When was it? Sixteen years after my reincarnation? I can’t remember precisely, but that was the day.
The day I learned how everyone truly felt about me. The day I realized what that lingering sense of wrongness actually was.
It was quiet.
It was so quiet, in fact, that I actually found myself missing the earlier commotion. The silence was unsettling.
I stood rooted to the spot, my eyes wide as I scanned the area.
"Wait... what?"
A thick, crimson liquid was splattered at my feet. On the floor and across the walls, nothing remained but the "aftermath" of whatever had been there before.
The Urban Barbarian thugs who were hassling me just a few minutes ago should have been right there, but...
"Um... what is..."
"I’m sorry. Did we startle you?"
A soft voice spoke from right beside me.
I turned to find a girl standing there. Her eyes sparkled like amethysts, and her long, silky blonde hair looked ethereal in the moonlight. She was standing close. Way too close.
"But don't worry. You're safe now."
She reached out and lightly brushed a speck of dust off my clothes.
"Uh... right. Thanks?"
I couldn't wrap my head around the situation. Honestly, my brain was struggling just to keep up. I looked around and realized there were other girls there, too. None of them seemed hurt; they were all smiling, completely unfazed by the carnage surrounding them.
If anything, they looked relieved—satisfied, even.
"Did... did something happen?" I stammered.
A black-haired girl let out a soft giggle.
"Hehe, you don't need to worry about that right now."
"Huh?"
"Because," she continued, as if stating the obvious, "it was all for your sake."
...Is that right? Well, okay then. (Hello, escapism.)
I couldn't even begin to fathom those casual words. I didn't understand, and I certainly wasn't convinced.
And yet...
"Come on, let's go."
The hand she held out to me was warm. I couldn't find a single reason to hesitate.
This is An Ordinary Man's Tale—the story of a man who reincarnated without a clue, bought a slave on a whim, and found himself at the mercy of a whirlwind of obsessive love.