The Traveling Hero Won’t Let the Innkeeper’s Son Escape

After the weekly morning prayers were finished, the church's indoors were slightly noisy from all the idly people who gathered there. On this day, a young Ruth was in a good mood since both his parents were able to come with him despite the inn being busy as usual.

Walking behind his family while leaving the church, Ruth was leading a young Alec by the hand. Other children around the same age surrounded them. Ruth’s family was looking back at Ruth with a soft and cheery gaze. Then, right beside Ruth was Daniel, the butcher’s shop’s son.

(Ah, it’s this dream again…)

Ruth realized that he was seeing a dream of what happened in the past. He’s seen this dream countless times and since the beginning is always the same, he remembers it well. Ruth was 5 years old and it’s been about a year since Alec came to the village.

(Oh right, we were friends with Daniel back then…)

Before that certain event happened, Ruth had no memories of his previous life and was living peacefully in the village. Back then, he had a lot of friends and because he was the tallest kid in the village at that time, he was quite popular.

“Alec, did you pray properly?”

“Mmhm. I did.”

A young Alec answered while smiling brightly and his large and sparkling eyes that seemed to almost pop out relaxed a bit. Alec, who had blond hair and an undeniable cuteness just like an angel from above, tugged on Ruth’s hand and looked as if he wanted to say “praise me, praise me”. He looked no different from a puppy wagging its tail.

“Alec. You’re bothering Ruth.”

“..N-No, I’m not.”

“Really now? I know you fell asleep in the middle of the prayers.”

“I-I wasn’t...sleeping.”

“Don’t lie. I bet Ruth woke you up.”

“I-I…”

“Stop it, Daniel.”

Ruth interrupted Daniel from nitpicking all of Alec’s faults. At that time, Ruth was still taller than Daniel, so he was able to look down on him.

“Alec lives in the church, so he has to wake up early. It can’t be helped that he fell asleep for a little.”

“Ruth…”

Alec looked at Ruth protecting him from Daniel with eyes glittering in admiration. Daniel looked discontent with the situation, but he didn’t talk back to Ruth any further. If one were to ask who had the upper-hand in this friendship during this time, it would be Ruth.

“Everyone, return home safely.”

“Ye~s.”

Beginning with Ruth, the children energetically bid their farewells at Father’s gentle voice. The adults around them turned their warm gaze towards the scene of the tight-knit group of children. Because Alec was the only one who had to stay behind in the church to help with the cleaning, he looked quite unhappy.

(Ah, here we go--)

“Guh…”

“Ruth!?”

At that moment, Ruth, who was walking in the center of the group of children, suddenly collapsed on the spot.

The children around him were surprised and both Ruth’s parents and other adults quickly came closer. As the people around them called out to Ruth, Alec remained right next to him, with their hands still connected. After Ruth’s parents shook his body, Ruth opened his eyes.

However, Ruth, who opened his eyes that day, was no longer the child that knew of nothing.

“Ah? ...Huh, what is this!? What happened to me??”

He still had a high-pitched and childlike voice, but the way he was speaking was completely different from the Ruth from earlier. The way he moved as he sat up was not that of a child who had just collapsed. Somehow, he sat up as quickly as an actual adult.

“I-I, why, I should’ve died when that car hit me… how...”

“Ruth? What’s wrong, Ruth?”

Next to him,Celine, his mother, called out to him in bewilderment. However, Ruth instantly slapped away her hand that touched his shoulder.

“Who are you!? ...No, that’s wrong, Mom? That’s not right. I-I am… who am I?”

“...Isn’t Ruth acting weird?”

“...What is he saying? Is this some sort of game?”

Before long, talk of Ruth’s strange behavior made its way around the villagers. Even though he was speaking like a normal 5-year-old just mere minutes ago, seeing him suddenly speak like a grown adult was ominous enough to make the villagers think he was cursed. Parents all around them took the hands of their children in order to distance them from Ruth.

“I...isn't my name xxx^[1]? Ruth? Ruth? Am I a boy named Ruth in this body?”

“Ruth, calm down. Let’s go home and rest a bit.”

“Home...you mean my parent’s house? That place should’ve already been demolished for new roads...no, that’s wrong, that’s what happened ‘in the past’.”

At that moment, Ruth was in a panic. Memories of Ruth’s previous life surged in like waves, mixing with his current memories, he no longer knew which memories were of his past life or his current life.

However, there was a clamor from the villagers around them who did not know as they took their distance from Ruth. It’s human instinct to move away and protect one’s self from someone who seemed unstable and suddenly started saying such fearful words that nobody else could understand. No one can blame them.

"... I'm kinda grossed out by Ruth."

"Isn't he just saying weird things to get attention? ...Come on, let's go."

One by one, the villagers around them had a stiff face as they left the vicinity. The only ones remaining were Ruth's mother on the verge of tears, his confused father, his saddened older brother, and a dazed Alec who still held onto Ruth's hand.

Ruth lifted his head after noticing Alec on his knees next to him.

"Y-You are? You are...ah, A...huh?"

Even though he recognized Alec as his dear friend, Ruth, who couldn't even call out his name, had tears spill out of his eyes. His body trembled from fearing whether he's lost his mind or not. He just didn't know what on earth happened to him.

However, seeing Ruth's tears, the bewildered Alec changed his expression.

"I'm...Alec, Ruth."

Wondering if Ruth was frightened by this sudden transformation-- the young Alec changed from his previous unreliable appearance-- and with a determined expression, hugged Ruth’s body.

"It'll be okay, Ruth. I'm not afraid. So, don't cry."

Ruth's parents and older brother were taken aback by Alec's voice.

"That's right, Ruth. Mom is also here for you. You don't need to be scared."

"Ruth, it'll be alright, I'm here too."

"Ruth, it's your older brother."

His family also rushed over to support Ruth and they all went home together. With their touch and comfort, Ruth’s trembling gradually stopped.

That night, Alec held Ruth's hand all night and before he knew it, they fell asleep next to each other. It was a slightly sad, yet warm memory^[2].

1. xxx was used in the raws to signify Ruth's name in his previous life.
2. Haha, I actually stole this line in the light novel because it's just such a good line to end on in this chapter.

MARY: Thank you for waiting! Volume 2 of THWISE light novel is now open for pre-order and will be released Feb. 29 2020!!! Please consider purchasing it to support the author (and to see the awesome illustrations ><) If anyone needs a guide on how to order from amazon.jp, I'll link it here!

And, as always, let me know if there's any mistakes 'v'! This chapter really was a big (╯︵╰,) Poor Ruth... though I loved how it addressed the emotional impact of transmigration too.

I also do want to address something in regards to my tls, I do edit some lines in the web novel version of THWISE (the raws I use) and use the LN version instead. The LN version is more refined and has been revised and so I hope you guys don't mind me taking a bit of liberties with adding in/wording some lines differently from the web novel and using the LN version as a supplement in my tls. BTW, it's not a huge difference, but I do want to be honest about it and let y'all know!