I suppose it’s a kind of weird thing to say, but I was reincarnated as the main character of the manga I liked as a kid. It was a story about a boy that wanted to become a legendary fencer and protect his kingdom against demons together with a band of friends he gathered along the way. I know how cliché this sounds, but the whole thing was really amazing, especially when I was a kid.

Like, heroes were noble and did cool things, and villains were vile, so you cheered every time they were defeated. And in the center of this whole thing was the hero, Barnett Donnel and his Nighthawks. Man, thinking about this now, it sounds embarrassing, but in a good way.

At first, when I opened my infant eyes for the first time, I had no idea who I was and what people around me were babbling about. The last thing I remembered was the image of a truck moving towards me way too fast. Yeah, I probably died. At least I saved that kitten… or that girl, I don’t really remember whom I tried to save.

“You’re quite an idiot, aren’t you? Well, this kind of idiots is ideal for this work.”

Of course, I’ve met the goddess of this world. Her name was stupidly hard to pronounce, and she acted arrogantly, but if I got what she wanted to say correctly, she wanted me to save her world from a great calamity. Because the original’s hero soul was destroyed or something, mine was chosen as his replacement.

Thus, I became Barnett Donnel. Man, from an ordinary student to the savior of the world. This sure was a radical change. And since the original Barnett, whose body I now occupied, was simply amazing, things like fencing or horse-riding came were as natural as breathing. However, as a noble, people also tried to teach me too much boring stuff like etiquette or accounting. I mean, who cares about this stuff?

Like, I never saw Barnett carry even a single bit about nutrients for his army and whatnot. Even in my original world, I hated things like math, so I always played hooky when I could. Does this make me a horrible student? Well, since my father was the more action-oriented person, my tutors simply brushed this topic off as his influence. Of course, I’m talking about my second father, Aldrich Donnel, who is also known as the Old Wolf.

You see, before the Donnel house got our current lands, my father was a simple mercenary. He, together with his friend, Cedric Norden, helped to drive away the forces of the previous Demon Lord and for those achievements, he was granted lands and titles. Coincidentally, Nordens became our loyal knights. And so, a win-win situation for all of us.

By the way, Alfred Norden, my childhood friend and the only kid around my age, was Barnett’s rival in the manga. He was the no-nonsense kind of a character that trained daily to become stronger than Barnett and show that an ordinary human can overcome a genius. Well, that and he secretly wanted to protect his friend for harm.

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As for Alfred I knew, he was more of a stoic and tense person. He spent almost all of his time with his dad and sometimes glared at me, when he thought I wasn’t looking. Sometimes I forced him to go adventuring with me, but he didn’t look like he enjoyed them that much. Those are real adventurers, man! Real goblins and gnolls to slain and grab their stuff.

Well, today Alfred acted a bit different. For one, he didn’t shout at me when I called him Alfy and the way he said “my liege” felt refreshing and natural because normally, he said those words with a scorn or a thuggish smirk. I wonder what changed.

Later.

It’s Barnett again. A lot of things happened and now I stand before the girl I should protect with everything I have. She had a beautiful face and long blonde hair that ended somewhere around her waist. Her name is Maria. Well, I think so. You see, she was orphaned after demons attacked her clan and the shock made her memories disappear. In the future, she will become a talented mage and help Barnett in his travels. And then… No, I won’t let something like that happen.

And now, her face was scrunched in disdain, as if she was looking at a cockroach. For such a short girl, she sure knew how to look menacing. The Maria I’ve read about had gentle, mother-like character, but this one was completely different. Rubbing her forehead, she glared straight at me and then at Alfred, who was strangely quiet. Looking at him, I found out he was openly gaping.

“Maybe we can help you. How about you return to the Castle Donnel together with us for now? You can rest there and if you’re hungry, we’ve food. Sounds nice?”

“I don’t think everyone’s as obsessed with food as you are, my liege.”

As the sound of the girl’s stomach filled the air, the deal was as good as sealed. I smiled and gave her a thumbs-up. Before Alfred could say whatever I wanted to say, Maria whacked my head. Did I say something wrong? Since her stomach was making those loud noises, she must be really hungry, right?

“Idiot!”

I felt this was a beginning of a great friendship.

Much Later.

Finally, we’ve reached the Gateway City. It was called so because the city itself was established as the commerce hub between the Far North, the wild lands given to the new nobles that emerged after the last Demon Lord War, and the Central Kingdom. Because of this, the population of this city mostly consisted of merchants and craftsmen.

How do I know this? Maria told me so. Apparently, if your underlings are knowledgeable, you can afford to remain blissfully stupid. And my friends were super-smart. Alfred, as a knight, knew all about domestic affairs and advanced tactics. According to him, founding the enemy commander and moving my way through the enemy forces to stab that commander wasn’t a legitimate strategy. It’s a shame what happened to his father, though. I wanted to talk with him about this, but couldn’t find any time… What kind of a leader – no, what kind of a friend I am?

“We’re here! We’re finally here!”

Maria was oddly peppy. For a bookish person like her, acting like that was something that felt deeply wrong and disturbing. It made me shiver, but Alfred was looking at her fondly, with the same warm smile that made all maidens back home blush. However, the one he was looking at right now was Maria. Is this how it is? Is it? It is, isn’t it?

Well, this is none of my business. For now, all I can do is to enjoy my life to its fullest. In other words, food! More food!

“Gateway City, here we come!”

“My liege, don’t run away!” “Idiot, where are you going?”