First Step to Munchkin, Immortal (2)
"It's too late tonight. Let's talk about this another time. It's not like it's an urgent matter anyway."
After sharing various details about Alhazard's dungeon, the hour grew so late that Raisa began nodding off mid-conversation. We decided to part ways for now. There was simply too much information to cover; if we continued, we might have ended up talking through the night.
"Right. We have joint classes tomorrow, so we'll see each other then. And after afternoon lessons, we'll do that special Huxley training I mentioned?"
Come to think of it, tomorrow's schedule included the joint major course "The Correlation Between Magic and Swordsmanship," taught to both the Magic and Swordsmanship departments. That meant all three of us would be in the same lecture hall.
At Elaine's words, Raisa—who had been dozing—rubbed her eyes and asked, "Um… would that training help me too?"
It was only natural for her to wonder. The Huxleys were a renowned swordsmanship family; their methods might not suit someone from a magic lineage like hers.
Elaine answered with a reassuring smile. "The Huxleys' special training focuses on tempering mana rather than swordsmanship, so it should definitely benefit you as well."
Her expression was so full of certainty that Raisa simply nodded without another word. It was a gesture of trust.
"Then I'll see you tomorrow, Senior Leon."
"Sweet dreams, Leon."
"You two be careful on the way back."
Raisa and Elaine had grown close enough to trust each other's words. They walked off toward the women's noble dormitory, chatting quietly. I stood there watching them go. Then, suddenly, Elaine glanced back over her shoulder and gave me a small wave with her left hand. I nodded in return before turning toward my own dormitory.
Another complicated day had come to an end. Yet the moment the chaos faded, my mind filled with thoughts of Elaine. She was clearly not the ordinary Elaine Huxley from the game of King's Crown that I had played.
Looking back, her every action pointed to something different. The original Elaine would never have grown so close to Raisa so quickly during their academy years. Raisa had been a failing first-year in the Magic Department, while Elaine was the top student in Swordsmanship for three consecutive years—an elite among elites. Moreover, rumors had spread among the students that Elaine would marry Crown Prince Alec immediately after graduation. Naturally, countless girls tried to curry favor with the future empress. In that environment, a failing student like Raisa would never have approached Elaine first.
Yet Elaine had been the one to initiate contact from the very morning, suggesting Raisa switch from a wand to a staff—as if she already knew the future. This was textbook regressor or possessor behavior.
Her attitude toward me was the same. Though I had the "Righteous" trait filter turned off and didn't know Leon Magnus's full backstory, my years of playing the game told me one thing with certainty: Leon would almost certainly die before graduating from the academy.
In King's Crown, parents had extremely limited influence over their children until they reached adulthood. Interference was usually restricted to appointing guardians, academy enrollment, or minor events. Only the most extreme parents would resort to assassination or reputation-destroying schemes against their own underage children—acts that defied all morality and blood ties.
Earth's history had similar cases: Emperor Nero nearly being poisoned by his own mother, or King Yeongjo of Joseon starving his son, Crown Prince Sado, to death in a rice chest. Since King's Crown was a fantasy game, there were also parents who worshipped the Demon King or devils and offered their own children as "Sacrifices of Darkness."
And unfortunately, it seemed my father was one of those monsters.
According to Papiyas, the God of Fertility, the original Elaine had been unconsciously in love with me. That explained why she had offered genuine encouragement—words the normal Elaine would never have spoken. She knew I was destined to die in some accident soon… and she was trying, in her own way, to prevent it.
Lost in these thoughts, I arrived at my dormitory room without realizing it. I washed up, changed into comfortable clothes, and collapsed onto the bed, my final thoughts still circling.
Elaine was definitely either a regressor or a possessor. Which one?
What if she was possessed, like me? The thought was terrifying. Elaine Huxley, possessed by someone else… not the woman I had loved.
I knew this was hypocrisy. When I did it, it was romance; when someone else did it, it was infidelity. I had no right to complain after possessing Leon Magnus with Papiyas's power. I didn't even know what had happened to the original Leon's soul—whether Papiyas had taken it elsewhere, whether it had merged with mine, or whether it had been reincarnated somewhere else.
The real issue was this: if Elaine had been possessed by another soul, then she was no different from Leon. That possibility terrified me. What if the Elaine I knew and loved had already vanished from this world? And what kind of person now inhabited her body?
In most possession stories, the protagonists were usually men—shut-in NEETs, office workers like me, or people who had jumped into the Han River after bad investments. Even in romance fantasy, female possessors existed, but King's Crown was the opposite of a female-oriented game. It was a brutally difficult title that faithfully recreated the dysfunctional family trees of medieval Europe in a fantasy setting. Female players were extremely rare. The few female streamers who tried it as a punishment game never lasted long.
Just look at the forums for Crusader Kings, the game King's Crown was based on. The titles alone were shocking: "My father wants to take my granddaughter as a concubine," "How do I kill my mother quickly to inherit?" or "I want to join the Satan cult and perform human sacrifices—how?" The question boards were filled with the absolute bottom of human depravity.
If Elaine had been possessed, the soul inside her was almost certainly male—probably some thirty-something, potbellied man like me, with over a fifty percent chance.
For a brief moment, I imagined it. Her appearance was still that of an unparalleled beauty. Even if the soul inside was a middle-aged man… maybe I could endure it?
…
…Impossible. Absolutely impossible. My body rejected the idea on a physiological level.
I clutched the blanket in agony until Elaine's sincere words from earlier resurfaced in my mind.
"No, Leon. We still can't say for certain that those people are the only ones you must serve."
Right. Think positively. If she were a possessor, she would never have said something like that. She wouldn't have spoken those words with genuine feeling just to raise my affection. So for now, I would set aside the possibility that Elaine was possessed.
Instead, I would focus on the idea that she was a regressor.
Elaine, a regressor… If that were true, the biggest question was which version of her had returned. Was she the tragic crown princess who had been betrayed by Crown Prince Alec and sacrificed in the main scenario? The Sword Master who joined the hero's party and defeated the Demon King? Or the national hero who had played as Elaine herself and become a fantasy Joan of Arc?
Figuring that out had to be my priority.
With the resolve to uncover Elaine's true identity starting tomorrow, I finally succumbed to the wave of exhaustion and fell into a deep sleep.