Chương 489: (482) 7.20. I Promise I’m Not Evil

Slowly, Vin opened his eyes, the world spinning for a moment as his active mind tried to merge back up with his weary body. He had a number of System notifications, but he willed them away for the moment as he tried to get his bearings. Mentally, he was fantastic, which was interesting as he still remembered how rough waking up from his dream journey had been. Physically… Well, it was hard to tell how he was doing in that regard just yet, seeing as he was essentially bound from head to toe.

Vin blinked, doing his best to look down at himself before realizing he couldn't move his head or neck so much as a millimeter. From what he could tell, it felt as though there were thick, metal bindings fastened all over his body, thoroughly securing him to a table that was leaning at a forty-five-degree angle. He appeared to be in a large room with no windows and only a single, heavy metal door that looked like it led to a vault based on the spinning handle.

The room itself was fairly bare, only containing equipment clearly designed to put him down or keep him here should he try to escape. There were a series of deadly crossbows secured around the room, each one tipped with a different kind of poison and each one aimed directly at his chest, as well as a complex runic array he recognized as one of the infernals' rituals drawn out on the floor surrounding him.

Vin didn't know if Spur and Terra had had this room pre-built ahead of time or if they'd thrown the whole thing together just for him, but either way, it was impressive." This feels a tad like overkill, don't you think?

"Ovord asked in his head." Not to mention largely pointless. I see no runes or bindings to prevent you from accessing your mana."

"You can do that to someone?" Vin asked, glancing upward and realizing there was even more to the room's defense system than he'd first thought. There was a large vat of something secured above his head, connected to his bindings and no doubt rigged to douse him if he were to try anything. Vin had a feeling there was probably even more behind him as well, and he made a mental note to congratulate Witherson and Alice, or whoever else had worked on this chamber." Of course you can do that,"Ovord scoffed."

Now, as wonderful as it is to see something other than that dark void after all this time, this pathetic room bores me already. Let's get out of here."

"Not a chance in hell," Vin said, letting his tense muscles relax once more as he settled into the table he was leaning on.

"Even if I could escape from all this, my friends would think that I was possessed by some sort of evil mage and work together to try taking me down. I'm going to sit here and wait for someone to show up, and then I'm going to explain everything that happened."" You are going to inform them that you have taken what little remains of a once powerful soul mage into your being?

"Ovord asked, his voice shocked and perhaps just a little bit scared." You demon! You tricked me! Is this how you plan to get around your promise? By allowing your friends to destroy me while you sit back and do nothing?!"

"Calm down, you're literally screaming in my head," Vin frowned.

"And no, I'm not going to let them do that. Not that they even could, I told you, it's not like we have access to any powerful soul mages. I'm just going to explain what happened and then they'll let me go."" …You believe they will release you after coming clean about taking a soul mage into your being? Even a weakened one? …Wouldn't that make them all idiots?"

"Nah, this sort of weird stuff happens more often than I care to admit," Vin laughed.

"Just wait." Vin didn't know if it was because Ovord could sense that he was telling the truth, or because the man was busy trying to plot some sort of escape strategy in the event he was wrong, but either way, the mage went silent as they waited. It took a good fifteen or twenty minutes, but eventually, someone came to check up on him. The circular handle on the door began spinning with a gentle creak, and the door opened, revealing Abby of all people as she stepped into the room.

There was a path between the door and his table that was free of runes, and she began walking down it before freezing, her eyes going wide as she realized he was awake.

"Hey, Abby," Vin said, trying to wave before remembering his hands were bound to the table. Unlike his regular one, his golem arm was covered in a few inches of solid metal, which was probably for the best.

"Any chance you could either let me out, or grab Spur and go through whatever procedure you guys came up with for all this?" Abby opened her mouth to say something before hesitating. Giving him a nod instead, she turned and left the room, sealing the door behind her." Not quite as stupid as I thought…

"Ovord admitted." There are many spirits and beings who draw power from nothing more than an exchange of words. She must have been warned not to speak to you."

"We have something of an expert in underhanded dealings," Vin admitted, now wondering just how much of an influence Golrim had on this whole set up. Not even including his time spent as the shady advisor to his former kingdom, he'd also been a prisoner in a magical, high-security prison for some time. That was the perfect resume for putting something like this together. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The second wait was much shorter this time around, and Vin watched curiously as most of the powerful players of Terra filed into the room one after another. Phil and Alka led the pack, sword drawn and eyes honed in on him as if prepared for anything. Shia walked in with Blossom in staff form, with Scule and Reginald on either of her shoulders. Spur and Frank followed after, the former looking equally nervous and hopeful, the latter more annoyed than anything.

Golrim and Abby brought up the rear, sealing the door behind them once more before joining everyone in a large semicircle before him as they carefully avoided the runes along the ground. Vin waited for them all to gather before going with what he hoped was a disarming smile. He'd known they were going to take this seriously, but from the hard looks on everyone's faces, he felt like it was a little too serious.

"So… I'm okay?" he tried, eyes bouncing from one person to the next.

"I don't suppose anyone wants to let me out of all this stuff? Or at least look a little bit less like they're mentally preparing to put down their beloved family pet?" Most of the faces before him were hard and determined, looking like they were hyping themselves up to do whatever was necessary.

Alka, of course, was as unreadable as ever, her glowing eyes narrowed into pinpricks, but Shia and Reginald were the only two who looked as if they were debating leaping in front of him and protecting him should the others attack. Before it got quite that dire, however, Golrim stepped forward and cleared his throat.

"Sorry about all this, Vin, assuming that's still you in there. But we need to ensure the proper precautions are taken until we can determine that you are in fact still you and not some form of evil entity like you claimed when Fred tried to break into your subconscious."

"I get that much. But you guys sort of already look like you think I've been taken over," Vin pointed out.

"Everyone has mentally prepared themselves to do what must be done, should the need arise," Golrim said, his eyes unblinking as he took in every subtle twitch of Vin's face while they spoke.

"It's no secret that you are arguably the deadliest and most dangerous Earther. If your body and magic were to fall into the wrong hands… It would be a catastrophe unlike anything Terra has ever seen."" You're the deadliest member of your people? Is he serious? I mean, yes, you have some talent, but must only be within your second prestige, at best. Where are your elders? Your teachers? What is going on?"

"Fair enough, I can't argue with you there," Vin said, ignoring Ovord completely. He'd forgotten how annoying it was to have someone whispering directly into his head who he couldn't respond to without other people thinking he was crazy. It had been one of the best parts about getting Alka her own golem body and out of his head.

"So how is this going to work? I tell you something only the real Vin would know? Like how Scule has been stealing Spur's wine out from under his nose for months now?"

"Damn it, Vin, I'm going to fill your magic boots with itching powder for that!" Scule said, shaking a tiny fist before letting out a heavy sigh and returning his grin.

"Screw it, consider me convinced. That's still Vin in there."

"We agreed to let me do the talking," Golrim frowned, his eyes narrowing as they never left Vin's face.

"The being could simply have access to Vin's memories and be trying to turn us against one another."

"For the record, my wine started going missing shortly after Vin brought home a Rogue," Spur drawled.

"I might not have managed to catch him in the act, but I knew he was the one taking it."

"So long as we're clearing the air, I'm a little offended you thought putting out mousetraps of all things was going to stop me and Reginald," Scule admitted, turning toward the Commander.

"I mean seriously, mouse traps? Do you have any idea how easy it was for us to disarm them and just take the cheese?" Reginald nodded, squeaking as he pointed at Spur with his tail. In response, Vin snorted, raising an eyebrow when everyone turned back toward him.

"What? Reginald said he did enjoy the thoughtful gifts."

"Well, that's good enough for me," Alka said, lowering her sword and sheathing it even as Phil glared at her.

"What? How many evil demons are you aware of who know how to speak rat?"

"It's true. Vin's knowledge he gained from obtaining Manacraft and communing with mana itself shouldn't be something an evil entity in control of his body would get," Shia said, looking hopefully at Golrim.

"Right?"" You have Manacraft?" Ovord asked, clearly surprised.

"… Precisely how did you manage to pull that off without dying at your age?"

"I don't know," Golrim admitted, looking unsure of himself.

"I've been in similar situations like this one before, but always with a highly specialized team. Divine classes working as exorcists and mental mages capable of diving into the mind. This is like performing mundane surgery without any actual tools."

"He's healthy, that's about all I can tell you lot," Frank said bluntly.

"Can I go now? I've got people with actual injuries who need my attention."

"Proper procedure is that nobody leaves the room before we're completely certain Vin didn't bring any sort of evil entity with him… but yes, I don't think there's much more we can do," Golrim sighed, giving Vin a tired smile.

"I do hope that's you in there, Vin, because you're far too valuable for us to risk keeping you locked up down here until we can know for sure."

"If it makes you feel any better, I am in fact me," Vin said, deciding to go with the question that had been on his mind from the very beginning.

"Is Lumel alright? I'm worried how she's doing after all this. I don't want her blaming herself because the orb ended up being exactly what I thought it was when she wanted to study it."

"She's fine. She was beside herself the first week or two, but she managed to come to terms with what happened," Shia explained.

"Golrim demanded we not let her in here, because if you were evil and had the power to turn others as well, or hop bodies, stealing the Dimensional Mage capable of teleportation would be pretty much the worst-case scenario."

"Huh. That's a good point," Vin said, before he froze as Shia's words fully caught up to him and he choked.

"The first week or two?!"

"Hah! Yep, I doubt any sort of evil demon could make a face like that," Scule laughed.

"Sorry, Vin, but you've been in a rather deep slumber for almost three weeks now. Time to get out of bed, lazy bones!"