Chapter 88 - Midlight Village#8

DAPHNE'S POV:-

Today was an extremely absurd day. Wait! It still is absurd right now. Why? Hehe, cause I saw Max create an unknown circle which, after activating 'summoned' a Human child in front of us, well that was more or less normal until an Elf Branch too appeared here. Fine, it may be rare but was within the acceptable limit of what is supposed to be common sense, until suddenly a Sin Devil appeared too. As if that was not enough, the ' summoned' child actually defeated and killed the Sin Devil as brutally as possible. Remembering the screams still sends chills down my spine.

That child then commanded Zwain and his other party members, assigning them different tasks. Then the two Human children, no more than 10 in age, defeated 10s of monsters, as if they were cleaning their backyard. Meanwhile, the girl Lucy moves a bit away from the village with a smile on her face as if it were totally normal. Zwain moved to talk with the instructor and I saw that child, Morpheus, moving inside the village along with Max following behind him.

After that, Morpheus talked with Max for a while before suddenly appearing before us,

"Search the parameters for any form of anomalous Magic," he commanded Zwain, and Zwain respectfully nodded before leaving from here.

'Absurd would be the best word to define the current phenomenon. To think that an Elf Branch would be this respectful to anyone other than the Elf King. Just who is that child?'

"You are Katherine, right? You look oddly familiar. Do you know anyone by the name of Anna?" He asked Katherine a question all of a sudden about her cousin.

'Huh? Does he know Anna too?' I wondered as my interest slightly increased in the conversation. The others were looking at them, too, though Morpheus didn't seem to care much about them. 

Katherine first gets stumped at that name before speaking.

"How do you know that name?" Her face looked variously serious as she observed Morpheus with a piercing gaze.

Morpheus chuckles before explaining, "I know that hard-headed idiot from before. She was a training maniac as far as I remember, pretty much an elder sister type girl, who can't help herself but guide those who are younger than her. She helped my brothers before, so I know a bit about her."

Katherine then lowers her guard before a smile blossoms on her face as she speaks.

"Anna is my cousin's sister and cous is doing great right now. She got enrolled in the Academy a week ago with excellent performance. But tell me, Morpheus, is that true? You really know her?" She speaks with her eyes blinking with slight curiosity in them.

"Yeah, I met her before. I see she got enrolled in the Academy, huh? Well, given her enlightenment and hard work, it was pretty much expected to say the least," Morpheus speaks with a smile on his face as he looks at Katherine.

"Yeah, cous is doing great. I didn't know she knew someone like…you. Tell me, are you really a child or just using some spell? And why can't I sense any mana from you? And…" She bombards questions on Morpheus as she got really excited when she heard about Anna. 

'Sigh…Whenever it's about her cousin sister, she gets like that. At least don't forget that the guy in front of you is someone capable of toying with the likes of a Sin Devil,' a wry smile forms on my face as I look at Morpheus' troubled face. He doesn't look like he is enjoying this. A smile forms on my face as the atmosphere becomes less tense than it was before.

"Oi! Oi! Oi! Break! Break! Break! That's a lot of questions at once. As for your answers, I am just a normal human with a little less mana than others," Morpheus speaks with a humble smile to Katherine at which she makes her special angry yet cute pout with a piercing gaze at Morpheus, before smiling again.

"How are your sisters? Amanda and Linda? I wonder if they are doing great now?" He asks about her sisters this time, at which Katherine looks at Morpheus with a piercing gaze.

'Just what is his connection with her family? Is he someone she knows?' I couldn't help but ponder over it as my curiosity once again reaches a higher notch. Katherine asks her question, but before she could do so, Zwain comes back. He has a serious expression as he says, "I found something."

I look at Morpheus as a smile forms on his face before looking back at Katherine.

"I know you have a lot of questions, but I apologise that I have to go. You guys should also leave as the situation might get out of control from here onwards. It was nice talking with you, Katherine. Give my regards to your father and mother along with Anna and Aunt Sophie and Uncle Marcel," he speaks before he gets closer to her and reaches her ears and whispers something before leaving from there.

Katherine looks really stunned before her eyes darts to one of the other kids. She blinks for a few moments before looking at Morpheus, who already left with Zwain towards the instructors. 

I put my finger on my chin as I pondered about what he might have said to her to make her so stunned.

MORPHEUS'S POV:-

I reach the instructors along with Zwain as I scratch my head while pondering what I should say to make them leave from here. After reaching them, I finally decide and speak,

"If you stay here, you will die. I can't protect and fight at the same time. It's not that I doubt your abi-"

"We will leave," one of the instructors says with slight horror in his eyes as he observes me.

'Hmmm? Makes me wonder if he is scared of the danger or is it me he is scared of? Well, if it does the trick, then it doesn't really matter, I guess.' I think as I nod at them and they nod back at me before hurriedly leaving from there. I look back at Katherine, who is still observing Corey with a complex expression.

'Haha…It will be funny when she reaches home and informs her family about what happened here. Ummm, but won't it create problems for me if someone relates me to Light? Nope, they are currently near the Royal Academy. If they attacked just for me, they might end up losing more than they can bargain for. Plus, there is also Allen, who will look out for any danger regarding my family. Given his information network, even though he may not be able to connect me and Light, he should be able to match Corey's and Chase's identities.' I nod as I think of that before moving to the main topic right now as I look at Zwain.

"Speak."

"I found a slight anomaly from the direction Belphegor came. More specifically, I found traces of Black Threads of Fate in the air that lead into a certain tree,"Zwain speaks with an expressionless face as he thinks about something. 

"What happened in the past, leave it in the past, Zwain. Look at the present and decide your future on your own. If you keep worrying about the past, you might lose what you could gain in the future." I speak some philosophical thought I once heard from Aisha when she was motivating me after Elaine stopped talking to me for a day. 

'It was a pretty awkward moment back then.' I shake my head and then look back at Zwain, who had admiration in his eyes. I couldn't help but shake my head once again as I realised he was like those cultists I had back in my old world.

"Let's recollect everyone," I say and then move towards my party. Leraye and Kaneto, who were observing beside a tree, looked at me coming towards them and they too started moving towards me. Lucy, Corey and Chase too joined us.

Before I spoke, I looked at those children walking in the direction from where they came. They looked pretty disappointed, but they also had traces of relief on their faces. Katherine and Daphne are looking at me as Katherine waves her hands at me. I, too, wave back before my eyes fall on Max, who had a look of jealousy on his face.

"Haha." I couldn't help but chuckle at his jealous face. Then I ponder over something before calling him out loud to come here," MAX."

He looks at me before running towards me as fast as he can. Then I take out my dagger and point it at his forehead. He gets confused at my sudden actions, but doesn't take a step back.

I then pour mana into his body and create some artificial circles on his already present natural mana circuits. I then take my dagger back and speak.

"Your natural mana circles are messed up. Must be the result of someone overflowing mana into your body. Well, I created some artificial pathways from which you can channel the mana and work like a normal person. Those circuits might have created a lot of problems for you, no?" I complete my speech and look at him. He had a shocked face before tears started escaping his eyes. Thanking me over and over as he looks at me with reverence and admiration. He didn't ask why I did it, he didn't doubt me in any form and he didn't ask how I knew about it. All he did was keep thanking me, saying something along the lines of how long he has wished for a normal life.

I look at my party member smiling at me with admiration. Especially Zwain, who is muttering something along the lines of 'That is why he is my hero.'

'Honestly, those cheesy lines cringed me to no end, but getting irritated at this point would look bad so, let's not do it.'

After thanking me a few more times, Max left with a bright smile on his face.

'This is the least I could do for that boy after all that he went through in his previous regressions. If nobody is going to reward him, at least I should,' Thinking that I close my eyes as I recall the memory packet I had sent in the circle I had sent in his brain from his previous regressions.

'It wasn't much information, but it was still something.' 

I then look at Zwain, who was still admiring me, and sigh once again before speaking.

"Let's go, idiots. There is still work to do. Also, I probably won't interfere in this operation or whatever it is. You guys should think and decide how to handle this. If need be, I'll join, else I'll watch from a distance, okay?" I speak as a wry smile forms on my face as I recall the same thing which I had said before in Max's previous regression just to interfere in the starting moments.

'Let's hope I don't get emotional all over again,' I sigh as I move with others, in the direction from where Belphegor's clone came from.