(White)

The feeling of pain in my body has been numbed down by the venom that has been injected all over my body.

Is this what it feels like to be on death's door? Apart from having my body feel a little cold, I have no special opinion regarding my impending demise.

Looking at the sand scattered freely on the ground, it's the first time I've had the time to observe the ground below me so closely.

Suddenly, I feel a bit amused, so I laugh.

I'm not laughing at the fact that I fell, nor am I laughing at the huge leech swarm devouring my lower body. I'm laughing at a foolish [Villager].

A [Villager] named White, born in the Dorza Village orphanage.

And... that girl who smiles and has dimples on her face, Krya.

"Hehehe- Cough, Damn it, why did this body can't even settle on one thing? Why is my mouth is laughing, but my eyesight is blurred by hot tears?"

Krya, I wonder, what are you doing right now?

Are you having a meal with Sir Guxin in some nice cafe? Are you on a date with him?-Are you laughing merrily while holding his hand?

Whatever it is, I hope you are having a much better time than I am.

As for you, White, you are really innocent and naive.

I appreciate your goodwill, but no matter how you try to say otherwise, there has always been a huge gap in status between [Villager] and a [Mage] . It was impossible for me to compete with Sir Guxin from the very beginning.

In my blurred vision, scenes seem to appear, telling a foolish story.

A story of a mediocre boy, and a gifted girl- The story of two orphans.

The boy and the girl grew up together in the orphanage since they were little.

They had a good relationship, they often ate their meal together, spent their time playing together, running away from home together, and getting caught by the nuns together.

So they became close friends of each other, and on the night of their fifteenth birthday, under the starry sky, the boy and the girl made a promise to be together forever.

The boy started working hard, repairing the weapons of adventurers. His hands began to develop calluses from the intense heat and sweat in the blacksmith shop.

He does that every single day, from early morning until late at night.

He was always dead tired after doing so, but he was also feeling very happy.

Because each day he ends up crashing down on his bed dead tired, it means he is one step closer to fulfilling the girl's dream - studying at the Royal Academy of Magic in the royal capital.

Watching the girl practice magic every day at home, he secretly vowed to fulfill her dream before he could deserve to marry her.

He saved every penny that he got, living frugally, and the calluses on his hands grew thicker over the years.

Then, he stood at the village entrance, waving goodbye to the departing girl, and resumed his life of thickening calluses, persevering through hardships.

But he didn't fare well.

The surrounding forest had withered almost completely after a severe famine, the number of magical beasts and monsters dwindled, and adventurers gradually stopped coming.

The boy, who had only learned how to forge iron in his entire life, found himself at a dead end. In the end, all that was left was a dilapidated house and a field barely sufficient for survival.

Five years later, the girl returned... or more accurately, an adventurer party arrived in the village.

The A-class adventurer, Sir Guxin, was going to marry the A-class adventurer, Lady Krya.

The villagers celebrated because Sir Guxin brought a lot of funds and spent much of his time for the development of the village where his beloved fiance originated from.

Ever since Sir Guxin came to the village, Dorsa Village saw many new constructions brought up day by day, new crops were planted, and smiles of many villagers were something that are now much more common than before, everyone was happy with the news of Sir Guxin marriage.

No one cared or noticed the boy who had lost everything.

The promise under the starry sky was nothing but shattered words.

His dreams were shattered.

His heart was shattered too.

Without any preparation, he fled from this heartbreaking place, he kept running and running without a single care, even when he fell down a stair or crashed into a building, he kept running from the harsh reality before him.

When he regained his senses once more, he found himself in a forest infested with monsters.

And this became his fate.

A fitting end for him, being drained by a swarm of leeches.

...

...

...

That's how the story ended.

The boy gave up resisting.

So I closed my eyes and embraced death.

...However, when I opened my eyes again, I met her.

A girl who gave up resistance toward death much more than he is, the girl who is embraced by death... no, that's not right... if death had any tangible form...

Then, she was probably what they called death.