I Was Mistaken as the Novel’s Hidden Boss

In another place, where the red moon shone in the sky instead of the sun, a creature taking the shape of a human was sitting in a lotus position. The bright red lake beneath the pavilion was calm without movement, mirroring the tranquil mood above. Only, the peace did not last long this time. 

 

Silently, a ripple surfed the red lake's surface. Concurrently, the creature, taking the shape of a woman, opened her eyes. The deep red pupils showed confusion, but quickly composed back to the tranquility. Without any movement of command, she calls her confidant. Something slowly emerges from the shadow, without any form of body. But the gesture it gives contains deep obedience, indicating its readiness to execute any command the woman gives. 

 

"I lost contact with the spell I planted in Herbring's subordinate. Investigate." A brief command was issued. "And bring his experiment result. The new scripture had just arrived." 

 

The shadowy figure immediately retreated to commit her order. 

 

In her abode, there is no one other than her and her subordinate, the shadowy figure. But, if others were to hear her, it would undoubtedly spark a conflict. In principle, her commands were direct violations of their agreement. Ordering her subordinate to steal any experiment of their fellow Walpurgis Night associate, would result in severe punishment. Even if she's a member of the Witches Tea Party.

 

But this just means that it was worth that much. Each scripture they receive from the Twilight, has the potential to elevate their level to at least close to those violet gate's commanders. And the one Herbring has, was a perfect fit with her new scripture. But of course. Overtly saying she desires his scripture was akin to a death sentence. Now it's clear that Herbring was caught in some kind of trouble, Mariele would not miss the timing to seize his hard work. 

 

Only one question remains, but she's already commanding her trusted confidant for this. The answer will be here shortly. All she needs to do is wait, and study the scripture in the meantime. They called it scripture because the knowledge inside was almost incomprehensible. But in actuality, it's just a bundle of white papers, unbinded and was given to them inside a brown file. 

 

The first paper inside was the title. It read: Preventive and Recovery Record of the Scattered Soul After Harness Failure (Continuation, vol. 3). Author, ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛.

 

Coincidentally, it was the continuation of Herbring's soul growth experiment. 

 

*** 

 

I was bamboozled, I admit it. 

 

I mean, how can I not? Even if I'm not a human anymore, everything escalated way too fast. 

 

First, I'm sure she got butchered and served the food earlier. I personally cremate her remains, there's no way I would wrongly burn a dead body. But this woman in front of me is undoubtedly, that dead woman. How? She's here, alive and well. Not even a flick of scar from either burn or cut could be seen. 

 

But well. Maybe not too healthy. No, in fact, I could see she will be dead in 3 days. Her soul was on the brink of exploding. Moreover, the purity of the soul is so bad, and it's infinitely expanding itself. Tsk. Who the fuck experimenting with soul like this? It's not just unethical, it's just bad in every technical way. Moreover, I could see the experiments were to introduce growth to the soul, but that's just useless. 

 

"This will hurt a bit." I said to that girl. My hands stretched to the girl, incantation and spell weaving from my hand. The magic instantly wraps her, severing the magical chain which rope her captive. 

 

What I would do is a simple defusal on the almost-exploding soul. Even though anything related to soul is not my major, that damned professor forced us to learn everything about soul, including the 'Growth on Soul' thesis by Celtic. The problem is, not only studying the soul isn't linear on my subject of mastery, most of the thesis on the soul are infamous for its uselessness. And Celtic himself was banished from the scientific society because his experiment was mostly unethical that even resulted in the death of his human subject. 

 

Actually, his obsession with soul experimentation was a more engaging discussion amongst scientists than his thesis. If his goal was to evolve humans, we already have several answers. From cell engineering, to the cyborgry. It was even more puzzling considering Celtic was a successful scientist. He's ranked among the top, and that kind of guy swerved his career to pursue a questionable experiment. Not to mention exhausting all his wealth in the process. 

 

Thanks to that damned professor, everything about Celtic and his research was now burned inside my head. Ah, I need to focus though. The exploding problem was one of the highlights in his thesis, and of course, the devilish professor forced us to also learn the preventive measure, recovery, and defusal from this problem. 

 

If this was earth, I would need high-end, expensive and custom made equipment meant to deal with souls. But now I have magic, none of that is necessary. I just need to imitate the effect of those machines. Well, it's easier said than done. Even with my mastery over magic, creating a new formula on the spot and only relying on my own memories proved to be more difficult than I'd thought.  

 

But, it's unclear whether it's because I was already familiar with the method, or because I've transformed into a monster who masters magic—or both—, the difficulty only spiked in the beginning. From the surgery until the end, it was easier than I thought. Only three minutes or less, and her soul was back to normal. Well, if I use Celtic's thesis on soul as reference, hers was quite above ordinary. 

 

But who cares tho. Celtic may be intrigued by this, but I don't give a damn. If I would stumble upon one more thesis on soul, I would burn the shit. It's fortunate that this world is a different world, really. My PTSD would be triggered if I see any thesis about soul. Even the name Celtic was enough to make my face pale back in the day. 

 

"..." 

 

Why did this girl just went silent? 

 

*hic*

 

Wh— why you suddenly crying, girl?! Is it that painful?? 

 

I was flustered by the sight in front of me. I mean, come on, a girl you help suddenly crying a river? Any man would be confused as hell… maybe. I'm a bachelor 'till my death so I honestly have no idea if my statement was true. Regardless, it's true for me, a forever single male. 

 

"H-hey—" just when I'm about to console the emotionally unstable woman, she kowtowed. With overwhelming reverence flowing from her voice, she voiced an incomprehensible desire. 

 

"Please! Let me bear your offspring, my lord!" 

 

… what?

 

Woman, you nuts? 

 

P-Perhaps, this is one of the side effects of that soul experiment thing? Yeah… that must be it. Otherwise, no sane human would want to make love with a non-human like me, yeah? 

 

But. Just what if— what if, she's serious? 

 

I slowly turn my sight to that part of mine. A question suddenly echoes in my mind. 

 

Do I have one? 

 

The reason lies in the nature of character in WOTF, which did not include any male nor female private parts. Female's breast is still there, but there's no nipple, making it a non erotic game despite the freedom of character customization. If, by chance, that non nudity, PG 13 friendly feature also applied in this reality… 

 

Just know that I'm ready to throw hands immediately. God or not, I'll make sure the entity responsible for this would be burned to ash at the stake. 

 

But do not be mistaken, it's not like I'm thirsty for women. This body of mine seems to have no appetite for something like sex appeal. Not entirely erased, but more like suppressed to the point of almost nothing. Even my fascination with beauties only stems from my past experience as a human being. 

 

Saying that, isn't it quite contradictory that I, as the mind, felt attraction to beautiful females yet my body didn't seem to share the same feeling? 

 

Ah, but pondering about these topics could be done at a later date. There are more important, pressing matters to tend. 

 

*BOOOMM* 

 

The sound of the explosion reverberated loud enough to even reach my position. And from what I was feeling earlier, it seems dangerous to keep that explosion like that. 

 

*BOOOMM*

 

At this point, it's not just a hunch. I was pretty sure, 99%, that the destruction caused by this unknown blast, created by an unknown individual, would end up destroying my newly acquired house. The ring I loot from that vampire's ash is trembling hard in my index finger. I have no idea why, but I could guess. 

 

And about this woman, hmm… I guess, she could be my subordinate for a while. Having a maid doing all your chores is a must, even if this is not a fantasy world. 

 

After a short and brief contemplation, I decided to bring her. 

 

"Arise, woman." 

 

By my command, the woman stood, but still avoided staring at my face. By her gesture, I could tell it's probably because of her deep reverence towards me. Most probably because I'm her savior. Saving her life from soul explosion. 

 

Haaahh. 

 

It would be a lie if I said I'm not nervous. From the life of an eternal bachelor, to acquiring a maid/devotee who confidently expresses her desire to bear my child, it's more than a 180 degree turn-around. But, now I decided to take her under my wing, I planned to not neglect her.

 

"Come. Let's greet the rats who rudely invite themself to my abode." I declared boldly to her. But I'd probably just greet them briefly. 

 

*snap*

 

As I snapped my fingers, the surrounding area instantly changed. I snapped my fingers once again, and four people manifested in front of me. No, more accurately, the space surrounding them transferred here, along with anything inside. 

 

And to my surprise, I met them again. 

 

Blue haired, and white haired. There's two unknown men though, with one of them being the sole perpetrator—maybe—for the series of explosions earlier. 

 

I stare at them with stern eyes from the throne. Simultaneously, all of them flinched at the sight of my stern eyes, but in my heart I truly felt joyous right now. 

 

"We met again, my pursuer." 

 

Once again, the curtain opened for the second act.