I Refused To Be Reincarnated-Chapter 922: The Wrong Subject

Inside Adam's mind, the imposter opened his eyes, not in one of Haldris' secret laboratories as he had expected, nor in Brineheart. He would have even, albeit reluctantly, accepted seeing the eternal barrier wrapped around the crystalline walls of Kumari Kandam once more.

Instead of it all, he was glaring at rotten patches blooming from cracks squirming on walls that had forgotten they once had another color than scaly green. The sound of rushing water drew him to the damp sill of the window.

A river crowned by a bridge that could barely support its own weight rushed by the house. It led to a lush forest dominated by a sinister mountain in the distance. On the other side, a mud road sliced through the derelict outskirts of a human village. The sick and the old begged for a piece of bread in front of half-collapsed houses. To whom? They themselves didn't seem to know. The youths were worse. They strolled alleys with dangerous glints barely hidden in their eyes.

The sight gave the imposter a momentary pause. Something wasn't right. These people... they didn't emit a drop of mana. No one should be oblivious to magic, not after Leoric made sure to teach the good people to defend themselves. It was as if he had returned to a human kingdom before the great demonic war.

Strange, really strange... It would make Adam older than him, a fellow survivor of this dark era. He tucked his fingers around his chin.

Impossible.

He clearly remembered the realm's every chosen one. Haldris, Leoric, Serevan, and the others had killed those who refused to follow them in their crusade against the demons, and Adam was not among them. So, somewhere else. Judging by the familiar architecture, not a cultivator village from the east either...

Just where did Adam grow up?

As the question rumbled in his mind, he lifted his hand. Dark mana erupted as he planned to leave this memory for the next one and begin Adam's trial. Yet, he froze mid-movement.

There was someone else in the room he had neglected. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

He snapped toward a cradle built from rough timber bars, likely by an amateur offering help to a poor mother.

"Stop looking at me like that when I'm focusing on shaping mana. Ah! Look what you've done! I almost drew an A, but you had to ruin it. Fine. I'll carry you. But only because I want my body to grow up healthy. You hear me? One, two. Up you go!"

The imposter's eyes widened. How in the sap of Vaelthryn? There, before him... A ghost carrying a baby over its head. It hovered across the room, and the baby chuckled eagerly.

A ghost... so... uncommon. The last time he saw one was before Serevan followed Haldris in his exile, in one of the ten ghostly canyons. After that? Never again, not when Haldris began to actively hunt them down.

"So, you were raised by a ghost. One of your ancestors, perhaps? Intriguing but not worth lingering on. His mana's so weak that he might as well not have any. I don't feel your mythical organs... If you weren't born with them, how can you have them?" The imposter muttered as he resumed his movement. The memory crumpled beneath his fingers—people, outskirts, and the house flipped to the horizon as if they had inhabited a heavy page he was turning. It made him grin. The heavier the stronger the mind, and the more amusing it would be to break Adam.

He turned to anchor himself in the next memory, the interior of an old shop reeking of ground herbs and ointments.

An aged man draped in blankets sat behind the counter. But before he could focus on this new individual, an icy shiver ran down his spine.

He snapped toward the memory of the house as it faded. The baby, the ghost... they had vanished. But he could have sworn that a gaze had drilled into his back for the briefest moment.

Before he could make sense of the odd sensation, the bell hung over the shop's door rang. He turned to a young woman brown of hair. She cradled the baby from the previous memory against her patched robe. Likely his mother. Behind them, the ghost hovered with a mischievous grin.

"Good morning, Mister Theodor!" Alina walked through the imposter as if he didn't exist. She placed the baby on the counter. "I can't thank you enough for caring about him while I'm at work. I feel so relieved..." She let out a relaxed sigh through her warm smile.

"Nonsense." Theodor waved his gnarled palm out of his blankets, then curled his thick fingers. Alina approached, and he continued. "You're good lads. You and your son. I can't help but think about you in my bed. It keeps me awake, I'm telling you."

"You're exaggerating." Alina chuckled as she caressed the cheek of her baby. "We're doing just fine, and I'm sure he'll grow up well."

"Listen, Alina." Theodore leaned forward, the wrinkles around his eyes deepening. "You spend your days catering to beasts. You're sore all over when you return, with barely the strength to lift your arms over your head." He shook his head. "Your baby needs his mother's warmth. With him. For as long as time permits."

"B-But... how will I feed him?" Alina gazed at the baby tenderly.

"I'll hire you. From today onward, you'll replace me behind the counter." He pointed at the multicolored vials stored on the shelves above him. "You'll have to learn their names and properties to give the wounded what they need most. I'll take charge of the seriously ill or injured. Do you think you can do it?"

Alina covered her teary eyes with her sleeve. But she failed to contain a whimper of relief. Through her tears, she asked. "You would do that for us even though you're not rich yourself? Thank you... Thank you so much."

"You deserve it." Theodor patted her trembling back. Then, he tentatively grinned where he believed the ghost was. "And I promised to help."

Though Theodor missed the ghost, the imposter saw it as clear as day. A veil of darkness obscured his features except for two luminous glows, and swirling grey mist clung to his body like a shifting robe.

Though the ghost was weak, his appearance should have been threatening... if he weren't lifting his fists and fluttering across the room like a delighted brat.

What was he watching? He came for answers about Adam's mythical organs, not to watch him being carried around by a ghost that didn't act his age.

His brows twitching, he gripped the memory and flipped it to the next. Yet, it felt twice as heavy as before. Something...

Before he could finish his thought, he snapped toward the vanishing shop's library. There, the ghost's luminous eyes seemed to stare at him the moment he faded.

Something wasn't right...