I Became the Hero While Paving a Flower Path for My Niece - Chapter 2

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Laying Flowers on the Jester’s Path, Hero Emerges — Episode 2
At the sudden sound of a cheerful man’s voice, Alex’s gaze drifted instinctively toward the glass marble clutched in his hand.
From his adventuring experience with the Hero Party—though the party itself remained oblivious—such incidents were usually caused by something suspicious.
And as if to prove it, the green smoke and flame-like substance that had filled the glass marble had vanished entirely.
‘This is rather ominous….’
No—not rather. Decidedly.
Things that disappeared upon contact like this invariably attached themselves to whoever had touched them.
Like Curse Magic.
[Wait? My vision’s gotten narrower?]
[I think I’ve ended up inside this Another World human’s body, haven’t I?]
And just as Alex had suspected, the cheerful, bright man’s voice wasn’t coming from the glass marble at all—it was echoing from inside his own head.
[Thank goodness! I thought I’d just keep seeing sky and trees and grass forever.]
[How come there’s not a soul passing by here?]
[Animals used to wander through now and then, but they must be sensitive—they never come close.]
Alex pulled his intact body upright and sat on the ground, pressing his fingers to his forehead. There was no time to celebrate being alive before pain bloomed behind his eyes.
‘I have a feeling I’m alive because of this creature….’
Whatever its true nature was.
The word “Another World” it had mentioned bothered him.
That it had called him “human” didn’t concern him in the slightest. At a glance, it was plainly not human itself.
“What are you?”
[Oh. I’m Ibaek.]
[I used to be called 200, but my brother said a name shouldn’t be like that, so I changed it.]
[Neither of us had much talent for naming, so I just dropped the number!]
The name itself was sinister.
[So what’s this Another World human friend’s name?]
Another World.
He had heard that term before, during the Age of Collapse, in the Mage Tower Federation.
A sorcerer had once proposed an evacuation plan—escape the continent and seek refuge in another world. But without proof of Another World’s existence, and no method of travel, the proposal had died in obscurity.
‘And now I’ve actually confirmed that Another World exists.’
He wished he’d agreed with that proposal back then.
But even if Alex, as a specter, had agreed, no one would have heard him.
Still, right now he needed to learn more about this “Ibaek” entity than about Another World itself.
‘I want to go to Leo right away, but….’
He couldn’t take this suspicious being along with him.
“What’s your true nature?”
[Oh, this Another World human friend.]
[Conversations are a back-and-forth. I answered your question, so you have to answer mine too.]
Ibaek seemed like the sort who wouldn’t answer if things didn’t go his way, so Alex furrowed his brow slightly before speaking.
“I’m Jayden.”
Of course, he wasn’t fool enough to give his real name to something so suspicious.
[You’re lying!]
But he was caught immediately.
“I’m serious.”
Yet Alex answered brazenly.
[No.]
[I can feel you lying right now.]
[Look. I’m 300!]
And in that same moment, Alex could feel that Ibaek’s words were a “lie.”
Alex squeezed his eyes shut.
It seemed that once this suspicious being—Ibaek—had entered his body, some kind of function had manifested allowing them to perceive whether each other’s words were truth or falsehood.
“…It’s Alex.”
[Oh, that’s true! Nice to meet you, Alex!]
“So what exactly are you?”
[I’m a Lich.]
[That thing in your hand is my Life Vessel.]
“…A Lich?”
Alex’s face went rigid.
A Lich.
A perilous entity born when a Black Mage who had reached the pinnacle of their craft ascended to a higher stage by transforming themselves into a monster.
And a Lich would separate its own soul, transforming it into something like this glass marble—a “Life Vessel”—which it would then store in a safe location sealed with layers of protective and offensive magic.
As long as the Life Vessel remains intact, the Lich can swap bodies and resurrect itself whenever it pleases.
A Lich that rises again no matter how many times you kill it was a formidable enemy of the Hero Party during the Age of Collapse, and thus had been Alex’s enemy as well.
“A… Lich?”
[Yep!]
[Ever seen one before?]
Ibaek answered cheerfully, unaware of the fracture and tremor in Alex’s voice.
“A Lich is,”
Alex’s gaze fixed on the Life Vessel clutched in his hand.
“Inside my body….”
His heart began racing.
Yet the steely resolve and clear judgment he’d honed alongside the Hero Party in the Future swiftly brought his thoughts to an end.
“I should die.”
Alex’s jade-green eyes flashed with eerie determination.
“Before I become a hindrance to Leo’s path, I should die.”
Alex believed himself to be rational, though he was anything but.
[What?]
[Hey, human friend? Alex? Calm down. Calm yourself.]
Ibaek rushed to soothe him, sensing he’d touched some deep trauma.
[I’m not that bad a Lich.]
At that, Alex ground his teeth.
“Not a bad Lich? I’ve never met one of those who didn’t stab me in the back.”
His voice, low and rough, betrayed the depth of his rage.
In the age where Black Magic was evil and monsters and demons had to be slain, Alex had lived as a warrior.
And those monsters and demons had tormented Leo and his friends terribly.
‘But now one of them is inside me.’
The mere thought that he might be controlled by this Lich and made to attack Leo filled Alex with a death wish.
Seeing Alex like this, Ibaek spoke up.
[The madmen in my world ran human experiments on me—I was their two-hundredth subject.]
As Ibaek spoke this truth, the expression on Alex’s face—which moments before had seemed ready to shatter—eased slightly.
Even in the Age of Collapse, there were those who kidnapped people and conducted experiments on them.
Remembering the wretched state of the people and other races imprisoned and experimented upon back then, Ibaek was nothing more than a victim.
[Of course, becoming a Lich was my choice!]
…Or was it?
Alex’s face hardened again.
Ibaek quickly continued.
[No, I wanted revenge, but there were so many of them that I realized a human body wouldn’t be enough to kill them all!]
[So I became a Lich.]
[But I didn’t kill any innocent humans!]
In the truth he sensed from that soul, Alex felt revulsion and yet, at the same time, empathy.
Even in the Age of Collapse, there were those who made irreversible choices—becoming demons or tools themselves—for the sake of avenging family, lovers, or friends.
‘I would too….’
If Alex could have, he would have sacrificed everything—become a demon, a monster, or a mere tool—to help Leo.
[Besides, you survived because I entered your body.]
“What?”
[The magic that killed the wolf and healed you.]
At Ibaek’s words, Alex recalled the green flames that had consumed not only the wolf but his own blood as well, and the magic that had mended every wound on his body.
[I’d cast various protective spells on the Life Vessel.]
[When my soul transferred into your body, those spells mistook you for the protection target—the Life Vessel itself—and activated.]
[It’s like choosing between dying to the wolf or living alongside a Lich’s soul!]
[Which would you prefer?]
“I hate both options.”
Alex said flatly.
…But if forced to choose, he supposed the latter was better.
‘I need to stay alive to see Leo again.’
The fact that he’d survived because of Ibaek and that Ibaek wasn’t as evil a Lich as Alex had feared did much to ease his hostility.
[Well, if you hate it, there’s nothing I can do.]
Ibaek chuckled at Alex’s disgusted expression as he spoke.
[I can just transfer back into the Life Vessel.]
At Ibaek’s offer to leave willingly, Alex found himself thinking that perhaps he really wasn’t such a terrible Lich after all.
[I’ll just move my soul into this marble and—wait?]
“…!”
That’s when it happened.
The Glass Marble in Alex’s hand began to crumble into dust and disappear.
Before the startled Alex and Ibaek could do anything, Alex’s hand went empty.
[…It’s gone?]
“…Damn.”
The Life Vessel meant to hold the soul of the Lich Ibaek had vanished.
Alex asked in an anxious voice.
“Can’t you recreate it with magic?”
[Hmm, hmm.]
[No, I can’t.]
[Damn. I can’t use any other magic either.]
Ibaek spoke frankly.
Though admittedly, he’d been unusually forthright from the start.
[Maybe it’s because I’m inside your body?]
At that, Alex clutched his head in his hands.
“So I just have to live like this? Sharing a body with a Lich?”
A whirlwind of thoughts swept through his mind.
He’d returned to the past and survived the wolves—now all he needed was to make Leo happy, and yet there was a Lich inside his body.
If the Sollenium Church found out, he’d be attacked and killed without question.
‘And besides…’
Leo could suffer harm too, merely for having such an uncle.
‘It can’t happen!’
He’d finally made it back to the past and survived, only to find himself hunted by the Sollenium Church.
Unlike the anxious Alex, Ibaek—despite now living inside Alex’s body—seemed not just calm but genuinely delighted.
[Oh. I didn’t even get hit by a truck, and now I’ve got another life in Another World.]
[This should be fun?]
For a Lich like Ibaek, who would live eternally as long as his soul wasn’t destroyed, the mere decades of a human lifetime were but a fleeting instant.
[When you die, I’ll make good use of the body.]
[Thanks in advance, Alex!]
Realizing he was now scheduled to have even his corpse stolen after death, Alex’s vision darkened.

* * *
“…Let’s head back for now.”
Alex stopped thinking about it.
Since Ibaek was a Lich who couldn’t use magic, he couldn’t possibly harm Leo—at least that much was a relief.
‘If I search through my memories of the Future…’
He might find a way to cast this Lich out of his body.
So he decided to head back to the Village for now.
Truth be told, he’d been desperate to see Leo, his nephew, ever since the attack.
Only by seeing Leo’s face—alive and well—would returning to the past feel real.
“Ah!”
But first he had to prepare.
He needed to wash the blood from his clothes and body so Leo and the villagers wouldn’t worry.
If he returned to the Village covered in so much blood it looked like severe hemorrhage, it would certainly cause an uproar.
Fortunately, the blood that had pooled at the spot where the wolves attacked him had been completely burned away by the green flames, leaving not a single drop behind—so there was no cleanup needed.
Whatever magic it was, it had certainly been Black Magic through and through.
Alex stumbled to his feet and made his way toward the nearby Stream.
[Why are you stumbling?]
“It’s been a long time since I’ve walked.”
During the twelve years he’d spent as a spirit, he’d always flown—so using a physical body felt a bit unfamiliar.
But the feeling quickly faded.
Once at the Stream, Alex washed the clothes he’d been wearing and scrubbed the blood from his body.
[Ugh! It’s cold!]
[…?]
[Wait? Did I just say it was cold?]
[Insane! I haven’t felt a sensation like this once since becoming a Lich!]
[Alex, it looks like I can feel what you feel too!]
[So does that mean I can taste things?]
[Let’s eat something delicious! Let’s eat meat! Alex!]
Like the Lich Ibaek, who had nothing but bone and thus no sensation, Alex—who had lived as a ghost for so long—found the touch of water and its chill oddly wondrous after all this time.
But seeing his nephew Leo mattered far more than any such marvel.
Dressed now in clothes that were far cleaner than before, Alex turned toward the direction of the Village.
His pace, steady at first, quickened by degrees until he broke into an outright run.
“Leo!!”
Alex called out his beloved nephew’s name with all the joy he could muster, sprinting forward with everything he had.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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