Episode 1: My Other Half
You know how in games and stuff, there are those annoying enemy characters who heal their allies, right?
――――Well, that’s me…
In my previous life, there was this retro RPG game for a family console that was popular when I was a kid, “Legend of the Magic Sword.” I’ve been reincarnated as Dietfried Baumgarten, a baron who’s a henchman to one of the early-game enemy characters, the son of a margrave.
Confusing? To put it simply, I’m the underling of a jobber who gets defeated early on. Frankly, not even worth reading the name. Right?
A mob character who continuously healed the margrave’s son, the enemy, and was certified as an annoying guy by all players. The kind of trash mob character who isn’t even listed by his official name on game strategy sites, just described as “Defeat the annoying healer on the left first.”
I was reincarnated into the world of a game I loved, but… why, of all things, did it have to be as a crony of an early-game jobber?!
This mob character’s name is something only someone like me, who clung to playing “Legend of the Magic Sword” for years and years, would even notice, you know?
During gameplay, he was a mob character who existed only to be defeated, someone I never paid much attention to. But even mob characters have their own lives. There’s a reality that couldn’t be known just from the game.
Over these past five years, I’ve been made to understand that all too well.
“I’m coming in, Cornelia.”
A room that gets good sunlight, even in this small mansion. That’s Cornelia’s room.
“Excuse me.”
The Old Man opens the door for me. Thanking him, I entered Cornelia’s room. For the room of a nobleman’s daughter, it’s more than a little desolate, isn’t it?
“Onii-sama? Cough! Cough!”
“Ria!?”
Hearing her sudden coughing, I rush over to my twin sister lying in bed.
“You don’t have to sit up. Here, lie down.”
I pat Cornelia’s back to calm her, then gently push her too-thin shoulders to make her lie back down on the bed.
“I’m sorry…”
“There’s no need for you to apologize, Ria. Did I startle you by coming in so suddenly? I’m sorry.”
I gently take Cornelia’s hand and place my other hand on her forehead.
“Do you have a bit of a fever? Did you take your medicine properly?”
“Yes.”
“Good girl.”
I then gently pat Cornelia’s head. Cornelia looked up at me with her red eyes and gave a soft smile.
Cornelia, as cute as an angel. Why did God burden this child with a troublesome, unexplained illness called the Curse of the Evil God? For that reason alone, I don’t believe in God.
It’s said that those afflicted by the Curse of the Evil God end their lives before reaching adulthood.
I’ll deny such a future with all my might!
My time with Cornelia is the only thing that soothes my frayed heart. Why do I feel so at peace? I don’t know. But just seeing Cornelia smile saves my heart, and when Cornelia is sad, I feel like my own heart is about to burst.
I was an only child in my previous life, so I don’t know, but is this what it’s like to be twin siblings?
It’s like we share a heart. Maybe because we’re twins, I feel something connecting us, though it’s not telepathy. Is it because we’ve been together since birth, or even before?
She’s truly what you could call my other half.
If I were to lose her… I surely wouldn’t be able to bear it.
“Onii-sama, what happened to Father? I haven’t greeted him yesterday, or the day before, or for a long time now.”
“…”
I’m at a loss for words. For Cornelia, who is an ordinary five-year-old, it must be difficult to understand death. I, too, had been avoiding it, using busyness as an excuse. But such excuses won’t work anymore.
“Father… has gone to a very high place. He’s watching over us with Mother.”
Cornelia’s red eyes welled up, and tears streamed down her cheeks.
My heart felt like it was about to burst.
“Is it my fault again?”
“Ria?”
“Because my body is like this, Father must have gotten fed up and abandoned me…”
“Ria!”
I hug Cornelia’s body tightly. Wanting to deny her words, wanting her not to hurt herself any further…
“That’s not true, Ria. You’re my hope, Ria. Please don’t say such sad things.”
“But…”
“Neither Mother’s passing nor Father’s passing was ever your fault, Ria.”
Looking at Cornelia reminds me of myself from my previous life.
The me who had given up, thinking everything was my fault.
It was a worthless life. But I had a salvation called “Legend of the Magic Sword.” I had something to cling to.
But Cornelia has nothing.
Her father and mother passed away long ago, and she has no reliable relatives.
Right now, I’m very powerless. I must seem so unreliable.
But I want to help Cornelia.
I want to save Cornelia, no matter what else I have to sacrifice.
This child is my other half.
It’s a silver lining in this misfortune, but I know that in the future, in two more years, I will be granted the Healing Gift.
First, I’ll raise the level of my Healing Gift and definitely cure Cornelia’s incurable disease completely!
But that alone isn’t enough.
If things proceed as they do in the game, in five years, what awaits us is ruin.
I’ll cause trouble at the academy where the children of nobles enroll, which is the first stage of the game.
I’ll be thoroughly defeated by the game’s protagonist whom I looked down on, easily desire power, and commit the grave sin of unsealing the Evil God.
And then, I’ll be easily subjugated by the game’s protagonist.
I must make full use of the information about “Legend of the Magic Sword” that I gained in my previous life and deny this future!
“Onii-sama…?”
“Ria, I will definitely cure your body! This is an absolute vow! So, Ria, let’s believe in tomorrow, in the future! It will surely be a better day than today!”
I know it’s not really that easy. There will surely be days worse than today, and it’s certain that we’re in for a dark period for a while. I can’t use Healing magic yet, after all.
But I wanted Cornelia to believe in the future.
“Onii-sama…”
“So, Ria, please smile. They say illness can stem from the mind, you know. Let’s laugh and blow that illness away. I’ll do my best so that you can smile naturally, Ria.”
Ria’s eyes widened, and she gave a small nod.
“Yes…! I will smile…!”
Ria showed me a smile, even with tears in her eyes. Just that made my heart feel like it was soaring.
Definitely. I will definitely protect this smile!