An Odorless Soul
The time spent inside the carriage felt like an eternity. Even the fleeting pleasure of watching the open scenery beyond the window lasted only a moment. The seats that rattled without pause, the biting chill that rushed in as night fell, and the suffocating silence—it was an ordeal that seemed to shave years off my life. I couldn’t stand it any longer and seriously considered turning the carriage around to catch a train instead. As my instincts and reason teetered endlessly on that tightrope, the vehicle finally began to slow.
With a long creak, the carriage came to a stop.
“Young master, we’ve arrived.”
The coachman opened the door. I took Diana’s hand—she had already stepped down first—and emerged, scanning my surroundings. Neatly paved grand avenues stretched out, lined with bustling markets and rows of shops. People in all manner of dress moved through the streets. It was the imperial capital I had grown utterly sick of seeing.
I pressed a generous sum of luprans into the coachman’s palm. His eyes widened at the amount. He thanked me repeatedly before hurrying away.
“Do you have a specific destination in mind?” Diana asked, perfectly composed.
I clicked my tongue at her serene face, which showed not the slightest trace of fatigue. “Yeah. Just follow me for now.”
The image of Luna sitting on the ground, staring blankly at the departing carriage, refused to leave my mind. Given her twisted personality, there was no chance she would let me leave the mansion without consequence. She would undoubtedly send people to hunt me down.
I need a new identity.
A forged identity was the immediate priority. The act of forging one was risky in itself, but not impossible. This was, after all, a game world. Obtaining a single false identity wasn’t particularly difficult here. If my memory served, there had even been a main scenario episode where the player openly used a second identity.
I walked on in a daze and only noticed the building after some time. It was an old brick structure that gave off an antique yet distinctly sinister air.
“Is this the place?”
“Yeah. No need to stay on guard. It’s just an ordinary shop.”
It was a shop, technically. One that traded in goods from the shadows, nothing more.
I pushed the door open. Past the dim entrance, the interior carried a decidedly gloomy atmosphere. The display shelves were crammed with aged books and miscellaneous trinkets bearing the weight of years.
As I peered deeper into the shop, a languid voice fell like cold rain.
“What business brings you here?”
I turned slowly. A woman lounging on a sofa in the corner regarded me with a sullen gaze.
“Here to browse? Too bad. Business ended long ago, so I’ll have to ask you to leave.”
Soft purple hair spilled over her shoulders, and her calm green eyes caught the red lighting, gleaming with an enigmatic shine. I remembered her face clearly. Emily, the empire’s information broker. And—
“Merlin Trivia.”
The fallen priestess, Merlin Trivia.
“My business is with you.”
Merlin’s eyes narrowed. Her expression probed for the hidden meaning behind my words.
Looks like I came to the right person.
Merlin Trivia had once been more devout than anyone, but from a certain point onward she had come to despise the world—and even the god who created it. I didn’t know the full story. The only thing that remained in my memory was a setting book that summarized her life with the single word “tragedy.”
This was my first time meeting her in person. In previous rounds I had never encountered her, and at certain branching points she simply vanished without a trace. Above all, this was a dangerous gamble. The reason was simple.
“Hmm.”
Merlin could smell the scent of a soul.
“How strange.”
All expression vanished from her face.
“I’ve never smelled anything like this before.”
She rose slowly from the sofa. With each step she took, the air inside the shop grew heavier.
“What could this scent possibly be?”
One step. Another. The atmosphere thickened.
“You. What exactly are you?”
Merlin’s sharp gaze raked over me from head to toe. I answered in a flat voice.
“Kyle Winfred.”
“You know that isn’t what I’m asking, don’t you?”
“I’m afraid I don’t.”
Even as she muttered those chilling words, Merlin’s face looked warm and benevolent. The eerie contrast lasted only a moment before she began piecing together an answer.
“There’s no stench at all.”
Human souls carried an inescapable stench. That was the description that appeared when you clicked on Merlin in the game. Of course there was none. My soul had come from another world.
I seriously considered my options—whether to tell her the truth and ask for help, or to spin a convenient lie. She continued guessing.
“It’s not the scent of someone who has committed slaughter, nor that of one who has transcended their station…”
Every guess was completely off the mark. I tapped my foot against the floor, waiting for her deduction to run its course.
She hasn’t noticed.
My reasons for seeking Merlin were complicated. A forged identity was only part of it. My true objective was the whereabouts of the Holy Relic. With it, one could open a gate between dimensions. The game only mentioned it in passing, but the official setting book had confirmed it. The possibility that it was false was slim.
And above all else—
Merlin was the only one who ever spoke of the Holy Relic.
An artifact of unknown identity that no one had ever seen with their own eyes. Only Merlin had ever uttered its name. How she had obtained the information, or through what channels, remained unknown. Merlin Trivia had never been a particularly important character to begin with.
What mattered was that she knew where the Holy Relic was. And that I needed that information desperately.
Merlin’s gaze was growing uncomfortable. I kept my expression neutral and got to the point.
“I came to buy information.”
“Information? What kind?”
Merlin tilted her head, then asked as though it were nothing unusual. I spoke carefully.
“Do you have any information regarding the Holy Relic?”
At that moment—
“Ha.”
A hollow laugh slipped from Merlin’s lips. Then a deep, knowing smile curved her mouth.
“Your soul… has been kidnapped, hasn’t it?”
Steam rose in lazy curls from the cup as tea filled it with a gentle gurgle. The maid finished arranging the table for teatime, bowed once, and quietly withdrew.
“…”
“…”
Luna lifted the cup and took a slow sip. Isabelle watched her with a furrowed brow.
Why is that woman here…
Luna Winfred. Eldest daughter of the Winfred family and Kyle’s half-sister. Isabelle knew a great deal about her—from the information she had heard from Kyle before the regression to what she had gathered on her own. When she pieced the fragments together like a puzzle…
…She’s insane.
Luna was one of the people Kyle hated most. Herself included.
“Luna Winfred.”
Isabelle glared at the unwelcome guest, her expression openly hostile. “State your business and be quick about it.”
“For a lady of House Yustia, your manner of speaking is rather aggressive, isn’t it?”
“The one being aggressive is you, barging into someone’s home without invitation.”
Isabelle let her irritation show plainly on her face. Luna simply smiled at her, bright and sweet.
“Kyle has left.”
“…What did you say?”
“He left. Without a word. In the blink of an eye.”
“W-what do you…”
Isabelle’s pupils trembled violently. Luna gave a soft, mocking laugh and raised her voice.
“Lady Isabelle.”
There was clear ridicule in her tone.
“It’s because of you.”
“…”
“Kyle left because of you. If it had been me, I would have made the same choice. Having a woman you despise so much clinging to you like a leech—how wretched that must have felt. It’s a wonder you endured it this long.”
“…Have you finished?”
“I hate you.”
“…”
“Not simple dislike. I loathe you so much I wish you would simply drop dead.”
Isabelle let out a hollow laugh. To hear such venomous curses from the woman who had driven Kyle to the edge of a cliff. She wanted nothing more than to fling the scalding tea straight into Luna’s face. She ground her teeth against the boiling rage.
“Stop talking nonsense.”
“Oh?”
“Do you think I don’t know how you’ve constantly used your authority to humiliate Kyle all this time?”
“…”
“Even a kept beast is fed. To you, was Kyle worth less than a beast?”
Sparks flew between their locked gazes. A razor-sharp wind seemed to scrape across their skin.
“…”
“…”
An icy silence settled over the room. After a moment, Luna let out a small laugh and continued.
“You have quite the foul mouth, Lady Isabelle.”
“Shut your mouth.”
“Pfft. Very well. I didn’t come here to brawl with you anyway.”
Luna interlaced her fingers and stared at Isabelle. A meaningful smile bloomed on her lips.
“By any chance…”
Her vivid blue eyes sparkled beneath the sunlight.
“Have you also returned to the past?”