My father died this summer.
His life ended on his 39th year. My father was born as a farmer but had the courage to improve himself, and thus became a nobleman even though he was from the masses.
He endured his illness for years and years.
My father, who had a strong body, gradually lost weight and became a husk of who he was. During his sleep, that is when he took his final breath.
Although he was under much suffering, he had such a peaceful face, smiling and gentle, just before he died.
Humans seem to be able to forget their suffering before they die.
On the funeral day, his remains was cremated.
Although there are areas in the Somerforce Empire where cremation is not permitted, cremation is the mainstream in our town.
The blazing fire and the rising smoke made me realize that my father had really died.
But for some reason, I never thought of my Father as my real “father”.
However, there is no doubt that he was my most trusted and respected person in the whole world.
The tears are coming up and on the verge of pouring, but I can bear it.
I must not cry.
Never think of shedding tears here, considering what responsibilities I carry.
After my father’s funeral, I gathered my father’s retainers.
Standing in front of everyone in my formal clothes, just as if i was an adult man.
And I proudly declared,
“From here-in, I, Ars Lovent, will succeed Raven Outo-sama and become the Lord of the Lovent family!” (Ars)
It was the twelfth year since I died in Japan and reincarnated in this world.
○
The day of my death came unsurprisingly.
I was a normal man who has lived a very ordinary life in Japan for 35 years.
Born to a normal family, went to elementary school, junior high school, high school, college, enter into a mediocre company, and earn an annual income of 4.50 million yen.
The only unusual point is that I am single, but in the current declining birthrate, it may be considered normal.
……Well, it may not be normal for me to never have done “it” either.
I think my face is normal, but is there a problem with my personality?
Unenthusiastic is a word that many people have used to describe me. I’ve been told that I have a constant poker face.
It’s not wrong. Certainly, I have a personality that rarely shows excitement or sadness except to things I really like.
Perhaps I couldn’t do “it” because I never had anyone I really liked.
By the way, today is Monday.
It was supposed to be a long weekend, so I am a bit sad that I have to go to work.
Holding my favorite business bag in my right, I turn the door knob using my left hand to open the door.
As I took out the key and tried to lock it…
Ba Dum!!!
「！！？」
An unusually sharp pain hit my chest.
My hands begin to tremble. I dropped my key and business bag on the ground. I pressed hard on my the chest with my newly freed hands.
Breathing in has never been so painful. I can’t stand. I can feel myself falling to the ground.
What is this?
My brain can’t think through the pain. I can’t think of anything.
As time goes by, my field of vision becomes darker and my consciousness goes away.
Without any understanding of the situation and under terrible pain, the darkness claimed my consciousness.
○
When I woke up, what I saw was a woman’s face in front of me.
I can’t make sense of the situation at all.
Wait. Let’s go back and think, starting from the beginning.
First, I was going to work as usual.
Then, before I left home and tried to lock the door, I had a severe chest pain.
Once again, the woman’s face is in front of me.
It is a slightly rounded but charming face.
She doesn’t look Japanese. She looks like a Caucasian.
If I fell down because of the chest pain, am I in a hospital?
But the woman isn’t wearing nurse clothes.
She’s not an acquaintance. That’s ’cause I have no Caucasian female friends.
In the first place, her facial expression weirdly is as gentle like a pet owner looking at her dog.
It’s not the same as the look on the face that people have when in the hospital.
The woman opens her mouth and talks about something.
I have no idea what you are saying.
It might be a foreign language, because I really don’t understand it at all.
I can’t speak a lot of foreign language, but I can understand some of them.
but this woman is not from any country I can communicate to.
I also try to move my mouth. It moves but no words come out.
It seems that I can only pronounce “ah” or “uu”.
I tried to move my body, but I couldn’t move it the way I want to.
Though it seems to be enough for the time being.
Hmm?
At that time, I put my hand within sight.
Small. Amazingly small.
It’s like a baby’s hand.
My head is filled with questions.
The conclusion I finally made was that it was a mistake. But, when I looked at my hand again, it was still a small fragile hand.
what is this.
What a joke?
Or…
Did I die at that time and reincarnated?
Reincarnation is one of the ideas in Buddhism, in which a dead soul goes to another life and is reborn again and again in this world.
Buddhism’s founder Buddha explained that living is a test.
It seems that the human soul is put to test from repeated reincarnations, death and reincarnation, and death and reincarnation.
By living and gaining enlightenment, you can escape from the circle of reincarnation.
I wonder if I have reincarnated because I am not enlightened.
Even so, I think it’s strange to remember my past life.
Anyway, I understand that something unusual is happening on me now.
I understand it, but I can’t do anything if I can’t speak or move.
I have no choice but to wait now.
After pondering for so long, drowsiness came.
Is it because I have an infant’s body?
I could not resist the intense drowsiness, and thus I fell asleep.