"Are you telling me... you found a suit of armor possessed by a spirit in a garbage dump, and you think he's a former Silverlance Knight just because he can use a Pegasus's signature spell?"
As Zofia summarized the story in a few words, Maria suddenly raised her hand hastily.
"And! And! To help Mr. Ghost's soul pass on to the afterlife! We have to help him find his remaining memories! It seems Mr. Ghost has some kind of familiarity with our Nearl family! So I thought if I brought him back to the manor to meet everyone, Mr. Ghost might remember something!"
"Hmm... memory loss, you say?" Zofia narrowed her eyes as she looked my way.
Wang Fei could clearly sense that Zofia definitely didn't believe it. Even if Maria couldn't recognize his face, how could Zofia, who had grown up with him since they were little, not recognize him?
"It's as Maria said," Wang Fei could only play along.
"Sigh..." After hearing that, Zofia let out a soft sigh before turning to Maria.
"Maria, can I talk to Mr. Wang Fei alone for a moment? I have something important to ask him."
"Eh... but I want to listen to—"
"If you don't go, I'll tell Mlynar that you decided to enter the competition without consulting anyone," Zofia threatened.
"I'm going right now!" Maria saluted hastily before turning and bolting out of the front of the shop, disappearing in a cloud of dust.
"Mr. Marcin, you too. Could you give me a moment to talk with him?" Zofia turned to the uncles politely.
"Sigh... since it's a request from young Zofia, it can't be helped. Let's go, Kowal," Marcin said, getting up and dragging Kowal out with him.
"Why are you dragging me by the neck! Show some respect for my race! Are you dragging me like a stuffed doll?! Show me some respect, you bald-headed oaf!!" Kowal, despite wanting to stay and listen, had no choice but to protest irritably as he was pulled away, unable to fight against the strength of the old former knight.
"How embarrassing."
Vogel, seeing the state of his friend being dragged away, could only sigh and was about to get up to follow them.
"Mr. Vogel, could you please stay and listen for a moment?"
But just as Vogel was about to leave, Wang Fei stopped him.
"Hmm? Is there something important you need my help with, Sir Knight?" Vogel asked, curious.
"I just have a request I'd like your help with."
"You don't mind, do you, Zofia?"
"Of course. I would never refuse an order from the former Knight-Primarch," Zofia smiled. Although it was a bright smile like any other young woman's, for some reason, Wang Fei felt a heavy weight in his heart.
"Wait... Zofia, did you just say Knight-Primarch?!" Vogel froze upon hearing that.
Wang Fei scratched his armored face in embarrassment before typing a message.
"Sorry for hiding it from you. My old name is actually Ray Nearl, the former Knight-Primarch of Kazimierz. But right now, I'm just an ordinary wandering spirit."
Upon seeing the confirmation from the young man, Vogel went completely still, before his head slammed down onto the table behind him with a loud thud!!
"Ah... looks like he fainted from shock," Zofia grumbled.
'Isn't it your fault?' Wang Fei complained silently but didn't say it out loud, as he had something he was more curious about right now.
"You don't seem surprised," Wang Fei typed.
Zofia turned to him with an annoyed-looking smile.
"Well, how did you expect me to act? Cry with joy or rush in for a warm hug like one of those young maiden characters? Heh... either way, it wouldn't have satisfied the great Knight-Primarch."
"..." Wang Fei couldn't help but let out a silent laugh upon hearing her sarcastic remark.
After thinking for a long time, he typed out a message.
"Are you angry with me, Zofia?" He felt a little hesitant to type this, but in the end, he sent it anyway because he wanted to know how much her attitude towards him had changed.
Zofia was silent for a while after hearing it before she replied.
"Of course I'm angry. But... I'm not angry that you chose to leave everything and all of us behind. I'm just angry that you tried to do everything by yourself, without ever thinking of relying on our help, not even a little. And yes... I'm very angry, and I will never forgive you for that, no matter how many times you apologize to me."
"..."
Zofia sighed before turning her face away, not daring to meet his eyes.
"Even so... I don't hate what you did."
"I know you were trying to find Mr. Czin and Mrs. Yolanta all this time. Mlynar told me everything."
"You were the only one who still believed they were alive and could bring them back. And it turned out just as you believed... you were able to save them, just like you saved Mlynar from that battlefield and became the Knight-Primarch of Kazimierz."
"You've performed countless miracles, and I knew you would do it again, appearing before us, guiding us, so that everyone in Kazimierz could walk the right path as they should."
"Even so, I know... that I never really wanted any Knight-Primarch."
"What I really wanted was just to see you, to live with you like the old days... that's all."
"...I'm a very selfish person, aren't I, Ray?"
A faint smile appeared on Zofia's sad face before she turned away and quietly wiped something flowing from her eyes with her finger.
"..."
After that, neither of them spoke again until Vogel regained consciousness. Only then did the atmosphere between them return to normal.
"H-here is your water, Your Majesty, the Knight-Primarch," Vogel, standing beside the young man, offered a glass of water with a trembling hand, full of profound respect.
Wang Fei nodded, accepted the glass, and replied.
"I'm not the Knight-Primarch anymore, Mr. Vogel."
'Besides... I'm a spirit now, how can I drink water?'
Even though I have a mouth, I can barely even move the upper part of my body.
"Your Majesty, please don't be so humble! Even if you have relinquished the holy sword and your position, you will always be our Knight-Primarch! And your return is proof, is it not, that you will come back to rule over us once more!"
"..."
Zofia and Wang Fei didn't reply, but after a moment, the young man typed a message on his phone.
"Mr. Vogel, you've misunderstood. That's not why I came back."
"What? Then for what reason?" Vogel looked shocked, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
It was then that Zofia spoke up.
"It must be the work of the Chamber of Commerce."
"!" Her words made Vogel recall what the young man had told him in the car.
"Don't tell me... the story you told before!!"
Wang Fei nodded.
"My awakening was the result of their experiment, but I can't remember the details. It's as if my memories are all scattered. So, what I said about having amnesia isn't a lie. Right now, I only have some of Ray's memories. Of course, those memories are about the Nearl family and the Knight-Primarch identity I once had."
"What do you mean by 'some'? Are you saying the rest of your memories haven't returned yet?" Zofia asked with concern.
"The 'some' part refers to Ray's important memories. But the reason I say it's only 'some' is because Ray's ideals and personality haven't truly returned. To put it simply, right now, I'm not yet Ray, but just a fragment of his soul that hasn't regained his ideals."
"That sounds difficult to understand. If you say you have the memories of the Knight-Primarch but haven't received his thoughts or personality, then... whose personality are you using right now?"
'I can't very well say I'm using Wang Fei's personality...'
"I can't answer that either. Because after I woke up, I was already at that garbage dump with Maria and Mr. Vogel."
Wang Fei didn't want to talk about the system or the simulated world because he didn't know what negative effects it might have on the simulation. Even though the system had never warned him against telling anyone in the simulated world, it was better to keep it a secret, especially from the people in this world, who might think he was crazy if he blurted out that the world they were living in was just a simulation.
"So after you met Maria, you recognized her immediately... and intended to use her to get back to the Nearl family." Zofia couldn't help but jab at him. She seemed angry that he intended to deceive her sister because of her innocence.
"To say I used her might be correct, because this is also related to increasing my spiritual power. I can clearly feel that the closer I get to the members of the Nearl family, the faster my spiritual power returns."
"But the real reason," Wang Fei lowered his head to type, not daring to meet her eyes.
"I just missed them. Including you, Zofia."
After typing, Wang Fei quietly waited for the girl's fierce reply. But after waiting for a long time, he didn't hear her complain at all. So he slowly looked up and saw the girl's face, now with a faint red blush on her cheeks.
"H-hmph! If you think saying that will soften me up, you're wrong! Like I said, I'll never forgive you!"
For some reason, I saw the image of a little tiger overlapping with Zofia after she said that.
'Zofia, have you changed your style from a super cute sweet girl to a tsundere like Beatrix?'
Not long after, Zofia quickly shook off her embarrassment with a soft cough before turning to ask him.
"In that case... why didn't you tell Maria the truth—uh, sorry, my mistake. You probably thought she would tell others, and that would put the Nearl family in danger."
'As expected of Zofia. She understands everything as quickly as ever.'
Wang Fei couldn't help but give her a thumbs-up in admiration, but Zofia didn't play along and scolded him.
"Don't get all happy! If Maria hadn't pulled off your helmet and I hadn't recognized you, you would have kept this a secret until the very end, wouldn't you!"
Wang Fei flinched, seeing that she had seen right through him.
Wang Fei scratched his armored helmet before typing a direct apology to her.
"I'm sorry. I just didn't want to get everyone in trouble because of me."
"Heh... are those the words of someone who chose to die first, leaving only a single letter behind?" Zofia raised her voice, annoyed.
Wang Fei, who was bowing his head in guilt, suddenly snapped his neck up.
'A letter?'
He quickly grabbed his phone and typed a message.
"I left a letter?"
"Eh?"
"Hmm?"
Both Zofia and Vogel looked surprised and turned to him.
"Uh, Your Majesty... is it possible that part of your memory hasn't fully returned yet, so you don't remember it?" Vogel asked with concern.
Wang Fei thought for a moment before shaking his head lightly.
"It might be possible, but I don't think I left anything behind after I died. At least, that's not the personality of the Ray I remember."
"Even though that answer is a little annoying, I agree. That idiot's habit was to not leave anything behind for others to remember him by after he was gone. He barely even had any personal photos, let alone letters or diaries. But we found a letter in your bedroom, and it was a farewell letter written in your exact ugly handwriting."
'My handwriting isn't that bad...' Of course, Wang Fei only thought it, not daring to type it out.
"Can I see that letter?" Wang Fei typed, asking. He thought that maybe that letter had something to do with why he was here.
"That's probably difficult now. The letter should be with Margaret. She took it with her when she left Kazimierz three years ago. The latest news is that last year, she was interning at Rhodes Island as a security guard for a field medic unit."
Maria's voice was unusually somber, but Wang Fei didn't notice at first because he was overjoyed to hear the words "Rhodes Island."
'Rhodes Island. So Margaret is working there now!'
Knowing that at least his sister wasn't in a difficult situation, because joining Rhodes Island with its cute and intelligent leaders like Amiya and Doctor Kal'tsit, relieved him greatly.
"But perhaps that opportunity will come sooner than you think. Since the Major League competition is about to start, it's very likely that Knight Margaret will return to participate and defend her championship."
"Hmph... I'd like to see if she dares to come back after causing so much trouble!" Zofia grumbled resentfully, making Wang Fei unable to resist asking.
"What did Margaret do?"
"Well..."
"I'll tell him."
Vogel seemed reluctant to say, so Zofia offered to speak herself.
"Three years ago, she destroyed everything related to you. Photos, clothes, even weapons and armor were not spared. It was a very chaotic day. She almost hurt Grandpa Kirill! Luckily, Uncle Czin stopped her in time. After that, she didn't say anything, just took your letter with her and left Kazimierz without saying goodbye to anyone."
Hearing that, Wang Fei almost jumped up from the sofa in shock.
'There's no way Margaret would do something like that,' he was sure.
"Why would Margaret do that?" Wang Fei tried to calm himself and typed out the message coolly.
He refused to believe that was Margaret's intention. Someone must have been behind it.
Zofia shook her head.
"I don't know. But the nearby villagers spread all sorts of rumors that she went crazy because she couldn't pull out the holy sword. And I'm starting to agree a little, because I was there at the time... I heard it from her own mouth. She kept muttering nonstop that you were a liar who deceived everyone, while crying."
'A deceiver, huh?' Wang Fei began to think hard. He felt that this matter was becoming even more complicated.
"And... there's another reason that makes me very angry with her," Zofia said, clenching her fists.
"Do you know about Mlynar yet?"
"I know the gist of it from Mr. Vogel. I heard he was ambushed by rebels."
"Hmph... rebels, you say? If only it were that simple," Zofia said mockingly, causing Vogel's eyes to narrow.
"Zofia, don't tell me those rebels were an inside job?" Even Vogel didn't know the details of this. He turned to ask Zofia with a serious expression.
"...This is what Mlynar told me."
"He said the person who ambushed their group was Margaret... and she was also the one who killed all of his team members."
'Impossible!!'
"Impossible!"
Both Wang Fei and Vogel shouted at the same time, except his voice didn't come out of his mouth.
"I know it's hard to believe... even I didn't want to believe it. Until Mlynar showed me a recording he had secretly kept. Only then did I know that the perpetrator was really Margaret. She acted together with a woman, a Sarkaz wearing a black cloak who used a longsword. That woman was terrifyingly skilled. Even Mlynar couldn't handle her and was knocked unconscious."
"Mlynar didn't dare show that clip to anyone but me and Grandpa Kirill because he was afraid Margaret would be severely punished for it. He's just like you, always worrying about family to the point of neglecting himself. Even now, he's still trying to find the reason why Margaret did it."
"Isn't Uncle Mlynar angry at her for killing his team?" Wang Fei asked with concern. Zofia just shook her head as before.
"I can't answer that. Because I don't know if Mlynar really told me everything. It seems he and Grandpa Kirill have some secret they haven't told me yet. If you want to know, you'll have to ask them yourself."
After hearing everything, Wang Fei could only sigh at his family's current situation. But there was still one thing he was curious about and couldn't help but ask.
"One more thing I'm curious about. Why doesn't Maria remember me?"
Vogel and Zofia were silent for a moment before they both looked away from him guiltily.
"..."
"What happened to Maria?" At first, Wang Fei didn't think much of it, until he saw their reaction. That's when he started to worry.
"Sigh... Maria, that child, she's just sick."
"I told you before, didn't I, that I was there when Margaret caused that trouble. Actually... Maria was right beside me at that time."
"That child tried to run in and grab your photo that Margaret had thrown into the fire. Her hand got burned, and she had to be sent to the hospital."
"After she regained consciousness... she could barely remember anything from before. It was as if she had forgotten everything Margaret had done. And the photo she grabbed was so damaged you could barely tell who was who. But she still said she saw the photo as normal. That led the doctors to diagnose her with a psychological condition related to the nervous system and memory. They said the main cause is often stress or severe emotional shock. Even now, they still don't know how to treat it."
"Margaret's actions must have affected her a lot," Wang Fei clenched his fist, before a system message made him sigh.
'Soul fragment has been contaminated by resentment. Soul condition improvement has increased. Resentment status increased to 25%.'
"It's not just about Margaret," Zofia shook her head. Her words immediately surprised Wang Fei.
"What do you mean? Was there something else that hurt Maria?"
But instead of Zofia, it was Vogel who spoke up.
"Your Majesty, do you remember the name Hilde, Maria's master from Kjerag?"
"Actually... three years ago, right before the Kazimierz competition was about to start, we received some terrible news. Lady Hilde had died in a train accident while traveling to Kazimierz."
"Because of that, Maria, who was expecting to see her master, was heartbroken and kept blaming herself, thinking she was the reason for her death. Because Maria often sent letters inviting her master to visit her in Kazimierz. It coincided with the moment Lady Hilde had agreed via letter to participate in the Major League with her. That's why that incident has been a scar on young Maria's heart ever since."
Zofia continued with a pained expression.
"That child is so pitiful. Besides losing two important people in her life in such a short time, her school life, where she was constantly compared to her siblings and family members, only worsened her mental health. That's why I'm quite worried about her health and often ask Marcin and the others to check on her mental state. Although her condition has improved a lot recently, judging from the fact that she still can't remember your face, I really can't say if her condition has gotten better, or if it's just an act."
'I'm sorry,' Wang Fei typed that message but didn't send it, because he felt overwhelmed by what everyone had been through.
He couldn't help but wonder if he... or Ray, had still been around, would everything have been different?
'Soul fragment has been contaminated by resentment. Soul condition improvement has increased. Resentment status increased to 30%.'
'Damn it, system, can't you at least give me a moment to breathe!'
Slap! Slap!
Wang Fei slapped his armored helmet to clear his head. Suddenly, he began to feel sensation through the slapped helmet. That's when he realized his spiritual state had recovered significantly.
'Don't tell me the reason I got my head back is because of receiving the emotion of resentment?'
Wang Fei could clearly feel that his fingers were moving more fluidly now compared to before. If this continued, it was possible he might be able to speak or restore Ray's identity even faster.
But Wang Fei had to change his mind immediately. He was afraid that if the accumulated resentment became too much... it might cause him to lose control of his emotions. Even just a moment ago, that emotion had made him lose his senses and crush Maria's phone without realizing it. He didn't want to imagine what he might do if the resentment reached one hundred percent.
That made Wang Fei think he should increase his spiritual power the old-fashioned way, by staying close to everyone in the Nearl family as he had planned.
Having made his decision, Wang Fei wasted no time typing a message at high speed, thanks to his restored finger bones.
"Leave Margaret and Maria to me. It's my duty."
"And what will you do?" Zofia asked him, curious.
"First of all... Zofia, can you contact Grandpa for me? Use any excuse to get him to meet me. Right now, I need to take care of this suit color and face first. Mr. Vogel, can you help me with that?"
"Your Majesty, please don't be so formal! Please, just give the order! I am ready to assist you with all my might!" Vogel saluted in a knightly manner. Just being able to talk to him was something he could boast about for ages. To be able to help him with various things was even more so. He couldn't wait to see the envious faces of Kowal and his boss in Kjerag when he told them about this.
"Wait, wait. I understand you want to disguise your face to get close to everyone in the Nearl family, but why change the suit color? If you're afraid the Chamber of Commerce will recognize you, just wear a cloak to cover it up, right?"
At that moment, Zofia's eyes widened as if she realized something.
"Wait a minute. You're not thinking of..."
Wang Fei nodded.
"Since both Margaret and Maria are competing, it wouldn't be strange if I, as their older brother, didn't participate, would it?"
After all, protecting one's younger sisters is a brother's duty.
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*See you next Saturday!*
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