Overpowered Reincarnation Perks! - Chapter 5.1 - 5. The More I Hope, the Sadder I Become
Callion left that night. I didn’t leave my room and watched the two of them depart through the window.
Senes didn’t look at me at all. It wasn’t surprising, as it was the reaction I expected. He was probably momentarily enchanted by me due to the charm skill, so he should be fine by tomorrow evening.
Callion occasionally stopped walking and turned towards me. I stood by the window and waved at him. He bowed slightly and moved away, then stopped again. As he turned back, I waved once more.
Our farewell continued to repeat until his figure became a tiny dot and disappeared.
‘He really left.’
I flopped down on the bed and stroked my empty chest. It was the first night I’d sleep alone.
From the first day I came here, I met Callion and was always with him. After meeting Senes, the three of us were together.
‘The day we arrived in the village… Just last night, I was in this room with Callion.’
Now I’m alone.
After being with unfamiliar men, I should feel relieved and unburdened to have time alone, but instead, my heart felt empty.
‘Did I grow attached so quickly?’
I’ve lived well on my own until now, yet after spending just a few days together…
Lying on the bed in the dark room, I quietly stared at the ceiling.
‘System window.’
As if responding to my call, a hologram appeared in mid-air.
[Time Remaining: 21 days]
The peculiar thing about this system window is that it’s visible even with closed eyes. It’s as if the information is being shot directly into my nerves rather than being seen with my eyes.
Tick-tock, tick-tock. The sound of the small clock on the bedside console turning could be heard.
Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
[Time Remaining: 20 days]
The number decreased by one, perhaps because midnight had passed.
‘Now I really don’t have many days left to live.’
A system window in a world like a game, I’d rather deny it as a hallucination, but I had a sadly certain premonition.
Whatever world this is, it’s reality to me, and I’m about to die.
‘Callion. He said he’d come back in two weeks.’
It’s not over yet. I can meet him one more time before I die.
‘Just once more.’
When I received his promise to return, I was clearly happy, but now that I’m alone, recalling that promise strangely made me feel even more sorrowful.
***
The next day, I left the inn early in the morning. I pulled my hood down low to avoid people’s eyes as I climbed the hill.
As I climbed the dark path, the sharp-eared antique shop owner came out with a lantern to greet me.
“As I’ve gotten older, I can’t sleep in anymore, you see.”
I was about to call her “ma’am,” but she insisted I just call her grandmother. I’d seen her during the day, but seeing her at dawn, she seemed even more petite.
I started work early in the morning. After organizing items and showing her the inventory ledger I had created, she was amazed, saying I worked as well as she had heard.
‘As she had heard?’
It doesn’t seem likely that Senes, who was dying to hit me, would have praised me.
‘Does he praise me when I’m not around?’
I was curious about how Senes had explained me to her, but I didn’t ask. I didn’t want to think about him unnecessarily.
Callion said he’d come back in two weeks, but Senes didn’t say anything like that.
Originally, the two brothers went hunting separately, so maybe Senes will cross the mountain range to another village, and only Callion will return.
“Due to circumstances, I can’t work for long, but I’ll do my assigned tasks diligently, so please take care of me for the time being.”
“Alright. Your name was… Jin, wasn’t it?”
I guess since this is a fantasy world, she couldn’t imagine that a person’s name would be ‘Ju-in,’ so she must have heard it as ‘Jin.’
Was Callion, who understood it in one go, a special case?
“Yes, please call me Jin.”
There was no need to use a standout name, so I let the misunderstanding be. It’s not like leaving my name in this world would have any meaning anyway.
Thanks to Senes mentioning that I could sleep in the warehouse, there was even a wool blanket prepared. Unable to refuse the thoughtfulness, I slept there on the first day. The bed was unexpectedly cozy, and there was no unpaid overtime.
However, when I heard the grandmother coughing at dawn, I got up and ran to pour her some water. As the antique shop was the only place located on the hill, there was no one to help her when she was alone, so she held my hand, saying it was fortunate that I was there.
‘If it’s like this, I feel like I’ll have to keep staying in the warehouse from now on.’
In the end, I half-accepted the live-in slave proposal. I would sleep in the warehouse every other day after finishing work, and return to the inn to sleep on alternate days.
‘…Of course, without overtime pay.’
In a world where people help each other, wouldn’t it be good to fulfill my duty until the last day?
‘Could it be that the grandmother I’m supposed to save before I die is the shop owner?’
The system window only told me my remaining lifespan, not who I would save or how I would die.
‘What could there be in this peaceful village that would involve saving someone and dying?’
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t find an answer.
***
One day, two days, three days, four days. Time passed.
Thanks to the charm skill’s duration expiring, there were no more furtive glances at me. My worry about getting involved in some unfortunate incident just before dying slightly faded.
I became accustomed to the antique shop work, but it got busier day by day. Of course, it wasn’t because there was more work. The shop owner grandmother was surprisingly healthy, so there wasn’t much need for me to support her.
Then why was it busy?
“Jin!”
A young man who had run up the hill, panting, called out to me while waving his hand.
It was Bill, the weapon shop owner’s son.
“Jin, help me!”
The antique shop was in the north and the weapon shop in the south, so we wouldn’t normally run into each other, but thanks to that charm skill, rumors about me had spread in this village, and occasionally males would come to spy on me. Bill was one of them.
