Deep inside a forest, a big magic circle appeared with brilliant light spreading to almost the entire forest.

Seconds later, the light disappeared and left a single man behind, lying flat on the ground. The magic circle then also disappeared with nothing of it left behind.

The man, who then lifted himself from the ground turned out to be Mrit, who, moments ago was in a verbal fight with the goddess at the church.

“Where the hell am I now?”

Looking around, he only found giant dark trees, encircling him. The surrounding area is scorched, probably because of the high level of magic.

“So this will become a place where I will beg for salvation? Seems pretty normal to me.”

Looking around, he didn’t see anyone or anything near him. Even though he is trying to use his sense, he cannot find any signs of life around him.

Either he is weak, which he is or, the inhabitants here are weaker than him, which they are not.

“Cough!!”

After not sensing anyone around him, he tried to take a step but suddenly he then coughed up a handful of dark blood.

“S-So now it is coming to me?”

The toll of using a technique of a higher level is now coming to him, affecting his body.

“This body cannot handle the power of death!!”

The time when he was in the body of death and now is different. Now, in a much weaker body than before, it is a miracle that he stood perfectly till now after using death sense.

Now, coughing up the black blood, he understood that no matter what he tries, he cannot use the power and skills of death normally. The life inside of his new body is now countering the energy of death, which he long ago had accepted to have his revenge.

“I have to either get a new power or accept the power of death again.”

But the question here arises is how?

The blessing of the goddess which could have granted him power is long gone and now he is crossing blades with her. So, help from the goddess is gone.

“No use trying to think back. That bitch would have given me something so that she could control me.”

Standing up and wiping off the blood, he moved towards the forest.

“If she has sent me here, it means this area is probably out of her jurisdiction or that she can’t exert much of her influence here.”

“There has to be something that can give me power. I have no desire to accept that power anymore but to live and make that bitch pay. I have to find a way.”

Power, no matter how vile it may be, he was ready to accept it, even death. Such was the desire of his when he died, getting played by the devil in the alleyway.

But now, the feeling of warmth inside of him and feeling the beating of his heart is weakening his resolve to accept that dark power again.

“If possible, I want a power that doesn’t make me commit the sin of killing someone. I don’t want to be hated anymore and I don’t want to kill innocent too.”

Looking back, wherever he had gone and whoever he killed, only one expression was there on the faces of the people.

Fear.

Fear of watching death himself in front of them, fear of getting in the grips of death, fear of death. Watching them running from him and attacking him with fear made him feel even more horrible.

He said he is not guilty. He said he doesn’t want to attack them. He said he wants to be with them and help them. He pleaded a countless number of times but nobody accepted him.

Looking at their expression as if looking at a devil, he accepted himself as the death and slaughtered like a devil, ultimately becoming the reason for the extinction of humanity.

But now, in this other world, he wants to change. He wants to be full of life, not death.

“I will change. I will not become a devil again.”

While he was walking along the way to the forest, he heard a strange rustling from behind.

“Who is that?”

Raising his guard, he picked up a wooden stick and took a stance as he looked at a bush from which the sound came. Upon his call, from the bushes appeared someone, shocking Mrit.

“W-Wha..”

***

Bang!!

“What did you say?”

Sitting on his throne, king Naash slammed his fist on the hand-rest upon hearing the words of the priest.

Apparently, the priest met the goddess after the goddess banished Mrit. The goddess informed him about the scene that had happened and made him pass her message to the silver hero.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Mrit is now banished and is now branded as a heretic. The goddess wants you to make preparation to watch over the forest and catch Mrit if he escapes from that area.”

“If Mrit was found half dead in the forest, the goddess wants you to bring him to her.”

The priest then proceeds to tell about what happened at the church, to which the king became more agitated

“How can this be happening? Are you sure you haven’t heard wrong? How can she banish the last hero who could have contributed to the battle against death?”

Even though he was thinking of using Mrit as a pawn against the first hero, he also had intentions to nurture him for the future battle.

But the goddess has sent him to the land of no return.

“My king, I think Mrit must have agitated the goddess, given he was against the goddess from the first day.”

“But that doesn’t mean the goddess can childishly throw away a valuable hero like that!! And on top of that, she is asking me to bring him back from that place. If she wanted him from the start, why did she send him there in the first place?”

The king asked the priest if he is can be called a proxy of the goddess but his words didn’t go well with the priest.

“My king, I think you should think about who you are speaking about first.”

The priest, in an instant, spewed out murderous intent toward his king, making even the king shiver a little.

“M-My bad. I apologize. But now the situation has become even more troublesome.”

The priest also came to his normal demeanor, taking back his murderous intent.

“That, I cannot argue, my king. But we cannot do anything. She must have sent him there to make him reflect on his words.”

“It is the wish of the goddess to send Mrit there, so we should not interfere, but rather hope that he can get his ways straight. That way, he can be of help to us and the goddess, too.”

“Rather than that, let’s hope he survives there for one night.”

Remembering his past, his stomach churned. Remembering the horrible creatures that still haunt him in his dreams and most particularly a single one among them he does not wish to even see.

‘I hope he never meets that little devil there.’

***

“Topa?”

“To... pa??”

From the bush came out a brown creature, short in stature, almost like a size of a rabbit. With big, round eyes, he looked at the man in front of him.

“A creature of this world, huh?”

The little guy in front of him has small ears, big round eyes, and a broader skull. His tiny arms and paws, almost like a newborn baby, looked cute.

“He looks like a mole, but with bigger eyes and distinct facial features.”

Approaching the creature, Mrit started to rub his chin. The creature, in turn, also loved it as he cuddled and rubbed its body against Mrit’s hand while making cute noises.

“Little guy, let’s call you Totopa. Do you like it?”

“Topaaa.”

The creature squealed with joy as he climbed upon the shoulder of Mrit, cuddling himself against his face. And so, an unknown creature has been acquired by our protagonist in this new world.

“Totopa, do you know someplace where there are people like me?”

“Topa?”

In turn, he just got a cute sound in return.

“No...”

Giving up, he again moved into the forest, but now he has a partner and not an undead with any emotion.

Moving further into the forest, our party didn’t encounter any other creatures. The forest was still like a silent lake as the sun started to set.

“Damn, I have to set a camp here now. But how the hell am I gonna get the thing when it’s getting dark? Think, think!! Remember the words of bear guy.”

Mrit tried to focus and revive his memories of a show he used to watch when he was alive.

“Ahhh, I remember!! I must hurry and gather dried grass or something to burn while finding a shelter or something.”

Getting worked up, Mrit rummaged through the forest, finding whatever he can. While searching, he came across a small cave. The inside of the cave was empty, with moss growing and no creature, not even an insect inside.

“So a place to sleep is now acquired. Now it’s time to acquire fire.”

Getting inside the cave, he put down the things he collected from the forest.

Taking a seat, he then took a dried piece of wood and, upon it, he places tinder consisting of dried grass or twigs. Taking a thin wooden stick as a spindle and placing it between the tinder, he then spun the spindle back and forth, and soon some ember can be seen.

Mrit then quickly blew the embers as the tinder slowly burned up. Placing the burning tinder within the bunch of woods, he finally gained the thing that most humans aspire to. Fire.

“Thanks to Mr. Bear, I finally started the fire. Thank you, Mr. Bear.”

Mr. Bear in the background must have felt proud that his teachings are getting to use in other world too, but here our protagonist will not eat scorpions or worms. Thanks for watching man vs survival.

Upon igniting the fire, Mrit finally lay down and was about to close his eyes when he heard the sound of water dripping.

“Where’s the water falling from?”

Looking down, he found Totopa urinating on his hard-earned fire.

“Ahhhhh!!!! What the hell are you doinggggg???”

Placing Totopa aside, he tried to reignite the embers but with his last blow, the embers died, leaving behind a pile of ash full of urine of a creature of the otherworld.

“Noooo!!! Why did you do that?!!”

“Topa?”

Mrit furiously looked at Totopa and asked as it took him much effort and concentration to start the fire and now, in a state full of tiredness, he was incapable of starting the fire again.

But the little creature just sat there with twinkling eyes looking at Mrit, saying as if he has not done a single wrong thing.

“Now, how will I cook the food and boil water? You prick!! Do you even know how much Mr. Bear has suffered to teach us all of that?”

Behind him, the spirit of Mr. Bear can be found nodding too. From eating bugs to drinking his own pee, he has contributed this much to society and his new student, who with his teaching started the fire in the otherworld, is now in trouble.

In the midst of both of them blaming Totopa, Totopa came near the pile of wood.

“Now what, you want to shit on that? Go one, shit on my hard work.”

While Mrit stood there with the spirit of Mr. Bear consulting him, Totopa opened his mouth and then-

Boom!!

From that small, tiny mouth appeared a ball of flame and shot towards the wood, igniting the whole of the woods. Looking at him, both Mrit and Mr. Bear were shocked with their mouths wide open.

“H-How?”

Mrit asked while being dazed by the fire. Although he heard from the silver hero and the priest about magic and skill, watching a little creature like Totopa unleashing fire on this level amazed him.

“So animals of this world CAN use magic? Then why the hell do I need to do that shit again? Go to hell survival training, welcome magic and skills.”

Behind him, the spirit of Mr. Bear, also shocked, cried tears of spirit as he ascended to heaven, knowing that his lessons won’t do shit here.

After that, Mrit along with Totopa ate whatever they could and then went to sleep.

And so, Mrit’s second night begins not in a comfy bed of a palace, but inside a hard solid floor of a cave with little Totopa, but even then Mrit felt satisfied as he now doesn’t have to be bounded by any country, king or goddess.

“Good night Totopa.”

And so he closed his eyes, waiting for a pleasant morning.

***