Ch.165165. Substitute

“…You seem down all day, Elia.”

When Falco brought this up, Trisha, who was sitting across from him reading a book, silently nodded.

The extent to which Elia had shut herself in her room, disconnected from the outside world, had been truly serious these past few days.

It could be considered extremely strange behavior for someone who had passed the first trial of the Hero Selection Test with the most outstanding results.

At least officially, everything that happened within the selection test was being kept confidential.

Unless you were a woman who could see emotions with her eyes, it would be impossible to even guess that something major had happened in there.

“…”

Trisha, who had been silent until now, let out a heavy sigh at those words.

Of course, they all knew that Elia’s mood fluctuated much more severely than her public image suggested, but usually when she was this depressed, there was only one possible reason.

At least as far as she knew.

“What about Darwood?”

“…Why him?”

Falco tilted his head at her question. He seemed unsure of Trisha’s intention, but true to his model student nature, he quickly provided an answer.

“I’ve heard… rumors at least.”

“Rumors?”

“That guy had tons of bad rumors circulating in the department. That he’s a crazy womanizer.”

“…”

Sadly, Trisha couldn’t deny those rumors either.

Even Elia herself knew what kind of person he was and still fell for him anyway.

“Isn’t that right?”

“But…”

Falco, having said that much, ran his hand through his hair with a very troubled expression.

“I heard he’s currently hospitalized in the infirmary?”

If that was the case, the reason for Elia’s lack of energy must be connected to that.

It was Elia who had been openly declaring that she would ‘protect’ him. If he was hospitalized, it would be reasonable to deduce that she felt she had failed to protect Darwood from something, whatever it might be.

As Trisha was thinking this while stroking her chin, Falco immediately continued.

“And apparently there are at least a dozen women gathered outside his room.”

“…”

“Some people in the department are quite happy, saying it’s finally time for that womanizer to face his karma—”

Of course.

Beyond simply failing to protect him, it was clear that she had also been confronted with the sight of all her ‘competitors’ gathered in one place.

The curious point was why people who would normally avoid each other had all gathered there at once.

‘…Darwood.’

Trisha turned her head to look at the infirmary building, which was currently closed to visitors.

Whatever was happening inside must be quite extraordinary for such measures to be taken.

‘What in the world happened to you?’

●

“…”

“…”

A heavy silence hung in the hospital room.

Two people lay side by side on the bed. One was Yuria Greyhaunter. The other was Darwood Campbell.

“How is their condition?”

Prime Minister Sullivan spoke with a stiff voice.

The Saint and the Tristan Duchess standing beside him also swallowed dryly and focused on Lord Indra.

‘…What kind of person is this guy, to have such important people gathering all at once?’

Such thoughts crossed Lord Indra’s mind as he surveyed the infirmary.

Just outside the hospital room, there were nearly a dozen people gathered who were curious about this man’s condition, but they had all been driven away by Lord Indra of the infirmary for the sake of the patient’s stability.

These three were the representatives who had been allowed in.

Lord Indra carefully withdrew his magical energy that he had spread throughout the room.

“The vital signs for both are normal. There’s nothing physically wrong with them.”

“…Then what about the non-physical aspects?”

When that question followed, Lord Indra closed his mouth and shook his head.

“If you’re talking about amnesia… I don’t know the exact reason either. But I can tell there was some extremely complicated process related to the ‘soul.'”

“Process?”

“First of all, this man Darwood’s body currently lacks its ‘original soul.’ Someone has taken it away.”

“…”

At Lord Indra’s words, everyone’s gaze quickly turned toward Yuria.

Particularly in Prime Minister Sullivan’s eyes, there was a glint of burning hatred.

“Judging by your reactions, you all seem to have guessed the cause, and you’re right. It’s as if their souls have been mixed together. Both of their souls are currently inside this student Yuria’s body.”

In other words.

It would be fair to say that the White Demon was holding onto this man’s soul and refusing to let go.

As if growling that she would never give it to anyone else.

“But… if he has no soul, shouldn’t he normally be in a vegetative state, unable to do anything? How is Darwood able to move around?”

The soul is a storage device that contains a person’s memories and personality.

Conceptually, once it leaves the body, the body should be nothing more than dead meat, but Darwood was moving around normally despite having amnesia.

How was that possible?

“Well, didn’t a spirit entity appear at the end of the trial?”

“Yes, but… what does that have to do with anything?”

“The spirit entity that attacked this man is now ‘substituting’ for his soul.”

Everyone in the room blinked with blank expressions.

“Substituting?”

“The flesh is a vessel for the soul, and even without a soul, its ‘properties’ remain. This man, whatever trick he pulled in that brief moment, processed that spirit entity into an ‘artificial soul.’ So that his body could function normally even without his own soul.”

“…”

Everyone in the room fell silent.

Just hearing about it, one could quickly grasp that this was a miraculous feat.

What was incomprehensible was how he had made such a judgment, put it into action, and ultimately succeeded in such a short time.

“…He truly is extraordinary.”

As Prime Minister Sullivan uttered those words like a groan, Lord Indra added more.

“Of course, even such a feat is ultimately a temporary measure. If the soul inside this student Yuria’s body cannot be returned to its original vessel, eventually the body will die too.”

As those words flowed out.

A heavy tension began to spread both inside the hospital room and outside—

‘…Why outside?’

Elnore looked toward the door with an incredulous expression.

They had obviously been eavesdropping.

Anyway.

“…Is there a method, Lord Indra?”

In response to Elnore’s somber question, Lord Indra sighed and said:

“Unfortunately, not at the moment. While the spirit entity is substituting for this man’s soul, there may be special effects, so treating him as naturally as possible is about all we can do.”

“Effects such as…?”

“There might be some changes in personality or behavior patterns. Beyond simply losing memories.”

“Effects?”

“With an artificial soul, he has the ‘knowledge’ he’s accumulated but all ‘experience’ has been lost. So his resistance will be much lower.”

“…What does that mean?”

“It’s simple, Prime Minister.”

Lord Indra ran his hand through his hair and continued.

“He’s likely to be quite… ‘innocent’ in his current state.”

“…”

“If someone tries to deceive him, there’s a very high chance he’ll fall for it completely.”

“…”

Inside and outside the hospital room, a silence fell where even breathing could be heard clearly.

Undoubtedly.

It was the silence before the storm.

●

[…Hmmmm…]

Calivan Chrysanyx let out a deep sigh.

He could hardly believe what he had just heard.

Since this guy had regained consciousness in the evening, he had managed to engage him in conversation.

[…What did you just say?]

Darwood Campbell tilted his head.

His innocently wide eyes clearly showed that he had no idea what was wrong with what he had just said.

“…I said I dislike womanizers?”

[…]

“There’s no sensible person among those who go around messing with different women.”

[…]

“I don’t even understand why you suddenly brought up such a topic…”

[…Ah, right. You’re correct. Sorry.]

Seeing him speak with such genuine confusion, Calivan responded with a dumbfounded expression.

‘…Who the hell is this guy?’

Does losing memories change one’s fundamental nature?

Is this really the same guy who boldly declared he would live with multiple women, right in front of those women?

“Um… may I ask you one thing?”

[What?]

“From the way you speak, it seems like we were close friends before I lost my memory, so what kind of person was I?”

[…]

“Since so many people came to visit me in the hospital, I must have been a decent person, right?”

[…Well, that’s…]

“It’s strange that there were mostly women, but they must all be friends. My school days must have been filled with good friends!”

Calivan is a Guardian.

That means he’s fundamentally righteous and kind-hearted.

Telling the truth to this pure soul who was asking about his past with sparkling, innocent eyes was something his nature simply wouldn’t allow.

[…Well, yeah. That’s right…]

“I knew it!”

When Darwood smiled brightly and said that, Calivan couldn’t bring himself to say anything more.

It was twice as disconcerting because he seemed genuinely sincere, unlike his usual self.

As he was swallowing these emotions, someone knocked on Darwood’s hospital room door.

“…It’s not time for the nurse yet?”

Darwood tilted his head and got up from the bed.

It was already late evening. It shouldn’t be visiting hours either. Who could it be?

With such thoughts, he opened the door to find someone he recognized.

“Ah, so it’s Elia…?”

Darwood’s voice was half pleased, half perplexed.

He knew she was the kind person who had carried him on her back and rushed madly to the infirmary when he collapsed. But why would she come at such an odd hour, outside of regular visiting times?

As he was thinking this.

Elia, whose face was strangely flushed, firmly gripped Darwood’s shoulder.

“…Thank goodness. I got here before the others.”

“…Elia?”

Looking closely, her breath was oddly sweet too.

“…Do you have a fever? I’ll call Lord Indra, please wait a moment.”

[…]

No, it just looks like her eyes are rolled back with some kind of intention.

While Calivan was chewing on words he couldn’t bring himself to say out loud, Elia took a deep breath and spoke.

“Professor, listen carefully.”

“Yes, I’m listening.”

At his obedient response, Elia clutched her chest with a small sound.

Why is he so cute?

She had heard from Lord Indra that he would behave this way.

This… ‘innocent’ Darwood has more destructive power than expected.

“…”

Of course.

What she was about to do could hardly be considered ethically right.

But at the very least, she couldn’t let other women get ahead of her…!

This was the minimum measure needed to protect him from those terrifying women…!

“The others will say all sorts of nonsense from now on. Don’t listen to them. Only listen to me. Understand?”

“…Pardon?”

“First, there’s one fact you need to know.”

Elia took a deep breath.

“You and I are actually engaged.”

“…”

Darwood’s face turned slightly pale.