I needed to leave immediately.

—

I had to urgently form a plan. Currently, I was flailing my arms around hoping that I would receive an enlightenment sent from the Heavens but nothing was coming to me.

Think.

The mysteries of magic and its limits were still unknown to me.

Yet, I doubted she could kill me even if I threatened her. Even though she was asked to remove me from the Hero Race completely, she only gave me a social execution.

Someone who enjoyed innocent villagers dying wouldn't be so merciful to wish for me to live. There was a factor that I wasn't aware of but I needed to rely on it, something that was preventing her from getting the pleasure of ending my life right now.

I had no choice but to place my hopes on that, since there were no other alternatives I could pull off in this short amount of time.

What I needed was clarity of the situation.

'Clarity?'

The future Berizk had already told me the path to gain some insight.

"[Revelation]?"

—

Name: Berizk Shiwrn

Title(s): [The Weakest Hero]

Hero Slate: {Moulded in Deceit}

Realm: Null

Strength: 9

Agility: 7

Perception: 10

Vitality: 6

Mana: 4

Charm: 97

Attribute(s): [Time], [■■■]

—

"You useless bastard! Are you seriously that incapable in everything but your looks?!"

I could feel a wave of anger wash over me as I looked at these ridiculously disproportionate stats. I mean, come on! His Charm was larger than every other stat combined, and by a long shot at that!

More importantly, there was no clarity to gain from inspecting these words that had popped up. I had gained new information, definitely, but nothing that would flip the situation.

It was possible that there was. Somewhere within these words, there was something that would save me. But I had no need for such unknown plans. With my own certain knowledge, I would save myself.

'Maybe that would work?'