Berserk of Gluttony (Light Novel) Vol. 1 Read online

  “Hey, don’t look so sad,” the boy said. “Seifort…the kingdom, it’s not all bad. Not while there are people like you helping people like me when we’re hungry.”

  At that moment, the moon peeked out through the clouds, and the boy’s face came into focus. It was an innocent face, with just a hint of despair. It looked a little confused, and then a little sheepish, as the boy continued. “I wish more of the holy knights were like you.”

  His words gripped my heart with such strength that I forgot even to reply.

  It was infinitely more straightforward than I had thought, and it was just as the boy had said. The problem was not the state of the holy knights around me. No. What was important was how I chose to hold myself as a holy knight. My way forward was one I would forge, and it would take the shape of what I believed in. Even my smallest gesture could bring joy to a person’s face, like I had for this boy.

  “Thank you,” I said. “Because of you, I think I understand now.”

  “Uh, okay. I don’t really know what I did, but I’m glad you feel better… Well, I better get going. If I stay here too much longer, I’m going to run into a bunch of holy knights…”

  To have such a reason for leaving… The boy had run from trouble and wound up here. When he looked at the castle, he thought of the terrifying holy knights within. His stomach was satisfied now, but staying here made him anxious. It was possible the only reason he had remained as long as he had was because I had looked so depressed. It seemed, despite all he had suffered, he was kind.

  As the boy made to leave a second time, I asked him one last thing. “Please, tell me your name.”

  The boy turned back and waved his hand. “I’m Fate Graphite! Thanks for the sandwiches. So long!”

  In moments, he vanished into the kingdom’s streets. Fate… I hoped we would meet again. Then I realized I had forgotten something important. He’d told me his name, but I failed to tell him my own!

  “Oh, no…”

  When we met again, would he remember me? We couldn’t see each other in much detail in the darkness of the night, but…perhaps he would. I held this small hope in my heart as I looked up at the night sky. The stars shone brightly in the weave of evening. We had only spoken for a short time, but I hoped Fate and I might speak again one day, under the clear night sky. On that day, I wanted to be able to tell him, with pride in my heart, that I was a holy knight. I would not put the confidence he entrusted with me to waste.

  I knew that, for starters, I would need to lose my fake smiles and hold myself with more dignity. I started practicing how to stand straight and with pride.

  “Roxy? Is that you? I thought you’d already gone back to the manor… Is something wrong?”

  “Father?!”

  My father frowned at me, a puzzled expression etched upon his features. The holy knights’ party had ended.

  Oh no! He caught me in the middle of practice! It was embarrassing to be seen with my chest puffed up as I tried out my holy knight swagger. I cleared my throat and decided to pretend it never happened. “Are you on your way home already, father?”

  Father laughed. “I am. I was worried about you. It’s your first time in the kingdom and I wanted to make sure you weren’t lonely.”

  “I’m not a child anymore, father.”

  “To your parents, you will always be a child, Roxy,” my father said, smiling as he sat on a bench by the castle wall. “Did something happen?”

  That was just like my father. Even though he couldn’t see my expression in the darkness, he read my tone of voice. With a resigned sigh, I told him a little of what had happened earlier.

  “Ah, I see…”

  My father said nothing else. He simply stared up at the night sky along with me. I was certain he was waiting for me to speak again.

  I was no longer the confused girl I had been. I was the successor of house Hart, next in line as the head of the family. I had made up my mind.

  “I want to be a holy knight like you, father. A holy knight who can share happiness and joy with the people I serve!”

  My father stood, pleased to hear my commitment. He patted my head gently. “Your words make me proud! They are what make you a member of the Hart family. But you’ll have to work harder from now on, starting tomorrow.”

  “Yes, father,” I replied with my back straight and chest out.

  Everything started now, and all of it was so that, the next time I met Fate, I could be proud to tell him I was Roxy Hart, the holy knight.

  ***

  A few years later I became a holy knight, but I still hadn’t reunited with Fate. The days passed, and though Fate had roused the courage I needed to become what I was, my memory of him was fading with time, little by little.

  At that point, I was put on gatekeeping duty at the castle. It was a responsibility expected of all holy knights. However, we were also allowed to avoid it by hiring replacements, so many holy knights did, eschewing the work and leaving day laborers to take their place.

  I believed it was only proper for a holy knight to carry out their expected duties themselves. Thus, I gladly adhered to the gatekeeping schedule. It was on my very first day of duty that I met him again. Fate.

  I knew it was him before even asking his name. There was no mistaking his black hair and eyes. My heart beat nervously as I approached him.

  “Hello there. I’m Roxy Hart. I’m here to relieve you of your duties. I’ll take it from here.”

  “Uh…understood, sir! Ma’am!”

  Fate didn’t recognize me at all as he replied and bowed. He passed me the gatekeeper’s spear, adorned with the royal family’s coat of arms embroidered on its flag. It took everything I had not to let my disappointment show on my face.

  I took the spear from Fate’s hands, dejected, as he bounded away as quickly as he could, his face red. It seemed holy knights still terrified him. I was…saddened. In spite of that, however, I found reasons to talk with him, and once again he came to tell me a little about himself.

  Fate’s masters were the Vlerick family. I didn’t want to believe it…that he was a day laborer for the most notorious of the five esteemed families. In truth, I had wanted for him to become a member of the Hart family staff, but it wasn’t so easy to move against the Vlericks. They were esteemed, and if I did anything selfishly, it could cause my father trouble. I couldn’t act for purely personal reasons.

  As I brooded over what to do, the days and months went by. As they did, Fate suffered the violence of the Vlerick family’s three siblings. Even though I stopped it when I saw it, I couldn’t prevent everything.

  Five years after I first met Fate, the news arrived at Hart Manor. My father had died in the line of duty, fighting monsters in Galia. Furthermore, he had perished by the hand of the Divine Dragon, which until that time had only called the center of Galia its home, and had never traveled as far as the kingdom’s border.

  My father’s troops had been posted there, fighting the increasing waves of monsters to keep them from encroaching on our borders. Reports said the Divine Dragon had appeared in the sky, and with a single attack, it had wiped out my father, his troops, and even the monsters they had been fighting.

  There was little else you could call it but bad luck. All the same, it was…just too much for me. I locked myself in my room in the manor. I was overwhelmed with grief, and at a loss as to what I should do. At that time, his face came to mind: Fate. The boy who always seemed to keep moving forward, no matter the circumstances.

  I want to see him again, I thought, and in that thought, I once again found the courage to take my own steps forward.

  I happened to be scheduled for guard duty that day, and that meant Fate would be on duty before I started. I could see him at our shift change. I donned my armor and hurried out of the manor. When I arrived at the castle gates, however, I met the sight of Rafale and his siblings once again beating Fate.

  Blood rushed to my head, and I almost unsheathed my sword. However, such rash a
ctions would be unforgivable for the head of the Hart family. I held down my rage, raising my voice as I moved in to stop Rafale. As a result, I succeeded in sending the Vlericks away, but what would happen next, I didn’t know.

  With my father gone, I had inherited the title of head of the Hart family. Thus, I could begin to push against certain boundaries in my way. With that in mind, I let Fate know I hoped to hire him, but I was so nervous it didn’t go as I had hoped. In the end, Fate just ran away from me. Again. I felt so stupid. I had the perfect chance to talk to him and put it entirely to waste.

  With my gatekeeper’s spear in hand, I stared up at the sky. Two hours, three hours, five hours passed, and the sky transformed the world to night. Even then, I still thought of Fate. As I did, I heard his voice. At first, I thought it was my imagination, but I soon realized it was the boy himself.

  There was a frantic expression on Fate’s face. He said he’d seen what looked like bandits. I ran to where he had seen the break-in. There, I discovered a group of people had indeed trespassed, and all of them were armed. They moved in to attack me.

  As a holy knight, these bandits were no match for me. However, they fought as a group, and one of them escaped with a light wound. I chased him down only to find Fate had finished him off. He stood shaking next to the dead body. It must have been his first time killing another person.

  I ran over and took his hand, realizing he was shaking much more than I thought. He was not the sort of person suited to this kind of brutality, and I regretted leaving him to protect the gate while I was gone.

  I could not let this go on any longer. This time, I would bring him to my side. I gathered my wits, and I made him an offer. However, in truth, it was only half for Fate himself. The other half was for me.

  I wanted him to be my courage time and again, as he had ever since we met.

  In this way, Fate became a servant of the Hart family manor, and I could see out my duties as the holy knight Roxy Hart. It was a time of great joy for me as we snuck into the kingdom’s town for an inspection and visited the Hart estate together.

  But those days, and those times, were at an end. Fate had given me a surplus of courage, and I knew I would carry it with me, in my heart, to Galia.

  I gripped the pendant made from the blue jewel Fate had bought me.

  “It’ll be okay,” I whispered.

  The gates of the Military District opened at my arrival. Within, an army awaited my orders, prepared for our expedition to Galia.

  “I can do this. I know I can do this. So please, Fate…wait for me.”

  It was up to me now to be the holy knight he expected me to be.

  Afterword

  H ELLO, I’m Isshiki Ichika.

  This novel is a revised edition of the story originally uploaded on the webnovel website Let’s Be Novelists! Since I started writing this novel, it’s taken me about two years to get to this point. On the website, I’m perhaps something of a late bloomer.

  When I write a novel, I always set one goal. This is a goal for only me as the writer and isn’t related to the story itself. This time, the goal was to see whether I could write a story that kept on growing. As readers of Volume 1 know, our hero steals the stats and skills of his enemies by way of his Gluttony skill. He’s the very definition of a main character who continues to grow. As the book’s author, there’s no better material to work with.

  In the second volume, I intend to continue telling the story of Fate, his growth, and his encounters as he sets out from the kingdom. I hope I can do a good job of expressing the story of Fate as he gets ever stronger while reckoning with the Gluttony skill.

  The first volume took quite some time to get published, but my editor told me we’ll be able to publish the second volume sooner. I hope you’ll pick up a copy when it comes out.

  Finally, my thanks go to Fame for drawing wonderful illustrations on limited time. A lot of outside factors worked together to get us this far, so I also want to say thank you to my editor for their patience and flexibility in seeing this book to publication.

  And, of course, my thanks go out to all the readers who have supported me since I started writing and publishing this story online. Without your support, I don’t think I could have made it to this point. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!

  I look forward to seeing you all again in the second volume!

  Creator Profiles

  STORY

  ISSHIKI ICHIKA

  I’m an ordinary businessman currently living in Okayama Prefecture. My daily habit is running after work, but recently, I’ve been so busy I haven’t had the chance. These days, every time I step on the scale, I feel my lack of exercise.

  ILLUSTRATIONS

  FAME

  Nice to meet you. This is my first time working on a light novel, and I enjoyed it. I’m cheering for Lady Roxy!

  Thank you for reading!

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