CH 1

1: Re:Zero - Starting Life in Poverty!

"Cough, cough…"

I spat out blood as I fell onto the ground deep inside a cold, dark cave. Surrounding me were undead monsters—skeletons—wielding rusted swords and spears. Their bones rattled as they drew closer. In contrast, I was covered in heavy injuries and completely out of mana. I no longer had any means to fight back. I was completely cornered.

"Hah… I guess this is the end. My life was the worst…" I muttered as I looked back at the twenty years of my life as it drew to its end.

Firstly, the household I was born into was the worst. My family was technically granted the title of baron, but it was only in name. We lived in constant poverty. My grandfather was a decent magician, so he rose to the ranks of the aristocracy through his achievements in battle, but the land he was granted was so barren that he couldn't live an extravagant life by any means.

The people who live on our land were criminals and sickly people who had wandered in, and they had vacant looks in their eyes as they supposedly “lived” their lives here. So having been born in such a place, I couldn't possibly have grown up normally. My mother left because of the hard life, so as I spent my days always suffering from hunger, I inevitably became the definition of a gloomy girl. Naturally, my body’s growth was stunted and no one wanted to marry the scrawny daughter of a low-class aristocrat. When I turned fifteen, I was told to earn money for the household and forced to become an adventurer. That was the start of my days fighting to the death against monsters.

And those were terrible and painful days. I got injured several times trying to gather herbs to be used for medicine, and I risked my life multiple times to collect materials from monsters to be used for accessories aristocrats wear, despite being a member myself. And in those five years, I relied on the decent amount of mana I had inherited from my grandfather, was on the verge of death numerous times, and was ridiculed by my peers for my gloomy personality. I desperately fought to live—only to die like this without really accomplishing anything.

"Haha, I don’t care anymore… If you're going to kill me, then do it already!"

As I laughed at how terrible my life had been, I screamed at the skeletons surrounding me. Oh, yeah, how long had it been since I last laughed? Tears, on the other hand, flowed every night. As I recalled such a pointless thing, my entire body was skewered all over.

Then…

"Oh! It's finally delivered! And…it's a girl…"

Huh?! What?! What happened?!

Just when I thought I had been tormented by and killed by the skeletons, I found myself being held up by my father. W-what was going on?! Was I miraculously rescued and admitted to the hospital by my father? No, there couldn't be any hidden meaning behind his words. I had undoubtedly suffered from fatal injuries, and my family had no funds to spend on medical fees.

And while I couldn't see very well through my blurry eyes, my father looked like he had gotten younger or something…

"Hm? What's wrong with this baby? She's not crying at all… Well, it's fine as long as she's alive. From today forth, your name is Sophia Gracia. Grow up well so as to not soil the Gracia family name."

W-what?! I mean, I am Sophia Gracia, but really, what was going on? I was deeply bewildered, but I was suddenly hit with drowsiness and everything went dark.