Verification

“Alright, let’s organize this again from the beginning.”

Nod. At my words, Nyx nodded her head. In sync with her nod, her chest also swayed. I gathered all the information I had obtained so far in my head, then posed a question.

“First. The magic you cast on me was twofold. One is a spell that degenerates my physical abilities, and the other is a spell that prevents me from feeling fear beyond a certain amount, while also allowing me to always maintain composure. Is that right?”

“Yes.”

Nyx opened her mouth and replied. She could answer up to this point. I confirmed that fact and moved on to the next question.

“Second. Is there a possibility that you erased my memories, or perhaps altered them?”

“If it were magic that contaminates the mind, I wouldn’t know, but magic that touches memories… Hehehe.”

Nyx trailed off her words, giggling awkwardly. She could answer up to this point too.

Indeed, seeing as I can clearly recall events from before I possessed this body, it must be that my memories haven’t been tampered with.

Although the four Knight Captains and Aurora believe I lost my memories, that was just a vague excuse since I couldn’t tell them the full truth of the situation. I plan to tell them properly later.

“Third. You and I, in the past-“

“Past life, it is.”

“……Right. In a past life. Anyway, you’re saying I had a connection with you in a past life?”

Nod, nod, nod. Nyx nodded her head vigorously, her expression brightening even further. Her chest, too, swayed much more intensely than before.

‘This is serious.’

I came to that conclusion.

Not only does she have a dual personality, but she’s also suffering from delusions, claiming that she and I knew each other in a past life. Her mental state was far from normal.

If I left her as she was, who knows what other settings she might come up with. Later, she might even stubbornly insist that we were husband and wife.

‘What’s this about meeting in a past life?’

Was she influenced by a mod to have such a setting, or was there another reason? Nyx firmly believed in the delusion that we had a connection in a past life.

“Alright. For now, let’s just say, as you claim, that we knew each other in a past life.”

“……It’s not ‘just saying’…… it’s real…… And it wasn’t just ‘knowing each other,’ it was a really, really deep relationship…….”

Noticing that I didn’t believe her words at all, Nyx instantly shriveled up, then timidly glanced at me, wiggling her index fingers pressed together in front of her chest. I ignored her and continued speaking.

“Why did you cast magic on that ‘acquaintance’?”

-Clack!

With a chilling sound of her upper and lower teeth colliding, Nyx’s mouth, which had been about to say something, closed again. It was such a loud sound that my own mouth ached just watching it.

“…….”

Nyx shook her head from side to side. It meant her mouth wouldn’t open.

She clearly knew something, but there was no way to find out. Even if I tried to make her convey it in writing, her arm would stiffen completely, making it impossible to write.

Nyx herself said she had never experienced this before, so it was clear that some immense power was preventing me from accessing the truth.

Even if I didn’t know what that immense power was.

I leaned back in my chair. I only gained a ton of useless information about how this witch’s mental state was more severe than I imagined, but I hadn’t gained anything core.

The fact that my body was afflicted with magic that degenerated my physical abilities matched the game, but the problem started from there.

The reason why Nyx, who had such special feelings for me that she would casually blurt out such things, used black magic akin to a curse on that special person.

And then, like giving a disease and then medicine, the reason why she also used black magic that allowed me to feel no fear and maintain composure. I couldn’t figure out either of them.

I found out the type of magic, who cast it, and when it was cast, but I didn’t know the reason. It was ridiculous.

Just when one question was resolved, a new one arose in its place. As a result, it was like treading water.

“……Alright, I got it for now.”

I stood up from the chair. Nyx instinctively flinched when she saw me approach, then began to fidget restlessly.

Then, she squeezed her eyes shut and lifted her head towards me. Her lips were slightly pouted forward. I stared at her with a bewildered expression. Her intention was too obvious.

It seemed she thought that just because I put my hand on her shoulder, I was going to kiss her. If she saw my expression, she would know that wasn’t the case.

“I’m not going to kiss you, so you can open your eyes.”

“Eh? Eh, hehehehehe…….”

Nyx slowly opened one eye. Perhaps seeing my dumbfounded expression, she looked around nervously, shriveled up completely, and then started wiggling her fingers again. I let out a deep sigh inwardly.

I had once thought that as long as it wasn’t the original NPC’s crazy personality, anything would be fine, but Nyx was proving firsthand that there were cases where it wasn’t fine, despite her goodwill towards me.

I didn’t care about anything else, but I wished she would be less self-conscious. Every single action she took was met with her gauging my reaction, making me feel increasingly like I was the bad guy.

“So, the reason you came to find me was just because you wanted to see my face? Nothing grander than that?”

“Yes, hehe…….”

At first, I thought she had come for something important, given the lengths she went to, but it turned out she just came because she wanted to see my face.

And she did it three times.

The first time, she realized I was in the Imperial Palace and went to Minerva’s workshop, but she apparently had a bad relationship with Minerva, so she was restless until she ran into Kaikilia.

As if having a dual personality meant she had two lives, she proudly boasted about her deep relationship with me right to Kaikilia’s face when asked about her identity, and was then beaten to within an inch of her life and kicked out.

This information explained why Kaikilia was wearing a suit, treated as combat attire, when she called me.

Whether Kaikilia guessed Nyx’s words were delusions or not, she wouldn’t have taken kindly to someone boasting about their relationship with me right to her face.

Considering the Emperor’s interest in me and her incredibly fierce personality, it was a miracle that Nyx even survived after doing something like that.

‘At first, she said she sent a clone out of consideration for the people here, so she doesn’t seem like the crazy NPC from the game…….’

The woman with purple and green hair that Lana reported to Aurora immediately after I returned from the Imperial Palace, who was looking for us, was Nyx.

Instead of coming herself, she sent an identical clone. She apparently knew that if she came herself, the city would fall into chaos due to fear, and she wouldn’t be able to hear any answers.

In the game, she didn’t use clones during boss battles, but here, she knew Minerva, so I just assumed she learned it from her and moved on.

And the third time was this meeting.

The fact that she came three times with the sole intention of meeting me made me feel like I should treat her well, but the driving force behind her actions was delusion, so it felt a bit strange.

“Hmph.”

As our eyes met, Nyx flashed a wide, goofy smile.

If she didn’t smile strangely, dressed a bit more normally, wasn’t dual-natured, didn’t have delusions, trimmed her hair a bit, and just got rid of that gloomy aura, she’d have the impression of a small, cute pet.

‘Ah, so then she’d be at the level of a normal person?’

“Um…….”

Nyx, who had been wiggling her fingers continuously, cautiously opened her mouth.

“Now, what are you going to do……?”

“What am I going to do?”

In fact, the answer was already decided.

If I had found something out, it would be different, but I only learned a lot of strange information, and nothing crucial had been revealed.

I could aim to find out the true nature of that restriction-like magic on Nyx’s mouth, but for now, it was impossible since I couldn’t even guess what it was.

So, what else was there to do? I had to continue what I was doing before.

“I’ll hunt monsters as usual. Why?”

“Hehe, then…….”

[Stats]

[Level] 65(+3)

[HP] 1

[Mana] 10

[Faith] 4(+3)

[Stamina] 5

[Proficiency] 1

[Strength] 25

[Magic Power] 10

[Divine Power] 10

[Durability] 7

I finally checked my stats, confirmed them, and then took my hand off the ability verification orb.

Since I had obtained the Wingless Nightmare, there was no harm in investing some stats into Faith. The performance of Eclipse and Lunar Eclipse was so outstanding that, unless the enemy had divine resistance, they always paid for themselves and more whenever I used them.

‘I’ve caught all the bosses I can around here…… Do I need to go further out?’

Leveling up by hunting bosses was slowly reaching its limit. Bosses in the early regions didn’t give much experience, less than even elite enemies that appeared in the mid-to-late regions.

By the way, I didn’t even touch trash mobs unless they attacked first.

This area was an early-game region, so the enemies’ levels were generally low. Hunting trash mobs here wouldn’t even make a dent at my current level.

Meanwhile, I could still be one-shotted by a mere touch, so it was a terribly inefficient endeavor. That’s why I only went around decapitating bosses and returning.

“Welcome back, Knight Captain-nim. It’s been a long time.”

As I stepped out of the room where the ability verification orb was kept, Rakshia bowed her head to me. Judging by the timing, it seemed she had been waiting outside the room after hearing I had returned.

I had been out for nearly three days, so it truly had been a long time since we last met, just as she said.

“Nothing out of the ordinary, right?”

“Yes. All incidents were handled by the guard unit.”

“Nyx? Still the same?”

“……It seems she spends 20 out of 24 hours sleeping.”

Nyx’s request to me was to allow her to stay here. Of course, it wasn’t free; there was a condition that she would teach black magic to those who needed it.

The Vice-Captain of the Knights, the regular members, and even Aurora expressed discomfort at the witch wanting to live with them, but after I confirmed the conditions, I persuaded the others and eventually obtained permission.

If Nyx directly taught black magic, there would be no need to go to dungeons to acquire necessary magic books.

In return, there was a condition that she must never leave the castle where the Pitch-Black Holy Night Knights resided alone, and Nyx calmly accepted that condition.

And she kept her promise.

Too well, in fact.

From the first day she started residing in the castle, Nyx holed herself up in her room, and after three days, we eventually had to break open the door, wondering if she had escaped through the window.

The person in question was sound asleep, curled up in her blanket.

According to what I heard, she slept for about 18 hours, rolled around for about 4 hours, researched magic for about 2 hours, and then went back to sleep. It was behavior befitting her appearance.

“If she’s just sleeping, it means she’s not causing trouble.”

“That’s right. From our perspective, it’s not a bad thing, but…… are you feeling alright?”

Rakshia glanced at my left arm.

I calmly nodded. Black magic didn’t require a medium like a staff or a divine catalyst. It was simply wielded through the user’s hand.

Since I had to hold a sword with my right hand, I naturally started using black magic with my left arm, which is why she was worried about it. It was due to the characteristic of black magic that its use consumed stamina.

It was understandable for her to be anxious, given that I had been out for three straight days trying to test it the very day I learned black magic.

“Can’t you tell by the fact that I came back alive?”

“I think I understand. And here, a letter.”

Rakshia rummaged through her pocket, pulled out a letter, and handed it to me.

“A letter? Who sent it?”

“I don’t know either. But seeing the seal on it, the sender’s identity is certainly clear.”

I tore open the letter with a question in mind. As if sent by a noble family, the letter was densely filled with sentences adorned with all sorts of flowery language. I slowly read through the sentences.

‘……Huh?’

And then I paused.

Without me even realizing it, the main story had progressed.