Thump. His heart skipped a beat.
Desmond’s face from the final battle and his sinister gaze flashed before his eyes.
The terrible demonic energy that seemed like it would tear away all life at the roots just by touching it.
The screams and groans of people. And the stench.
These memories surfaced like dumplings thrown into the waters of memory, quickly touching scene after scene, rippling outward before scattering away.
Cain tried to regain his composure and turned the page to examine the detailed contents.
“……”
Fortunately, the content was far from what he had been worried about.
“…The captured criminal claimed diminished mental capacity, saying he had lost his mind after being deceived by Desmond’s wicked temptations that he had coincidentally read about in some book…”
“…Later, when the relevant book was retrieved and investigated, it turned out to be nothing more than a crude miscellany that had randomly borrowed Desmond’s name…”
To summarize, it was a case where a serial killer who had been secretly committing murders for pleasure was caught and tried to hold out by invoking Desmond’s name to get investigated by a priest, but was ultimately executed.
‘Since the evidence was clear in cases like this, once caught, it’s almost immediate execution. He was probably trying to buy time and hold out, or bribe the priest if possible to increase his chances of survival even slightly.’
Once investigative authority was transferred to the temple, existing investigators could no longer interfere with the subsequent handling process. This was true even for the family courts of prestigious houses.
From the criminal’s perspective, he had chosen the method with the highest chance of survival.
‘It seems the temple folks are still the same. Really, they can’t be trusted.’
Even in his previous life, Cain had not trusted the temple.
On the surface, they called upon the name of the main god and pretended to be virtuous, but he knew their hearts were rotting with lust for power and material wealth.
-Haha, Family Head. This matter seems a bit ambiguous to judge right and wrong. So what I’m saying is… if Lord Sears were to show devotion to the main god, we could…
-What exactly do you mean by showing devotion?
-Well… just moderately…
-Moderately?
-Then, just a little…
-A little?
-Ah, it’s nothing at all. I’m sorry, please forget what I just said!
Not long after Cain had become the family head, a mid-level priest had quietly visited and suggested a backdoor deal.
Though it was Harman who later informed him that it had been a backdoor deal proposal.
‘If only the temple had been of great help in killing Desmond, but that wasn’t the case either.’
The temple could wield tremendous power as an independent institution within the empire because only blessed priests could handle the ‘mana of light,’ also called divine power.
‘They would dispel curses or bestow blessings, and also played roles in weakening and dealing with monsters with evil attributes.’
Unless one was a mage or knight with strong mental power and mana constantly in their body, even the lightest curse couldn’t be overcome by one’s own strength, so they had to receive dispelling from priests.
Since there were quite a few diseases that could be cured with blessings, priests were practically divine beings among ordinary imperial citizens.
However, when Desmond and his followers began to run rampant, the priests who had boasted that they could suppress the evil attribute ‘demonic energy’ with the sacred power of light did not demonstrate the strength that had been expected.
To get to the point, the high priest and senior priests couldn’t withstand even a single exchange against Desmond and were completely annihilated.
While it was partly because Desmond had targeted them first, from Cain’s perspective, the priests had simply died because they were weak.
They had become overconfident in the blessed power itself bestowed by heaven, and thus had not honed themselves fiercely.
In any case, there was no situation where Desmond was alive as he had feared.
When he thought about it, it might not be so strange for Desmond’s name to be mentioned intermittently in the records.
Hadn’t the record he just read mentioned that Desmond’s name appeared in some miscellaneous book?
Since he was the unique being who had nearly destroyed the continent single-handedly, it wouldn’t be entirely abnormal for his name to remain after time had passed.
Even if the meaning contained within had been diluted so that now it merely represented the “evil thing” in “evil thing, begone!”
But the reason Cain had still flinched upon seeing Desmond’s name was because of the ‘possibility, however remote.’
The possibility that he might return alive, even if it was one in ten thousand, or one in ten thousand times ten thousand.
Actually, he had been vaguely thinking about this since he first awakened his past life memories and spent about a month training alone to create his second circle of flame magic.
Certainly, Cain had ended Desmond’s life in his previous existence and had repeatedly confirmed there was no possibility of resurrection, but…
‘Since I’m alive like this, there’s no telling if Desmond might also be alive somewhere through the same method.’
The logic was simple.
Cain had died in his previous life, but for some reason was reincarnated and awakened those memories at age fifteen.
Could he guarantee that the same thing hadn’t happened to Desmond?
-【Kuhh… I thought I would surely obtain it this time. But in the future, I will certainly…】
‘In the future… he had said.’
Those words Desmond had spoken became more bothersome the more he mulled them over after recovering his memories.
Had Desmond spoken those words knowing about reincarnation? If so, had he already reincarnated, or would he but hadn’t yet? If he had, had he found his memories, or was he planning to?
There was nothing he could know for certain, but…
‘I must definitely stay vigilant.’
Especially if there were still those on the continent who, despite Desmond’s death, sought to continue his will.
That’s why Cain had intended to search for records about his family while also looking for any records about Desmond that had been concerning him.
But even though he had prepared himself mentally to some degree, when he actually saw Desmond’s name, the memories of his past life flashed so vividly before his eyes for an instant that he couldn’t help but be momentarily shaken.
“Phew. Should I look at some other records?”
Cain tried to find more records about Desmond afterward, but unfortunately, this seemed to be all there was.
He searched more thoroughly through the library attached to the archive, looking for even the oldest books, but…
He only found one more record that would turn his stomach.
The content of that record was that the temple had stolen about half the credit for killing Desmond during the great war of the past.
‘Even though there were no witnesses, they really do all sorts of things.
‘
Whether they still had some last bit of conscience or simply couldn’t fabricate it perfectly…
The record stated: ‘After fierce battle, no one could survive, but later a sacred mark was discovered at the location where Desmond was presumed to have been, leading to the presumption that the main god’s grace had ended Desmond’s life.’
‘What nonsense. It was merely the result of Desmond mockingly swallowing up the high priest’s sacred mark.’
The sacred mark had already lost its power before that.
‘Phew. There’s no point bringing this up now, two hundred years later.’
Even if Cain suddenly went to the imperial palace or temple and shouted “It was actually Thane Sears who killed Desmond,” he would only be treated as a madman.
What could change if a young boy who wasn’t even born at the time made such claims?
Even if a miracle occurred and the imperial family believed it, the current Sears family didn’t even have the power to protect such honor.
‘Should I rather be grateful that the credit didn’t go to another family?’
Cain sighed as he organized the record books and put them back in their places.
It was frustrating. His chest felt tight and stuffy as if being squeezed.
Both the fact that he couldn’t achieve complete victory over Desmond and had to perish together with him, and that the family lineage was broken and their status had fallen to the ground.
But…
‘In the end, if I had been stronger back then.’
No, if the entire family including him had been more powerful.
Of course, fundamentally, all the blame lay with Desmond.
And it wasn’t Thane Thiers’ fault that his disciples hadn’t become strong enough.
Rather, without Thane Thiers, they wouldn’t have even gotten that far.
He knew this better than anyone, but…
In the end, what remained were the results, and he knew that unless one was a god, no one could take such achievements and efforts into account and provide compensation.
Therefore…
‘In this life, I will definitely create the best possible outcome.’
Whether regarding himself or the family, so as to leave no regrets.
‘For now, the Desmond matter is on hold.’
It was still uncertain whether he had reincarnated or would reincarnate.
Until he found something that could serve as a clue, it was better to focus on the present.
‘Right. I need to focus on the present.’
Cain checked the time.
‘It’s already lunchtime.’
And he decided to eat first.
“Wow, Cain. Your cooking really gets more delicious every time. I’m envious, so envious.”
“Alice has been practicing cooking a lot lately.”
“Th-thank you for eating different side dishes each time, Cain. Ever since I became friends with you, many good things have happened in various ways. Hehe.”
As Fon looked at Cain with sparkling eyes and smiled, Cain averted his gaze and replied.
“It’s more efficient that way. There’s no other meaning.”
After finishing their meal behind the main building, they did light exercise for digestion.
“What are you going to do until evening, Cain?”
“I was planning to have personal training time.”
“As expected, training. Then can we join too?”
“W-we don’t have any education this afternoon either.”
Although they had agreed to train together in the evening, since everyone happened to have free time, they decided to do one more training session before evening and rest while replenishing their stamina before the meal.
“Hey, are you guys the only ones training!”
As they were running in the courtyard of the east building, Bolio, who had finished eating in the dining hall, also joined them.
“Huff… huff…”
“Huff…”
The most difficult part of training to physical limits was that even as stamina increased, one had to taste extreme pain every time.
But nevertheless, Ed, Fon, and Bolio ran and repeatedly cast magic without complaint for the sake of improvement.
“From now on, I won’t specifically watch you until your limit when casting magic, so rest when you can’t do it anymore.”
“Oh, you don’t need to watch?”
“Of course it would be better to watch, but I can’t always just watch over you three.”
For physical training, he watched partly to push them to their limits, but also because exceeding limits could lead to injury.
However, with magic casting, at most they would briefly lose consciousness while sitting, so it was manageable to leave them to it.
“You’ve done it several times now, so you should be somewhat accustomed to the sense of limits.”
“Okay! Then let’s try it among ourselves!”
While the three practiced casting magic with minimal mental power after physical training, Cain examined his own body and gradually built up his flame magic circles with the pure fire mana extracted from the ice crystal.
“No… more…”
“Uhhh…”
“Gweh.”
Someone lost consciousness somewhere, but Cain continued his training without paying attention.
This way, gradually granting autonomy to his disciples while supervising them at necessary moments…
After about a week, they had all reached the point where they would come out and start training first without being told.
‘It seems they’ve become somewhat accustomed to efficient ways of using magic.’
Now everyone could successfully cast magic in one attempt with minimal mental power even when their stamina was completely drained.
Starting tomorrow, it seemed he could address specific areas where each of their flame magic skills were lacking and how they should develop them.
Cain watched the three for a moment, then closed his eyes and focused on his own circle.
‘This side is also progressing at a satisfactory pace.’
Thanks to the pure mana extracted from the ice crystal and his natural affinity, Cain’s level was also accumulating at a satisfactory rate.
‘Now, among the things that need immediate resolution, what remains is the financial problem.’
Although the support funds had been largely restored, it was still just enough to make breathing room.
While it might help solve the problems that had been piling up until now, it was nowhere near enough to rebuild the family to its former state.
‘From the beginning, there’s a need to fundamentally improve the structure so it can function well without receiving support.’
Based on the stories he heard from Alice and Nefti, and the information he saw in the archive…
The biggest problem excluding support funds seemed to be the monopoly issue in commerce and distribution networks.
However…
‘Unfortunately, I don’t know much about that area.’
Of course, he knew the basics – concepts that were common in the commercial world.
But detailed matters like actual statistics and field conditions had always been reported and resolved by the finance minister or disciples knowledgeable in commerce who worked in the finance department.
‘I can’t just go to the finance department right now and ask them to report what the core problems are and how best to solve them.’
As Cain was lost in thought, he heard a voice beside him.
“C-Cain.”
“What is it? Did you hit a snag somewhere?”
“N-no… it’s not that… I was just resting for a moment and you looked like you had a lot on your mind. Wh-what were you thinking about?”
Cain answered honestly.
“I heard that our family’s territory situation isn’t good right now. Especially since the Bederman family has control of the commercial rights, it seems there’s been damage to trade. I was thinking about suggesting that we develop entirely new routes and secure distribution networks for our goods, even if it means taking detours.”
He didn’t need to explain in such detail, but…
‘It’s better than giving a vague answer and getting a string of follow-up questions.’
In his previous life, most people would say “Ah, I see, Family Head. Thank you for your hard work” and leave after such an answer.
Fon would probably say something like that too and go back to practicing magic…
“No, Cain. The method you mentioned isn’t impossible, but right now it would be better to resolve the monopoly on existing routes, even if temporarily. Even with our current core high-value item, whitehorse stone, the section from the Hyveren region to Grenden village is a reasonable route that’s not too roundabout with appropriate risk levels, but it has high fees attached because of the Bederman family. If we were to draw more detoured routes from here, even if we secured them safely, the distance would be too far and inefficient. Instead, if we could revive one of the existing routes that we’re not using because of high risk despite good logistics, and just solve the safety problems, we could significantly reduce costs.”
“?”
