Chapter 69: Are You a Reincarnate?

“Thank you.”
“Yeah, get home safe.”

After escorting Isabel, who seemed somewhat subdued, back to her room,
I went to the place where Sharin had taken Hanon.

It was an empty room in the inn.
Whether they’d rented it or snuck in, I wasn’t sure.
I decided not to question it too much for now.

“Player, you were off having fun with another woman while I was working!”
Sharin voiced a ridiculous complaint.

“Isabel and me?”

“I’ve always wanted to say that at least once in my life.”
Well, wish granted.

Leaving Sharin alone, I turned my attention to the unconscious Hanon.
“Hanon, you’re awake, aren’t you?”
“Ah, you caught me?”

Hanon sprang up from where he lay.
Considering his remarkable resilience, I figured he’d recover quickly.

“I didn’t mean for things to escalate this far. I’m sorry.”
Even so, I hadn’t intended to subdue him with elder dragon magic.
Offering a sincere apology, Hanon scratched his head.

“Honestly, like I said before, I don’t really care what you do with my status.”
He crossed his legs awkwardly, smiling cheerfully as he said this.

“But what I was curious about was your true identity. And I ended up seeing something far more interesting than I expected.”
Hanon glanced briefly at Sharin, who was sitting next to him.

“That just now—wasn’t that elder dragon magic?”
There was no use denying it since he had clearly seen it.
Our silence was all the confirmation Hanon needed.

Whether or not elder dragon magic was ‘interesting’, I couldn’t say.
Deciding to leave it at that, I turned to Sharin.
Sharin shrugged her shoulders and stepped out of the room.
She’d left to give me the space to talk comfortably.

I made a mental note to treat her to another ice cream later, then sat down in front of Hanon.
Hanon, for his part, seemed to have given up on trying to escape.
Another attempt would likely only result in him being frozen again.

“Hanon, as I said before, I can be of great help to you.”
I understood why he couldn’t trust me.
I’d exploited his status without permission.
For that, I owed him countless apologies.

But precisely because of this, I needed his cooperation even more.
I had to convince him to understand my actions.

“So, I’ll give you a reason to trust me.”
Though I’d hoped to avoid saying this, it seemed there was no other way to persuade him.

“The Duke of Robliaju has allied himself with the Akzon.”

This was information not even the First Prince knew yet.
If the First Prince had been aware, everything would have been upended long ago.

But there was one exception.
The person sitting before me, Hanon, knew.

Hanon’s eyes widened more than I’d seen all day.
He stared at me with a look of shock.

Hanon couldn’t reveal to anyone that the Duke of Robliaju had allied with the Akzon.
He was bound by a restriction—one that rendered him incapable of taking any action to disclose information about the Akzon.
That’s why I told him myself.

“Of course, there’s no solid evidence we can publicly announce yet. I’m guessing the same goes for you.”
The Duke of Robliaju was far more thorough than most could imagine.
He left no traces that could be used against him.

So, only Hanon and I know about this.

“I came to Zeryon Academy in your guise for that reason.”
This was information that no one else could have known yet.
As I shared it directly, Hanon stared at me blankly.

His reaction was only natural; it must have been a shocking revelation for him.
Hanon silently gazed at me for a long time.
Finally, after what seemed to be a moment of mental organization, he spoke.

“My hobby is exploring ruins, you know.”
Hanon had a penchant for legends and archaeological exploration.
His wanderlust stemmed from this very interest.

“…This is just my vague guess,”
Hanon began to tilt his body back and forth.
It was a habit of his whenever he became deeply intrigued.

“Suddenly showing up at Zeryon Academy,
The power to freely change appearances,
Your connection with the daughter of the Blue Tower Master,”
Hanon’s eyes sparkled with growing intensity.

His deductions were based on fragmented information he had gleaned from me.

“And finally, elder dragon magic. This keeps bringing to mind a certain prophecy.”
Hanon clenched his fists tightly, shaking his arms with excitement.
He resembled a child thrilled by a superhero show on TV.

“The prophecy about the reincarnation of heroes. It’s an incredibly ancient one, though.”
And it was a prophecy I was familiar with as well.

“It’s said that among them, Zeryon wielded elder dragon magic.”
Zeryon, the founder of Zeryon Academy and a pinnacle of magic.
One of the six legendary heroes who served under the great hero Wolfram in the past.
Zeryon, the Transcendent Sage.

Hanon had brought up Zeryon.
In this world, several prophecies and legends exist.

One of them foretells that when the world is in danger,
The reincarnations of the heroes will once again protect it.
It was a proclamation made directly by the goddess who honored their achievements.

Although it’s an old prophecy that most people don’t pay much attention to anymore,
Recently, rumors of the heroes’ reincarnations being near had started circulating in archaeological circles.
Given Hanon’s deep interest in archaeology, he was naturally aware of these rumors.

And in truth,
‘Zeryon has been reincarnated.’
But no one knows this except for me.

Even the individual in question doesn’t realize they’re Zeryon’s reincarnation.
Moreover, that person isn’t currently at Zeryon Academy.
To be precise, they’ll be entering Zeryon Academy next year.

‘The problem is…’
Right now, Hanon is suspecting that I am Zeryon’s reincarnation.
He thinks I deliberately used elder dragon magic to capture him.

‘’Used’, my foot.’
The remnants of the elder dragon simply reacted to the mystic energy and went berserk on their own.
From what I can tell, he must’ve passed out and missed Sharin subduing the outburst.

‘This misunderstanding is heading in a bizarre direction.’
My gaze met Hanon’s sparkling eyes.

‘One of Hanon’s habits was linking situations to legends.’
Having encountered so many legends,
He had a tendency to connect anything resembling one to the myths he’d read.
And he could be surprisingly stubborn about it.

“That’s an absurd misunderstanding.”

I hurriedly tried to correct Hanon’s misunderstanding.
However, his excitement showed no sign of subsiding.

“Really? I don’t think so.”
Hanon’s stubbornness surged forward like a wall.

“Even heroes must have crossed the River of Oblivion to reincarnate, so they might not retain any memories of their past lives.”
Hanon’s love for legends had turned his mind into an unstoppable runaway train.

“That’s why you might not realize you’re Zeryon’s reincarnation. But your actions clearly come from the essence of Zeryon’s reincarnation.”

“I only happened to learn that the Duke of Robliaju allied with the Akzon, and I’m trying to stop it.”

“Ha, ‘happened to’?”
Hanon’s eyes curved into crescent shapes.

“You think the Emperor of the Empire doesn’t know this, but you ‘just happened to’ find out? You said it yourself—you don’t have any evidence.”
He was questioning how I knew something without proof.

And I couldn’t answer that question.
After all, my knowledge about Zeryon came from having played The Blazing Butterfly.

“You know, it’s said that divine revelations are engraved upon the chosen without them even realizing it.”
He smiled brightly.

“It’s a form of destiny.”
Destiny.
Hanon spoke of this grand flow.

“When the goddess deems the world’s flow to be in danger, she implants a revelation in the person she chooses.
This is something we, as mere mortals, cannot perceive.”

At those words, I faltered for the first time.
Implanting a revelation in the chosen one.
It was a vague thought, but…
I found myself in a similar situation.

‘I was suddenly transported into Vikarmern’s body.’
If this was the goddess’s intention…
The thought sent my mind into turmoil.

And Hanon read my reaction.
I had failed to manage my expression in that brief moment.

“See? There’s something in the fragments of your memory, isn’t there?”

“Hanon, about that just now—”

“It’s fine! You don’t need to explain!”
His eyes no longer entertained the possibility of hearing any excuses from me.

“Here’s the thing—I also want to take down the Duke of Robliaju, just as you said.”
A deep resentment flared in Hanon’s gaze.

“And I’ll do whatever it takes to achieve that.”
Hanon’s obsession with legends and ruins had also stemmed from the Duke of Robliaju.

There were ancient records stating that the heroes had defeated the Akzon and banished them to the Demonic Palace.
Hanon had clung to those records, searching for clues.

Now, before Hanon’s eyes stood a figure he believed to be:
One of the six heroes who ended the Great War and sealed the Akzon.
Zeryon’s reincarnation.

Of course, this was nothing more than Hanon’s conjecture.

But to him, I represented something else entirely.‘A person who could simultaneously resolve his resentment and trauma.’

Perhaps Hanon simply wanted to believe I was Zeryon.
A life spent chasing ruins and legends to quell his hatred had also worn him down.
Now, faced with the chance to escape that pain, he would cling to even the flimsiest hope.

“Hanon.”
It’s a misunderstanding that I’m Zeryon’s reincarnation.
But one thing is certain.

“I also want to take down the Duke of Robliaju—no matter what.”

The Duke of Robliaju is a figure who must be defeated to prevent the bad ending.
The ultimate mastermind.
I, too, would do anything to bring him down.

On this matter, Hanon and I were entirely on the same page.
I extended my hand to him.

“So, how about we help each other until then?”

Hanon, who had been staring at my hand, smiled brightly.
Then, with determination, he firmly shook my hand.

“This is straight out of a classic tale. It feels like being asked by a hero to become their companion!”

…Was this guy really in this for revenge?
I couldn’t help but feel uneasy, wondering if he was just a legend fanatic losing his head and offering help without thinking things through.

“For now, what you want is to keep your identity hidden, right?”
At least it seemed he was still making rational decisions.

“That’s right. I still have a lot to do.”

“In that case, I’ll cover things on the First Prince’s side. You should have no trouble acting as me.”

“And don’t even think about saying I’m Zeryon’s reincarnation or anything like that, okay?”
If he did, it could lead to absurd misunderstandings piling up.

Hanon remained silent, simply looking at me.
When I narrowed my eyes, he smirked mischievously as if it had all been a joke.

“Knowing a secret makes it so hard to keep quiet, doesn’t it?”
What a nerve-wracking guy.

I could only hope that the timeline wouldn’t get too distorted because of him.

“Well then, I’ve wrapped up what I needed to do, so I’ll be heading off now!”

I had no reason to keep holding onto Hanon.

As I was about to let him leave, a thought suddenly occurred to me—something I hadn’t asked yet.

“Hanon.”

“Yeah?”

“…How is Nikita doing?”

Hanon was part of the First Prince’s faction.
Given that he had sought me out, he must have some knowledge about Nikita.

“Nikita Cynthia is dead.”

He followed up with something everyone knew.

“Which means she’s now learning new talents in the heavens, studying magic with her brother, and helping him with his magical research.”

Hearing those words, I found myself smiling.
That was enough.

I glanced out the window.
The summer sky was endlessly blue.

May Nikita spread her wings and soar, embracing the talents she couldn’t fully realize in life.
I wished for her future to be filled with happiness.