Rebirth in a Ruined Nation! The Life of a New Strategist Starting From Now - Chapter 1

The Survivor. Leap to the past.

This must be a dream…

…I soon realized that fact. This was a dream that I had many times before.

“Hey, Roa! You’re reading those old books again?” My roommate, Derrick, ridiculed me.

“I’m going to sleep first.” While yawning, Yord said leisurely.

Derrick might be sloppy in his job and a womanizer, but he’s the best among us in terms of negotiation skills.

On the other hand, Yord was a diligent person. Yord was pretty introverted and a laid-back person.

The three of us were good friends. Our job as court officials was peaceful. We would drink together after work once in a while and then devote ourselves to our work.

That peaceful daily life was something that I thought would last forever.

How many times have I seen this nightmare?

Both Derrick and Yord were the same as I saw them the last time while I, alone, had gotten old.

Forty years had passed since then.

My homeland was destroyed 40 years ago. My friends, colleagues, and my superiors all died that day.

Leaving me behind, alone.

Just how many times must I have seen this dream before the peace of death would finally come? Or was this dream a punishment for me who survived alone? If that was the case then I should just…end everything!

****

“Roa! Wake up! You’re going to be late if you keep sleeping!”

I woke up to the familiar voice and saw Derrick remove my blanket.

“Huh? Derrick? Why are you here? Did I finally die?” (Roa)

Derrick looked at me as if I was crazy.

“Roa, did you read too many old books and now become crazy?” (Derrick)

“Huh? No, you’re already…ah, is this also a dream?” (Roa)

Yord chimed in while laughing, “Derrick, I think Roa is just not fully awake.”

“Yord…You are also here…”

Without me realizing it, I cried.

“Roa, are you alright? Do you have a fever? Roa, it’s fine to have a hobby but you should not force yourself…”

Realizing the fact that I cried, Yord said worryingly.

“I’m sure Roa just read too many war related books and now can’t differentiate between reality and the books.” (Derrick)

I looked at my hands blankly as that sort of conversation between the two continued.

There were… no wrinkles.

This smooth skin wasn’t something that a 60 year old me should have. I then pinched my hands. I could feel the elasticity of my skin and also the pain.

“What day of what year is it today?”

At my words, the two of them looked at me with a worried gaze.

“Are you really alright? How about you take a leave for today…” (Derrick)

“I’m fine, Derrick. Just tell me. What day of what year is it today?”

“Today is the 1st day of the 10th month of the 138 years of the Uleo period.”

The date Derrick told me was exactly 2 years before the fall of my homeland, the Rudek Kingdom.

***

“Roa, you, are you really alright?” 

While on the way to our workplace located in one corner of the palace from our lodging located on the palace grounds, Yord asked me with a worried expression.

“I’m really fine. I guess earlier I was just dreaming.”

I answered that, but the truth was I knew I wasn’t just dreaming. The 40 years worth of memory was just too clear for it to be a dream.

I came back to 42 years ago. I didn’t know why. Perhaps… This was a dream.

But even if it was a dream… even if it was an illusion caused by the longing of a dying old man… Since I had returned to the past, maybe… just maybe… I could change the future. Maybe I could… escape from that nightmare. Maybe I could save my friends.

It might be impossible to save the entire kingdom by my own strength. But at least… I might be able to save the people precious to me.

“Seriously, just how much did you read!? You know we will become busy soon because of the upcoming deployment, right!?” (Derrick)

As I became lost in my thoughts, Derrick exclaimed.

Just as Derrick said, reading records about battles, be it ancient battles or recent battles, was my hobby. I read the record of ancient battles while for the more recent battles, I asked everyone I could. Among my coworkers, I was a bit infamous as an eccentric.

Some of my coworkers even asked me ‘if you like battles that much, how about you just enlist?’ but I didn’t have the courage to go to the actual battle. Plus, I was bad with blood. It was best to stay out of the frontline and enjoy the battle as a story.

Regardless, Derrick said something about deployment. Hmm… were there ever any big battles around this time?

“Deployment? To where?”

“To think that you, who love battles so much, forgot about it. Are you really alright? There was an incident with bandits in a village in the south, so a bandit subjugation army would be deployed there in three days, remember?” (Derrick)

A bandit subjugation battle in the west… right, I remember that kind of battle happened around this time. That battle was…

“Since the battle against bandits would likely end in our army’s overwhelming victory, Roa probably just lost interest.”

Hearing Yord’s words, I shook my head, “The battle won’t end easily, since the lord of that village is pulling the strings behind the bandits’ incident.”

This careless sentence of mine ended up changing both of my fate and the fate of the country.

T/N: I cried reading this for the first time…imagine losing everything in war and ended up alone for the entire 40 years. Poor Roa.