Those who seek death shall live. Those who seek life shall die.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Before I breathed my final breath, I could hear a gentle knock on my door.

An impatient rhythm, annoyingly increasing in speed, not gentle by choice, but because the hands of the person knocking were soft and frail.

After a while, the knocking stopped...

...and was replaced by the person kicking against my door with more vigor and rage.

I laughed it off. I laughed because I thought this was amusing. I questioned; who, just what kind of person would come to look at this withering flower breathing its last breath?

As the assault against my door didn't stop, I was forced to stand up and greet my guests. Despite my body refusing to move as if I was underwater, a ton of weight chained to my feet, my body feeling as if it wasn't mine anymore, but me moving a giant prison of flesh.

When I opened the door, I was greeted by the figure of a petite person. But if I am honest, petite didn't describe that person well because they were at least as big as me and at least two times more imposing.

But the reason why I am calling them petite is that her body type is quite frail.

Soft, thin arms that suggested she did not even work a day in her life. Pale skin that is so white that you could see her blue veins. Layers upon layers of clothes gave the impression that it was deep into winter, so cold as if she could freeze to death if she wore any less, despite it being deep into spring. At least 2 maids on her side, fulfilling her every whim even though it was probably just a short trip to my house.

To describe her in fewer words, she was a spoiled princess type.

The princess of the country and the first legal wife of my childhood friend, the hero, stood in front of my ragged apartment.

"Oh my~. What gives me the honor that the light of this country would come and greet this humble one."

What I received was a look of disdain, as if she looked at living trash.

"Don't bother. I wouldn't have cared to visit if my dear husband hadn't asked me to check on their 'most reliable companion.' To see if they are doing well. As it stands, they are about to keel over. Oh-hoh-hoh-ho."

A pleasant personality, one could note. Fun to deal with.

"Well, now that you made sure how I am doing, you have no business left here, do you? Have a pleasant day~."

Hurriedly, I closed the door in front of the girl, but before I could fully close it, one of the maids reached through with their hands, stopping me.

"Oh-hoh-ho. Where are your manners? Shouldn't you serve me some tea before sending me away?"

I only half-listened to what the spoiled brat said because I was busy looking at the maid who reached through my door.

Her hand was injured, bloody from the powerful force of me closing my old door. She still held her neutral expression as she silently tried to hide away her injury behind her long maid sleeves.

Of course, I stopped her.

"♫♪-~"

As I sang, her wounds started to close rapidly. Both princess and the other maid looked at the situation in front of them with wide eyes as if they saw a miracle.

"What? Surely you must have seen the saintess perform miracles as potent as this little play."

The princess gritted her teeth upon my comment.

"Yes, of course, I have~. What you did was just good enough to qualify as circus play. Oh-hoh-hoh-hoh-ho"

I let her into my apartment. It was run down, disgusting, and made me sick. If my senses weren't as numbed as they are, I'd likely hurl being in this environment.

I couldn't imagine how the spoiled princess would handle a room as disgusting as this one.

Rummaging around, I found some leftover tea leaves after some painstaking efforts, brewed them up, and served the cup to the princess.

She looked as if she was about to spit out the contents of my cup all over my face, but it seemed she was polite enough to hold it in.

"Now that you had tea. Is there any other reason to stay?"

The princess stood up to approach me instead of leaving through the door.

"I cannot understand..."

Barely hearing her, despite being this close to me, I asked honestly...

"What?"

...

"Someone like you doesn't deserve to stay beside the hero! Why does he care for some countryside whore like you? Just because you were childhood friends..."

That was quite...

...expected of her. She strikes me as the type who would do something like this. I just wondered when she would do that. Though, I didn't expect she would do it this late in my life.

"Isn't that the charm of a hero? Not even forgetting me, who should have been just a pebble on his road. Remembering, honoring, and respecting everyone he met, even if he just asked someone for the way. His companions, his enemies, even his acquaintances, and the many faces in the crowd that cheer for him. It's just how things are. Even if I want him to forget about me, he won't. Isn't he so cool?"

She was speechless at the words I uttered, struggling to find words until she just looked down and clenched her fists.

"Stay away from him. For good."

...

The maids pulled out hidden weapons from their dresses and attacked me.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!"

This time, instead of a pleasant sound, a dissonant sound came out of my vocal cords, stunning and disorientating the two maids. As a result, they let their weapons fall and knelt down.

As all that happened, the princess started to stumble backward in shock before falling on her butt.

"You know I never cared to play the political game of the imperial harem you and the others have created around my childhood friend. In fact, I wish to stay as far away from that as possible. Yet, none of you stupid bitches seem to understand that I do not enjoy that genre in a story. You and all the others should have realized long ago that my taste for books is the same as my childhood friends. Stories about valiant, brave heroes saving the day, having a hot-blooded fight with an enemy before befriending them as you realize during the fight that you have more in common than you thought, and naturally ending with the defeat of the demon king. I do not wish to be part of your story, where the female lead is only capable of politically scheming against her enemies. Defaming them in high society, seeing poverty and getting exiled into a nunnery as a fate worse than death, and making them look bad in the eyes of their love interest. I do not care for those kinds of stories in the least, nor do I desire to lead one. Did that go through your thick skull?"

The scared girl slowly nodded, acting as if she understood what I said.

I smiled back, my hand reaching towards her. Seeing my hands get closer, she trembled like a little bunny caught by a hunter in a trap who plans to have it for their next meal.

Yet, she didn't run away. I guess the fear paralyzed her. As my hand reached for her clothes, she closed her eyes.

Funny thing, considering that all I did was pull out a vile with an unknown substance from her clothes. A quick glance was enough to determine that it was a potent acid. Potent acid she planned to use on me as a poison.

Seeing that, the princess started to sweat intensely.

"Oh my. To think you would buy Hydra poison just to kill me. You must really despise me to my guts, aren't you? Despite barely knowing me, despite never having done anything against you that warrants this treatment."

More silence.

"We can ask one of your maids about the truth of this vial. Surely one of the many of them stationed outside should know about this."

More sweat.

"Unless what I just said was really the truth."

Unbelievable.

"For the love of what makes us holy, I can't believe you pieces of shit can't leave a wilting flower withering away in peace."

Anger. Rage. All kinds of intense emotions.

Realizing that the princess should have let sleeping lions sleep, in this case, a wounded tigress alone to die, an expression of regret started to form on her face.

"You know what-"

She flinched. She looked away. She was shivering like prey in front of its predator.

Everything to avert her eyes from reality. Maybe it would hurt less if she didn't see what would happen to her.

Reading the reports of the demon lord subjugation, she didn't believe it at first. How could she? After all, it was common sense that the hero was the one to subjugate the demon lord. The rest of his companions were just fodder that should keep the mooks busy.

Maybe an extraordinary companion could make the journey for the hero a bit more pleasant, but that's it.

After all, the hero of the 72nd generation proved it.

After losing all of his companions repeatedly and his equipment and items getting destroyed, the demon lord of that generation practically guaranteed that there would be no hope for the hero to defeat him.

And everyone in the world shared the same sentiment. Years after years passed, taking way longer than average, with the demonic forces advancing every day.

After 100 years passed, humanity gave up hope. The demon lord was victorious for the first time, but even one time was one too often, as that single time would spell out doom for humanity.

Everyone was prepared to submit when the demon lord reached the final bastion of humanity, ready to accept their new overlord.

Yet, as all hope was lost, someone who looked like they had one foot in their grave stepped out of the crowd of onlookers. A man in his hundreds, broken and scarred from his journey, equipped with nothing more than a simple copper sword. He slayed the demon lord.

Sitting at the top of a mountain made of demon corpses, the hero looked into the distance with a melancholic expression.

His blade was driven through the heart and chest of this generation's demon king as he exhaustedly leaned on his weapon for support.

His last words were...

"Everyone, I fulfilled my duty..."

...before breathing out his life in the sunset.

The first generation proved that it was possible for a human...

No, a hero to defeat the demon lord, and the 72nd generation proved that only the hero was needed to defeat him.

This is why she couldn't believe that a nobody commoner. Someone who could only sing could shorten the hero's journey that much.

She thought this generation's hero was the most exceptional as of yet.

But now, quivering in front of her, she realized it. Without her, the hero of this generation would have taken longer. Not just 5 years and also not within 6, even 10, 12, 15, or 20 years was doubtful.

He was an above-average hero, but his accomplishments were nothing compared to the other above-average heroes, especially the first-generation hero.

The songstress in front of her was indeed the one that made the impossible possible.

"-This will show you."

And now, that person was angry at her. Her very existence, her soul started shaking as she came to realize that she made the wrong person her enemy.

Whatever it was that would happen to her, she suspected that it would be beyond her imagination.

Yet, the eldritch pain beyond her imagination didn't happen to her. Peeking from beyond her hand, she realized that she was still in the immaculately kept room that was as clean as when the servants prepared the castle for influential guests.

As her eyes wandered the clean room for a moment, she realized what was happening. That person, the hero's childhood friend, was drinking the contents of the vial of Hydra poison up as if it was a sports drink.

Shock. That is the only thought that filled her overworked head at this moment.

The woman she just antagonized the entire time. The woman who had the right to kill her right now, here and then. That woman drank all of the poison she prepared today willingly.

In less than a dozen seconds, the poison disappeared. The vial that contained the poison fell down to the ground, shattering.

She should drop dead any second now. After all, it was hydra poison. The most lethal substance known to man.

The amount stored in the vial was enough to even drop the demon lord if someone somehow managed to get all of that into his system.

100ml of perfect-grade Hydra poison.

Hydras are beings on par with dragons and phoenixes. They were beings that carried poison that no other poison could compare with. Even that mythical poison had quality levels. The average Hydra could only produce 5ml of perfect-grade poison in a good year.

Hydra poison was a poison that was worth being kept in the national treasury of the country. Nothing in this world should be able to survive that amount of hydra poison.

But despite that being an undisputed fact, she never fell. Hell, she looked the same as she did 5 minutes ago.

"Ugh, disgusting. But that should prove my point."

I squatted in front of the princess, looking deep into her eyes.

"I am immune to all negative effects. Poison me, burn me, freeze me, electrocute me. It will do nothing to me. Now with that knowledge, tell the others politically, infighting harem members of my childhood friend about that, so they don't bother me."

The princess nodded, barely able to hold the tears back, as she crawled out of my decrepit, moldy, disgusting apartment, her maids helping her along the way.

In a way, I was elated right now because I could finally die in peace.

Falling back against the wall, I landed in a pool of blood. My own blood. As I could feel my body fall apart, I made peace with myself.

Peace for what end was awaiting someone such as me.

Once again, the darkness in the corners of my eyes started encroaching, slowly taking my entire field of view.

As the shadows finally devoured my entire being...

...I knew that this was indeed the end for me-?!

[Congratulations!]

Huh?

[You have fulfilled the requirement for activating the "Life Pioneer System"]

As a lone blue box appeared in the deep, black, abyssal void I was gazing into. Dumbfounded, that was the only way I could describe how I felt about the situation.

Throughout my life, I have never met a situation just like this. Well, only in this life if you were exact...

...huh?

What am I talking about?

[Past life memories are getting unpacked. Prepare for mental backlash.]

No, wait. I am starting to remember now. Being one of those so-called winners of life, I grew up having everything.

Everything but social skills. I had it all. Handsome face, good grades, and an athletic body with the addition of being a hard worker. To my detriment. Everyone in school avoided me because they had this perfect image of me. Because of that image, everyone found it difficult to approach me.

The boys because they were jealous and the girls because I was the "dreamy, mysterious" boy.

Though, despite being given everything at the start, I wasn't really anyone special. You might think I am arrogant. Thinking things along the lines of, I don't know what others would do to have the talent I was given. But I have to disagree with you on that.

How about I tell you an idiom?

"A prodigy at ten, a genius at fifteen, a common man past twenty."

It means that everyone in your childhood would praise you for your talent, but once you reach adulthood, nobody would bat an eye at your so-called talent.

For example, drawing. When you are a child, good parents praise you for good drawing skills and tell you you are a genius.

At 15, your parents would still view your talent positively, but once you are 20 and an adult...

...nobody would pay attention or appreciate your talent if it wasn't bringing food to the table to feed you.

And that's the good case. Telling you to find a proper job, how long you want to play around, etc.

But even if you can finance a roof over your head, would it be enough for the next month? Are enough people interested in my art? Is anyone even supporting you?

It's the phase where you find out that your so-called talent, though rare, is nothing but something common in an oversaturated market of people at least as, or maybe even more talented than you.

It's when you realize that when you are an adult, your raw talent doesn't matter, it only plays a role, but connections in the right circles are the things that are more important for your livelihood and your career.

If your talent was in the top 1%, 80 million people would share or maybe surpass it.

At 0,1%, it's 8 Million, 0,01% 800 Thousand. You get the gist.

So, while I was called a prodigy when I was ten, and even though I was keeping at it to educate myself, I fell off the societal ladder faster than I realized. Around the time I enrolled in a university, I slowly noticed a fatal flaw in me.

I might have been a genius if it's about understanding and replicating a process. Yet, I was absolutely shit at thinking up a new way.

To describe it as art, I could probably learn how to draw and replicate other's styles, but I could never come up with an idea of my own. Forget inventing something of my own making or making a breakthrough in science.

Nothing of that kind.

So, in the end. Despite being called someone with an infinitely bright future ahead of me in my childhood, I ended up as nothing more than an ordinary office worker in some company.

Wasting my days away going, attending the nomikai's, yet never making friends in my workplace. Getting more work hoisted onto me than I am getting paid for, overtime, barely average pay.

Sometimes I wondered where it went wrong with my life as I wasn't getting younger each year.

Standing at an intersection in my early sixties, following the same pattern day after day, I earnestly wished that something would change the days where tomorrow would be the same as yesterday.

Monotonous days, blending together.

And my wish got fulfilled.

At that moment, I saw a little girl crossing the street without paying attention to her surroundings.

As a truck approached her, my body started moving on its own. My calves burned as if they felt torn apart. But the pain didn't matter, as my body was filled with more adrenalin than at any other moment in my life before.

I saved the little, green-haired girl at the cost of my own life. Surviving a little bit longer, I lay there as I bleed out.

The sirens of ambulances approach.

At that moment...

...I wished more than anything to live. I took the resolve to quit my job. Find something I like and dedicate the rest of my life to it.

Sadly, my life ended in the hospital, succumbing to the grave wounds I sustained from a truck hitting me.

...

7 years later, after I got hit by the truck.

What? I never told you I died on the same day. It's just that the hospital managed to keep me stable with the instruments and technology they got. With the current level of technology, there was nothing they could do to cure me at the time.

Though, it was in no way a sad end for me. The family of the little girl kept visiting me until I died. Those last 7 years of my life. That 10% of my life meant more than the other 90% of it to me.

During that time, I learned how the warmth of having a family felt.

And thanks to it, I knew what decision I wanted to make next.

[Perfect-Resistance to mental attacks detected. Proceeding with protocol 3 under the assumption that the User is fully comprehending the situation]

Staring at the system, I couldn't help but smirk.

It was a brief moment, but I remembered the notification I was met with at the end of my first life.

"In the case of the User passing the trial, the User will be granted the opportunity of a new life."

[Affirmative]

I couldn't help but laugh at that moment. My second life was a fulfilling one. Honestly, I couldn't have hoped for a better one. Yet, the reward for finishing my fulfilling second life is another chance at a fulfilling life?

Be it as may things be, living a third life would certainly start wearing down a soul, wouldn't it?

[The User had an unsuccessful start and a fulfilling end and a fulfilling start and an unsuccessful end. Doesn't the User want to live a fulfilling life at her own pace at least once this time?]

A wave of annoyance suddenly befell me as I listened to my system.

Oh no. Don't tell me it was one of those systems with a personality?

Still, hearing that cold, empty voice declaring a challenge to me. I couldn't hold back.

"Challenge accepted you cold machine. Anyways, you told me that my previous life was basically a trial for this life. Since this is a reward, it's different from a trial, so what do I get?"

[Calculating...]

[The User will be transferred to a universe of their choice. In addition, they will get to keep the current body, abilities, and resources they accumulated during the trial life. Additionally, the system functions will be slowly unlocked one after another if necessary. If the User proofs to be worthy of the investments the creators have put into them, this contractual relationship will continue. There is also the potential for improvement in the contract conditions.]

I blinked. That sounded too good to be true.

"So, all I have to do is live a fulfilling life?"

[More so an entertaining life. If the Users' life proves to be boring for the creators, investments will be cut off within a time frame of seven business days]

"Got it. I should play the entertainment monkey for those so-called creators."

That was good enough for me.

[If the User is ready for departure, respond "System Start" to this message. The User will be given a time limit of 24 hours to prepare. Thank you.]

My mind was already set. I am ready.

"System Start."

[Command Received]

[Welcome to the "Life Pioneer" Program.]

[In this program, the User will be given the choice of transmigrating into any universe of their choice. Data on how the User interacts with the new world will be collected. We will also occasionally give out Quests to gain more necessary data. The User will be compensated for clearing those tasks.]

[Press the button below to start the program]

[Start] [Abort]

[Eternal rest will be given if the User chooses to abort the program]

[Time Limit: 23 hours 41 minutes remaining.]

Wow, I was already talking to my system for 19 minutes? I took quite some time, huh?

Willing my body to move again, I opened my eyes as a hazy sheen filled my view.

"Wha-? I have been dead for barely 19 minutes, and my eyes already start to have a heavy cataract? Though, that's to be expected. At this point, my body is just a rotting corpse..."

You might wonder how I am capable of moving right now. The reason is simple. Once my blessing evolved into "Voice of the Stars," it wasn't necessary for my body/brain to anchor my soul to the physical realm anymore.

Once my blessing reached "Voice of the Stars," my consciousness moved into my soul, making it possible to create an astral projection of myself outside my body. It also made me realize that the soul moves the body like a meat puppet.

It listens to all your commands without any delay, yet I always had the nagging feeling that there was some dissonance. It was as if your body didn't move according to your wishes.

Though, I didn't know how to solve that problem.

Not that it matters, since even if my body stops functioning, I can continue to operate it with my soul.

Standing up, I used my soul resonance to observe my surroundings and started covering my body up as much as possible, so the people wouldn't be unsettled seeing this deathly pale body moving around.

Before I left to say goodbye to my final resting place, I started moving around to inspect every nook and cranny.

2 hours passed...

...I started speaking to myself to keep myself sane.

"Holy shit. Moving a dead body around like this is exhausting! It must be because my soul feels unfamiliar with the vessel since it's a rotting corpse. With each passing minute, it's getting worse. I need to deal with this as fast as possible. Though, I should call myself lucky considering that the perception of someone who lost all hope is different than someone who is holding onto hope with all their might."

1 Platinum Coin. I found one lonely platinum coin lying amidst all the trash inside my apartment. It might not sound much, but I could buy a castle or two with this money.

Having the resources to afford stuff was a nice thing to have. Now one platin richer, I left my apartment, planning to buy rare herbs to increase my body's synchronization rate with my soul again and maybe a spatial ring for convenience to store things in the future.

And now that I think about it? Isn't this whole thing only an advantage because I can keep the body and abilities of this life?

...

"IF THAT'S THE CASE, IT'S ALL THE MORE REASON TO REJUVENATE THIS BODY!"

12 hours later...

"Need... to... take... soak... in revival spring..."

I spend 9 hours getting all the ingredients, 2 hours going to the market and back to my apartment, and the last hour mixing together the revival spring.

My remaining money was mostly spent on this, so I would have a problem if this didn't work out.

3 hours of soaking...

"I feel revived!"

Is what I screamed as I emerged from the empty pot.

Though, saying I got revived gave my glorified bath too much credit. While my body absorbed most of the ingredients, it still was mostly dead. I called my current state "mostly dead" because the revival spring managed to heal most of the damage and purge most of the poison accumulated inside my body. In addition, it also removed the rigor mortis that was setting in.

The only reason why that was helpful at all was that I could now manually move my heart to beat with my own conscious effort.

That's when I finally realized why I had the feeling that my body didn't listen to me whenever I moved it. You'd think you have perfect control over your body. But if you think about it, many functions are locked behind subconscious reflexes.

For example, the autonomic nervous system controls things like heart rate, digestion system, respiratory rate, etc. If you think about it, there are many things inside your body you can't consciously control, and it's probably a good thing that you can't.

But thanks to my soul state and the fact that I am moving my body from the consciousness of my soul, I gained control of some of those functions. The reason why I never used them was that my body could do them without my interference.

But now I didn't have a choice. I admit, but manually moving my heart isn't any less tiring than moving a body in which rigor mortis set in. Also, let's not forget that I need to move my respiratory system, or else there would be no point in making my heartbeat. After all, my heart circulates oxygen. If I don't breathe, there is no oxygen to circulate.

Keeping a stable blood flow that circulates enough oxygen to keep my cells active would stop my body from rotting further.

Now that I won't have to deal with the problem of a slowly decaying body, it was time to look through my apartment for helpful things I could bring with me...

...11 minutes passed.

...

There weren't many useful things.

...

What now? I finished most of what I wanted to do, with 6 hours and 30 minutes remaining to spare.

As I had so much time to spare, a useless thought crossed my mind

"Hey, Hero. Do you have time right now?"

"Star. How often do I have to keep telling you that it's unnecessary to call each other by the name of our blessing anymore?"

"Fufu~. Then you should stop first, shouldn't you?

We shared a moment of banter. The banter you usually have between friends and rivals. Best friends, so to speak.

"I am sorry, but I am a bit busy-"

"This might be the final time we'll see each other."

...

1 hour and 30 minutes passed.

I met up with my childhood friend and hero for one last time.

"Star, what do you mean with "we might see each other for the last...""

I just took his hand. He immediately started blushing as he realized that I was holding his hands. If I am honest, I knew that what I did to him was cruel. I always knew he had feelings of affection for me.

He held affection for me, reserved for people that were more than just friends, best friends, childhood friends...

I knew he was in love with me. Genuinely so.

He probably loved me more than any of his other harem members.

Yet, I could never love him back. Maybe it was because I subconsciously knew about my past life, but no. That's not the reason.

It's just that I could never view him as more than just a friend. I could probably see none romantically.

For me, in this life, life was just a story. I fell in love with stories, and books, to the point that I might have read every piece of literature in this world.

I didn't look at people for one second for what they are, but as the template, they would fit best in a story.

Shyly, I looked my childhood friend in the eyes, this time for real. Slowly, I moved his hand and held it onto my chest.

"S-star! W-we can't, n-not in public..."

I couldn't help but chuckle. My childhood friend married myriads of girls. In addition, he wasn't a saint that didn't share any passionate nights with them, but just touching my chest sent him into overdrive? How cute~.

"Hiro."

For the first time in a long way, I called him by his name. The blush on his cheek immediately disappeared as he realized the seriousness of the situation.

"You should have realized by now."

All he was able to muster was a weak nod.

"How perceptive of you. As expected of the Hero Hiro, huh~? But yes, I am moving my heart manually. The sad thing is that only doing that already requires a lot of focus. I am sure I could keep this state of barely living forever, but this isn't what you would want from me, is it?"

A weak headshake.

"I was cruel to you, wasn't I? I never properly looked at your face even once, did I? All of this just felt like a beautiful story. Hell, can you blame me? Your life practically went like the hero stories we read and heard in our early childhood!"

"Yes. It did. Didn't it? Though my harem is far bigger than depicted in those stories."

"Is that something to brag about? Because right now, you are neglecting all your wives for me. What was your promise? "I'll love all of you equally," that's a big white lie if I ever saw one, considering that you love me more than all of them."

Hearing what I said, he could only avert his eyes from mine and blush in shame.

"You are cruel, you know?"

"Sure, am. I can't really say I am sorry about this."

"How much time do you have left?"

"I'd say less than 4 hours."

"But you said-"

"What? Do you want me to eternally sit around in one place and only keep my heart pounding? This is a lot of work that I'd prefer not doing this longer than necessary."

He looked down like an abandoned puppy. I couldn't help but smile at the sight. A side only I would ever see. A side he wasn't willing to expose to anyone else.

A side that wasn't very hero-like. Though, it wasn't rare for it to appear in stories. The hero shows a moment of vulnerability to someone close to him.

Seeing him like that, I couldn't help but sigh out loud. Seeing him like that, I gave him a kiss. On the lips. With tongue.

The following result should be obvious, right?

He was a blushing mess.

"Why did you do that? Stop messing with me-"

My actions seemed to dumbfound him as a golden crystal liquid came out of my mouth.

It was my and the hero's soul essence combined. It created a beautiful golden crystal that shone uniquely in the world.

To say the least, it was a genuine one-of-a-kind artifact.

"Keep this around if you ever feel like you are missing me. After all, I don't want you to neglect the kingdom once I am gone."

I threw the crystal toward him, which he did not expect, but he barely caught it.

Seeing that he managed to catch it, I left the scene. I didn't want to create any more painful memories.

"Dea!"

Hearing him call me by my real name, I couldn't help but turn my face to him. As I did, I could see a beautiful key falling toward me.

I caught it.

"I kept the items you left behind after my hero journey. You should know the location if you think about it."

With that, he turned around and left the scene to avoid creating more painful memories.

How cute of him. We are indeed birds of the same feather, aren't we?

3 hours and 20 minutes passed.

Walking to our secret hideout was more exhausting than expected, but I made it just in time.

Opening the door with the key, I was met with a trove of treasures. Countless books and grimoires lined in front of my view. It was worth calling it a great library of useful miscellaneous stuff.

Gathering all of it into my spatial ring, took...

...35 minutes.

That means only 5 minutes were left.

"It's time. System Start."

[Press the button below to start the program]

[Start] [Abort]

I pressed start.

[Please speak the name of the Universe you will set as your "Main World"]

I took in a deep breath. I already made my choice in my last life.

Thanks to the little girl I saved, did I learn about the series in my last 7 years. Thanks to the girl's families' feelings of gratitude, did I get to experience these games.

Thanks to the little girl, I learned how big, vast, and deep the fans felt about the series.

There was no stopping my mind. There was only one destination in my mind.

"Gensokyo!"

[Setting Gensokyo as the Main World]

[Initiating User Transfer]

[Welcome to your new life, User Idora Dea.]