One month since I fell into another world.
I was on the brink of death.
"You ran here and dragged some poor beggar into dying with you."
They clearly had no intention of letting me live.
The moment I grasped the situation, I moved fast.
Tap! Tap!
"Hahaha! Look at that! Is she seriously trying to threaten us?"
"Guess I'd better run away scared, huh? Hahahaha!!"
I swung my cane against the wall, and the men burst out laughing.
I ignored them and focused every bit of my attention on the reflected sound.
From the echoes that came back, a picture of the alley took shape in my mind.
*Three large figures, one small one….*
The small one was probably the woman who'd fled here.
Three men were currently blocking the entrance that led to the main road.
*The front is cut off.*
Left side: a wall.
Right side: a pile of garbage.
Then—
*No choice but to run deeper into the alley.*
I moved without hesitation.
I grabbed whatever my hands found and swung it.
A scrap of cloth, a broken bottle, something unidentifiable—it didn't matter.
As long as it bought me time.
Whoosh!
I'd already mapped their positions, so landing a hit was child's play.
"What the—goddammit!"
"You stupid idiot! You can't even dodge that?!"
Maybe they hadn't expected me to fight back.
The moment the garbage flew straight at them, I felt all three men flinch for just an instant.
I used that gap, dropped low, and drove myself deeper into the alley.
I already had the path memorized—once I was inside, all I had to do was—
Thud!
A heavy impact slammed into my side.
"Ugh—!"
The air was ripped clean out of my lungs.
My body cut through the air and flew toward the wall.
Crash!
My vision flashed white—no, wait, I couldn't see anything to begin with.
Either way, it was the worst pain I'd ever felt in my life.
My body curled in on itself before I could stop it, trembling uncontrollably.
Heavy footsteps approached as I crawled along the ground.
"Haha, hey, look at this."
Nudge.
A boot toe shoved my shoulder aside.
A leisurely voice, thick with mockery, drifted down to me.
"This one's blind, isn't she?"
"Stop playing around and bring her over here."
"Yeah, yeah."
A rough hand seized me and dragged me forward without ceremony.
"Ngh…."
The man hauled me somewhere, utterly indifferent to my pain.
Even as I was dragged along, I kept my focus on sound.
All I could hear was the men's laughter—and, in contrast, a breath that carried something like barely-contained fury.
The man spoke.
"Can you see this? She's dying because of you. She's dying because you ran. If it weren't for you, this beggar wouldn't have to die at all."
What a sick hobby.
Rather than killing me outright, he was using me to taunt the other woman.
The fact that I'd been caught by trash like this made me furious.
Then, close to my ear, came a voice—soft but with steel underneath, and strangely familiar.
"How is that my fault?"
"What?"
"I said, how is that my fault?"
The moment the woman spoke, the alley fell completely silent.
As though that silence had nothing to do with her, the woman kept going.
"Did I order you to kill her?"
She paused for a single breath after saying it.
Even without being able to see, I could easily imagine the look on her face—a sigh so saturated with contempt it was almost palpable.
"No, you didn't. You're just garbage who kills because you feel like it, so why are you blaming me for it?"
"This woman is seriously—"
"Stop advertising the fact that you were raised in a gutter. It's disgusting."
Well. She's got nerve.
I was genuinely impressed, and I agreed with every word.
Who did these pieces of trash think they were blaming?
The men, who had been thrown off by the relentless verbal assault, were now radiating pure anger.
"…Don't expect a clean death. I'll tear you apart and put you on display in this alley."
The man holding me hurled my body aside.
I rolled across the ground several times, the breath nearly knocked out of me for good.
Then I heard furious footsteps turning toward the woman.
The moment I heard that, my mind was made up.
I had no money and no power, just a beggar with nothing to her name—
*But do I have no pride?*
Even if I was about to die, I refused to let these pieces of filth have their way.
I staggered upright and threw myself at the man.
"Hey!!!"
Crash!
"What the—are you insane?!"
I wrapped my arms around his waist and hung on.
Strength wasn't going to win this. Obviously.
All I could do was hold on.
That was enough.
"Run!!!"
I screamed with everything I had.
Whether the woman actually ran—I had no idea.
I couldn't see anything either way.
I poured every last nerve into the sensation of holding on.
"This crazy—!"
Thud!
My body flew again.
I hit the ground and the world shook like my breath might never come back.
But I didn't let go.
I dug my fingers in harder, clinging like I was trying to tear something loose.
Riiip!
The sensation of fabric tearing.
And then—
What remained in my hand: a rough scrap of cloth.
"…Ha."
A hollow laugh escaped me.
Shing.
Furious footsteps, and then the sound of a sword being drawn.
This time, they meant to actually kill me.
But I had no intention of dying quietly.
I groped across the ground, searching for anything I could swing.
My fingertips touched something.
Cold. Hard. It had probably fallen loose when the man's clothes tore.
It didn't matter what it was. As long as I could swing it—
I closed my fist around it and wrenched it upward.
And in that instant—
Thump!
Something pulsed.
[You have drawn a sword at the crossroads of life and death.]
[Trait ⟨Sword Saint⟩ activates.]
[⟨World's Trial⟩ is nullified.]
Something surfaced in my vision, but I had no attention to spare for it.
"Ah…."
I was too busy being robbed of breath by what lay before my eyes.
Like someone who had been trapped in a dark cave and suddenly faced the sun—that kind of wonder flooded through me.
"…I can see."
The alley I'd been living in. The trash rushing at me with murder in his eyes. And in the corner of the alley, a woman with a startled look on her face.
Instinctively, I understood that what I held was a sword.
And I understood exactly how to use it.
*First—deal with the garbage.*
The moment that intention took shape, the world slowed, and blue lines filled my vision.
I followed them naturally and swung.
I had never touched a sword in my life, had never swung one—yet my body moved as though it had been doing this for years.
Shhhk—
The instant I swung, the frozen world lurched back into motion.
The blade was already cutting through the throat of the yellow-haired man in front of me.
Thud.
His head dropped without the slightest resistance. I left it behind and kicked off the ground.
My body felt light enough to fly.
I closed the distance to the dark-haired man like a bullet—he'd been standing there off-guard. He noticed too late and reached for his sword with his right hand, but my blade took the hand before it could grip anything.
"Aaaargh!!!"
He screamed, clutching the stump where his right hand had been. I cut his legs out from under him, left him crawling across the ground like an insect, and turned away.
The last man—brown hair—was staring at me with terror-blank eyes, muttering something under his breath.
A moment later, a ball of fire the size of a football materialized in front of him.
*A mage?*
"Die! You monster!!!"
The fireball erupted the instant he screamed.
Heat flooded my entire field of vision.
I'd never seen real magic before, but one look was enough to know it was dangerous.
Anyone who so much as grazed that thing would be reduced to ash in an instant.
But it was fine.
I knew it instinctively.
*…I can cut it.*
I charged straight at it.
And I swung.
Shhhk.
The blade split the fireball clean in two.
The flames that should have detonated simply parted and vanished, as though nothing had ever happened.
Not even a stray spark remained.
"…What?"
The man's voice shook.
"That's impossible! You cut magic?!"
I didn't answer.
There was no reason to.
I was already right in front of him.
He raised his hands in a panic—reaching for his next spell.
Too late.
One step, and I was there.
And then—
Thud.
His head made one slow rotation through the air.
His body collapsed a beat behind it.
Splat.
Blood soaked into the alley floor.
"Hah. Hah."
I let out a slow breath.
My heart was hammering like it might burst.
As the rush faded, my body screamed with pain—like I'd just finished a marathon.
[⟨World's Trial⟩ activates.]
My breath hitched.
The sword in my hand was trembling faintly.
No—my entire body was trembling.
The body that had felt so impossibly light just moments ago turned to lead.
My knees threatened to buckle.
My vision warped.
"…Huh?"
The alley that had been so sharp and clear was blurring at the edges.
I fought desperately to hold onto consciousness, but it was no use.
Then I heard footsteps approaching—someone coming toward me.
I turned my head, and through the dissolving haze of my vision, a girl's face came into focus.
The moment I saw it, I understood.
Why that voice had felt so familiar.
She was far younger than I'd ever known her to be, but my eyes couldn't be wrong.
The last face I had seen before falling into this world.
The ultimate hidden boss of *Saintess & Hero*.
*Aiolette… Drnaris….*
Aiolette's face, staring at me with eyes wide with shock—that was the last thing I saw.
And then my consciousness sank, at last, into darkness.