I Never thought simulating life could screw me up this badly!!

From the Sidelines "Uncle! Mr. Wang Fei! Do your best!!" Maria, cheering for both from the edge of the field, supported them impartially. Yo

From the Sidelines

"Uncle! Mr. Wang Fei! Do your best!!" Maria, cheering for both from the edge of the field, supported them impartially.

Yolanta simply watched the fight between the two silently, but her eyes frequently darted to the movements of the man named Wang Fei, as if she had noticed something.

Meanwhile, Schnitz secretly approached his father and spoke to him directly.

"Father... do you really think Mlynar will lose?"

"Yes. Are you surprised?"

"It would be a lie to say no. Because no matter how you look at it, Mlynar has the upper hand right now... That young man's movements, they look like someone with no prior experience in sword fighting. (True story)"

"Heh heh... that's because the boy intentionally wants you to see it that way."

"What do you mean, Father?"

Instead of answering the question, Kirill asked his son a question in return.

"Schnitz, do you know what it is that even experience cannot teach you on the battlefield?"

"Quick wits, sir?" Schnitz answered uncertainly.

Kirill shook his head before speaking with an inscrutable smile.

"Wrong. It's cunning."

Clang! Clang! Clang! ...Crack! The cracks on the sword began to expand from the clash of their blades.

This made Mlynar, who was in the middle of a swing, see an opportunity to end this battle. He didn't hesitate to rush in close to his opponent, using his left hand to lock the right wrist that held the sword. Then, he swung the sword in his right hand at his opponent.

Wang Fei, able to move only one sword, quickly raised it to defend. But when the blades made contact, Mlynar's sword cut into his, shattering it into pieces.

'It's over.'

Just as Mlynar was thinking that, the opponent's destroyed sword suddenly exploded in a mysterious cloud of smoke.

Boom!! "What the--!!" Mlynar was confused, but he managed to keep his composure and tried to use his locked arm to pull his opponent's body in. However, he was met with a powerful kick that sent him flying back out of the smoke cloud.

"Damn it," Mlynar cursed in anger at the cunning trick.

Swish! He sensed something shooting out from within the smoke cloud, forcing Mlynar to quickly regain his focus and slash through it. After looking at what he had just cut on the ground, Mlynar was speechless.

'This is... a practice arrow from the manor?'

Suddenly, Mlynar seemed to realize something, and the veins on his temples bulged visibly.

'This fight... it was decided from the very beginning...'

The anger made Mlynar's sword hand tremble. He was so furious he began to think about teaching those two a lesson, that their plans would never go the way they wanted.

Mlynar glared at the smoke cloud before him, then sighed and raised his sword above his head.

After his defeat against that Sarkaz woman, Mlynar had been training himself relentlessly. He knew well that in that fight, his opponent wasn't even serious with him. Forget Originium Arts, even in terms of sword skills and physical strength, he was still leagues below that woman.

That incident made Mlynar train himself hard every day so that he could surpass his father, who was like a steel wall, and his nephew... who was like an endless mountain range.

For some reason, whenever he thought about it, the words of a certain woman always came to mind.

"I like your sword."

"Even though it's a boring and straightforward sword, just like its owner... all of that is like your original self. A sword that is true only to you."

"One day, I hope to find such a sword for myself as well."

The image of a tall woman, filled with an elegance that surpassed any knight. Half of her face was covered by a thick iron mask to hide a past wound. She had dark blue hair that reminded him of his nephew, but another half was dyed a pale white.

At that time, even though her face was devoid of emotion or a smile, for some reason... when he thought of her words, Mlynar felt that she was genuinely congratulating and envying him.

That might have been the very first time... Mlynar had felt his heart pound in a way it never had before in his life.

'You must have found that sword of yours by now, haven't you, Hilde?'

Mlynar, a smile unknowingly appearing on his face, opened his eyes and swung his sword forward with all his might.

It created a wave that blew away the billowing smoke cloud in an instant, without using any Originium Arts whatsoever.

"It seems we have a winner," Kirill said with an unexpected smile. Even Schnitz couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Because in front of Mlynar now, stood the figure of the armored man, with a sword pointed at Mlynar's neck.

"I've lost." There was neither regret nor disappointment on Mlynar's face, only satisfaction, as if he had achieved something.

"...It was a good duel," Wang Fei felt the same, but he also secretly sighed in relief.

He might have lost just now if he had decided to take that sword strike head-on. Fortunately, being a spirit now, he was able to sense the aura of emotion from that blade, allowing him to duck down before lunging out of the smoke. He couldn't believe that Uncle Mlynar could use swordsmanship comparable to the past Ray's without even using Originium Arts.

'Perhaps... Uncle Mlynar is more of a genius with the sword than anyone thinks. Of course, Grandpa must know this as well—'

But Wang Fei had to change his mind immediately when he saw that even his grandfather was standing there, smiling but trembling like a leaf, as if in shock at the sight.

Looks like his grandfather had just found out about this too.

........

Late that night.

After the family dinner ended, Maria volunteered to walk Wang Fei to his room, which had been prepared by the maids.

Of course, Wang Fei didn't expect to get Ray's old room. The reason was that he was afraid it would make others suspicious. He had insisted to his grandfather that he just wanted a normal guest room. The manor now had not only the eyes of the Nearl family on him, but also the eyes of people from the Council of Justice, whose allegiance was unknown, watching him. This made Wang Fei quite wary of them, even though they had worked together for a long time.

"Have a good rest tonight, Mr. Ghost! I'll be looking forward to your training tomorrow!" Maria turned to say to him with a smile after walking him to his door.

It seemed she was very excited to learn from someone who had the ability to defeat Uncle Mlynar. Or maybe... she was just excited to learn something new from him, rather than the usual sword practice or exercise from her grandfather.

"Maria, even though it's just the two of us right now, you don't have to call me Mr. Ghost."

"Ehh... but I think calling you that sounds cuter," Maria said, looking reluctant as she liked the name.

'What part of that is cute?'

The corner of Wang Fei's mouth twitched. He was starting to get genuinely worried that Maria's illness had also changed her sense of taste.

"Sigh... fine, when we're alone, you can call me whatever you want. But when you're in front of others, you can call me Brother Fei."

"Brother Fei... not Brother Wang Fei?"

"You may not know this, but people from Yan, they like to call people they are close with by the last part of their name because it sounds cuter and more intimate."

"Right now, you and I, we're quite close, aren't we? So you can call me Brother Fei-Fei or Brother Fei."

"Brother Fei-Fei... Hmm! I like that name. Then from now on, I'll call you Brother Fei-Fei!"

Seeing that Maria seemed to like the name, Wang Fei couldn't help but feel a small sense of relief that his sister's taste was still normal.

"Well then, I'll be in your care for the next month, Maria," he reached out and gently patted the girl's head before turning and walking into the room, not noticing the faint blush appearing on her cheeks.

"Hmm... this room is bigger than I thought," Wang Fei said aloud to himself after entering the room. Even though he had asked his grandfather for a normal room, it seemed that in his grandfather's eyes, he would never let his grandson sleep in such a small room.

'But there's one thing I have to thank Grandpa for. The room I'm in now is right below my old room...'

He didn't know if it was a coincidence, but he was very grateful to his grandfather for helping him with this. Wang Fei, with his body now fully like a "Living Spirit," could take off the armor he was wearing and enter a spiritual state directly. The downside was that his body outside the armor would be extremely weak, almost invisible to the naked eye. He also couldn't disguise his face with the magic from the Nightzmora necklace he had borrowed from Uncle Vogel.

This meant that when Wang Fei left his armored body, he would be in a semi-transparent state, with his skin a pale white, like dust motes.

'Hmm...' The more he looked in the mirror, the more certain he became.

"If anyone saw me in this state, they'd think I was a ghost, one hundred percent," Wang Fei laughed, then stopped joking around and jumped upwards.

With a spiritual body, he could phase through ceilings or walls at will, even control small objects or temporarily make his body corporeal to touch things. But doing so would be too taxing on his spiritual form, so he probably wouldn't have much time if he did all that in this state.

'At least, hopefully this much time is enough to find some clues about what Margaret did. But what I'm hoping for most is... did the old Ray leave anything behind for me? Something related to increasing spiritual power.'

After jumping into his old room, Wang Fei found that the environment was exactly as he remembered it from the past. But... there wasn't a single trace of his own aura left. This led Wang Fei to guess that these were just new things bought to replace the old ones, not the original items Ray had used.

'Even though I heard before that all of Ray's things were burned to ashes by Margaret, I didn't think there would be absolutely nothing left to see like this.'

He had hoped that if he could just touch something he had once used, it might help him restore some of his spiritual power. Even though his physical body was in good condition now, his spiritual state was still a long way off... If possible, he wanted to be able to manifest a real body all the time, rather than just being a spirit inhabiting a suit of armor.

'Hmm?' After looking around for a long time, he suddenly sensed some kind of spiritual energy from beneath the floorboard he was standing on.

When he bent down to look closer, phasing through the wood... he found that underneath the floorboard, there was a thin slot that could be slid open.

'This secret compartment... it definitely wasn't made by Ray.'

Wang Fei was quite sure, because he couldn't think of anything he would need to hide from his family. Unless... it was pornographic material that he didn't want anyone to see.

'No, no... that's impossible.' After entertaining that thought, a dark memory from his time in the special forces flashed in his mind. The memory of Leader Nine and Hoshiguma accidentally seeing a certain book under his bed.

'Ray probably isn't that kind of person. Even though he's quite similar to me, there are some things that are different between us, like personality or personal beliefs. As for tastes... uh, it seems he does have some similarities to me. Can't be helped, he was once a part of me.'

After trying for a long time, Wang Fei finally managed to pry open the floorboard according to its hidden mechanism. And when Wang Fei saw what was hidden inside, he was truly surprised.

"An iron box?"

And it was an iron box he had never seen before. It was as if it had been hidden by an invisible magic. If he hadn't opened the floorboard, he would never have seen it, even if he tried to look through it with his spiritual body. Moreover, it was engraved with indecipherable ancient characters... looking at them, they resembled the ancient script of the ancient Kazdelian language.

'I feel like I've seen these characters somewhere before.'

After reminiscing for a long time, Wang Fei finally began to remember.

"That's it! These characters are similar to the ones written on Doctor Kal'tsit's crystal knife," Wang Fei was very confident in his memory. He would never easily forget those captivating characters after seeing them once.

Wang Fei stared at the box in his hand for a long time before he started looking left and right, like a child committing a crime for the first time.

'I can probably open this box, right?'

Wang Fei looked at the box in his hand excitedly. Although opening someone else's things was considered rude, this box was in his room, so it wouldn't be strange if he had the right to look inside, would it?

'Oh well, this is a simulated world anyway... my sister probably won't complain, even if it's an Originium bomb inside.'

Pop! The sound of the wooden box being opened, along with a puff of dust, allowed him to estimate its age. But none of that mattered, because he was a spirit now. It was the object inside that interested him...

"This is... an arrowhead?" Wang Fei looked at the black arrowhead made of Darksteel, a common material in the lands of Kazimierz. Although it was common, Darksteel was difficult to shape and was quite durable, enough to pierce through steel armor or a fine wall with ease. That was why this item was renowned as the signature assassination weapon of legendary assassins, like the Darksteel, the founders of the Armorless Union.

Ray had faced the Darksteel several times before. As far as he could remember, one of them was just a middle-aged man who seemed harmless, but his archery skills were terrifying. Overall, though, he was an honest old man who didn't want trouble with the Chamber of Commerce and just wanted to live peacefully doing his job. But it seemed the other two Darksteel were more radical and extreme. Ray killed one of them, and the other was sent to prison by Mlynar. He didn't know if that one had been released yet.

'Could it be that this thing being left here is a warning from that Darksteel? But why was it sent to my room...'

Since Ray had been dead for a long time, there was no reason to leave something like this in his room. If the other party wanted to threaten others in the family, they should have placed this item in a more visible spot.

'Unless... this thing has been here for a long time. Long before I was even born.'

When Wang Fei considered this point, he thought it was quite possible. From the age of the box and the dust inside, he estimated it had to be at least a hundred years old.

'Could it be that our Nearl family had some connection with the Darksteel before?'

Because if it were a threat, the other party probably wouldn't have kept this as a memento... it was more likely something important that brought back certain memories.

'But whatever it is, this thing probably has nothing to do with what Margaret did.'

Disappointed, Wang Fei intended to put the box back where he found it. He thought he would find a chance to ask his grandfather about it later.

Fwip!

"?"

But just as he was closing the box, the black arrowhead inside suddenly shot out and into his spiritual form.

"Wh-what the!" Wang Fei, startled, quickly grabbed at his stomach where the arrowhead had entered, but he found no trace of anything, including the black arrowhead. But soon, a message appeared before him.

(Your Living Spirit is merging with the Soul Fragment of Seth Meteo.) (Error. Merge failed. The Soul Fragment of Seth Meteo does not wish to become one with you.) (Warning!!)(Warning!!)(Warning!!)(Warning!!)(Warning!!)(Warning!!)(Warning!!)(Warning!!)(Warning!!) (Seth Meteo rejects your existence.) (Your soul has been damaged.) (Simulation is being forcibly terminated.) (You have 1 more chance to participate in this special simulation... Please follow the original conditions to join the simulation.)

...........

"What the hell is this!!" Wang Fei couldn't help but scream when he found that his simulation had been terminated just like that.

But he quickly shut his mouth when he realized that in the place he was now in, there were several familiar faces staring at him with various expressions.

One of them was his older sister...

"..." Ch'en's eyes were wide as she looked at him. Even Kal'tsit and Amiya, who were standing near her, had faces of disbelief. And there was Shining, whom he thought had disappeared, covering her mouth in an incredible manner, with tears welling in her dark eyes.

"Uh... did I pass out?" Wang Fei, realizing that many eyes were on him, couldn't help but laugh dryly to change the atmosphere. Knowing that he had just screamed his head off without realizing so many people were around, it was no wonder he felt a little embarrassed.

Grab!! But the most unexpected thing was that suddenly, his older sister ran up and hugged him tightly, leaving Wang Fei so shocked he didn't know what to do.

"Sis? Wait a minute—are you crying?!" Wang Fei, noticing his sister's tears falling on his shoulder, became very worried that something had happened to her. But his sister's words made him fall silent.

"I'm not crying..."

"..."

Wang Fei wanted to joke with her about being so dramatic, but when he felt the body of the woman in his arms actually trembling with fear, he couldn't help but feel bad for making her worry. He could only comfort her as best he could.

"I'm fine now. You don't have to worry... I'll never leave you."

"..."

For some reason, after he said that, his sister hugged him even tighter. But because he wanted to comfort her, he didn't notice it at first.

But it seemed they were showing a little too much sibling affection, completely forgetting that they weren't alone at this time.

"Sorry to interrupt this happy moment... but could you please explain what just happened?"

"Mr. Ch'en Wang Fei."

(Warning: Target has a 60% desire to kill the host. Please choose your answer wisely.)

The cold voice, along with the system message that appeared, sent a shiver down Wang Fei's spine. And when he looked up to meet the eyes of Doctor Kal'tsit, who was looking at him with the face of an executioner ready to kill him at any moment, it made him curse silently in his heart.

'System... help me.'

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