One-Armed Knight Journey in Rance World

A light breeze blew, carrying dust along the way.

In a forest near the town of Gomorrah lied a man covered in wounds. That man had just recently brought a boy younger than five to the nearby town.

Battered armor, skin covered in cuts and bruises, and even missing an arm. The man's condition didn't look too good, but nobody knew the reason for those wounds, nor did they have the courage to ask.

Knowing that he couldn't last any longer, he left the town after leaving the child in the care of the town chief. He sauntered away for a while before finally collapsing in the nearby forest, finally succumbing to his wound.

It was said that a proud beast would find a solemn place to draw their last breath. this man was the same.

"...I guess, this is as far as I go..."

There were neither anguish, nor hatred in his voice.

"...I have done all that I could. The boy should be safe in that human settlement. Even as time goes, no one will notice anything..."

All that was left, was a sense of calmness.

"...Your last wish... I have fulfilled it. As for what that boy could achieve in future... it's all up to him..."

Slowly, his breath grew shorter and shorter as death approached. Even so, he felt content, like a knight who had managed to fulfill his last mission and was finally released from the shackles of duty.

"...Goodbye... World... Goodbye ... ****"

His last word failed to form proper sound as his body grew cold.

---

Not too long after the man's passing, a wanwan had walked into the forest and chanced upon his corpse.

At first, the wanwan approached the corpse with curiosity, even giving it a few sniffs. However, something happened that made the wanwan jolted away in fear.

The corpse had suddenly emitted a dark colored light. At the same time, it started to convulse violently as if 'something' was trying to burst out from the body.

After a few rounds of thrashing about, the corpse turned quiet.

Physically, nothing else had changed. However, the wanwan could somehow tell that that 'something' had succeeded on breaking out.

As that 'something' began to float up into the sky, suddenly the dark light flew upward, as if trying to catch the 'something' that had escaped.

The dark light spread out like a net, and then closed in to pull that 'something' back in. However, it wasn't good enough. A tiny part of that 'something' had managed to get away and escaped toward the horizon.

Without that tiny part, that 'something' was no longer complete. Suddenly in a loss, the dark light tried to find a replacement to make that 'something' become whole once again.

As it swirled around, the dark light finally decided that if it couldn't find the replacement here, it would have to go somewhere else. Somewhere that was seemingly even beyond this dimension.

When the dark light returned, it had brought back something else with it. A tiny 'something' that was similar to the part that had escaped, a 'something' that could act as a replacement.

However, no matter how similar it was to the original, it was still a replacement. Nevertheless, it would have to suffice for now.

The dark light fused the replacement together with that 'something', forcefully making it whole again. After that, it was dragged back into the corpse.

As if reacting to that 'something', the lifeless corpse started to make uncomfortable noises. The sound of bones breaking, as well as muscles tearing and stretching all over the body echoed throughout the forest.

When the noises finally faded away, what laid there was no longer the battered, wounded man from earlier.

The corpse had somehow turned into a younger man.

His face could be said to be good looking, while his body was more of the slender type. His hair, however, slowly turned white, perhaps a side effect of such arduous transformation.

Sadly, just like the form before him, he was still missing an arm. That fact had not changed.

As for the wanwan… when the strange spectacles had finally died out, the fear keeping him rooted had slowly dissipated. It once again approached the corpse, and proceeded to continue its sniffing effort. The corpse was still not reacting, so it gave it a slight nudge, just in case.

In the end, when it was sure that things were safe, it lifted its hind leg, and then peed on the corpse.

Aah, finally… thought the wanwan as it had finally satisfied its suppressed desire. When it was done, it didn't even cast another glance at the corpse before scurrying away.

---

Few hours passed. The corpse's finger twitched slightly.

His heart, which had stopped beating, started to beat once again. The pale white skin blossomed in color as blood began to flow throughout its vein. His chest moved up and down as his breath resumed as usual.

As if he had never died in the first place.

Slowly but surely, the young man opened his eyes...