episode_0040

At the sound of footsteps, Karl snapped out of his reverie. Listening to the leisurely approaching steps, he felt like he knew who was coming. Karl held the Holy Sword, drenched in sweat.

“Has the sun risen from the west, now that you’ve finished training?”

Louis’ voice echoed.

It was an inexplicably excited voice. He had his hands in his pockets as he walked. Karl paused for a moment, then swung the Holy Sword again.

A dazzling light extended to the end of the vast training ground. At the end of the training ground, a pre-installed magical device deployed a shield. It was a huge magical device suitable for use in a siege. The creator of this insane training ground looked on with satisfaction at its appearance.

Crackle—

A slight crack appeared in the shield. But it did not break. Louis quietly sensed the mana of the shield. Then he checked the settings of the magical device. It wasn’t the level Louis usually trained at, but the level set by Karl had already surpassed academy standards.

“Relying on the Holy Sword is not a good habit, Aesong.”

“….”

As Karl turned his head, Louis winked and greeted him. He seemed excited in many ways.

“Heard the news? One more lie has been added to our story.”

“….”

“You, should start missing your unknown mother in a foreign country from now on.”

“….”

“Sketch it roughly. You were born to me in a moment of mischief, but reality has separated us into a pitiful tale.”

Karl understood what Louis was saying. Probably, additional settings had been added for Karl Meiner’s false identity. In the original work, it was a setting used when Karl’s power was revealed and when Duke Meiner was being rehabilitated. Naturally, such a tale does not exist. It should only be imagined.

Louis paused for a moment. It seemed too harsh to ask him to remember his fake mother, even if it was for the sake of a false identity. Chris would have probably turned back and told him, but Louis felt he couldn’t fathom Carl’s heart in his excitement.

“Um… Did you roughly understand?”

Looking at the silent Carl, Louis cautiously gauged his reaction. It seemed like he had made a mistake.

“Carl… I mentioned that being an intelligence agent comes with such responsibilities. Unfortunately, one must be prepared to kill their emotions to some extent-”

“I was just thinking about something else.”

In an attempt to soothe him by calling his name, Louis was taken aback by the unexpected response.

“What were you thinking about?”

“…About the Unknown.”

“Was that person impressive?”

…”

Louis looked at Carl. Carl stared into space, gripping the holy sword. He seemed to be recalling the Unknown.

“Commander….”

“Why?”

“I want to become stronger.”

!?

Louis’s smiling face suddenly became serious. He never expected to hear such words from Carl. In Louis’s view, Carl’s talent was undoubtedly extraordinary, but talent without training amounted to nothing. He had proposed training together several times, only to be repeatedly rejected.

Of course, Louis’s casual attitude towards the suggestion might have contributed to the rejections. He had almost blurted it out like a joke.

To Carl, Louis seemed like someone who had been a fitness addict before being possessed. Someone addicted to grueling training, enjoying the sensation of increasing weights, a person who enjoyed the pain of bone-cutting exercises. Someone you shouldn’t train with. In this case, someone you shouldn’t train with.

That’s why Louis was the most surprised person to hear that Carl was in the training ground today.

“I want to become strong enough that no one can defeat me.”

“That’s going to be quite difficult.”

…?

Carl, who had been staring into space, finally looked back at Louis.

“As long as this body is the strongest on the continent, it’s an impossible goal.”

Louis pointed at himself with his thumb. It wasn’t a wrong statement. After all, Karl knew Louis’s true nature, hidden beneath the appearance of a wanderer.

“Still, if you wish, I, the strongest on the continent, can show you myself. Then at least you won’t be useless anymore. I may not be able to match up to you, but…”

“Please, Sir Karl.”

“!?”

Expecting a response like “I don’t want to learn, I don’t want to,” Louis was surprised once again by Karl’s unexpected reaction. A dry laugh escaped him. It seemed inappropriate to treat serious Karl with jokes any longer.

“Shall we start right away? You can go hungry until lunch.”

Louis picked up a sword from the training ground’s display. Karl adjusted the Holy Sword, keeping an eye on the sword’s form.

Inserting a non-existent mother for the false identity was not Karl’s concern. After all, he wasn’t the real Karl. His interest lay solely in becoming stronger. The original Karl Meiner was a formidable presence.

After deciding to portray the true protagonist from the twisted original, he began physical training he had been afraid to face. He didn’t want to revert to the weak Kim Se-jin. He didn’t want to imagine himself screaming in agony in the Magic Tower.

He would become strong. Just like the original Karl Meiner.

For the Imperial Information Bureau, Karl’s daily life changed in many ways.

*

“I can’t believe it!! An overnight leave? How could that happen, Beatrice!”

When I returned to the dormitory after leaving Yulia’s room, Letitia, who was full of mischief, greeted me.

Her usually ponytailed brown hair was let loose.

“If you’re the young lady of Count Dalia, you should maintain your appearance properly, how can you already…!”

“….”

Leticia, in her nightclothes, came to the living room hugging a pillow and gave me a scolding. She seemed like a mother with a curfew for her college daughter. And I was receiving the treatment of a disobedient daughter who had sneaked out and come back late, having broken curfew.

“If rumors spread, what are you going to do? Meeting a man outside before getting married…”

“Leticia-”

“So?! Who is that man? Huh? I’m so curious. Hehe.”

My attempt to correct her misunderstanding was cut off by her excited chatter. Her feigned anger seemed fake, and she seemed curious all through the night. Just who had she been with?

It seems that even in this world, being interested in a friend’s love life is unavoidable.

“If he’s close enough to Beatrice, he can’t be just anyone, huh! Oh! Could it be… David!?”

“No!!!”

When I thought of the bespectacled man, I found myself denying it immediately. I had intended to tease her for a moment, but an urge to correct her about an unexpected person surged within me.

“Sorry. I was just trying to think of any man close to Beatrice… Then maybe Meinor Gongja?”

“!?”

When his name came up, I froze. I should have refuted this as well, but for some reason, I didn’t want to.

“I heard they spent a lot of time together in basic self-defense class. They even had lunch together in the commercial district??”

“….”

Leticia may be common, but she’s from the Lugo Union. Seeing her keen interest in gossip and information made me realize once again. Or perhaps many people saw me and Carl walking around the commercial district together? We did stand out as a pair.

“Amazing! Beatrice is truly something. The two of them really suit each other!!”

“…She’s staying at Yulia Dormitory.”

“Oh.”

I felt regretful for not meeting Leticia’s expectations, but it was time to slowly reveal the truth, before uncontrollable rumors spread. I felt a pang of pity in her sigh. She seemed to get all excited and then suddenly disappointed.

“Hmm… What’s this, getting excited alone.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

“Sigh~ I need to sleep a bit more. Goodbye, Beatrice.”

She waved her hand holding the pillow and went back into the room. Clearly, she had spent the whole night unfolding the wings of imagination and couldn’t fall asleep.

Thud-

Sitting on the sofa in the vanished living room, Letitia picked up the newspaper she had bought on her way. It contained news of last night’s incident. The island’s newspaper was diligent and conscientious, bringing in special reports like the dawn and putting them in the paper. Hats off to their hard work.

Flipping through the newspaper, there were stories about Fabian and Eligos, but nothing about Karl or me. Dealing with the Holy Sword and the nobility would probably be difficult content to handle. Perhaps it could be a story controlled by the public.

The student council president David’s interview was also briefly mentioned. Upon reading closely, it was written that the culprit was deduced to be Fabian and they went to find him. It seemed like he cleverly caught onto the hint I gave. Fortunately, not only David, who was attacked by Eligos, but no other students seemed to have been involved.

I’m really lucky.

“Ha….”

Still, when I think of Eligos, I shudder. The disgusting gaze that looked down on me as it rode on top of me last night comes to mind. I tried to shake off that thought by shaking my head.

Despite experiencing such a terrible thing, last night’s sleep wasn’t bad. It was rather comfortable. I wondered if I had ever slept so deeply recently. I didn’t even have any nightmares.

In the dream, a sword appeared. It was a strange dream.

Still, thanks to that, I was able to sleep well.

No, it wasn’t just the dream that was strange. I was strange. If I’m strange, isn’t it natural for even my dreams to become strange?

I put down the newspaper and sighed.

Leaning against the back of the sofa, I looked up at the ceiling in a comfortable position.

“Beatrice de Daria… Tricky Green.”

She murmured very quietly, so Letitia in the room wouldn’t hear. Thinking about the possession.

I am here. I have entered this body. However, what suddenly comes to mind is the original owner’s memories.

Are these memories engraved in the body?

Is it an intense something that cannot be erased even if the soul changes?

Could occasional thoughts and emotions also belong to her?

If so, my strange behavior lately can be explained. It doesn’t make sense for me to act strangely just because of Carl. When he interferes, I become someone different from my usual self.

Last night, in a dream, it seemed like I was having absurd thoughts while looking at Carl and myself. It felt itchy and I seemed to have said something nonsensical, something I would never have done or said in my right mind.

As always with dreams, they become faint once you wake up. I don’t remember exactly what I said. I just know it wasn’t sincere. There’s no way I wouldn’t curse when a guy kisses me on the forehead.

No matter how much I think about it, my becoming strange is Beatrice’s fault. The original owner of this body.

I continued to ponder in my seat. I realized how long I had been lost in thought only when Leticia woke up around lunchtime and came back into the living room.

It was then that I realized I had been sitting on the sofa without eating breakfast.

Each with their own time.

– End