Reborn As A Cripple - Chapter 4
Dark knight Sieg…
Face-to-face with a handsome young man with silver hair, he was the last boss of Hermenea in [JRO].
When players visit the Kingdom of Hermenea, a certain event causes this young man to fall into darkness. The next map of Hermenea Kingdom would be unlocked by fighting him and correcting his ways.
Now though, he’s just an ordinary Knight of the Imperial Guards who hasn’t fallen into darkness yet.
The recommended level for [JRO]’s Dark Knight battle was at 60, but I’m going to assume that Sieg is not as strong as he was as a Dark Knight. The only thing was that [JRO]’s Dark Knight battle was supposed to be challenged by a party of four or so, but this time I was going at it alone.
Therefore, the estimated recommended level would be at 60.
But I’m only at level 1. And my stats were at best level 10 for a regular job.
The level difference was hopeless. Still―
“[Magic Bullet] [Magic Armor]”
I hit Sieg in the face with a magic bullet with the power of a peashooter and clothed my body with magic to strengthen my physique.
Now, my stats were brought up to level 20.
“I see. Interesting.”
Sieg laughed mockingly and swung his sword down.
“[Magic Barrier]”
It wasn’t used to block the sword, but rather deploy its non-attribute magic, which should have been used for defense, under my feet. The magic barrier pushed me out of the way, and I went up to a higher place, dodging the sword.
[Barrier Jump]. This technique, which was a little higher than a normal jump and required a shorter motion, was a small skill that any [JRO] cripple could do.
“[Magic Barrier]”
I deployed the second [Magic Barrier] up in the sky.
The physics engine wasn’t installed in [JRO]. However, physical laws such as gravity and inertia surely existed in this world.
Using the [Magic Barrier] as a foothold, I struck the wooden sword as hard as I could, aiming for the neck, as that area was the weak point of the Dark Knight Sieg in [JRO].
But Sieg reacted quickly, and the wooden sword was blocked by a metal shoulder strap.
If my level was 30 levels higher, I could have penetrated the armor!
There’s no point in worrying now. My body’s five years old, and I was only level one.
My wooden sword spun around and flew off in the direction of the skies, as my grip couldn’t withstand the impact of the dry, cracking sound.
“Sir Heid. You’re incredibly strong.”
Sieg was holding a wooden sword around my neck, which had my weapon thrown away, and said that he enjoyed the battle. I raised my hands with a dry laugh.
“Haha, I lost. As expected, I’m helpless against the best of the Imperial Guards.”
I lost. It was an utter defeat.
I guess that’s why I lost. The difference in stats was overwhelming. Perhaps with my attack power, even if I were to use all of my strength to hit a defenseless Sieg in his vital areas with a serious blow, he would naturally be unharmed. In the first place, Sieg’s agility was also reasonably high, so it would be difficult to even land a hit.
However, with such an overwhelming difference in levels, I strangely didn’t regret anything.
“HaHaHa! Well done, Heid, for fighting splendidly against Sieg.”
The King of Hermenea clapped his hands and laughed cheerfully, Algeo then said, “I am honored!” and knelt.
I also followed suit and knelt and said, “I’m honored by your praise.”
“Don’t be so uptight Heid. I’m in an extremely good mood! I love strong people!”
“Haa…”
“I’d like to reward you, but you’re still too young. Giving you something is equivalent to giving it to Algeo. So here’s what we’ll do, Heid. You can have my daughter Reyna! She’s close to your age, and she’s a little bit of a tomboy, so I’ve been having a hard time with her. It’ll be just right!”
Reyna?! Is that Reyna, that ‘Dragon Knight Princess’ Reyna Hermenea?
In [JRO] she was one of the top-ranking ‘Dragon Knight Princess’ of the ‘Dragon Cavalry’ who controlled one of the strongest species of dragons, and she was one of the cheat characters who controlled the ‘Thunder Dragon’ and sent unavoidable electric shocks without taking any damage.
Because of her overwhelming strength and character design, she has won first place in the popularity contest three times.
“What is it? You aren’t satisfied with my daughter?”
“N, no! Rather, I was surprised to hear that it was the renowned beauty, Princess Reyna.”
“I see. So, Reyna’s cuteness has reached even the Dukehardt’s territory!”
The King of Hermenea laughed cheerfully once again.
“Let’s give Reyna to Heid! Heid is extremely strong at this stage, and when he comes of age and gets a job, he’ll be as strong as a hero!”
Giving her to me, did he meant engagement?
…He said engagement?!
No, I can’t say no in this mood. Besides, back in the days of [JRO], Reyna Hermenea was pretty much my favorite NPC― or at least the one I liked the most, to be honest, I was pretty excited about the engagement event.
Oh, and [JRO] had a marriage system!
No, well. I never got married in my previous life, and I’ve never even been in love in real life either, so I guess I don’t know how to react.
And so, pushed by the King of Hermenea, I became betrothed to Reyna, Princess of Hermenea.
◇
“It’s nice to meet you, Princess Reyna.”
“It’s also nice to meet you, Sir Heid.”
Reyna Hermenea responded with courtesy at my imitation of an aristocratic greeting.
After King Hermenea announced Reyna and I being engaged, it was soon followed by an early marriage interview. The fact that Reyna was also dressed up in beautiful clothes led me to believe that despite the suddenness of this engagement, this was already decided long ago.
Oh yeah. In [JRO], things were pretty much random, but this world was real, Hermenea was a real country, and the King of Hermenea, Algeo, and other NPC characters were living-breathing people.
Then, there was the royal engagement. The decision of a human parent to marry off their daughter cannot be made in the spur of the moment.
I at least don’t think so.
…There’s no way, right?
Well, it doesn’t matter. I don’t care what kind of intentions the King of Hermenea or Algeo had in bringing me and Reyna together.
The most important thing was that the Dragon Knight Princess Reyna (Child Form) stood right in front of me.
Blonde hair that shined like thunder, and skin as white as bolts of lightning. Jade eyes like a dragon.
Although she’s still a kid right now and doesn’t have a job yet, her character design was worthy of becoming a future user of the ‘Thunder Dragon’.
I’m sure she would become a beautiful woman in the future. No, she was pretty in [JRO], and I’m sure as hell she’d grow up to be one too.
On one hand, I was getting excited, while on the other, I was at a loss of what to do in front of Reyna.
I was terrible at communicating in my previous life. I was so terrible at it that I pretty much failed all of my job hunting!
While I was thinking of such things I became calm.
The Reyna in front of me was certainly as pretty as the Reyna I had seen in [JRO], but she was about the same height as me, who was now five years old. She’s about four heads tall (T/N: 3ft 7in rough estimate). In other words, she’s a child.
I was bad at communicating in my previous life, but even so, back in elementary school, I had a few friends.
Besides, I’ve been alive for 28 years, including the 23 years before I died in my previous life and the 5 years in this world, and I’m not at an age where I should be nervous around a 5-year-old.
That made me calm down a little and I now knew what I had to do.
“Um, Princess Reyna”
“Wh, what is it?”
“I was wondering if you would like to play with me?”
“Play with you?”
“Yes. Playing house, dolls, reading a book. Let’s do whatever you want to do, Princess Reyna!”
Reyna was a little perplexed and started mumbling while visibly trembling.
“Then, I would like to do a sword fight. Sir Heid is very strong, aren’t you? I’m also pretty strong, so let’s have a match.”
That’s what she proposed.
That’s not a suggestion to be made while trembling nervously! I was fooled by her reserved and graceful attitude, but Reyna was one of the most powerful characters in [JRO].
For some reason, Reyna, who became a Dragon Knight Princess, was the character best at lightning attacks, which was then converted into numerical attack power that doubled the damage.
Looking back, her personality in [JRO] was also surprisingly aggressive, and King Hermenea said she was a tomboy and a handful.
Well, I guess you could say that.
“Okay. Then where are we going to do it?”
“That’s right. I’ll show you to our training hall that I always use! Also, since Sir Heid is my fiancée, just please call me Reyna!”
“Re, Reyna?”
It’s kind of embarrassing to call a girl by just her name without honorifics. I don’t think it’s something that I should be embarrassed about at this age, but I was an unpopular man with no girlfriend whatsoever in my previous life.
“Yes. Then may I also call you, Heid?”
“Of, of course!”
And thus, by playing together during our childhood we would naturally become more familiar with each other. And, being engaged to Reyna has been approved by our parents. Isn’t this a romantic comedy? It’s a romantic comedy, right?
I followed Reyna as she skipped along in a good mood, excited to know what was going to happen next, just like when I was reading a manga.
In case you’re wondering, Reyna was unexpectedly strong and almost defeated me, but that’s a story for another day.