Slowly, all the sounds in the room began to fade away from Raijin.
The voices of people outside, the sound of horses' hooves, and the bustle of Eldhavn seemed to disappear into some distant place.
His breathing grew slower.
But his sleep was far from peaceful.
As he sank into darkness, he suddenly smelled soil and wet grass.
There was no wooden floor beneath his feet. Instead, he stood on the soft earth of a forest.
Raijin opened his eyes.
This time, he was no longer in his room.
The same forest stood before him.
The shape of the trees, the smell of the soil, and the moisture in the air—all of it felt so real that for a few moments, he couldn't tell whether he was dreaming or standing inside a forgotten memory.
Then, from somewhere in the distance, a voice called out—
"Raijin!"
Raijin raised his head.
Sora was running toward him, not looking back, as if he were enjoying some kind of game.
"Sora!"
Raijin ran after him.
A few moments later, Sora stopped beside a large tree.
He laughed and turned around.
"You're really fast, Raijin. But it'll still take you many years to catch up to me."
He pointed his wooden sword toward Raijin.
"So? Are you ready?"
Raijin raised his own wooden sword.
"I've been ready for a long time."
The next moment, the two of them clashed.
Their wooden swords struck against each other. Dirt scattered beneath their feet.
A few people were standing nearby—two soldiers guarding a wagon loaded with supplies. Three boys, a girl, and two farmers were also watching their training.
Sora suddenly launched a swift strike.
Raijin stepped back, blocked the attack, and used the momentum to push Sora away.
Thud.
Sora's wooden sword fell to the ground.
Raijin laughed.
"I won!"
But Sora didn't laugh.
His eyes remained fixed on Raijin.
There was something strange about them.
Cold.
As if he recognized Raijin, but deep within that recognition was a hatred too deep to understand.
Raijin's smile slowly disappeared.
"Sora?"
Sora didn't answer.
Slowly, a bitter smile spread across his face.
"Raijin…"
His voice was heavy.
"Why did you do it?"
Raijin froze.
"What?"
"Why did you do it?"
Sora asked again.
Then again—
The same bitter smile appeared on the faces of everyone standing nearby.
"Traitor!"
"Betrayer!"
"You betrayed us!"
The voices began coming from every direction.
All at once.
Again and again.
Without stopping.
Raijin slowly stepped backward.
His chest grew heavy.
"No…"
He shook his head.
"I didn't do anything like that."
But the voices only grew louder.
Traitor.
Betrayer.
You betrayed us.
Raijin's foot slipped, and he fell to the ground.
Terrified, he closed his eyes.
"No… I didn't do anything like that…"
But every time he tried to convince himself, the voices echoed even louder inside him.
"But I didn't do it…"
His voice trembled.
"I didn't betray Sora…"
There was no answer.
Suddenly, the voices stopped.
The entire forest became silent.
Then—
Everything was swallowed by darkness.
---
Raijin's eyes snapped open.
The room.
A bed.
A table.
A chair.
He was still sitting in the chair.
His breathing was rapid.
For a few moments, he remained completely still.
Then he grabbed his head.
"A dream…"
he whispered.
"It was just a dream."
He remembered that he had been counting his money and had fallen asleep while sitting there.
But then, a strange ache appeared in his chest.
It was very faint.
Yet somehow, the pain didn't feel like his own.
Raijin placed a hand over his chest.
For a moment, he felt as though something else inside him had reacted to that name.
Sora.
The sensation disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.
Raijin remained motionless for a while.
Sora's face was still clear in his mind.
And that voice—
"Why did you do it?"
It continued echoing inside him.
But the strangest part was that the dream hadn't felt like his own.
He remembered the forest.
He remembered Sora.
But that accusation…
That guilt…
That emotion—
It felt as though it hadn't come from him.
"If this wasn't my memory…"
He slowly placed his hand against his chest.
"…then why did I feel it?"
There was no answer.
Then, suddenly, a faint sadness rose inside him.
It was so deep that his breathing stopped for a moment.
Raijin frowned.
"This feeling…"
He didn't recognize it.
Yet somehow, it felt as though another person inside him knew that emotion all too well.
The next moment, the feeling disappeared.
The room became normal again.
Raijin opened his eyes.
"Whatever it is…"
he whispered,
"I shouldn't chase after it right now."
He slowly stood up.
"First, I need to get my life under control."
---
He walked toward the window.
As soon as he pulled back the curtain, the soft morning light fell across his face.
Eldhavn was slowly waking up.
Shopkeepers were opening their stores along the streets. The sound of wooden shutters being raised echoed here and there, while the hooves of horses rang against the stone roads.
Some travelers were heading toward the city gates with their belongings.
A faint bell could be heard coming from the direction of the Adventure Guild.
As the morning progressed, the true bustle of the city began to appear.
People of different races could be seen walking alongside humans.
Some long-eared Elves were heading toward the market with their belongings, while several heavily built Dwarves pulled carts filled with iron and tools.
Every now and then, Adventurers could be seen heading toward the Guild with their weapons and equipment.
City guards stood along the main roads, inspecting merchants' wagons.
Far away, a flag fluttered in the wind from the roof of a tall building.
Raijin watched everything for a while.
Despite being surrounded by so many people, he didn't know anyone.
It was strange.
Yesterday, he had only had somewhere to run to.
Today, there was an entire city in front of him.
And for the first time, he had the chance to choose where he would go next.
No one knew him.
No one knew about his past.
The feeling was a little frightening.
But it was also strangely liberating.
Then—
Grrr…
His stomach growled loudly.
Raijin looked down.
"Food first."
---
He quickly got ready and went to a small restaurant near the Adventure Guild.
The inside was warm. Wooden tables filled the room, and the smell of fresh soup spread through the air.
At a nearby table, several Adventurers were arguing about their previous quest.
"I told you not to take that route!"
"And I told you the other route was three hours longer."
Someone else was telling his companion about a distant city. Laughter echoed from one table, while serious conversations about preparing for the next quest took place at another.
Raijin quietly listened to everything.
The things these people talked about seemed small and ordinary to him.
For one person, getting their next meal was important.
For another, it was earning money.
Someone else was worried about their next journey.
And someone simply wanted to sit with their friends and laugh.
Until now, his world had revolved around power, betrayal, and revenge.
But perhaps the world wasn't only about those things.
"Rabbit stew and some bread."
he said at the counter.
A few moments later, a hot meal was placed in front of him.
Steam rose toward his face.
Raijin's eyes remained fixed on the bowl for a few moments.
Suddenly, he remembered that night in the forest.
Sofia sitting beside the fire.
The food she had given him.
And her simple words—
"Eat."
Raijin immediately pushed the thought away.
He quietly took the first bite.
Then the second.
After a while, a thought crossed his mind.
Am I really worthy of all this?
He paused for a moment.
Sofia's face appeared before his eyes.
He had seen her in the forest—a complete stranger who was injured and nearly unconscious.
Yet she had helped him without asking anything.
No conditions.
No questions.
No expectation of repayment.
Raijin's fingers slowly tightened.
He had trusted people in his previous life.
And that trust had broken him.
Even in the memories of this body, he had found the same pain.
That was why accepting someone's kindness wasn't easy for him.
He always felt that there had to be a price hidden behind every act of kindness.
But Sofia hadn't asked anything from him so far.
Raijin looked down at his food.
"Perhaps…"
he thought quietly.
"Not everyone is the same."
It wasn't an easy thought for him to accept.
But for the first time, he didn't reject it completely either.
He finished his meal.
Then he took out the remaining coins from his pocket.
Three Gold Coins.
Three Silver Coins.
He held them in his palm for a while, calculating.
He had already paid for his room.
Bought clothes.
And purchased a new sword.
Now he still needed food and other necessities.
If he continued spending money like this, he would have nothing left within a few days.
Raijin put the coins back into his pocket.
"To survive, I don't just need strength."
he thought.
"I need money to live as well."
His first real problem in this new life had appeared.
He needed to earn money.
And the best place to do that—
was the Adventure Guild.
---
Raijin entered the Guild.
A different woman was sitting at the counter today.
He walked straight toward her.
"I am a B-Rank Adventurer."
As soon as he said this, the conversations of several nearby Adventurers grew quieter.
A young man looked him up and down.
"This guy?"
There was obvious disbelief on his face.
"B-Rank already?"
His companion spoke quietly.
"He must have gotten it for some reason."
"Or maybe the Guild made a mistake."
Several people glanced at his new sword.
Others looked at his face.
Some even stared at his eyes.
Raijin paid no attention to them.
He had already understood that his name meant nothing in this city.
He would have to prove his strength himself.
And perhaps that was better.
Starting without anyone's expectations was easier.
The woman behind the counter asked,
"What do you need?"
"The hardest job."
The woman looked at him with slight surprise.
"High-rank jobs are usually given to teams. At least four or five people are required."
"Then give me the hardest B-Rank job."
"You want a solo quest?"
"Yes."
The woman pointed toward the B-Rank quest board.
"You can choose one from there."
Raijin turned and walked toward the board.
As he walked, he unconsciously placed a hand against his ribs.
The pain was very faint, but it hadn't disappeared completely.
His body had become stronger, yet he still wasn't accustomed to this power.
The Mortal Realm had given him a new foundation.
But he still had to learn how to control that foundation.
"If I don't understand my limits…"
he thought,
"…then my own body could turn against me in the next battle."
He slowly opened his fingers.
He wanted the most difficult job.
But that didn't mean he should forget his weaknesses.
He wasn't looking for danger.
He wanted to break through his limits.
There was a big difference between the two.
---
Several B-Rank quests were posted on the board.
A job escorting a merchant caravan safely to the border.
Hunting wild wolves that had been multiplying in the southern forest.
A mission to recover a missing shipment of goods.
An investigation into a dangerous Monster spotted near some ancient ruins.
Raijin read the papers one by one.
For some, the money was the main attraction.
Others offered experience.
Some involved traveling.
There were even quests where his first thought was that they offered him no real benefit.
He wasn't simply looking at the difficulty.
He was thinking about which path would move him forward.
He still had no permanent home.
No companions.
No one he could completely trust.
And his former strength was still beyond his reach.
He needed to start over.
But this time—
he wouldn't start because someone else ordered him to.
Raijin looked at the last few papers.
Then his eyes stopped at a corner of the board.
Among all the other quests was an old piece of paper.
Its color was slightly different from the others.
The ink had faded in several places, and its edges were curled.
It looked as though it had been hanging there for a long time.
Raijin stared at it for a few moments.
He didn't even understand why his attention had stopped there.
Perhaps it was simply because it looked different from every other paper.
He reached out.
And pulled the paper from the board.
The moment it touched his fingers—
he felt a very faint jolt in his head.
Raijin froze.
He immediately blinked.
He looked at the paper.
Then around himself.
Everything was normal.
Raijin tightened his grip around the paper.
For the first time, curiosity appeared in his eyes.
---
He carried the paper back to the counter.
The moment the woman behind the counter saw the old paper in his hand, her fingers stopped for a moment.
She looked at Raijin.
Then at the paper.
"You… are planning to take this one?"
Raijin nodded.
"Yes."
The woman remained silent for a few moments.
A hint of concern appeared on her face.
"You chose this one?"
"Yes."
She slowly exhaled.
"All right."
She began preparing the registration.
But it was obvious from her expression that she didn't consider this quest to be as ordinary as the others.
Raijin noticed it.
He said nothing.
Not yet.