Episode 35 – “Welcome.”
Everen Linden smiled faintly. It was a smile devoid of any discernible emotion, as if squeezing out someone else’s muscles.
“I wonder why another spiritualist is interested in my family’s affairs.”
“Because there are many shady aspects to your household.”
“From where did you notice?”
After gathering his thoughts for a moment, Charles spoke.
“First, James Linden studied abroad in the Franco Kingdom. Second, Evan Linden lives in Insignia. Third, Donovan Linden immigrated to the Simulia Republic… Fourth, Cerilda Linden died horrifically, but her other siblings didn’t seem to react much. Isn’t that suspicious?”
“…”
“After adopting the children as your own… what exactly are you doing?”
“Are you curious? It has nothing to do with you.”
Charles sighed.
“I’m the one who has to clean up if you carry out some evil ritual.”
“Haha, are you a guardian of this world or something? Whatever I do in the mansion I bought or with the children I raised has nothing to do with you.”
“Isn’t that the typical pattern of an abusive parent? Humans are not objects.”
“This conversation isn’t getting anywhere. Mori, come away from that strange man.”
The child named Mori, almost imbecile-like, didn’t move. At that moment, a strange violin sound was heard from behind Everen Linden.
Though untouched, the sound of the violin filled the air. Mori, as if bewitched, freed himself from Charles’ grasp and walked forward. As Charles tried to stop him, he hesitated and then stopped.
The sound of crows cawing could be heard uncontrollably from the entrance. Additionally, the sound of rats scurrying around on the ground was audible. These rats and crows surrounded Charles, front and back.
-Wow! Master, are all these your familiars?
-It doesn’t seem so.
Upon closer inspection, some larger rats could be seen among them. These seemed to act as leaders controlling the rest. Eliminating them should suffice.
Flames began to rise from Charles’ fingertips.
*
“It will be soon… very soon.”
Everen Linden, descending into the basement holding Mori’s hand, spoke. Yes, it has taken too long. Her husband, Doer Linden, was waiting in the basement.
He was wrapped in bandages from head to toe. Upon seeing Mori and Everen enter, he put down the violin he had been playing. When Mori, mumbling to himself, reached out for the violin, Doer handed it over but kept the bow for himself.
“Is this child precious too?”
“Of course. As precious as Cerilda.”
“…I see.”
Doer Linden unwrapped the bandages from his face, revealing a strange appearance. The once middle-aged man’s face was now two-toned with purple and dark brown skin and featured eight eyes and no mouth.
There were no human-like features at all. But Everen wasn’t disturbed by her husband’s true form.
She had known from the start that Doer Linden, who had come into the Linden family as a husband, was a Messier-born being from another dimension. Mori, staring curiously at Doer’s face, showed no fear.
“There is neither disgust nor hatred in his eyes.”
“Because he is untainted.”
“It’s unfortunate. It’s rare to find a child who isn’t afraid of my true form. Therefore, I will always keep the violin you like close by.”
Doer Linden patted Mori’s head. When Mori gestured for the strings, Doer purposefully ignored him and led him to a back altar. There were five temporary beds placed there, each occupied by a person.
After laying him down in one of the spots, he paralyzed Mori with eye contact, causing his body to stiffen. It was a simple ability to interfere with the mind and immobilize the body.
Later, Doer planned to connect to Mori’s mental world and inflict the most brutal and horrifying agony onto him before killing him. There was no choice but to draw out the negative energy required by the ritual.
The people lying next to the dead Mori were children they had raised as their own, including all the people Charles had mentioned.
Everen carefully approached the small box at the center. Inside was the remains of a newborn.
‘Just a little longer.’
Doer took out a magic book for the ritual. ‘The Book of Divine Resurrection, Volume 1.’ It was an item they had painstakingly acquired from an organization called the Fragmented Salvation Association.
He then accurately arranged all the rare and expensive materials from the hidden world he had prepared up to now.
As Doer prepared for the ritual, Everen reminisced about the past.
That day had also been rainy. Before she married her current husband. She had had an unwanted child. She didn’t know who the father was, just a passing acquaintance.
Everen despised the child she had given birth to because she feared she might abuse the child just as her own parents had done to her. But her thoughts quickly changed. The newborn’s face was so adorable.
She wanted to care for the child more lovingly than anyone else. But Everen despaired as the child did not live long. He was born without an anus. Although a doctor was called to perform a surgery, the child ultimately died.
After the child died in just three days, Everen couldn’t bear it. She spent her days going crazy. Those three days were the only times in her life she truly felt alive.
Her parents could not fathom her despair. They gave crude advice, saying she could have another child… She had no expectations of them. Her parents meant nothing more than irrelevant beasts to her.
Soon after, her parents chose Everen’s spouse. It was the capable businessman Doer Linden.
Externally, Doer appeared normal, but internally, he was a completely different being. Everen realized this because Doer had disclosed it beforehand.
Showing his true form, he revealed he was an alien. At first, Everen was surprised. He said he traveled across the interdimensional sea, from a different galaxy many light-years away, making her think she was going insane.
Doer had disclosed his identity for a reason. Messier beings are naturally attuned to emotions, feeling Everen’s despair. Doer empathized deeply with her.
In time, Everen accepted Doer, understanding that although he disguised himself as a human, he was an entirely different creature.
Thus, they decided to depend on each other. But no children came. Initially, they thought Doer’s shape-shifting might be flawed.
But even when Everen slept with other men, she couldn’t conceive. They realized the problem lay with her. Since having her first child, she faced issues preventing further pregnancies.
It wasn’t long after that dramatic events started.
Doer, highly skilled and knowledgeable, was increasingly delving into the world’s hidden cultures. It was only a matter of time before he discovered the hidden world.
When he found the ‘Divine Resurrection Ritual,’ intended to bring back the dead, the issue surfaced. It involved sacrificing a precious person to revive another.
Doer shared this secret with Everen, and they devised a plan. Adopt and raise a precious child, then sacrifice them.
To resurrect the dead, one must offer an equally precious sacrifice. Turning that preciousness into despair was the ritual’s most crucial part.
At first, they thought one would suffice, like an equivalent exchange. But the value of an unrelated orphan couldn’t match that of a nameless newborn.
So, they raised more. Cherished them dearly, then ruthlessly killed them. Cherished, killed, over and over. Everen, broken and filled with madness, never realized her condition.
*
While observing the reminiscing Everen with closed eyes, Doer watched curiously. He had some mercy and ethics.
But that was only from a Messier’s perspective, not a human’s. So he spent decades supporting a plan typical humans would deem insane.
To Doer, Everen was the most ‘Messier-like’ human. Perhaps that’s why he lived with her in disguise.
“It will soon be over.”
The incantation was nearly complete. At the finishing moment, he intended to mentally oppress Mori, making him suffer endlessly in his mental realm before dying.
Typically, the ‘work’ would require more time, but given the external intrusion, they had to expedite the ritual.
In truth, Doer wasn’t solely conducting the ritual out of sympathy. His primary motive was curiosity.
He wondered if the ritual could indeed revive a dead being through the magic of this distant planet.
Moreover, something deeply hidden within Everen intrigued him.
During Everen’s days of despair over her lost child, Doer had merged mentally with her in an effort to resonate with her emotions.
In her psyche, something of immense power was buried deep within. The mere surface glimpse he got showed its tremendous strength.
Even in his home planet Messier, he had seen nothing like it. It was undoubtedly created by a great being.
The ‘Divine Resurrection Ritual’ involved several stages. The first is to uncover all of the caster’s consciousness and then probe into the mind of the one to be revived.
At this stage, Doer believed he could extract whatever was hidden within Everen through the ritual.
Just before completing the incantation, someone barged in—the spiritualist intruder from earlier. Though his suit seemed slightly scorched, he appeared otherwise unharmed.
“…How?”
The rats were enhanced through Doer’s sorcery, mere killing machines. A regular human would be stripped to the bones within seconds upon meeting them.
“Have you heard of rat burning?”
“What?”
Charles smirked.
*
All those rats weren’t ordinary.
Enhanced through spiritual means, they were a starved horde. Magical rats. Yet Charles didn’t fear them much. He had acquired various applications upon learning the furnace spell.
How much heat is required to burn rats? The Furnace of the Eternal, capable of forming thousands of degrees of heat in the air, didn’t concern itself with specifics.
Having already cast the furnace spell, using it posed no issue. The ‘long preparation time’ required just 5 to 10 minutes.
Charles aimed the furnace like drawing a direction. As the floating fiery cauldron traced a semicircle on the ground, a wall of flames arose. The rats hesitated, their fear of flames evident.
But once the command was given by the controlling familiar rat, the massacre of the rats was inevitable. The ordinary ones charged into the flames and burned, and the controlling familiars were all skewered by the Eternal’s spear.
Though exerting multiple flame spells left Charles drained, he sustained no direct injuries. Merely the spiritual consumption involved in killing rats.
As soon as he descended into the basement, he understood the situation. The Messier being and Everen had colluded to bring about this atrocity.
The magical book in their possession was the ‘Divine Resurrection, Volume 1.’ How they obtained such a rarity wasn’t his immediate concern. He had to stop whatever they were planning.
Referring to rat burning, Charles spoke as he strode forward.
“I think I get what’s happening here.”
A spear of flames formed at Charles’ fingertips. Seeing this, Doer realized he was up against a mage.
