"Ah, old man, did you hear what I said?"

[[More than clear, kid.]]

'Shit.'

Me and my big mouth. I knew why we weren't disappearing; it seems the old man heard me. Now he's standing in front of me, and well, he doesn't look that old, around 40, but in my defense, his voice does sound old.

Now that it is in front of me, it seems to be just a soul. Being a ghost or spirit is not impossible, but remaining conscious for so long is.

'Hmm, maybe he made a deal with some god to keep his soul.'

There are really many ways to leave a legacy: relying solely on your methods, borrowing a little divine territory, like William's legacy, leaving it in a dangerous and inaccessible place, making some deal with a god or powerful entity that transcends the ages so that it is inherited correctly, and so on.

All of those are considered legacies of some kind, and with my skill —which I haven't really been able to use—I can inherit it completely, skipping all the trials and annoying stuff.

But I don't think it's worth it since I only have three attempts and only the 14 god-hunting legacies are worthwhile.

I think raising its rank would give me more uses, but I don't know how to raise its rank. I was already lucky that with the lust one, I didn't need to activate it and...

'Wait, now that I think about it, I didn't use it, but I avoided all the trials and traps along the way. Hmm... that would mean that—'

"D-David, the s-sir is angry."

"Ah! Oh, sorry, old man, I got distracted for a moment. What were we talking about?"

[[Disrespectful brat, I already told you I'm not an old man. Not only do you speak ill of me, but you even ignore me. Hey, little bastard, I—]].

Suddenly, possibilities for the skill I had dusted off came to me, but I was interrupted by Ophelia, who was very scared of the old man, who was looking at us—or rather, looking at me—with a very frown, because I ignored him and got lost in my thoughts.

Just as I am doing right now, well, I am listening to it, but it is just a reprimand and it is not important.

I wasn't really afraid; I am a perfect counterattack against spirits no matter how strong they are. I can counteract their strengths, so it doesn't matter if he's angry with me or not; I've even analyzed the barrier: even if he uses it on me to attack me, I can break my way out.

[[And... Haaah~... whatever, I'm too old to argue with you.]]

"So you are an old man, you're just pretending with your appearance."

[[It's just a saying. I died at forty-nine, ugh!!... Haah~, I'm not going to argue with a brat.]]

'I think that's already very close, plus you're not counting how long you've been dead, huh? That's denial of reality.'

I mean, he's a damn centuries-old spirit; he's old no matter how you look at it. I wanted to complain, but I think he's already very angry, but he didn't seem seriously angry.

Maybe with the right words he'll still let me into his legacy; I wanted to try my luck to see if I could get something good out of it.

"Ahem!, so, venerable sir, why haven't we been included in your great legacy? I mean, it's just Ophelia and me left. Isn't that a bit too exclusive?"

[[Yes, only the two of you were left out. I see that you understand what this is about and want to enter, but you and that girl are not going to enter my trials.]]

"What, just because I called you a lonely old man? That's so mean. Well, what could I expect from someone who created that barrier to deceive people. Does it amuse you to see how everyone is happy to get pieces of illusions with no real value. What a twisted mind."

This old man doesn't want to negotiate, so I don't care about anything else. I'm going to find where he keeps his treasures on my own; if it's around here, I'm sure I can find it with my Eyes of Lust.

[[Ugh! I'm a spirit, but I feel like my blood pressure is going to rise. Ugh! Before I get really angry, I'll tell you that you won't be going in because you two are the only ones who didn't feel greed for the city's treasures.]]

"Oh, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. You're not a lonely, mean, sadistic old man, ahem!.... So that means we'll get our reward without a trial, right?"

[[Yes, ugh... I honestly know what you were doing and I want to throw you in there, but rules are rules, and you didn't feel an ounce of greed for my legacy. You fulfilled the conditions in a way that I regret not having foreseen.]]

"Oh, man, start over there! Then I shouldn't worry about being disrespectful. Besides, why don't you accept that you are indeed old? You're a spirit with signs of baldness."

I mean, if he mentioned rules it means he got help and it's not totally under his control. Although it's still too early to conclude that it's the same. In a way it's like Mirk, that even though he didn't want to give us the keys and open the vaults for us, he was obligated to do it no matter how he felt at the time.

[[Damn kid! ugh! To think that someone would evade the test like that... goddess Elyth... what terrible karma I still carry, that even in my last moment of consciousness I have to meet someone like that.]]

"Elyth?...Ah!, the goddess of illusions. do you worship an evil goddess?!"

[[What!!! How dare you, you brat, what evil goddess? Elyth is a benevolent goddess that my family has always faithfully followed, and though it was only by inheritance, having her blessing was my greatest pride in life. Even if it's against the rules I-I]]

"Hey, calm down, man. I'm just saying things have changed around here, you know? She's on the side of the demons now."

[[What!!! What's this nonsense you're saying!!!?]]

"Well, that's only on this continent; who knows outside of it. She's more of the neutral faction. I guess in your era she supported the humans on this continent."

Yes, it's only mortals who draw such clear boundaries between supposed good and evil. What here is an evil goddess elsewhere is a benevolent goddess.

It all depends on the circumstances. Even Aeloria is feared in some places as a perverse and dystopian goddess, and I agree with those people: they are nice people, whom I will later visit.

[[...Boy, I don't understand what you're talking about.]]

"Nothing, don't listen to me. Anyway, give me the rewards; I hope I'll be as good as if I had to pass the tests of your legacy."

[[Fuck, you're obviously full of greed! Why doesn't the legacy suck you in?]]

"Nah, I don't really expect much from such a remote legacy, but maybe I'll find some good stuff for the girls in my harem. Get out what you got, old man."

[[Haaah~, it's a pain talking to you. Well, here's what you can pick. You and that girl can pick three total each. That's your privilege, since normally you could only pick one. Haah~ six items wasted on two perverts]].

"S-so-sorry "

"Don't listen to him, Ophelia. The old man is only complaining to himself; he can't do anything to us. Oh, let's see what's good here."

Suddenly a screen appeared in front of me. I found it interesting; it reminded me of what I thought was a system. I saw several things, including what the group thought they found to be the 'magic, space, or the poison healing magic, there were also various materials and arts...

'Oh, there's a vitality-based poison art.Phew~, lucky I closed the deal before I got here. Well, it's not as powerful as the one I gave him and it's from daggers... let's see, what else is there?'

'Hey, don't you think it's more important to ask the old man about the evidence?'

'Ah, right.'

That old man distracted me, but there was no forgetting why I came here. Anyway, I was already looking for the entrance to the test site and the legacy.

If I found it and that old man didn't give me something good, I would break in with Qetesh's help and see what's inside.

There was also the fact that my theory could be wrong and that, in fact, it was in that legacy that my brother was crippled, which would make this old man my enemy.

But first, he had to understand what kind of place the old man had taken them to.

"Venerable old man."

[[Fuck, talking to you is going to kill me even though I'm already dead, and I have a name. It's Artur; call me that instead of old man. Also, don't get distracted; I'll soon be going to supervise the last three tests, so you have to choose or someone else will take it for you. Or are you not satisfied with only being able to take three among all these things? If so, you have to moderate yourself. If you don't know, this world has something known as karma, it's an invisible law that-]]

"Old man, don't lecture me about karma, I already know that. It's not about rewards; inside your test is someone very important to me, and I'm worried about him getting hurt or wounded. So even if it's not necessary, I want to go."

[[Oh... brat, even though you seemed like a trashy person, I sense true and pure intentions. You seem to be honest with what you said; I see that even you would put yourself in danger for someone else. You have something to protect... but don't worry, they're in an illusory space, so any harm they receive is illusory and-]]]

Fwosshh!

The old man was giving me his words, and they made sense. Given that Elyth was involved, it was no surprise that it was an illusory space, and from what I knew of such places, it was rare for real harm to occur. Much less did it seem like the place where my brother was crippled.

But before he finished, it looked like someone had stepped out and appeared not far from us. I was going to see who it was, but....

"..."

[[...]]

"..."

[[...]]

The old man and I looked at the person who came out, then we looked at each other, then we looked back at the horrible state of what had come out, and then we looked at each other again, as if to confirm that what the other was seeing was correct.

"..."

[[...]]

Then, even though it wasn't a pretty picture, we went back and looked at what came out and then looked at each other again.

"H-he's fine."

Yeah, if it wasn't for Ophelia - of all people - breaking the awkward silence, we might have repeated this a few times. I mean, that came out contradicted what the old man was telling me; not to mention getting hurt, the deplorable state he came out in was something that left me in disbelief.

"Old man, what the fuck!, that's obviously not right, what do you mean illusory space? Besides, what kind of perverse legacy did you create for him to end up like this? 눈_눈"

Yeah, sure, and bullshit. The first to come out was the dwarf leader of one of the three factions; if I heard correctly, his name is Clarences.

I'm guessing he either died or, like my brother, was crippled, because he's not someone my alternate self knew either. But more importantly: he came out in a state I didn't want to see, but again I felt the need to confirm and think about how the hell he ended up like that.

While lying face down, something was sticking out of him… I really don't know how to describe it, except that he was acting as the base for a flagpole.

As for where the pole —which was thicker than my legate's spear— was inserted, it wasn't pleasant to look at or describe, and the worst part is that I didn't understand whether it was just a pole, like an iron staff, or a pointed weapon, like a spear, a halberd, or even…

'Ugh, I-I shouldn't think about that, it might cause mental contamination.'

"...Ah, wait, boy, don't look at me like that, I know what happened here."

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