Jin opened his eyes within Cheng’s room, seating down in front of him. Cheng asked: “Had enough?”

Jin stated: “Yes”

Cheng nodded and added: “Don’t go yet, there should soon be the perfect occasion for you. Just get familiar with the contents in the bag for now and stabilize your new realm”

Jin nodded and left.

Cheng moved towards the window and opened it.

He sighed at the moon.

He wished in a barely audible way: “If only you could still be sane…”

…

The next day, Jin went to Nangua’s side mansion. He knocked many times to no avail. He sat down and began to cultivate as he waited.

An hour or so later, it was Sarina that surprisingly showed up. She asked him: “I thought you might not have heard and, indeed, I was right”

“Heard what?” he asked back.

She explained: “We had Nangua leave early to do a few things for us”

“Like what?” he continued to ask.

She answered in a vague way: “Set a few things into motion in order to prepare for our escape. Don’t worry about it”

Jin frowned. He was no idiot. Not always at least. And he quickly caught onto the fact that she was not planning to truly tell him what was going on. He did not like it. But he knew why she didn’t tell him. Or rather, could not.

Jin was under watch.

Not only by the forces close-by but also by forces beyond his understanding. It was a way to prevent things from being leaked out in unfortunate ways.

Then again, if you considered further, it was quite clear that it did not matter that much. If someone could access Jin’s mind, mostly everything was already fucked.

That was why he frowned.

To him, this layer of protection was useless. But they insisted upon it. Even Nangua agreed.

He reluctantly agreed back then but now he had second thoughts. Maybe he should have refused. The possibility of being betrayed…was still there.

He could not trust them.

He was unable to.

Yet, they were forcing him to.

That did not sit well with him.

Before he could start discussing this point, Sarina waved him off: “Just go in and get the stuff. Everything will become clear in a few days, don’t worry”

She walked away as she said so and he swallowed his questions back in.

He sighed before he turned back towards the door and went to open it. Indeed, it was not locked.

There was nothing at all within the entire mansion except for a single orange bag in the form of a pumpkin.

It looked ugly but reminded Jin of the Halloween decorations from his first life. Except this one was fucking huge. At least a meter tall.

Jin walked up to it and checked what was inside.

There were only a few things namely a bunch of papers with the same sigils drawn upon them and a blue crystal flask that reflected light.

He took both and placed them in his own spatial ring. There was no way he would take the creepy bag…

Or…

What if the bag was also something required?

In the end, he placed the pumpkin bag in his ring and left.

…

Nothing much happened until a month and some days later.

Something happened at that time.

War.

A rebel army was born in the far north and allied itself with the neighboring kingdom over there. It turned out that the one that had been sent over there to oversee the land betrayed the country.

And it was someone he knew very well.

Squad Captain Harold.

Or, rather, ex-Squad Captain Harold.

He and his clan had been exiled to the North after he lost to Jin in a duel years ago when Jin first reached the capital.

Though it had been mostly pushed due to political reasons and Jin was nothing more than a pawn used to carry out a plan, it was a fact that Jin was the one who defeated Harold and stole everything from him.

He did not expect to hear of the man ever again but fate seemed to- Wait. Wait, wait, wait.

The North?

Was it not where he needed to go?

Was it not where they sent Nangua ahead?

Could it be a mere coincidence?

If he thought so for a moment, which he did not, it became clear that it was not when the order came for Ame’s Squad to go there and both reincarnators laughed uproariously as they drank in celebration all night.

That was when they began to tell Jin of their plan.

He would have to disappear during the crusade and move alone to Artullom’rad. The whole war was nothing more than a small distraction to enable Jin to go over there without bringing attention to himself.

A coincidence that came at the perfect time.

A meticulously planned diversion.

That being said, it would not be that easy to disappear from his position during the march there. After all, there was a whole army with him.

And Ame.

And Ame knew nothing about their plan.

However, he had to do it. He would figure out a way while on the road. Or so he thought but as the contingent reached the boundaries of the territory’s North, Nangua appeared.

The monster was grinning as he met Jin again after many months.

However, he did not waste time. He quickly asked: “Did you bring the bag?”

Jin nodded seriously.

As he expected, the bag was required for the plan…

But then Nangua laughed.