Chapter 981: Act 154 – Baijia
Brendel stared blankly at Nemeses, who had suddenly appeared before him, thinking whether this lady knight had forgotten to take her medicine today or had taken too much. No, suddenly he felt a chill in his heart as he focused again on Nemeses’s face. That pair of slightly squinting elongated eyes and the gentle smile at the corners of her mouth were all too familiar to him, so familiar that he had recalled them countless times in dreams, and yet now they were vividly appearing before his eyes. He blinked as if trying to confirm whether he had misseen her or if this lady knight was just teasing him. But that didn’t seem to be Nemeses’s usual character. After hesitating for a while, he finally dared to confirm who was standing in front of him.
“Senior… Senior sister?”
“You did well,” Nemeses mischievously blinked her eyes, squeezing past Brendel and stepping into the room. “Where’s your little fiancée?”
Brendel broke out in a cold sweat. He felt his mind was somewhat confused, but since Baijia-senpai loved to tease him in “Amber Sword,” her words had thoroughly confirmed her identity. He had originally planned to investigate the fallen war tablet outside Fatan Port, but now he had completely forgotten about it. As he closed the door, he stared blankly at the lithe figure of the lady knight, while Baijia looked around the study, appearing to be very interested in the place. She walked to the fireplace and picked up a picture frame from the mantel, saying, “This room is the office of Baron Meiz. This guy is quite stubborn; he must have given this space to you, so it seems he is giving you a lot of face.”
He was just a mere Earl Erluin, what kind of face could Baron Ludwig Meiz give him? It was only because of the Crown Prince’s status and the fleet in the outer port that he could use this place. However, Brendel didn’t want to discuss this right now. He focused on Nemeses, and after a while finally responded with the question he wanted to ask:
“Senior sister… Nemeses, she…?”
The lady knight turned back and smiled slightly, “What’s wrong? Are you still worried about your little lover?”
What little lover? Brendel thought. If it were Romaine or Antinna, he might accept it; the former was his fiancée while he could indeed feel the latter’s affection. As for Xi, he had only ever regarded her feelings as a form of dependence; his feelings for Xi were more like that of a protective older brother towards his sister. However, upon reflecting on it, he suddenly realized that his emotional entanglements seemed a bit complicated. He had been so focused on changing Erluin’s fate that he had never considered these matters. Obviously, recalling it all at once gave him a bit of a headache.
He scratched his head, not wanting to discuss the topic any further, but having not heard Senior Sister’s usual teasing in a long time, he found himself somewhat unaccustomed to it.
Fortunately, Baijia seemed to treat those words as a joke and didn’t delve deeper. She was an exceptionally graceful and wise woman when she served as the leader of the group, which was why so many people flocked under that banner. She smiled gently, keeping her gaze on Brendel while approaching the sofa and choosing to sit down. She glanced at the arrangement on the coffee table, and without any hesitation, picked up a teacup, examining the orange-red liquid inside before taking a sip. Although Brendel wanted to tell her that tea was what he had drunk, there was no time, and he could only watch as she went through the motions.
The lady knight was highly observant, and as soon as she saw Brendel’s reaction, she understood something was off about her action. However, since she had already taken a sip, she merely blushed slightly before putting down the teacup and replying, “Actually, I am Nemeses.”
“Huh?” Brendel was slightly stunned, thinking about how she resembled Nemeses. He had known the lady knight for quite a while, having long accustomed himself to that perpetually stern expression on her face, which was even more serious than Flour’s. However, although Nemeses was known for being an ice beauty, her coldness was definitely not put on to give people a hard time; it wasn’t an indifferent aloofness that kept people at a distance. She just bore too many burdens, and even if she wanted to smile, she couldn’t express it.
Nemeses was an extremely serious person. Although his impression of Senior Sister was also that she was very serious, their seriousness was ultimately different. Nemeses’s seriousness was truly meticulous; she didn’t relax even a bit regarding her spirit, while Senior Sister’s seriousness generally meant being earnest in her attitude. Once she confirmed something, she would give her all to do it and do it to the best of her ability. However, she remained gentle and kind to anyone and wouldn’t be too harsh on herself, as she also knew how to enjoy life.
If one were to say that these two had some common points, Brendel could accept it, but if it were said that Senior Sister and Nemeses were the same person, he wouldn’t believe it even if he were beaten to death.
So he stood by the door, suspiciously observing the woman sitting on the sofa.
“Senior sister, I am very serious in discussing this matter with you,” Brendel said somewhat helplessly.
He knew his own situation. After his soul had traversed into this world, he had several choices, but he ultimately chose to fuse the soul. On one hand, he did not want to erase another soul, even if it was an unfamiliar one. After all, as the modern soul of Sophie, there was a strong instinct to avoid killing a kindred spirit. This was merely a choice rooted in the very instinct of a civilized social being. On the other hand, at that time, he had felt an instinctive closeness towards Brendel’s soul. So he wasn’t entirely averse to the soul fusion. Moreover, due to the emergency at that time, he had no time to consider it at length. After a brief moment of hesitation, he chose to merge his soul with Brendel.
In fact, this soul fusion brought him enormous benefits. He preserved the modern awareness of a person while maintaining a familiarity with this world, so he would not completely feel isolated from it, avoiding the sense of disconnection. Although at times he could sense the solitude emanating from Sophie’s soul deep within, as long as Romaine was by his side, the emotions stemming from Brendel would silently comfort his spirit.
Brendel cherished this feeling greatly.
However, the situation regarding Nemeses and Senior Sister was different. Although he didn’t know how Nemeses felt, it was clear from her demeanor that she absolutely refused to accept Baijia’s memories and past. For instance, even though she clearly knew how Erluin’s future would unfold and recognized her inability to change it, she remained reluctant to touch Baijia’s most proud magic and refrained from utilizing Senior Sister’s knowledge, preferring to struggle alone. These subtleties spoke volumes.
And to say that Nemeses had consumed Senior Sister’s soul; at least from the current situation, it didn’t seem like that at all.
At this moment, Nemeses was vividly behaving like the Baijia he once knew, her small expressions and subconscious movements were identical; these were things that could not be deliberately altered. Moreover, the most important aspect was the aura she exuded: Senior Sister’s self-assurance mixed with amiability, as if she were a natural leader. That was certainly not something an ordinary person could learn. At the very least, the brash black-haired lady knight who kept a stern face all day could not have imitated that.
This absolutely could not be a soul fusion; otherwise, she wouldn’t have lost even a hint of Nemeses’s traits. After his own soul fusion, he retained many of Brendel’s habits and memories. Otherwise, upon returning to Braglas to meet his parents, given how familiar Brendel’s parents were with their son, it would have been impossible for them not to notice any abnormalities whatsoever.
He vaguely began to suspect the answer to the problem, but in his heart, he couldn’t bear to believe it. He first of all doubted that Senior Sister was such a cold-blooded person. With Baijia’s character, she would undoubtedly make the same choice as he did. In fact, it should be said that his understanding of many aspects of this world and his values largely originated from the excellent lady before him. He truly did not wish to see Nemeses vanish; she had a very deep connection with the Princess and after such a long time spent together, having gone through countless battles and difficulties side by side, even if the lady knight was somewhat cold, asking him to pretend that this person had never existed was something Brendel believed he could not do.
Therefore, he urgently needed Senior Sister to provide him with an answer.
Baijia sighed, “I am not joking with you, Brendel. Nemeses and I are indeed one. I am Nemeses, and Nemeses is me. Sigh, that stubborn little girl can’t bring herself to acknowledge this. She believes that because of my existence, she is not a complete person. Subconsciously, she is unwilling to accept everything about me and resists me—or, to put it another way, she fears me. You should be able to see that.”
“That statement seems to imply you both are not one and the same.” Brendel furrowed his brows.
“That’s beyond my control. The more she resists, the clearer she makes the distinction between my and her personality and memories. Our personalities have become increasingly independent. She even intentionally tries to change herself—turning into someone completely different from me, as if only by doing this can she prove that she has not been influenced by me. So from your perspective, we seem to be entirely different.”
“Then…?”
“She forcibly accepted the inheritance of the war tablet, and as a result, the memories of me can no longer be controlled. This sounds awkward, Brendel,” Baijia shrugged her shoulders helplessly. “To put it simply, her situation is like this: she believes two personalities exist within her body, and she strives to express the appearance of the other personality. Because of the war tablet, she now feels she can no longer suppress my personality, so she has become me. But the fact is, I am still her. She has separated herself, hiding in a small corner. I cannot persuade her, so I can only let her calm down for a while.”
After hearing this long-winded explanation, Brendel felt his head spin. He rubbed his forehead and said, “That sounds a lot like schizophrenia.”
“Not entirely. Our souls have already merged, but it’s just because of this issue that I have an inkling she might try to expel my memories and personality. When that happens, I can’t tell what will happen.” Baijia shook her head, but she appeared quite open-minded about it.
“Alright,” Brendel felt extremely awkward. He simply sat down across from Baijia, asking, “So what do you plan to do? Just remain like this?”
“Now we can only wait for her to either come to terms with it or seek the Megas Crystal,” Baijia replied.
“Megas Crystal? You want to reshape a body, but haven’t your souls already merged? How do you plan to transfer memories and personality over? Not to mention, does this world even have such things?” Brendel asked in surprise. The Megas Crystal was not mysterious for players; it was located in the Tree Hall of Erlandta, facing the Hall of All Things where the Amber Sword was stored.
For the natives, this crystal held little value. It was said that they could glimpse their past and future through it; however, no one had ever succeeded. But for players, this stone was an important item for reincarnation. In “Amber Sword,” so-called reincarnation actually meant deleting a character and starting anew. The process involved using the Megas Crystal to construct a blank body. Apart from knowledge, players could not transfer any levels, skills, or magic to the new body, and all magical equipment carried by the original body would be burned during reincarnation. As for items in the warehouse—having become a different person, would the warehouse manager even recognize who you were?
Brendel had not expected that Senior Sister was aiming for this item, but did this thing even hold any use for them? Not to mention they were already considered natives. Even if they were not, he thought it improbable that such an illogical entity would truly exist in a real world. Wouldn’t that throw the world into chaos?
“I’m not sure,” Baijia shook her head, “but the chance is high.”
“Why?” Brendel was puzzled, not understanding where this confidence from his Senior Sister came from. As he asked this question, he suddenly realized that he had often liked to question things like this in the past while playing the game. Back then, Senior Sister had shown the same confidence, as though finding solutions even in dire situations was a routine for her, which was also why so many people admired her.
But that had been a long time ago. Since Erluin’s downfall, Senior Sister had become much more despondent. Gradually, she drifted away from the game, and although she had logged in occasionally afterward, she never stayed long. It was only after he arrived in the Greycius Knight Kingdom that he hadn’t seen her for a while.
But today, he seemed to once again see the confident Baijia Senior Sister, and Brendel could not help but feel somewhat breathless, his heart racing a few beats faster unexpectedly.
“I can’t do it,” Baijia replied, smiling as she looked at Brendel. “But you can do it—”
