SSS-Rank Hunter Reborn: Private Tutor to the Count's Bastard Son

Born in the forest, living with the forest, dying for the forest.

That was the noble fate of a high elf.

The mission of a forest keeper who protected Serneck Forest.

***

Though he grandly called it fate, the forest keeper's actual job wasn't much. Occasionally chasing away intruders who came to the forest, or mediating disputes between the different races living in the forest—that was about it.

Of course, just because it was simple didn't mean he neglected his duties. A high elf's fate wasn't something to take lightly. The only particularly memorable incident was losing his left arm in battle and replacing it with a World Tree branch.

He protected the forest like that for about a hundred years. Around that time, a human came to the forest from the outside world. A girl named Sola.

Sola was a mysterious child. She was curious and wasn't afraid of new things. She was so bright that she perfectly mastered Elvish in just three months.

Most of all, leaving everything else aside, his eyes were always drawn to Sola. And from the day he started counting down to her visits, he realized it was love.

On a day when the spring rain stopped, they confessed their love to each other, and the following year they had a daughter. They named her 'Radina.' It meant 'forest' in High Elvish. Sola laughed, saying it was perfect for a forest keeper.

Sola would raise Radina. The forest wasn't a suitable environment for raising a child. They spent four years of time sweeter than honey that way. Each day was vividly etched in memory.

And in the fifth year's summer, tragedy began.

On the day the rainy season started, humans suddenly invaded the forest. As forest keeper, he joined the battle and drove them all away. When he returned to his nest afterwards, Sola was dying. He tried every method to save her, but it was already too late.

Then Sola told him. People from the desert had taken Radina. With those words asking him to save their daughter, Sola closed her eyes.

And that day, he left the forest for the first time.

***

He searched the entire desert. It didn't take long to reach his destination. But what was there was Radina dying with a dagger in her heart, and a shaman putting her soul into a box.

An act committed believing the superstition that a half-elf's soul brings immortality. Consumed by rage, he killed every human involved. When he returned to the forest carefully holding the box containing Radina's soul, he learned the full story of all the events.

The cat people had plotted it all, harboring resentment that one forest keeper controlled all the forest's affairs. They were the ones who told the desert humans about the half-elf in the forest, and who revealed the forest keeper's nest location.

Rage devoured his reason. He couldn't bear his hatred for the cat people who caused all this tragedy, and the other tribes who knew about it but turned a blind eye. After that day, the forest keeper abandoned the forest. And revenge began.

The first targets were the cat people. For a whole week, he didn't leave a single cat person alive. Then he hunted down the tribes who had stood by and watched. But the revenge didn't last long. To subdue the forest keeper mad with rage, all the forest tribes joined forces.

Eventually the forest keeper met his end at his nest. Though he loved the forest more than anyone, when dying he cursed the forest more than anyone. He closed his eyes vowing to live for revenge if he ever came back to life.

After no short amount of time, he opened his eyes again. Before him was a massive darkness. Something the dead worshipped as 'All Death.' It suddenly proposed a contract.

'I'll pull you from the abyss. In return, follow my orders to build an army of the dead and bring death to every living thing in this forest.'

Having died burning with vengeance, he naturally accepted the proposal. He built the army of the dead as agreed. And just as he was about to begin the second act of revenge...

He met death once more.

'How futile.'

Death as an undead was the end of everything. His rotting flesh would crumble like sand and his soul would burn like ash. All Death had said something like that once.

Thinking it was truly the end now felt more futile than his first death.

And he immediately regretted it.

'...Radina.'

Because he thought of the one he'd left behind. His beloved daughter, Radina. The box containing that child's soul was buried at the end of this cemetery. Thinking of his daughter who would be left alone, grief struck him first.

He should have looked for a way to save his daughter's soul rather than seek revenge. Or he should have taken his daughter's soul to a temple to at least comfort her spirit. He regretted his foolish past self.

'If I could come back to life...'

Then he would put everything down and live for his daughter.

But he knew it was an impossible wish. That's what the so-called All Death had said. All that remained for him was to regret and fade away meaninglessly.

But at that moment.

'...!'

Suddenly the pitch-black darkness lifted.

What appeared next was an even greater darkness. No, it would be more accurate to call it a night sky.

'What is this?'

Just as he was bewildered by the sudden change.

Someone's voice came through the darkness.

"Are you thinking more clearly now?"

With a youthful voice, he opened his eyes. As the night sky cleared, the first thing he saw was a grayish white sky. Then thick fog, withered weeds, and earth reeking of death came into view.

The place where he'd been building his army of the dead. While sitting there dazed, he tried moving his body. The arms and legs that had been severed before meeting complete death were perfectly attached.

"...How?"

How was I able to come back to life?

Wasn't death as an undead the end of everything?

He felt confused. Then the voice continued.

"I'm Silvan Arcdute. We've met before, right?"

Met before? At those words, he turned his head.

He saw a boy with silver hair and golden eyes. Now he remembered. The intruder who had entered this place. Aiming an arrow at that child was his last memory.

He also instinctively felt one more thing.

This second life given to him—the grace that bestowed it came from none other than that child. At that realization, countless questions followed one after another. But this question came first. It was the same question he'd asked All Death when he first opened his eyes as an undead.

"...Why did you bring me back?"

All Death had a purpose. That's why he brought him back.

So this child called Silvan must have a purpose too.

What answer would that child give? Revenge? Or wanting to show off his dignity as a necromancer? As all sorts of speculation arose, Silvan widened his eyes and answered.

"Huh? Just because."

Just brought him back to life?

There couldn't be a more deflating answer. Feeling bewildered as he looked at him, Silvan kept talking.

"Originally I wanted to steal dominance, but they said that wouldn't work, so I thought I'd try this and it actually worked. Oh, of course in that process..."

Silvan suddenly started going on about the method he'd used to bring him back. Since it was uninteresting talk, he ignored it all. Then Silvan suddenly seemed to remember something and quickly changed the subject.

"Oh right, what's your name by the way?"

"I forgot that long ago."

It was a name given along with the forest keeper's fate in the first place.

But he was no longer a forest keeper. So he had no name either. Just as he was about to clamp his mouth shut, someone spoke what used to be his name.

"Heron Wigders."

At the sudden voice, he turned his head.

He saw a man with navy blue hair tied down. He was surprised that the man knew his name, but that was all. So he tried to ignore him. But the words that followed couldn't be ignored.

"Don't you want to bring Radina back to life?"

"...!"

The moment he heard that name, his body reacted on its own. He sprang up from his spot and reached out with both arms. Then he immediately grabbed the man by the collar.

An annoyingly relaxed expression on his face. He barely restrained the urge to punch him. There was a more important question right now.

"Human, where did you hear that name..."

"Get those hands off me right now."

At that moment, a chilling voice rang like thunder.

Hearing it, his strength drained away. His hand gripping the collar slid down. Where did that voice come from? More importantly, why was this happening? As he was thinking that, someone spoke again.

"Get on your knees and bow your head."

THUD—

His body moved automatically according to those words. In that process, he realized who the voice belonged to. The one who brought him back—Silvan.

His face was frozen extremely hard. As if that gentle face he'd first seen was an illusion. Silvan, who had somehow gotten close, crouched down. Then he whispered coldly in a small voice.

"...I'm warning you, don't lay a finger on Ferda ever again. Unless you want to become a corpse again."

His body trembled at Silvan's words.

It was strange. He thought undead couldn't feel cold. Also, he didn't feel like arguing with those words. Under the irresistible pressure, he could only quietly bow his head.

After a while, Silvan got up.

"Sorry, Ferda. He won't grab you by the collar again."

Watching Silvan smile awkwardly, Ferda nodded.

How admirable. He patted his head and immediately spoke.

"I got this while wandering around the cemetery earlier."

A familiar-shaped black box. The moment he saw it, he almost rushed out again without thinking. But his body stiffened at Silvan's sudden voice.

"Huh? What's that?"

"A box containing Radina's soul."

"Radina?"

"That guy's daughter. It was written on the gravestone like that."

Ferda gave a summarized explanation of the story from that time. A moment later, when Silvan nodded as if he understood, he continued speaking.

"By the way, Silvan."

"Yeah?"

"The soul in here—can you make it inhabit an object using spiritualism?"

Silvan took the box Ferda handed him. After examining it from various angles, he answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Mm, seems possible."

What kind of conversation were those two having?

Making his daughter's soul inhabit an object? Nonsense. That couldn't be possible. Even making an unholy spirit completely inhabit an object was high-difficulty magic. Making a living soul inhabit an object—he'd never even heard of such a thing.

Then Ferda spoke again.

"My student is a very capable necromancer. Capable enough to bring back to life someone who had met certain death as an undead."

He acknowledged that. Silvan definitely had skill.

But necromancy and spiritualism were different matters. Even 'All Death', who had reached the pinnacle of necromancy, said spiritualism was difficult, didn't he?

"I ask you once more, Heron Wigders."

But strangely, his heart was moved. Was it because of that confident appearance? Or was it because he was tired after so many long years? He didn't know the reason, but his heart, which he thought was firm, began to waver little by little.

At the same time, he asked.

"Don't you want to reunite with your daughter?"

"...If."

When he opened his tightly closed mouth, a voice like scraping metal flowed out.

He turned his head to look at Silvan. Golden eyes burning quietly. A moment later, Heron bowed his head toward Silvan. Then with sincerity, he desperately pleaded.

"If I could truly see Radina again, I would gladly live as your servant. I promise with everything I have."

There was no need to hesitate.

After all, he was saying he'd make something he couldn't even dream of come true.

If it really happened, he could offer not just loyalty, but his very soul. So he abandoned the proud attitude he'd maintained even before All Death. Then after a while, the answer he'd been waiting for came.

"For that, first the soul and the wavelength need to match well."

"Wavelength means..."

"I'm talking about something like an object they lived with while alive. Do you happen to have something like that?"

With those words, one thing came to mind.

Something he'd made as a gift when Radina first called him daddy.

"Yes, of course. I'll guide you there right away."

The moment he thought of it, he immediately bowed his head.

Then he stepped toward the fog without delay.