296: Familiar Faces

Familiar Faces

After standing there for a few moments, Randy finally snapped out of his daze. Then, he silently contemplated why he had behaved in such a manner, trying to stop his incarnation before it departed.0

'What am I worried about, anyway? No matter the change in behavior, isn't the incarnation still me in essence?'

Randy believed that regardless of the state of his incarnation, it was still his incarnation, so nothing detrimental should happen to him due to it. He didn't need to worry that it wouldn't be able to handle the tasks he assigned, or worry that it would mess around without thinking about the consequences. 

Reassuring himself with such thoughts, Randy devoted himself to creating a new incarnation that had no faults, unlike the incarnation on his first attempt. The reason why the faulty incarnation was sent away was to meet Gutz and tell him that he had returned earlier than expected.

Randy didn't want to make him wait for him. From his impression of Gutz, he seemed like the kind of person who would wait for days on end, even if he didn't return. He would feel somewhat guilty if that were to happen. Therefore, he wanted his incarnation to handle the simple task of meeting with Gutz ahead of time in his place.

Afterward, through his incarnation, he would check in with the Society and get more acquainted with the Imperial City and its people. Meanwhile, the true him would focus on training without caring about the outside world. He also didn't need to worry about safety since it wasn't his true body.

But for some reason, Randy had an odd feeling in his heart when he saw the incarnation's mysterious smile right before he left. To confirm whether his incarnation had completed the task he assigned properly or not, he planned to routinely check on the incarnation once he was done creating the second incarnation.

In the meantime, he would concentrate on creating the magical circle for the spell invocation of the Incarnation Technique. As he didn't want any sort of defective aspects or imperfections in the final result like last time, he made sure to read through the sequence of the procedure a few times to consolidate his profound understanding of the Incarnation Technique.

Afterward, he cut his index finger and used the dripping blood to carefully draw the highly detailed magical circle on the spotless floor of the Safe Room.

…

While Randy was doing that, his incarnation had just appeared in the room Gutz was staying in to recuperate. However, he found out that Gutz was no longer in the room. Fortunately, no one had occupied the room after Gutz left. Otherwise, they would have been shocked by his sudden appearance.

The incarnation took that chance to surreptitiously and stealthily sneaked out of the room. He walked up to the front desk and confirmed that only a few minutes had passed since he left.

With that confirmed, he decided to continue touring the city without meeting with Gutz just yet. Randy may have postponed the tour, but that was not the same for his incarnation, who seemed more unbridled in his decisions when compared to how cautious he had been.

Incarnation Randy carelessly walked into the crowd of people in the Imperial City and joined their conversation with a bright smile on his face. He looked as if he had no care in the world. It was almost as though it was his first time socializing with other people. He even played with some kids he met along the way without a care for his identity or behavior.

…

A few hours later.

At some point, Incarnation Randy found himself at a place that most of the people in the Imperial City referred to as Church Street. The place where the various branches of the churches in the Royal Capital established themselves.

Incarnation Randy was curious about the churches and decided to visit them one by one. With that in mind, he set his sights on the most popular church after consulting with the people he met on the street.

While he was visiting the most popular church in the city, which happens to be the Church of Light, Incarnation Randy ran into two familiar faces, and he immediately halted his steps and unconsciously hid himself. The two familiar faces were two armored men, who looked mentally disturbed as they stared ahead in a certain direction with hesitation written on their faces.

The direction they were watching in the distance happened to visually align with the building of the Church of Light, where Incarnation Randy was headed. However, they didn't head to the church right away. They stood a few meters away from the Church of Light, uncertain of their choice.

At some point, they reluctantly trudged toward the direction of the Sacred building of the Church of Light. That building was where sermons were held by the Pope intermittently in that branch of the church.

The two armored men showed downcast expressions on their faces as they slowly walked forward. It was almost as though their entire world was about to fall apart, and there was nothing they could do to change the outcome, no matter what solution they thought of. Therefore, they decided to face whatever came their way instead.

As he observed the two armored men, Incarnation Randy, who initially acted carelessly with his previous actions, suddenly became serious with his next decision. His entire demeanor changed along with his mood. After deliberation, he decided that it was wise to observe the two armored men further to see what they were up to, even if he didn't care about them.

After a brief moment of observation, he gradually recognized the two individuals who were dressed in shining armor from his unstable memories. The two armored men turned out to be the two men who accompanied the Holy Knight Captain whom his main body killed in order to save that little girl called Klara when he first arrived in Acruxia. 

Incarnation Randy recalled that they were the ones that issued the search mission to the Alpheotus City's Society that the Society Leader wanted his main body to take on. It appeared that they had just returned after their failed expedition to the Meistic Forest in search of their captain.

While Incarnation Randy thought about these facts, his gaze was still fixed on the two armored men. He silently watched as the two armored men struggled to enter the sacred building of the Church of Light. It was as if they were carrying heavy weights on their shoulders, causing their footsteps as they walked through the opened gate to appear unsteady. 

Earlier, due to their reluctance, the two armored men stopped at the front gate and deliberated for a while before deciding to open it. As a result of Incarnation Randy's keen observation, he easily noticed the odd behavior of the armored men. Their odd behavior prompted him to wonder what they were afraid of, but he couldn't care less about that when he thought about it.

A short while later, they came out of the sacred building with pale complexions, as though they had just barely escaped with their lives.

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