The Nameless Knight, with Arthur warily following him, returned to the Baron’s Manor. It was very late at night, so, except some knights patrolling the estate, everyone else had already retired to their own rooms.

“Your friend is in one of the empty rooms.”

Once they snuck inside without getting seen as to avoid unnecessary problems, Leiu guided Arthur to a small balcony on the 3rd floor.

“Wait.”

Seeing the parasite about to leave, Leiu stopped him and motioned to the seat across from him.

“We need to talk.”

“...”

“With everything that’s happening, we probably won’t have a lot of time to discuss some things.”

“What things?”

Arthur still felt disturbed and extremely mistrustful of the youth, nevertheless, he had calmed a bit since earlier.

Instead of giving an immediate response, Leiu gave him a meaningful, piercing stare and then sighed.

“I will not speak riddles or beat around the bush, Arthur. I was the reason you reincarnated into a parasite.”

Hearing this out of the blue completely stunned Arthur, who opened his mouth but couldn’t say anything. He sat there, in a state of complete shock, for a short bit.

Very few people knew that he was, for want of a better word, reincarnated. To hear a complete stranger say that out of the blue was surprising and scary.

Once he processed that and collected his thoughts, Arthur solemnly nodded,

“Alright. I’m listening… why did you do that?”

“Because I need your help. More specifically, I need a Parasite. Albeit the fact that the Parasite Race is assumed to be extinct, there are still a not so insignificant amount of them roaming about, however, that is irrelevant, I needed you to be a parasite.”

As expressionless as ever, Leiu continued his revelation while Arthur attentively listened.

“I will not delve too much into the details regarding parasites, but I’ll mention one thing; Parasites are inherently deceivers and liars. That’s the way it is. It’s not something they develop after being born. It is just like the Cthulhu are intrinsically evil. It’s one of the prime characteristics of their creation and something that simply cannot be removed. Therefore, I sought to put a human soul in a parasite’s body. I could have probably forced a powerful parasite to cooperate, but, eventually, when things get tough, they will turn against me or flee. That is something I cannot risk.”

“What makes you think I won’t do that?”

“I’m not done talking yet. Just listen.”

“Reincarnating you into a parasite wasn’t something easy, Arthur, however, it had to be you. Why, you might ask…” The Nameless Knight tapped his index on the table while maintaining a brief silence,

“Because I’ve once known an alternate version of you who had become a Parasite. I’ve seen the lengths you did to protect those dear to you and how you reacted in face of imminent danger. Now, I confess, I’m not the best judge of character, but I would rather bet on you than a naturally born parasite.”

“That’s it? You reincarnated me because you need my help with something?”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“The Void.” Solemnly responded the Void, not bothering to elaborate.

“Assuming I agree to help, how would I even do it?”

“I’m not asking for your immediate help, Arthur. You are far from ready. I just wanted to tell you the truth so that, in the future, you wouldn’t waste time on that.”

Arthur took a deep breath and stared back at the pale-faced young man, unsure of what to ask exactly. From his perspective, this mysterious youth had no reason to lie to him, though that didn’t mean his words were nothing but the truth either.

“How did you reincarnate me?”

“By getting rid of all the long-dead parasites that were going to reincarnate. Put in a very simplistic manner, I pushed you to the front of the line.”

“That’s it?”

“As I said, that’s an overly-simplified explanation. I had to threaten and get rid of a lot of opposition.”

Arthur massaged his temples while shaking his head, still finding all of this a bit too hard to swallow.

“I cannot get rid of the Void with just my powers. A Parasite can possess the Void Overlords before they can revive themselves. It’s the most efficient method.”

“You said you met an alternate version of me? How?”

“Alternate timeline, one I was stuck in for only briefly. Anything else you want to know?”

“What if I never wanted to reincarnate?”

Leiu, surprisingly, let out a sneer,

“If that’s the case, you could’ve killed yourself once you reincarnated. Also, almost anyone would welcome the chance of living a second life. Except for forcing you to reincarnate, I haven’t influenced any of your subsequent decisions, Arthur. If you are disinclined to help me in the future, that, too, is your decision.”

“I don’t believe that. From what you told me, reincarnating me was a lot of trouble. You’ll just give up just because I refuse to help?”

“Contrary to what others say about me, I’m not wont to force others to do things for me. It hasn’t been long since you reincarnated. Live your life however you want to, and when the times comes, make your own judgment and follow what your heart tells you.”

“...”

“Look, I could just as easily brought bodies of Gods and Devils when you reincarnated. With that, you would’ve transcended in an instant and been able to help me. However, I think, in the long run, that wouldn’t have worked in my favor. So, go on your adventurers, meet people, grow stronger, and learn truths unknown and unuttered. Only when you have something to fight for will you give it your best, isn’t that right?”

“And what if I die?”

“Then you’ll be a man that could only have made it that far. It has nothing to do with me, Arthur.”

“Wouldn’t that ruin your ‘plan’?”

“It would but I’ll still go there and fight.” Leiu let out a soft laugh, “Because you lack critical information, it’s hard to explain what I want to do.”

“Then tell me.”

“No. Discovering the history of the layers’ and everything else is something you can try to do. Why would I make things easy for you? This whole thing is about you experiencing things by yourself and doing what you think is right.”

Arthur creased his brow and glared at the youth, “I thought me growing stronger, on my own, would benefit you. Therefore, wouldn't me gaining valuable knowledge be helpful to you?”

“First, I want you to face hardships, fight, suffer, and survive. Second, you are misunderstanding something. Your help will definitely make things easier, but I can still keep going without it too. Admittedly, I might eventually die, but that’ll be because I wasn’t strong enough.”

Once he was done speaking, Leiu stood up and walked away.

“You’re free to tell anyone you want, by the way. See you tomorrow.”

Long after he had left, Arthur was still sitting there. Although the revelation came so abruptly, it still didn’t have any immediate consequences. Sure, Arthur now knew who was behind his reincarnation and the purpose behind it, but Leiu clearly said that he could live his life however he wanted.

Of course, Arthur didn’t completely believe everything Leiu had said, and he suspected that there were many other unsaid reasons behind his plan, nonetheless, knowing a bit of the truth did make him slightly relieved.

Initially, Arthur suspected that some evil God might’ve been behind the reincarnation, or it could have been that mysterious ‘X’, who also went to Isabella.

‘He didn’t speak about my link with Lucy and Isabella… was he not involved about that? I’ll ask him about that later. Now, I better focus on the problems at hand.’

Arthur, transformed into a mist and, after a short search, he found Evelyn resting in one of the guest rooms.

Her complexion was pale and her heartbeat was dangerously slow. The effects of the Blight were getting more and more intense, so much so that she wasn’t able to properly move anymore.

Right now, Arthur needed to find a proper countermeasure. The best option right now was to ask the Nameless Knight for help, though, judging from what he said, he likely wouldn’t offer any assistance.