Chapter 1

This is a rewrite.

The story hasn't changed much.

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001＿Betrayal

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In the borderlands of the Rudior Kingdom, there is a small village called Thor.

A boy who lived in this village was struggling with the lack of a blessing.

A blessing is when a job is given by a god, and the use of a status board becomes possible.

On the morning of one's 15th birthday, one would wake up with a blessing, and the status would become visible.

When one receives a job, they also receive skills corresponding to that job.

The status board displays this information and one's abilities.

Ten days ago, the boy, named Jun, turned 15.

In Thor village, Jun's blessing is unreadable. Even though he can open the status board and check the contents, he cannot understand what is written there.

Jun's mother died shortly after he was born, and his father passed away six months ago. Now he is all alone, completely isolated.

Being 15 and completely isolated is a very lonely thing. Moreover, most of the villagers were cold to Jun, whose job was garbled and unreadable.

Fortunately, even if the content of the blessing is unreadable, he can still survive. His father left him a field, and Jun himself can gather herbs in the mountains and forests and hunt wild rabbits.

Jun got up from his simple wooden bed. The bed creaking as usual.

Today, he called up the status board.

"Is the job... still the same...?"

The status board in front of him displayed unreadable text. He had seen it every day for the past ten days, but nothing had changed.

● Status

【Job】%$#&%

【Level】0

【Experience】$%#$%$

【HP】10/10

【MP】5/5

【Strength】9

【Endurance】8

【Intelligence】10

【Resistance】8

【Dexterity】10

【Agility】9

【Skills】$%##$

【Status】Villager

【Rewards/Penalties】

Because his job is unknown, he doesn't know what skills he has, and he can't decide on a real occupation.

At 15, one is considered an adult. Others who turned 15 would become apprentices to blacksmiths if their job was a blacksmith, or become adventurers or join the knight's order if their job was a swordsman.

However, Jun, whose job is garbled, only had the option of tilling a small field. Even so, he thought it was better to have a field to till.

"Ah... no good again today."

Feeling down, he was about to have breakfast when there was a knock on the door.

Opening the door, he saw a beautiful girl with blonde hair shimmering in the morning sun, swaying in the breeze.

It was Mira, Jun's childhood friend and neighbor.

"Good morning, Jun."

"Yeah, good morning. Mira."

"Hey, listen. I became a mage."

Hearing "mage," Jun's heart raced.

His own status board was just a jumble of unreadable text. Yet, Mira had become a mage.

A mage is a particularly excellent job among magic-related jobs.

Even Jun knew that mages were part of the party of past heroes, making it a highly desirable job.

"Mira is amazing... compared to me..."

"Ah!?"

Mira wanted Jun to hear her good news, but she knew his job was garbled.

Mira's radiant smile felt like a stab to Jun's heart.

"I'm sorry, Jun."

Mira apologized desperately, feeling she had done something wrong.

"It's okay, it's not your fault. It's my fault."

Jun felt he had dampened Mira's joy on her special day.

Four days later, Jun's job was still unknown.

Walking through the village in deep despair, he saw a crowd gathered and making noise.

"What's going on?"

Pushing through the crowd, he saw knights at the center.

He overheard nearby people talking, and it seemed these knights had come to welcome Mira.

Envious, he thought that a mage was a job worthy of being welcomed by the kingdom, and he looked down.

"Hey, is that the hero?"

At those words, he looked up to see a beautiful boy in silver armor.

The light around the boy seemed stronger, and Jun could feel the hero's presence.

"That's... the hero..."

The hero was holding Mira's hand.

Mira and the hero were laughing together, and Mira's expression was radiant.

"Those two look like lovers."

Hearing someone's whisper, Jun clenched his fists.

The hero and Mira were a beautiful couple, and the scene made Jun's heart race.

Suddenly, their eyes met.

At that moment, Jun ran away into the crowd as if fleeing.

"Ah, Jun!"

He heard Mira's voice. Normally, he would have turned around happily.

But now, he felt terribly miserable and resentful. He didn't want to show such an expression to Mira.

Running home, he was disgusted by the ugliness of his own heart.

"Why is my job garbled...?"

If his job could be read normally, he wouldn't feel so miserable.

He squatted down, hugged his knees, and cried. He cried until his eyes were swollen. Eventually, he fell asleep.

When he woke up, there was a piece of paper under the door.

Picking it up, he read it. It was from Mira.

"I'll be waiting at our usual spot tomorrow morning."

As childhood friends, they had played together since they were young.

He immediately knew where the "usual spot" was.

"I wonder what she wants..."

The next morning, Jun went to the "usual spot."

It was near a cliff on the back mountain of the village.

He saw Mira sitting on a rock by the cliff.

The view from here was beautiful, and he remembered fondly the times he and Mira had enjoyed it together.

Recently, both of them had grown up and no longer played like they used to, so they came here less often.

However, when he felt down, he would come here alone and look at the view to calm his heart.

Mira stood up when she saw Jun.

"Jun!"

"Y-Yeah, Mira."

Feeling awkward, Jun forced a smile.

It was a bitter smile, but Jun didn't realize it.

However, Mira, who had known Jun for a long time, immediately recognized it as a forced smile.

An awkward silence fell between them.

"Um... "

"Uh-huh..."

Mira was the first to speak.

"I'm going to the capital to join the hero's party... "

"Huh..."

He had imagined it, knowing the hero was there and that Mira's job was a mage.

But he had tried not to think about it.

To Jun, Mira was his first love. He had thought, without any basis, that they would always be together.

Her words made him realize how selfish he had been.

"S-Sure... I see..."

The words he managed to say had no meaning.

Mira wasn't waiting for such a response.

"Will you be okay without me?"

"Huh? ...Yeah, I'll be fine..."

Mira's expression darkened. It wasn't the answer she had hoped for.

"Are you not going to tell me not to go?"

"Huh? Did you say something?"

Mira's voice was too soft for Jun to hear.

"I'm leaving tomorrow. Will you come to see me off?"

Mira's forced smile. Jun was too shaken to notice it.

"Y-Yeah..."

"Okay, I'll go home first."

Mira ran away.

Watching her go, tears welled up in Jun's eyes. They overflowed uncontrollably. It was the first time since his father's death that he felt such pain.

He might never see her again. The thought left him with a deep sense of loss.

With the morning sun at his back, Jun looked at the view from the cliff.

But his tears blurred his vision, and he couldn't see anything. Still, he looked at the view.

"Hey, good morning."

"Wh-!?"

Startled, he quickly wiped away his tears.

Turning around, he saw the hero standing there.

This was a secret place known only to Jun and Mira. He wondered why the hero was here.

"This is a nice view, isn't it?"

"Ah, yes."

The hero smiled.

"My name is Dominic. Do you know me?"

"Ah, yes. You're the hero, right?"

"Yep, I'm the hero. What's your name?"

"My name is Jun."

"Got it, Jun. Nice to meet you."

The hero walked to the edge of the cliff and took a deep breath.

Far below, a turbulent river flowed.

"The air here is so clear. The air in the capital is so heavy."

He took a few deep breaths and turned to Jun.

"Come over here and take a deep breath with me."

Following the hero's words, Jun stood next to him and took a deep breath.

"Hey."

"Uh-huh."

The moment Jun turned to the hero, his neck was grabbed.

"Ugh!?"

The hero held Jun's neck with one arm and lifted him.

"Gah... gah..."

"You're hated, you know."

Jun wanted to ask what he was hated for, but he couldn't speak with his neck being squeezed.

"Mira said you're sulking because you don't have a job, and it's unpleasant to look at."

"Wh-!?"

"She asked me to take care of you. I don't want to do this, but I'm doing it for the sake of the party I'll be joining."

Mira wouldn't say such a thing. As if reading Jun's thoughts, the hero laughed.

The smile looked terribly twisted to Jun.

"This place. Mira told me about it. She said to lure you here and take care of you."

This was a secret place known only to the two of them, unknown to the villagers.

Here, he was being strangled by the hero.

He wanted to believe Mira wouldn't do such a thing. However, this situation confirmed the hero's words.

"Sorry, but you're going to jump off this cliff and die. The lack of a job will be your reason for suicide. Or maybe you'll be so heartbroken after being rejected by Mira that you'll give up on life."

As soon as he finished speaking, the hero laughed and released Jun's neck.

There was no ground below, and Jun fell straight down the cliff.

The hero's face, looking down at Jun's falling body with a look of despair, was twisted into a demonic smile.