Reincarnated as the Last of my Kind, Volume 1

by Kiri Komori

  “…Goyu, if that’s your reason…”

  I had to turn his generosity down. Ayuu climbed his way up to the position of officer, but it wasn’t because I sponsored him or anything. To begin with, we belonged to knight orders of different colors: I was with the Azure Knights, he with the Crimson Knights. Ayuu became an officer as a result of the efforts he put in.

  I didn’t help him in particular. His hard work was what earned him his achievements. But just as I was about to refuse, I heard a voice call out to me from behind.

  “Sir.”

  It was Ayuu.

  “Oh, you done?” I asked him.

  “Yes, we were able to rescue the children from the southwestern warehouse. We rounded up the whole outfit.”

  “You did?!” I asked, my eyes widening.

  The whole outfit? Then…

  “You caught Zabudo too?”

  “Yes, we have Zabudo in custody.”

  “Are you kidding?! How did you get your hands on Zabudo?”

  “Well, you told us where they’d all be…”

  “I… Well, yeah, but… I figured that old hag would run for it. You caught her? Really? What did you tell Lei Fu’s knights?”

  “…W-Well, I…I told them there was another way to the shore… A route only people familiar with the region know. So I told them to keep people posted there, just in case…”

  I was struck speechless but then started laughing in surprised joy.

  “Really now! You’re incredible, Ayuu! That crone’s given me the slip every single time, and you just caught her! Ahahahaha!”

  I started laughing and slapping Ayuu on the back.

  “Huh? Huh?!” He was confused by my praise.

  This guy’s amazing!

  After taking a minute to laugh with relief and joy, I turned to face Goyu and Ayuu, who both looked at me in surprise.

  “Ayuu, you should join Lei Fu’s knights. You can command even with a bad knee, right? Seeing you this time convinced me. You can still do this.”

  Ayuu’s face filled with emotion. “I… Thank you so much, sir! But my knee always feels off. I really don’t think I could work as a knight with my knee like this…”

  “I understand, but letting you just fester here would be a waste… Oh, right. Tinaaa!”

  “…Yes?”

  I brought them over to Tina, who was with Judie a short distance away. I had her hand over a middle-grade tonic. It wouldn’t heal an old injury, but…

  “If you ask the knights, they could supply you with medium-grade tonics as part of your salary. Drink it every now and then, and it should mitigate the pain better than a low-grade one.”

  “B-But medium-grade tonics are expensive… And, wait. This tonic, it’s perfect quality!” he exclaimed, using his own Appraisal skill.

  “My little girl here can use alchemy. If you drink some of her recent tonics, their quality should be high. With that quality, they should be as potent as a standard high-grade tonic. If your only problem is pain, it ought to fix that.”

  “Sir Marcus…!”

  Completely healing the injury will require him to drink high-grade tonics over an extended period, which is a very expensive treatment. But medium-grade ones should be more than enough to get rid of the constant pain.

  “Well, it’ll still probably ache on rainy days. Not much to be done about that… Have you had a doctor check you?”

  “Well, no. We don’t exactly have much money…” Ayuu muttered uncomfortably.

  “Mister, where does it hurt?” Tina asked.

  “Should be around the knee,” I answered for him.

  “Mm. You can have these then!” Tina said, taking out two medium-grade tonics.

  Generous of you.

  “Are those medium-grade tonics…?! And they’re all perfect quality! Just one could sell for 5,000 colts! I can’t afford this!”

  “Oh, their value went up by that much?” I asked.

  “Yes! The Lizardmen from the demi-human continent are in the middle of some kind of infighting, which made the cost of tonics spike for us. I’m pretty sure you could find vendors that would give almost 10,000 colts a bottle for perfect quality tonics…”

  Apparently, we came at a good time. Fei Lu relies on the demi-human continent for their medicine supply, and the price has gone up. We’ll be able to sell Tina’s medicine for more than I initially thought.

  “Well, let’s just say that’ll be our payment for the saddle, bit, and the reins. Right, Tina?”

  “Hm? Oh, yes! That’s right!”

  Goyu and Ayuu were still unconvinced. This wasn’t enough. I decided to just insist that Ayuu drink it instead of selling it and asked where we could find a good inn. They quickly pointed us in the direction of a nice place in the western part of town.

  With this, we had a new horse. And since the cost of medicine had gone up, we could afford to bring a lot of wheat back with us.

  Once we got to the inn, I hung up my coat and sat down to relax. Tina was glued to the window, her gaze fixed on the view outside.

  Guess she can be childlike sometimes too…

  “We’ll sell the tonics tomorrow, Tina, but let’s start by getting you some new clothes.”

  “Oh, all right. Hmm, Dad, actually there’s something I’d like to ask for…”

  “Oh?”

  It wasn’t often Tina asked me for something. I walked up to her, only to find her face was kind of flushed. Was she sick? Or maybe being around people all day made her a bit dizzy?

  “You probably know this, but my clothes are getting kind of tight…”

  “Mm? Yeah, I figured. That’s why we’re going tomorrow…”

  “Could you let me pick my…u-u-u-underwear by myself? Please?”

  “Of course you can.”

  “A-Aah… Th-Thank you, Dad,” she muttered, sighing with relief.

  I, on the other hand, stood frozen for a moment. My thoughts ground to a momentary halt. Underwear, eh? Right… Yeah, that makes sense. Of course, she’d be nervous about that. I, however, hadn’t considered it at all. But yes, it made perfect sense.

  Once Tina gets old enough, she’ll need to get a brassiere…and she’ll probably say, “I’ll handle the laundry, so go away, Dad!” even louder than she already does… Yeah…

  “What’s wrong, Dad?”

  “Nothing. Let’s go to bed.”

  “Okay…?”

  My little girl really is growing up too fast…

  ♣Me at Age Six

  A year and a few months went by, and I turned six years old. I became capable of more tasks and was allowed to do more without supervision. I started brewing not just low-grade but medium-grade tonics regularly, and I also started helping out with the cooking. Honestly speaking, I was already better than Dad was!

  And also…

  “Tina, time to go back.”

  “Okay!”

  I rose to my feet, the bouquet of flowers in my hands releasing petals into the wind. We were in front of a few graves, fashioned from circular tree stumps. There were names etched on the wood. The one in the middle was Grandma, on the right was Dad’s brother, and the left one was Grandpa, who passed away last year.

  His death was probably unavoidable. He was already sick, and there was no curing his condition. The powder medicine I made could only alleviate his symptoms. The saving grace was that he passed away painlessly… I’ll never forget how Dad patted me on the head, looking at Grandpa’s serene face with kind eyes…

  I had to wonder, where do people go when they die in this world? Do they simply reincarnate, like I did, with their memories intact?

  So, if we meet again, will I be older than them this time? Grandma, Grandpa…

  “That’s Giyaga’s caravan.”

  “Oh, it really is.”

  We spotted a row of large wagons rolling along the highway. Drawn on the wagons’ canopies was the mark of the chimera, a Mythical Beast. Apparently, Mister Giyaga was a merchant who was saved in his yo
uth by a chimera. Of course, it might have just been a story he cooked up to help sell his wares…

  Mister Giyaga was a fan of the Rofola Lodge and a regular patron of ours. He traveled to Fei Lu, and sometimes even went as far as the demi-human continent to restock, then sold his wares in De Marl’s markets. He would also occasionally stop at a roadside inn and offer his services to traveling adventurers.

  He looked like someone who might run a circus troupe, but he was actually a very nice man and a serious merchant.

  “Oh! Marcus. I’ve got a real nice treat for you this time,” Mister Giyaga greeted Dad.

  “Hey. Thanks. Kinda feel bad about you giving us all these freebies.”

  Since he was a regular patron at the Rofola Lodge, Mister Giyaga often brought Dad little presents from his travels. He had a long nose, like Pinocchio’s, that always pointed up at the sky, and a self-satisfied smile. His gifts were usually on the strange side, but today, he seemed particularly smug and confident.

  “Hello? Mm…? Hey, we’re here,” he called to something in the carriage. “What’s with that scary face? Huh? Timing…? Ah, fine… Sorry, the special treat still needs time to collect itself before it comes out.”

  “What are you talking about?” Dad asked Giyaga.

  “Well, it’ll come out later. Forget that, though! How’re you doing, Tinaris? I got you a present too! Look at this.”

  “I-Is that…?!” My eyes widened at the gift he showed me.

  It was a small bottle full of tiny, colorful balls. But besides that, he had a fine, purplish powder!

  “Are those Murder Moth scales?!” I asked him excitedly.

  “Uh? Why does this powder have such a dangerous name?” Dad asked aghast.

  “Huh, so you care about that more than the gumdrops, do you? I see…” Giyaga seemed a bit disappointed.

  “I mean, the powder’s so much rarer!” I told him. “It’s actually amazing; it’s used to make a perfect, supreme antidote!”

  “A supreme antidote? Really?” Dad sounded surprised.

  Mister Giyaga still looked heartbroken though. I wasn’t sure why. It made sense Dad wouldn’t get it, since he didn’t know much about alchemy anyway. But as Dad and Mister Giyaga gave me little presents like this, I’d look them up in the alchemy manuals… And before I knew it, I’d become really knowledgeable about alchemical ingredients!

  Or, well… I was about average compared to other alchemists. That’s how I felt. It wasn’t really my fault, since I was self-taught. If I wanted to seriously study alchemy, I’d need to go to a dedicated school in one of the countries.

  And honestly, I wasn’t so keen on learning that I’d throw everything away to go study. So, for now, I was just polishing up on what I could. And learning how to make things we didn’t have using alchemy was pure fun!

  “Murder Moths are an unusual breed of moth that inhabits the massive tree forest in the east,” Mister Giyaga explained. “They’re about as big as a person’s head, and they kill people by sitting on their faces and suffocating them.”

  “Well, damn. I can see why they call ’em that,” Dad muttered.

  “I brought over a few other things I figured Tinaris might want. Deadly Scorpion stingers, Venom Lizard claws, and Toxic Serpent’s fangs,” he said, smiling at me.

  “She’s six; why do all the gifts you give her have toxic names?!” Dad groaned.

  “Yay!” I cheered.

  “You’re happy about these things?!”

  “It’s because they’re all ingredients for the supreme antidote! I’ll run over and start making it!”

  “D-Don’t do it inside the house! Are these things safe?!”

  “It’s fine! You’re supposed to put them in the pot with their bottles!”

  “With their bottles?!”

  The recipe book did recommend making antidotes in places with good ventilation. To that end, I would need to take the gifts Mister Giyaga brought me last year—a pot and staff made specifically for alchemy purposes—and work my magic near the lake instead of inside.

  Mister Giyaga probably brought those ingredients specifically so I could make the antidote, and he could buy it off me. I’ll get to it as soon as we finish here!

  “And I bought her these gumdrops from the demi-human continent… They’re all the rage there too. But Tinaris is more interested in alchemy ingredients, huh…” Mister Giyaga sighed sadly.

  “Thanks for playing along with her hobbies, Giyaga,” Dad told him. “But half the reason you did this was so you could have her make tonics and then buy it off her, right?”

  “Well, I am a merchant… But being a fan of this little girl is hard on the heart. Gives me such mixed feelings, I suppose. I’d just like to see her get happy about candy or clothes or cute accessories too. I mean, she’s getting to that age… So I’ve got some special things set aside for her.”

  “Giyaga…!” Dad shouted.

  Mm? What’s that treasure box Mister Giyaga’s got over there…? Does he need to carry it into one of the cottages? Dad probably shouldn’t carry that. Should I help them?

  “Dad, I can help you carry that if you want!”

  “Ah! No, no, don’t worry about it!”

  “Huh, but…” I started to say when a loud voice suddenly interrupted me.

  “Daddy?!”

  “Huh?”

  A loud sound came out of a nearby carriage, and a pair of blue eyes locked on to us from inside.

  Huh? What?

  “Daddy?! What’s going on here?!” the voice from the carriage asked in an accusatory tone.

  “Wait, what?!” I asked.

  “N-Nakona?!”

  “Whaaaat?!” I asked again, louder.

  A girl jumped out of the carriage with a loud thud. She had pink hair tied in a braid on the left side. She looked about ten years old.

  “Daddy! I asked you what’s going on here! Answer me!” the girl demanded.

  “Huh, wait, ah! N-Nakona, why are you here?!”

  “Forget that, Daddy! That girl just called you ‘Dad!’” she accused, pointing at me. “What does that mean?! You’re my Daddy, right?!”

  An awkward silence hung over us for a few moments.

  “E-Er…” Mister Giyaga stuttered.

  The girl drew on Dad, who was flustered and out of sorts. Mister Giyaga was perplexed by this development, while I was just plain confused.

  “N-Now wait, wait just a minute, Nakona. I can explain this, but before that, tell me what you’re doing in Giyaga’s carriage. Aren’t you supposed to be with your mother in De Marl…?”

  “Don’t dodge the question!” the girl, Nakona, snapped at him.

  “Fine, fine… She’s my adopted child, I suppose. I found her abandoned in the forest, and figured that if I left her there, some animal would eat her. So, I took her in… Er, it all happened after your mother and I split up…”

  “Dad, you were married?!” I asked him, appalled.

  “Ah, yeah… I was too caught up with work, and one day, she just left me a divorce letter and disappeared…” he said, a forced smile on his lips.

  “Oh…” I said, full of guilt.

  I’d only heard that Dad was a knight before he picked me up… But Dad was old enough to be married and have children.

  Ooh… Really… So, Dad was…married before, huh… So, this girl is…Dad’s real, blood-related daughter…?

  SERIOUSLY?!

  “An adopted child!” Nakona said excitedly. “So you didn’t remarry, right, Daddy?!”

  “Well… No, I didn’t…”

  “Then… Well… But…” Nakona frowned, unsure whether she was satisfied with that answer or not.

  What are we supposed to do about her…? I didn’t know Dad was divorced and already had a kid…

  I moved through life without thinking too deeply about it, but Dad had had a whole life of his own before meeting me. He had an impressive job as a knight and only inherited the inn after losing his arm in battle. He told me tha
t simple explanation, and I just went with it, but a person’s life can’t be summed up that neatly.

  For example, in my past life, Mom’s husband…my dad from my past life…passed away from an illness. It was during my sensitive teen years, and, at the time, the entire situation was crippling. When he was told he only had a few months left to live, something about him changed.

  He stopped caring about Mom and me and threw himself into a life of gambling, cabarets, smoking, and drinking…and he started beating Mom too. He fell into complete despair and self-abandonment and devolved into the scum of the earth.

  Mom still earnestly thought of him as her husband and tried to get him to receive treatment, but it wasn’t long before the disease claimed him.

  Looking back on it, I felt like I could understand some sliver of how he felt. Wanting to live freely, as you wish, with what little time you have left… I could understand how that felt. That wasn’t wrong in and of itself. But…being such a burden on his family, hurting us like that, it was selfish and laid out the rottenness of his soul to all who saw him.

  I could hear some voice telling me that it was a family’s job to forgive things like that. And maybe that was right… Honestly, him being a burden on us didn’t matter all that much! But I felt like I had to ask:

  How could you give up on your life like that…?

  We’d be left behind after you’re gone. We’d still have to live on after you’re dead… Why didn’t you think of us…?

  …To that end, I hated you, Dad. You shattered my ability to believe in people.

  I suddenly felt a pair of pretty, cobalt blue eyes fix on me. The girl, Nakona, was glaring at me.

  “Ah…! E-Erm, I…” I looked up at Dad for help.

  Dad simply looked back at me, confused, his eyes the same color as the girl’s. I thought her eyes looked familiar. It was because they were the same as Dad’s.

  Dad… Dad, huh…?

  “E-Erm… I’m Tinaris…” I introduced myself.

  “This is my Daddy!” Nakona cut me off aggressively.

  “Oh…”

  “N-Nakona?!” Dad looked at her, surprised. “Listen, Tina is…”

  “I’m not giving him to you!” She clung to Dad’s knee.