Chapter 104
Chapter 104: True Man (2)
"What are you sorry for?"
Ruelle tilted her head with her hands on her hips. From her pouting face, it was clear she was genuinely upset.
'Pressing Cha Ye-rin approached too carelessly without thinking.'
This habit was truly frightening. By treating Possessors the way he treated Kang Pung-ho, he had become unable to distinguish gender. Erik realized his mistake too late.
"Even if it's a Possessor, it's a woman's body, so I approached too carelessly. I apologize for making you uncomfortable, Ruelle."
Erik calmly recited the situation from moments before. And he added an apology to his words. His tone was deeply serious and polite.
'I'm actually using what I learned from Du-sik...'
Back then, he never thought a moment like this would come with Ruelle. But now, what was the situation?
'She's clearly seeing me as a man.'
The fact that she minded his contact with another person of the opposite sex. It was clear evidence of interest. For Erik, it was an extremely pleasant moment.
'This must be how my Master felt...'
At the same time, he came to understand Riferoze's feelings. Just as Riferoze had coveted Erik since his childhood. Erik had desired Ruelle since he was young. The Master's affection toward the grown Erik was surely an attachment born from the same context.
'And now that moment is coming.'
Erik was the same. A faint smile naturally bloomed on his face. To which Ruelle tilted her head at an angle.
"You're smiling if you're sorry?"
"Ahem, I was just pleased with the current situation."
Erik said so calmly and took a step closer to Ruelle. As the huge figure suddenly approached, Ruelle was flustered, but seeing Erik's brilliantly shining face, her mood softened.
"Hmph!"
However, she maintained her attitude. She shouldn't appear too easy. After all, they weren't officially dating yet.
'It's a bit early though...'
Ruelle thought to herself.
'Going any closer would be rushing it.'
Erik also didn't narrow the distance any further. Instead, he skillfully changed the subject.
"Cha Ye-rin, this Possessor will help Lady Ruelle going forward."
"Help me with what?"
"To help you hide from my Master, My Lady."
"How can I possibly avoid being found by that monster-like Riferoze?"
Erik provided a detailed explanation.
"That, that is... What!"
Ruelle was startled. Riferoze had found Ruelle by observing the subtle changes in her surroundings whenever she moved.
"Erik, you're saying she noticed I was on your shoulder just from your clothes being disheveled?"
"That's right."
Perhaps because she heard more detailed stories? Goosebumps rose on Ruelle's arms.
"That observation really gives me the creeps."
"If we're talking about my Master as the standard, it's intuition."
Riferoze's intuition. While there were aspects that couldn't be called instinctive. Clearly, the expression "extraordinary observational ability" was more fitting.
"How is a Possessor supposed to solve that?"
What mattered was this. How could a mere Possessor possibly hide Ruelle from Riferoze? Erik recited the reason.
"Cha Ye-rin is an Elementalist Possessor. She can use magic to make others fly in the air."
"Then she can't find me?"
"No matter how much my Master is, she can't find someone floating in the air."
For a moment, an ominous assumption passed through Erik's mind.
'What if she reads dust particles floating in the air or subtle currents and finds me?'
However, he didn't voice this concern.
"There's no trace left in empty space, is there?"
"Oh! That sounds plausible?"
Ruelle's mood completely lifted. She hummed a little tune and examined Cha Ye-rin.
"She's quite pretty, like Ji-na."
Appearance check.
"If we just change her style a bit, I wouldn't mind going out together."
Figure check.
"Were you interested in fashion before the possession?"
"... Y, yes! I'm fairly knowledgeable about it!"
Personality check.
'Not bad at all.'
An appearance that wouldn't be embarrassing to go out with, and interests that seemed to align well. Moreover, from how well she answered, her personality also seemed good.
'That's different from those two gloomy people.'
Excluding Jackson and the already dead Possessors, Ruelle had only interacted with three Possessors. Among them, if we count only the male ones, it comes down to two. Park Chang-ho and Nishida Ryo.
'Those two couldn't even speak a word in front of me.'
They couldn't even make eye contact. Ruelle had never even heard their voices.
'It can't be helped though...'
Originally, due to her sublime beauty, there were quite a few people who had difficulty approaching her.
'Or they'd say something inappropriate and be all nervous about it...'
But now, thanks to Erik, such things had completely disappeared.
'Erik is definitely different.'
Ruelle recalled Erik's excellent qualities one by one.
'He's truly outstanding!'
From his bold action. His confident tone and clear sense of self. His unmatched physique, and possessing looks that didn't fade even beside her. Because of that, Park Chang-ho and Nishida seemed increasingly pathetic.
'How can they be so different when they came from the same Earth...? No wait, Erik is special.'
Eventually, her thoughts led to Erik's excellence. Ruelle felt proud without reason. As she was humming contentedly.
"Ahem. May I continue the explanation?"
"Is there more?"
"Cha Ye-rin's capabilities aren't limited to just magical functions."
A magical shuttle that could have conversations about fashion and Earth. That was Cha Ye-rin as Ruelle understood her.
"What else?"
"You know about the Possessor community, right?"
"That thing those twin brats constantly censor?"
"Yes, this time when we destroyed the Black Mage Group, we obtained quite a few [Guild Home Creation Tickets]. Using those, we can use [Guild Exclusive Chat]."
"Wh, what does that mean?"
Guild, usage rights, chat system. Despite hearing explanations about Possessors, these were words difficult to understand. So Erik brought out a simpler explanation.
"You know that screen that was following us before?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Possessors use that to communicate."
"But I can't use it?"
Ruelle's status window was just in a state of having only a shell.
'I think something will change as the World Tree grows...'
Later concerns could wait for later. Erik erased his distracting thoughts. What was important right now wasn't that.
"Since you can't, I'm attaching someone who can to you."
If you can't do it, make it possible. This was also one of Erik's beliefs.
"So you're saying I can communicate in real-time with what I say, and you can cast all sorts of magic on me?"
"Exactly! Plus, there's someone who can immediately answer any questions Lady Ruelle has about fashion or Earth."
As the two conversed, Cha Ye-rin's face grew increasingly pale, eventually becoming as white as a corpse. The way they were describing her...
'Like they're talking about a product...'
It was like explaining a newly launched high-performance smartphone with an AI installed.
"Moreover, with the characteristic of Mental Materialization, she can even show the culture of Earth in concrete form."
AI installation capable of conversation. Real-time chat support and search functions achieved through conversation. Video generation using holograms, and even the convenience of casting magic! That was what Cha Ye-rin heard in their description of her.
'It's not wrong about my situation.'
In the end, Cha Ye-rin herself was convinced by this.
***
Erik hadn't attached a mage Possessor to Ruelle simply for chat and video generation functions. There were several reasons for this.
'Possessor magic works on people who handle Sacred Power too.'
Sacred Power and Magical Power don't invade each other. Attack spells would work since they're thrown to kill anyway, but support magic doesn't work at all. Acceleration, Teleportation Magic, Flight, and so on.
'Normally it's negated.'
Except for Jang Du-sik, the only Sacred Mage in the world, it was impossible. However, Possessor magic works on Clerics.
'Enhancement and support-type magic skills work on them.'
These were also facts revealed by Duke Jenedik Raffin. That included the precise effect that Sacred Power had on Possessors.
'Sacred Power doesn't burn Possessor skills or summoned creatures.'
In the past, when Lucifer caused the rebellion of Black Mages. The reason it wasn't suppressed quickly was because of the existence of the "Hell" he summoned. The demons that appeared within it didn't burn from Sacred Power.
'The Field Effect that Kang Pung-ho created was the same.'
Before they became Erik's believers. It was already proven in the Labyrinth.
'It's not the power itself that's weak; it's that the Possessor's body is vulnerable.'
This was the key point. That's why he still hadn't found the first Necromancer-class Possessor. However, now he had found a clue.
"My Lady, can you see it?"
"So that's what a villa is?"
Ruelle witnessed Earth's culture directly, which she'd only heard about. It was less impressive than she thought.
"All the buildings are ugly."
Compared to the magnificent Church, they were just flat stones stuck together.
"Instead, they're efficient."
"Efficient?"
"They were all built in just a few days."
"Days?"
"Yes."
"Is that possible?"
Building blocks assembled like blocks or whatever.
'I didn't understand what she was saying back then, but now that I see it, I get it.'
Ruelle nodded. Weren't these things Erik was rambling about as a child actually materialized before her eyes? It was quite surprising.
"So all those kids from the detention camp come to work?"
"That's right."
"Won't the Imperial Family object?"
"You saw the Imperial Princess, didn't you?"
Erik pointed with his fingertip to the end of the fortress wall. There, the Imperial Princess with her arms crossed and Jang Du-sik creating flower patterns with a club could be seen.
"The Imperial Princess also desires Possessors."
"Why?"
"Because they're more useful than you'd think."
Wasn't Erik himself trying to use Possessors under the pretext of securing GP? Moreover, the Possessors who became his believers would certainly be optimized for Labyrinth conquest.
"When Lady Ruelle holds a Prayer Meeting, I'll accumulate an enormous amount of GP."
Erik spoke calmly, looking down at the city under 24-hour construction.
"Is my prayer that influential?"
"Of course. If my Lady just waves her hand, GP stacks up in units of 100,000."
The prestige of the Empire's idol, so to speak. The shine of sublime beauty and star quality coming together.
"So?"
"With that GP, I plan to supply water to the Empire. The Imperial citizens will praise and worship, believing it's all thanks to Lady Ruelle's grace."
Then more GP would stack up.
"Using the GP gathered that way, I'll create a Labyrinth Conquest Party with Possessors."
"Th, but... why are you speaking so seriously?"
Ruelle looked up at Erik's golden eyes. His gaze was more resolute than ever.
"You said those three only increased by 230 GP, right?"
"Th, that's true..."
Ruelle felt a bit nervous seeing Erik's burning eyes.
'He's angry.'
She suddenly realized that Erik was furious.
"Erik, what if... other Possessors are the same?"
"If we go through all that hardship to gather GP and turn Possessors into believers, and they still only increase by 200 GP or so, what then?"
"Th, that's true."
Erik muttered, looking down at Earthtown.
"Then I might really go crazy."