"Good, very good..."
Roland clapped in satisfaction.
The true name was engraved into the entity's soul.
Granting a true name was merely the first step. He still couldn't guarantee whether a guy like One would double-cross him. After all, One's demon bloodline was not pure, and even Roland didn't know for sure how much of an influence it would have on him. The entity was an Eighth-Rank, after all—if it came to it, taking him down along with it was entirely possible.
"One, how do you feel right now?"
"Very good. Better than ever."
Roland nodded, then began setting up the forbidden ritual of the 【Undead Puppet】 once again.
At the same time, he added a few new things into it—specifically, the 【Heart of Shared Life】. This was from his own collection, designed specifically for enslavement. Placed inside a target's body, should the master die, the 【Heart of Shared Life】 would die right along with the host.
Looking at One, the entity had no reaction.
He simply watched Roland slowly set everything up again.
"..."
Roland dripped his own blood into the 【Heart of Shared Life】 while simultaneously engraving a secret soul technique onto it, allowing him to actively control the host's life and death. He then used the forbidden ritual of the 【Undead Puppet】 to refine One once more, layering this atop all the previous restrictions.
In this way, a truly obedient servant was born.
The fusion was a complete success, with One showing not a single trace of resistance.
As the ritual's light faded, 【Wedge · Chains of Heaven】 retracted as well. The runes on One's body gradually vanished beneath his skin. With crimson eyes, jet-black long hair, a height of two meters, and a muscular build, he cut the standard image of a tough guy. With his demonic traits hidden away, he looked no different from an ordinary human male.
So long as he didn't use that demonic portion of his power.
No one would ever take him for a demon.
"Master."
One dropped to one knee, lowering his head.
"One, do you feel joy over your own birth?"
"I feel even greater joy in serving you, Master."
"Good, very good," Roland praised, then added, "Can you submerge yourself into shadows?"
"I can."
With that, One took a few steps forward and transformed into a puddle of dark liquid, sinking into Roland's shadow. At the same time, Roland's shadow grew darker and darker, like a black hole swallowing up all light. After a long moment, the shadow returned to normal, though a lingering trace of eerie strangeness remained.
With this, he was completely tamed.
From beginning to end, One had shown no sign of resistance.
Of course, no matter what, caution was always best. Even if One truly submitted to him, the proper means to control a subordinate were still necessary. After all, careful sails beat stormy waves. Walking out of this corridor that was about to become a distant memory, Roland might not return here for a very long time.
Snow inevitably began to fall in the Lucifiel night.
In the courtyard, Roland sat inside a gazebo.
The 【Book of Truth】 materialized in his hand. Recently, he had discovered a new function of the Book of Truth: foresight. Words detailing future events would frequently appear upon it. Setting accuracy aside for the moment, the thing had indeed accurately predicted that Roland would gain the assistance of an Eighth-Rank powerhouse.
And looking at things now.
That Eighth-Rank assistance was One.
Ever since then, no other revelations had appeared.
"..."
As for other revelations—such as the invasion by the Church of the Fallen Mother Goddess—it had given brief messages as well, though Roland already knew about that. There was also another prediction concerning the original protagonist of the story, Messiah Tanner, which was equally short and almost like a riddle.
【The maiden of destiny, Messiah Tanner, will gather nine crucial pages to seal you away, but having foreseen this long ago, you will shatter the original outcome...】
This was a prophecy that had appeared right at the very beginning.
It had popped up just a few days after Roland awakened the memories of his past life.
It hadn't provided much useful information—or rather, the most useful piece of information had already been conveyed: his future self would not end up sealed away like in the original plot. In other words, every path Roland was walking right now was correct. A butterfly flapped its wings, and the massive effect was beginning to alter the world.
"I'm at least half a creator of this world, aren't I?"
"I refuse to believe things can still end up like the first playthrough."
"Otherwise, I might as well just stop living right now."
...
Early the next morning, the 25th day of the Eternal Calendar, at the train station.
The agreed-upon time with Philip had arrived.
After saying goodbye to Head Housekeeper Scott, Roland stepped into the train station and immediately saw Philip waving at him. Beside Philip stood two Fifth-Rank knights serving as escorts. Seeing him approach, they offered a crisp knight's salute. Roland nodded politely in return before looking over at Philip.
"You sure took your time, Roland."
"I had to go over a few things with my housekeeper uncle."
Philip nodded, then pointed to the roaring magic-guided train beside them. "Let me hurry up. It departs in five minutes."
"Alright."
The two boarded the train together.
The two knights watched until the magic-guided train vanished from view.
The space inside the magic-guided train was immense, far larger than it appeared from the outside—likely empowered by a spatial array. Most of the passengers inside were young people around their age, presumably all heading to the Imperial Capital, Romanvia. Their faces bore expressions ranging from nervous anticipation to confident pride.
"This train is specifically chartered to pick up students for St. Romanvia Imperial Academy. Usually, the nobles maintaining the train line are way too stingy to add these arrays. Burning a single mana crystal on something like this makes their hearts bleed for half a day. Not to mention powering the train—with the arrays added, it burns through tens of thousands of them every hour."
Roland remained silent.
Back in the treasury, setting up a few arrays and the forbidden ritual had already burned through hundreds of thousands of mana crystals, consuming nearly a tenth of the treasury's total reserves. One shouldn't underestimate that fraction—this was the stash of a Duke's Mansion. The only vault in the empire likely richer than theirs belonged to the Royal Family.
After a long pause, Roland finally replied.
"So everyone on this train is a student?"
"I wouldn't say all, but at least seventy or eighty percent. Besides, there are a few stops between Lucifiel and Romanvia, so there will only be more students by then."
Looking around, most of the passengers had only recently advanced to First-Rank, their aura still unstable. Yet even so, this train full of youth could be considered talents. Suddenly, a commotion drew everyone's attention. A young man who was clearly a noble stood with furrowed brows, spewing all kinds of foul language from his mouth.
"Are you blind, you filthy commoner?"
"What a classic cliché."
Roland couldn't help but mutter.
"What did you say?"
Philip paused for a second, looking at Roland.
"Nothing. Keep watching."
Over on that side, the verbal abuse continued endlessly.
A young boy stood to the side, cowering in fear.
With his head hung low, he didn't dare say a single word.
From childhood to adulthood, the oppression dished out by the noble lords was far more painful than a few hurled insults. Village taxes, public forced labor—any of them could easily take a commoner's life. This long-standing oppression had forged a timid nature that felt dread at the mere sight of a noble, something that would likely take many years to heal.
The youth's talent was quite good.
Reaching First-Rank as a commoner was all the more precious.
Because they lacked the privileges nobles enjoyed from childhood—all manner of rare materials, precious potions, and systematic cultivation and instruction.
"Can't you understand me when I'm talking to you?"
"You can't even offer an apology?"
"How about this... kneel down, and I'll forgive you. Sound good?"
Rate on N.U.
