"Fire!"
"That's Lord Edmond's estate—?!"
"Go report to Lord Simon, now!"
The pillar of flame roared upward, as if it wouldn't stop until the entire villa was reduced to ash.
Heatwaves and firelight lit up the whole shantytown, crawling along the walls and spilling right up to Bandel City on the other side.
The guards on watch reacted at once, sending word into the city to the man responsible for overseeing the entire shantytown—Security Corps Deputy Commander, the one famed as "Bandel City's No. 1 Handsome Man"—
Simon Ferrero.
…
Inside Bandel City's lord's mansion—
A man with sea-blue hair like rolling waves, a refined western sword always belted at his waist, stared out through the enormous floor-to-ceiling window at the blaze climbing higher and higher.
A wildly exaggerated captain's hat shadowed his face. What little could be seen looked dark and venomous, tight enough you'd think you could wring water out of it.
"Understood… you may leave."
His icy voice echoed as he waved the guard away.
Bang— the office door slammed shut.
The doorman who had just bowed his way out immediately heard the crash-crack of something being thrown inside. His neck shrank in reflex and he hurried away.
"Useless trash! That fat pig Edmond—can't do a damn thing right. I never should've given him the job!"
"Aw, darling… what's wrong~?"
Beside a shattered vase, shadows writhed. A "beauty snake" slid out, winding up the carpet, climbing Simon Ferrero's leg… higher… higher… until it reached his shoulder.
Her tongue flicked. She breathed warm air into his ear.
Simon's Ren dispersed. He was naked, blue hair loose down his back, letting the woman dress him. The earlier gloom was gone; he exhaled, satisfied.
"Lilith… that idiot Andrew Cooper really was a block of wood. All those years with you and he never even realized you were a succubus. What a waste of your youth."
Succubus: a humanoid magical beast—same "Phantasmal Beast" category as the "ferocious fox" family used in the Hunter Exam pre-test.
Before opening aura nodes they often appear with "pointed ears," "pointed tail," and a devilishly voluptuous body. Once they open their nodes and become true nen users, most can suppress those nonhuman traits at will and pass perfectly as human.
Lilith wrapped her arms around Simon from behind, resting her delicate chin on his shoulder, and giggled in a smoky, teasing voice.
"If you hadn't been sharp enough to help me open my nodes, I probably would've died without ever knowing I was even a succubus. And back then Andrew was just a nobody…"
Simon snorted.
"Too bad. The task I gave him—he screwed it up!"
He clicked his tongue.
"Edmond's villa burned down, and he disappeared for no reason. And he just so happens to be your 'husband's' superior. Lilith—"
Simon turned and grabbed her, looking down into her eyes.
"You don't mind if I haul him in and question him, do you?"
"Master…"
Lilith rose onto her toes and kissed him, her eyes like silk.
"You said it yourself—that was before. I don't know any 'Andrew' anymore. Now…"
She breathed against his lips.
"…I'm yours."
"Hohoho…"
The "No. 1 handsome man" grinned, wicked.
His head suddenly warped into a frog's head. He opened his mouth wide and swallowed Lilith's entire head in one gulp.
"You're incredible, Lilith! I'm falling more in love with you every day!"
"Master—don't hold back~!"
Round two. Pink, intimate nen swelled again…
And in the distance, beyond the flames rising from the shantytown—
Simon Ferrero's bulging frog-eyes snapped toward the inferno. His slit pupils flashed with cold light.
…
Step… step…
Wind blew. Roy drifted with the light, his thoughts rolling like clouds.
After killing Edmond Sander and his attendant Dunn West, Roy melted into sunlight with Light Release, riding the current of day. But in his mind, one image kept replaying—
Silva stepping in to save Edmond.
For the first time in his life, Roy felt a hazy, unfamiliar distance from his father.
Like he didn't know Silva anymore.
Like Silva wasn't the stern, severe, "keep your distance" father from the original story—
but an executioner, killing for the powerful, protecting the corrupt—cold enough to chill the bones.
"An assassin doesn't judge good or evil. You kill for pay. You finish the job."
Silva's old lesson floated up.
Roy stayed silent as he flew, passing the shantytown… the farmland… the open plains… and re-entering the Uzugatsuki Forest. Then he abruptly stopped, dropping down into the deeper woods.
With a flick of his hand, he opened Sumeru Mustard Seed and gently released Libery Garcia, along with the boys and girls Edmond had kept as "toys," onto a patch of grass.
Libery—still in that ridiculous playing-card coat—didn't even wait for Roy to speak. He threw himself flat at Roy's feet.
"Great one above all! Libery Garcia greets Your Majesty and humbly begs to receive your teachings!"
[Notice: Detected 1 "Candidate Follower"]
[Name: Libery Garcia]
[A man enslaved by divination and fate—he glimpsed your glory, devoutly converted, pending formal induction]
Roy pulled himself out of his thoughts and glanced down at Libery.
"You used to hate gods more than anyone. And now? What are you doing?"
A "blasphemer who repents"? Roy didn't buy it. People like this—worldly, slippery, hunted by the church for twenty years and still alive—don't just fold because someone "radiates aura."
Libery lifted his head and met Roy's gaze head-on, eyes burning.
"Will you become a god?"
Roy froze—actually caught off guard.
He touched the curse on the back of his left hand, listening to his life tick away—tick… tick…
Then he shook his head, calm and firm.
"Rather than becoming a god, I want to be a guide who doesn't forget why he started."
To harvest, to steal, to set rules, build privilege, freeze social classes, trample the poor—Roy had only walked the shantytown once and it killed any desire to "ascend" into that.
He looked Libery in the eye.
"I won't abandon power. Maybe someday I'll drift toward 'divinity.' I can't promise the people who trust me that I'll never change."
Then his voice sharpened—just one degree.
"But there's one thing I will promise."
He dropped Deception, peeling away Andrew Cooper's face.
Silver hair spilled into view like moonlit water.
Libery flinched.
Roy continued, quiet and unwavering.
"I will always remember who I am… and where I came from."
Wind rustled the leaves.
Sunlight filtered down through the canopy, scattering pale coins of light across Roy's shoulders like a halo. In Libery's eyes, it overlapped with the moment from his divination—sun chariot, golden bird, the figure crowned with light.
"Because of that," Libery said, voice deep, deadly serious, "fate guided me to you."
He thumped his own chest, yanking at his injury until he coughed blood, and swore through it:
"Libery Garcia will obey Your Majesty's teachings—until death."
Thud. He bowed so low his nose kissed the dirt.
[Notice: "Candidate follower" Libery Garcia: "absolute loyalty"—trustworthy]
Roy stared down at him for a long time, expression complicated.
Then he conjured Eclipse, tapped Libery's shoulders lightly—left and right—and spoke.
"You rebelled because you couldn't stomach the church's filth and the nobility's madness. That means you still have a conscience. You didn't forget the bare minimum of what it means to be human."
"Libery Garcia."
"My liege—I'm here."
Roy raised his voice slightly and touched Libery's forehead.
"Praise the Sun."
"May you never forget that."
"Praise the Sun!" Libery pressed his hands together, trembling.
As Roy withdrew the light-sword, a stream of information—like water carried on nen—flowed into Libery's mind.
Gift: Deception Technique
A practical nen-form method: pre-imagine the target form, then use aura to "disguise" and "reshape," blending "truth" and "lie" to fool the naked eye.
(Those with deep nen mastery can even blur En detection—good enough to pass as real.)
The stream settled.
Libery's eyes went wide.
"This… is a Blessing?!"
Roy didn't answer that word. He simply looked at the sleeping youths scattered across the grass.
"The knights of Bandel City don't treat people like people," he said evenly. "So I see no reason to treat them like people either."
Libery shivered.
"Libery Garcia—I need information. I need an information officer."
Roy turned back to him.
"Can you do it?"
"Praise the Sun, my Lord!" Libery swore immediately. "Libery Garcia will obey!"
He clenched his jaw.
"Once I can control the side effects from the Blessing, I'll depart for Bandel City and investigate for you."
Side effects…
Roy remembered the obscene, deranged scenes he'd seen in Libery's heart—and in Edmond's villa. Men who got power and then lost themselves.
He said flatly, "My Blessing has no side effects."
He paused—then in his head, added what he didn't say aloud:
A true "Blessing" is actually First Embrace, a deeper binding—like what I did to Wutong, like Muzan did to the Upper Moons.
The forest seemed to go silent.
Libery stared at Roy like he'd been struck.
Then he snapped upright and bowed again, even more devoutly.
"Praise the Sun… I was narrow-minded."
"I will depart for Bandel City at once."
"Not yet," Roy said. He swept Libery with True Eye, memorizing his attributes.
[Libery Garcia]
[Physique: 1354]
[Manifest Aura: C+ (52k/100k)]
[Potential Aura: B- (410k/1M)]
[Rating: C+]
[Note: Ant commander tier—comparable to the scorpion ant Zazan's raid-force class]
Not weaker than peak Feitan or Uvogin—he just wasn't a frontline "Enhancer" or "Transmuter," so his ceiling would show differently.
Roy nodded to himself.
"Recover first."
Libery held his posture, solemn and ready.
Roy's gaze cooled.
"And when you go back—find out who gave them that 'Blessing.'"
Because those usable-but-locked Faith points were telling him something very clear:
There was another "divinity" at work in Bandel City.
And Roy intended to rip it out by the roots.
~~~
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