༺ Crossroads (2) ༻
Upon hearing those words, Vera’s immediate reaction was denial.
“Is there any other way?”
It was a natural reaction.
His perceptions may have been altered, and some things might not be true, but one thing remained unchanged: he had lived a life of evil in the slums.
If that personality was brought out right now, he would be blatantly exposing his past to not just anyone, but to Renee.
Like most people, Vera had a history that he would rather forget, and that dark past was something he had created back then.
In other words, showing Renee what he was like at that time was something more terrifying to Vera than dying.
Please tell me there’s another way.
Vera asked the question with that in mind, but the answer that came back completely trampled Vera’s heart.
“No, I don’t believe so?”
It was a very firm answer from Miller, who seemed like he would not take any objections.
“How do I explain this… isn’t that usually the case? If someone says they are sick, wouldn’t you have to look at the affected area and symptoms first? You need to do that in order to treat them. It’s the same with this one. We have to bring out your personality from that time and look at your words and actions. Then we can see how it’s different from your usual self so we can fix it.”
“…If it’s based on my memories, then my personality will also act according to the altered memory, so we can’t verify it.”
“Don’t worry about that. It’s not the usual hypnosis, but one using sorcery. It is possible to temporarily bring out your personality before it has been altered.”
After finishing his sentence, Miller proudly puffed his chest out and added in a boastful tone.
“Man, you should know how lucky you are. The truth is, it’s rare for someone to be able to do this much. What I’m saying is that sorcery of this level can only be attempted by someone like myself.”
Why did someone like him have such a needlessly useful ability?
Vera felt appalled.
‘A place to run…’
There wasn’t any.
His eyes began to tremble uncontrollably.
Shortly afterwards, his wandering gaze slowly turned to Renee.
He futilely wished that she would refute, but…
…The look on Renee’s face was one of sheer excitement.
Vera closed his eyes tightly.
Meanwhile, Renee shouted in an excited tone.
“That sounds fu… no, I mean, that’s a great idea!”
What was the point of changing her words after she had already said everything?
Vera glowered at Renee, but naturally, Renee could not see him grumble.
Looking very pleased, Renee continued to think.
‘The past Vera…’
What she meant was that she was going to see the younger Vera.
He wouldn’t have been a normal troublemaker judging by what he was trying to hide, regret, and avoid mentioning. It added credibility since she had experienced it herself.
However, Renee wasn’t worried.
‘Because of the oath.’
Whatever happened, as long as he had it, she could control the past Vera.
No matter how good Miller’s sorcery was, he wouldn’t be back to take away and revert Vera’s power.
To sum up the story…
‘It’s time to watch Vera’s dark past!’
Yes, come to think of it, it was like that. It was too unfair.
She had shown all sorts of unsightly and shameful sides of herself to Vera, but Vera had never shown her those sides of him.
There were no weaknesses to exploit.
This wasn’t right.
Vera had seen her ugly side, so she had to see Vera’s ugly side.
Renee smiled and nodded, quite pleased with herself for coming up with such a bold idea for someone whose dark history was out in plain view for everyone to see. All without her consent.
“Let’s get started.”
Her words were like a death sentence to Vera.
***
Someone once said ‘If you can’t avoid it, enjoy it.’
Vera was now in a position to answer the person who said that.
Could you enjoy having a knife to your throat?
“You might want to reconsider this, Saint…’
“Is there another way?”
Vera narrowed his eyes.
Sitting on a sunny bench in the garden in front of the dormitory, Vera somehow felt numb upon seeing Renee hum.
What Miller said just before he left replayed in his mind.
– Let’s start with the furthest point in the past and work our way back, verifying each memory from the point where it began to distort.
What did that mean?
In other words, he would be revealing his past one by one, starting from the parts that have not been altered yet.
It was literally killing him twice.
If the starting point of his fabricated memory was when he first met Renee from the last round, then the parts that needed to be verified this time were in his early 20s. It was a time when he had finished unifying the slums and took a step into aristocratic society, but his efforts were in vain.
It was when he was slowly expanding his business from the center of the continent. He was already an adult with power. At the time, he was a ruffian who thought he was above it all.
“…Saint, this is more serious than you think.”
“Seriously fun… No, my bad.”
Renee did not finish what she was saying and shuddered.
An uncontrollable smile appeared on her lips.
Vera’s eyes narrowed.
“Saint…”
“Ehem…!”
Her fake cough was useless. He had already heard everything.
She was enjoying it.
It was clear that Renee was having more fun now than ever.
“What else can we do? How can we know unless we do this?”
“…”
Even if the situation was somewhat ridiculous, he couldn’t refute it.
Vera sighed deeply.
There really was nowhere to run.
He was left with one option.
‘Please…’
He hoped that his past self would not do anything shameful.
For the first time in his life, Vera started praying to the Gods, which was something he had not done even in his dying moments nor during his regression.
***
As the spell was being prepared, Vera started to make his own preparations, like livestock being led to the slaughterhouse.
It was the least he could do to stop his past self from running wild in the process of bringing it out.
‘…I visited the Academy during this time.’
It was to recruit talented people.
He was a greedy bastard who had nothing and was looking for someone to be his arms and legs.
‘Walter.’
He was quite useful, but in the end, he went over the top with his embezzlements, so Vera snapped his neck himself.
Fortunately, he was still in the Academy’s graduating class in this life.
‘Put his information on the table.’
Next, he moved his lodgings to the quarters he had stayed in his previous life so that the past him wouldn’t feel out of place when he woke up.
Vera looked at the quarters, set up as similarly as he could remember, and gave a small nod.
‘This much…’
Should be enough to prevent unexpected situations to a certain extent.
When he realizes that the oath’s conditions have changed, it will be too late.
‘The Saint will already be by your side.’
He would take care of Renee even as he rampaged because the only thing that he feared during that time was not being able to keep his oath.
A long sigh escaped Vera’s mouth.
‘…Please.’
He prayed once more.
Please don’t do anything shameful, don’t go overboard even as you run wild.
– Once the spell ends, you’ll be able to recall the things you did while under the spell so you can cross-check yourself.
As Miller said, if you’ve done something shameful, it will haunt you in the form of a memory.
It meant that it was impossible to keep playing dumb.
While that thought continued, Renee spoke.
“Is it done?”
“…Yes, this should be enough to keep me from running wild the moment I open my eyes.”
“You’re very thorough.”
She sounded a bit fed up as she spoke.
Renee, who was right next to Vera as he prepared meticulously, could not help but think.
‘Is this necessary?’
“He’s an anxious bastard even with this much.”
Vera’s answer remained firm.
Renee felt herself become more curious, rather than tense, in response to his answer.
‘…An unimaginably shameful past!’
Whether it was because of the power of her love, Renee thought that Vera’s actions were somewhat cute. Feeling excited to tease him, she nodded.
“Hmm! Let’s go and call the Professor!”
“…Okay.”
Of course, those reactions only made Vera’s heart feel cold.
***
The spell activated.
Miller, who had brought an assortment of reagents and unknown tools, hypnotized Vera and put him to sleep, then he spoke before he left the room.
“For now, I’m going to leave, as we need to minimize the variables as much as possible. If you need help, you can shoot the flare into the sky. In order to do that, you have to…”
“Point the convex part towards the sky and infuse it with my divinity?”
“Yes, so you do know it! Then, I’ll get going!”
Clack—
Miller left the room.
Renee was left in the room, listening to Vera’s gentle breathing as she sat on a chair.
‘Come to think of it.’
It was the first time she had watched Vera fall asleep.
No, ‘watch’ sounds misleading.
‘Anyway…’
It felt strange to Renee because she was used to always seeing Vera awake and alert.
As Renee was giggling at those thoughts, quite some time had passed.
Shuffle—
Vera tossed and turned.
He seemed to be waking up.
As Renee’s body filled with tension, Vera opened his eyes.
***
Vera opened his eyes slowly and blankly dazed at the ceiling.
An unfamiliar ceiling.
An unfamiliar air.
As he continued to think, Vera finally found out the cause.
‘…I came to the Academy.’
It was a taxing journey to run the slums, which had nothing but idiots.
‘I’ve already selected some candidates.’
He went to sleep, thinking that he would continue with a clear mind once he woke up.
Vera, who sat up slowly as he regained consciousness, immediately flinched as he felt someone else’s presence.
He turned his head with a ‘whip’.
In front of him was an unfamiliar girl in a navy blue school uniform.
His body tensed instantly, and his face contorted.
The first thing that Vera did was to reach for the girl’s neck and grab it.
Grab—!
“Kugh…!”
A stifled breath escaped from the girl.
“Don’t make a big fuss. I didn’t grab you that hard.”
He growled in a threatening tone.
“Who are you?”
The words were spoken with a fierce scowl.
However, there was no answer.
Surprised by the situation’s suddenness, the girl continued to make coughing sounds.
Vera, who belatedly realized that the girl might not be an assassin, relaxed his grip and started to think.
He didn’t know who she was, but she was not strong enough.
‘The reason why she’s here…’
As he continued to ponder, he came up with a likely assumption.
“Oh.”
A chuckle escaped Vera’s lips.
“That dean of yours is quite a materialistic person.”
It was worth the money. Should he put it that way?
“He’s giving me a nice toy.”
A wicked grin formed on the corners of his mouth.
“Hmm…”
Relaxing a bit, Vera held the girl by the chin and inspected her face before speaking.
“He sent me something fairly good.”
There was satisfaction in his voice.
Renee shuddered at the words she heard.
Abrupt actions, unintelligible words.
Renee, who came to her senses late, thought.
‘He’s…’
More trashy than I thought?
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