#Prologue
"Ah…"
Well. I'm dead.
I lay flat on the ground, dazed, and turned my head.
At the edge of my vision, the blue-glowing vortex was slowly dying out.
Had it really been just moments ago that I'd watched the last guild member disappear into it?
Looks like everyone made it out.
"……"
I forced my arm out and pressed it against my stomach.
A massive fragment of something — I couldn't even tell what — had punched clean through my abdomen.
Was it the heat of the battle still raging until moments ago, or were my senses just going numb? Even the pain was fading.
"Haa……"
I'm a hunter.
The ordinary, run-of-the-mill kind you'd find in any web novel.
One of the stock characters in a tired story about people who wade through gates and fight monsters for a living.
I figured I had some talent, and since I didn't have any grand ambitions, it seemed like a decent fit. So I jumped in.
But…
Reality was nothing like I'd imagined.
Living with death as a constant neighbor was far more grueling than I'd ever thought it would be.
The ones who could swing a blade with a hollow smile — they weren't normal. They were broken.
*Just a little more money, and I'm really getting out of this business.*
I'd muttered that like a mantra and kept going.
Somewhere along the way, I'd picked up the title of S-rank, and the guild I belonged to had grown into one of the most prominent names in the industry.
This mission. Just this one last mission, and I was going to quit being a hunter and live like a normal person.
I rubbed my face with both hands.
"Ah… seriously."
My luck is absolutely rotten.
"A double dungeon, of all things, on my last day…"
A low-difficulty dungeon I'd walked into with a light heart.
Except it wasn't. It was the kind of dungeon you came to fully prepared, or not at all.
Well — we cleared it, so I suppose I contributed to world peace in some small way.
I stared at the massive, grotesque thing skewering my body and let out a hollow sigh.
At least I saved the others, so that's something… right?
No. Not even close.
I was furious enough to lose my mind.
A lifetime of risking my life to earn money I barely got to spend, and now I'm dying like a dog, rolling around in the dirt like this.
As the cold crept through my body, I made a decision.
If — and I mean *if* — there was such a thing as a next life.
Then even if it killed me…
"I am never… being a hunter again!"
***
Beep beep beep — Beep beep beep —
An obnoxious alarm shattered the silence.
"Ugh……"
Thwack—!
I fumbled my hand out and slammed it down on the nightstand beside the bed.
"……"
The noise that had been stabbing at my ears faded away. The tension drained out of me, and my eyelids grew heavy again.
"……"
Hm? But…
Didn't I just die?
A fleeting question flickered through my mind.
I blinked and stared blankly up at the ceiling.
"Ah… a dream……"
Relieved, I pulled the soft blanket up over my head.
I was just about to drift back to sleep when —
"There's no way that was a dream!"
A wave of goosebumps crawled across my entire body. I kicked the blanket off and shot upright.
That sensation. Those memories. Vivid as anything, right up until a moment ago.
There was absolutely no way that had been a dream.
And on top of that…
"My voice……"
I muttered quietly, and the sound that came out was startlingly soft and delicate — completely unfamiliar.
I stumbled out of bed.
The feel of the floor beneath my feet was off, but I ran straight for the bathroom anyway.
Across the cold tile floor, and then — the mirror.
But the sink and the mirror were too high.
I had to stand on my tiptoes just to see my own face.
"!!!"
The moment I stretched up and caught my reflection, I couldn't help but grab my own head.
Because standing in that mirror was a stranger.
Jet-black hair, cut short and swaying at the shoulders. Clear, dark eyes. Features that looked vaguely like mine.
And above all else —
Beneath the hem of my clothes, a strange, unfamiliar absence below the waist.
"Wh— what is this……!"
The figure in the mirror stared back at me with the exact same expression of blank, stunned horror.