Chapter Two: The Best and the Worst

Watching the tiger-woman maid effortlessly carry the “unconscious” abbess down from the dais and lift her onto the carriage, Eric nodded to his uncle and climbed into another carriage.

“Return to the Lord Mayor’s mansion.”

The two carriages, carrying the holy capital’s envoys and the young masters and ladies of the mansion, slowly made their way through the dense crowd, leaving the Goddess Square behind.

Count Edgar, the city lord, remained behind to oversee the continued celebrations as planned—though the hearts of the townsfolk present had already departed with the carriages.

Such a divine miracle was a once-in-several-generations event!

Not only ordinary people but even Edgar himself wished to rush back to the mansion immediately to question his nephew.

Yet reason held him back: the occasion no longer required his presence, but the Lord Mayor of Oray City did.

Inside the receding carriage, Eric did not dwell on such thoughts; his focus was on the other carriage ahead.

“Gene.”

He slid open the small window at the front of the carriage and called to the young, short man sitting beside the coachman. “Tell those two nuns up front: no matter what they say, bring them back to the Lord Mayor’s mansion first.”

“No problem, young master!” Gene replied cheerfully, glanced back at the carriage behind, and leapt down.

After a short while, Eric heard the young man’s report: “Young master, I’ve informed old Sad. He said to rest assured.”

Eric tapped lightly on the carriage wall to acknowledge.

He had to keep those two nuns.

The miracle he had performed in the square would inevitably grow more exaggerated and fantastical through the townsfolk’s gossip, as if he were the only rightful successor to the Saintess.

But the Holy Capital was too far away; the long distance would dilute any rumors, even distort them. To connect with the Saintess and ultimately change her decision, he had to rely on the envoy as a middleman.

Although the envoy was currently doing everything possible to avoid entanglement with him...

A slight itch on his palm snapped Eric out of his thoughts. Looking down, he saw Irene gently holding his left hand, stroking his palm.

The bloodstains had long since dried, mottled dark red; the healed wound left no trace. This was what Irene couldn’t understand.

“Where’s the wound?” she asked.

“Healed,” Eric replied.

She raised her tired eyes—unable to open fully—toward her twin brother, silently questioning.

“It’s divine magic.”

Eric gazed at the face so strikingly similar to his own. “No, rather... it’s a miracle from the gods.”

If not for a miracle from the divine, he couldn’t explain why he suddenly awakened memories from a past life.

Irene...

Irene Kiminno.

The last Saintess of the Deran Empire.

Disciple of the treasonous High Priest Xinmagu.

Destroyer of the Imperial Capital.

The witch of a fallen kingdom.

The level 40 dungeon’s third boss.

The level 90 raid’s final boss.

The first sis-con’s little sister in the game “Thorned Soul Crown.”

...

A series of titles flashed through Eric’s mind—all aliases for this bewildered girl in “Thorned Soul Crown.”

This medieval fantasy MMORPG had been running for ten years. Eric had started playing during the final closed beta before the public release, and had played for a decade.

Though not particularly interested in the game’s story, he had spent so much time in the guild’s voice channel that he had overheard plenty of chatter; plus, after countless alternate characters and missions with unavoidable cutscenes, he had a general understanding of the main and many side storylines.

Thus, when his two lives’ memories merged, he immediately recalled the plots linked to the names “Eric” and “Irene.”

Within the entire main story of “Thorned Soul Crown,” Eric was rather insignificant, but Irene was different.

Irene Kiminno descended from one of the twelve founding knights of the Deran Empire, the Duke of Kiminno’s lineage. Only at sixteen was she eligible to be chosen as the Saintess’s successor and sent to the Laisel Saintess Convent in the Holy Capital for training.

Irene had been frail since childhood, often dazed—a consequence of her innate, overwhelming spiritual power exceeding her body’s limits. The Empire’s High Priest Xinmagu discovered her, taught her magic, and she became his de facto pupil.

Upon the previous Saintess’s death, Irene officially succeeded her. The following year, the High Priest was discovered by the Church to be secretly colluding with the northern demons.

When the Church sent agents to arrest him, Irene unleashed cataclysmic magic to cover his escape, repelling the pursuers and destroying nearly a quarter of the Imperial Capital, killing countless people. This event became known as the “July Demonic Incident.”

The High Priest defected to the demons, and the bloodstained Saintess, Irene, followed him, becoming a witch.

Thereafter, the northern demon forces, aided by the High Priest, broke through the Empire’s northern Black Ice Great Wall, marched south, occupied the capital and much of northern Empire territory, and challenged the human world’s balance of power.

These events formed the backstory before the “Thorned Soul Crown” main storyline began.

When adventurers—players—finally took the stage, Irene debuted as the third boss of the level 40 dungeon. After defeat, her brother Eric rescued her during the dungeon’s cutscene.

A year after the game’s release, in the level 90 raid, the witch Irene reappeared as the final boss, her appearance and power greatly enhanced.

As the strongest boss of that version, Irene’s potent magical attacks and endless array of strange equipment tormented countless players.

In the raid’s final scene, besides the witch Irene, there was an elite monster named [Witch’s Guardian Eric].

He had only one arm and joined the battle when players challenged the boss. His damage was immense, and he was intelligent, targeting fragile classes like priests, causing much frustration.

But if players killed Eric first, Irene would immediately enter a berserk state—no time limit, her sole goal to annihilate all players. Thus, two tank players had to taunt Eric back and forth, holding his aggro until the witch was slain.

After killing the witch, Eric would also go berserk but was far easier to handle.

In subsequent cutscenes, the High Priest Xinmagu appeared, extracting Irene’s departed soul.

Side quests revealed that the strange equipment found on the witch Irene were all collected by her brother Eric to protect her. He lost his right arm during this process.

Eric’s devotion to protect his sister moved some players to tears, though some vulgar players nicknamed him “Thorned Soul Crown’s Number One Sis-Con,” “Sis-Con Yang Guo,” and “The Best and Most Tragic Brother on the Continent.”

Overall, the vast virtual world of “Thorned Soul Crown” meant few players paid much attention to this fleeting NPC story—except Eric himself, now awakened to his past life memories.

One died with a severed arm, the other’s soul was torn apart after death—the siblings’ fates were so brutally clear that Eric was determined to prevent it all.

Unfortunately, the timing of his memory awakening was far from ideal. In desperation, the first thought in his mind was to sabotage his sister’s succession as Saintess.

As for declaring himself the successor instead, that idea came when he seized the Saintess’s veil and discovered the divine magic attached to it: replacing her might be more acceptable than outright refusal—the position of Saintess’s successor was always meant for the Kiminno family. If the young lady could take it, why not the young master?

Even if the old Saintess was senile and truly agreed to let him succeed, he could use his foresight advantage to avoid boarding the treacherous ship of the “traitorous” High Priest Xinmagu and avert the path of ruin.

If the other side still considered him worthy.

After all, Xinmagu had been drawn to Irene because of her extraordinarily powerful spiritual force.

And his own spiritual power...

At the thought, a translucent pale blue screen materialized before Eric.

[Eric Kiminno]

Race: Human (Deran Empire)

Gender: Male

Level: 1

[Basic Talents]

“Highland Bloodline”: Strong and healthy, increases base strength. Cold resistance.

“???” : Exceptional resistance to elemental magic.

[Basic Attributes]

Strength: 7

Agility: 5

Constitution: 8

Spirit: 2

Faith: 3

...

This familiar character sheet reflected a typical physical melee build: relatively high strength and constitution, but pitifully low spirit—certainly not something the High Priest would value.

Closing the pale blue screen visible only to himself, Eric sank back into thought.

Foresight could help him avoid entanglements with the traitorous High Priest, but what was truly difficult to change was the continent’s future—the demon invasion from the south.

The demons were bloodthirsty and warlike, the most aggressive race. Preserving himself and his family amid the Empire’s ongoing chaos after its fall would be the true challenge...

“—Eric?”

He snapped back to reality, finding Irene leaning over him, her weary face troubled.

“Did you just speak to me? I think I fell asleep multiple times... I even dreamed that Eric was going to replace me as the Saintess’s successor. Is it true?”

Her overwhelming spiritual power was increasingly taxing her frail body, blurring the lines between reality and illusion.

Eric hadn’t understood before, thinking his sister was simply weak, but now knowing the root cause, he had to find a solution.

“It’s true.”

The memory of the witch Irene being surrounded and killed in his past life pained Eric deeply; he would never let his sister suffer the same fate.

“Why?” Irene asked.

“Because you need to learn magic,” Eric said.

Learning magic was the best way to control spiritual power. Although the powerful spiritual force burdened Irene’s body, for a mage it was an invaluable gift.

After Eric spoke, his sister gave no response. She looked surprised at the idea of learning magic, but her eyes closed again.

“...”

Eric took a deep breath and didn’t wake her. Instead, he pulled back the curtain and glanced outside. In the meantime, they had returned to the Lord Mayor’s mansion estate.

At that moment, the carriage stopped outside the estate.

“What’s wrong?” Eric opened the small window.

“Young master, the carriage ahead has stopped,” Gene replied. The coachman beside him raised a hand, pointing forward.

Eric looked up. The carriage carrying the two nuns was stopped outside the estate. The younger nun had already gotten down and was looking this way.

Trying to run away at the doorstep?

Eric followed her down and approached the carriage. The coachman, old Sad, was about to explain, but Eric raised his hand to silence him.

“Mr. Kiminno apologizes. Abbess Alayna is still unconscious and unable to receive visitors. She—or rather, I—hope she can return to Lamair Convent to rest a few days before visiting regarding the Saintess successor matter. We cannot decide these things now, please discuss it again later!”

Upon seeing him, the young nun Sophie, about his age, poured out a long string of words without pause.

“What?” The young master of the mansion seemed not to have heard clearly.

“...”

Dizzy from speaking so quickly, Sophie opened her mouth but suddenly faltered. The rehearsed lines inside the carriage suddenly escaped her.

Eric kindly reminded, “You said Abbess Alayna is still unconscious?”

“Yes! ...So she can’t see anyone now.” Sophie hurriedly nodded.

“Fainted from excitement after witnessing a miracle...” Eric glanced at the lowered carriage curtain. “Abbess Alayna is truly a devout believer.”

“Yes...” Sophie had no other explanation.

“She needs rest now,” Eric repeated her words.

“Yes, yes, yes!”

“Gene—”

The young master of the mansion turned and called out. “Have Ms. Winnie prepare two guest rooms. The holy capital’s envoys will stay at the Lord Mayor’s mansion. Receive them with the highest standards!”

“Yes, young master!” Gene answered and ran into the estate.

“Eh...”

Sophie’s eyes widened. By the time she realized, Gene was already gone. “No, no! We want to return to the convent to rest!”

They had traveled a long way from the holy capital, and their lodging was supposed to be the Lamair Convent in Oray City.

“Lamair Convent, huh? I stayed there for a few days as a child. That place suits ascetic training, not rest,” Eric said, looking at the young nun. “Miss Sophie, you wouldn’t want Abbess Alayna to suffer while unconscious, would you?”

Sophie opened her mouth, “But...”

“Moreover, Abbess Alayna needs care now. Returning to the convent would disturb the other monks and nuns in their practice, wouldn’t it? There’s no such concern at the Lord Mayor’s mansion.”

“No, no, it wouldn’t...”

“—More importantly!”

Eric cut her off before she could think. “The devout abbess fainted from witnessing the miracle. When she wakes, she will surely want to see me immediately. Considering all this, it is more convenient for both envoys to stay at the Lord Mayor’s mansion.”

“...”

The young nun opened her mouth but found no reason to refuse. She instinctively glanced toward the carriage but only saw the still curtain.

Eric looked in the same direction. “Has Abbess Alayna already woken?”

“No!”

Sophie quickly turned back, flustered, denying it repeatedly before reluctantly agreeing.

“...Very well.”

Inside the carriage, Alayna heard this and could only close her eyes, sighing silently.

This young master was even harder to deal with than she had anticipated. Relying on the inexperienced young nun Sophie to brush him off was truly a challenge.

Thinking of Eric’s fabricated miracle on the dais and his subsequent manipulative words, Alayna’s worries deepened.

How unlucky...

She only knew she seemed caught in some conspiracy, but beyond that, she was clueless.

What exactly did the young master Eric—more precisely, the long-dormant Kiminno family behind him—intend to do?