Chapter 29

Tale of an Exorcist

The sudden reinvigorated and even jubilant atmosphere made even Sylas feel awkward. Looking at the rekindled faces of the group that, just a few minutes ago were downtrodden, felt… odd. Was he an Exorcist? Of course not. Well, he is an ex-Exorcist—but even that was a scam, and it happened on Earth, and it had nothing to do with his current situation. It wasn’t just the seven guards, it was also Tebek and Tenner—Tebek’s countenance toward him shifted even more and the man seemed deathly afraid of even stepping on Sylas’ toes, while Tenner continued nodding knowingly, as though he’d just unlocked some big secret of the universe.

The only seemingly unimpressed party—and even a slightly angry one—seemed to be Ryu. The boy(girl) stared at Sylas with an unflinching gaze that seemed to bore a hole in his thick armor. He had to look away. What the hell?

Following the ‘historic revelation’ that the man leading them was an Exorcist, the group’s pace increased almost tenfold. They seemed to be speedrunning the place, utterly fearless. Now, however, Sylas stood on the opposite side—he was afraid. Afraid that this loop was done. After all, if anything popped up behind the trees, everyone would just look at him and wash their hands from it. And what would he do? Likely piss his pants and pass out—not from fear, but sheer embarrassment. He had to avoid that. In that scenario… he’d just run ahead and die immediately. Yes, it was a solid plan.

Ryne was angry—she was furious, in fact. Though the man never explicitly stated that he was an Exorcist, he didn't deny it when others called him out. That was unforgivable! Impersonating a Paragon… was a sin beyond sinning, a declaration of death. She would be completely justified in simply wiping out this entire group. Nobody, not even the supposed Prince, would be able to protest. She would be in the right, after all.

However, there was an issue… she’d never killed before. She’d killed Ghouls and Ghails and Wraths, and other manner of the Unspoken, but she’d never killed another human being. She couldn’t. It was too much. After all, even the man in front of her, though he committed a cardinal sin… wasn’t a bad man. She suspected he let them believe that he was an Exorcist simply because it lifted up their spirits.

Considering that the group’s pace skyrocketed, she couldn’t even blame him—though she still did. Being an Exorcist… she frowned. At the moment, she was growing even angrier at others. Look at them, she gnashed her teeth. They worshiped the title, believing themselves saved. Yet, outside…

“There’s another pattern here,” she called out, pointing at yet another patch of strangely-positioned trees. “We should go around it.”

“Y-yes,” the man, Sylas said. “Good eye.”

“…” he now had a role to play, and the role he clearly knew nothing about it. Ryne wasn’t surprised. After all, the general public had absolutely no idea how the becoming of an Exorcist went. The stories that spread were… dull. They believed Exorcists were born with the ability to resist the fear that the Spirits instill in the men. A fabrication, really, to excuse their fragile little egos. No, it can’t be that they are just afraid—it’s that the nasty and gnarly spirits made them afraid.

Exorcists aren’t born with anything unique about them. They weren’t like Blademasters or Magi. They were ordinary people—ordinary people who have been broken down like clocks and rebuilt, part by part, only to be broken again. She was born with the ability to resist fear? Ryne scoffed, wanting to cry still. She was tossed as a three-year-old babe into a basement full of Ghalls, alongside fourteen other kids. Only she and one other survived. It was luck, is all. Nothing more, nothing less.

That was how they were ‘trained’—brutally tossed into the wall and expected to die. If they lived… it was a lucky break, and if they lived enough times, they’d earn the right to become an Exorcist. Rather than rotting away in the basements and courtyards, they would be sent across the Kingdoms to battle the spirits. The only form of training they’d receive is the basic talisman inscription. That was it. They weren’t even given any coin or other means of sustaining themselves.

Yet the world romanticized the title, affording her stories that sounded like a sullen fantasy to her. She was, supposedly, born in a good family with a third eye that could see and resist, and she was elected by the Gods themselves, trained her talents for a few years, and became one of the few who could resist the Spirits and fight them.

Enough, she sternly warned herself, shaking her head. It was pointless to dwell on it. She’d deal with the man sometime later. For now, she had to stay focused—even if she could spot the talisman patterns, it wasn’t as though she was beyond exceptional at it. In fact, she was still very much a novice, having just completed her training two years ago.

“Another one over there!”

“There, those trees!

“Another one!”

“Another…”

The entourage stopped after another five hours, deciding to set up camp in the small clearing they found and sleep. Sylas’ eyes traced over toward Ryu; the boy(girl) had spotted over fifteen tree patterns on their way over here. It wasn’t shocking, then, that the previous groups got lost inside here and died—even if nothing hunted them down, they’d just die of starvation eventually.

The most burning question at the moment, then, was the boy’s(girl’s) identity. He(she) certainly wasn’t just a random teen who happened to have the ability to see patterns in trees that reflected the way people set up talismans for specific effects. That required several subsets of knowledge that even Valen didn’t possess, and, to Sylas, he was the most learned man yet.

As though feeling his gaze, Ryu found a moment to scurry over while everyone was otherwise engaged. They mostly talked about how ‘easy’ and ‘boring’ the journey was and how brave they were for being the vanguards of exploration.

“…” the boy(girl) sat down by his side, nibbling away at some tree roots while staring intently at him. Sylas smiled awkwardly and offered him(her) some chicken which he(she) refused.

“I will keep silent and help you,” Ryu said. “If you help me.”

“… aren’t you a bit too young to be blackmailing folk?”

“Aren’t you a bit too old to be impersonating people?”

"…" Sylas' brows twitched as his lips curled up in a smile. He was a bit deterred from messing with the girl, but she effectively called him out. And, well, he didn't like being called out. Usually, he'd just stay silent because he didn't want conflict, but since he could just die and start over if anything went wrong, he was a bit more emboldened. “Aren’t you too young to be doing the same? Besides, you’re worse than me. You’re playing two roles whereas I only played one. Shame on you.”

“Oh? So, I should go ahead and tell everyone else that you aren’t an Exorcist?”

“Go ahead,” Sylas shrugged. “And when I tell them that you’re missing one key ingredient to being a boy, who do you think they'll believe? Peck-absent eunuch or their savior, Exorcist Sylas?”

“I…” thinking for a moment, Ryne realized that he was right—those idiots would trust him over her, even if it was her who spotted the tree patterns and not him.

“Take it as a bit of life advice,” Sylas chuckled gently at her wrinkled expression. “Don’t try to play ball with old geezers like me. You’re still too green and we’re all too mean. Anyway, don’t worry; I’ve no plans of telling on you. Even if you tell on me.”

“Yeah, right.”

“I’m serious,” Sylas said, taking a bite out of the chicken. “We’ve only gotten this far because of you. If it were just us, we’d still be sucking our own tits trying to figure out a way out of the first loop. Look, I don’t know who you are—and I do hope you share your secrets with me eventually—but I know you mean us no harm. That’s more than enough. You’re a good kid, Ryu, and though I can’t possibly imagine what someone as young as you is doing in this hell… I don’t plan on making it even more infernal for you. If you need anything, let me know. I’m serious.”

“…” Ryne stayed muted for a moment, surprised. In her experience, most adults hardly cared for people her age. In fact, she was lucky if they completely ignored her. Though her mind wanted to doubt the man, her heart… her heart gave in. It was too weak, too needy. It yearned too much. “It’s… it’s Ryne.” She mumbled, lowering her head.

“Ryne?”

“Y-yes…”

“It’s pleasure, Ryne,” Sylas said, ruffling the girl’s hair. Damn, kids are easy… he sighed inwardly. He didn’t really play her—not the way he played others, anyway. He simply realized quickly what she needed, wanted, yearned. And he gave her that. He meant every single thing he said—he just worded it in a perfect way to dearmor her and see past the front. She was strong, uniquely equipped to help them, but, in the end… she was a kid. And kids who end up in situations like hers aren’t the sort who grew up in loving homes with their emotional needs fulfilled and met.

“I… I’m sorry I threatened you,” she said suddenly, fiddling with her fingers. “It’s… it’s just that you said you were an Exorcist even when you were not. And… and since I’m an Exorcist, to me it was really offensive. It’s… it’s a sin to impersonate a Paragon, any of them, even Exorcists…”

“…” Sylas blanked, his lips twitching. He, also, had begun noticing some patterns—they had nothing to do with the trees or the talismans, but were of the much grander kind. He had pondered on and off as to why he was dropped into this world at that specific moment—why not a night later or prior or even years and decades in either direction. And more and more he’s begun believing there was a distinct reason—and Ryne was one of the confirmations.

For every wall he faced, there was a solution nearby—a solution that he had no means of conjuring up on his own. But all the tools, whether they be actual tools or people who could solve whatever issue he had, were nearby, both in time and place, to where he ‘spawned’. It was as though that was the only moment he could have been ‘spawned’ in. What were the chances, otherwise, of an Exorcist, or at least someone proficient with talismans, being in the castle just as he wanted to explore the forest?

These… these can’t all just be coincidences, right? Sylas had an odd expression on his face, one which made Ryne inwardly happy. He wasn’t freaking out or worshipping her, he just appeared amused by the news. On the other hand, Sylas had even forgotten that the girl was next to him. I mean, Valen being there and the main quest being literally tied to him can be one coincidence… but so many of them… is just too much, right? Shit, what kind of hell did I get dropped into, man?