Chapter 3: Not a Hero and Not a Savior

Morning arrived, breaking the silence. The fresh air of the other world felt crisp and clear.

Asuka had just woken up when he saw Igor cleaning his shield and approached him.

“Um… is your name Igor?”
“Yes, that’s correct. Is there something I can help you with, Mr. Asuka?”

“I want to ask… just how dangerous is Vargrimm Forest?”

Igor immediately began explaining.

Vargrimm Forest is an ancient forest on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Estalia, a region deliberately left untamed. Towering trees block out sunlight, while a thin mist almost always blankets the ground. Monsters of various ranks coexist within it, from slimes to Minotaurs and even young dragons, as if the laws of nature no longer apply. To the kingdom, Vargrimm is a natural filtering zone— to adventurers, it is a reminder that this world is never truly safe.

“In other words, even though it’s dangerous, this forest is still protected by the king,” Igor concluded.

“The king?” Kiryu asked, confused.

Igor nodded.
“His name is King Adric Krieg Virellisia. He is the ruler of Estalia.”

“I see.”

Igor glanced around, checking to the left and right to make sure no one else was nearby.

“If you want to know… Lady Elena Virellisia is the third princess of that king. Please keep it a secret. She doesn’t like her identity being revealed. For now, only you and I know who she really is.”

Suddenly, a shout shattered the calm of the camp.

“LOWENFALL VILLAGE IS UNDER ATTACK—!”

An adventurer came running from the guard post, his face pale, breath ragged.

“Calm down, Dave,” another adventurer said.

“Bandits… a large number of bandits have attacked the village!”

“What should we do?”

The campfire crackled.
Wood snapped.
The wind blew.

And… no one moved.

Kiryu slowly stood up, as if his mind were slow to process what he had just heard.

“…Attacked?” he said. “Then why are you all still sitting here? Move!”

He waited one second.
Two seconds.

No one moved.

No one stood up.
No one reached for their weapons.

Some adventurers even looked down, pretending to be busy with anything but reality.

“There are people there,” Kiryu continued, his voice beginning to tremble. “Children. Elderly people. They can’t fight bandits!”

The silence was painful.

“What’s wrong with all of you? Why are you just standing there?!”

Igor stepped closer, lowering his voice—not out of secrecy, but out of shame.

“It’s like this, Asuka-san… That village rejected the official teachings of Estalia. They don’t worship the kingdom’s gods. They believe humans must take responsibility for this world themselves… without destiny.”

Each word fell like a stone.

“To the kingdom,” Igor continued, “that’s heresy. A great sin.”

Kiryu felt his fingers start to tremble.

“Because of that,” Igor said quietly,
“Lowenfall was lowered to the lowest caste. Not protected. Not prioritized. By law… they can be abandoned.”

“And anyone who helps them is considered guilty of a great sin as well.”

Kiryu stared at the ground.

He imagined faces he had never met.
Wooden houses.
People who just wanted to live.

“…So,” he said slowly, “just because they don’t believe in the same gods, because they hold different beliefs, you all stay silent? You’re no different from the monsters in that forest.”

His voice cracked.

“Then do they deserve to die?”

The silence was the answer.

Kiryu clenched his fists as hard as he could.

“FUCK THIS!”

He shouted—not at them, but at the world itself.

Before anyone could react, Kiryu was already running.

Elena reflexively stepped forward.

“Wait, Kiryu—”

But Igor grabbed her arm.

“Elena,” he said softly but firmly. “Don’t.”

Kiryu ran into the darkness, breath ragged, eyes burning.

Inside his head, one voice kept repeating.

I know I’m not a hero.
And I’m not a savior.
And I didn’t come here to save anyone.

His steps did not slow.

But I also won’t let this continue—
even if I have to fight destiny itself.

And for the first time since he arrived in this world,
Asuka Kiryu moved—

not because of destiny,
not because of a role,
but because he refused to be a bystander.

Kiryu arrived too late.

Fires still burned everywhere.

Wooden houses collapsed with dull creaks, roofs caving in one by one. Black smoke hung low, stinging the nose, making every breath heavy. Screams echoed everywhere.

Children cried while shaking the bodies of parents who no longer moved.
Elderly people knelt on the ground, clutching cold, small bodies, calling names that would never answer again.

Blood flowed across the earth—seeping into the dust, as if the village itself were crying.

Kiryu stood in the middle of it all.

His legs trembled.

“…No…”

His voice was barely audible.

He took one step forward, then stopped. His eyes darted left and right—searching for something, anything, that could prove this could still be fixed.

But all he found was death.

His body gave out.

Kiryu fell to his knees, his hands clawing into the dirt in despair.

“…I’m too late…”

He bowed his head, breath uneven.

His fists clenched, then slammed into the ground.

THUD.
THUD.
THUD.

Regret flooded him.

“WHY DID I COME TO THIS WORLD—!!”

He struck the ground again and again, until the pain in his knuckles faded.

“If all I was going to do was witness this—!!”

Tears fell onto soil already soaked with others’ blood.

Then—

Everything stopped.

Fire froze in midair.
Smoke stood still like a painting.
The cries that had filled the world… vanished.

Absolute silence.

Kiryu lifted his head, breath caught.

“…What…?”

From among the frozen people, someone stepped forward.

A woman with light blue hair. Her dress swayed gently, as if the wind still existed only for her. Her gaze was calm, yet carried something deep—something heavy.

“Asuka Kiryu,” she said.

Kiryu jolted to his feet.

“…You know my name?”

The woman nodded slowly, smiling.

“You can change all of this, if you wish.”

“Change it?” Kiryu replied in despair. “This already happened. There’s nothing that can be changed anymore.”

The woman stepped closer.

“Fate is not a wall,” she said. “Fate is writing born from ourselves.”

Something trembled in Kiryu’s chest.

“Who are you?”

The woman only smiled, offering no name.

She looked at Kiryu’s hands.

“What matters most is— the book has chosen you.”

Light appeared in both of Kiryu’s hands.

Warm.
Heavy.
Real.

“FATE,” the woman said.
“It has acknowledged you as its master.”

A sharp pain suddenly stabbed into Kiryu’s right eye.

“—gh…!!”

He clutched his face, gasping.

When he opened his eyes again, the reflection of light in the pooled blood showed a different color.

The green was gone—
replaced by golden yellow.

“Write,” the woman said softly.
“Rewrite what should never have happened.”

The wind surged—strong, spiraling around Kiryu.

A magic circle appeared beneath his feet. Complex. Alien. Yet… familiar.

“Warning,” Karma’s voice sounded, tense for the first time.
“Repeating fate carries severe consequences. Long-term effects cannot be predicted.”

Kiryu clenched his fists.

“I don’t care.”

He lowered his head, staring at the ground soaked with tears and blood.

“If this world punishes the innocent…”

“Then I’ll be the one who fights that law itself.”

His hand moved.

And the world was rewritten by him.

Light swept across everything.
Time reversed.

Kiryu jolted awake.

The campfire.
The sound of burning wood.

Several hours before Igor’s explanation of Vargrimm Forest.

Without waiting even a second, Kiryu turned and ran.

“Wh—Kiryu?” Elena’s voice called from behind.

He didn’t answer.

His steps were fast. Too fast.

Elena narrowed her eyes.

“…Strange.”

She turned and followed him.

Unaware that the world—

had just been given a second chance.