CHAPTER 17…………………………………….

The strange thing about that system window was that I could still see it even when I closed my eyes. It wasn’t something I was visually seeing—it felt more like information being directly shot into my nerves.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock. The sound of a small clock placed on the bedside console filled the room.

Tick-tock.

Tick-tock.

Tick.

[Remaining time: 20 days]

It must have passed midnight, because the number had decreased by one.

“So I really don’t have much time left to live now.”

I wanted to dismiss it as hallucination—a system window in a game-like world—but the feeling of certainty was almost painful.

No matter what kind of world this was, it was my reality, and I was going to die soon.

“Calion. He said he’d come back in two weeks.”

It wasn’t over yet. Before I died, I could meet him one more time.

“Just once.”

When I first got that promise that he would return, I had definitely been happy. But now that I was alone, remembering it strangely made me feel even more sorrowful.

Early the next morning, I left the inn. I pulled my hood low to avoid people’s eyes and climbed the hill.

As I walked up the dark path, the owner of the antique shop—who had unusually sharp hearing—came out holding a lantern to greet me.

“I guess I’m getting old. I just can’t sleep in the mornings anymore.”

I had tried to call her “owner,” but she firmly refused and told me to just call her grandma. I had seen her during the day too, but seeing her at dawn made her feel even more petite.

I started working early in the morning. I organized the goods and showed her the inventory ledger I had prepared, and she seemed surprised, saying I was better at the job than she had heard.

“Than I heard?”

There was no way Senes, who seemed eager to criticize me at every opportunity, would have praised me.

“Does he praise me when I’m not around too?”

I was curious about how Senes had described me, but I didn’t ask. I didn’t want to think about him unnecessarily.

Calion said he would return in two weeks, but Senes hadn’t said anything like that. The two brothers usually hunted separately anyway, so maybe Senes had gone over the mountain range to another village, and only Calion would return.

“I can’t work here for long due to my circumstances. But I’ll do my job sincerely, so please take care of me for a while.”

“Alright. Your name was… Jin, right?”

It seemed she assumed “Jin” was my name, not realizing that in a fantasy world my name might be something unusual like “Owner.”

Calion was the only one who had correctly caught it on the first try.

“Yes, please call me Jin.”

There was no need to stand out, so I let the misunderstanding continue. It wasn’t like leaving my name in this world meant anything anyway.

Perhaps because Senes had already told her I might sleep in the storage room, she had even prepared a wool blanket. I couldn’t refuse her kindness, so I slept there on the first day. Surprisingly, it was quite comfortable, and there was no unpaid overtime.

However, I woke up in the early morning when I heard the old woman coughing and ran over to bring her water. Since the antique shop was the only building on the hill, she had no one to help her when she was alone, and she held my hand, saying she was glad I was there.

“At this rate, I feel like I’ll be living in the storage room permanently.”

In the end, I half-accepted the “live-in labor” proposal. I would sleep in the storage room every other day after work, and return to the inn the next day.

“…Of course, without any night shift pay.”

In a world where people helped each other, it seemed better to fulfill my duties until the last day.

“Maybe the thing I’m supposed to save before I die is this old lady?”

The system window only told me my remaining lifespan; it didn’t tell me who I would save or how I would die.

“What kind of peaceful village would have anything worth saving someone from?”

No answer came to mind.

One day, two days, three days, four days. Time passed.

The duration of my “Charm” skill expired, so I no longer felt people’s lingering stares. The worry that I might get caught in some ridiculous incident right before dying had faded a little.

I got used to the antique shop work, but I became busier day by day. Not because there was more work, though. The old lady was surprisingly healthy, so I rarely needed to support her.

Then why was I busy?

“Jin!”

A young man ran up the hill, calling my name and waving his hand.

It was Bill, the son of the weapon shop owner.

“Jin, help me!”

The antique shop was in the north, and the weapon shop was in the south, so we normally wouldn’t meet. But because of that charm skill, rumors about me had spread through the village, and occasional men would come snooping around. Bill was one of them.

By the time the skill expired the next day, most had left disappointed, but this guy had become strangely fixated and kept coming to find me whenever something happened.

Bill was twenty-two—four years younger than me.

Since I hadn’t revealed my age, he had apparently assumed I was around his age, but I didn’t bother correcting him.

He had a friendly face and a decent build, so he probably wasn’t unpopular. So why had he become fixated on a dying outsider like me?

“Bill, what’s wrong?”

“There’s been an accident!”

If he had come just to say something pointless, I was about to kick him, but since it was an accident, there was no choice. I closed the ledger I had been organizing, placed it back on the shelf, and went outside.

He had clearly run all the way here in a panic—his face was bright red as he gasped for breath.

“A cargo wagon crushed someone!”

“What?!”

“Quick, hurry!”

This is bad. If we don’t get there fast, it could be serious.

The village wasn’t small, so even running full speed from north to south would take time. I rushed into the supply storage and grabbed a telescope. Fortunately, the weapon shop was located along the main road, so there were no buildings blocking the view.

“That black thing is the cargo wagon?”

People were gathered in front of the weapon shop, and a massive rectangular cargo wagon—twice the size of a normal one—was tilted with one wheel broken off. I couldn’t see the person who had been crushed, but judging by the chaos, it seemed too heavy for even several people to lift together.

I looked around. I needed a space large enough to receive that cargo wagon. If it rolled down the hill, it would cause a major accident, so it had to be flat ground. A flowerbed behind the storage building caught my eye. There were no crops planted there right now, so it should be fine.

“Bill, give me your hand.”

“Y-yeah!”

I walked to the flowerbed, took Bill’s hand, and opened the skill window.

“Position Reversal.”

A translucent holographic window appeared.

[Position Reversal Lv. 3]

You can swap the positions of a person you are in contact with and a designated object.

Condition 1: The contacted person must be conscious.

Condition 2: The target object must be within visual range.

Condition 3: Both the contacted person and the target object must be on a surface that supports weight.

Condition 4: If either is surrounded by an impassable barrier, the skill is canceled.

Cooldown: 40 minutes

Skill available for use.

※ If used on someone other than a party member, cooldown is doubled.

This was a new skill I had acquired after Calion’s group left.

It seemed skill acquisition was heavily influenced by my intentions, since I had gained this after trying to save a child who almost fell into water.

As long as the target was within visible range, the object I was touching and the target object were both not blocked by physical barriers, and both were in a position that allowed movement, I could swap them freely.

Moreover, perhaps because using the skill increased proficiency, it had already reached level 3. At level 1 there had been weight limits and a longer one-hour cooldown, but at level 2 the weight restriction disappeared, and at level 3 the cooldown decreased.

Since I wasn’t swapping my own position, the limitations were still significant, but it was quite a useful skill in situations like this. Over the past little more than two weeks, I had already used it several times to save people from everyday accidents.

Especially in cases like this—people trapped under collapsed structures—it was faster than gathering strong men to lift it manually.

Holding Bill’s hand with one hand, I steadied the telescope with the other.

I needed to designate the object for the swap.

Through the lens, I saw the black cargo wagon clearly.

[Do you want to swap the positions of [Weapon shop owner’s son Bill] and [Cargo wagon]?]

After clicking [Yes], the enormous cargo wagon that had been among the crowd disappeared—and a heavy thud sounded elsewhere. A house-sized wagon was now embedded in the flowerbed.

“Bill… oh. He’s safe over there.”

Bill, who had appeared in the wagon’s previous position, staggered as he got up.

The person who had been trapped under the wagon finally came into view.

Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any blood, so it looked like only bones were broken.

People murmured and made way, and men carrying stretchers moved the injured person toward the clinic.

“So we saved the person… but the flowerbed is a mess.”

Well, whatever. Bill would probably handle the repairs or compensation.

I brushed off my shoulders, walked back, put the telescope away in the box, and was about to sit down when I heard Bill calling me again from outside.

“Jin!”