The Origin of Acting (2)

<Side : Craise Seherablade>

An oasis where ordinary people couldn’t carelessly enter.

A blind stranger had nonchalantly come to quench his burning thirst.

“If my presence here is uncomfortable, I’ll leave right away. But I would be grateful if I could have some water.”

“Just for a moment. But if you do anything foolish…”

“Thank you!!”

I quietly watched Owen gulp down the water.

He seemed genuinely parched, eagerly wetting his throat.

Still, I couldn’t shake my suspicion. A colorless, odorless human who emanated no scent or energy… perhaps not human at all…

It was my fault for letting him into the oasis, but I thought I could subdue him easily enough. Yet, even after encountering countless beings, I had rarely met someone as devoid of scent and energy as Owen.

“Phew…! This oasis water is truly refreshing. Being isolated from the world, I suppose it’s an unpolluted water source.”

As Owen nonchalantly finished his water and casually commented on the oasis, I spoke.

“What are you… what’s your identity? What kind of embalming have you undergone to have no scent or energy at all?”

And isolated from the world, he says…

This oasis, where I had taken more lives than anyone else, was cleaned by the Emperor’s servants, making it appear pure and clean on the surface. But anyone with a decent sense of smell couldn’t possibly miss the pervasive stench of blood.

“Ah… right. My apologies for the late introduction.”

Gunther Owen scratched his head and revealed his identity.

“My name is Gunther Owen… as I mentioned earlier. My profession is a wandering monk. I’ve come from afar to save those living difficult lives.”

“Difficult lives…”

Hearing those words, I unconsciously repeated them, lost in thought.

Over so many years, some had extended a helping hand, others approached with hypocrisy disguised as goodwill, and still others came solely to fulfill their own desires.

But none of them could understand my fundamental pain. Some left, others had their bones crushed by my hand, and still others embraced useless ideals of justice and burned to death.

After this happened dozens, hundreds, even thousands of times, strange rumors began to cling to me.

‘Association with the Spirit of Smoke leads to calamity.’

Since then, even small gestures of kindness ceased, and I remained isolated in this era, with the scent of blood only growing stronger on my hands.

Even if I were to ask this man before me for help, I didn’t believe that someone who had lived for barely 40 years compared to me could offer any meaningful assistance.

–Thud… thud… thud…

“Madam.”

“Ugh…! Don’t come closer. More importantly, if you’re done, leave quickly. I apologize for asking about your identity… I suppose you have your reasons for not emitting any energy. There’s no need for me to ask someone who’s about to leave…”

Despite being blind, Owen strode towards me and looked directly at me as he spoke.

“Do you have any concerns?”

“Even if I do, it’s not your problem. After all… no one has been able to solve it for ages… and if you were to hear about my problems, even a mere wandering monk could become prey for the Empire’s hounds.”

The tale of the Spirit of Smoke’s connection to calamity. The fact that those who questioned the Spirit of Smoke and the Imperial Family were dragged to the torture chambers of the underground prison and killed had a significant impact.

If he didn’t want to rot and die in the Empire for the rest of his life, he should be disgusted by my blunt and unkind tone and leave quickly.

But…

“Wahahaha!! Hunting me, you say? That’s absurd. Madam.”

“What…? You may be a stranger and not know, but the Empire’s hounds are directly under the Emperor. They’re tireless, bloodthirsty mad dogs. They’ll sniff out even the slightest trace and chase after you. If caught, you’ll spend your life begging for death…”

“Please don’t worry about that either. This wretched body is sturdy enough to withstand being stabbed with blades, branded with irons, forced to drink poison, and enduring the strength of oxen pulling ropes tied to my limbs. Also, my lips are sealed, so I’ll never divulge any secrets!”

Watching him confidently declare this, I thought he was a truly unique individual…

But that was all. Having met various types of people, I had seen even that kind of attitude hundreds of times. Even those who weren’t afraid of death and burned with a sense of justice were full of people who cried, screamed, and tried to avoid death when it actually approached.

“Hah… I have nothing more to say. Leave quickly. You’ll only bring harm upon yourself.”

“Madam… I may be blind, but my other senses have developed in compensation. This oasis… aside from the water source, the stench of blood that seems to have accumulated over many years is overwhelming. And the smell of rusted iron from blood left to fester.”

Then, Owen began to speak, ignoring my order to leave.

“At first, I thought you might be a heinous pleasure killer. That’s why I didn’t let go of this club while drinking water. But during the brief conversation I had with you… I realized something. Your words are always tinged with melancholy and sorrow.”

“What…!”

“If I may venture a guess… aren’t you bound by someone’s command or curse, forced to commit unwanted killings?”

How… how did he know…? When I first heard Owen’s words, I was utterly bewildered.

From me, who had been consistently blunt since he entered this oasis… he had drawn such a conclusion…!?

It must be luck, I thought. He was trying to gain my trust by making a lucky guess, so I became even more enraged and tried to drive him away by force.

“Who are you… daring to approach a woman you’ve just met without knowing your place…! Get out… get out of here right now!”

Spirit of Smoke… this modifier that followed me like my alias was not just for show.

I could control smoke itself like my limbs, and the smoke imbued with magical power had the strength to crush even tempered steel like paper. Using that, I had taken countless lives with that one strike…

At the time, I was consumed by rage, and I gathered smoke into the shape of a fist and struck down at Owen… but.

–Kwaaaang…!!!!

“Kuh, ugh…!!! This is quite weighty.”

A heavy roar was heard, and before my eyes, I saw Owen desperately blocking the attack, holding up a dark brown shield.

His lower body sank into the sand, unable to withstand the onrushing impact. His face was losing its composure, and he was sweating profusely.

“Hoo… hoo… In my hometown, I was called a Shaman. It was a profession where I listened to the pain of others and offered solutions in return… Kuh…!”

“That’s completely irrelevant! I already forgave your rudeness in entering my domain without permission, yet you dare to act like this……! I don’t understand!”

Why… why was he trying to stay, even while experiencing such pain? I was no longer filled with anger or annoyance, but only with that fundamental question.

“Please think of it as an occupational hazard. Madam… ugh…! In my hometown, I always listened to people’s worries and harbored a fundamental question! I wanted to eliminate the fundamental evil that put them to the test and realize good in more places! That’s why I gave up my eyes and came to this land!”

“If that’s truly the price you paid for losing your sight, then you’ve done a foolish thing! You want to erase evil from this world and spread good…? Aren’t you just a ridiculous romantic!”

A man who had given up even the lantern that illuminated his path in order to pursue good…

If this were a novel, he would surely be the protagonist talked about by the citizens of the Empire, but for me, who had lived for 3000 years, it was a laughable story.

How many times have I seen someone like you……

“Now that I can’t see, I have one dream! To never let anyone have a sad face again!”

“Ugh…! Sweet talk… meddling in things until you don’t even realize you’re about to get a knife in the neck…!”

“Even if it’s meddling, I left my hometown with the determination to turn sadness into laughter and evil into good, even breaking off my horns! Keueuk…!! Hwaaaat…!”

Owen, who had been consistently defending, momentarily lifted his shield to deflect the smoke fist and struck it away with his club, shouting.

Watching him, his shoulders trembling and his knees buried in the sand, I felt my heart softening once again…

Why… why, after having accepted kindness and been betrayed so many times…

And why, when all those who had shown kindness had been lost in the smoke and ultimately failed to reach me…

“Can you really listen to my worries… Do you have the confidence to solve any difficulty…”

“Keueuk… There is no such thing as impossible. I will surely break this body to pieces to listen to your worries and offer a solution. That is what a Shaman does.”

Watching him confidently pound his chest with an arm whose veins were bulging from blocking my attack, I decided to open my closed heart for just a moment.

Knowing his sincerity, I dispelled the smoke, sat on the sand, and poured out my worries.

My identity, the Three Wishes that bound me, and… even my wish, everything…

And after hearing all of that, Owen pondered deeply and then told me one plan.

That was…

“The Spirit of Smoke bound by Three Wishes, subservient to the Empire until the Emperor’s bloodline disappears. Hmm… I see.”

“No one has been able to offer a clear solution so far. If you’re going to say something like ‘Let’s just get rid of all the royals’… I suggest you keep your lips sealed. I’ve heard that kind of answer countless times.”

“Is that so? Then there is one way. How about… getting pregnant?”

“What……?”

His words were somewhat absurd yet serious. He wasn’t joking, and Owen’s attitude was firm and unwavering.

“Pregnancy… why would you even suggest such a method…”

I muttered in a low voice. It was an absurd suggestion, and suddenly suggesting pregnancy to a spirit…

“The Spirit of Smoke is the Empire’s most important figure. If such a person were to become pregnant and her belly were to swell, the Emperor and his vassals would be very flustered, and they would surely capture the one who impregnated her.”

“That would be obvious… More than that, I’m not human, nor am I an elf or a beast-person. Even if I were to fake a pregnancy, who would believe it?”

When I asked, Owen confidently shook his head lightly and replied again.

“The important thing is not whether people believe it, but to create a reason why the Spirit of Smoke doesn’t have to go to the battlefield.”

“Create a reason…? Why go through such a troublesome process…”

“Didn’t I say I would solve your worries? This is groundwork for that. After you are pregnant, I will be imprisoned in the Empire’s prison as the culprit, and no matter how vicious they are, they won’t send a pregnant woman to the battlefield, so you won’t see blood during that time.”

Watching Owen continue to speak with some conviction… another question arose in me.

“You’re going to go to prison…? If you’re imprisoned on the charge of impregnating me, of all people… you won’t be in good shape. No matter how confident you are in your resistance to torture…”

The Empire’s torturers were famous. Rumor had it that no one who had been tortured had ever kept their mouth shut… but what was his true intention?

“The wish that binds you. It can only be maintained if the Imperial Family exists, right? And I will be taken to the Empire as the cause of the pregnancy scandal.”

“Wait a minute… are you perhaps saying…?”

“Yes, that’s right. While you are pretending to be pregnant and unable to move, I will eliminate all the royals…”

Kill… them?

“Ahem… I’ll stop there. To defeat the enemy, you must attack from within, not from the outside. And I have the strength and skill to do so. Causing a commotion and escaping is simple.”

“But doesn’t that contradict your words… To take the lives of others in order to solve my worries…”

“Oh… take lives? I don’t do such heinous things. I will simply use my techniques. If I use them… the Emperor’s bloodline will become equal to the common people under the same earth. This will be maintained until I die…”

I had some idea of what Owen was saying.

He would make me pregnant to prevent me from fighting on the battlefield, and at the same time, he would be taken as a prisoner to the Empire, escape, and eliminate the Emperor’s bloodline… that’s what he meant.

Originally, I would have listened to this far and dismissed it as a far-fetched story and simply sent Owen back, but just now I realized that the Emperor had died. Then all that was left were his children…

The Emperor was one thing, but his children alone… Owen might be able to handle them alone. In other words… there was a possibility.

“You’ve… become persuasive. Your words.”

“Haha. Is that so, Spirit of Smoke? I’m glad. Although I can’t see, I think I can sense a slight expectation in your tone.”

Watching his slightly smiling face, I felt hope for the first time in this current situation, whether it was a trick of fate or an inevitability.

“But… how do I get pregnant? To be honest, I don’t know my own body well. I’ve never met others of my kind, so I don’t know how to reproduce… I can make parts of my body swell, but…”

“That’s enough. The pregnancy scandal is just a pretext. It’s just a way to turn the arrows of suspicion towards me. You just need to act without being obvious. Above all, they can’t possibly know the knowledge of a Spirit that even you don’t know. They’ll just be stamping their feet and racking their brains.”

Is that so…?

“In my hometown, even vicious and cunning rulers did not harm pregnant women, children, or the elderly. No matter how corrupt the Imperial Family is, if they send a pregnant woman to the battlefield, there will be a backlash. That would be an act of soiling the Imperial Family’s honor themselves.”

Owen’s logic was simple, but I couldn’t help but agree.

Regardless of the era in history, the instinct to protect pregnant women and children was close to human nature.

“Yes… you’re right. The Imperial Family values ​​their hollow honor. They wouldn’t bother making their signboard muddy…”

His words were still absurd, but it was clear that Owen was sincere.

But I hesitated for a moment. The memory of the countless people who had tried to help me meeting a tragic end flashed through my mind.

But this was different. The Emperor had suddenly died, and Owen was talking to me as an equal with his own strength, and he was specifically suggesting ways to help.

Now, if not now, there might never be another chance, so I decided to grab the last lifeline.

“Okay.”

I finally accepted Owen’s proposal.

“I accept your proposal. But remember that your life could be in danger.”

Owen smiled brightly and nodded.

“Don’t worry, Spirit of Smoke. I am strong. And because I believe that helping you is what I must do, I will definitely set you free.”

“Set me free… Really. Freedom is not something that can be spoken of so easily…”

“Of course it is. Freedom is a right given to everyone. There can be no exception for you, Spirit of Smoke.”

I don’t know what a Shaman is, but it seems to be a job for someone who is good at manipulating people with words.

“Then, from now on, I’ll be a pregnant woman. I need to change my tone to be more refined… I guess. Owen.”

“Hahaha. It suits you well, Spirit of Smoke.”

I looked at him and smiled softly. I couldn’t tell where his hearty laughter and confidence came from, but I couldn’t doubt his sincerity.

“A fake pregnancy…”

I murmured softly, placing my hand on my still-flat stomach.

With the help of a stranger, hope was beginning to bloom for the first time that my painful Reincarnation might change even a little.

“And Owen. May I say one thing?”

“Yes, Elemental.”

“You’re Demonkin, aren’t you?”

“Yes…?”

–

–

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『Martyr’s Moon – Day 11 (Evening)』

【Day 1 of the Imperial Invasion】

“Oh my… is it that late already…”

As I closed my eyes and reminisced about my conversation with Owen, the dark night had already arrived.

Beneath the dark blue sky where the empire’s twilight had faded, I was organizing my thoughts.

Originally, there was a major change in the plan to eliminate the Emperor’s bloodline by Owen.

Even though I was strong, I accepted Patient Councilor’s proposal so as not to burden Owen, who seemed unable to withstand a fight against the majority for long.

The renowned Councilor had already won over Princess Materi, one of the only two remaining members of the Emperor’s bloodline in this empire, and he claimed to know a way to eliminate the bloodline with his knowledge and research.

In return, I agreed to create a disturbance in the empire to buy him time to escape, and I didn’t forget the promise to break Owen out of prison.

“Has time always passed this slowly…”

Usually, I would spend the day crying until I was exhausted, closing my eyes and waking up.

Then a month, a year… ten years would pass quickly, but now that the days when my wish will come true are approaching, time is passing excruciatingly slowly.

But this silence didn’t last long.

“Creyss!”

An arrogant voice echoing from the ceiling shook the space.

I frowned at the familiar voice.

And with a sigh, I reluctantly opened my mouth and called out the name of the voice’s owner.

“Miel.”

As soon as the name came out of my mouth, a red-haired Fox Beast-person slid down from the ceiling.

“You’ve come to visit… I guess the empire is going to be in trouble.”

One of the Divine Beasts that supports the empire, along with Rabbit Divine Beast Lily.

It was Fox Deity Miel who had come to my chambers.

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