Chapter : 1
I hated dark places.
I hated quiet places too.
So, when I died for the fortieth time, I made a request to my nanny.
“Kill me during the day! Kill me loudly!”
The nanny silently picked up her report sheet.
Even if thrown off a cliff, even if fed to wild beasts—
it does not die.
It happened one day when I was 18 months old.
“Wizard!”
Until the moment I closed my eyes, I could touch that person.
But after I woke up again, I couldn’t reach them anymore.
“Get this monster out of my sight immediately!”
After that person—my mother—disappeared, the nanny came to stay by my side.
Unlike my mother, the nanny, with her blonde hair and black eyes, neither smiled nor cried when she looked at me.
All she did was write reports.
“Unable to remain in one place for long. Appears to have significantly lower concentration than peers, yet displays intelligence and adaptability exceeding that of a prodigy…”
The nanny always muttered as she wrote reports about me.
There were many humans in this household studying my magic, <Immortality>, but only the nanny wrote the reports.
Based on those reports, the schedule for my deaths each month was decided.
The nanny continued writing.
“Excessively frequent deaths appear to delay physical growth…”
That winter, I froze to death.
And she wrote again:
“Regardless of the method of death, the time required for resurrection remains constant.”
When I turned three, I learned how to precisely control my innate mana.
That year, I succeeded in reducing my resurrection time from half a day to three hours.
But no one celebrated.
“It’s impossible to reduce it any further.”
At the head researcher’s declaration, the head of the family clicked his tongue.
“Useless.”
“To begin with, it is a cursed existence. It cannot be tamed by pain or death. It would be best to isolate it before its reasoning develops further.”
“You’re saying brainwashing doesn’t work on a mere four-year-old? Hah! Then it may become a threat to us in the future.”
I looked at them with curious eyes, then glanced at the nanny.
She stood there expressionless, eyes lowered, holding nothing.
No pen, no paper—nothing to restrain me.
It was the first time since that day when I was 18 months old.
“What should we do with this?”
I stared at the nanny, then looked back at the head of the family.
He was looking at me as if appraising something.
Usually, it was the gaze one would give a fine sword.
But now, it was as if he were looking at a broken one.
‘Ah… I understand.’
The nanny writing nothing.
The underground laboratory, now mostly emptied of researchers.
And that look in the head’s eyes.
I realized.
Today would be an unfortunate day.
“Immortality No. 1.”
At the sound of him calling me, I hurriedly met his gaze.
The head of the family declared:
“I took in something as lowly as you because I believed that cursed ability of yours could be of use. Even something cursed can become a great weapon if used by God.”
At the time, I couldn’t understand even half of what he said.
But later, I came to understand.
The head of the family despised wizards.
So even the existence of a natural-born mage in his household was something he could barely tolerate.
A natural-born mage was a rare being, usually born into magical families—someone who possessed a unique magic in addition to elemental magic from birth.
Among mages, they were considered blessed.
But in divine families like his, they were called cursed.
Even so, they had taken me in because my magic was none other than <Immortality>.
The people of the Cloford family believed that if they thoroughly trained me and offered me to God, He would bless their house.
There were many ways to offer something.
Kill it as a sacrifice.
Keep it alive and erase its mind to use it as a tool.
Or send it to die in places where God desired.
“However, we’ve just concluded that you cannot be utilized.”
At that time, I didn’t understand those circumstances.
But I understood what it meant to be called useless.
Of course I did.
I couldn’t be killed, couldn’t be brainwashed, and had no special ability other than not dying.
“I will give you one final choice.”
Just as I was about to feel dejected, he spoke again.
“You will live eternally as a sacrifice inside the belly of the great serpent in the sacred imperial palace. If you dislike that, then within a month, prove that you are useful to this family.”
“As expected of our merciful lord,” the head researcher murmured in admiration.
But regardless of that reaction, I stared at him with wide eyes.
‘That was long.’
It was the first time anyone had spoken to me for that long.
Suppressing my rising excitement, I carefully thought over his words.
So… go to the dragon in the imperial palace, or prove my usefulness?
“The snake is no good!”
I hated dark places.
I hated quiet places.
The inside of a snake’s belly had all of those conditions.
I decided to prove myself.
“Prove it—I can do it all! How do I do it?”
Would he answer me?
“Isn’t it obvious? Hunt wizards.”
He answered!
I took a deep breath and asked again:
“Hunt? Assassinate?”
“That’s right.”
Grinding his teeth as if annoyed, he took a deep breath and continued:
“If it’s not that, there’s no reason to keep a monster like you in this family. Bring back at least three heads within a month. Otherwise, you will be offered to His Majesty as food for the dragon.”
“I’ll show you! I’ll prove it! I will…!”
I would prove it, and as always, live with the nanny and the researchers.
I would talk with the head again, for a long time.
“I’ll go quickly and come back! I can do it all!”
I would live as always, with people watching me and recording me.
I couldn’t even imagine a life outside of this place.
What a relief.
I thought I was going to be abandoned, but it turned out I was being given a chance.
“Enough. Get out.”
The head dismissed me.
The first person who had ever spoken to me at length turned his gaze away.
I wanted him to look at me again, but I didn’t know how.
‘Ah… people only listen to me a little when it’s loud, right?’
So I shouted at the top of my lungs:
“I learned hunting too! I’m good at it!”
“What are you doing? Take it away.”
As I was dragged out by the nanny, I kept shouting until the door closed:
“I can be a good assassin! The nanny knows!”
“We will take our leave.”
Even after the door shut, I shouted to the nanny:
“I’ll come back if I succeed! Wait for me! I’ll be back soon, nanny!”
As always, she didn’t understand my words.
Still, I wished she would stay with me.
After that, I returned to the underground laboratory.
The nanny who had been holding my hand left.
Left alone in that vast space, I quietly took it all in.
There was probably no one who knew this place better than I did.
Clenching the hand the nanny had held, I began rummaging through everything loudly.
Cursing wizards, just as I had always heard.
“Wizards! Damn wizards!”
Among all the things I had heard, there weren’t many unrelated to my ability.
Most of what I heard while wandering the estate after reviving were screams calling me a monster.
Still, even with that little information, I understood what I had to do.
“Cursed wizards! Demons!”
The Cloford family cursed wizards all day long.
They were one of only two divine families in the Amaransa Empire, alongside the imperial family—a prestigious house with a long history.
A cursed monster had been born into such a great family, creating an unfortunate situation.
But the head had mercifully accepted the monster, proving the compassion of one who believes in God.
There were many words I didn’t understand, but I had memorized them all, so I eventually came to understand everything.
There was something else I had memorized.
“A monster who has received grace must hunt the worst demons!”
The hardest demons to kill referred to the four magical families in the frontier.
There was one target.
The head mentioned one family more than the others.
“Icarus!”
Icarus of Winter.
They were the family that fought the most dangerous “winter beasts” that invaded every season.
That made them the most arrogant, the most savage demons.
“I’m going to defeat Icarus!”
I shouted loudly, hoping the head would hear me, then carefully looked around, waiting for a response.
But none came.
