Level 1 Strongest Sage ~

REINCARNATION

The black, thick, oppressive aura, which worsened one’s emotional state, spread inside the temple where Saijō Haruto hovered between life and death.

A man, claiming to be the Evil God, and a girl, who was his follower, stood before Saijō Haruto.

“You mean to say you killed me, and then you had me reincarnate into the world you rule in… is that it?”

“That’s right.”

Haruto, who was transported to this temple unaware and was initially distracted, tried to grasp his situation somehow as he listened to the Evil God’s story.

The Evil God had interfered with Haruto’s fate and stolen his life, or so he said. And even if that person was the one who had killed him, the oppressive aura in this space was so strong that Haruto couldn’t help but use honorifics naturally.

“Was there a reason to kill me? Shouldn’t a god be able to summon others without killing them?”

Haruto had been on his way home from school when he was run over by a drowsy driver’s car and died.

It seemed as if he was transported to this world the moment he died, so he (almost) did not feel the pain. However, the horror of seeing the car coming towards him at high-speed was etched deeply into his mind, and this memory might turn into a trauma.

“To bring you into this world, it was necessary to harness the negative energies of fear and despair that come with death.”

Presently, the only one who possesses the power to transfer and reincarnate humans from the different world was the Creator God.

However, the Evil God utilized the Heavenly Realm’s energy as well as the energy of the person being summoned to this world so as to reincarnate people from the other world.“Did I really die…?”

Currently, Haruto’s body has turned transparent. It seemed as if it had turned into something like a spirit body.

When transferring, the whole body would be brought to this world. But in the case of reincarnation, the body would be left behind in the original world, and only the soul would transcend to this world.

The reincarnation process would be completed when the soul of the person being reborn entered the body prepared by the god in this world. While looking at his half-transparent body, the reality of his death sunk in on Haruto.

However, he was not depressed.

Since the Evil God said that he would reincarnate him, it meant Haruto would have a second chance in life.

Although he was not dissatisfied with his life in his original world, nor did he have any unfulfilled dreams, he yearned for something akin to reincarnation.

“Excuse me, but… when you reincarnate me, I can receive a skill or something like that, right?”Haruto had been reading web-novels about reincarnation to a different world while he was in his original world, so he was expecting future development.

Yes, he was hoping the Evil God would bestow him with a cheat-grade ability like:

• Physical strength that could overwhelm demons.
• Inexhaustible magical power even if one used the highest level of magic.
• Defense protection that wouldn’t even crack no matter how much one was attacked.
• Blacksmithing skill that could be used to create a sword capable of killing in one hit.

Each of them was an exhilarating ability. Haruto also wanted to accomplish something while using those abilities in the following scenarios:

• Facing a massive army on his own, then turning a desperate war into victory.
• Usually hiding his powers, then in the hour of need, he would suddenly overwhelm strong enemies, while saying, “Yare-yare!”, nonchalantly.
• Saving a beauty in distress, then having a good time with her…

As if to affirm Haruto’s fantasies, the Evil God opened his mouth.

“Yes. I do have something to bestow upon you.”

“It’s here! Is it a skill? Or maybe it’s a special ability? Or a cheat-like status? Oh well, I can live with whatever ability I’ll have.”

No matter how useless a trash skill might be, depending on how one used it, they could still become peerless in that world.

Why?

In the web-novels he had been reading in his previous life, it was a given that the protagonist would become peerless in the other world through various ways.

And Haruto was reincarnated.

That was to say, he was the protagonist in this world—or so he thought.

However, Haruto had forgotten—the one who reincarnated him was neither the Creator God nor a Goddess, like those in web-novels, but the Evil God.

While looking at Haruto’s innocent excitement, the Evil God spoke.

At the same time, the corners of the Evil God’s mouth were lifted in a smile.

However, wickedness hid behind his eyes.

“I bestow upon you… a curse.”

“…Yes?”

Without understanding what the Evil God said, Haruto’s thoughts were interrupted.

“I’ll be troubled if I let you flourish in our world. So, let me bestow upon you the [Static Status] curse.”

“What, why a curse!? And what do you mean by Static Status?”

“It is what it means. From henceforth, wherever you go, you will be defeating demons and leveling up, becoming stronger. However, because of the curse I bestowed upon you, no matter how many demons you defeat, you won’t level up.”

“Ha, haa!? Don’t mess with me! What, why did this—”

Haruto wanted to draw closer to the Evil God, but the nearer he was to him, the slower his movements became. He could think normally, but his body refused to move as he wanted.

“In this space, it would be futile for someone like you to come closer to me. Now, it’s time to have you reincarnate in our world.”

“Wa, Wait!”

When the Evil God pointed his finger towards Haruto, his body started to disintegrate.

“At least, explain a little mor—”

Haruto was reincarnated by the Evil God mid sentence.

At the moment of rebirth, the Evil God placed the curse on Haruto’s soul.

The Evil God placed a constraint on the curse by pouring a large amount of spiritual energy and a great portion of his evil energy. He turned it into a super-strong curse that rejected the Creator God’s interference, and not even the Evil God himself could undo it.

The shikigami, who was silently watching the interaction between Haruto and the evil god, spoke. “With this, we’ll have stability in gathering energy.”

“Yeah, I spent a considerable amount of this world’s energy on that guy’s rebirth and curse. If I could, I wanted to turn him into the lowest rank worker. Unfortunately, because of that old man’s temple rules, he conveniently got a [Tertiary Job].”

“Notwithstanding his [Tertiary Job], because his status was fixed, not only is it impossible for him to become strong enough to defeat the Demon King, he might even lose to low-level demons. There’s no need to bother with him.”

“Well, that’s right.”

After saying that, the Evil God slumped to his seat, his face betraying his fatigue.

“I ended up using a large amount of power… I’ll rest for a while. I leave the rest to you.”

“Yes.”

Then, the Evil God fell asleep.

The Evil God had placed a curse on Haruto that even he could not lift.

Unexpectedly, Haruto became a Sage.

Moreover, the Evil God had made a mistake the instant he cast the curse.

This event turned into a miraculous fortune for Haruto, conversely causing the Evil God to fall into a predicament.

It was a while before the Evil God noticed this.