He must have wanted to die with his master. And he couldn’t forgive himself for not doing so.
“At the very least, I wanted to protect his name. By spreading the name of the Two-Law Usurper, in this way my master would still be alive in the Sacred Silverwater Sea. I tricked myself into believing that and continued to live, all the way up until today. I told myself that as long as my master’s body is here, the wind of freedom will continue blowing. That as his name lives on he still protects the sea.”
And so the master’s butler had lived on until today, carrying on the name and body of the Two-Law Usurper—all to fulfill his late master’s last wish.
“But that is now over... And in the end, I couldn’t do anything.”
He probably knew from the start he would fail. But as a butler, he had sacrificed himself for his master’s will.
“Now I will rot away without repaying the debt I owe my master, not even a little,” he said, looking up at the heavens. “Such sentiments are futile, don’t you think? Perhaps I believed if I just kept waiting, kept protecting this land, that a miracle would happen—that my master would one day return, and praise me for a job well done.”
Tears fell from colorless eyes.
“Even though there’s no way my master would praise me for going against his orders.”
His pupils reflected only the ashen gray sky above.
“If possible, I wanted to wait forever...”
That was the only wish remaining of the man who had lost his master—a dream so fleeting, it was like catching mist.
“Forever? For a master who won’t return?” I asked.
“You may think it foolish...”
“Just go find him.”
There was no reply. The butler of the Two-Law Usurper stared at me in silence.
“You can always give up—after you’ve searched for him and confirmed he really did fall to ruin. It’s possible he reincarnated without his memories,” I said to the dying man.
“Wouldn’t that make him a different person?” he asked.
“In appearance, sure. And if his memories are gone, they won’t return. But what’s inside of him won’t have changed.” I watched as with each word I spoke, the slightest amount of light returned to colorless eyes. “At the very least, that’s how it is in my world. So the possibility is there.”
But the man continued staring at the sky without agreeing. “If only I had met you earlier... Even if I wanted to search for my master now, my lifespan is already...”
“You want to protect your master’s vessel and name to the last moment, right?”
The man nodded wordlessly. If his source disappeared, the Two-Law Usurper’s body would become a mere corpse. He could have reincarnated long ago, or at least extended his life, if he had discarded his vessel. But this body was the last memento of his master—it was the proof of his loyalty.
What a fool. A foolish, foolish, noble fool. He knew his master wasn’t returning, yet continued to protect both his master’s name and body. He would believe until the very end that the Two-Law Usurper would miraculously return.
“I’ll protect the Two-Law Usurper’s name and body in your place. I have more than enough magic power to maintain that vessel.”
“Indeed... It may be possible for you...”
“If you can’t believe me yet, you can borrow my body in the meantime. You’re already skilled at using the body of others. You should still have the magic for it. As long as you don’t use the magic I’m going to allocate for maintaining your master’s body for yourself, you should be able to use my body to recover.”
The butler of the Two-Law Usurper considered my offer. “What do you have to gain from that?” he asked.
“I’ve only just left my world. I don’t know the first thing about the Sacred Silverwater Sea or anything outside of where I’m from.”
“So it’s information you’re after?”
“Well, there’s that,” I said with a grin. “But we’re ball-catching friends now, aren’t we?”
His eyes rounded in surprise. Finally, a faint smile emerged on his face.
“How long it has been since I’ve received the compassion of others,” he said. “But it’s too late. When I reincarnated into my master’s vessel, I lost the power to maintain my original body. I cannot gain a new body after leaving this one. All I can do is use Radoplica to reincarnate by fusing with someone else. I won’t lose my memories, but unlike regular reincarnation, the coexistence cannot last. If I enter your body, I will fuse with your source regardless of my will, and eventually take it over entirely.”
Unlike regular reincarnation? But memories could be kept through regular Syrica... Was this the cost of forgetting the shape of his own body? That wasn’t something I had tried before. At any rate, it meant that in order to reincarnate, he had to fuse with someone else.
“All that, and it will only extend my lifespan slightly,” the butler continued. “I can only be saved by the Two-Law Usurper, who remembers the shape of my original body.”
“Fine with me,” I said, walking up to him and offering my hand.
“Why would you go so far for me...for someone you’ve just met?”
“You must have lived a restricted life in another person’s body. From the moment you stepped on the battlefield, you knew your lifespan was limited, but still you dedicated everything to protecting your master’s body and his name. I’ve had my share of subordinates like you, always rushing towards death.”
He stared at my outstretched hand. “Where are those subordinates now...?”
“I dismissed them. They’re not welcome back.”
A look of sorrow crossed the man’s face. “They must be terribly bored right now.”
“They worked enough for a lifetime. I’d be more concerned if they kept working.”
The man smiled sadly. He weakly lifted his hand and grabbed mine.
The butler who waited for a master who couldn’t return. The futility and aching regret in his words reached deep into my own heart. Perhaps the words I had used to dismiss my subordinates could reach this man too.
“What can I do to repay you?” he asked.
“When you safely reunite with your master, introduce him to me. The three of us can play ball together.”
It was a promise that might never be fulfilled. But the man simply chuckled.
“You would get along with my master,” he said, gathering magic in his palm with newfound resolve. “The pain of fusing sources is more than you can imagine. You will need to shrug off the fusion. Do you have a means of doing so?”
“A means for what? You’re the one who needs to prepare themselves. My body isn’t easy to live in, and we don’t have the time to settle you in slowly,” I said, drawing a magic circle with my free hand.
“Gyze.”
I connected to the Two-Law Usurper’s body with a magic link. I took the destructive magic power in my source I normally used to offset the destruction always roiling within me and sent it straight into his body. A normal body would have perished immediately from the influx of power, but the Two-Law Usurper was abnormally tenacious. The vessel would be able to endure the destruction and maintain itself for a while.
“Radoplica.”
He closed his eyes and drew a magic circle over our linked hands. The Two-Law Usurper’s body slumped over as a different type of magic power entered my body. The fusion reincarnation spell had begun.