Why did Aliss's father have to throw me outside like that? I was his daughter's property, not some trash to be tossed away!
Man… I really hope Aliss comes looking for me soon.
I waited. Five minutes. Ten. Fifteen. Still nothing. By the twenty-minute mark, I was starting to lose hope.
And then—footsteps.
A boy, maybe fifteen or sixteen, wandered into the alley and spotted me glinting in the dirt. He bent down, picked me up, and held me up to the light.
Naturally, I checked his stats.
[Vicar] – Level 6
HP: 500
MP: 90
Body
Strength – 9/100
Dexterity – 7/100
Agility – 8/100
Mind
Intelligence – 30/100
Perception – 22/100
Charisma – 53/100
Spirit
Magic – 3/100
Resistance – 0/100
"…Level six? That's pretty low," I muttered to myself. Most of the people I'd seen in the shop were level ten or higher. This kid clearly wasn't planning on being an adventurer.
He tucked me into his pocket, and before long, we arrived at his home—or what passed for one.
Calling it a "house" was generous. It was a makeshift shelter in a dark alley, surrounded by others just like it. The slums. People huddled in the shadows, their faces tired and hungry.
"Mom! Look what I found!" the boy said, running inside. "I can sell this ring and buy you some medicine!"
Before he could get too excited, his mother smacked him lightly on the head."I told you not to steal! I won't have my son turning into a thief."
"I didn't steal it, Mom! I really found it on the ground!" Vicar protested, clutching me tightly.
His mother sighed, taking me from his hands. "Then return it. Whoever owns it must be searching for it right now. Don't worry about me—I'll be fine."
Reluctantly, Vicar agreed. He slipped me back into his hand, eyes lingering on me.
"…Still, this really does look like the kind of stat-boosting ring adventurers wear. It's… nice."
Heh. Compliments like that never get old. Thanks, kid.
I thought it, but to my shock—his eyes darted around suddenly, as if he'd heard me.
"Huh? Who's there? I swear I just heard someone talking…" He scratched his head, looking utterly confused.
My metaphorical heart skipped a beat. Could he actually hear me? I decided to take the chance.
"Hey! Down here! Yeah, the voice you're hearing—it's me. The ring."
Vicar froze. "…Wait. Did this ring just… talk? Am I going crazy?"
"Nope. You're perfectly sane. The ring talks. Get used to it."
His eyes widened, and slowly, a grin spread across his face. "This is amazing…! A talking ring? That's… that's impossible!"
"Yeah, trust me, I didn't exactly sign up for this either," I replied.
I explained everything to him—my life, my death, and my reincarnation. Vicar listened, fascinated.
"Reincarnation, huh?" he murmured when I finished. "According to history, that really did exist… but it only happened more than a hundred thousand years ago."
"…Wait. A hundred thousand years?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "People called it the Destroyed Era. Back then, most of humanity was wiped out fighting the demons. The world was nearly annihilated."
He paused, his expression darkening. "But that's ancient history. Almost all of it was lost when the survivors began rebuilding society. What we know now comes from fragments, legends carried into what we call the Rebuild Era."
I fell silent at that, the weight of his words sinking in. A world scarred by demons. A history erased. A boy in the slums talking to a reincarnated ring.
…This world is way more mysterious than I thought.