Serenity agreed to my request. Without saying much, she turned around and led me out of the military barracks hastily established by the Legion troops.
We followed a path along the edge of the forest toward the burial grounds, where the villagers had been laid to rest—including the parents of the village boy whose body I now inhabited.
Silence enveloped us along the way. The morning air, which should have felt refreshing, only seemed to grow heavier with every step carrying us farther from the tent complex and military barracks.
“Efren…”
Serenity’s voice suddenly rang out, breaking the silence. Her tone was strained, heavy with pity and an abundance of caution. She glanced at me briefly.
“Prepare yourself. What you’re about to see… might not be what you imagined.”
I furrowed my brow, momentarily unable to understand what she meant. Her words felt like a riddle deliberately thrown out to soften a bitter reality. But before my tongue could form the question, “What do you mean?”, Serenity stopped walking.
“We’re here.”
I looked up. What stretched out before us was not a row of earthen mounds marked with wooden stakes like an ordinary cemetery.
There, in the middle of an open area bordered by pine trees at its far end, stood a single memorial monument made from large logs crudely assembled and carved. One lone marker commemorating a mass death.
Around the monument, pitch-black earth revealed the remnants of a massive burn. The thick smell of char and the sharp scent of burning wood ash still hung intensely in the air, stabbing into my lungs.
I opened my mouth, about to give voice to the turmoil in my chest, but Serenity cut in first with a blunt explanation.
“Burial couldn’t be carried out in the usual way, Efren.”
Serenity spoke softly, staring straight at the wooden monument.
“Burning the remaining corpses was the only way to prevent another disaster. Bodies that die carrying deep resentment and suffering are easily contaminated by negative Mana. If left to rot in the ground, they’ll rise as Undead.”
Serenity sighed softly and folded her arms across her chest as she continued.
She explained that the Legion deployed to this border had not brought any priests specially trained in corpse purification.
The ruler of the Margravate of Serpentspire had a strained political relationship with the Dawn Church. Although the Dawn faith had many priests capable of holy purification, the number stationed within the Serpentspire military could be counted on one hand.
On the other hand, the Serpentspire forces were largely dominated by followers of the Evernight Temple. However, the Evernight faithful specialized in illusion magic, intelligence, protection from dark energy and curses, and trace tracking—they were information-gathering specialists.
Very few Evernight members mastered corpse purification techniques, even though their methods differed from those of the Dawn Church.
“Originally, this Legion’s deployment was based solely on reports of a monster lair that could threaten the border perimeter,”
Serenity continued—
“No one expected the lair to suddenly run wild and level an entire village. That’s why our military preparations didn’t include a purification team.”
I listened to every word in silence.
Back in the game world of Tales From Players, details like this were never shown. Corpse purification was merely part of a special mechanic in certain missions.
Whenever an NPC or character died, their body would automatically disappear into particles of light or turn into loot. The game system handled everything. Players were never expected to understand the meaning of a funeral, much less the political and magical logic behind one.
But in this real world… that reality hit me hard.
As Serenity explained, my chest suddenly felt unbearably tight. A crushing wave of unfamiliar emotion struck the pit of my stomach.
Logically speaking, as Andi from the modern world, I had no deep memories of this village or Efren’s parents. But this physical reaction was different.
This body was channeling that profound grief—the genuine feelings of Efren, who now rested peacefully, leaving behind only echoes of longing and overwhelming loss.
I understood. This body was mourning its lost home and family.
I lowered my head. Without saying a word, I dropped down onto the ash-covered earth and knelt—not on both knees, but with one foot planted firmly on the ground. I squeezed my eyes shut.
My action was not merely an outward display of grief and respect. It was my vow to Efren—the soul who owned the body I now inhabited, whose lingering emotions still trembled inside my chest.
Efren… calm yourself.
The monsters that leveled your village and took your parents’ lives have already been eliminated by the Legion troops. But they were only blunt weapons.
Behind this massacre, there was a mastermind who had incited and planned everything from the shadows.
I promise you… in the name of the body you left behind, I’ll uncover the truth behind this tragedy myself and execute them with my own hands.
A long silence enveloped us. Serenity stood quietly behind me, allowing the little boy she believed was drowning in grief to finish his final prayer.
After a long, silent pause, I wiped my eyes and stood straight again. I turned toward Serenity, deliberately putting on a puzzled expression.
“Knight Serenity… why are so many Legion soldiers still stationed here?”
I asked curiously, like a little kid, while pointing toward the barracks in the distance.
“Wasn’t the monster lair already cleared? But these barracks are still standing, and the soldiers keep training as if…”
“That concerns top-level information,”
Serenity cut me off quickly, her tone cold and firm once more.
“Military information cannot be disclosed to ordinary civilians, Efren.”
Ordinary civilian?
“Knight Serenity… why deploy an entire Legion if the monster-lair clearing is already over?”
I asked directly, looking into her eyes without hesitation. Ignoring her warning about information that could not be given to ordinary civilians, I steeled myself.
“If this is only about investigating the massacre of a single village, wouldn’t an intelligence team have been more than enough? But with front-line combat troops still standing by and continuing their morning training… this isn’t just a security operation, is it? This is preparation for war.”
I took one step closer to her.
“Will there be a major battle in Serpentspire territory soon? And because of the possibility of war, is this information being kept tightly sealed from the common people—even from a surviving victim like me?”
Serenity did not respond immediately. A fairly long silence formed between us. Her sharp eyes fixed intently on me, examining every inch of my expression.
“You’re too smart for an ordinary village boy, Efren,”
Serenity said softly, then shook her head.
“Especially one your age.”
I met her gaze without fear and gave the most reasonable answer I could—
“I have to change, Knight Serenity. So that something this horrible… never happens to me again. I can’t just sit quietly and remain a victim who knows nothing about what caused it.”
Serenity fell silent again. Her gaze softened, but it still held the firmness of an officer.
“Choose me as your guardian,”
Serenity’s words suddenly echoed, closing the distance between us.
“You’ve recovered and need to make a decision soon. Forget the Church and Temple as guardianship options. As a knight holding the position of Deputy Commander of the Legion, I have the legal authority to become your guardian—and that way, I can answer the questions troubling your mind about this matter, as your guardian.”
I stared at her intently. I knew my actions had just aroused her suspicions.
In this era, an ordinary lower-class village boy couldn’t possibly have access to the education or information needed to think that far ahead. My way of thinking did not resemble a village child’s profile in the slightest.
But I couldn’t hold myself back. I needed information. If I didn’t aggressively gather clues now, I would remain a blind pawn, easy to destroy.
I drew a deep breath and turned away from her for a moment to look at the wooden funeral monument.
“Knight Serenity… I know this matter is extremely complicated.”
My voice flowed calmly, but carried weight.
“A village massacred by monsters that were allowed to make their nest near a settlement…”
Then I lowered my head.
“…to bring peace to their souls. And at the very least… to bring peace to my own.”
I raised my head and looked up at the blue sky stretching across the pine canopy.
“I’ll investigate this massacre all the way to its roots. And in the course of my search, I’m bound to visit places that offend or violate the code of knights like you—if I choose you as my guardian.”
I turned fully around and looked straight into Serenity’s eyes.
“A monster lair that large was located so close to the village without any prior signs of an attack. That means someone deliberately allowed it to remain there. There were no mercenaries or soldiers guarding the village before the tragedy, which means neither the Empire nor Serpentspire knew about it. Could the villagers themselves have hidden it without causing panic? No. That means one or two insiders were involved.”
I took another step closer.
“You mentioned before that the village chief was involved. But could the village chief really have done this alone? Raising a monster lair without the knowledge of the entire village? And if the lair was raised for a specific purpose, why did those monsters ultimately turn on the village and massacre the village chief himself? The village chief’s body was found with the other villagers, wasn’t it?”
I took another step closer, letting my gaze lock with Serenity’s.
“There has to be someone else involved—more than one person, even.”
I continued without hesitation.
“A crazy plan like this would have required support from an Imperial fugitive organization like you said. But judging by the outcome, this wasn’t merely a successful plan. It was a situation that spiraled out of control.”
I glanced at the wooden funeral monument beside us before looking back at her.
“The village chief, the organization supplying the monster lair, and perhaps a third faction operating independently in this area… they all had interests of their own. Two or three secret groups infiltrated and clashed with one another behind the scenes without realizing the others even existed. That clash of interests triggered the chaos, causing the monster lair to run wild and create this senseless massacre.”
My voice grew quieter, but it was filled with resolve.
“That’s why I’m determined to untangle all these threads—even if I have to crawl through the underworld, deal with illegal syndicates, or visit forbidden places avoided by the Knight Order. If I choose you as my guardian, my reckless movements and disregard for the code of knights will only become a burden and stain your good name, Knight Serenity.”