“Wh-what the hell! That guy!”
“What’s with that speed… ugh!”
The scenery shifted rapidly.
Schlus was advancing with astonishing speed, slicing through the rows of soldiers lining the hundreds of meters long corridor.
In the meantime, the blood vessels in his eyes burst, turning his vision red, and the muscles throughout his body began to rupture, signaling his limits.
His internal circuits were in chaos, eroded by mana energy.
But Schlus didn’t stop.
He kept chopping away until everything in sight stopped moving.
“Archers! Do something about that bastard…”
His ears started to ring, and soon he couldn’t hear anything at all.
His field of vision gradually narrowed, but it didn’t interfere with his fighting.
However, he could no longer display overwhelming performance.
The spearmen of the kingdom’s army, tightening their encirclement, continued to strike, increasing the number of superficial wounds.
His limbs, covered in blood and stripped of skin, looked like the remains of a corpse.
Big wounds on his arms exposed white bone, but he moved as if he didn’t feel pain at all.
‘This is really painful…’
No matter how he looked at it, the sensations he was experiencing weren’t at 100%.
Still, an urge to drop the crystal sphere immediately surged through him, as unbearable agony pierced at him.
In reality, Schlus was feeling an intense pain that couldn’t be suppressed by the adrenaline rush.
“Die… die… just die already…!”
As I was lost in other thoughts, Schlus continued to cut down soldiers without a break.
The late-arriving archers on the castle wall turned into chunks of meat without a chance to resist and the spear soldiers that tried to thrust their spears at me were swiftly cut down the moment I dove into the spearheads.
Was it because the dead bodies were piled up with every enemy that came?
Perhaps because the kingdom soldiers were paralyzed with fear, they began to slowly back away.
“Wait, could that be the Empire’s greatest sword?!”
“What? The Empire’s greatest sword?!”
“Retreat! Everybody retreat!”
“Where do you think you’re running… ugh.”
I tried to pursue the fleeing enemies, but at the worst timing, my legs wouldn’t obey.
The enemies had already fled through the main gate.
The sight of thousands of soldiers scrambling away was quite the spectacle from a distance.
Just then, my vision went dark, and everything became pitch black.
“…”
I should be able to collapse and rest now, but Schlus began to feel around the ground, heading somewhere.
From the touch of the stone floor, I realized he was looking for his father’s corpse.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew in, bringing a warm feeling.
Though I couldn’t hear any sounds or see anything, I could tell that the lord’s inner room had been opened.
“…”
Schlus’s lips and tongue moved busily.
It seemed like he was trying to say something, but I had no way of knowing what it was.
At that moment, a large hand grabbed both of my shoulders.
“…?!”
Then, I felt a sudden shove backward and the sensation of falling down.
I fell endlessly, down and down, until a heavy impact slammed into my back.
The cold sensation of midwinter water froze my senses.
In an instant, I lost consciousness.
‘Damn…’
What the hell did he say to get kicked by the lord?
And this was right after he sent thousands of enemies fleeing.
I was just left dumbfounded.
The moment of lost consciousness was but a flash.
I regained my senses as I felt someone tugging at my clothes.
The icy sensation that paralyzed my entire body disappeared, and the surroundings gradually warmed up.
A tiny hand, as delicate as a fern, grasped my flailing hand.
The moment I touched that hand, I realized.
This warmth, these slender fingers, this way of holding…
This was definitely Iris’s hand when she was a child.
‘So, that’s how it was…’
There was no need to see more from here.
I had already seen it with ‘Memory of True Self’.
After this, Schlus would wake up in the monastery and learn how to see and hear with mana, thanks to Iris’s devoted care.
I turned back the memory just like that.
Scenes sped by quickly.
In those memories, Schlus left Eisburg and traveled across the country.
He was searching for his mother.
Earning just enough for one meal and to sleep, and then moving again the next day.
With lodging and transportation costs, there was no way for money to accumulate.
In the meantime, he even ended up in prison due to a mistake.
After a decade of traveling, Schlus finally reached the Institution.
“Mary Ayle? I think I heard that person works at the Imperial University.”
“The Imperial University, you say?”
After circling the country, he finally arrived at the institution and gained some intel.
Schlus gathered the small change he’d collected in his pockets, bought decent clothes, trimmed his hair, and tidied his beard.
No outsiders could enter the Imperial University for any reason unless it was an exception like the entrance exam.
Even a brief moment would have been enough.
He just wanted to get inside, ask her name, and be gone.
“Are you here for the entrance exam? This way, please.”
Schlus tidied his clothes and confidently entered the Imperial University.
“Um, wait a moment.”
“Fill out the admission application quickly and submit it.”
“Oh, I’ve already filled it out, but that’s not it…”
“What’s the matter?”
“Ah.”
At that moment, he suddenly felt a sensation of something being abruptly cut off.
It was a familiar feeling.
What unfolded afterward was a scene I knew very well.
Yes. This was the scene I first saw when I possessed this world.
“What’s going on? Hurry up and hand it over.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said to submit it. Time’s up. Hand it over.”
“…?”
I felt as if I was suffocating.
‘Ah, damn…’
So, just before Schlus could reunite with his mother, I intervened then?
I mistook his alias Schlus Hainkel for his real name, thinking Mary wouldn’t recognize me?
And because of that, Mary ended up dying a meaningless death…
“Ugh… ugh…”
Somehow, I was curled up on the ground, sobbing while holding the crystal sphere.
It was more painful than I could ever imagine.
I never expected such exquisite timing.
I thought Schlus was finally on the verge of happiness, only for that chance to be snatched away…
“Ha… huff…”
I swallowed my tears and collected my breath.
It wasn’t that I’d gleaned any useful information.
But there was indeed progress.
The suffocating uncertainty that had always nestled deep inside my heart had vanished.
I had my identity and who the owner of this body was answered in one fell swoop.
The anxiety that had tightly bound me was gone, replaced only by a calm, quiet guilt.
That alone was enough of an accomplishment.
‘Should I delve a bit deeper…?’
I had brushed through the past, but there were too many parts I’d fast-forwarded past.
If I looked closer, I might catch some hints.
I focused again, almost entranced, and rewound the memories.
At that moment, my body was yanked back, and my hands slipped from the crystal sphere.
“Erica?”
“Hah… hah…”
In front of me was Erica, panting and sitting down.
Water dripped from her hair.
Her white clothes were drenched, revealing her inner garments.
“It’s been almost 2 hours… What are you doing, you fool…”
“…?”
An hour has passed?
Then what about the spell that should have been binding my body?
Damn. It had already activated and vanished.
It seemed it had triggered when the sensory connection became intense, going unnoticed.
“Schlus… Help me save Julia… Please…”
“What?”
Tears or water streamed down Erica’s cheeks.
What in the world was going on?
[Quest: Rescue Julia von Lichtenburg.]
[Difficulty: ★★★★★]
[Reward: Ability Enhancement Rights]
A sentence that irritated me appeared before my eyes.
*
“Hah…”
Erica yawned with her mouth wide open.
As soon as her mother’s sharp gaze landed on her, Erica turned her head away and looked away.
She should act like a noble even when yawning in front of everyone.
But there were only the butler and maid here…
“It has only been 50 minutes since Your Excellency entered.”
“I think it’s time to go fetch him.”
Erica stretched and stood up.
Before an hour was up, she needed to let go of Schlus’s hand from the crystal sphere.
If she kept holding on for too long, she’d enter a state of trance and become a husk.
That critical boundary was one hour, but in fact, 50 minutes was already at a dangerous level.
Though she knew Schlus had extraordinary mental strength, she wasn’t sure if he could hold out until then.
She frankly didn’t want to test it.
“Well, I’ll be back.”
“Of course.”
As Erica got into the boat, the maid slowly began to pedal.
Could it be that he had already gone crazy?
Erica exhaled narrowly, feeling anxious.
*Boom!*
“Ah?!”
At that moment, a loud noise and violent tremor struck.
From behind, behind the mansion, black smoke billowed up.
She’d heard a similar explosion before.
That kind of sound occurred when the terrorists infiltrating the Imperial University detonated themselves.
‘No way!’
Erica hurried to check the state of the barrier encasing the mansion.
Sure enough, the barrier had already been utterly shattered.
Erica quickly cast a new barrier spell.
Though it was slightly weaker than the original protecting the mansion, it was completed in an instant, fully engulfing the mansion in less than ten seconds.
Restoration from the damage caused to the barrier had taken less than twenty seconds.
“Butler! Is there an intruder inside the mansion?”
“Just a moment, Countess… No. The guards say not a single rat has gotten in.”
“Phew…”
The butler’s report sealed her relief.
Letting out a sigh of reassurance, Erica couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
If the fanatics from the Asylum were aiming to invade this mansion, shouldn’t they have been hiding nearby, preparing to rush in right after the explosion?
Though rebuilding the barrier in twenty seconds was relatively quick, it was still time enough to sprint in from a distance of 100 meters.
‘Something doesn’t add up?’
It must have been a simple timing issue.
Ignoring her doubt, Erica decided to be thankful for her luck.
Her greater concern was for the potential follow-up attack.
Having spent all her mana on the barrier spell, if another self-destruct attack occurred, she wouldn’t be able to restore the barrier.
Still, the guards must have been on heightened alert, and the imperial police should be on their way.
There wasn’t much possibility of being attacked defenselessly.
“Countess! Please evacuate the building quickly!”
“And you too, Erica!”
“I can’t. I must get Schlus out first.”
“B-but the lady’s safety is the top priority.”
“Ah! I’ll be fine, just go quickly!”
Time was still flowing at this moment.
If she left it alone, Schlus might truly lose his mind.
Grabbing the maid’s hand, Erica urged her to hurry toward the cave.
The maid was frozen, unsure of what to do at that moment.
“Uh?”
Hearing the flapping of wings, Erica suddenly looked up.
A pigeon was flying low in the sky.
It seemed it had gotten trapped inside after the barrier had broken.
But the bird’s appearance looked somehow familiar.
“Huh? That red eye, where have I seen it…?”
In that moment, the pigeon vanished, and suddenly a dark figure appeared.
A fluttering black cloak.
Only after the figure began to move did Erica realize it was a person.
“Mom! Julia! Get away…!”
*Thud!*
It landed with a resounding impact.
In the swirling wind, Erica, shielding her eyes with her arm, quickly stood on both feet atop the boat.
There stood the butler, the maids, and even her mother, all staring wide-eyed at one spot.
“Everyone, don’t move. If you do, I’ll cut your throat.”
“Ugh…”
A hooded figure in black stood there.
One hand gripped Julia’s hair, and the other held a dagger against Julia’s neck.
