"Big brother, as you can see, we're all Possessed."
"So our families don't want us anymore."
A few children spoke to Yuki, their faces filled with grievance and sorrow.
Hearing this, Yuki couldn't help but sigh.
As the children said, precisely because their families had abandoned them, they had ended up easily captured by robbers.
Ordinary people didn't understand the situation of the Possessed, but Yuki did.
"I see..."
"In that case, would you like to come with Big Brother? Big Brother can give you a place to stay."
Yuki crouched down, smiling warmly as he asked the children.
Hearing that Yuki wanted to take them in, the children's eyes widened.
They couldn't believe Yuki was willing to take them in.
After all, in this world, even their own parents had given up on them.
Only those people earlier had wanted them.
But they never thought this handsome big brother before them would want to take them in. It was undoubtedly an incredible thing.
They even wondered for a moment if Yuki was with that earlier group.
But upon closer observation, they didn't think so.
Because the Yuki before them gave them a feeling of closeness and safety, not the cold indifference of that previous group.
"Really, Big Brother?"
"We're all Possessed... aren't you scared?"
One little girl looked at Yuki with wide, watery eyes as she asked.
"Those are just minor issues. Big Brother can help cure you."
Yuki shook his head, then gently patted the little girl's head as he spoke tenderly.
Hearing that Yuki could cure them, the innocent little girls all looked surprised.
Some even showed expressions of delight.
They didn't have many options now, since their families had abandoned them.
Now that Yuki was willing to take them in, naturally they wouldn't refuse.
As for Yuki saying he could treat their symptoms, that point wasn't as crucial to them.
"Big Brother, I'm willing to go with you!"
"Me too!"
"..."
After one person spoke up, the others quickly followed, until all the little girls present expressed their willingness to go with Yuki.
Seeing everyone willing to join, Yuki smiled and nodded with satisfaction.
"Good. I'll take you back to where I'm staying in a bit."
"But first, I need to handle one more thing."
Yuki patted the children's heads, then turned his gaze toward the meatball inside the cage.
"Brother Yuki, are you planning to take that meatball back too?"
The little girls, seeing Yuki's gaze, asked.
"That's right, why do you ask?"
"That thing has been with us the whole way. We don't even know what it is."
The little girls all spoke with confused expressions.
Hearing this, Yuki smiled.
"It's fine. You'll know in a moment."
He walked up to the cage and gently snapped his fingers.
The surrounding cage instantly vanished, leaving only the large meatball.
He reached out and lightly brushed his hand over the meatball's surface.
Then, the meatball began to disintegrate at a visible speed, peeling away layer by layer.
In less than a minute, when the entire meatball had completely peeled away, a human figure appeared inside.
The figure belonged to a girl, slightly taller than the other girls present.
She was a fair-skinned elf with golden hair and blue eyes.
Judging by her appearance, her age seemed slightly older than the other children.
The surrounding little girls were utterly astonished by this "person appearing from a ball" spectacle.
They never imagined that the large meatball accompanying them all this way had contained a person.
Looking at the golden-haired elf before him, the corners of Yuki's lips lifted slightly.
Naturally, Yuki recognized the girl before him.
He had come here primarily for her.
She was Alpha, the First Seat of the "Seven Shadows" from the original Shadow Garden.
In the original story, she was the strange meatball the protagonist Shadow had casually brought back during a robbery of bandit treasure.
When Shadow didn't understand its purpose, he used the meatball to practice his mana compression.
He often directed his abilities at the meatball, especially since it remained undamaged no matter what—which only fueled his efforts.
Then one day, the meatball suddenly exploded.
And inside appeared this golden-haired elven beauty.
To hide the fact that he had used her for practice, the protagonist Shadow fabricated a story about fighting against the evil Diabolos Cult, claiming he had rescued her from their clutches.
This moved Alpha deeply, and she even imagined a series of scenarios where Shadow secretly battled the evil Diabolos Cult.
She then followed the protagonist and, for this purpose, established Shadow Garden.
Now that Yuki wanted to establish an organization in this world, collecting the "Seven Shadows" from the original Shadow Garden was undoubtedly a convenient shortcut.
With them, after a bit of training from Yuki, they could effectively manage this world on his behalf.
They could provide assistance to Akane when Yuki wasn't around.
"Who are you?"
"What... what happened to me?"
The golden-haired elven girl, completely unaware of what had transpired, looked at Yuki with a puzzled expression.
Her gaze swept over Yuki, then shifted to the many other little girls around her own age, making her even more confused.
"You don't remember what happened?"
Yuki asked the girl in return.
The girl shook her head, a trace of sadness appearing on her face.
"I thought I would die rotting away... I never expected..."
She slowly lowered her head, looking at her fair, jade-like, flawless arms, hardly able to believe it.
She remembered being abandoned by her parents because the curse on her was incurable.
During that time, she had watched the pustules on her body gradually enlarge until they became larger than her own frame, eventually enveloping her completely.
She had thought she would die like that, but never imagined she would see the light of day again.
"It's alright. I've already removed the curse from you."
"Now, you won't have the symptoms of Possession anymore."
"As for what happened earlier, let me briefly explain!"
Yuki smiled slightly, then recounted the earlier events to the girl.
After hearing Yuki's account, her face showed immense surprise.
"You... you were able to remove my curse?!"
"Are you... a God?!"
"Yes! That must be it! You are the God who came to save us!"
The girl immediately elevated Yuki's image to that of a deity.
"Uh..."
Seeing the girl looking at him with such worship, Yuki felt somewhat speechless inside.
Truly one of the "Seven Shadows" from the original—each one a master of imagination.
"Ahem, it's not as serious as you say."
Yuki coughed lightly to ease his own awkwardness.
He then asked the girl about her future plans and invited her to join him.
Upon hearing Yuki's invitation, the girl agreed without hesitation.
She even proactively asked Yuki to give her a new name.
And Yuki simply gave her the original name: Alpha.
Receiving her new name, Alpha was overjoyed, believing it was a divine blessing.