The boy loosened his grip on Ham after hearing his words.
"Father, tch… You begged for life in front of a demon…" the boy muttered in disgust.
Ham quickly turned to the older man standing nearby.
"Mr. Osmond, what should we do with Sir Alex? We can't kill him. If we do, our reputation will fall in the kingdom, and the nobles will lose their respect for us."
Osmond, the elderly man, spoke in a calm but heavy voice.
"There is one thing we can do—if permitted. We could teleport him to a distant kingdom. Since he remembers nothing because of his deal with the devil, he will never find his way back."
Eliasa frowned, hesitant.
"Must we really go that far?"
Ham sighed deeply.
"My lady, we have no other choice. He is no longer human—he is a demon. He turned into one in exchange for the devil's cure. What stands before us is not Alex anymore."
Alex—or rather Michael trapped within him—heard their words in silence. Deep inside, he knew they were not wrong. The body standing before them was no longer human, yet Michael's soul still resided within.
At that moment, from behind Eliasa, a young mage named Elia stepped forward. She raised her hands and whispered a spell. In an instant, Michael's vision went black.
---
When his eyes opened again, he found himself lying in the middle of a dense forest.
The trees around him were twisted, unnatural, and strange to his eyes. Michael had once been a scientist in his past world, winning many awards, but nothing in this magical realm matched the knowledge he once relied upon.
As he wandered forward, his eyes caught the glow of a luminous tree, shining brilliantly in the dark.
Why does it glow in this darkness? he wondered. Then he remembered—this was a world of magic. He had witnessed it before his vision was sealed.
Bitterness filled him.
So this is how they treat their own blood… Abandoning me in my darkest moment.
Yet, strangely, he felt no despair for himself. He believed that life, in whatever form, would continue its course. That thought gave him some peace.
Suddenly, a sharp instinct warned him. Something was attacking from behind. Without thinking, his body moved fluidly—far more agile than in his old world.
It wasn't human.
From the shadows lunged a bizarre bird, its beady eyes too small for its massive body. Before Michael could react further, a whistle cut through the air—an arrow pierced the creature's skull clean through.
"Perfect!" a sweet female voice called out. "Dinner is served."
Michael turned around and saw a group of four figures emerging from the darkness.
One of them, a young girl of about sixteen or seventeen. Another, a boy in his early twenties. And the one who had spoken—their leader perhaps—looked around twenty-four or twenty-five.
The boy stepped forward cautiously.
"Who are you? What are you doing here so late at night?"
Michael hesitated. "I… I don't know…"
The older girl frowned. "Are you joking? Sitting here in the middle of the forest and saying you don't know?"
Michael shook his head.
"I can't remember anything. My name, my family, my home… nothing."
The younger girl's eyes softened.
"Then let's not waste time asking questions. We should eat first. Judging from his clothes, he doesn't look like a commoner or a cultist. Maybe he really is lost."
The boy nodded in agreement.
The first woman finally introduced herself with a smile.
"My name is Catherine. I'm an adventurer. These are my companions—Lewis and Lily."
Lily tilted her head. "So… you really can't remember your name?"
Michael thought for a moment. The wise thing is to tell the truth.
But he left out the one detail that mattered most—that he was not Alex.
---
Everyone felt a pang of sympathy at Michael's words.
Some of them murmured, "How cruel your children must be…"
Then Louis spoke up, tilting his head in curiosity.
"Eh? Do you… do you have children our age? You don't look like someone that old. You look more like… one of us."
Lily and Catherine glanced at each other, equally astonished.
"Yes," Catherine added, "you look like someone in their mid-twenties. Maybe twenty-five or twenty-six at most."
Michael froze, confusion washing over him.
"What…? How could that be? How am I supposed to even see my own face?"
At that, Lily raised her hand and whispered a short incantation. A faint shimmer filled the air, and an enchanted mirror formed before him.
Michael leaned forward, his breath catching in his throat. What he saw left him utterly speechless.
The face staring back at him wasn't a stranger's—
It was his own face from his past life.
The very same face… standing now in front of them all.
How is it possible? What happened? When I lost my sense?
This time what should I do?
Michael thinking in deep....
Have I open my self as a Michael or Alex?