Chapter 12: What He Wants

The town of Westmere was not the first place to fall. It was only one of many.

"Westmere has fallen..." Caelan stood silently among the crowd, listening as the people around him talked about what had happened. Fear spread through the streets as everyone had their own theories.

The world Caelan had transmigrated into, Aurelith, was vast. It was divided into four major continents, each filled with its own kingdoms, cities, villages, and different races. And the kingdom they were in was called the Kindom of Palce, situated in the northern region.

Wars between kingdoms were not uncommon, but what was happening now was different.

Several months ago, strange incidents had begun appearing across the world. At first, they were only small reports of villages disappearing overnight or people being found dead on roads.

Then those incidents became more frequent until dark and unknown creatures began appearing from nowhere. Some looked like ordinary monsters, while others were creatures that nobody had ever seen before.

Those dark monsters attacked villages, destroyed forests, and even threatened entire cities with doom. The Bloodfangs that had attacked Caelan and Eveline were one of them.

And the weird thing was nobody knew where they were coming from.

The different kingdoms in the world had tried to investigate, but even they couldn’t find an answer. Some believed it was the beginning of a great calamity. Others believed that it was because they were being punished by the gods.

There were even rumors that the world itself was changing.

And it wasn’t just the monsters.

People had started experiencing strange changes too. Some were losing abilities they had possessed their entire lives. Others would suddenly find their abilities weakening or becoming completely unusable.

And the scary part was nobody knew why. Even the Mage Towers couldn’t understand it.

"Another village..."

"How many has it been now?"

"First the outer settlements, then the mountain villages, and now Westmere..."

"How long will it be until they reach here?"

Fear could be seen on almost everyone’s faces as they talked about it more.

Why do I feel this way? Caelan felt something in his heart crashing.

He had only stayed in Westmere for a couple of hours. Yet somehow, hearing that everyone there had died made his chest feel incredibly heavy.

"Caelan..." Eveline suddenly reached toward him. Her hand gently grabbed his.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah..." Caelan looked at her and saw that she was staring at him with concern.

He nodded slowly, but even he knew that his answer wasn’t convincing.

"Why is this happening? What is even happening to this world?" Caelan couldn’t help but voice his frustration.

He didn’t understand why he felt so strongly about what had happened. Maybe these emotions weren’t entirely his. Perhaps they were the lingering feelings of the person who had owned this body before him.

"The kingdom is doing everything it can," Eveline said quietly as if trying to appease him.

"But..." She lowered her head slightly and shook it disappointedly.

"We can’t fight everything."

Aurelith had always been a world where strength mattered. Magic and abilities were part of everyday life. Many people were born with some kind of ability.

Some possessed stronger bodies than ordinary people; others could move faster, see better in the dark, heal their own injuries, or possess abilities that made certain tasks easier.

Most of these abilities were useful in some way. But only a small number were powerful enough to be useful to other people.

Those people were often recruited and trained by the Mage Towers.

The Mage Towers existed across the kingdoms and served as centers for those who possessed powerful or useful abilities.

Some became healers, others became elemental mages, or specialized magic users.

They served their respective kingdoms by helping soldiers, treating the wounded, researching magic, and dealing with threats that ordinary people couldn’t handle.

They were some of the most valuable people in any kingdom. But even the mages were struggling now.

The strange creatures appearing across the world were not ordinary monsters. They appeared without warning, often in places where no monsters had ever been seen before. Some even possessed strange abilities.

They were all covered in dark energy that made them far more dangerous than anything the people had encountered before. Because of this, the kingdoms had been forced to spread their forces across their territories.

Soldiers were stationed in villages and knights were sent to dangerous areas. The mage towers also constantly sent their mages wherever they were needed.

But every battle came with a cost. Mages had already begun dying just to protect innocent lives.

As the attacks continued, the number of experienced mages within the kingdom continued to decrease. Others were also becoming too weak to fight.

"We don’t know how long we can keep doing this." Eveline’s expression became uneasy."

"I know," Caelan sighed.

It was really hard to accept, but this was his new world now. And, oh well, Elara did inform him before he was sent here.

Eveline remained quiet for a moment, then her eyes suddenly widened.

"Wait!"

"Huh?"

"Right! You healed me!" She quickly turned toward him.

"Yeah?"

"What if you can heal other people too?" Her eyes suddenly lit up as she grabbed his arm.

"You should tell the Mage Tower about your healing ability!"

"What?"

"I’m serious!" She looked excited.

"If you can heal people from wounds like mine, then they would definitely want someone like you!" She paused for a moment before continuing.

"There are already healers in the Mage Tower, and someone who can completely heal wounds like that would be incredibly valuable."

"You really think so?" Caelan stared at her.

"Of course!" Eveline nodded firmly as if encouraging him to join.

"You could help the soldiers and the knights fighting those creatures. You could save so many people!"

Her words made Caelan’s expression slowly become serious. Eveline was expecting him to say yes, but he did the opposite.

"No." He shook his head.

"No?" Eveline froze.

"I don’t have any plans on doing that, Eveline."

"But why?"

Caelan looked away from her. Because the moment she said it, the words of Elara came rushing back into his mind.

He could choose what he wanted to be, and he didn’t plan on becoming a hero.

He just wanted to be Caelan. A man who had already died once and somehow received another chance at life.

Now Eveline wanted him to announce himself to an entire kingdom? That was the last thing he wanted.

"I don’t want that kind of responsibility."

"Caelan..." Eveline looked at him silently.

"I don’t even know this kingdom." Caelan shook his head.

"Why would I suddenly offer my ability to them?"

"But you could save people."

"I know." Caelan sighed.

"But if I do that, what happens next?"

Eveline didn’t answer. It seemed like she had only just thought about it.

"They’ll ask me to heal more people. Then they’ll ask me to travel with their soldiers. They’ll probably want me to join their army or work for some noble." Caelan sighed again.

"And before I know it, I’ll have an entire kingdom’s worth of responsibilities on my shoulders."

He shook his head.

"No thanks. I don’t want that."