“Lewis… you’re alive…”

Lewis, Chris, Tal, Mun, Lorelei, and I went back to the prison to visit Crowell.

He looked tired, but other than that, he seemed fine.

“How is it looking out there?”

Lewis answered, “Not good. Most of the buildings and stores in the Higher Central are all gone. The city center is a mess too, but the damage isn’t as bad. The survivors had gone to the crop fields and are now starting to come back.”

“Does that mean you… defeated Frankie?”

“Yeah, he’s gone now.”

With a sigh of relief, Crowell leaned back against the wall. He must’ve been stressing out in here ever since we left, unsure of whether we could win against someone with the same power he once had.

“What’s your plan now?” Crowell asked.

At that, Lewis turned to me. He wanted me to let Crowell control the people of Lanport so that this city would be a peaceful city.

Everyone that lived in this city before had told me that the city used to be a place of havoc. People would often fight with each other and then there would be pirate raids from the sea.

I know that having them lose their freedom, even with how horrible they were, would be a grave sin, but was that really our only option?

I had witnessed firsthand what the people of Lanport were like.

They weren’t under anyone’s control when they attacked us when we were on our way to the governor’s mansion.

They were all willing to fight us to the death for no reason at all.

They weren’t protecting anything, they weren’t looking for revenge, they weren’t doing it for fame.

All they were doing was just for the sake of killing.

Lorelei probably wouldn’t admit it now, but even she thought it was okay to let Crowell keep the people of Lanport under his control.

Even if they were like puppets, at least the ones who weren’t violent would be able to enjoy a peaceful life. At least they wouldn’t have to worry about random attacks.

Crowell would also be able to use the power to keep their city safe from pirate raids as well.

That was what he was doing before. He was doing it all to save this city.

I had made up my mind.

With the earring in my hand, I walked towards Crowell and reached out that hand.

“It’s yours.”

Crowell was stunned. He looked at the earring and then back at me and then back at the earring.

“Din… are you sure about this? You do know what my wish is, correct? Do you really want someone like me to have this kind of power? The power of a King?”

“You were using that power to save the city. From what I knew, you were only using this power to make the rotten person into a better person.”

Before taking the earring, he clasped my hand with both of his’. He closed his eyes and while holding back his tears, he thanked me.

“Thank you… thank you…”

—After having restored his power once more, we went around the city and looked for all the people that were causing trouble. It was still the middle of the night, but there were multiple torches lit up around the city. We could clearly see the people of Lanport moving about. Crowell already knew the violent people by heart so it didn’t take long before he was satisfied with the results.

The order he gave them was: “Be a nice and gentle person.”

I was okay with that.

Lorelei, Lewis, Chris, and Mun seemed happy or at least content with my decision. It was only Tal that appeared a little upset.

“I can’t believe you would give up a Spirit item that easily. You know there are only five of those in the entire world, right? Now how are you going to restore Lorelei’s body?”

Tal was right. I could’ve used the Spirit item to restore Lorelei’s body here and our dangerous journey would reach its end, but I didn’t. Now, we had to continue our travels in search of another solution.

“Don’t be such a downer, Tal,” Lewis said with a pat on Tal’s back. “That’s why we’re heading off to Aegis for, right? We’re bound to find something useful over there!”

I nodded, “My uncle wouldn’t tell me to go there unless if he had a strong suspicion that whatever is in Aegis will help me.”

Tal sighed, “Using a Spirit item to better just one city…”

“What made you decide to let Crowell have the earring?” Lorelei asked. “You seemed against the idea before.”

“After talking to everyone who had lived in Lanport, I found out that it wasn’t a place like Ravenwalt. Even though Ravenwalt wasn’t the happiest of places, I know I lived a very fortunate life. I guess I just wanted something similar for the people of Lanport,” I explained.

After that, I immediately bowed in front of Lorelei.

“Huh? What’s wrong, Din?” Lorelei asked.

“I’m sorry I didn’t use the Spirit item to get your body back!”

There was a moment of pause before she finally gave me a warm smile, “That’s fine, Din. In the first place, we don’t even know if the Spirit item’s wish would’ve granted that. Remember what Frankie’s wish turned out to be?”

“The power to summon gold…”

“Right. I think rather than making a wish to the Spirit item, it chooses for you. It figures out what you want the most and then grants you the ability to obtain whatever it is you want.”

“You might be right.”

I turned to Crowell and then asked him whether he had made the wish to get the power to control others or whether he had been granted that power.

“I don’t recall making any wishes to the earring, no. After the night of the moon shift, I noticed that people were following my orders without any questions. After I noticed that, I tested it out on some of the most violent people I knew and even they followed my orders. It was quite amusing to say the least. By the by, who were you talking with just now? Nobody else seemed to be curious as to who you were speaking with, so I feel a little left out.”

Even though I knew he couldn’t see her, I introduced her, “This is Lorelei. She’s my childhood friend and currently a ghost that only I can see.”

“Nice to meet you,” Lorelei said with a bow.

“Well, that is very unusual. Might that explain your immunity to my power somehow? Somehow, I want to believe the two ideas might be linked.”

I shrugged, “We don’t know.”

“Let’s test it out!” Lorelei suggested. “My theory from earlier. About his power not working on Spirits. We can have him give an order to Mun.”

I nodded, “Lorelei wants to see if Spirits are immune to your power. Let’s test it out on Mun.”

“Spirits? Is that the correct term for the ones with black eyes? That is very strange, but I’ll remember that. Anyways, if I’m to assume, you’re Mun, correct?”

Crowell walked in front of Mun.

She was quite shorter than Crowell so she had to look up at him.

“Is it alright if I give you an order?” Crowell asked.

“I swear if you make me do anything crazy, I’ll kick your ass,” Mun threatened him.

Crowell coughed to clear his throat, “Well then. Mun, could you do ten squats for me?”

Nothing happened.

Mun continued looking up at Crowell.

“So Spirit items don’t work on Spirits…” Tal muttered.

“Now how does that explain Din’s immunity?” Crowell asked. He seemed to be checking my eyes, but I was pretty sure that my eyes were normal.

“There are moments where Din’s eyes turn into those of a Spirit’s. Maybe that has something to do with it,” Lewis suggested.

Lorelei nodded, “I think so too.”

“How long are you guys going to take?!”

We all turned towards the sound of the voice. It was Ralphie.

“Scarlett and the others already started drinking. I was left to keep an eye for your return but you’re all just having a casual conversation over here?! I could’ve been drinking this entire time! Now get your fat asses to come to the ship!”

We said our farewells to Crowell before leaving on the boats from the docks to head towards Scarlett’s ship.

“Lanport was supposed to be a spot where we could relax before moving onto Aegis! Why did we have to get even more stressed in the city than we were when we left Newron?!” Mun asked as she frantically shook the boat.

“Hey! Stop that, you idiot! You’re going to make the boat sink!” Tal lectured her.

Ignoring the twins, I looked over at Lorelei, who had her attention towards the sea.

With the twins in the same boat as me, I didn’t want to say it out loud, but I wanted to make sure Lorelei knew.

“We will find a way to get your body back.”

She turned around.

“I’ll make sure we get your body back so just believe in me until then, okay?” I reassured her.

She smiled.

“Thank you, Din. If it’s you, I know you can do it.”

For some reason, when I heard that, I couldn’t help but to blush.

“Ohhh! Din is blushing!” Mun pointed out.

Somehow, I knew it would end up like this.

“I’m not,” I said as I turned away from them. I glanced down at the sea and looked at my reflection.

No matter what it takes, I will get Lorelei back to normal.