Chapter 349 - My SI Stash #49 - Forced Re:Start by The Pillow God (Re:Zero)

-Another author that's done a great Re:Zero fic without rehashing canon~

Synopsis: An average college student is granted a reincarnation with some "benefits" due to an accidental mishap from the heavenly powers above, which ended his life prematurely. Unfortunately, he recognizes that his new life takes place in a setting he's familiar with, one filled with potential danger at every corner.

Rated: T

Words: 27K

Posted on: fanfiction.net/s/13632361/1/Forced-Re-Start (The Pillow God)

PS: If you're not able to copy/paste the link, you have everything in here to find it, by simply searching the author and the story title. It sucks that you can't copy links on mobile (´ー｀)

-I'll be putting the chapter ones of all the fanfics mentioned, to give you guys a sample if you wan't more please do go to the website and support the author! (And maybe even convince them to start uploading chapters in here as well!)

Chapter 1

When he had come to, he only saw white. No, that definition would be incorrect, rather than white, it was colorless. It possessed no color, and looking around, he could only identify it as something that felt like white to his senses, as no words or definition he possessed could accurately describe his surroundings. A ripple in the "colorless" world around him occurred, drawing his attention to the source of the "ripple". A floating shape that generated light shined a few paces away from him.

The next instant, he could feel the words that the "shape" spoke into its mind, in his own voice.

[You've awoken, good.]

He whirled around, before turning his vision back to the floating mass in front of him. "W-was that you?" He sought an explanation from the voice.

[. . . You haven't regained all of your sensibilities.] The voice rang out in his head, having understood his state.

He was only becoming more and more confused. "Wha-?"

The voice cut him off before he could ask about his situation. [Here, this should help.]

The floating, formless mass of light began to shine brighter and brighter, until it painted over his consciousness entirely.

"Wha-!"

And before he knew it, his vision was filled of memories of his life, or more specifically, his life that had come to an end. It came rushing back to him, the experiences he had growing up in the educational system, living in an average household, and eventually getting into an average college. The life that he possessed previously came back in full force, as he remembered everything, even those memories that were forgotten by most as they grew up.

He emerged from the visions of his past, until he was back in the colorless room with the floating shape. [That was forceful of me, I apologize] The voice rang out in his head.

He caught his breath, "No... no... I'm okay..." He took a few deep breaths to re-acclimate to his foreign surroundings, and looked back at the shape again. As he focused on the voice, he noticed again the similarity of their voices. "W-why do you sound like me?"

The shape seemed vaguely surprised at his question, as though he hadn't expected that to be the first question he would be asked. [. . . In communicating with you mentally, seeing I possess no voice naturally, the "voice" you hear is in actuality my thoughts, which cannot be understood normally, and thus had to be translated in a form that you could understand, so I did so in your "voice" for ease of understanding.]

"Right. Okay. Got it." He didn't really, but he decided questioning the mechanics of it would lead to a bigger headache than figuring out what was going on now.

[You seem to be handling yourself remarkably well, especially after the manner in which you died.] The memory flashed back in his mind, of how he had died when he had been hit by a light from seemingly nowhere, and could feel himself disintegrating and becoming ash.

He started to gag, "O-oh, I think I'm going to be sick."

[Right.] the voice proceeded, unconcerned with the nausea that overcame him. After a few more moments spent recovering he took another deep breath before asking,

"So, who are you?"

[The administrator that manages the cycle of souls in this "part" of the Multiverse.]

"S-s-so the Multiverse Theory? It's true?"

[Yes.] He lost his words with the simple affirmation of one of his early teenage fantasies.

After overcoming his shock, he laughed, "So? What's going on here? You're not going to say something like "You have been summoned to another world." or something like that are you?"

The voice did not miss a beat, [Correction. You will be reincarnated and begin life anew.]

". . . Eh?"

The voice took his response as having misheard or misunderstood it, [You will be reincarnated and-]

"No, no, no, no, reincarnated?! Why?"

The voice of the "administrator" patiently explained to him, [All souls undergo reincarnation, to put it in a way that you can understand, think of it as recycling so that we avoid producing waste in creating more souls.]

". . . Got it, but is there a reason for going through all this?" He gestured around at his surroundings.

[I do not understand what you are trying to say.]

"I don't know, I imagined that if reincarnation existed, it would be automatic and wouldn't require direct contact."

The voice seemed to have been mildly surprised at his deduction, [Correct. But as this case was abnormal, I was required to come in to contact with you.]

[If you would look behind you, the reason should become clear.]

He turned around, only to find a toy vending machine, "This doesn't explain anything." He turned back to the light, "What is this here for?"

[You met an unexpected end due to an oversight in your world's management.]

"What does that mean?"

[Put bluntly, you were not supposed to die there, but because of accidental intervention you ended up dying by mistake.]

He gripped his head in agitation already coming to a conclusion that he did not like, "What do you mean by accidental?"

The voice paused for a moment, and then another, [It would be faster if I were to show you.] And just as it did before, the light from the shape began to shine brighter and brighter, until it completely took over his consciousness.

When he came to, he found himself looking at himself, except older. The voice from before sounded out in his head again, [You were meant to achieve great things in your lifetime.] The vision began to proceed rapidly. He saw himself graduate from college, with his parents in the audience. The vision proceeded even further, until he saw himself working in a research lab, developing new technology. The vision then proceeded further and further in time, revealing the wealth he would eventually acc.u.mulate with the advances in technology he would develop, and his eventual passing as one of the greatest inventors of his time.

The vision eventually faded away to reveal the toy vending machine and the source of the voice. Out of breath, "So, that was supposed to be my future, right?"

[Yes.]

"Then w-why did I die so young?" His fears were becoming confirmed as each second passed.

[As I said earlier, accidental intervention resulted in your death, luckily, you were the only casualty there. Otherwise, more clean-up would have been necessary to correct the course of your world's future.]

""Luckily" my ass! I died! Your f.u.c.k-up killed me!" He exploded in anger, clenching his fists.

As if to placate him, the voice quickly responded, [I know, and in order to compensate you for your loss, we have brought you here.]

"Compensate? I don't want your compensation! Take me back! My parents! Friends! Give me my life back!" His anger was a mix of his indignation and mourning of what he had lost.

The voice responded, and sounded genuinely apologetic, [I am truly sorry, your death was due to oversight on my part and was never supposed to have happened.]

When faced with such sincerity, even his justified anger cooled a little. But overall, it didn't change the fact that he had been wrongfully robbed of his life. Clenching his teeth hard enough for it to have broken if they were real, he said, "Enough. Just send me back to my world."

[I am truly sorry. Time has already passed since your death in your world. And I do not possess the power to undo time.]

He exploded again, "Well then call someone who can! It doesn't matter who! I have people who care about me in my world!"

The voice apologized again. This cycle of anger and apologies continued until the he burnt himself out. He would have thrown things across the room but there was nothing, and his hands were incorporeal anyway. He let out a deprecating sigh before speaking again, "Look, you can't send me back or even interfere in my world. How am I supposed to accept this?"

[I truly apologize.]

He let out another sigh, "So there's no way you can send me back in a world I've already died in, and you can't undo what's already happened right?"

[Yes, I apologize but I do not possess jurisdiction over time, and thus cannot return things to the way they were.]

"Then there's no choice isn't there? I have to be reincarnated." Faced with repeated confirmations that nothing could be undone to return him to his life, even he had to eventually concede that nothing could be done. His former explosive rage cooled in to reluctant acceptance.

[Yes, I am truly sorry about my carelessness.]

The anger faded in his voice and turned into something akin to exhaustion, "There's no choice anyway. Is there any way you can put my friends and family at peace or something? I wouldn't want to worry them."

[. . . It would be bending the rules somewhat but if it is only to that degree then I shall see it done.]

He let out a big sigh, "Alright then, let's go ahead with this reincarnation thing."

The light from the administrator started to shine brighter, as if it were glad to have moved on to another topic. [If you would turn back to the toy vending machine please.]

"Right, you never got to explain this thing", he muttered. On closer look, the toy vending machine did not possess any labels or stickers and was completely white, and the capsules inside were not like the typical plastic capsules, but were simply balls with something written on them. Unfortunately, the distortion of the see-through material of the vending machine made it impossible to figure out what was written on the capsule replacements. There was no coin slot either, and instead it was replaced with the number seven where the slot should be. The lever was on the left side, and was colored gray.

"Is this the number of times I'm allowed to pull the lever or something?" He asked, pointing at the slot machine.

[Correct. This number correlates to the maximum potential of your soul.]

"Meaning?"

[This is the limit of how many Divine Protections you can acquire without destroying your soul.]

"Uh, Divine Protections?" The familiarity of the term tugged at the back of his mind, but he ignored it to focus on what was directly in front of him.

[Yes, if it confuses you, consider them as a collection of abilities, both active and passive.]

"Ah, gotcha. So, the maximum potential means that I'm basically going in at level 100, right?"

[In a certain sense.]

"What do you mean?"

[The usage of your abilities will matter in regards to strength.]

He let out a contemplating noise, "Right. Anyway, let's roll for my abilities, I guess."

[Yes, if you would, please start pulling the lever whenever you are ready.]

Putting his hand on the lever, a certain hesitation came over him. The Divine Protections that he was about to receive would most likely define the way his new life turned out, and having it being left to chance made him reasonably nervous. He took a deep breath, before yanking down the lever with all of his strength. Clattering sounds came from the vending machine, until the sound stopped. He saw the ball inside shake a little bit, before he heard the click of something sliding in to place and saw something drop down. The vending machine whirred and hissed as the ball slid down and out in to view. As the ball came out from the machine, the number seven went down by one.

He picked up the ball and saw three stars inscribed on to the black ball. "Is this a Dragon Ball gone wrong?" He asked half-jokingly.

[No. The stars on the ball determine the rarity of the Divine Protection.]

"Right. . . So, is it three stars out of five or something?"

[No, each star the rarity upwards in rank. The ranks are common, uncommon, rare, super-rare, super-super rare, and ultra-rare.]

"That's not a creative system at all, it's like a gacha game."

He held up the ball higher and examined the stars that displayed its rarity, "So this would be a rare right?"

The voice sounded slightly miffed in its response, [Correct, if you turn it over you should see what kind of Divine Protection it is.]

He flipped over the ball and discovered something written on the back. Inscribed in gold text, displayed Divine Protection of the Moon.

Scrutinizing his new Divine Protection of the Moon he asked, "This is cool and all, but, uh, what does it do?"

[The Divine Protection of the Moon should provide you boons whilst under the moon.]

"Okay, cool, I kind of guessed that already. So uh, what do I do with this?" He was confused as to what to do with the ball.

[In order to obtain your new Divine Protection, you need to swallow it.]

He stared at the ball in his hand, then stared at the shape that represented the administrator, then back at the ball again. The ball in his hand was slightly bigger than size of a tennis ball, and definitely not something that could be swallowed or fit in to the throat of a human body in a reasonable way.

Sensing his hesitation, the voice spoke, [It should shrink when it touches your tongue.]

With a sense of trepidation, he put the ball against his mouth and only calmed down when it shrank to an appropriate size. He popped the now small ball in to his mouth and swallowed with a loud gulp.

"Okay, I did it, but I'm not really feeling a power-up or anything like that." If he had to describe the sensation it would be like he had just eaten some spicy food but that he had already overcome most of the painful spiciness. Before long, that feeling itself disappeared and nothing was left.

The administrator was surprised by the speed at which he adjusted to his new Divine Protection, but didn't show it openly. [It seems you have already adjusted to your new Divine Protection, should we proceed with the next one?]

Having gained confidence after having done it once he agreed, "Yeah, I think I've got the hang of this."

Each and every Divine Protection he swallowed after the first extended the feeling of eating spicy into higher and higher heights. When he swallowed his last one, he understood that he had reached the limit of his intake, and the he couldn't obtain any more lest he risk actual combustion, given the intensity of the spicy feeling had actually become painful by the point he swallowed his last Divine Protection, enough to bring him to his knees.

He closed his eyes and felt each of his Divine Protections within him:

[Divine Protection of the Moon]

[Divine Protection of the War God]

[Divine Protection of the Wisdom God]

[Divine Protection of Sky Walking]

[Divine Protection of Wind Spirits]

[Divine Protection of Severance]

[Divine Protection of Counter]

After observing that he had become accustomed to his new Divine Protections, the administrator continued with the reincarnation process.

[Is there any discomfort left from acquiring your Divine Protections?]

"No, I think I'm fine."

[In that case, your soul will be sent to the alternate world that has been chosen for your reincarnation.]

"Got it, don't forget about what I asked of you."

[Understood, it shall be done to the best of my abilities.]

With that, the spiritual body that made up his appearance crumbled, as his soul was now taking the form of his new life. The room that held the toy vending machine and the reincarnation administrator crumbled away, and light began to fill up his vision, before he disappeared from this place between worlds, and fully reincarnated into another world.

Being born a member of the middle class, Lugh was born with the green-blue eyes of his mother. However, unlike either of his parents, he was born with tufts of white growing from his head. This had caused a severe strain on the relationship between the mother and father. The father, Alex, was a tall, auburn-haired man with brown eyes, while the mother, was a comely blond-haired woman with green-blue eyes named Lillian.

As Lugh possessed the hair of neither the father or the mother, his father accused the mother of infidelity.

"Whose son, is he?! Is it that bastard, Murel!?"

"No! I would never cheat on you! I swear he's our son!"

Their argument deteriorated to the point that they had a water magician brought in from the capital in order to check the baby's origins. To the father's surprise, the baby belonged to both of the parents, and as such resolved their argument.

On hands and knees, he begged for his wife's forgiveness, "I'm sorry that I ever doubted you, please forgive me."

With a cold look in her eyes, she brushed aside his apologies and kicked him out of their bedroom, cursing him to sleeping on the hay in their stables.

The father repeated his apologies at every given chance, even when in front of their daughter of five years.

Lugh was not an only child when he had been received in this world. His elder sister, Ciel, similarly possessed the green-blue eyes of their mother and her brother, as well as the auburn hair of their father. A shy child who tended to run away whenever her parents started to argue, she was nothing but joyful of having a little brother, and did not possess the delicate sensibilities of an a.d.u.l.t, and was frightened whenever her parents argued over their little brother. It was her interactions with her newly born baby brother that prevented the family from completely ripping apart.

Often times she would coo at her brother in his crib, "Aww, he's so cute." She would say, and gently pinch his cheeks, laden with baby fat.

Both the mother and the father could agree that the two children were simply adorable together, before the sense of unity was broken and the father was kicked to the curb again.

"Mommy, why is Daddy in the stables?"

"Because he did a bad thing sweetie." Her mother would reply.

Many nights did the family live separated but together in the same home. The father would come back in to the house in order to beg to be let back in whilst on his hands and knees, and would receive an appropriately justified cold rejection.

"Please let me back in to the house, I'm so very sorry about everything I said and insinuated," he begged on his hands and knees.

Multiple seasons would pass before the mother's heart even started to defrost, and the husband was allowed back in to the house, but not in to the bedroom, he was still stuck sleeping in the stables with their two earth dragons, Lulu and Wyndelug.

Almost a little over a year would pass, before the atmosphere in the family would return to anything resembling normal. This was in no small part due to their daughter's wishes.

"Mommy and Daddy, please stop fighting," she would say tearfully.

For the sake of their children, the family was reunited once more. But despite averting the family crisis, other problems came up. Mainly, taking care of the baby. Even as a baby, Lugh would be able to escape his crib and virtually vanish. It was often times that Ciel would be the one who would find Lugh on high places.

"Mommy! Lugh is on the roof again!" Ciel screamed as she made sure to keep an eye on him.

The parents would scramble around to find rope or a ladder in order to reach the roof and evacuate their child from such dangerous locations. It was by keeping an eye on Lugh at all times did Ciel come to realize that she possessed the [Divine Protection of Seeking], even if she didn't know exactly what that meant.

"Mommy, I can tell where Lugh is at all times!" She said.

"Oh yeah? Tell me where he is right now," her mother would challenge, not believing her.

Ciel nodded before clenching her eyes shut in concentration, "He's in the storage room! On the highest shelf! Near the bucket!"

Humoring her child, the mother put down her sewing needles and walked in to their storage room, only to find Lugh on the highest shelf, close to the bucket. It was then that the mother knew her daughter was special. When the father came home from doing village patrols with the rest of the men, she told him about Ciel's ability to find Lugh.

"Look, dear! Ciel was able to find Lugh without having to search for him!" She told him, excited.

Like the mother, the father was unable to truly believe what was being said, until Ciel proved it to him as well. He even went as far as placing Lugh, who was sleeping in his crib, in the stables.

Ciel shut her eyes and furrowed her little brows, "Hnnn! He's in the stables!"

The father's jaw dropped to the floor in utter amazement. It stayed open until the mother closed it with her hands.

"See? Isn't our daughter amazing?" She said, smug.

In his excitement, the father lifted up his daughter and gently threw her up in the air and caught her, repeating the action and spreading a merry mood in the house. Both parents were incredibly happy as they were very sure that she possessed a Divine Protection, given her unbelievable ability to find her sneaky baby brother whenever he disappeared. Ciel was unofficially appointed as the eyes watching over her brother, given her suitability to the task, and both father and mother were very happy for her future, as useful Divine Protections were pretty rare.

"Who's the best daughter in the world? Yes, you are! Yes, you are!" He cooed.

Ciel giggled at the antics of her father, being lifted up and down again and again.

Their daily life continued without many hiccups due to Ciel's Divine Protection, and the care that the parents took when raising their daughter and son. It wasn't until their son achieved some awareness of his own did the wheels of fate start turning.

It took Lugh about 4 years to obtain self-awareness, or more specifically a sense of self. It was also the same time his memories returned to him, of his former life, and his meeting with the administrator in the area between worlds.

Didn't expect him to let me keep my memories.

He tried to thinking about his former life, but could not remember the names of his parents and friends or the way they looked. He couldn't even recall the name he had in his past life.

. . . Or, not, would've been too much to expect to let me remember everything.

He took in the sights around him, recalling the familiarity of having grown up in this "new" house. He even knew the faces of his new family members, a four-person family consisting of himself, his elder sister, and his parents. He heard birds chirping outside and sunlight peeking in the window of his room.

"-Lugh! It's time for breakfast!" His mother called from the kitchen.

"I'm coming!" He yelled in response. He threw off the blanket and yanked open the cabinet, noting his not-so-abundant amount of clothes, and put on a simple white hand-me-down shirt and some shorts, before heading to the kitchen.

"What's for breakfast?" He asked as he came down the stairs.

"Bread and soup, hurry, take a seat." His mother set his plate down on the dining room table.

He climbed up to his seat next to the head of the table and noticed the absence of his father and sister, "Where's Dad and big sis?"

"Your father's already eaten and he's out cleaning the earth dragons. Ciel should be helping him."

He nodded, and started digging in to his food. The soup had a mixture of vegetables and meat. The broth was thick with the flavor of meat, and after finishing up the meat he mopped up the remains at the bottom of the bowl with chunks of bread and quickly devoured those as well.

His mother chuckled at his display of eating speed before chiding him, "Slowly, you don't want to choke." She set down a pitcher of water and a cup on the table.

He poured himself a cup of water and quickly downed it. His mother had started washing the dishes and noticed when he finished eating.

"Lugh dear, if you've finished eating, please hand me your bowl and plate."

He obliged and carried his plate and bowl and handed it to her, who put it in the pile of dirty dishes at the kitchen sink. Although the technology was behind over all in this world, Lugh thought it was still relatively comfortable to live here with the existence of magic stones that were used to power appliances at home.

Thank god proper toilets exist here. If I'd been sent to some backwards world, I probably would've hated it there.

His mother's words snapped him out of his thoughts, "If you want to you can go outside to play, don't go out too far though!"

A quick thanks and putting on shoes had him leave the house in order to explore the area. He lived in the town of Altair, a relatively popular retirement location for knights and soldiers due to the beautiful flower fields the town was surrounded by, with a forest farther out. With the town being home to many retired knights, it was relatively safe from bandits and demon beasts.

Demon beasts. . . Demon beasts. . . I swear I've heard that term before. . .

"-Oh! Isn't it Lugh! How've you been doing?" A call from one of his neighbors shook him out of his thoughts.

"Oh! Hi Mr. Murel! I'm doing good! How are you!" He waved towards Mr. Murel.

Mr. Murel was a man in his early thirties who had a mop of gray hair atop his head, with blue eyes so dark they almost looked back. He was a former mercenary who suffered a hip injury and retired early to Altair, and was self-sustained with a small farm he maintained.

Mr. Murel gave a chuckle, "Doing fine indeed! The weather's wonderful, and the harvest this year is better than I expected."

As he continued to walk and pass by Mr. Murel's house, he called out, "I hope you can tell me more stories about your mercenary days, see you later Mr. Murel!"

He scratched his neck awkwardly, "If I find the time! Stay safe, Lugh!"

He proceeded along the walking path that connected the houses, greeting his neighbors if he saw them out and about, of which many of them were.

"Good morning Ms. Chequita!"

The woman looked up from tending to her garden, "Ah, good morning to you too Lugh! Give my regards to your mother, won't you?"

"I will!" He waved her bye, before continuing.

But man, there's seriously nothing for me to do at this age. Besides reading or running around. The closest to my age group are my sister's friends, who are still way older than me.

He eventually reached his destination, the famous flower fields of Altair. There were two guards waiting on the gate leading out to the flower garden. They called out to him as he passed by them.

"Stay safe! Don't wander out too far okay?"

"Okay! Thanks mister!" He called out in response, before heading in to the flower fields.

The other guard whispered to the first, "Is it really okay to let a child venture out without supervision?"

The first guard waved off his concern, "It should be fine, Lugh's a pretty smart kid. Besides, his sister can find him whenever she wants."

The second nodded, "Well, just in case."

"Yeah, we'll stay alert just in case for any demon beast activity. Wouldn't want a repeat of three years ago."

Lugh passed by all different kinds of flowers. Having not studied about flowers in his formal life, he couldn't tell what kind of flower each was besides identifying them based on their colors. He passed by different hues of warm and cold colors. The flowers grew wildly and freely on a backdrop of green grass, and if someone were to look at them from above, they would witness a scene worthy of being painted.

When he went far enough to be out of the sight of the guards but not too far that it would get him in trouble, he bent down and started doing his stretches.

Stretching his arms, Right, time to test out these Divine Protections, well, the ones I can right now.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, concentrating on feeling the Divine Protections he held within him. The sensation of having Divine Protections varied, as some possessed passive effects while others required conscious activation to use. Just separating them within himself took effort, as the abundance of Divine Protections made it hard for him to avoid accidentally slicing something apart with [Divine Protection of Severance] or breaking something when [Divine Protection of the Moon] was active. It was really a miracle that nothing had happened up till now.

But today, he came out to the flower fields in order to test out [Divine Protection of Sky Walking]. Flipping an internal switch, he took a step forward, imagining a foothold forming above the ground. When he opened his eyes, he saw himself standing on the air and let out an internal whoop of excitement.

Right. Time to test how far I can go.

And like a man possessed, he dashed upwards like he was running up a flight of stairs, proceeding higher and higher and out of sight until he could overlook the forest that was a little way ahead. Gravity took place, and began pulling him down to the ground. He started running once again, but rather than creating footholds that took him upwards, he created footholds sloped downward which would help him bleed away some of the momentum.

Alright, let's adjust the angle of the foothold so I don't land face first-

And with a slam, Lugh's body hit the ground like a sack of bricks. His landing tore up the roots of plant life and spread dirt everywhere. There was a small crater where he landed as well, and his body was aching in pain.

Ow... That one's not fading anytime soon.

Gingerly, he pushed himself face up and sat down, wincing at every movement he made.

Shit, I don't think anything's broken, but that could have gone worse so I'll chalk that one up as an acceptable result for the first flight test.

When he brushed aside from dirt, he noticed something odd, No, wait, at that impact, with this crater, I should be seriously hurt or dead.

His head swiveled down towards the indention he made on the ground, Right, my body should have experienced the same force that created that crater, so why am I not in pieces?

He observed his arms again, and his eyes widened when he felt wind brush off some of the dirt and swirl around him like a protective coat. He arrived at the answer to his previous question almost immediately.

This is... a barrier of wind(?) surrounding my body. Among my Divine Protections there's only one-

Yes, [Divine Protection of Wind Spirits] granted him an invisible film of wind that reduced friction and increased his overall speed in everything. The benefits were practically unnoticeable in everyday life, but this Divine Protection was the main reason why he was able to move so fast while walking in the air, because it reduced air friction. That same barrier was strengthened due to his increased exposure to the open air, and protected him from being severely hurt from the landing.

Woah, I don't want to sound arrogant, but at this rate, aren't I going to be absolutely broken? I could be the strongest mercenary, or maybe a knight if I'm lucky.

He looked back down at this clothing, and saw how dirty it had become again, and winced when he realized that he would be in for a serious scolding when he returned back home.

But before that, time to catch some shut-eye.

His body was absolutely exhausted, having moved like never before, as well as the conscious use of the [Divine Protection of Sky Walking] left him utterly spent, and unable to move anymore. He used his foot to cover up the crater with some dirt, before he plopped down on to the field of grass and flowers.

Right, I should be fine as long I wake up before lunch time.

And before long, he nodded off and let himself be taken by the sweet temptation of sleep.

"-ke up! Wake up!"

He was shaken awake from his sleep, and saw that the sun's position had far passed the point of noon. Still half asleep he turned his gaze upwards and saw Ciel -his sister.

". . . What's up?" He grumbled, still sleepy.

She huffed, "It's time for dinner sleepyhead!"

The declaration of dinner blew the fogginess of sleep from his mind, "What?!"

"Yeah! You missed lunch already, and it's almost time for dinner!"

He quickly turned his head to the sky, and saw the sky slowly darkening due to the sun beginning to set beyond the horizon. He stood up and quickly dusted his clothes of dirt and tried his best to wipe himself clean with his hands.

His sister, who had observed his state of dirtiness while he slept, asked, "What did you do here? You're so dirty!"

"I was... uh... digging for treasure!" He quickly came up with a false reason for his state of uncleanliness.

"Hmmmm..." Ciel made a disbelieving noise, before quickly grabbing his arm and leading them away.

"I can walk on my own, it's fine," he said, trying to shake off his sister's arm.

"Nope!" But her grip on his arm stayed firm, and with his younger body, he lacked the strength to remove her grip from his arm. Unable to remove her arm, he obediently accepted defeat, and allowed her to drag him back home.

His mother was a woman who expressed her emotions very openly, and when he came home, her reaction to his state confirmed this fact for him.

"You're so dirty! What were you doing? Hurry up and go wash yourself now!" Her barrage of orders came in and nearly blasted him off of his feet, before he was banished from the house and forced to wipe himself clean.

He had to travel all the way to the nearby well and obtain for himself a bucket of water before he started to clean himself. He removed his clothes in order to scrub himself clean with a wet towel and soap, before noticing the bruises on his body.

"Hm?" On second glance, the bruises that were significant in size had shrunken by a decent amount, and by now looked like he had tripped rather than he had fallen out of the sky. He silently thanked the [Divine Protection of Wind Spirits] for granting him some sped up recovery, and dried himself with a towel. He poked his bruises gently and winced when he felt the dull pain that he expected.

Right, injuries still hurt, I'm not invincible. Having confirmed his mortality, he started to wash himself clean by lathering himself with soap and started scrubbing, wincing whenever he passed over a bruised area. After washing away the soap bubbles with the rest of the remaining water, he dried himself off with a spare towel before dressing himself again.

When he returned inside, he saw his sister helping his mother set the table for dinner, bringing out western-style food. Dinner consisted of cuts of thick meat, and the same bread he ate earlier for breakfast. Sitting down at the table, he heard the front door open and his father call out.

"Honey! I'm home!" He made his appearance in the dining room, and revealed to Lugh his large body. His frame was muscular, with some scars on his arms. He was built like a fighter, due to his time as one of the town's guards and was known as one of the strongest men in the village.

"You're just in time for dinner dear." His mother smiled at his father, placing a jug of water on the table.

She motioned for him to sit, "Hurry up and sit down, the kids are waiting for you."

Dinner started without any fanfare or problems, and proceeded as normally as a family dinner would.

His father directed his attention toward Lugh, "Oh yeah, I heard that you were out all day?"

He looked up from his half-eaten food, "Hm? Yeah, I was out in the flower fields."

"I found him sleeping in the flowers!" His sister interjected.

His father made an amused sound, "Napping in the flower fields huh? Sounds nice."

He couldn't reasonably deny the idea that he spent his day only slacking because he didn't yet want to reveal to his family that he was training with his Divine Protections.

To begin with, they probably wouldn't believe me unless I showed them, and that involves opening a whole another can of worms.

He decided that he would reveal his Divine Protections at a reasonably later date, and in a more controlled environment, so that unnecessary information wouldn't leak from anywhere and land him some unwanted attention.

He let out a small laugh, "Yeah, it felt really good to sleep in the flower fields."

Although his father and sister chuckled and poked fun at his supposed laziness, his mother proved herself to be the voice of reason in the family and scolded him, "Even then, it's still dangerous to sleep outside you know? Even if there are guards you shouldn't be so careless okay? What we would have done if you were hurt? Or worse?"

His father quickly came to his side and tried to placate his mother, "It's fine isn't it? Nothing bad happened, and he came home okay, right?"

He nodded in assent, "Yes, nothing bad happened and I wasn't in any trouble."

In that moment, he decided to never tell his mother about him testing out his abilities and how he could have died as a result, lest he suffers mother's eternal nagging.

"Well, if you're going to say that much. . ." Just as it seemed as if mother was going to calm down, her attention swerved to father, "And you! You should be more concerned about your son's safety!"

Their trivial argument continued for a little while and calmed down after some time.

Curious about his father's day, he asked his father, "What did you do today Dad?"

This time, his father looked up from his partially-eaten food, "Today? Hmm... I spent time with Wyndelug and Lulu, before hunting demon beasts in the forest."

The topic of demon beasts excited him as one of the few key fantasy elements he had discovered about his new world, "Demon beasts? How many? What did they look like?"

His father laughed at his excited reaction, "Haha! As expected of a boy your age." His father nodded at his boyish interest, before continuing with his story.

"I rode on the back of Lulu and patrolled the forest a little ways ahead of the village." He nodded along to his father's story. "It was then that I came upon some hideous demon beasts, before beheading them with my sword!" His father boasted of his encounter.

Although he feared little due to his many Divine Protections, he still thought it would be safe to learn about demon beasts in case of an unwanted encounter, although it seemed unlikely given that the town was guarded by a plethora of well-trained militia given that the residents were mainly ex-mercenary or ex-soldiers.

His sister on the other hand, seemed more frightened by the existence of demon beasts, given how pale she turned when father started talking about his encounter with demon beasts.

His mother noticed her reaction, and quickly silenced his father, "Stop with this disturbing conversation. Look at how you're scaring our daughter!"

His father winced when he noticed his daughter's reaction as well, "Right. Sorry."

His mother nodded, "Good, you can tell all the stories you want to Lugh after dinner if you want to, but no scary stories at the table."

With that, they finished their talk as well as dinner before heading on to do their own things. Ciel had grabbed Lugh by the hand and started dragging him to their room, looking bothered about something, while their parents started washing the dishes and cleaning up.

Lugh was a bit surprised when his sister dragged him to her room, but his confusion was wiped away when she spoke.

"Lugh... aren't you scared of demon beasts?"

"Ah..." He hesitated, unsure of how to reassure his sister.

"They're monsters that eat people you know?!" Seemingly pressured by his hesitation, she pressed on.

Ah. He understood, she had been shaken by his nonchalant attitude with his father's mention of demon beasts. She was confused as to why he wasn't as scared as she was, and it shook her confidence in herself. This was quite a delicate situation.

"Right. But aren't we safe here? I mean, we've got Dad, and Mr. Murel, and all the other men who protect this town, right?"

It was his sister's turn to be surprised, his frank assessment stunned her. It didn't make sense to her, demon beasts were monsters that everyone was wary of, and her brother was just so nonchalant about it.

She bit her lip, before continuing, "But... But... What if they fail? You never know, demon beasts might come in large numbers and destroy the village? We never know when they might come, and what if it's when we're all sleeping?"

Her fears kept on pouring out of her, and he started to realize that her fear went deeper than some scary stories. Perhaps some trauma before he had been able to properly recall his memories?

And he continued to reassure her, "It should be okay, we have nighttime guards too, and even then, if we get attacked, we can always escape from the village and have the kingdom's knights come and kill the demon beasts if there are too many."

"But... But..." Faced with his logic, her irrational fears were starting to dissipate.

In order to drive his point home, he continued, "And even if we get hurt, Ms. Chequita can always heal anyone who's hurt, right? She is a water magic user after all."

After a moment of silence, she slapped her face in order to blow away the rest of her fears, "Right. You're right. Yeah."

"See? Everything will be fine."

She was starting to feel rather embarrassed of having her fears reassured by her younger brother by this, especially given that she was more than double his age! She steeled herself, and while she wasn't completely unafraid of demon beasts, her brother had helped her overcome most of her fear.

"Right, as your big sister I should be the one that isn't afraid," despite his sister's brave response, she was still slightly shaking.

"Ha ha, but aren't you still scared?" He laughed a little, as the mood lightened up with her attempt to be what she saw as a "proper" older sister.

She puffed her cheeks, "You're making fun of me, aren't you?"

"Nope!"

"You are, aren't you!"

He started to laugh again, as her cheeks had puffed up to their maximum size.

"Why you-!"

And before he knew it, his vision started to swim. She had tackled him from her seated position and had knocked him over, and he had been forced on to the ground from his position.

"Naughty little brothers will get tickled as punishment!"

His eyes widened in surprise, before laughter of a different kind started bursting from his mouth as his sister started viciously tickling him without stop.

"Wait- Please- Let's talk this out-" He laughed in between each word, and tears started forming at his eyes as his sister kept tickling him without mercy.

He started to wheeze and cough, but his sister had stopped tickling him when she noticed he wasn't capable of speaking anymore.

"Ha... Ha... That's... way... too much."

"Hmph! This'll teach you to make fun of me," she smiled smugly.

That wasn't fair. He was just pointing out how she was acting earlier and she had mercilessly tickled him to the point of tears.

He wiped away his tears of laughter, "Anyway, you don't have to be that scared of demon beasts, we're pretty safe here after all."

His sister puffed her cheeks again, "I know!"

After their conversation was over, they heard their parents from below.

"Lugh! Ciel! It's time for bed!"

Hearing the call for bed time, he got up to his feet.

"Right, good night big sis!" He said, laughter still in his tone.

She poked her tongue out at him, "Go already!" She seemed to still be a little embarrassed at having exposed one of her fears to him so suddenly, before continuing in a more subdued voice and mumbled out, "Love you."

He turned back, although he hadn't really been able to hear her, he was able to understand what she wanted to say, "Love you too."

When he returned to his room, he saw his father sitting at the foot of his bed, patting it.

"Time for sleep kiddo."

He quickly slid in to his sheets, "Why are you here?"

"Oh! Do you not want me to be here?" His father teased.

He shook his head, "Not that, I thought you were still being scolded by Mom for making Ciel so scared."

"Hrgk!" His father made a noise from his throat.

He hesitated, but his curiosity won out in the end, "Dad, why is big sis Ciel afraid of demon beasts?"

A look of regret flashed across his father's face, as he dwelt upon unpleasant memories. "Yeah, she was attacked by demon beasts once. It was during the day, and she went along with the other village kids to explore near the forest as the usually do. As a group, they headed deeper inside as a challenge, and that's when everything went wrong." He clung on to his father's words with a sense of anticipation, each word dragging him in. "They came across a demon beast that had slipped past the regular patrol, and attacked them. They tried to run away of course, but a demon beast is much faster than regular people, much less children. Fortunately, when they heard the scream, the group on patrol dashed in as fast as they could, and managed to save everyone from the demon beast. After everyone had been rescued, a formal subjugation party was made in order to take it down. Had it not been for the patrol group, your sister, and every other kid in the village wouldn't be here today."

His father took a breath, "Having seen and been attacked by a real demon beast must be one of her scariest memories, and it's one of my greatest regrets."

Yeah, no doubt, it wouldn't be a stretch for an average kid to be traumatized, and any caring parent would be scared too, after nearly losing their child.

Having gotten the grim story off of his chest, his father smiled, "So be careful when you play in the flower fields, got it? Even if there are guards nearby."

He nodded, understanding the moral of the story.

His father patted his head, "Alright kiddo, time to sleep. Good night."

"Good night Dad."

His father chuckled, "If you behave, I'll tell you about the time I met the Sword Saint."

"Sword Saint?"

"Yeah, the strongest swordsman in this kingdom, and every kingdom beyond."

He felt his sense of excitement flare up at another fantasy-like setting he hadn't heard of before, "Who? Who?"

"The Sword Saint, Theresia van Astrea, alright kiddo, now it's really time for sleep." His father placed a kiss upon his forehead, before shutting the door behind him. But Lugh hadn't registered any of that. When he heard the words, "Theresia van Astrea", his mind had blanked out. He knew that name already. In fact, when he heard the name, other elements had clicked in to place, and that sense of incongruity he held before had been cleared by his revelation.

Sword Saint? Earth dragons? Demon beasts? I knew about all of these. And it wasn't in this life. No, even back then, when I was getting reincarnated, didn't I recognize the term, Divine Protections? Then... Then... That means, that... I was reincarnated in to Re:Zero!

The world that has the Witch Cult!

The White Whale!

Fu-!