Raul Nord didn't know why, but when he was helping his mother, suddenly, his mind was assaulted by memories of a long-gone era. Clutching his head in pain, he ignored his mother's cries of concern and tried to grasp at the memories flowing in.
Lazar. He was Lazar Diarmaid in his past life. A lower Noble who became a Knight of Goll and protected the citizens of Cormac Kingdom.
Looking at his mother, kneeling beside him in concern, Raul opened his mouth.
"Mother. I want to be a knight."
It must have sounded ridiculous because his mother giggled at his exclamation.
"Did you read a fairy tale somewhere? I think a knight is rare in the modern world. I thought for sure you would have said something about being an Adventurer."
Raul then remembered that after the Gods descended, knights lost all their glories to those blessed by Gods. It wasn't like the position was extinct; some kingdoms still had them. But their main purpose was not to protect the citizens. It wouldn't be wrong to say that modern knights were nothing but an army.
That wasn't what the kind of knight he wanted to be. Lazar joined the knights to help his family at first, but after several adventures, he grew, and his goal changed. Now in his new life, what did Raul want to be?
Raul then threw his face to the side and asked his mother again. "Then, if I said I want to be an Adventurer..."
His mother patted his head in affection. "I won't stop you. Just remember that we're always here for you, okay? And don't go adventuring before you enter your teenage years."
Raul nodded. "Of course. Does that mean I'm allowed to train my body every day?"
His mother looked at him and sighed. "Don't tell me you ask me that so you can train every day?"
Raul laughed sheepishly. "That's right, Mother. Whether it's Knight or Adventurer, both needs training."
His mother only shook her head. "Fine. I'll allow it."
"Thank you, Mother," Raul replied, feeling grateful. Whatever he wanted to be in the future, his short-term goal was polishing Lazar's swordsmanship again.
The next day, his mother gave him a wooden sword for training, and since then, Raul had never missed any day of training.
Four years had passed, and now Raul was ten years old. A friendless ten years old. It sounded sad, but it was logically what would happen to him when he always refused the invitation to play with the other kids. He devoted his time to training his body daily and was proud of his dedication. He just never thought that having no friends was this lonely.
In his past life, when he was still a knight-in-training, he had his fellow trainee as companions. Even Felice was always there for him, so he never felt lonely before. And later came Dim, whom he could proudly say was his best friend.
Raul sighed as he put the empty buckets he was bringing on the ground. He was on a quest to fetch water from the river for his mother. This was his seventh iteration of coming and leaving the river with water. While he did not refuse because his family needed his help, Raul couldn't help but sigh as the task was very tedious. Even in his past life, there were just tasks he favored the most and the least.
He pushed back his complaints and moved to scoop the water from the river. When both buckets were full, Raul picked them up and walked toward the village.
On his way back, Raul heard movements from the bushes. The river was located a few hundred meters from the village outskirts, but there had never been a monster attack so far from what he knew. Movements in the bushes meant either small animals or monsters looking for prey.
Raul put down the buckets and raised the wooden sword gifted by his mother four years ago. He put his guard up and scanned his surroundings.
There!
He felt a killing intent aimed at him from the left, so Raul jumped and turned his body to face it. His feelings were correct. It was a monster who tried attacking him. However...
"A youngling...?" Raul questioned. The one attacking him wasn't even an adult in its prime. It was a little lizard.
"...why is everything in my life underwhelming?" He sighed. Raul wasted no time whacking the lizard to drive it away. He could kill it, but with how dull his wooden sword was, it would take too long.
Sure enough, with several tries, the baby lizard went away, leaving Raul alone. In no time, he continued his walk home and went the same way again to fetch more water. It went smoothly with no other distractions. Maybe the baby lizard had already gone away? Good thing.
Raul missed the red eyes looking at him from between the leaves.
This was it. Raul was thirteen years old now. Finishing his pack, Raul wiped the sweat on his forehead. His mother had allowed him to leave for Orario, even gifted him a real sword this time. It wasn't the best quality he had ever seen, but he felt grateful nonetheless. His mother no doubt used her savings to buy him the sword. Thus, he would never not treasure the sword.
He spent the last night in the village with his family. Before he knew it, the dawn had come, and a new day awaited.
Raul bid them goodbye and left the village.
Thirty minutes outside the village, his first challenge arrived. A monster blocked his path.
"Alright," Raul unsheathed his new sword to face the lizard that blocked his path. Although, the lizard seemed familiar to him. "Don't tell me you're the baby lizard I whacked years ago?"
It seemed that it was the wrong thing to say because the lizard, now fully grown, leaped at him.
Raul swung the sword to deflect the lizard's claw. With his belongings still on his back, it would be hard to maneuver, so he took a distance and let his bags fall down.
"Finally... a worthy challenge for this aspiring knight!"
Raul ran towards the lizard and jumped on its back. With all his might, he thrust his sword downwards, stabbing it in the neck.
However, it proved to be the wrong thing to do because the lizard was tenacious. Even in its wounded state, it managed to drive Raul off its back. And now, Raul was left with no weapon to use.
"Come on!" Raul taunted the lizard. He had no weapon and needed to take his sword off its neck. The only thing to do was fight it defensively and look for an opening to grab his sword.
The lizard moved towards him.
There!
He turned his body sideways and avoided the attack. With a graceful twist, he drew the sword from the lizard's neck and took a stance.
"Haaaa!"
This time Raul didn't miss. He stabbed the monster in the eye, and it went straight into the magic stone inside the body. The monster's corpse vanished as the magic stone broke, and Raul breathed relief. He needed to thank Helga for killing a lizard near him back in his past life. He only knew the general position of the magic stone from watching Helga kill one.
Raul looked at the map he had brought. It seemed that a certain place was on the route to Orario. Putting down the map in his bag with a smile, Raul continued his journey. Maybe he would visit that place.
But first, finding a river to wash the blood off his clothes...
Finally, time for Lazar 'Isekai Tensei Shujinko' Diarmaid to take the stage! I'm not kidding. In the latest stream, Danmemo assistant production joked about Lazar's design and how it resembles Isekai protagonist. The youtube comments even compared him to Kirito! Anyway, while Lazar is a full-fledged knight, Raul is the everyman, so I tried to balance Lazar's coolness and Raul's plainness.