Chapter 663: I guess I do have to step in? (5)

Cale was about to look at the diary when he heard a voice that made him turn his head.

"Human! What does that mean?"

Raon, who could not see the diary, puffed up his cheeks as if was upset about what he had just heard.

"Human, you are not someone who would be affected by that white thing!"

It was based on what Cale had just mumbled.

'I must have been one of the souls that was impacted by the reincarnator, the White Star.'

Raon waved both paws around as if to object to that statement.

Pfft. Cale let out a quiet chuckle.

But he didn't respond and just patted Raon's head before turning back toward the diary.

Reincarnators.

Existences that maintain their memories while getting new bodies unlike regular souls that would get new memories and new bodies with each new life. The variables that would affect other souls.

'It is highly likely that I was the soul that was affected by this reincarnation of the White Star.'

The current White Star's face was similar to Kim Rok Soo's face.

Cale organized his thoughts.

'Kim Rok Soo was living in a different dimension after being affected by a reincarnator. If he switches places with a transmigrator and is brought to this world...'

The simple answer was that this was the cleanest and most efficient way to take care of things.

Of course, this was a decision made by a god who did not want to impact numerous souls.

Single-lifers and Immortals, the 'exceptions.'

Reincarnators and transmigrators, the 'variables.'

Finally, the mysterious existence of the Regressors.

"...Ha."

Cale couldn't help but laugh in disbelief.

However, what he read next in the diary made his thoughts move in a different direction.

< I, well, my family, has been researching 'time and life' for generations. >

Cale's gaze headed back to the headstone.

< Drew Thames >

Cale's biological mother was from Baron Thames's family.

Cale recalled the information he managed to sneakily get out of Duke Deruth before coming to this grave.

'Cale Henituse's biological mother's household is said to have perished.'

Drew Thames had been the only surviving descendant.

'Duke Deruth fell in love with Drew Thames when they met at the academy and asked her to marry him.'

There were no nobles with the family name of Thames in the present Roan Kingdom.

It was because Drew Thames, the only living descendant, chose not to continue her household. With nobody left to continue the family, the name was naturally removed from the list of nobles and eventually disappeared from people's memories.

It was just the maternal family of an extra in 'The Birth of a Hero,' and the book didn't even mention that extra's biological mother's name or her family.

"That's odd."

Cale felt that it was odd no matter how many times he thought about it.

"...It looks like they had been doing research without anybody knowing about it."

Based on what he knew so far, the Thames household didn't seem to share the results of their research with anyone.

Drew Thames, the only living descendant, didn't even mention the details of her perished family's research with Duke Deruth.

'The research was conducted in secret but it is extremely valuable.'

The White Star would most definitely use this information for evil if this diary ever fell into his hands.

The research falling into the wrong hands might have been the reason they kept it a secret, but the problem was that the family that had been keeping this secret was no longer around.

"The only living descendant, huh?"

That meant that there was absolutely nobody else in the world. It meant that they were all dead.

"...It gets weirder the more I think about it."

Drew Thames. She had an ancient power that allowed her to see the annual rings of all living beings.

She was skilled enough that she could tell that her own son was born with the variable life of a transmigrator.

Someone like that didn't know how the other descendants of her family died?

Most importantly, even if they were just a Barons family, one of the Roan Kingdom's noble households had slowly disappeared without a trace. But that descendant's spouse didn't even know the reason?

Her spouse just said that that had been the case from the moment they met.

"Mm."

Now that Cale decided to live the rest of his life as Cale Henituse... He thought that he should look into some things as they related to the original Cale Henituse.

That naturally included learning more about his mother, Drew Thames, and his maternal family, Baron Thames' household.

"...This is really-"

'It's really fishy.'

For some reason, just thinking about the Thames household gave him the chills.

'I feel like I'm going to get involved in some complicated mess while looking into this family.'

They were researching 'time and life.' Just that alone made it extremely mysterious.

A family pretending to be a simple Baron's household was researching this in secret before they all perished except for one living descendant.

That remaining descendant didn't even try to carry on the family name.

"...Something stinks."

There was definitely something to this.

"Human! I didn't fart!"

Cale's face that was about to turn serious instead turned into a frown. He looked toward Raon who was sniffing around.

"Sniff, sniff! It doesn't smell stinky! Human, where do you smell the stink?"

"Haaaaaaaa."

Cale just sighed and shook his head. But he still observed the energetic Raon.

"Human! Moving around alone with just the two of us reminds me of when we did this in the past!"

Raon was quite happy right now.

He had done something similar not long after he first met Cale. He was remembering how the two of them moved around taking care of things.

Cale firmed his resolve while looking at Raon.

"...Yeah."

He made up his mind.

'We need to take care of the White Star first.'

And once they take down the White Star...

'I'll rest!'

He will definitely get some rest.

He will also relax and do nothing.

He'll make a field that's so small that it could barely be considered farming.

'...Yes... my maternal family... one day... Yes... one day... mm... just... mm......'

He would push back the issue with the Thames household for later, much much later.

Cale chose to avoid this topic for now since it scared him a bit.

'What could happen?'

He tried to calm himself that nothing will happen but it still kept weighing on his mind.

He had a feeling that something was going to happen.

He felt as if he had some clues about what would happen in the future, but Cale chose to feign ignorance for the time being.

'...There's no way something like what happened with this White Star bastard would happen again, right?'

If something as annoying as what happened with the White Star happens again... If the scale of that event was as big as this one......

"That's just wrong."

Cale shook his head.

"I'm just having a delusion."

Yes, everything he was feeling right now must be a delusion from being unable to rest because of the White Star.

How could it not be?

The incident with the Thames household happened tens of years ago.

But Cale had not learned anything about it until now.

He had been on both the Eastern and Western continents. If Cale and his friends had not learned about it while sweeping around left and right, it was normal to think that nothing was going on.

'It's just something that happened a long time ago that people forgot about.'

He decided to not put much meaning into it.

He decided to only dream about having that slacker life after taking care of the White Star.

"Yeah. I'll just rest once this is all over."

"That's right, human! You can rest for about a year before we go see the world!"

Maybe he was being overly sensitive because he had just been thinking about the Thames household, but...

Cale had a feeling that seeing the world with Raon might lead to a lot of incidents as well.

'I'm just going on a leisure trip with the children. Nothing should happen."

Cale thought about traveling the world having fun and relaxing as he brushed aside his unnecessary ominous feelings.

He decided it was nothing to worry about and that he was just being overly cautious.

Cale felt more refreshed before he frowned after reading the next sentence Drew Thames wrote in the diary.

< To the person who is living in my son's body. >

< I'm sorry. >

"Hmm?"

'Why is she randomly apologizing?'

< The reason you sought this out is probably to get some information or find the roots of this body you have possessed. You might also be here for my ancient power. >

< That is why I arranged something appropriate for you. >

This arrangement that Drew Thames had left...

The corners of Cale's lips curled up. He was wondering why she was apologizing, but if she prepared something, it must be the remaining part of her ancient power.

"...It must be this."

He was certain it would be the ancient power.

Cale continued to read with a bit of expectation.

< There is a place called the Forest of Darkness near the Henituse territory. >

'Hmm?'

< There are two different ancient powers in there. One is located inside a cave, and although I have not personally gone into the cave, I could feel the power from the entrance. The other power is located in the lake within the forest. It is actually a swamp covered in dead mana so I shouldn't really call it a forest, but I could feel an ancient power in there as well. >

'...The Super Rock and the Dominating Aura?

I already got those.'

< Furthermore, I left half of my power in Harris Village, which is located right next to the Forest of Darkness. You will be able to easily get it if you go there. >

< It is pretty much the essence of my power and will allow you to see the flow of time in a living being's past. You should be able to easily determine what those annual rings represent if you read the information I left you. If you see the annual rings without this information, you will just be able to tell if time has been warped. >

'...The White Star took that though.

That is the essence of her power?

Should I be relieved that the White Star doesn't have this information and can only tell that a person's time has been warped?'

"... Uhh...mm......"

"Human, why do you have such an expression? Did someone smack you from behind?"

Cale's hands were shaking as they held the diary up.

He mentally thought the name of the person he would now live as, the original name of the bastard who will now live as Kim Rok Soo.

'...Hey, Cale Henituse. I thought you said that your mom seemed to know everything in advance and prepared for it? It doesn't seem to be the case.'

He then noticed some other statements.

< I believe that variables appearing in the world instead of just exceptions mean that the world is full of chaos and that the gods had no choice but to rely on the variables. >

< I hope that the information and the arrangements that I left you will help you achieve your wishes in the midst of that chaos. >

< To the person who will be living in my son's body... I hope you can consider these my 'gifts' to you for the harm you may have received because of my child. >

< On behalf of my child... >

< I'm sorry. >

Cale let out a sigh.

"Huuuuuu."

Cale stared at those words, 'I'm sorry' for a while before closing his eyes for a moment.

"...Human, are you okay?"

Raon cautiously observed Cale's face before peeking at the diary.

"Huh?!"

His eyes then opened wide.

"Human, this!"

Smile. The corners of Cale's lips curled up.

< P.S. I am leaving a small amount of information and half of my power here just in case. >

Just in case.

She seemed to have hesitated, not knowing whether these would be helpful.

"Human, is the 'half of my power' she is talking about the ancient power?"

Flip.

Cale turned the page and both Cale and Raon could see the contents written in there.

< Here is some information in case the enemy you must face is an exception or a variable. >

Cale's mouth opened.

"Hehe."

He read one of the statements written there, almost as an addendum, out loud.

"A reincarnator's soul will not lose its memories because you kill its present body. A reincarnator is someone who can record the memories of many lives in their soul."

A reincarnator was said to be someone who got a new body but maintained their old memories instead of getting a new body with new memories like everybody else.

"That is why a reincarnator will have one large annual ring with numerous smaller annual rings mixed in there."

< The large annual ring will be the memories of their numerous lives. You can consider that to be the 'record' of their lives while the smaller circles mixed within it... Those annual rings can be considered the bodies it has inhibited. >

Cale slowly read the next statements out loud as if he was savoring them.

"That is why a reincarnator will not face complete death because you attack their body. There are probably many ways to completely kill a reincarnator, but I, and my family, only know of one method."

Drew Thames had recorded this one method just in case.

That record was now in Cale's hands.

He slowly ran his fingers over that record.

The method to kill a reincarnator.

< The reincarnator's memories... The largest annual ring that would be the foundation for their being... >

The center and foundation for the numerous smaller annual rings. That border that encompassed all of the smaller rings...

< You just have to get rid of that. >

This was the method to completely get rid of the White Star...

This was the method to stop him from reincarnating again.

< But it is useless if you cannot see that annual ring. >

< However, if you manage to get either parts of my power, although they are focused on different directions, you will at least be able to see the annual rings. >

"Human, even if you can see the annual ring, how do you attack it?"

"Down."

"Down?"

Raon's gaze followed Cale's hand and looked down.

< Then you probably will ask how do you attack the annual ring once you can see it. >

< Weapons and magic will not be able to attack it. >

Raon's pupils started shaking.

"Human! Does that mean ancient powers will work?!"

"Keep reading."

< Furthermore, ancient powers will not work either. >

"...Ah."

Raon sulked.

However, Cale's eyes were clouding over the more he read so Raon continued to read as well.

< A reincarnator's numerous annual rings will have a soul that is extremely strong thanks to its numerous life cycles. >

< If you compare a Dragon that has lived for 1,000 years and a reincarnator who has reincarnated over and over for 1,000 years, the annual rings of the reincarnator who has lived numerous lives are usually stronger. >

< That is why, in order to destroy the annual rings of a reincarnator, you need to use the power of someone who has annual rings with more years than the reincarnator. >

Raon turned toward Cale.

"...Human-"

Raon, who seemed to have realized something, looked toward Cale whose eyes were sparkling. Cale seemed to have found the answer as well.

The White Star was a reincarnator.

In order to stop him from reincarnating again, they needed to get rid of his largest annual ring.

In order to do that, he first needed 'the power to see annual rings,' and second, he needed 'the power of someone who has lived long enough to suppress that giant annual ring.'

The first would be possible with the remaining half of Drew Thames's power Cale would soon get, while the clue to the second requirement was something Cale had known for a while already.

"...An Immortal."

Immortals, those who live forever.

Cale looked away from the diary and looked at a tree near the grave.

He knew of one Immortal.

It was a being that had existed in this world longer than any other living being.

The records of this world were recorded in that being's annual rings.

"The World Tree."

The World Tree had once given Cale a branch that resembled a chopstick, calling it a sword.

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