Episode 1: Peace Never Lasts Long

 

In my past life, I wasn’t even human.

Well, technically speaking… I was a grad student.

Yeah, not human.

I died of overwork at the tender age of 25, trying to finish a thesis.

“If academic stress is powerful enough to reincarnate you into a fantasy world, someone should really file a complaint.”

My thesis was titled:

A Study on Social Reform Themes in Genre Literature:
Focusing on the Fantasy Novel Rebellion of Dos

I read Rebellion of Dos about ten times for that paper.

Which means I know this story's plot and setting better than anyone.

Not that I need to recall it too often as a background character.

Accessing my past life’s memories takes effort. Focusing hard gives me a headache and makes me hungry. Also, the mental whiplash from reverting to adult thinking in a kid’s body is real.

But whatever. The bloody revolutions and sweeping reforms will be handled by the main characters—a father-son duo hell-bent on changing the world.

Once they build a society where even non-gifted people are treated like humans, I’ll just sit back and enjoy the peaceful extra life I’ve earned.

Being an extra is the best.

I giggled in Susan’s arms and shouted toward my dad.

“Daddy! Be careful!”

He was fixing the roof of Susan’s house. Apparently, it leaked.

Clang, clang, clang!

Up on the ladder, with nails in his mouth and a hammer in his hand—yeah, that’s my dad. A very familiar sight.

Everyone in this little mountain village calls him when something breaks—whether it’s a leaky roof or a broken chicken coop.

Honestly, they take advantage of my dad’s kindness.
Well, except for Auntie Susan. She’s okay.

She always shares her cooking with us and watches me when Dad’s away.
She’s the only neighbor I officially approve of.

“Oh, James. I feel bad always asking for help.”

“Don’t mention it. I owe you guys, too. Thanks for watching Lilith today.”

“Owe me? Don’t be silly. She’s a dream!
She’s so sweet and well-behaved—I barely have to do anything.
How can a child be this adorable?”

“Ehehe.”

I grinned and snuggled into Auntie Susan’s neck.

Of course I behave.
I'm not your average seven-year-old.

“Look at that smile. She’s precious.
She’s already so pretty—what will she look like when she’s grown up?
Lilith, who do you take after, hmm?”

Dad, probably?
Well, actually… I look nothing like him.

I have snowy white hair and bright blue eyes.

That kind of appearance? Way too unique for an extra.

“Dad… Did you find me on the street?”

I actually asked him that once.

“Mom,” he told me.

“You look just like your mom.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah… just like her,” he said, with a weird smile as he hammered away.

“Then she must’ve been really beautiful.”

Since I’ve never seen my mom’s face, I had no way to verify it.
At first, I worried I wasn’t really his daughter.

But now?

Not a chance.

As I grew up, my smile, my eyes, the curve of my lips—everything began to resemble Dad.

I’m definitely his daughter.
And definitely, 100% a background character!

Brown hair. Brown eyes.

Even his name is James Brown.

If that doesn’t scream “extra NPC” in a fantasy setting, I don’t know what does.

Which means I’m guaranteed a peaceful, side-character future.

“I think that should fix the leak.
Oh, and I remember you said the door latch was loose? I’ll check that before I head home.”

“Oh my, thank you so much. I don’t know what I’d do without you.
Meanwhile, my lazy husband’s just lying around scratching his belly all day. Useless, that one.”

The "lazy husband" she’s talking about is Uncle Joe.

“Haha… Well then, I’ll leave Lilith with you again today. Princess, Daddy’s heading to the market!”

With a bundle of firewood slung over his shoulder, Dad poked my nose with his finger.

“Come back soon! And don’t forget our promise!”

“Yes, Your Highness. Of course! I’ll bring back macarons.”

“Heehee.”

I waved at him until his back disappeared from view.

When I couldn’t see him anymore, I let my hand fall and pouted a little.
Auntie Susan chuckled.

“You love your daddy that much?”

“Yup! Of course I do!”

I was an orphan in my past life.
In both lives, the only true caregiver I’ve ever known is my dad.

Raising a baby on his own must’ve been tough.
But he never skipped a single day.

He changed diapers, fed me, bathed me—everything.

From the moment my attachment to him was formed, he’s always been there.

Kind. Tall. Strong.
And drop-dead handsome, by the way.

Also the one who let me be born as a happy-go-lucky extra in this scary fantasy world.

I’ll grow up fast and repay every bit of it!

I clenched my little fist in determination.

---

After that, I had honey milk and cookies at Auntie Susan’s place, and played about ten rounds of cards with Uncle Joe.

Auntie Susan sat nearby, telling stories from when I was a baby.

“It was late at night. Someone kept knocking on the door.
I opened it to find your father, pale as a ghost, holding a baby—you.”

“Only then did we realize he was a single dad,” Joe added while chewing on jerky.

“We thought he had some dark past.
A young man moves into this remote village, living so quietly…”

“Haha, yeah. Turns out he just didn’t know how to feed a baby.”

“What do you mean?”

I placed a bet using a huge pile of acorns, our substitute for poker chips.

“You were over five months old, and he was still feeding you nothing but formula.
Guess you got sick of it. You refused to eat and started bawling.”

Auntie Susan laughed at the memory.

“I told him to come in, and made you a little puree with apples and bananas.
You ate the whole bowl. James looked like he’d seen a miracle.”

“From the next day on, he was the politest man alive.
He’d run over to say hello, share his firewood—you name it.”

“Meanwhile, my freeloader of a husband just eats and sleeps.”

“Hey! James offered to share! You want me to refuse a kind man and be rude?”

“Anyway, your dad was a mess at first, but he learned everything so fast.”

I was impressed.
My dad, now a master of housework, was once a complete rookie.

“Ha! This time I win, you little rascal.”

Uncle Joe flipped over his cards with a smug grin.

Five hearts.

“Flush! Haha!”

He pulled in a mountain of acorns with his hairy arms.

“Hold up.”

I caught his wrist and laid down my cards.

K, K, K, 7, 7.

“Boom. Full house.”

His jaw dropped.

I jumped off my chair, lifted my skirt, and swept all the acorns into it.

“Same time tomorrow? I welcome all challengers.”

“What kind of kid has a full house?!”

Auntie Susan and I laughed so hard we teared up.

And so, I walked back home with an apron full of acorns, hand in hand with Auntie Susan.

Dad would be home soon.

“Thanks again for everything today.”

I clasped my hands and gave a full polite bow.

“I’ll go do some laundry now, so you go on ahead.”

“What? You don’t have to do that!”

“If Daddy comes home and sees laundry, he’ll try to do it even though he’s tired!”

“Oh my… Lilith, you really are an angel.”

“Just let me do it! I’m good at laundry.
I just have to take it to the stream and scrub-scrub, right?”

“You’re so small, and you started speaking late…
But now you play cards, do chores… You might actually be a genius.”

“Ehem.”

She patted my head, beaming with pride.

“Well then, make sure you eat dinner, okay?”

“Yup! Bye, Auntie Susan!”

I waved her off and headed to the stream with the laundry basket.

Dad doesn’t like it when I do the laundry secretly…

But I’ll keep doing it anyway.

Because I’m not just any kid—I’m a kid who understands how hard it is to be a single dad cutting wood and raising a child all alone.

“At seven years old, who’s scrubbing Daddy’s underpants?
That’s right—Lilith Brown!”

I giggled as I sat by the water and pulled out the laundry.

The forest was peaceful as ever.

Ahh… being an extra is bliss.
May every day be just like this one.

Even though I’m a powerless commoner in a world that treats the ungifted like dirt…

The protagonists will fix all that soon.
Compared to my last life, this one’s a dream. Long live reincarnation!

That’s when it happened.

Clip-clop, clip-clop…

Hmm? Hoofbeats?

Just as I was scrubbing away, I sensed something beyond the trees.

Zenon—our remote village tucked deep in the southern mountains—had only six houses.

No one rides horses here.

...This doesn’t feel right.

My instincts were dead-on.

“Hyah!”

Neigh―!

Six men on horseback burst through the trees, stopping right in front of me.

They wore shining silver armor and long blue cloaks.

I immediately recognized the crest on their cloaks.

Imperial insignia.

The Imperial Knights.

And with the blue cloak, that means—

The… The Dos Holy Order?!
What the heck are they doing in a place like this?!

My jaw dropped.

“Seize her.”

At the command of the black-haired knight in the center, one of them grabbed the back of my neck.

“Kh!”

Then jabbed me in the chest with a rod-like object.

“Ugh! That hurts…”

It was an artifact for detecting gifted individuals.

The rod glowed blue.

“She’s gifted, Commander.
And she matches the description of Enoch Rubinstein’s daughter.”

Me? Wait, this thing must be broken!

“Just look at her. The resemblance is obvious.”

While I was still frozen, the man—clearly their commander—smirked and took hold of me.