Regressor, Possessor, Reincarnator

Before Allen left, he called Inellia aside to give her a few orders.

"…This is important so, please, be extra careful."

"Leave it to me, sir."

"Yes, I will."

She was told, in secret, to begin spreading rumors to tarnish Julius's reputation—so that the thought of Allen being better than Julius would be in the public consciousness.

So, then, a certain rumor would suggest that the young master Allen essentially came to dispose of a certain deadly curse, and, additionally, spent loads of his own money to treat those impacted by it—a rumor that would actually be true but also cleverly makes a comparison between Allen and Julius.

'It's only a small piece of the puzzle now, but once compounded with others like it…’

It would be a great force to be reckoned with.

So, for the sake of that endeavor, Inellia would need to stay here.

“I can’t come with you, sir?”

"Sir Allen made himself clear, Linbelle. But then again…”

Inellia raised her hand with stern eyes, Linbelle said with an impatient look:

“Sir, as you saw last time, I won't be a burden. You said I was talented. So this time…”

Allen pondered her request for a moment and let his senses go to work.

‘Are her muscles already developed? Her posture is stable, and her balance is, too, but…’

She didn’t have prana yet.

As he dug deeper with his sensory power, he looked around and felt a red swollen area, indicative of remaining muscle pain.

‘She’s trained too hard. That's a new one, too. If she didn't have this, I would have thought about taking her.’

He thought that if he was confident enough, he could protect her during their battle with the witch.

But there was no need to take her with him and then force her body back via a potion.

Allen stepped in between the mother and daughter’s tense atmosphere and began to speak:

"I’m leaving you here because I had to ask you to do something else. But I'll definitely take you next time. Stay here this time, though."

“…What?”

Linbelle nodded with a vacant look. As Inellia comforted her daughter, Allen, too, nodded. 

“I’ll keep Linbelle here with me. I wish you safe travels.”

“…Even if I must be a porter.”

She began to whisper, but Inelia quieted her before Allen could answer.

Swat!

"Don't be ridiculous, Linbelle."

“Ack, my head! Have a safe trip, sir."

“I will.”

Allen smiled briefly and approached Soned, who was waiting for him.

'…Have I gotten too close to them?'

He couldn’t see the face she was making, but it was clear to him that Linbelle was joking.

They shouldn’t have been talking back to him in front of someone else, even if meant as a joke. He decided to warn her about it later.

Soned gave Allen a map of the witch's estimated whereabouts and looked at him with serious eyes.

"Sir Allen, I'd like to invite you to dinner after resolving this all.”

"An invitation to dinner, you say…? I look forward to it."

Allen gave a light smile and accepted the invitation.

"You really don’t need any form of mercenary support?"

"Numbers against a witch are meaningless. A coachman to lead the carriage will be enough.”

"Then… I wish you good luck."

"Likewise to you. Well, I'll see you in a few days.”

Soned sighed with relief and looked back at the carriage as it moved away.

‘What could it be that Sir Allen wants…?’

As Soned closed his mouth quietly, Karik—who was together with Soned seeing Allen off—opened his.

"I truly respect Sir Allen for going to such lengths for his people."

"Did you notice anything from that conversation just now?"

"What? Then…"

Soned sighed as he looked at the young merchant, still foolish and inexperienced. Some younger merchants were talented, and others were still immature.

"Ah, no, I should‘ve told you, too.”

"What are you trying to say?"

Soned opened his mouth, looking at the carriage, now only visible as a dot at its distance.

"Do you know about the Reinhart family’s lady of the house? Or…”

He asked as he blocked out the sunlight.

"Do you know anything about the Lupinus family?"

* * *

"Sir, this is the fifth place marked on the map."

"Let's check it out for a moment."

"Y-yes, sir."

The coachman trembled, looking at the deep ravine in front of him with fear on his face. Dark-green moss and shadows surrounded the ravine.

‘I can feel traces of dark magic around. Was there some sort of massacre here in the past?’

Well, it didn't matter.

Allen looked in every nook and cranny, spreading out his senses—from caves in the corner of the ravine to its base, covered in darkness. For a while, he searched the ravine so quickly that the information didn’t even properly reach his head, but his findings were disappointing.

"…Not here either.”

Zombies may have naturally occurred here after a few more years, but not yet. Allen opened the map again to check over it.

‘11 places left, with five already checked. And the time we have left is…’

Two weeks at most.

Within that time frame, he had to kill the witch.

‘I can’t buy any more time than that.’

Including the time to clean up and return, there’d only be two weeks to get it all done. If he didn’t kill the witch during that time, he wouldn’t make it before Julius's arrival.

‘I can’t get to all of the areas marked on the map.’

Three days had already passed looking at five spots. It was even more of a waste of time to wait around here, looking at the spots listed on the map.

‘I have to use a different method. To look in other places. Wait…’

"Ah."

Allen noted his stupidity and immediately withdrew a bead. A gray bead with blended-in white spots.

[Heaven’s Eye].

One of the five Wonders of the First Warrior found in the family's trove.

‘I forgot about it, since I haven’t used it yet…'

But when he thought about it, there was nothing more suitable than the bead at that moment.

‘What a fool.’

When he first took it out of the trove, he thought it’d be a good idea to take a look at it, but after having gone through his spar with Julius, having found the potion in the mountains, and having dealt with the white book, too, he decided to store it for future use. 

Using it was easy. That information was as widespread as the knowledge of the existence of the Wonders themselves. Plus, he saw Julius use it in his previous life.

Allen promptly grabbed the bead and cleared his mind. The bead quickly began to emanate a suction power, sucking his mind into the bead.

‘Am I… in the sky?’ 

He hurriedly woke up and looked down, seeing himself standing below him with closed eyes.

‘Is this the Wonder’s power…?’

He had no idea what its purpose was meant to be.

Allen—who looked around at his surroundings for a while—hurriedly returned to concentrating as the white parts of the bead began to turn gray.

‘The location of the witch spreading the curse.’

As soon as he thought about it, hundreds of places around the world simultaneously scrambled into his head.

It was crazy. 

Allen hurriedly reduced the range of his sensing, which was causing a terrible headache—much more severe than normal.

‘…The search suggests the western territories of the Kingdom of Liberé.’

Even when he tried to reduce the scope of his search, more than 10 places populated his mind at the same time.

'…Similar things are happening throughout the kingdom?’

Allen wanted to continue his search, but as the white parts of the bead were disappearing at a rapid pace, he had no choice but to give up his search.

‘Just as I thought… could this all be the fault of Estedor’s dark sorcerers?’

He’d already guessed it from his private meeting with Inellia, but they were the only ones who’d try to carry out such crazy plans. Allen already knew of three serious acts that they would commit in the future—they were all related to Julius, too.

Allen realized he had no more time and narrowed his sensing range down again. After reducing the scale of his sensing to only the Reinhart territories, only two places remained. And once he narrowed his scope to the west… 

'…I found it.'

Nearby the western city of Bergen, a three-day-long trip from the city, an unnamed forest.

In one vision that came to his mind, an old witch covered in fresh blood sat like an old tree in the center of a magic square. 

She gazed into the very space from which he watched her.

"It's a witch."

She lifted her hand as if she knew something was going on.

Seeing this, Allen quietly whispered:

“—Clock’s ticking.”

“…!”

In the exact moment that all the white parts of the beads turned gray, Allen's consciousness immediately returned to his body.

"Ahh— AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

As Allen stood still, the coachman—who had been anxiously approaching Allen’s body—fell backwards when Allen's eyes snapped open.

"How long has it been?”

“Wh-what?”

"How long has it been since I closed my eyes?”

"Well, it's…"

Allen waited calmly for his answer.

The coachman stuttered, counted his fingers, looked up at the sky, and replied in an unsure tone.

"Maybe… about five minutes?"

"Five minutes…"

There probably wasn’t any discrepancy in time.

And if that were the case, it meant that the time to activate the power of the Wonder wasn’t long.

"Thank you. Then let's go to the next place."

"Yes, the next destination on the map is—”

"No, the place we're headed for is…”

Allen smiled coolly, recalling the witch's surprised expression.

"A forest located three days from Bergen. We’re heading there."

* * *

"Miss Inellia, is there anything wrong?"

"No, thanks to you, I'm doing well."

"That's good to hear. Also, as Sir Allen asked, if there's anything I can do for you, please tell me."

"I see. Thank you."

"Alright, then…"

—Click.

* * *

* * * 

Shortly after Soned’s assigned maid had finished greeting her and left the room, Linbelle, who’d been sitting modestly next to her, asked with an uneasy expression:

"Mom, am I useless?"

It had already been three days since Sir Allen had left. In the meantime, all Inellia and Linbelle did was talk to Soneed, who’d only ask if anything was wrong.

Contrary to Allen’s promise that he’d give her something to do, she had nothing but to wait in the room provided for them.

Linbelle chewed her lips, repeatedly grabbing and letting go of her clothes compulsively.

"Didn’t Sir Allen not take me because I’m useless?"

For the first time, she admired his power.

She realized the absurdity of having no power—that when you had no power, things didn’t turn out in your favor.

So…

"Why? Why can't I use prana? Huh, Mom?"

She tried to live up to Sir Allen’s expectations after he’d given her a chance out of goodwill.

She tried to reward that kind-hearted goodwill by overdoing it to an arguably excessive degree. 

"…The truth is, I'm nothing special, right? Mom, you're a fairy… So why, why, why…?”

She wanted to repay his trust—his affirmations saying that she wasn’t a weed stranded by the side of the road, but a white blooming flower on a cliff.

"But why, why am I…? Why? You’re a fairy, so… Please. Please, can't you answer me?"

He didn’t doubt that Linbelle possessed special abilities, but she herself couldn't believe it.

His expectations, which she’d joyfully accepted, were now overwhelming.

"Mom, am I really useless…?”

"No, you are absolutely not, Linbelle."

Inellia quickly pulled her into her arms, refuting her claims.

"It isn’t true, Linbelle—I know that for a fact. You can do it. It's just a little hard right now.”

"Really? You’re sure? You’re not just saying that…?"

"No, of course not."

Inellia was heartbroken.

Linbelle had never been like this before. She was once naive, cute, and playful. Inellia couldn’t believe that such a child could collapse on her own.

‘…If it's this hard…’

She opened her eyes resolutely and whispered in a friendly tone.

"Then… what if we stop?"

“…!”

Inellia patted her on the back, and continued, in a faint voice:

"These last few months… I think you've had a good experience, so… do you want to go back to our old life? I will hunt; you will forage for herbs."

They lived without worries. Nothing too wrong ever occurred. At worst, if they sometimes didn’t have enough firewood, they could just sleep close to each other.

If hunting went well, they’d spend the night cooking with happy faces, and if the hunt was a failure, they’d make her favorite mushroom stew.

"Do you want to go back to our monotonous, but peaceful, life?"

Linbelle remained silent for a while, then replied in a small voice:

"No… I don't want to."

"Why not? You said that it was too hard."

Inellia asked softly, without a fuss.

"…I don't want to."

"Why?"

Linbelle remembered the reason why she’d put in so much effort. 

Although she was now struggling with Allen's expectations, it was simultaneously the foundational cause of her pursuit of strength.

"…I don't want to live like that anymore.”

The sight of her mother being kidnapped because of her weakness still cut so deep that it often appeared in her nightmares.

"Alright, but tell me if you ever want to give up. I’m always on your side."

Inellia moved Linbelle to the bedroom and laid on the bed together with her.

"You’ll feel a little better if you take a nap. Got it?"

"…Okay."

Linbelle must’ve been mentally exhausted, quickly letting out an even breath and promptly falling asleep.

Inellia sighed, feeling relieved, and, with a serious look, she recalled what Allen had asked.

"Before that, hold on a second…”

She closed her eyes.

As she concentrated, a figure of a blueish girl appeared around her as the wind blew.

"Sylphi."

Hahaha!

"Shh!"

What?

"My daughter is sleeping. Could you keep it down?”

As Inellia stroked her daughter’s head and made her request, Sylphi nodded gently and clung to her cheek.

"Sylphi, would you make it quieter here?”

Sylphi nodded immediately, taking the shape of the wind and circling around the two of them, enclosing them away from the outside.

"I'll be out for a bit, so stay like that for a while, please."

Inellia rose carefully from bed, feeling the wind patting her as if it understood.

“…”

She lowered her daughter’s sleeping head onto the bed.

Inellia carefully returned to her true fairy form—a beautiful gray-skinned fairy, with 14 pairs of wings, appeared.

"I'm sorry, Linbelle. I want to stay with you, but I'll be right back."

She apologized to the sleeping girl and secretly used her powers.

It was the fairies' ability to transform into other creatures. Inellia’s body melted into shadows in an instant. She quickly slipped out of the door and disappeared.

To carry out Sir Allen’s orders.

As soon as Inellia disappeared, Linbelle's purple eyes opened. Her eyes turned to the door where Inellia had disappeared.

"Liar."

Linbelle shrugged off the ugly feelings that spread in her heart with empty eyes.

"…I was right."

She quickly covered her face with a pillow.

So she couldn't see what kind of expression she would have.

Truly.

* * *

In the following days, Allen's name began to circulate quietly under the surface of the city.

With an intent behind it.