“What the hell, Great Sage?”
“Wow!!! That looks, good man. Your cooking is so good when you look like a mindless zombie”- Sakamoto was filling his mouth with the soup I just made
“Get the others to eat as well.”- How much time did pass now?
“3 hours passed since then, Daisuke, it wasn’t this long. Nightfall isn’t far”
In the meantime, I was putting the dishes in place, and pouring a serving of soup for everyone. 5 minutes later Noni, Okura, Senri, and Akari arrived, and they were staring at the soup
“Did something happen?”
“No, I am just surprised. What do you think about this Akari?”- Senri walked near the table, reached to pull a chair with her left hand, she was carrying Akari in her right arm. She sat down, Akari was sitting on her lap
“Go on and eat. It’s ok. Daisuke, can you please give us the spoons”
“It’s ok I got, go take a seat to Daisuke” Sakamoto patted me on the back while pointing at a chair near Senri
After Sakamoto brought the spoons, there was an awkward silence, no one spoke, didn’t they usually talk at the table? Am I remembering it wrong?
“You are remembering wrong Daisuke”
“Why is this happening?”
“Brain damage after being reincarnated, it’s not common, but it happens, believe me this is my first case of this happening”
“Great Sage, were there other people you helped in other worlds?”
“Yes, many people, actually. You are the first with this substantial brain damage. Some of it is caused by me, but amnesia is a thing I don’t cause. If it was my doing, it would have been to remember as much as possible”
“Hope the plan goes well tonight”
“Well, better take care of Akari. You will be spending a lot of time in the Demi-human village from now on”
Eating took us a total of 40 minutes. It was deadly silent.
“Everyone, meeting in the living room”- Okura pointed to the couches
“Ok, let me put Akari to sleep. Mind if you help me Daisuke?”- Senri grabbed my shirt sleeve, dragging me to her room
“What now?”
“Look, help me a little here. I don’t know what will happen today, the mission and everything is making me so anxious”
“It’s ok, we will discuss it tonight. Let’s take care of Akari first”
“Stay here for a bit”- Senri laid Akari on the bed.
“Ok”- Akari’s face is always blank when she replies, no emotions shown
“If you need anything, just shout for us.”
“I want to sleep”- Akari whispered, it was barely audible
“That’s fine, you don’t need to ask for permission to sleep”
“No, I can’t fall asleep”
“Is there a spell to make her fall asleep?”
“Of course there is, it’s Aroma Magic: Sleep Powder, copy it from me Daisuke. Here I will show you”- Senri extended a hand in front of Akari
*Use Skill: Magic Sense*- It’s hard to get used to Magic Sense, you can see mana flow and all, but it makes you dizzy after some time or if you activate it more than twice daily
“Look, that’s how you do it”
#Skill Granted: Aroma Magic, Sleep Powder#
“Should this be possible? I didn’t cast it yet”
“It is Daisuke, you have me, an entity with god-like power, so learning new skills won’t take you that long, some exceptions might apply tho”
“Ok, I learned it”
“This fast?”
“Yes, thanks to Great Sage”
“Well, that is handy”- Senri reached her hand to grab a blanket to cover a sleeping Akari
“Ok, she is asleep. Let’s get to the others”
Noni, Sakamoto, and Okura were already standing there. I took a seat near Okura
“So, let’s begin today’s meeting by addressing a few questions”- Okura’s gaze was directed toward me
“About the mission, what should we do about Emiko?”
“No, Noni, let’s first address Daisuke a question, Why did you buy a slave? What made you do that?”
“Great Sage’s influence”
“Why do you blame Great Sage for everything?”
“Because I am to blame”- Great, he took control of my body again
“Why do you do that to Daisuke? Explain his behavior to us”
“Ok, so as I gave him a blessing and a curse, this is my curse, I can influence his actions, delete memories, or implant fake ones at will.”
“That’s messed up”
“Sakamoto, look, this is a side effect I can’t control fully yet. Auto-Pilot mode allows Daisuke to do things with skill, I take control of his body and consciousness, he can now hear the conversation, but can’t move, we share the same vision, but I am the one controlling his body”
“This doesn’t answer the question fully”
“Yes, the slave. This has something to do with Emiko.”
“I am listening”
“Ok, so Emiko is really a criminal, but she did all of that to protect demi-humans”
“What are you talking about?”
“This kingdom enslaves demi-humans, the demi-human village here is independent because of Emiko, she is able to slay the king’s army with ease there, she has magical traps all over the village that activate in case of need”
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
“So the king didn’t lie”
“Yes, he didn’t. But it’s all his fault. He wants to silence Emiko for what she did, King Luxor wants to enslave all demi-humans worldwide. Emiko was the only resistance to this, due to her being a level 200 adventurer, rarely can anyone oppose her. So it’s basically a suicide mission”
“That jackass!”- Noni smashed his fist into the table
“Calm down brother”-Sakamoto grabbed his hand trying to calm him
“My analysis was right, he was truly lying”
“I have one more suggestion”
“Say it!”
“We should help the demi-human village. Send Daisuke after Emiko when you get her whereabouts, I can’t locate her, it seems that she has an ultimate skill that blocks perception of her, it even blocks the sight of gods. Bring Akari to the Demi-human village as well, she will be needed.”
“What do you suggest we do there?”
“Okura, you will help them with logistics and economics, Noni and Sakamoto, the 2 of you will train their army, Senri you and Daisuke will help with raising Akari, fighting the monsters from the outskirts, craft high-level items for the village and help with the magic barrier”
“Ok, how will that help us?”
“Well, it will help them. Akari is the heir of the village chief, he will be happy to see her daughter, if he was still alive that is. She will be recognized right away in the village. My plan is to raise her in the next 2 months while searching for Emiko, once we know her location we go and join her.”
“What should we do with the king?”
“We either imprison or kill him”
“Killing him is plain wrong”
“Yes, and him killing many innocent people is also plain wrong. Look here guys, if we keep him alive his loyal followers might start a rebellion, if he is dead then they won’t have the courage to do anything. There are some people whose lives aren’t worth keeping”
“No, I can’t bring myself to kill other humans”
“Don’t worry, you won’t have to stain your hands with blood, I will be the one doing it”- What the hell Great Sage why the hell will you want to do that? In my body as well, I don’t consent to any of this
“I don’t care if you consent to any of this, Daisuke. Look if you want the demi-humans to live a happy life you will have to listen to me, the king is a jackass that doesn’t give a fuck about life in general, his rule had brought everything into poverty, and the city of Wiefra is the only one that has prosperity, because of it being a capital. And if I am not wrong, you told Petra that you had a plan, right? Told her that you want to change something, right? This is the moment to do it”
“If we can put him in prison, promise you won’t kill him?”
“I promise, but if he tries anything funny, he will die on the spot. I can’t afford for more deaths”
“Ok, so what do you guys think?”- Okura got his gaze off me and looked at everyone
“I don’t know. I will happily help Demi-Humans, but I don’t agree with killing someone. Great Sage, promise that you will keep casualties as low as possible please”- Noni bowed before me
“Ok, I promise, deaths will be kept at a minimum”
“Look, Great Sage has a point, I hate it, but he is right with the king. Having slaves, calling other people merchandise, it’s wrong from him, but killing him won’t make us any better”
“You are right, Sakamoto. But we don’t have time to take the moral high ground, taking the moral high ground and playing the righteous one might get all of you killed. Sometimes you have to say fuck you to any sense of morality to stay alive, after all, almost everyone ditches it when push comes to shove.”
“You missed my point”
“You want to take the moral high ground I get it”- Dam it Great Sage, not a single facial expression had been made by any of them since the meeting began, they were like blank slates. Were they this terrified of him?
“Yes, please if possible we should take it”
“I agree with Great Sage 90%. There are other ways to deal with the king, but if the situation gets too tense, it isn’t off the table for him to betray us once we find the truth. If push comes to shove we won’t have a choice but to kill the king, from the way he treats demi-humans he sees life as disposable. Be careful around him and his guards, he might try to do it sooner”
“I have a complaint. Don’t you care about what happens to Daisuke?”- Senri reached to grab my shoulders. It feels strange to share the same vision as Great Sage, he already told me that he will kill the king.
“Yes, I do care what happens to him. Why do you think I came up with this plan?”
“It seems like you don’t. If you would, this plan will be out of the question. Imagine what Daisuke will feel when you kill someone, it’s his body, his actions influenced by you, how would he feel if he kills someone? Think about him as well!”- Senri punched me in the chest
“I do care. If something happens to any of you, Daisuke will be sad. Those are all the precautions needed for me to take. Daisuke cares a lot for all of you”- Why does he have to say it? Can’t he shut up about this?
“Look, Daisuke, you let me do the talking. Getting back to your point Senri, sometimes harm is unavoidable, Daisuke will hate to admit it, but he will do anything to see all of you safe. If something like that comes to happen, Daisuke will have no choice but act on it”
“What are you saying?”- Senri slapped me again. Great Sage is right about this, tho. I contradict myself a lot, I know, but you will have to bite the bullet sometimes
“I am saying that he will do anything to save people he cares about, even if it means killing someone else. If push comes to shove with the king he will do it, if he is too scared I will do it. There isn’t much I can say on this. If the king is hell-bent on killing us, he will kill us either way”
“What are you suggesting?”- Okura got in front of me again
“If he sent us on the mission to fight Emiko, it means he wants to get rid of us, he didn’t give us any information about Emiko. He made her look very weak, if he cared even a little about us, he would have told us about Emiko’s level, which is 200. It is pure suicide for us to go and battle her. If Emiko didn’t kill us, then he might. As it seems all of you are friendly towards demi-humans, he will see all of you as a threat anyway. The king is the type of person that goes on better safe than sorry. So we have 2 options now. Either confront the king directly or help the village”
“We will help the village”
“Ok, carry Daisuke’s body to his room. He will faint when I give him back control”- Great Sage? What the hell
“It was your choice, Daisuke. You let me talk to them.”
The next day:
When I woke up, my whole body hurts. What the hell happened last night. Why did Great Sage act like this?
“Morning Daisuke!”- Senri’s light hand can be felt on my head
“Morning, what happened last night?”
“We argued a lot on Great Sage’s plan. We decided to go help the village. Okura took care of any suspicion that the king might have about us. Akari is ok, she is eating”- Looking around, I was in Senri’s room, where did I sleep? Wait, I am still in the bed
“That’s great. Why am I in your room?”
“Well, every time you fainted. I brought you here”
“Thank you”
“No problem”- Senri helped me get up.
“So, what now. Shall we go on with the plan?”-
“Yes, Let’s get Akari and go, if you remember what Great Sage told us is to take care of Akari and kill monsters”- Senri extended her right hand, placing it on my shoulder
“Ok, let me get ready”
“One more thing. Please stick near me at all times”- Senri stepped closer to me, placing her left hand on my left shoulder
“Ok, I will try. I am not used to people touching me too much. It’s awkward”
“Don’t worry, it’s ok Daisuke.”- Senri pulled me closer in a hug
“Why?”
“As a way to say thank you. These last days under Great Sage’s influence sure feel horrible. We should get going Daisuke”
Senri and I left the room, heading with the 4 heroes to the demi-human village, one thing is left for me to do. Take care of that village.
“The village is just up ahead guys”- Okura was taking the lead in the group, he had bought capes for us to wear, Okura didn’t want our identity to be revealed for some odd reason. Doesn’t everyone know them already?
“Why do we have to wear these?”- Senri was pulling her cloak in all weird ways, one second she is pulling it left, another second she is pulling it right, I don’t understand why the cloak seems so big on her
“King Luxor wanted this to be top secret, we just need to put them on, I already briefed him on the details of the mission, he fell for it this time”
“What are we doing here again?”- Noni walked near us, extending his arms putting them on mine and Okura’s heads and bringing us closer to each other
“You and your brother will help them train their military, I will help them with finance and other calculations, Senri and Daisuke will take care of Akari training her to be the next village head. Great Sage made a good plan for this, but we should be careful on our first impression there”- Wait Okura mentioned Akari, where is she?
“Where is Akari, wasn’t she with you, Senri?”
“Yes, she is in the cloak”- Senri pulled her cloak off, Akari was gripping her waist tightly
“That’s why you were adjusting your coat?”
“Yes, she is asleep for now”
“Wouldn’t be more comfortable if you carried her in your arms?”- Okura untangled Akari’s hand from Senri’s waist, putting her in Senri’s arms
“Yes, why didn’t I think of this before”
“Let’s continue then”