634 Old Friend
[POV: N'wa]
N’wa found herself tied to a chair on the porch of a manor, drinking tea with Da Wei, her supposed sworn enemy.
Well, to be more accurate, she was tied to the chair while watching him drink tea.
“Sorry about the reception,” Da Wei said, casually lifting his cup. “Can’t really give you any agency right now, even if it’s just a hand, because you did try to kill me not long ago. Hm. To be more accurate, I believe you were planning to interrogate me. Regardless, this is the extent of hospitality I can show you.”
He took another sip.
“Honestly, if you had just walked up to me and asked honestly, I’d gladly comply and answer whatever questions you had. But given the whole shtick you pulled, we can’t exactly go down that route now, can we?”
N’wa narrowed her eyes.
“From what little context I can glean from your words, I deduce that you have the ability to see through lies. I have the same ability. So, really? I believe you when you say you know me, but I don’t really have the faintest idea about the things you tell me about myself. Evil God? Me?”
He gave a short laugh.
“Pffft. I can’t see myself being edgy enough to go that far. Though, if it’s for role-playing purposes, I just might.”
N’wa stared at him.
This was supposed to be the man the elders of the Slayer Order had painted as the Evil God, the calamity she had been raised to one day slay. Yet the man sitting before her was... carefree. Almost absurdly so.
Her Seven Gazes pierced through appearances, falsehoods, and disguises. What she saw was not some elaborate performance. His words, his expressions, even the ridiculous way he spoke about being an Evil God were genuine.
This was truly him.
And that made everything worse.
He was nothing like the figure depicted in the murals of the Slayer Order. Nothing like the monstrous being described in the teachings passed down through generations. Even the fragments of memory she had glimpsed from her previous incarnation painted a different picture.
So what exactly was the truth?
A maid standing nearby suddenly laughed.
“Master David really is nothing like that.”
Another maid nodded enthusiastically. “He’s one of the most generous employers you could ask for. He’s always been friendly to everyone in Meregreen.”
N’wa's eyes shifted toward them.
“Would you like some snacks?” one of the maids asked. “We just finished baking some cookies. I can even feed you some if your hands are tied.”
N’wa stared at her. “No.” She glared at the maid, then at the man sitting across from her. “Absolutely not.”
Her stomach betrayed her with a quiet rumble.
The maid's smile widened.
N’wa's face darkened. She hated this place and these people. Most of all, she hated that the cookies smelled so good. And she hated that the man everyone called David was nothing like the man she knew as Da Wei.
Even the name felt unfamiliar. The name she had been taught was Da Wei. The Evil God. The man who was supposed to bring calamity upon the world. Yet here he was, drinking tea on his porch while his maids fussed over him.
“Sir David,” another maid called from inside the manor, “we’ve finished packing everything you asked us to prepare.”
“Thank you.”
Da Wei placed his cup down and stood.
N’wa immediately looked up at him. “What are you going to do with me?”
Da Wei glanced at her. “I’m leaving.”
N’wa's expression stiffened. “You’re... what?”
“Just gonna stuff my ring with all the essentials and then head for the Tower.” He stretched casually. “It’s almost time I find answers to the questions I’ve been harboring since I arrived in this world. I feel that there’s a purpose, and there’s something I must do, but I can’t define it in ways that I can understand.”
He scratched his cheek.
“Hah. I sound like a madman.”
The maids immediately began fussing over him. “Master David, please be careful!”
“Come back safely!”
“We’ll be waiting for you!”
“Don’t forget to eat properly!”
Their expressions were practically swooning as they watched him, as though he were some tragic hero preparing to depart on a grand adventure.
N’wa's stomach twisted. The sight disgusted her. And yet, strangely enough, it also fit.
An Evil God pretending to be good. A vile monster hiding beneath a friendly exterior, gathering people around him only to eventually bring calamity upon them. That was the image she had been taught to believe.
She gritted her teeth. “What are you going to do with me?”
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Da Wei looked at her, then grinned. “You seemed pretty hung up on that, huh?” His grin widened. “I’m leaving you behind. That’s what.”
N’wa's eyes widened.
“I don’t know what your deal is,” Da Wei continued, “but you’re decent enough not to drag Meregreen into our fights. From the heat you were packing, I could see you dishing out considerable damage. Enough to hurt innocent bystanders, anyway.”
His expression became slightly more serious.
“But you went through the trouble of luring me into ancient ruins where no one else would get hurt.”
N’wa clicked her tongue. “I am not like you...”
Da Wei stepped forward. Before she could finish, he placed his palm against her forehead. N’wa froze.
“I don’t know how you look at me,” he said quietly, “but you’re not so clean yourself.”
Golden light spread from his palm.
“Cleanse.”
The radiance engulfed her.
N’wa felt a strange sense of liberation.
It was as though something filthy had been dragged out from the deepest part of her soul, leaving behind a lightness she had never known. Her body felt clearer, while her thoughts felt quieter. The necklace around her neck suddenly broke. The pieces fell against her chest before scattering onto the ground.
“I can’t believe that worked,” Da Wei remarked.
N’wa stared at the broken necklace, then looked up at him. “What did you do to me?”
“I drove out the impurity within you, but it’s not completely gone.” Da Wei frowned, examining her. “Hm. Whoever gave you that necklace, get away from them. Your situation will get exponentially worse otherwise.”
N’wa's breath caught.
“Even without that mysterious necklace, you’re not safe. The darkness within you is deeper than that. It has already infected your soul.” His expression became unusually serious. “If you continue using your powers, that darkness will only continue to grow. It’s like... a sun.”
"A sun?"
Da Wei paused, and then remarked with certainty. “Yes. A dark sun of misfortune that grows the more it is fed.” His eyes lowered. “I don’t like it. I’m sorry that I can’t help you more.”
Tears suddenly poured from N’wa's eyes. She could not stop them. That necklace had been given to her by the man she regarded as a father. What? What was the meaning of this? Why would he give her something like that? Why would he...
N’wa clenched her teeth as tears continued streaming down her cheeks.
Da Wei turned toward the maids. “Take care of her, but not too much. She gets free lodging and food three times a day. That’s enough.”
The maids nodded. “Understood, Master David.”
Da Wei looked back at N’wa. “You can stay here as long as you like.”
N’wa stared at him in disbelief.
Then he turned and began walking away.
“Wait,” called out N'wa. “Please take me with you.”
He neither stopped nor looked back.
“Nah.” remarked Da Wei.
N’wa's eyes widened. “Aren’t you curious about the Slayer Order?” she shouted after him. “Why they sent me to you? Why you’re an Evil God?”
Da Wei stopped and the carefree expression vanished. He turned his head. His eyes were unexpectedly cold. “I’m not interested in what this Slayer Order thinks of me. They’re certainly not to be trusted. Look at what they did to you. I wouldn’t have honestly known if I hadn’t gotten a good look at you.”
N’wa fell silent, while Da Wei continued.
“First, find your bearings. Second, think very carefully about what you want to do. If you still want to find me then...”
Da Wei paused, seemingly considering the thought.
“Hm. I actually don’t know. Maybe you can tell me what you want to do.”
He turned and walked into the manor. N’wa watched him disappear inside. A short while later, he emerged again, apparently finished storing the items he had packed into his storage ring.
N’wa called out one final time. “Possess me.”
Da Wei stopped, confused. "Excuse me?"
“Rumors have it that the Evil God possesses people and can look through their entire existence, reading their past all the way to their immediate present.”
Da Wei actually sounded surprised, rubbing his chin. “Oh shit, really? I don’t remember having that ability. On second thought, I might have an idea what you’re talking about, but nope. I don’t want to. My instincts are telling me I won’t like what I see.”
Before N’wa could respond, a voice came from beside the manor gate. “How about you possess me?”
Both of them turned.
A man stood just beyond the gate.
He had long, dark hair and eerie blue eyes with a hint of gold, the colors almost seeming to shift and interchange beneath the light. There was something strange about his presence, something N’wa could not immediately identify.
His robes were equally unusual, seemingly out of this world. Even his very existence carried an unfamiliar essence.
Da Wei stared at him. “And who are you supposed to be?”
The mysterious man smiled. “Nongmin. An old friend.”
…
..
.
[POV: Da Wei]
Now, what was my reaction supposed to be?
Not long ago, N’wa had come to me seemingly aware of a different version of me that I had never known. She had been very intent on interrogating me through a bloody trap that basically made her unkillable. That took a lot of guts, especially since the trap came at the expense of her own suffering. If I had decided to deal with her through brute force, I could have torn her apart over and over without any way for her to escape.
And now, a self-proclaimed friend had suddenly appeared at my doorstep wearing seemingly flashy robes that looked completely inappropriate for the genre.
My Paladin policy was simple. Smite now, talk later. That meant apprehending him first. I rushed forward in a blitz, combining Divine Speed, Zealot’s Stride, and Flash Step into a single burst.
However, I missed. My fist struck what looked like Nongmin, only for the figure to distort. A metal puppet stood in his place.
Before I could react, it suddenly wrapped its arms around me in a bizarre metallic hug. A formation flashed across its body, and spectral chains snapped outward, wrapping around me and digging into the earth beneath my feet.
Well, that was new.
I shoved my hand into the puppet's chest and found a spirit stone embedded inside. I crushed it. The formation immediately flickered. I glanced to my left. There. I grabbed the puppet and threw it to my right.
It crashed into something invisible.
The impact revealed the faint outline of another puppet before both constructs tumbled across the ground.
Nongmin's voice came from somewhere nearby.
“Can we talk first?”
I had just given N’wa a whole speech about how I was perfectly willing to talk if someone approached me honestly. That was true. But the context here added a bit of spice. N’wa represented one unknown element. One unknown element appearing at a single instance was tolerable. Two? Nope.
At that point, I had to act paranoid by principle.
Nongmin finally stepped into view. “Alice. Vampire. Joan. Priestess. LLO. Let’s talk first, please? David?”
I came to a complete stop. My expression changed. Those names. He knew those names. “I’ll listen, but...” I slowly looked up at the clouds, my voice taking a firmer tone. “Tell your ally to come out. Or do you want me to drag him out myself?”
When the clouds parted, a massive shape emerged from above.
It wasn't like the dragons I had seen in LLO.
This one had no wings. Its body was long and serpentine, covered in azure scales that gleamed beneath the sunlight. It descended from the clouds with an almost effortless grace before its body began to shift.
Scales became skin. The serpentine body contracted.
By the time it reached the manor wall, a man stood there instead. His clothing resembled Nongmin's strange robes, but after taking a single look at me, his clothes abruptly changed. The transformation was almost comical. The robes reshaped themselves into something that actually belonged in this world. A blue suit and a bowler hat.
I turned toward Nongmin. “With that out of the way, let’s talk seriously. How do you know those names?”
Nongmin's expression became solemn. “You might not believe it, but this wasn’t your first time in this world. I believe the easiest way for you to understand is to relive it through me.”
Hm.
That was one hell of a statement.
I raised my storage ring and poured out as many spirit stones as I could. They piled onto the ground around me, forming a small mountain of resources. I wasn't taking any chances. If this guy truly knew something about my past, then I wanted enough power available to force the truth out of him if necessary.
I activated Divine Possession.
My gaze settled on Nongmin.
“If there’s any form of deception involved,” I warned him, “I swear, Nongmin, I’m gonna slap you in the face so hard they’ll find your corpse in the nearest mountain.”