Author: Thank you for reading.

Sorry for the delay. I won't go into details, but my life ain't perfect and likes to thwart my plans. Thankfully things are recoverable, though it's still annoying.

------------------------------------

“We don't have a lot of time. We need to stop what's about to come before it's too late...I’m sorry I didn’t believe in you. I-I will explain everything on the way back.” (Belle)

As the world around me shifted back to normalcy after leaving Belle’s soul, I was bombarded with barely audible words from Belle. Even if what she said was clear enough to understand, the speed in which it was spoken was quick. Not to mention the sheer panic in her voice making it sound all the more disorderly.

Gazing down at her struggling figure, the panic in Belle’s eyes emerged in storm as she tried to get up off the floor with shaking limbs. However, I won't allow her to simply charge back towards whoever caused this in such a state, especially without filling me in on everything that's going on.

“Calm down.” (Kuro)

I place my hand on her shoulder and force her to sit on the floor. Layla has a perplexed expression as she waits to the side unsure of how to make of the sudden change in events. I signal her to be patient, which she abided to without issue as the answers would eventually come.

“We can't wait here, we have to stop him! We have to-” (Belle)

“I refuse to charge in without knowing what I’m up against. Until you tell me what's going on, you're not going anywhere.” (Kuro)

“Kuh, fine…*Exhale*...it-it started far before we met. When me and my brother were still making preparations to head out and face the world…” (Belle)

…

As Belle spoke on about her situation, I felt shocked about how badly the gods have failed in their duty.

Belle and her brother encountered a magician who practices forbidden magic. It’s not hard to guess that it was related to controlling people’s mind. From what Belle can remember since she was not always aware of her surroundings due to being controlled. This particular magician has the habit of probing minds to gather information as he travels around.

Her brother was singled out by this magician due to his thoughts being severely far from the norm of this world. Based on the fact we all were gifted different abilities and strengthening methods, her brother didn’t have any method to defend himself from mental attacks. Unlike me who can prevent any attacks on my mind, though it doesn’t stop people from reading my thoughts since it doesn’t endanger my mind from what I figured.

It didn’t take long for this magician to find out about the rest of the chosen after draining him of information. Hearing this made my already high disapproval of the gods soar to new heights. For such powerful beings, they can't keep track of the ones they sent to this world at their request. If they would have spent the effort actually bringing their chosen to the divine realms instead of using a messaging system like Amare does to me, they would have identified this issue long ago.

Belle doesn’t know what this magician's objectives are, but she destroyed her brothers original personality and made her watch for her amusement. When we met, not everything we saw was her, as the magician seemed to enjoy mixing her original personality with one she designed for her enjoyment.

Though she knows enough to say for certain that from what she was still able to gather from her surroundings, that this magician was the cause of all those sects going crazy back in Tarthus. The revelation to one of my biggest questions was both shocking and aggravating. Even though I spent so much effort gathering information, nothing pointed to a separate party pulling strings at the time.

The worst part of everything she told me, is that one of the people I brought during Tarthus’s destruction is that very magician who is now residing in the village.

“Are you certain?” (Kuro)

“Yea, but...I can't remember his face. It’s one of the things I was never allowed to see or remember. Whoever this guy is...took everything from me. My family...friends...the people I fell in love with...my home.” (Belle)

Each word Belle spoke brought more and more tears to her eyes as her breathing became more and more haggard. It didn’t take long before she broke down as I became lost in contemplation. As Belle cried into my shoulder, I fell into a state of contemplation trying to figure out what this magician's objective is.

Whatever it is, is without a doubt already taking place in the village if the magician is still there. The fact I didn’t detect such a thing is aggravating as magicians have a type of magical aura from having stronger mana within them. Since I couldn’t detect them only means that whoever this person is, isn’t a pushover.

“Belle.” (Kuro)

“*Sniff*...I’m sorry, we need to go.” (Belle)

“Why did you apologize when you broke free?” (Kuro)

“...” (Belle)

“Better to answer now, no telling what will happen later.” (Kuro)

“The magician...only allowed me to be me when you were around as some kind of sick joke. But… he told me you were under his control too. I didn’t want to believe him and ask for your help, but I kept thinking, what if you weren’t you. Even though you didn’t deserve it, I was angry at how I couldn’t tell if you were ok and ended up saying a bunch of cruel things. Everyone was so happy when I first saw them, I just wanted to help them, to save them.” (Belle)

“Hmm, I don't think you were in as much control around me as you think. The likelihood is low, but you may still have been under his control when you were around me. Probably not magically, but psychologically. Well, it's difficult to say, so it's better to just drop the subject since there is no evidence to prove my thoughts.” (Kuro)

“Brother, we need to go help the others if this guy is really there.” (Layla)

“Yea, Belle, you need to put yourself back together. After all, you have a score to settle with this guy, right?” (Kuro)

“*Sniffle*...more than that. I want to kill him and everyone else like this bastard.” (Belle)

“I see, well, first we need to end things here.” (Kuro)

With the words Belle rose from the ground, though a bit unsettled her desire to end this was strong.

As we began moving back toward the village I thought back to what Belle said. The fact Belle still had her personality feels odd to me. Why did her brother fail to keep his mind when she did? As someone who carried a past life, you’d think he had a higher mental fortitude. There are still a few questions left unanswered, but they will have to wait for now.

…

Walking toward the gates, we were met with the normal depressed expression of the guards are being put to good use. Everything seemed normal at a glance, but knowing of the magician makes such a thought foolish. Like Belle, they could be going about their business under orders from their controller.

Quickly arriving at the inn, I stepped inside to find everyone maintaining the inn as intended. The whole thing couldn’t be all the more normal. Yet the apprehension in my heart started growing all the more turbulent. My connection with the others seem normal, and from what I understand about it, my defensive traits shield them as well. As I’m protected from mental attacks, it doesn’t seem strange to think that it wouldn’t be passed on to people connected to me.

Belle however was already under control, but the fact that she could remain herself around me is a big hint to the fact that the perpetrator couldn’t change the conditions of Belle’s current control. It’s the main reason I think the perp had to resort to psychological attacks. Otherwise this problem would have been found out long ago. It’s unfortunate, but Belle’s fragile mental state made it all the more susceptible to being manipulated by false information.

The only thing I can conclude about why Belle still had her original personality is because the caster was cocky and never thought she would be freed. What happened to Belle after the duel was most likely a fail-safe that was meant to go off when the caster was going to be exposed.

The outcome though, only led to Belle’s freedom. All that's left is to figure out who the enemy is and end the problem. As it’s not one of the girls in my group, this only leaves the group that came along with me from Tarthus.

Hank and Lock are only capable of augmenting themselves as their mana control is rather poor otherwise and was met before my encounter with Belle’s brother, so the likelihood is low. Roone and Saima from the thieves guild left long ago, so they are no longer a suspect. The same with the dwarf Rust who has making all sorts of tools for the village based on designs and materials I have given him. His fierce passion to delve into his craft and make new things didn’t seem fake so I have no issue dropping him from my list of suspects. The three chosen from the sub-gods aren’t strong or capable enough to pull this off and are the least likely due to where they came from. Other than the orphans that have been doing their best around the village, this leaves two people who were far too close to home for comfort.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The two I hired in Tarthus to help manage the restaurant,Tony and Tilly.

These two are the only ones I can think of to be the magician. Belle herself doesn’t know his identity so why can't their be two. And they were the only ones I never truly got to know. They seemed like average people looking for work and all the information I got from my surveillance proved as such.

But as people who live in the shadows, it’s not impossible to have gotten to my informants and changed the information. Bad information leads to failure and death. No matter what world you are in, this is a fact. And also the reason why I detest being lax in information gathering. This alone is a severe blow to my pride.

Even though I was careful, I still failed to detect danger lurking so close to me.

On top of this, I’m dealing with the false information from the gods themselves. Truly aggravating, in every sense of the word.

“Beth, have you seen Tony and Tilly? they don't seem to be around.” (Kuro)

“Those two? Hmm, they were here earlier, but they suddenly left. They looked to have something important to do.” (Beth)

Did they detect Belle being freed? If it is them, than we already lost the element of surprise.

“Any clue where they went?” (Kuro)

“I think they-” (Beth)

*Boom!*

The ground trembled and everyone fell to the floor besides the ones more adept at keeping their balance. As everyone was screaming, I grew angry at what just occurred. I know this feeling all too well. This was one of my explosive charges.

As a means of defense for the village, I had a bunch scattered around the surroundings as a last resort to hinder any attackers advance. The one that went of felt to have originated in the direction of Birgen, most likely on the highway itself.

It didn’t take long for many more explosions to go off in multiple directions.

Only those close to me knew of my explosives. Tony and Tilly are no exception as they were part of the few survivors of Tarthus that knew what really happened. Their simple acceptance of the situation seemed odd as they lost everything, but I ignored this fact and carried on. Thus, I blame myself for things ending up like this. Even if Others don't think so, the fact is, it still happened right in front of me and I didn’t notice.

The surroundings were devastated, The fields we were prepping to farm crops are now terribly destroyed and would need a lot of work to fix. As if to anger me further, the horses we brought from Birgen have been killed.

As I searched for the ones who caused this, I noticed none of the regular citizens were around. Only the guards were searching for the cause of the disturbance as instructed. Not wanting to waste time, they were order to follow my group. I may need them if things are as bad as they seem to be in my eyes.

After a small bit of time, two silhouettes were standing in the distance with all of the villagers kneeling on the ground behind them. In the short time I spent in the inn, they were all rounded up like cattle.

“Yo, Kuro, you seem a bit angry. You need to learn to relax.” (Tony)

“...” (Kuro)

“Nothing to say? you shouldn’t feel bad, many never suspected me anyway.” (Tony)

“Bastard!” (Belle)

“Hahaha, why Belle, nice to see your still all there, and here I thought my little gift would do the job when the time came.” (Tony)

I stared intently at the man in front of me. The others in my group already figured out what was happening and started cursing his existence. but the situation still felt off. Why willingly expose himself when he could have made a scapegoat. Dealing with whoever this guy really is is annoying.

My gaze eventually landed on Tilly as she merely stood behind Tony without uttering a word. Nothing but a blank expression fills her face, belying her usual peppy mood.

“You know, you guys are truly vexing. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t penetrate your minds. The defensive strength you all have is something I never thought possible. At most I was able to read your mundane thoughts as the days past. Though, Kuro had the most fascinatingly creative mind I ever saw. The ideas he had that could change the very lifestyle of the people around him truly...made me sick.

Why would you care about these plebeians. They should be left groveling in their ignorance. Keeps their minds...simple.” (Tony)

Every word he spoke, seem to directly imply his superiority towards everyone. Yet his comment about the way people think...it's either a clue or something meant to throw me off. His deceptive nature would make anything he said nothing short of questionable.

Even so, my eyes never left his sister, my gut was practically screaming that she was dangerous.

“Well...it seems our little hero doesn’t want to speak. How about I give him some incentive. Oh Sally be a dear and slice open your neck. Maybe that will get his attention.” (Tony)

My gaze turns to a young girl who I frequently saw tend flowers around the village. She was one of the original inhabitants and was always working to make the place more ‘pretty’ from what she said during the one time she spoke to me.

A blade was removed from her dress as she moved it toward her throat. Her eyes were shaking in fear as Tony started laughing.

“As a matter of fact, why doesn’t everyone join her and kill themselves as one big loving community.” (Tony)

At his words, everyone removed a blade from wherever it was stored. And moved it towards their necks, the same as the girl.

“Still nothing? Looks like Kuro isn’t as capable as everyone perceived.” (Tony)

My group called out for everyone to stop, their voices growing ever more desperate. While Tony smiled, as if his little show would end as he expected.

*Poof*

“Wha-What!?” (Tony)

Ignoring Tony’s surprise, I gazed at the cloud forming around the villagers. One by one they dropped their knives and fell to the floor in deep slumber. There were a few injuries, but it was nothing serious as long as it was treated properly.

“What is this!?” (Tony)

“As you can see, they are being put to sleep. For someone seemingly bragging about being superior, your deductive reasoning is a bit lacking.” (Kuro)

My groups tension eased as the villagers fell to the floor. Though, they never dropped their guard as it was one of the things I specifically rammed into their psyche during training.

“It’s new, and something I never once revealed to anyone as it was incomplete until now.” (Kuro)

As I have been practicing how to shield my thoughts thanks to Layla’s guidance, and never revealed this gas before, it would make it difficult for Tony to have discovered this as we don't often meet.

To my dismay, when I completed it and the shooter mechanism, a sudden thought to call it [Night Night Juice] popped up in my mind, as it starts off as a liquid within a pellet. Mana allows the chain reaction within as it is exposed to the air to be far more widespread than a normal version.

Regardless, it is something that still needs a name as it has finally made it's appearance.

“Fine...who needs a show to go along with the end of our relationship. I’ll just kill them when I’m done with you and your lofty lot of companions.” (Tony)

As he gazed at me with hatred, the mana around him exploded in fury. The concentration was far higher than anything I have encountered before. As I thought, the mage responsible was indeed powerful to be able to hide his mana.

As a fight grew imminent, the feeling in my gut signified that there was still more to discover about this man who calls himself Tony and the girl who remained unfazed by his surge in mana behind him.

-------------------------

A/N: A real fight will take place next chapter.

sorry again for the delay.