Power (2)

Power (2)

“… What?”

[Persuasion is only necessary when you don’t have power…! When you have power, you don’t need persuasion!]

It’s a valid point.

I was about to say that it was impossible because there were too many things involved, but.

‘… Come to think of it, it might not be entirely impossible.’

As Luna said, I realized that there wouldn’t be much of a problem if I just used force to suppress them, so I had to keep my mouth shut.

‘After all, I’m the only ally of the Illusion Library, aren’t I?’

Moreover, the reason for its existence is for ‘me’.

Rather than being cautious and unable to do anything, it seemed better to just openly manipulate things as I pleased.

‘Yeah, there’s no need to give myself a headache by being overly cautious.’

I decided to do so and patted Luna’s head while saying.

“Well done. I’ll praise you for that.”

[I got praised by the master…!]

Luna seemed quite happy to be praised, grinning and raising her tail upwards.

Then she snuggled into my arms and started meowing.

As I was patting Luna’s back to calm her down, Espin spoke with an awkward smile.

“Well… I’m not sure if it’s an efficient method, or even something a human should do… but if you’re going to do it, I won’t stop you.”

I nodded at those words and replied.

“I said that, but I plan to try my best to persuade them.”

Of course, I swallowed the words “if it doesn’t work, there’s nothing we can do” and smiled slightly.

* * *

The day after reaching that conclusion.

I immediately went to the Illusion Library and called for Ember.

“Ember.”

“……”

When I arrived, Ember looked at me with a very uncomfortable expression.

Then, putting down the book she was holding nearby, she slowly opened her mouth.

“Wh-what’s the matter?”

A voice full of bewilderment and caution.

Hearing that voice, I told her the reason I came.

“Hand over everything you’ve prepared for the first cycle’s hero to me.”

“……!”

At those words, Ember looked at me with an expression of shock.

Then, stepping back, she shouted at me.

“Y-you’ve shown your true colors!”

“True colors or not, I am the first cycle’s hero.”

“That’s a lie!”

It’s a natural reaction, if anything.

From Ember’s perspective, there was no evidence that I was a hero.

Moreover, the character of Deren was ‘purely evil from the start’.

‘From his point of view, I must seem no different from the Heaven God Cult… No, even worse than them.’

Additionally, since I had said that Deren was the reason for ruining the first run, it’s only natural to be wary.

I thought that handling this with ‘force’ as Luna suggested would be the most ideal.

I briefly spoke to Luna, who was showing her wariness in front of me.

“So. Whether it’s a lie or not, what can you do about it?”

“…Pardon?”

“Even if what I’m saying is a lie, you still have to give me what’s been allocated to me if you don’t want the Illusion Library to be destroyed. Isn’t that right?”

“……”

As I spoke, it ended up sounding like terrorism and threats.

… Well, to be precise, it was, but in any case, what’s important now is that these words seemed to work on Ember.

‘Even from Ember’s perspective, it would be better to just hand it over and gather what’s left to support the first-run hero, rather than having the Illusion Library completely destroyed.’

She probably had no choice but to choose this as the lesser evil.

Looking at Ember, who was actually nodding with tears in her eyes, I smiled and said.

“Don’t worry too much. It was originally meant for me anyway.”

“……”

[Master, you sound like a villain!]

An unfortunate incident caused by using Deren’s way of speaking for too long, to the point where I can’t even remember what my original way of speaking was.

I awkwardly smiled and considered denying that it wasn’t meant that way, but.

I tried to keep my mouth shut, feeling that the more I spoke, the more misunderstandings would pile up.

“Then… I’ll guide you. Did you bring the hero’s body by any chance…?

I nodded, and Ember sighed deeply before speaking.

“Then I’ll… transfer the information and experiences contained in the hero’s body to you.”

It seemed that she could pass on such things to others.

I couldn’t hide my inner smile.

‘Perhaps I could become much stronger with this opportunity.’

Of course, even now I was considered strong, but it was undeniable that I was still lacking in many ways.

I decided to build up overwhelming power with this opportunity and spoke to Ember.

“Then let’s start right away.”

Watching Ember on the verge of tears, I nodded with satisfaction.

* * *

The transfer of accumulated information and experiences didn’t take as long as I thought.

Regardless of what Ember thought, this was originally accumulated ‘for me’.

Everything was tailored to my standards.

Perhaps because of this, Ember shouted at me in a very confused voice while transferring the information and experiences.

“A-Are you really the hero?”

It seems she only realized I was the real hero after seeing the power flow into me smoothly without any side effects.

I no longer felt the need to respond, so I just lay there silently.

Ember fumbled around and then urgently said to me.

“Then I’ll give you everything, including what I’ve been hiding secretly.”

She had hidden it.

I was thinking that Ember had handed it over too easily.

Luna yawned long on my lap and said.

[Master, I’m watching that woman to make sure she doesn’t do anything strange!]

I was patting Luna’s back as she shouted these reassuring words, if only she hadn’t yawned.

Ember wiped the sweat from her forehead and said to me.

“… We’ve succeeded with the transfer for now. Do you feel any discomfort or any areas that feel strange?”

Since learning that I was a hero, she had been diligently performing the transfer, asking about my condition while checking various things.

I had no particular problems, so I nodded and told her so.

Ember let out a sigh of relief and said.

“Since this is my first time doing this, I was a bit nervous, but I’m glad you’re okay.”

“……”

“If any problems arise, please let me know immediately. I’ll check it for you.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at her behavior, which was the complete opposite of what she had shown at first.

Even though she knew I was a hero, it felt a bit strange to see such a different side of her.

Still, it wasn’t all bad, so I nodded.

“Alright.”

Now, the remaining task would be to check the power I’ve just gained.

I tried to ask Ember about what it meant to have information and experience pushed into my body, but.

“… I’m not really sure about that either.”

Ember also seemed to know nothing about this, shaking her head and saying she didn’t know.

‘It seems I need to confirm this myself… But how exactly should I go about confirming it?’

After pondering for a while without any results, I continued to think.

Suddenly, a thought flashed through my mind.

‘Come to think of it, it transfers the information and experiences of the absorbed targets to me…’

In other words, couldn’t I learn some special abilities that the Heaven God Cult possesses?

As this thought crossed my mind, I took out the bishop from the mace, just in case.

“Urgh… Groan.”

The bishop of the Heaven God Cult, who seemed to have exhausted all his energy, was squirming in a very tired state.

I looked at the bishop and slowly reached out my hand to check if anything had changed.

‘Information and experience, they said…’

While thinking that it was difficult to pinpoint exactly what that meant, I continued to ponder.

I felt a rising sensation that could be described as alien, or perhaps as magical energy.

‘Could it be… Is this it?’

The moment I felt this, I put the bishop back into the mace.

Just in case, I took out a few of the Heaven God Cult members I had captured and checked.

I realized that my guess had become a certainty.

‘I can now distinguish the Heaven God Cult members.’

While previously I had to rely on their magical energy, robes, and snake-shaped tattoos to identify them.

Now I could recognize ‘this one is from the Heaven God Cult’ even without those indicators.

‘It seems that whatever they use to identify allies among themselves has flowed into me.’

I could understand that it was quite a useful element, even if I didn’t know exactly what it was.

‘The only concern is whether there might be some negative effects since it flowed to me.’

Thanks to Ember’s additional explanation on this, I was able to alleviate my major concerns.

“As I said, it’s about transferring refined information and experiences. You don’t need to worry because all the bad things are excluded.”

Of course, I can’t take this at face value, so I’ll need to check further.

One thing for sure is that now I can use this to catch those Heaven God Cult guys more easily.

‘Plus, there must be countless other abilities that I haven’t discovered yet.’

I smiled, thinking it would be quite interesting.