"What happened to your... face?" Lydia asked as soon as I got downstairs.

Oh right. I forgot to wipe off the bruises.

If the world found out a ten-year-old beat the shit out of me... that would be the news of the decade.

Wait, what am I thinking? The world doesn’t even know me yet.

"I... uh... fell from the stairs," I said.

Lydia looked skeptical about it, her eyes narrowing slightly as she studied my face. But she sighed and looked away toward Sera instead.

Sera was with the kids, sitting on the old couch and comforting them. She was crying... more than the kids themselves, actually.

Her shoulders shook with each sob as she held them close.

I sighed quietly.

"Lydia, will you do me a favor?" I asked, turning to her.

"Sure, what is it?" she agreed immediately, before even asking what it was.

"One sec," I said, holding up a hand.

I walked over to Sera. She looked up from where she was holding Emily on the couch, her eyes streaming with tears. They were red and puffy, like she’d been crying for hours.

I walked to her in silence and hugged her. Her sitting frame fit perfectly against me, her face buried in my torso as she let out a shaky breath.

I reached down and ruffled Emily’s red hair gently.

"Brother Rune...?" Emily asked, her expression confused. One eye was closed as my hand messed up her hair. She tilted her head, studying my face carefully.

"Yup," I said, flashing her a smile.

Rune didn’t visit the orphanage as often as Sera did. When he did come, it was usually because Sera had forced him to.

Even then, he would just greet Seraphina quickly and leave. Couple that with my drastic change in appearance from adding all those stat points after capturing Drane, the four-star quest... yeah, I should be glad Emily even came to the right conclusion about who I was.

"Brother Rune... Sister... she..." Emily started, trying to dig up the right words to tell me what had happened. Her voice cracked.

"Yeah... I met Gin. He told me what happened," I said gently.

"He talked...?" Emily’s eyes widened in surprise.

I nodded. "He’ll talk to you from now on too," I said, bending down to her level. Sera’s face was now beside mine, both of us looking at Emily.

"You don’t have to be the only one to take care of all these kids, alright?" I said, smiling warmly at her.

Emily, this ten-year-old girl, was the oldest here, excluding Gin. She’d had to be the one to take care of all the younger kids around her. She’d had to answer their questions about when Sister Seraphina would be back, or why the new sister was always being rude to them.

The kids from Rune’s memories, their energy, their laughter, their brightness, it was nowhere to be seen now. Everything felt muted. Gray.

While Gin had closed himself off completely, Emily had been forced to take care of everyone all alone.

Tears welled up in her eyes as her tiny hands wrapped around both Sera’s neck and mine. She pulled us close, burying her face between us.

She cried, deep, broken sobs that shook her small body.

I and Sera held her, comforting her as best we could.

After a moment, I looked at Sera and whispered quietly, "Sera, the kids need you. Will you stay with them till evening?"

She nodded without hesitation. It was probably what she’d been thinking as well.

"You won’t be here...?" she asked softly, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I’ll be in the village. I’ll try to find out what happened," I said.

She nodded again, though I could tell she’d rather have me stay here with her. Her eyes showed it clearly.

Sorry, Sera. I would rather avenge than grieve.

I got up slowly as Sera’s arms reluctantly let go of me. I turned my back and walked away.

I gestured for Lydia to follow me, which she did without question.

I walked out of the orphanage and looked at Merin. She was standing in the same spot, her face twisted with concentration.

"Don’t bother!" I said sharply.

I could see her trying to ooze out her aura with everything she had, straining with the effort. But nothing came out. It wouldn’t, not until I permitted it.

My eyes drifted to the rocks beside her, half broken, cracked into pieces. She must have tried to break the collar by physical means while we were inside.

Should I add a punishing clause in the future for her barbaric attempts? Just in case she gets any more ideas?

"Stay here and guard Sera and the kids," I said, turning away from her toward the old wooden room at the corner of the kids’ play space.

"Are you going out?" Merin asked, her tone flat but curious.

"None of your business," I replied without looking back as I walked off.

Lydia followed close behind me, her footsteps quiet.

I reached the old storage room and pushed open the creaky wooden door.

"Just a minute," I said as I stepped inside.

The room was exactly as I remembered from Rune’s memories, dusty, with random spider webs strung across every corner and surface. Cobwebs hung from the ceiling like ghostly curtains.

"What are you doing in there...?" Lydia asked from outside. She tried to take a step forward to enter but decided against it as she looked at all the piled-up dust and thick spider webs blocking the way.

"You’ll know," I said simply, already searching through the clutter.

I tore off two pieces of white cloth from an old sheet and found some paint boxes stacked in the corner, dusty but still usable.

This was an old storehouse, constructed during one of the annual renovations of the orphanage. Despite the orphanage being located in Blackwater Village, a place most people considered poor and forgotten, the funds it received were enormous.

Seraphina had always made sure no wolves would eye that money. She quickly redirected everything toward renovations, books, toys, and playground equipment before anyone could get greedy.

The month of March was festival season here. That’s when most of the donations came in.

I worked quickly, my hands moving with purpose. It took a total of ten minutes before I emerged from the old room, holding my creations.

"Woah... that’s flashy," Lydia said, her eyes widening as she looked at the little pieces of art in my hands.

I handed her one of the two cloth flags I’d made.

"Lydia," I said, meeting her eyes.

She looked at me, already guessing the favor I was going to ask. The flag in her hand gave it away.

"I want every one of them alive," I said clearly. "And on your way back, put the building on fire and hoist this flag before the burning station."

She nodded without hesitation. No questions. No doubts.

She didn’t even ask where the SBV station was before she vanished into thin air.

Well, the village wasn’t that big, and the station was near the cathedral. It should be fairly easy to find.

She appeared again suddenly, right in front of me.

"Umm... where’s the station...?" she asked sheepishly.

Damn it, Lydia! How did you act as scout commander for a decade?

I didn’t say it out loud though. I kept my expression neutral.

"It’s... near the cathedral. The big one," I said, pointing in the general direction.

"Got it!" she said enthusiastically, already turning to run.

"It’s the other way," I called out as she started sprinting in completely the wrong direction.

She immediately changed course without breaking stride, leaping forward.

"I’ll be waiting at the village square!" I called out loudly after her.

She lifted her thumb in acknowledgment as she jumped over houses, disappearing into the morning light.

I sighed.

I walked toward the village square, my boots crunching against the dirt path.

As I walked, I looked at the shops and houses lining the street. They were all just like how the previous owner of this body remembered them.

The bakery with its faded blue sign. The smithy with smoke rising from the chimney. The tailor’s shop with fabric hanging in the windows.

But something had been bugging me since the time we fought with Merin. Something was clearly off about that fight.

It was like... it was easier than the fight in my past life.

What had changed?

[Huaaahhh... goodmorrrWHO THE FUCK WHOOPED YOUR ASS!]

A blue window suddenly appeared before me, floating in the air.

Nexar.

It was around 10:30 in the morning, and he’d slept around 8 PM yesterday. I envied his sleep schedule.

’Dude, you are the last person I’m gonna tell what happened,’ I said telepathically. I didn’t want people thinking I was some random freak talking to himself.

[Damn! That ten-year-old packed quite a punch.]

"Wait! How!?" I spoke out loud without thinking.

Everyone around me immediately looked at me like I was a freak.

One woman actually covered her kid’s eyes and quickly took him away, giving me a wide berth.

[What do you mean how? I can replay what you did.]

"I wish I had you when I was preparing for entrance exams," I sighed, shaking my head.

I reached the town square, or rather, village square. It was the center of this village.

There was a huge circular stage-like setting at the center, made of worn stone that had been there for decades.

That’s where announcements for events were made,divine gift revealing ceremony, visits from high-powered nobles, new schemes or details from Cass. All of it happened here.

I sat down on the edge of the stage, the flag still clutched in my hand.

[So Seraphina died, huh?]

Seems like he’d replayed most of what happened.

[Those people must be from SBV,] he added.

"Yeah. Merin said the orphanage was on their hit list," I replied quietly.

[I did expect some trouble, but...]

Nexar’s words trailed off.

He was right. We’d expected SBV to cause problems for them in the name of inquiry. After all, they’d been eyeing the enormous funds the orphanage received for years. But we didn’t expect them to go as far as murder and rape.

The town was bustling with business around me. It was market hours, after all. People haggled over prices, children ran between stalls, merchants called out their wares.

"Hey, Nexar..." I called out mentally.

"Something’s bothering me. Do you remember how I planned to use attacks that combine both mana and aura to fight against Merin? Since she has artifacts that block aura and mana attacks separately?"

[Yeah, that’s why Tugnier called you the main weapon against Merin. You’re the only one in the valley who could do that... but good thing it didn’t go that far.]

"Yeah... that part," I said slowly.

"I even thought I’d need to use Void Embrace like I did in my past life and black out for a week or so... but Merin didn’t have those artifacts on her."

I paused, thinking it through.

"Not just her. The army from Tormund’s side, they didn’t have mana-repellent artifacts either."

[Now that you mention it... the loot from them is a lot less than what we got in the past life.]

Did he dig up the numbers from a century ago from my past life?

"Yeah, things changed," I said. "Merin isn’t this careless. And also, now... the fact that SBV could do rape and murder this freely when they feared Sinclair guards in my past life enough to not even press inquiry charges..."

I trailed off, my mind racing through the implications.

[Yeah... Cass’s control is slipping faster this time,] Nexar concluded for me.

"Do you remember what Cass called this village?"

[Asylum of Legacy.]

I nodded.

The name Larkshade never existed for Cass. She called this village the Asylum of Legacy because this place was where warriors who couldn’t escape their fate but wanted a better one for their families left their legacy behind.

It was a project started during the time of her father, but she’d made sure to continue it just as well as he had.

I mean where else could you find a dark attribute user, a light attribute user, a guardian knight and many other high-tier skills in one place? Cass has done quite a job morphing the details of the people living here.

Even the funds the orphanage received, to the outside world they looked like donations, but it was actually the Duchess who, through multiple fake donor identities, sent money to the orphanage.

But she couldn’t resist the Emperor outright and keep SBV completely out of this village. She didn’t have that much power. What she could do was make sure to have enough Sinclair forces present to enforce the law, even if SBV was the one behind a crime.

But now... the balance was slowly shifting.

Faster than it had happened in my past life.

Not good.

Something was really off. Not just with SBV, but with Cass too.

What had changed? Why was everything accelerating?