“All I want is a purer, kinder world. Will you help me realize that?”

  His eyes were blinded by the image of a young woman, her silver hair flowing through the warm morning breeze. She was smiling at him, confident that he’d meet her request.

  Vd didn’t know who she was, or why she would ask him that question, as he only wanted revenge now. He always professed himself a ruthless realist, someone who wouldn’t be swayed by sentimental nonsense, so why would he want that?

  Yet, that proposition, he subconsciously desired it. It felt eerily simir to his dream of reaching freedom. A pure, kind world was an impossible, childish dream, and a dream he had once actively fought against. Still, his answer was a resounding yes.

  When he did that, suddenly, it felt as if his soul was pulled from the ether, thrown back into the world of the mortals.

  Wait, was that a trick question?

  His body trembled violently as his eyes suddenly shot open.

  The ceiling above him was a pristine white.

  He struggled, unable to look away as he continued convulsing, almost as if his body was rejecting his soul.

  Two nurses rushed into his room when he finally managed to sit upright, still trembling feverishly. They handed him a gss of water, as they checked his pulse and temperature. He drank it, desperately trying his best to soothe the dryness and heat from within.

  Halfway through it, one of them popped a pill in his mouth. He drank the pill, before giving a few more desperate sips of water.

  The nurses then allowed him to settle back on his bed as the tremors in his body slowly died out, and his mind started to clear into conscious thoughts.

  “I…lived?” He asked, to no one in particur. Someone stepped inside the room. The two nurses immediately went to the side, bowing as the newcomer walked in his direction.

  “You’ve been knocked out cold for two weeks now,” a woman’s voice said. He turned his head to her. Her drill hair shone like gold even with the room’s dim light. She wore a white, knightly uniform, and her sapphire eyes, brimming with concern, stared at him. “Thank goddess you’re awake now.”

  “...Who are you?” He asked. “And where am I? I need to know what country this is.”

  “You…forgot me? Wait, you forgot our country too?”

  “Please, just answer it.”

  “We’re in Orellia.”

  Things slowly clicked into his mind. Orellia was a Kingdom on the far west. A minor, rotten, and corrupted nation that he and the Empress were slowly undermining. A country that would soon be absorbed into the Empire by force.

  I’m in that country?

  He was away from the Empire. He wasn’t shackled by a mad Empress anymore. He was…

  Free.

  “Impossible…” He muttered. “How is this even possible?”

  “What do you mean?” the knight crossed her arms. “This hospital has the best healers in the Kingdom. Of course, it’s possible to heal you even with the injuries you sustained—”

  “No, that’s not the question now,” he stood from his bed, facing her directly. “Who are you? No, wait, who am I?”

  Shock etched itself on the woman’s face.

  “Goddess, you forgot even your name? I’m Mary von Bayern, the leader of the Pace Guards.”

  “Just tell me my name, please.”

  “Alright,” the knight breathed in deeply. “You’re Fritz Rolentz, Her Majesty’s Royal Messenger.”

  He frowned—but at the same time, a small tinge of hope surged into his soul. He wasn’t Prince Vd Stroganov anymore, an assassin doomed to a life of servicing a monster.

  He was Fritz Rolentz now. The fresh start he had always somewhat yearned for.

  But at the same time…

  Wait, Her Majesty’s Royal Messenger?

  +++

  It had already been a week of rest and recovery. Today, he would be discharged from the Royal Hospital of Gntzstadt—the finest ‘hospital’ that Orellia boasted in its capital.

  It seemed to have been established by the new Queen two years ago, a year after she ascended to her throne. It was quite a strange institution to Fritz, but he hadn’t questioned it much.

  Fritz was still silently reading the books and ‘newspapers’ on his p as the morning hours passed by.

  The year was already 1449.

  He knew he died nearly five years ago, in November 1444. He clearly remembered his previous life, but not Fritz’s. Even with the passing days, Fritz’s past life remained a blur.

  He read one of the ‘newspapers’ in front of him.

  ‘The Eastern Bear rattles her saber again—Empress Irina Stroganov of the Levonian Empire threatens Orellian merchants with expulsion!’

  He continued reading it further.

  I wonder how that madwoman will squeal if I slice her throat better and slower next time…

  The door to his room opened.

  “You sometimes look so scary, Mr. Rolentz,” one of the nurses arrived to pce the tray for his breakfast on the desk beside him. “You look like you’ll murder that paper.”

  “Am I? Oh…well, I apologize then, Ms. Enna,” Fritz gave a light ugh, closing the newspaper. “You know, I've been wondering where these ‘newspapers’ come from. It’s…a strange, good way to deliver news, I must say.”

  The nurse raised her eyebrow.

  “You don’t know them? Didn’t the Queen herself introduce them st year? And weren’t you instrumental in setting up the city’s first ‘news press’?”

  Fritz looked down back at the paper, reading it. Two words stood out for him.

  ‘Gntzstadt Gazette.’

  “...I worked with her to create this?”

  “Indeed,” Enna beamed brightly. “The Queen always has all these strange ideas, and that’s one of those. I still remember her speech during her coronation. I wish to see whatever ‘Orellia’ she envisions, and I thank you for helping her reach that.”

  “...You’re thanking me?”

  “Yep. Those who attacked you corrupted your soul so badly that it weakened you, but I’m sure you can work again on rebuilding yourself. A good Royal Messenger after all wouldn’t fail on his duties. And you seem to be that type, Mr. Rolentz.”

  The nurse gave Fritz an encouraging thumbs up, before leaving him alone on his bed. When the door closed, Fritz turned to his breakfast. It was just a simple beef stew, with mushrooms, carrots, and potatoes in it. He slowly started eating it, savoring the simple but savory taste.

  Strange.

  He remembered that Orellia was a declining power. A nation so brittle and so weak, that he once estimated that it would only take at least fifty thousand Imperial soldiers to subjugate it. But, in five years, it seemed that at least their capital had changed a bit.

  Improvements must have been happening.

  So, ‘Queen Cecilia von Orellia’…that’s who I’ll work with from now on. I wonder what she’s like.

  Fritz hoped that she was better than his st mother. This pce, after all, didn’t feel constricting. If anything, it was rexing. He felt…free and at peace.

  I hope she’s a nice monarch. Unlike…Irina.

  Fritz soon finished his morning meal. Right then, he began his daily routine. He started stretching and moving his muscles. Unfortunately, this body seemed…drained, for a ck of better words. He felt so many things wrong with it. His stance, his posture, his bones, and even his muscles were all wrong.

  He tried using his fork to test out his knife attacks, which he had perfected in his previous life, but he colpsed after he moved a wrong bone on his hips.

  “Damn it,” Fritz nursed his hips, colpsing back on his bed with a groan. “I have a lot of work ahead of me.”

  Immediately, he willed his status screen to life. A light blue, transparent window appeared in front of him.

  Name: Fritz Rolentz

  Race: Human

  Age: 24

  Css: Suppressor

  Level: 5/70

  Tier: I

  Attributes:

  HP: F - (100%)

  MP: F - (100%)

  MR: F -

  STR: F -

  SPD: F -

  DEF: F -

  RES: F -

  MAGIC TYPES (1/1):

  Shadow Magic I (2/10): You have the affinity to use shadow magic. Spells under shadow magic mainly involve giving debuffs on your opponents. At the moment, most spells you use will be very weak.

  SPECIAL SKILLS (3/3):

  [ULTRA RARE] Arcane Suppression I (1/6) [SHADOW]: You can channel all of your mana to entangle and disrupt mana around you. Once charged, a jamming pulse will be fired from your body. The effect radius is very low, the disruption time is very short, and the mana usage per charge retive to your capacity is very high.

  [COMMON] Great Silence I (1/6) [SHADOW]: With a snap of your fingers, you can remove both the hearing and vision of those around you. The radius of effect is very low, its effects on those around you are very weak, and the mana usage retive to your capacity is very high.

  [COMMON] Targeted Depletion I (1/6) [SHADOW]: This skill allows you to deplete your target’s mana. You absorb very little of this mana, and the depletion rate you may inflict is very weak.

  He had shadow magic, the rarest magical affinity, tied only with light magic. It was the same magical affinity that the Empress had.

  I also have an ultra-rare skill to top it off. If the Empress’ main special skill is her powerful hexing abilities…then this is the closest counter that I can have.

  He might not have his ‘Soul Arts Css’ anymore, nor did he have the Empress’ hexing skill, but what he had now…was the power to deny his foes the right to use magic.

  He’d have to cultivate his skill to its maximum extent—then, he’d kill her.

  Unfortunately, he was badly beaten and tortured when he fell into captivity, removing much of his strength and magical abilities.

  Fritz frowned. None of this would do. While the hospital managed to clean him up and restore his health, it was nowhere near what a Royal Messenger ought to have.

  This job is too dangerous for someone as weak as me.

  That meant, if he didn’t get himself in order, he might get fired. And if he was fired…

  I can’t plot and influence the Orellian government to defeat the Empress. Then, she’ll invade the rest of the continent, maybe even use her powerful curse spells, and I’ll be under her thumb again.

  He curled his fist. He needed to fix this complication. He wouldn’t lose a second time to that monster. Everything they worked for together, the same Empire that he once unwillingly served, he’d burn it all down.

  The Empress would pay for her atrocities, and Fritz would use his bde to ensure that.

  “One day. One day,” he vowed again.

  Fritz’s calm facade returned. Just then, a set of knocks struck his door. The head doctor, a man in his te fifties, opened it. The doctor stared at Fritz bnkly, before nodding.

  “Mr. Rolentz, someone is waiting for you outside,” the doctor said. “You should get yourself properly clothed. She’s royalty after all.”

  “I’ll prepare myself. Please give me a minute!”

  Immediately, Fritz quickly rushed to grab his formal clothes in the closet, which Enna pced st night. The doctor chuckled as Fritz frantically reached for his clothes.

  “Though, you should also calm down,” the doctor said. “She did say that you should take your time.”

  Then, he closed the door, leaving Fritz alone in his room.

  Take your time. Did she seriously say that?

  The Empress would never speak that way. Taking your time would mean you took her time. That meant dire consequences.

  But, I’m not there anymore.

  Calming himself down, he pced his clothes on the bed.

  “...I better get my act together,” he smiled. “Maybe it won’t be so bad after all.”

  He started fixing his clothes. When he was finished buttoning his bck suit, he straightened it and checked his face in the mirror. His green, yet lifeless eyes stared back at him. He tried to fix his messy bck hair a bit, so he wouldn’t look so shameful. He still looked somewhat sickly, but he took a deep breath to recompose himself.

  It’s not so shabby at least. In any case, if I want any chance of survival, I have to be like him. I have to be Fritz Rolentz.

  Even with his pitiful state, Fritz’s eyes shone with determination.

  I can do this.

  Soon, the door to his room opened. The morning light almost blinded him, forcing him to lower his gaze for a second, which was convenient since he had to bow respectfully first. When he managed to raise his head to look at her amethyst eyes, Fritz was struck.

  No more was he staring at the sadistic smile of an Empress who wanted to use him as a weapon.

  All he saw was the gentlest smile he had id his eyes upon, and the most relieved voice he ever heard.

  No malice.

  “Thank goddess you recovered well,” the young Queen said, her silver hair gleaming from the bright, sunny light. “Welcome back, Fritz.”

  She wore a very-reserved, almost uniform-like white dress, and a white cape on top.

  Her face was that of a picturesque, elegant, and regal noblewoman—but without even a hint of an aristocrat’s arrogance. No, all he saw was innocent humility in her graceful face. Based on how she looked, he almost started to believe the stories he heard about her.

  But of course, he wasn’t so easily swayed. Suspicion quickly rose from his soul. He straightened himself by instinct, as she continued, her voice almost a silver bells' tinkle to his ears.

  “I hope we can work together again,” she smiled further. “So let’s have a little talk, shall we?”

  What does she want from me?

  +++

  A/N:

  Here, have a look at the main nations in this world, and the continent's rough map (sorry if it's just a hand drawing atm lol).