The Laziest God Mortal Reincarnation

I leaned back against my pillow.

That question was considerably larger than Father probably realized.

"How much time do you have?"

His expression remained flat.

"As much as necessary."

I sighed.

There went my afternoon.

I shifted until I was more comfortable.

If I was going to explain nearly two months of disaster, I was at least doing it properly.

"Where should I start?"

"The teleportation."

Right.

The beginning of my terrible vacation.

I took a slow breath.

"The tiger beastkin used an SS-rank teleportation artifact near your camp. It was supposed to affect everyone within roughly a kilometer."

Both of their expressions changed.

Valerian leaned forward.

"A kilometer?"

I nodded.

"I interfered with it using my barrier."

Father’s gaze sharpened.

"You?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

I stared at him.

"Because I didn’t particularly want everyone at the border disappearing."

A pause.

"Reasonable," Valerian said.

"Thank you."

At least someone appreciated my decision-making.

I continued.

"The teleportation destabilized. Instead of taking everyone, it took me and the tiger beastkin."

I lifted my shirt slightly and glanced toward my side.

There was nothing there now.

The wounds had long healed.

"But the spatial damage nearly killed me."

Valerian’s expression hardened.

"How badly?"

"Internal bleeding. Cracked rib. Severe mana depletion."

Valerian stared at me.

I quickly added, "I got better."

His stare did not improve.

"Continue."

"An old beastkin woman found us."

I paused.

"Well. She found me."

Father noticed.

"What happened to the tiger?"

"She killed him."

Another pause.

Apparently everyone involved in this story had developed a disturbingly casual relationship with killing powerful beastkin.

"Her name is Miarielle Veyra. I called her Mia before learning her proper name."

Valerian’s brow furrowed.

"Veyra..."

"You know it?"

"Continue first."

That meant yes.

Wonderful.

I adjusted the pillow behind me.

"Mia brought me to her home and treated my injuries. While I was recovering, something happened to my barrier."

I hesitated.

This part required care.

Neither of them knew about the Akashic Record.

They certainly didn’t need to.

"My barrier advance after what happened during the teleportation."

Valerian’s eyes sharpened immediately.

"Advance?"

I nodded.

Then held out one hand.

"Hit me."

Valerian stared.

Father stared.

I stared back.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Alash."

"It’s easier to demonstrate."

Valerian lifted one finger.

Then flicked my forehead.

Or tried to.

His finger stopped.

Less than a centimeter from my skin.

A faint ripple moved through the air.

Invisible mana compressed between us.

Valerian froze.

Father’s eyes narrowed.

I smiled slightly.

"Mana Aegis."

Valerian slowly withdrew his hand.

"What exactly is that?"

"A passive barrier."

"Passive?"

"Always active."

That earned silence.

I continued before either of them could begin interrogating me.

"It covers my entire body. Incoming damage is absorbed automatically. The amount it can absorb depends heavily on my stamina, and the mana efficiency improves as my barrier mastery increases."

Valerian stared at the empty air surrounding me.

"A permanent barrier..."

"Yes."

"That regenerates?"

"As long as I have mana."

His expression changed.

I knew that expression.

Interest.

Dangerous interest.

Research interest.

Training interest.

I pointed at him immediately.

"No."

His brow rose.

"I didn’t say anything."

"You were thinking."

"So were you."

"Mine was defensive thinking."

Father ignored us.

"How did you obtain it?"

I had expected that.

"My barrier advance to level 10 after interfering with the teleportation artifact. And I got this spell."

Technically true.

Mostly.

Enough.

Father studied me for several seconds.

I met his eyes.

Eventually, he accepted the answer.

For now.

"Continue."

I did.

I told them about Mia.

About waking in her house.

About discovering she wasn’t human at all, despite the appearance she had worn when I first saw her.

About the transformation artifact taken from the tiger.

About traveling for seven days through beastkin territory.

About reaching the cave.

"The entrance is protected by a suppression artifact," I explained. "Anyone below S-rank has their mana suppressed."

Valerian frowned.

"Completely?"

"Almost. I couldn’t maintain Mana Aegis while inside its range."

Father’s expression grew more serious.

"A defensive position capable of suppressing everyone below S-rank."

"Yes."

"How many people are inside?"

I hesitated.

"A lot."

His gaze hardened slightly.

I sighed.

"Hundreds. Possibly more. Mostly refugees."

That changed something.

Not much.

Just enough.

I continued.

"It isn’t a military base. Not really. It’s a hidden refuge. Beastkin who oppose the war have been disappearing there."

Valerian leaned back.

"Oppose the war?"

There it was.

The important part.

I looked between them.

"This war isn’t what we thought."

Neither spoke.

"The beastkin aren’t united."

Father’s eyes narrowed.

"The Tiger and Bear clan control most of the fighting, but the Cat, Deer, and Rabbit clan oppose them. Others have either been destroyed, forced into hiding, or pressured into joining."

Father became completely still.

"The Cat clan still exists?"

"Yes?"

"And their leader?"

"Lyssairia Veyra."

His gaze sharpened immediately.

Valerian looked equally surprised.

I continued before they could derail the story.

"The Deer clan is led by Elaris Grove. The Rabbit clan by Liora Burrow."

Father knew those names too.

I could tell.

"The three of them are hiding together?"

"Not exactly. Their people are scattered. The refuge is one of their safer locations."

Father’s fingers tapped once against his knee.

"Why have they not attempted negotiation?"

"They considered it."

I shook my head.

"But think about what happens if a beastkin walks toward the human border carrying a message during a war."

Valerian’s expression darkened.

"They would be attacked before being heard."

"Exactly."

Father said nothing.

That silence was answer enough.

I continued.

"The clans are losing people. Scouts. Warriors. Families. They can’t afford to send powerful people on diplomatic missions that might end with an arrow before the messenger says their first word."

I swallowed.

For one dangerous second, another image tried to surface.

Caelum.

I pushed it down.

Not now.

"So they hid."

Valerian’s voice was quieter.

"And the Tiger and Bear clan continued the war."

"Yes."

I hesitated.

Then came the part I had been dreading.

"There is something else."

Father looked at me.

"The corruption."

His eyes narrowed.

"What corruption?"

I remembered Mia.

The tiger’s blood.

The System’s warning.

Garron’s enormous amount of demonic energy.

I chose my words carefully.

"Mia told me that some Tiger and Bear beastkin have changed over the last several years. Stronger. More violent. Less rational."

Father didn’t react.

So I continued.

"She described something in their blood. Something that affected their instincts."

Valerian frowned.

"A drug?"

"No."

"A curse?"

"I don’t think so."

I took a breath.

"They’ve been consuming blood from strange magical beasts."

That got their attention.

Father’s eyes sharpened.

"What beasts?"

"Demonic beasts."

Silence.

Complete silence.

Valerian stared at me.

Father’s face became unreadable.

I had expected that.

No one in this world should know what those were.

Which created one very obvious problem.

Valerian asked it.

"How do you know that?"

There it was.

I looked toward him.

Then Father.

"I recognized the energy."

Not entirely a lie.

"From where?"

Valerian was annoyingly thorough.

"Something I encountered while studying my abilities."

Vague.

Technically defensible.

Very suspicious.

Valerian’s eyes narrowed.

I smiled.

He did not smile back.

Father intervened.

"The bear leader."

I looked at him.

"His mana was abnormal."

My expression changed.

"You noticed?"

"Yes."

Father leaned back slightly.

"It was powerful, but unstable. Aggressive. It did not behave like ordinary mana."

So even he had noticed.

That helped.

"Garron had an enormous amount of demonic energy inside him."

Father stared at me.

I continued.

"I think consuming the blood made them stronger, but it also changed them. Whatever ambition or aggression existed before became worse."

The tent went quiet.

"The System believes—"

I stopped.

Very nearly.

Too nearly.

Valerian’s eyes immediately sharpened.

Father’s too.

I coughed.

"My understanding is that repeated exposure eventually damages their reasoning."

Smooth.

Perfect recovery.

Absolutely no one noticed.

[That was terrible.]

’Be quiet.’

Father continued studying me.

I looked away.

"Anyway."

Excellent transition.

"The point is that the war might have started because the Tiger and Bear clans were already ambitious. But the corruption made everything worse."

Valerian’s expression became grim.

"And if it spreads?"

"I don’t know."

That answer was honest.

"It might already be spreading."

Father was silent for several seconds.

I could see the change in him.

Until now, he had listened as my father.

Now the Duke was considering what everything meant.

Not only for me.

For the border.

For the kingdom.

For the entire war.

Thousands of human soldiers were fighting under the assumption that beastkin territory was united against them.

Meanwhile, entire beastkin clans were hiding from their own people.

And behind the Tiger and Bear clans was something this world didn’t even understand.

Demonic corruption.

All because creatures that should never have entered this world had slipped through the tear in the divine barrier.

A tear that exist because of me.

I kept that final detail to myself.

Some truths were better left buried.

At least until I understood what to do with them.

Father’s fingers stopped moving.

"How certain are you?"

"About the corruption?"

"Yes."

I hesitated.

"Certain enough that I wouldn’t ignore it."

That was probably the safest answer.

I couldn’t tell him the System had directly detected demonic energy.

I couldn’t explain how I knew what demonic beasts were without raising several hundred questions about my identity.

But I had seen Garron.

Felt the pressure around him.

Watched the System react.

And Father himself had noticed something unnatural.

That was enough to start.

Valerian leaned forward.

"If the corruption comes from consuming beast blood, could it be treated?"

"I don’t know."

Not yet.

"Maybe purified if it hasn’t progressed too far. But Garron..."

I shook my head.

"I don’t think Garron could have been saved."

Father didn’t react to hearing that about the man he’d killed.

"How many are affected?"

"I don’t know that either."

I exhaled.

"Mia believes most of the worst cases are among the Tiger and Bear clans. But she couldn’t tell exactly how far it has spread."

"Then we assume more," Father said.

I looked at him.

He continued.

"Until we know otherwise."

That sounded unpleasantly reasonable.

I nodded.

Father was silent for another moment before asking,

"Why were the other clans willing to trust you with this information?"

I stared at him.

"Trust is a generous word."

"Then why?"

"Politics."

Father’s eyebrow rose slightly.

"They discovered who I was."

"How?"

"Mia searched through my storage ring."

Valerian’s mouth twitched.

I frowned at him.

"It’s not funny."

"I didn’t say it was."

"Your face did."

Father ignored us.

"What did she find?"

"The stone slate you gave me."

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"Which showed your potential."

"Yes."

I sighed.

"So apparently returning a random human child wasn’t worth the risk."

I pointed toward myself.

"But returning the son of Duke Vortex with SSS potential?"

I paused.

"Very attractive diplomatic investment."

Valerian actually laughed.

Quietly.

I looked at him.

"I nearly died."

"That doesn’t make the situation less amusing."

"You’re supposed to support me emotionally now."

"I did that earlier."

"Is there a daily limit?"

"Apparently."

Cruel man.

Father’s attention remained on the important part.

"They gave you something."