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“I was doubtful, but it turns out to be true. Just by looking at your bewildered gaze, I was immediately convinced. It’s been a while, Boris….”

“Oh, it’s been a long time indeed. Lord Galas!”

Boris, unable to raise his head, only sweated profusely.

Lord Galas Avern of Axilium looked at Boris’s pathetic state with a displeased gaze.

It was not a bustling street in the city center where the lord’s residence was located, nor a busy street with people passing by.

It was a desolate alley where nobody ventured.

It seemed that the meeting was not meant to be spread to the outside, as black-masked men were guarding the surroundings.

“I heard you recently took up a position as an instructor at the Royal Academy. What’s the reason for suddenly appearing in Axilium again?”

“Oh, the Academy instructor position?”

Boris’s eyes widened as if hearing the news for the first time.

“I-I apologize, my lord! I beg your forgiveness. I have no memory of the past few years….”

Boris explained to the lord, just as he did to Cyan, that his memory was not normal.

Listening to the explanation, Galas frowned deeply and said.

“Ha! Amnesia… I thought you were on a secret mission for the prince. It’s strange that someone like you, cursed with such bloodline, would have a proper mental state.”

Despite his insulting words, Boris maintained a steady expression without wavering.

“So, do you intend to stay here?”

“I think so, my lord. If you allow me, I would like to continue to work for the people as before….”

“What are you talking about, Boris? There’s no need for that.”

Galas immediately interrupted Boris’s words.

“You don’t need to do tasks for the people anymore. Instead, you should work for me.”

“I-If you mean work…”

“Don’t play dumb. You should remember that, right? I had ambitious plans for Prince Louisnel, but it all fell apart when you left for the palace. This time, do something solely for me, not the prince.”

Boris couldn’t immediately respond, so he swallowed his dry saliva.

“Don’t worry about the people anymore. As long as you exert yourself for me, the residents of the slums won’t starve to death.”

Although it may sound like a thoughtful suggestion at first, in reality, it was like an imposition without room for refusal.

Knowing this all too well, Boris could only nod reluctantly.

“I will follow your orders, my lord….”

After finishing the conversation, Boris quietly turned away and walked back towards the slum where he came from.

Watching his retreating figure, Galas called his subordinate and gave secret instructions.

“Don’t let anyone know that he’s here in Axilium. Keep an eye on his every move from morning till night!”

“Yes, my lord!”

Galas finally showed a satisfied smile.

“Still the same as two years ago. When you saw the prince, you changed as if you were someone else, but now you’ve returned to the person I know….”

Although he didn’t know what had happened in the past two years, the unknown gaps in his memory dominating him now were incredibly beneficial to Galas.

For a moment, he watched Boris’s disappearing direction with meaningful eyes.

“….!”

Sensing something unusual, Galas immediately turned his head.

It was like a predatory beast revealing its fangs upon discovering its prey, sending out a chilling aura.

“W-What’s wrong?”

But where he turned his head, there was only the silent night breeze fluttering sadly.

* * *

As you know, I’m not particularly fond of books.

However, not liking them doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate their value.

In this cramped space where five people could barely sit, there were hundreds of books.

From research papers by academy scholars to high-level magic textbooks that were hard to come by, and even research journals from various international societies.

I didn’t know where they came from, but these books weren’t suitable for a place like this slum.

“…You followed me here,”

He said, entering the shack abruptly and seeing my back.

It wasn’t something to hide, so I didn’t deny it.

The tension and fear that had filled the air just a moment ago had disappeared.

Suddenly, he began to tidy up the scattered books around him, as if he would never come back to this space again.

“I won’t act arrogantly. Please kill me…”

He knelt before me, surrendering everything and begging for death.

Just as I had begged for my life in my past life, I had also received pleas for death many times.

When death brought more heinous suffering than relief, their desperate pleas for death always echoed in my ears.

Although I didn’t particularly enjoy seeing that, the current scene lacked the excitement I had felt before, making it the worst begging for death I had ever seen.

Annoying.

Any intention I had to kill him to prevent further trouble had completely vanished.

Thinking of the sinister smile of the real Boris watching this scene somewhere, anger surged within me once again, accompanied by a gnashing of teeth.

“People might be right about us. We’re a cursed clan whose mere existence is not tolerated. Now that I realize it, I’m truly pathetic…”

“What are you talking about?”

Weakly lifting his head, Boris picked up a book placed next to him.

“The world always said about us. That we shouldn’t exist, that we’re meaningless beings even if we do… I always hated those words and wanted to refute them. We are undoubtedly confident human beings on this continent…”

What he picked up was a beginner’s magic textbook, suitable for a freshman just admitted to the academy.

“I had what they call ‘talent.’ I first manifested mana when I was ten, and within a year, I had mastered several attributes of magic. At that time, this magic textbook, which I barely managed to obtain, was all I had to rely on.”

Even if I had seen it thousands of times, the condition of the book was remarkably worn-out.

“The reason I wanted to hone my magic was simple. I thought if my power could extend beyond the slums and help others, the world’s perception of us would change. So, I relentlessly developed my magical abilities and used that power to help people. But what I received in return was…”

For a moment, Boris choked up, unable to continue his words.

“If you followed me, you must have heard what Lord Galas said to me…”

He suddenly took something out of his pocket and showed it to me.

An artifact that was so familiar to me that it made my teeth chatter.

It was a Marionette doll.

“I suppose you know what this is.”

Even if it was your specialty, there’s no way I wouldn’t recognize an artifact like that.

“Every day, I went out to work on the streets, but I found there were limitations to what I could do alone. When I shared food with the slum residents, there was never enough to go around. Then one day, Lord Galas came to me. He asked if I wanted to work for him.”

“Work?”

“Yes. He promised to significantly increase support for the slum residents if results were achieved. I couldn’t refuse his offer.”

“And that work involved making Marionettes?”

“That’s right…”

I looked at Boris with a hint of suspicion.

Lord Galas Avon of Axilium.

Among the empire’s officials, he rose to the rank of a 7th-tier mage, a rare feat for someone from the Ushif Empire’s Magic Society, and he sought to establish his own independent power by actively utilizing his magical specialty, creating magic artifacts secretly.

Once his activities were exposed, assassination orders were issued promptly.

Following that, the Mist operatives assassinated him, and all the artifacts he had created were completely destroyed without a trace.

That’s why pur leader was worried when I went to Axilium alone.

Dealing with Galas wasn’t difficult, but there were surprisingly many artifacts he had made, so quite a few operatives were deployed to handle them.

It was almost at the level of production in the society.

The question arose, however, that among the artifacts we had destroyed, there was no Marionette.

Not even a similar artifact.

And amidst all this, this guy, who I didn’t even know what he was, supposedly teamed up with Galas and made a Marionette?

I couldn’t just pass this off as nothing.

“If I say I didn’t know, it would be a lie. Whatever the reason for making it, I knew this artifact would never be used in the right way.”

“…”

“But I couldn’t stop even though I knew. Even though I believed that my power was being used for a worthy cause and couldn’t abandon the people of the slums who relied on me, that belief dragged me to this point.”

“…”

“But now I’m tired. I don’t want to do anything anymore. Even though I can’t remember the two years, now that someone is trying to kill me, what’s the point of living anymore? It seems fitting to die at this point. So, I…!”

I didn’t bother indulging in any further tongue-in-cheek banter.

Instead, I grabbed his head and thrust his face closer to mine.

“Lead the way.”

“Yes?”

“I said lead the way…”

A person’s outward appearance isn’t really important.

Even though I knew that the inner self could be completely different, the face of the guy I was facing right now…

“You must have had a place where you unleashed that remarkable power. Lead me there.”

Just before he could run away from me, his face, a mixture of confusion and astonishment, created an eerie atmosphere, chillingly similar to the face that had unsettled me.

* * *

*Squelch!*

“Intruders! Call for reinforcements quickly!”

*Squelch!*

The head knight who was urgently calling for reinforcements suddenly rose into the air, then fell down powerless.

About twenty of them.

Far more troops than necessary just to hide treasure.

It’s a rather remote location, quite far from the city center.

Even kids with runny noses could tell that something important was being openly revealed.

After dealing with the skirmishers, I approached the door without hesitation.

*Clang!*

Of course, the door didn’t open.

It wasn’t locked with a latch or a lock but had some other artificial locking mechanism.

A restrictive barrier.

Judging by the sensation of magic, it felt like at least a 7th-tier mage had set it up personally.

It wasn’t particularly difficult to unlock, but…

“What are you doing?”

“Yes?”

“Unlock it.”

There was no need for me to do it myself.

I ordered Boris, who was standing there with vacant eyes, like a soulless corpse, to open the door.

He rushed to the door and immediately manifested mana.

*Woom*

Soon, with a small light and a gentle powder fluttering, the barrier was lifted.

“I… I did it!”

*Bang*

As soon as the barrier was lifted, I kicked the door open forcefully.

“Lead the way.”

“Yes!”

With a nervous gulp, Boris quickly took the lead.

I silently followed behind him, keeping my guard up.

Though the space was pitch black without a single speck of light, he continued forward without faltering or hesitating, as if there was a clear path ahead.

His occasional glances back at me, trying to gauge my expression, were quite annoying, but for now, I didn’t show any reaction.

Did it take about 5 minutes?

A massive iron gate blocked the path even more so than the entrance gate.

Boris wasted no time and immediately released the barrier.

“Um, can I ask just one thing?”

I responded with silence.

“What did I do wrong to you…?”

Perhaps he couldn’t bring himself to ask that question while looking at my face, as his gaze remained fixed on the door.

“Even if I don’t remember anything, I just don’t understand. How could I commit a crime against someone with immense power like you…?”

*Thud!*

Instead of answering, I grabbed his throat and slammed him against the wall.

“If you don’t want to be teased to death, watch your tongue…”

What’s the point of explaining to someone who doesn’t even remember?

Whatever he says now doesn’t matter to me; it’s just a petty provocation.

I can’t kill him, so I can only vent my anger like this, which is quite annoying.

Unable to withstand my anger once again, the tightly closed gate began to slowly open.

The moment when the light in the space blocked by the door flashed brightly and something unfamiliar beyond finally revealed itself.

“…!?”

I couldn’t believe my eyes.