After thinking for a while, there were numerous parts that I couldn’t understand, no matter how much I pondered.
Was Ben really the villain with the Mystery of the [Possession], the one who would terrorize the capital of Santea in the future?
But the evidence seemed clear.
His passage through the village of Azeta, his disappearance in the Ramon Mountain Range, Kaen’s gender and age, all of it.
It was easy to guess why he chose Kaen as his next host.
Ben suffered a fatal injury and couldn’t accumulate mana on his own.
If he had stumbled upon Kaen by accident, and recognized her genius.
Then there was no reason for him not to covet Kaen as his next host. My heart sank.
Was there some misunderstanding? Was there an error in the investigation? Or was it all just a mere coincidence?
It was too elaborate and uncomfortable to brush it off as such. I tried to settle my confusion and organize my thoughts.
'What if...'
If he had indeed raised Kaen as a [Possession], then the situation was extremely dangerous.
Even if they weren’t related by blood, to Kaan, Ben was no different from a real father.
He was someone more precious to her than anyone else.
The conditions for using the Mystery were undoubtedly satisfied.
In short, the current Ben might be in a state where he could take over Kaen’s body at any time. That was if he really was that person.
'...I need to confirm.'
In the end, there would be no certain answer until I checked it myself.
I had to get Kaen away from Ben and find out who he really was.
I shouldn’t waste any time right now. I know nothing about the exact process of how the Mystery of [Possession] worked.
Making a wrong move could result in Kaen losing her body. It’s a situation that left no room for complacency.
I gathered my thoughts and immediately took action.
I went out to the yard and spoke to Kaen, who was still playing in the snow.
“Kaen.”
“Yeah?”
“Can you go out and buy something for me? It’s the Rolphine Dessert Shop’s chocolate muffin.”
“What? The line there is ridiculously long. And why are you asking me to go out?”
“Sorry. I suddenly have something to do. I’ll cook dinner tonight and chop firewood tomorrow in return.”
Kaen looked puzzled. After all, I had never asked her to do this kind of errand before.
Perhaps because of that, she willingly accepted the request with a motivated look.
“Hmm, sure. Did you really want a chocolate muffin that bad? Haha, just wait here.”
Kaen took the money I handed her and headed out the door. I watched her go, then walked back into the house.
Ben was in his room. I slowly walked toward the room he was in.
As I opened the door and entered, he was sitting at the table, sipping tea and reading a book.
“What’s going on, Ran?”
Ben glanced at me casually.
Thud.
I closed the door and stepped inside.
He must have sensed that something was off, because Ben looked away from his book and turned his gaze back to me.
I broke the silence and spoke.
“The Mystery of the [Possession] you gained from Hallumanta.”
At my words, I could clearly see a subtle twitch around Ben’s eyes. The emotions in his gaze were confusion and surprise.
I could only instinctively sense it. As expected, it was Ben.
“I guess I was right after all.”
Soon after, Ben’s expression strangely changed. He closed the book and put it down on the table.
Then he spoke.
“How did you know?”
I thought he would deny it, but surprisingly, he admitted the truth willingly.
“Perhaps you have the ability to see through the Mysteries of others, Seventh Lord?”
“......!”
“No, even if that were the case, how did you not figure out that I obtained it from Hallumenta? Rather, are you done with the masquerade now? It’s quite perplexing in various ways.”
I couldn’t help but feel bewildered by Ben’s words. He knew my identity? Since when?
Ben looked at my face and smirked.
“I knew from the beginning that you are the Seventh Lord.”
“...How?”
“Because I saw you in the mountains. Polymorphs can’t deceive my eyes. Of course, I also know that Del is the hero. It doesn’t seem like magic, probably the ability of the Holy Sword, right?”
Ben continued to utter shocking words one after another and slowly stood up from his chair.
“The hero and the Lord of Calderic, haha. What an odd combination. But I don’t know what purpose you have in approaching Kaen. Can you enlighten me?”
I quickly regained my composure and replied calmly.
“Did you want to seek revenge against Santea by taking over Kaen and replacing your broken body with hers?”
“...How deep did you dig into my background? Truly, what a frightening information gathering skills.”
Ben clicked his tongue and moved toward the sword hanging on the wall of the room.
Swish.
“So, what will you do now? Are you going to kill me?”
“And if I am?”
“Just tell me one thing. What is your and the hero’s purpose? What do you want from Kaen?”
“Kaen will save this world. She doesn’t deserve to be sacrificed for your personal grudge.”
“Is that so? I see.”
Ben widened his eyes and let out a chuckle.
“My, my, my. The girl has taken on a grand burden. Not very comforting, I must say.”
With those words, he raised his sword.
***
His earliest memory was of himself shivering in a pile of corpses.
A giant monster had suddenly attacked the village, unleashing all of its murderous ferocity on the inhabitants, and then left.
[We have a survivor here.]
[You, what’s your name?]
[...Ciel.]
Ciel.
That was Ben’s original name.
Having saved his life, unknown individuals forcibly took Ciel.
[Ah, what a natural talent. To manipulate others’ magic.]
They forced him to undergo a grueling training regimen. Rolling around like an animal, Ciel learned many things.
How to wield a sword, how to manifest magic, and how to kill with it effectively.
One of the hidden shadows of the Santea royal family, the darkest aspect of the royalty.
As a palace hunting dog, Ciel had killed numerous people using the skills he had learned and had overcome countless life-threatening situations.
[Never show your claws, Ciel. You just have to stop thinking about yourself. You never know, maybe one day we’ll have a chance to live as humans.]
The leader of the assassins, Euphia, was a strange person.
She was the most faithful hound in the pack, but she was also a leader who cared about her people more than anyone else.
She always took the biggest risks herself without using her members as disposable tools.
Ciel, too, owed his life to Euphia several times during their missions.
Because of that, even as his heart became dry, he never lost the feeling of longing for Euphia.
[You have all done well so far. But the dogs with loose leashes need to be dealt with.]
One day, as they were returning from a mission, the Spear Saint suddenly attacked their group.
The power gap was enormous, and all the members were killed.
Only Ciel managed to escape through the opening created by the sacrifices of Euphia and the members he had been close to.
In the world Ciel had lived in, they were his only companions.
But they were all slaughtered like cattle in the hands of the Spear Saint.
[I will kill them all, Commander. I’ll take them all down...]
However, with fatal injuries and a broken body, he couldn’t dream of revenge.
Ciel became a fugitive, wandering the continent in search of a way to heal himself.
He heard rumors that there was an herb in Hallumenta that could heal his broken mana power circuit.
Although it was a baseless rumor, Ciel grasped at straws and traveled to Hallumenta, risking his life.
When he arrived there, he found no herbs.
Instead, he accidentally found something else in a cave.
[This is...]
A Mystery. The most mysterious power in this world, whose origins could not be understood.
Ciel also had a mysterious power since he was young, so he reached out to the pattern without any hesitation.
The power he obtained was [Possession].
He could transfer his soul to another of his kind, someone he felt a strong affinity for, and take over their body.
With this ability, he couldn’t repair his damaged body, but he could obtain a new one.
Ciel once again roamed the continent, this time searching for a suitable host.
A child with high magical talent, capable of enabling his revenge.
By chance, he arrived at a small village in Santea where a terrible tragedy had occurred.
An evil mage had slaughtered the residents, laughing among the corpses.
His skills were mediocre. Ciel dealt with him easily and then looked around the ruined village for survivors.
There, he found a young girl.
The girl was seriously injured, but Ciel found her in time to save her life.
[What’s your name?]
[My name... is Kaen.]
Kaen seemed to be in shock, losing her memory due to the impact.
She couldn’t remember anything except her name.
Ciel, feeling a faint sense of familiarity from his own childhood, decided to take care of her for a while.
Soon, he realized the incredible talent that Kaen possessed.
'With this body...!'
With such monstrous talent, she could undoubtedly reach a level beyond the Five Stars of Santea.
Ciel chose Kaen as his host and decided to take care of her to strengthen their bond.
And having lost all her memories, Kaen followed him like a baby bird.
[Father.]
[...Why are you calling me your father? Don’t address me like that.]
Ciel never explained anything, so Kaen had always considered him his father.
Though Ciel would feel irritation and guilt when this happened, he eventually stopped resisting.
Why bother denying it? If Kaen considered him her father and followed him, he could achieve his goal quickly.
Several years passed.
To completely evade any potential pursuit from the royal family, Ciel continued to live deep in the mountains.
Kaen had grown considerably from when they first met, now becoming a young girl.
Watching her run around the yard by herself, Ciel smiled slightly, then hardened his expression.
He felt that the conditions were nearly met.
'...Just a little more.‘
But he didn’t use the Mystery.
He decided to wait a little longer. Transferring his soul to such a young body might lead to unforeseen side effects.
More years passed.
Kaen had reached around ten years of age.
Ciel decided to hold off on using the Mystery for another year.
Year after year, time flowed on.
He continued to come up with excuses, but he knew deep down that they were all just excuses.
[Father, what’s your favorite color of flowers?]
[What now?]
[Tell me quickly. What’s your favorite color of flowers?]
[Um... red.]
Ciel gave a half-hearted answer and watched Kaen’s back as she giggled and dashed out of the cabin.
...What on earth was he doing?
Memories of fallen comrades surfaced, igniting a fire of vengeance within Ciel’s heart. If things continued like this, it would be beyond his control.
He would use the Mystery.
After a few days had passed, Ciel made up his mind and sought out Kaen.
He called out to Kaen, who had been sitting in the backyard doing something.
[Kaen, what are you doing?]
[Huh? Ahaha. Come here, Father.]
Kaen laughed playfully and extended something towards him.
It was a roughly tied bouquet of red flowers. Ciel paused at the sight of it.
[It’s a gift, Father. I’ve been collecting them diligently for a few days.]
Red flowers were hard to find in this area. To think she had gathered this many.
Ciel stood still for a moment, then accepted the bouquet and silently patted Kaen’s head.
Several more years passed. Kaen was now approaching adulthood.
Suddenly, she brought someone who had collapsed near the cabin.
He claimed to be a professor from Elphon Academy.
Then a demon contractor stormed the cabin, followed by the Lord of Calderic on a wyvern.
'...Who is that person?'
Apart from the Mystery of [Possession], Ciel had another Mystery he had possessed since long ago.
It was the ability to see a person’s soul visually.
Somehow, the soul of the Seventh Lord felt strangely disconnected from his body, which was fascinating.
But Ciel couldn’t help but pay more attention to the woman with him than to the Seventh Lord.
It was understandable since he had only seen a human with such a brilliant soul from a distance once in his life.
The identity of the woman seemed to be none other than the hero.
Though he couldn’t understand the reason, she seemed to take an interest in Kaen.
Later on, she even asked if she could take Kaen with her to the outside world.
Ciel couldn’t grasp why his heart felt relieved at that question.
As the hero, she wouldn’t have any reason to harm Kaen.
Ciel left the choice to Kaen. After much contemplation, Kaen decided to follow her.
'...Maybe I should find a new body.'
It wasn’t that he completely gave up on revenge.
During the time they spent together, Kaen had become just as precious. She was his only daughter.
Still, he wanted to see her for a while before he started wandering the continent again.
I wanted to see how she would fare in the world, who she would associate with, and what relationships she would form.
In the academy, Kaen made several friends.
On their days off, she often brought her friends home.
Ciel felt a part of his empty heart being filled.
Even if he left now, Kaen wouldn’t be lonely anymore.
And...
Thump.
***
A sound of a sword cutting flesh echoed.
With the raised sword, Ben ended up cutting his own neck and collapsed to the ground.
I looked at the scene absentmindedly.
The red blood stained the floor. I could have stopped it if I wanted to.
But I didn’t. Well, he was a dangerous person trying to take over Kaen’s body.
I couldn’t just let him be.
...But there were still many unanswered questions. Why hadn’t he taken over Kaen’s body until now?
Why he’d let such an important [Possession] host slip from his grasp?
And did the person who appeared in the game not Kaen?
Now that he was dead, there was no way to answer those questions.
I approached the chair and slumped down. Then I looked down at Ben’s corpse.
Was there another way? Should I have prevented his suicide?
I didn’t know. My mind was a mess.
But anyway, since it had come to this...
Inside the dim room, I waited for Kaen to come back.
***
“Ran! I’m back!”
Kaen, who had returned home, loudly opened the front door.
Feeling an inexplicable strangeness in the quiet atmosphere of the house, she tilted her head but soon fixed her expression.
'The smell of blood?'
Kaen walked slowly towards Ben’s room. Then she opened the door.
The paper bag in her hand fell with a thud.
“Uh...”
Red blood-stained floor. Ben lying on top of it.
Ran, who was sitting on a chair, opened his mouth.
“You’re here, Kaen.”
