Chapter 38 – Henry’s Memories (1)

“Henry, I knew for a fact you’d be chosen!”

The Knight Captain, Hak, slapped the shoulder of the young man currently serving as his deputy, offering congratulations with genuine, heartfelt joy.

Several other knights had gathered in the room, each of them feeling that Henry McCaley’s selection as a Hero Candidate was well-deserved. This young man was the quintessential model of a knight – diligent, principled, and honest. It was these qualities that had propelled him to the rank of Vice-Captain while only in his early twenties.

Conversely, the man being celebrated wore a grim expression, hardly befitting someone who had just received a prestigious Holy Mark.

This was because it was the second time he had heard these exact words of praise. From the same person. At the same precise moment.

He had been chosen as a Hero Candidate once, successfully become a Hero once, participated in the Demon King’s subjugation once, and he had already died once.

Henry didn’t understand why this was happening to him.

He and the Hero’s party had clearly failed and been slaughtered during the subjugation. Yet now, he found himself back on the day he was first chosen as a Hero Candidate, the Awakening Day.

No one else remembered anything about the previous subjugation, not even the other members of the Hero’s party. Henry alone possessed the memories of what had transpired.

Why? He didn’t know.

Perhaps it was due to something he had accidentally acquired the year before. At the time, he had helped a poor village defend itself against bandits, and the villagers had gifted him a strange accessory – a peculiar earring crafted entirely from a crimson gemstone. He couldn’t refuse when the villagers insisted on fastening it to his ear, claiming it was a lucky charm.

Or perhaps it was simply because he was favored by the Goddess for his unwavering devotion as a faithful believer. Perhaps the Goddess had granted him a chance to do it all over again.

Would anything be different this time?

After an initial period of disorientation, Henry began to train with a frantic desperation.

The memory of his previous death was still seared into his mind. In that life, the Hero’s party had only just finished clearing the monster remnants in the town of Marbour and entered the Black Forest. They were utterly annihilated when they encountered a mid-sized Harpy legion.

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Jullius, having repeatedly unleashed ultimate skills without managing his mana, collapsed from exhaustion and was dropped by a Harpy from a height of thirty meters.

Andrew had his eyes gouged out by talons before accidentally immolating himself in a panicked frenzy.

Princess Claire’s hiding spot was discovered; she was carried off into the sky, never to be seen again.

Iris, consumed by sheer terror, turned to flee, only to trip and plunge into a massive fissure, snapping her neck instantly.