Chapter 38

Jae left the basement after collecting everything inside and throwing it into the Inventory. The whole process was completed swiftly and silently. Once he had exited the last place in the village that hadn't yet been destroyed, Jae collapsed the basement with magic.

No evidence should remain. It would be unfortunate if someone were to come across this and find that place. All the more so if was someone already aware of the relic's existence; then, they'd know someone took it. This way, at least it would seem as if it's been destroyed along with the rest of the village. Maybe I should've made some replicas first and kept them down there just in case, but it'll probably be fine.

Gazing upon the surroundings―the pitiful, ruined village that is now no more than scattered piles of rubble and human remains―Jae thought about how, funnily enough, Rena and Bailey were the only two survivors of this incident.

He then recalled what the culprit of the incident admitted to him.

〔There was no need to ensure all the villagers' deaths. I mean, what can they possibly do? They are mere human peasants, not warriors or magicians. Even if, hypothetically speaking, there were any stragglers... Then they wouldn't be able to survive in this great forest for more than a day, anyway. I don't know what you are, but surely you understand where I'm coming from, right?〕

"...Stupid..."

It's all so useless... Just wait until I arrive, stupid bastards.

"Mr Jae...!"

Suddenly, he heard someone call his name from afar. It caused a small, self-deprecating smile to once again appear on his face, but Jae quickly erased it, reminding himself of the cause.

This was my doing, so I can only blame myself...

Turning around, Jae faced the girl who was running up to him.

"Mr Jae!"

Every time he heard the formal prefix to his name, Jae's heart stung slightly, but there was nothing he could do. There was no basis for assuming that the 'Bronze Globe' relic could return memories, so Jae didn't want to risk using it before testing it out. And in the first place, he was already trusted by her, so there was no real or urgent need to do it right now anyway.

"Rena... Did you need anything?"

The Demon girl, who wore an innocent smile on her face, lightly shook her head.

"I wanted to see you. Are you done?"

Momentarily glancing back at the collapsed basement, Jae smiled at Rena.

"Yes, I'm all done. But, are you feeling alright?"

Since she was smart for her age, Rena understood that Jae was asking if she was mentally okay being in this place, as she had been living in Bahgwud for under a year before it was abruptly attacked and destroyed.

Her smile visibly weakened as she nodded meekly.

"Mn, I'm okay..."

Jae stared at the top of her lowered head before turning in Bailey's direction.

"..."

Bailey, the poor kid, was abandoned by his biological parents in this backwater village as a child before being adopted by the chief, Gadeun. Then, only a year later, the village was destroyed, and Bailey's foster father, killed.

The boy stood solemnly in the middle of the ruined village, with a horribly downcast face. What he was feeling, was both despondence, and incompetence.

Jae walked over to him and spoke.

"Have you accepted it? The truth of the matter."

After a moment of deliberation, Bailey wordlessly nodded. Looking at the sight around him, he could only recall the terrifying sight of the 'Demon Beast'―the monster two-headed wolf that destroyed his home.

Previously, when the village was peaceful, Bailey and his were discriminatory and prejudiced towards Rena. They bullied her simply for the fact that she was different and physically weaker than they. For a kid like Bailey, too, who held an inferiority complex towards the girl―because of her intelligence and talent―it was even worse. He unreasonably took his anger out on her, and now that he is reflecting on it, he admits that he was in the wrong.

However, the damage was already dealt with; the harsh words were already spoken, and none of it could not be taken back. Jae had healed Rena's body, but he could not heal her mind. Hell, he couldn't even restore the horn that was broken.

Erasing her memories of all the cruelty was certainly an option, but no way is that going to happen; there are many huge risks to be considered after a large portion of memories suddenly goes missing. Take, for example, mental disorders like Dementia or Alzheimer's, and how difficult it is for people with those to live a normal life―in most cases, as sad as the truth may be, it is quite impossible.

But, more than that, it was running away from the problem. Rena has, in some aspects, actually grown from her unfortunate experiences in the village. Mentally, especially. Even now, she is quite alright after getting some adequate rest, thanks to Jae. Erasing her memory at this point... It just brings too many unnecessary risks, none of which need to be taken.

In any case, Bailey admits his mistakes. On the contrary, he wishes to make up for them.

"Hoo."

Exhaling sharply, Bailey raised his head and looked Jae straight in the eyes.

"I will prove myself."

The boy has resolved himself. In the future, he will grow to be quite an outstanding person, Jae thought. He smirked while looking at Bailey's deadly serious expression.

Well, we'll see about that, won't we? Don't worry, kid; you'll have plenty of time to prove yourself.

...

......

"I'm sorry."

Bailey bowed his head towards Rena and apologised sincerely, with all his heart. However, he knew that an apology alone was nowhere near enough to fully make amends for what he did, so he continued.

"I will dedicate my life to you, Rena, to atone for my previous actions."

"Ehhh...? N-no, you don't need to go that far..."

"...Then, until you are satisfied--"

"I meant I forgive you already! I also understand... what it's like to be abandoned, too, so..."

Jae stood, awkwardly shifting his gaze to the side.

Fhoo, that hits deep...

"S-so... we can work through it together. With Mr Jae's help."

"...Okay. But, I'm still going to serve you as best I can, and I won't accept your refusal. This is all I can do to atone, so I'm sorry."

"No, you don't need to apologise. We'll get through it together, right?"

"Y-yeah! Together..."

Glancing once at Bailey's flushed face, Jae turned his back without a word.

'Together', huh. Can't say I agree with the notion, myself, but if you both agree on it...

He started walking South-East.

"Ok, this should be a good spot for tonight.", Jae suddenly stopped walking and spoke when the three arrived in a small clearing within the trees.

"Bailey. Gather the mana within yourself, and concentrate it around your heart. Once done, circulate it once around your entire body; still in the concentrated form. Keep it at a consistent pace and don't stop until you are done. Rinse and repeat this every five laps the mana makes around your body. You should gain the skill fairly quickly, but keep going until it reaches at least Level 7."

"Eh? U-uh--Yes, sir!"

Jae was going to instruct the two on how to steadily increase their「Mana Manipulation」. He decided that he'd teach them the necessary skills to survive while on their way to the Demon King's Castle, and thought it'd be a waste of time and talent otherwise.

"Now, Rena. Since you're a Demon, you've probably already had some similar practice with your mother, right? So I'll move you onto the next step."

"Yes...?"

"Okay, so start by coating your body with mana."

"Yes."

"Once you've done that, slowly try and expand the range of your mana. You should at the very least be able to control mana outside your body. This is vital for the next step to work properly, so work smart and hard. If your external mana touches something, then you should be able to sense it even with your eyes closed. Let's start with something small for now."

Jae placed a small wooden cup down that he took from the Inventory. He placed it on a wooden stump about five metres away.

"Your first goal is to be able to extend your mana at least to this cup. When you can reach this cup, envelop it with your mana. Repeating this process with larger and farther away targets will simultaneously increase both your detection abilities and be good training for your mana manipulation."

"......"

She was silent due to sheer concentration, but Jae knew she heard him as she nodded, so he didn't worry about it.

Rena seemed to have great talent when we first met, so she should be fine without my input as long as I properly direct her down the right path.

Looking back towards Bailey, it seemed he was still struggling a bit trying to control his internal mana.

Hm. It might be that because his mana pool is so small, it's quite difficult. Well, it's fine.

"You two, I'll be back in a bit, so keep going until you collapse. If I return and you can still stand, wail in your boots."

While they were doing that, Jae decided to do something productive with his free time. He blinked away from the two, deeper into the forest.

In the fight with Reon, I realised the weakness of my greatsword. Although it is certainly powerful and useful for blocking incoming attacks―it is slow, and there are instances where I took unnecessary damage simply because the enemy was faster. Well, there were also many other factors like combat experience and whatnot, but the weapon choice as well had a big impact.

Unfortunately, there probably wasn't enough time or good enough materials to make a brand new weapon from scratch, so Jae thought to try something else instead.

I could cut down the greatsword to the size of something like a normal sword, but that wouldn't be good in the long term. I'll probably want to use it in the future anyway, so I don't want to do something irreversible like that and destroy it.

By now, Jae thought he was enough of a distance away from the clearing, so he stopped in a small clearing of trees.

This should be far enough.

Briefly stretching his muscles in preparation, Jae reached into the Inventory―and gulped nervously.

"Huu...", he exhaled.

Slowly retracting his hand from the dimensional subspace, the air around Jae began to tremble quietly.

First, a long, onyx-black handle appeared, and then, a blood-red orb became visible, before lastly, a gigantic, terribly sharp and sinister, curved blade of a similar, shiny black.

―Jae had fully taken the Death God's Scythe from the Inventory, and even just the act of doing so caused the surrounding air to feel heavy.

The blood orb in the centre of the weapon split open from the middle, revealing an intimidating and dragon-like golden eye. The eye's jagged black pupil flicked to Jae and stared at him for a second; before a sickening voice entered his head.

[Jae? Jae? Master. Master. Where? Where?]

The one whose name was called felt a droplet of cold sweat run down his neck, as he resolved himself to tame the ungodly weapon.

"Your master... is not here, presently."

As he spoke, Jae felt the continuous, absurd intensifying of corrupt magical energy, surging around him.

...Oh, no......

"―I'm back."

""Master Jae!""

...Master? ...Well, whatever. It's better than 'Mr' at least.

"How are things going for you both? Making progress?"

"Not really...", Bailey said, looking dejected.

"Yep!", said Rena, with a glowing smile on her face.

"...Two contrasting answers, I see. Well, don't worry about if you're making progress or not―it's your first day of training, and anyway, it's something you're not used to, so you're bound to need some time."

"...Really?"

"Mmm. I needed years to get where I am, so don't worry about it."

"Right..."

"Yep, Bailey, it's alright if you don't get it immediately. We're here to help.", Rena said confidently.

Bailey replied in a cynical tone.

"You can only say that because you're talented..."

Jae corrected Bailey.

"Hey, you shouldn't get jealous of Rena. In the first place, she's already received some amount of training from her mother and siblings, meanwhile, you're starting from scratch as a human. Not to mention, her race has an innate aptitude for all things magical, so don't beat yourself up over nonsense like talent. It's not like humans don't have talents either, right?"

"......I see... Master, I will work my hardest!", he yelled with sparkling eyes.

Is this good advice...? Well, I hope so. Good.

Jae nodded in affirmation and smiled when Rena suddenly spoke out in a curious tone.

"Oh, but, Master?"

"Hm?"

"How did your business go? I could feel dark energy coming from the forest..."

She seemed worried. Jae stroked her head and replied with a weary look on his face.

"It's alright--", Jae suddenly paused, "......Though, it might take a while."

"What are doing out there anyway, Master?", Bailey interjected.

"Hmm... Do you want to see?"

Jae spoke with a suspicious grin, causing shivers to run down Bailey's spine.

"N-no thanks... I'm fine..."

"Don't poke your nose into adults' business. Anyway, you too, it's late. Go to bed quickly."

He spoke while pointing to the cloth he turned into sleeping bags earlier in the day.

"Okay."

"Okay, Master!", Rena said cheerfully. She seemed to be exhausted earlier from the magic training, but now she's fine? Jae thought it had something to do with a Demon's natural mana regeneration.

After confirming that the two had safely fallen asleep, Jae put out the fire and walked a short distance away to rest himself.

―That night, he had a dream.

"......What the hell is going on?"

Jae stood on full alert in a pitch-black space.

Even with his fully-enhanced, magically-reinforced eyes and skills like「Night Vision」, it was impossible to see anything other than himself in this vast blackness.

Suddenly, a strange voice resounded throughout the entire darkness.

《It's very nice to finally meet you, Jae.》

Hearing it shook Jae to his very core. The voice―sounded completely normal at first glance―was terribly suspicious in contents. He thought it sounded just like any other ordinary guy, but even merely that thought alone frightened him.

《I've been waiting for a long time for this moment, you know. I'm so glad the opportunity has arisen.》

Waiting? A long time? To meet me? Who--what the hell is this? How does it know about me?

《How I know about you...? Pfft, now that's a silly question. Who doesn't know who you are?》

!?

Alarmed, many questions ran through Jae's mind, but he was terrified to ask any of them, though this unknown being seemed to have the ability to read his thoughts.

As he concentrated, Jae began to see a faint haze within the "empty" space. Slowly, it took the form of a person―just a regular adult male, with a regular voice. The haze didn't have any distinct features; it was only a silhouette with two circles for eyes and a line for a mouth.

It felt like the haze wanted him to say something, and eventually, Jae managed to let out a voice.

"......What... are you, exactly?"

He spoke with extreme caution, as Jae could instinctively feel his powerlessness in front of the haze. The curved line on the haze's face―its disturbing smile―opened as it talked.

《What am I? Shouldn't you be more curious about what you are?》

"......"

Jae found it impossible to reply. He simply didn't know what to say back.

In his mind, he thought it was an easy question, as the answer could only really be one of two things; either, Jae is an Undead, as the System judges, or he is human. But then again, because the one asking the question was the thing in front of him, Jae believed it to be more profound.

The haze chuckled heartily.

《Hahaha. Ah, don't think too deeply about it, Jae. You are still human in my eyes.》

"I... am? But, both the Status and Soul State say that--"

《Oh, here we go... The System, is it...? Haa. Jae, I would like to inform you of a little secret. Well, it's not really a secret, but... Anyway, would you mind if I let you in on something?》

Jae, perplexed, thought there could be nothing negative about free information, despite the fact that it came from the unfathomable existence conversing with him right now; in fact, this made Jae all the more curious of what this "secret" might be.

From the way that the topic changed... It must be related to the System, right?

"...I would like to hear what you have to say."

《Haha, good, good... Jae. The System is, quite frankly, biased.》

What? What is he talking about?

《What, didn't you think about it? I know you have had... few, majorly insightful thoughts or speculations on what the System may be, exactly, or under what sort of method it operates, however... You indeed have had moments of... Let's call it 'spite', where you thought the System's judgement to be unfair, no?》

At the haze's continuous probing, numerous flashbacks to Jae's time in the Seronian Royal Palace, and when he first resurrected inside the Great Plaentic Forest, rushed into and through his mind.

......He's right. With「Envy」and「Wrath」―the both of them were initially triggered by my feelings of injustice...

《That's right. Anyway, with that, you understand, don't you? Or... Ahem. If you'd like more examples of the System's plainly-shown prejudice, simply take a look at the differences in Status Value gains per Level. Jae, because yours were so negligible―a mere plus two points in each base per Level―I was even forced to go and labour for a while.》

?!?!

As Jae was shocked by the nonchalant statement, the haze slowly shook his head which he supported with a hand.

《My, it was really tiring, you know? And in the end, all I managed to get for my trouble was a mere Distributable Point system... Like seriously, 1 Point per Level? It's ridiculous. Really, you wouldn't know it, since you never chose one, but even a Class wouldn't have affected the Stats you gain. Adding on top of all that the sweet cherry that is 'Locked Luck'; even a blind man could see the terribly unnatural bias held against you by the System.》

"..."

The man in question didn't know what to think, as the entire situation he found himself in was completely bizarre and unexpected.

《Oh, that's right; your question from earlier. You asked what I am? Well, my name can be pronounced as Reius in your language, so feel free to call me that. Oh, it might make things clearer if I said this―》

"......"

Still confused, Jae didn't reply. But then, the strangely amiable 'haze' called Reius, kicked things up a notch; by dropping a very abrupt bombshell.

《――I'm the one who cursed you.》