Chapter 01
A world flooded with nonsense disguised as famous quotes.
If someone asked me to pick the worst piece of nonsense among all the arrogant garbage out there, I would choose this without hesitation.
> Effort will always be rewarded.
I can prove just how crazy that sounds. For real.
Because the reason I’m sitting here getting the most ridiculous scolding of my life is exactly that. Because I worked my hardest, succeeded, and that’s why.
> ‘Reward for effort? Bullshit.’
Until right before I fell asleep, I was a hero.
A warrior who defeated the Silver Dragon that threatened the kingdom.
A savior who, after three years of sincere effort, finally cut off the neck of that giant monster.
The people cheered, the king himself raised a toast for me, and at a festival that lasted three days, everyone chanted my name.
But now?
> “What is your name?”
The moment I opened my eyes in an empty room surrounded by gray walls, a fancy-looking man was looking down at me and asking this question.
I didn’t even feel like answering. I just stared blankly at the man.
He was a person who looked almost too fancy. A man who, just like his fancy looks, had everything he wore, hung, and tied around him looking fancy. It was obvious he was a young master who had grown up softly and gently inside a castle since birth.
The deep fatigue that showed on his face, which boasted near-perfect beauty, strangely caught my eye. This man, who looked like he carried all the fatigue and resignation in the world on his own, kept repeating the same question endlessly like a broken machine.
> “Are you listening? I am asking you what your name is.”
“……My name?”
I was about to answer as if asking something so obvious, but then I stopped and took a breath.
‘Huh? What did the villagers call me?’
I couldn’t remember my name.
I couldn’t remember that thing called a name, which everyone is given, at all.
> ‘Did I… live without a name…?’
I quickly closed my mouth, which had been stupidly opening, and glanced at the other person’s reaction. The man raised one eyebrow slightly, as if he didn’t like my reaction.
He was a person so beautiful that even his arrogant urging was admirable. For some reason, feeling guilty, I looked at that overly fancy man and squeezed out an answer.
“My name is…….”
“Yes.”
“Back at the castle, they called me the warrior… I think?”
Even to my own ears, it sounded stupid.
Sure enough, the eyes of the man who was staring at me turned cold. In his gaze, pity and sympathy were mixed together.
> “I am asking for your name. Not a title.”
“Uh……. It’s not that I’m ignoring your question on purpose, but I think I probably… don’t have a name.”
Only then did I realize.
That truly, really, I had no name.
I only now realized that I had never been called by a proper name in my entire life.
At the same time, I couldn’t even remember exactly how many years that ‘entire life’ I was talking about even was.
> ‘I don’t know my age or my name? Why……?’
Goosebumps rose on my back.
The man, noticing my shock, softened his expression slightly and lightly tapped the air. From the place his hand touched, a table and chair, as transparent and hard as ice, appeared.
> “I am Perenustus, the one who created and manages this world.”
Without giving me time to be surprised by the suddenly appeared table and chair, the man introduced himself. Adding an annoyed sigh on top of it.
> “Thanks to you, I’ve even ended up taking on the role of Chairman of the Natural Law Error Countermeasures Committee. So, rather than my name, please call me Chairman. With a sense of guilt.”
I mumbled his old-fashioned, fancy name to myself a few times, just like his appearance, then tilted my head.
“Why is that because of me…?”
> “Because your very existence is a huge error. An error that disturbed the natural law of the world I designed.”
The answer came back without a moment’s hesitation. Feeling like a criminal, I lowered my eyes.
I couldn’t even explain why I felt this way.
Maybe it was because Perenustus’s gaze towards me was complicated.
Because his eyes looked like they were looking at a difficult puzzle with no easy solution. And because that gaze didn’t contain only contempt.
“Alright. Since I’ve explained, let me ask just one more time. What is your name?”
“No, really, I’m telling you, I don’t think I have a name.”
The moment I answered hesitantly, a Silver Dragon with only its neck severed appeared in the air in the middle of the table and started screaming.
The silver blood dripping from the severed neck melted the spotless table and stuck to it hideously.
> “I’ll curse you! Authorize me to curse you right now!”
The situation became more and more unbelievable, and I unconsciously stepped back before coming to my senses a little late.
“Uh…? I, I definitely killed the Silver Dragon……!”
“Wow, this crazy bastard has quite a talent for twisting things!”
The severed neck suddenly came closer, close enough to touch my pointing fingertip, and shouted.
> “That’s right! You killed me, and that’s why I’m like this! Because you’re such a huge bug, I can’t even be restored to my original form!”
Every time the Silver Dragon raged and thrashed, the silver liquid splashed everywhere from its severed neck.
I couldn’t understand the situation at all. All I could do was stare at Perenustus with a bewildered face.
“No way, am I dreaming right now? I definitely cut off this dragon’s head, you know? Why is a dead dragon…….”
“What, doesn’t he know that he’s here because he died?”
The Silver Dragon snorted, looking at me who was half out of my mind.
I stared alternately at the calm Perenustus and the fiercely snorting Silver Dragon, so I understood the Silver Dragon’s words a little late.
> “I died…?”
“He really looks stupid. Hey, bug! Stop spacing out and look at me! I’m telling you, you attacked me, the Silver Dragon who was in a deep sleep, and cut off my head, and that’s why I ended up like this!”
“…The more I hear, the more absurd it is. If I hadn’t killed you, everyone in my village would have died, for sure? It’s written clearly in the legend, so was I supposed to just let it happen?”
“Of course. Your village was created to be wiped out, according to the legend.”
The Silver Dragon kept snorting.
I didn’t know how to take this situation and just moved my lips like an idiot.
“Hmph…….”
Perenustus let out a sigh that seemed like a habit.
Whether he felt sorry, or just wanted to end this tiring situation quickly. The man looked at me with an unreadable gaze, then continued explaining in a tired voice.
> “As you just admitted yourself, you are an existence that wasn’t even given a name. You were less than an extra, a passing background character.”
He paused for a moment and observed me calmly.
> “But because such an existence cut off the Silver Dragon’s head and became a warrior, a serious problem occurred in the entire world view. The village you lived in was a place that absolutely had to be destroyed, according to the ‘Comedy-Tragedy Total Quantity Law’.”
Every word that came out of Perenustus’s mouth was something I couldn’t understand.
Worldview?
What the hell is the Comedy-Tragedy Total Quantity Law?
“Did you understand? Because you uselessly protected an area that should have been thoroughly destroyed, a very serious error occurred in the entire worldview. This place is to punish you for that crime.”
“Excuse me. I feel very wronged right now, you know? From what you’re saying, it sounds like you’re saying that it’s my crime to have worked hard and saved a village that was supposed to be destroyed.”
“Correct.”
“So I’m telling you it’s unfair! Everyone is the hero of their own life, and the value of that life is in doing their best and working hard, right! How can someone like you arbitrarily decide and judge that?”
Perenustus’s eyebrow twitched slightly.
> “Do you… understand what you’re saying?”
“Yes. It was written in a book.”
“What book.”
“A book that warriors who came to the village to catch the dragon left behind….”
The light in Perenustus’s eyes grew fiercer. So much so that even I, who hadn’t been afraid when cutting off the Silver Dragon’s neck, shrank my shoulders and answered hesitantly.
He looked me over with eyes that were cold, no, frozen, then tilted his head slightly.
> “Do you think a background character less than an extra, without even a name, would be given the intellectual ability to read, understand, and make an effort?”
“…….”
“All you were allowed was just to ‘exist’. Everything else is an error.”
“What are you saying…. So you’re saying that even if the Silver Dragon destroyed the village, I should have just stayed still?”
“Yes.”
Perenustus answered firmly.
> “Because only then can the great epic, where the real warrior appears and opens a new era, begin.”
He looked straight at me.
“Do you admit to killing the Silver Dragon?”
“…Yes.”
“Silphy, did you hear that?”
I looked at Perenustus gesturing to the Silver Dragon and thought to myself.
‘Silphy? Is it possible to have such a cute nickname for a dragon that looks that ferocious?’
Even hearing it, I couldn’t believe it.
The gap between the disgusting Silver Dragon, dripping silver blood with only its neck left, and the lovely nickname ‘Silphy’.
> “Curse him, Silphy.”
I clicked my tongue at the mismatch between the name and appearance, and lost the chance to protest the unfair punishment.
“Oh, wait a minute! I’m telling you it’s unfair!”
“Would such a measly error like you be allowed a chance to protest?”
The moment the Silver Dragon’s tone changed, my body stiffened.
I couldn’t even breathe.
It felt like the air itself had turned into a huge rope and was strangling my neck.
> “I’ve seen it well, the sight of a useless error pretending to be the hero on its own. It was amusing.”
The Silver Dragon’s voice rang out with authority.
> “Since you, a bug, insist so much, I too shall assume you are the hero of one world and give you a curse befitting that. I hope you accept it gladly.”
“Ugh…!”
> “I hope that the arrogant warrior who cut off my neck is reborn in a world where nothing ever goes his way. I hope he endlessly continues a trivial, uneventful, and infuriating life.”
The curse flowing from the severed dragon’s mouth struck me before I could even avoid it. The shape of the words, carrying a cluster of twinkling stars, hovered in the air and then sharply dug into the back of my neck.
The words in the form of light, shining like a cold Milky Way, tore and burned under my skin.
I bit down on my molars to avoid losing consciousness. The sound of my teeth grinding in pain and the moans escaping between them echoed in my ears.
While rolling on the floor like a bug, I kept reaching my hand out towards Perenustus.
Even though I knew he wouldn’t help, even though I knew he was the one who gave this incomprehensible punishment, I somehow felt like I had to do it.
Perenustus, who was watching me thrash from the curse, hesitated with a complicated expression and then held my hand.
> ‘…Isn’t this like giving poison and then the antidote?’
Although I thought it was absurd, I greedily held onto the large hand that was allowed to me.
Through our touching skin, his feelings were vividly transmitted. Fatigue, pity, sympathy, and even a little bit of guilt.
But he didn’t seem to have any intention of reversing the decision he had already made.
> “Since you have received your punishment, it is now time for you to repay it with your body.”
Now what kind of bullshit is this.
I was in so much pain I couldn’t even speak properly. He covered the emotions surging in his eyes with fatigue and spoke in a much calmer voice than before.
> “For now, let’s go and see. One proper experience will be more certain than a hundred words.”
The moment a snap sound came from his long fingertips, everything around me blurred and spread out.
Reality melted like paint, and in an instant, a completely different space appeared.
