Tree branches.
It was a familiar symbol.
That mysterious room in the Academy where we’d found the divine beast’s egg—this was the exact same pattern that had been drawn on that door.
I momentarily forgot the kids in front of me and glanced sideways at Seol.
Since he was perched on my shoulder, I couldn’t see his expression—maybe on purpose.
Come to think of it… the answer might’ve always been close. I just didn’t have enough clues to connect the dots until now.
A door bearing a magic circle centered on a tree-branch symbol.
The divine beast’s egg behind it.
That vague memory when I touched the magic circle.
And now… the same tree-branch mark appearing on Jack’s hand.
‘Seol was… a divine beast who followed Baldur. And the divine power I wield—was Baldur’s, too.’
Maybe that’s why it required recognition before the divine power could take effect—because of special conditions.
Like puzzle pieces falling into place, everything suddenly started making sense. And yet…
‘Isn’t this… a bit much?’
Reizen was the reincarnation of the soul that killed Baldur.
Despite cursing the man who had once killed him, Baldur had still prepared me as the solution to stop that curse.
So in a way, I’d become a pseudo-apostle of Baldur to keep Reizen in check.
But… for a mere apostle, isn’t this divine power a little too powerful?
I mean, I’m just borrowing a piece of Baldur’s strength, right?
How is it I’m able to use a magic circle that basically symbolizes him?
Am I just overthinking this?
It was hard to explain the strange feeling inside me.
It just felt… off.
Strange.
And more than anything—suspicious.
This was the first time I’d felt such a fundamental doubt since arriving in this world.
‘…What even am I?’
A divine beast by my side.
Divine power that was too overwhelming, even Reizen—arguably the most important figure—couldn’t sense it.
And now, a divine sword that never existed before.
“Um… excuse me…”
Derek’s voice yanked me out of my spiraling thoughts.
I quickly shook it off and smiled at the two boys, who were now clearly watching me warily.
“Ah, it’s nothing. I was just thinking about something. Derek, can I see your hand?”
Derek quietly held it out.
As I channeled divine power, Seol—who’d been silent until now—naturally helped me again.
‘That’s definitely the same magic circle.’
I didn’t fully remember it, but I was certain.
[This is the real deal—a true blessing. It’ll protect them in times of danger. And if something happens to them, you’ll feel it immediately.]
[A real… blessing…]
[Yup.]
There was a pause before Seol added quietly,
[A blessing from a true god.]
His calm voice made my heart drop with a thud.
‘First, let’s just get the kids on their way.’
I turned to them again.
“This will protect you. If you’re ever in danger… I’ll come for you. But as you’ve seen, I’m not exactly some unstoppable force, right? So do your best to stay out of trouble. Especially you, Jack. Try not to blow up so easily, okay?”
Jack opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, then shut it again.
He’d probably just realized he had blown up earlier—his face turned red.
“Okay…”
“Talk however you like. No need to be formal.”
“R-Really…?!”
Even as he spoke, he kept glancing at me for reassurance. I gave him a quiet smile.
“Yeah, little guy.”
“L-Little guy…?!”
“Anyway! I’ll definitely find Tommy. I’ll protect you both as much as I can. That’s a promise.”
‘Promise.’
Even as the word left my lips, it felt awkward.
Maybe because I’d never once believed in a promise an adult made to me.
Not that I wanted it that way.
But adults’ promises had always felt so light, so easily broken or forgotten.
And in the end, the one left waiting and hoping… was always me.
Even I, who hadn’t been outright abandoned, only managed that much.
These kids would likely fare even worse.
In fact, when I brought up the word “promise,” both their expressions shifted in a strange way.
It was a look that held a familiar resignation with just the slightest trace of hope.
“You don’t have to believe me. Just… remember that I’ll do my best, no matter what.”
The two kids hesitated for a moment, then gave a small nod. And then, they left the house.
The front door shut, and everything fell into silence.
“Ha…”
A flood of thoughts rushed in all at once.
I pushed aside the unnecessary ones and focused on the most pressing and realistic problem.
“I think the temple is taking kids off the streets and… doing something with them. Probably… something related to dark magic.”
In the novel ‘From Transmigration to Hero’, it was never fully explained how Raizen resurrected the Demon King.
But considering the hints scattered throughout the story and the charges listed during the execution of the Duke and Duchess of Pantheon, you could piece it together.
Even if it wasn’t full resurrection, for dark magic to become stronger, the grudges of the dead were essential.
“This is seriously insane.”
It was so unbelievable, I let out a laugh.
In the novel, the temple was incompetent and opportunistic, but at least aligned with the side of good.
They still held a sense of duty to help Kim Minsoo and protect the world.
‘Did the changes start when House Luavis began sponsoring the temple? And Kim Minsoo just let it happen?’
I already knew the Kim Minsoo in this world wasn’t the same as the one from the novel.
But still… the Kim Minsoo in the book—he wasn’t inherently a bad person.
I wasn’t saying I trusted him.
People can change.
But there are limits—ranges you can still predict.
And yet, the Kim Minsoo now… seemed like the complete opposite of what I remembered.
[Innate disposition matters, sure. But the environment is just as important. Once someone learns something—or crosses a line—they can never go back to how they were before. Or, maybe the reverse is true too.]
A calm voice, unlike usual, echoed in my head.
When I turned around, Seol was quietly staring at me.
“…Like how Raizen turned out… just because he was that Hyung?”
Same soul, but an entirely different person just because the environment changed.
And yet here I was, ridiculous for feeling my heart twist just from saying Raizen’s name aloud.
“…I need to gather more information.”
[You’re not going to use the quest reward?]
Right on cue, the quest reward had arrived. But I had no intention of using it any time soon.
“Yeah. It’s not a question token—it’s a conversation token. There’s a high chance I won’t even get a proper answer if I ask something. If they really have something to say, they’ll find a way to tell me.”
Whether it’s giving me a quest or doing something weird like that initial consonant quiz—they can figure that out.
That’s the gods’ problem.
“More importantly… I want to find out for myself now.”
Before, whether it was a god or a person, I wanted to be reassured—wanted confirmation through someone else’s words.
But not anymore. I wanted to find the answers on my own, bit by bit, through my own experience.
“Who I really am. And… what I need to do. What I can do.”
As I finished speaking, I looked back at Seol.
His eyes were shining more brightly than ever.
∗ ∗ ∗
The next day, I headed to the Grand Library of Crete Island.
But the information I found was far less than I expected.
Whether it was the temple’s doing or House Luavis’s influence, the newspapers preserved there all glorified Kim Minsoo’s heroic deeds.
There was only one piece of information that might be useful: about a year ago, during the Pantheon family’s banquet, a monster wave broke out, and instead of the usual altar, a human was used in the ritual.
‘Dark magic itself is a taboo field, so there’s barely any information or literature on it.’
That was why the novel described how Raizen had to spend so much time and effort figuring out the most effective methods.
Compared to that, things were progressing a lot faster here.
Which probably meant that someone, somewhere, already knew a lot more—and was giving direct orders.
I dug out the novel again, but the information on dark magic was still frustratingly sparse.
In the end, I had no choice but to turn to the information guilds.
It cost me a fair bit, but through it, I learned about a relatively new but quietly notorious guild on Crete Island.
They’re called the Ruin Guild.
Apparently, they were pretty big in the imperial capital, but they moved their base about a year ago.
Makes sense—info guilds tend to prefer neutral ground.
That’s why a lot of others have settled here too.
Anyway, I don’t know how they do it, but they say they can tell you anything you want to know.
Even the color of the Emperor’s underwear!
😂 as if