Reincarnated Hero System

Chapter 1292: The Redundant Fail-Safe [Monthly Bonus 2]

In the months that followed, Evan’s activity decreased heavily. Sightings of him became increasingly rare, and although rumours circulated regarding his involvement behind the scenes of the world’s sudden technological advancements, Idrilla couldn’t find any confirmed physical appearance of Evan anywhere.

Then, nearly a year later, his activity increased once more, followed by the Battle of the Wildlands in Tarse, where his involvement was substantial and rumours regarding his sudden increase in strength spread across the world.

All of that confirmed to Idrilla that during the period where Evan had seemingly reduced public activity under the guise of recuperation from the FCD battle in Kreah, he had been in the past. And the Evan who orchestrated the Battle of the Wildlands was the same Evan who had killed her.

Because of that, she concluded that if Evan had been involved in her reincarnation into this world and had some objective behind it, he would eventually come looking for her.

She considered the possibility that Evan didn’t know where she had reincarnated and even thought about reaching out to him herself, but she ultimately decided to focus on graduating from college first before determining how to contact him and finally obtain answers to the questions she had carried for more than a decade.

During that period, she learned of Evan’s arrival on the Beta Continent and even his visit to the Aelum Kingdom, which made her think things would become much easier once the time came to contact him.

However, she never expected Evan to suddenly appear on the eve of her college graduation, right in the middle of her dealing with a rather unpleasant situation.

"I would’ve reached out to you even if you hadn’t done the same to me," Idrilla said as she reached for her teacup, took a few sips, and placed it back down on the desk.

"Why?" Idrilla asked directly, making no attempt to beat around the bush.

Evan appreciated how straightforward she was, and he answered in the same manner.

"Because I need your power," he said. "That’s why I personally brought your soul into this world and handed it over to the WILL of this planet to reincarnate on this continent, in this country, within a family residing in this city."

Idrilla wasn’t surprised, since this had already been one of the possibilities she considered—that Evan might require her abilities for something.

She knew that her Unique Skills, which she had carried over from her previous incarnation into this one, were all immensely powerful and extremely rare. She also knew that her Bounded Field’s ability, derived from those Unique Skills, was something only higher existences could likely replicate through their Authorities over the law of death.

"Is this related to that organisation you’ve been fighting over the past few years, the Demonic Hand?" she asked.

Evan nodded. "Yes. The Demonic Hand has these things they call ’Disasters’, operations targeting several countries across each continent. On the Alpha continent, they targeted the Great Western Empire, the Beast Kingdom, and Tarse. On the Beta continent, their targets are Isolon, Tharvoria, and your current home, the Aelum Kingdom."

The nations he mentioned were all familiar to Idrilla, not just because some were on her continent, but also because they were places Evan had been to in the past month.

"You’re already working to stop them," she said.

Evan nodded again before continuing. "Now then, I was hoping you’d consider the fact that I chose not to crush your chance at reincarnating into a better life, even when I had every right and opportunity to do so.

More than that, I doubt you’d be fine with your home country being erased from the map and everyone you care about in this life disappearing permanently."

Setting aside the fact that Evan was mentioning his final act from her previous life as leverage, Idrilla certainly didn’t want her country erased, nor did she want the people she’d come to care for to die.

So she asked, "How can I help you stop this Disaster?"

"A very simple way," Evan replied. "I need to borrow your powers of death, specifically your Unholy Resurrection and Soul Harvest Unique Skills.

It’s good that you retained them, and you even gained another one tied to darkness magic."

Evan dismissed the status window hovering in his vision and continued. "I want you to work alongside another Soul Manipulator who’s just as unique as you, as well as two World Trees, to save everyone in this nation."

Idrilla started to speak, but Evan raised a hand to stop her.

"Truth is, you’re more like a backup in my plan. My original setup involved that soul manipulator alone. I already knew about her before my misadventures back in time.

When I met you in the past and saw how useful your abilities were, I was kinda sad because I thought I’d never see you again.

Then I got a chance to make a wish to a being capable of manipulating reality, and I didn’t hesitate to ask for your soul so you could be reincarnated here.

You’re the redundant fail-safe in my plan, so in case by some force of nature that soul manipulator can’t carry out her role, you’ll be there to make sure not everybody dies."

Idrilla nodded after hearing his explanation, then asked, "Helping you is a risk to me, isn’t it? The Demonic Hand would begin targeting me as well."

"Actually, no," Evan replied. "They won’t even know who you are if you help. I plan to keep you, the soul manipulator, and the World Trees completely hidden.

Even if the Demonic Hand somehow finds out about the World Trees, they won’t learn about you since you won’t be on the front lines or anything like that, but protected within the near-Transcendent World Tree in Lustea.

The only real risk to you is if my plan fails and you suffer backlash from the universal laws of life and death."

"I see," Idrilla muttered, falling silent for several minutes.

As she sank into her thoughts, Evan busied himself with the refreshments placed on the table, and just as he finished his tea, she finally spoke again.

"Fine. I’ll help. But I need guarantees of safety, something I can show my parents. I also need to know how much I can tell His Majesty."

At the mention of the Aelum Kingdom’s king, Evan chuckled lightly. "I can give you the guarantees you want. Let’s use a magic contract."

Evan raised his hand and brought out a magic contract from his inventory, and seeing the magic-infused paper appear, Idrilla raised her brows slightly.

"You came prepared?"

"I always keep hundreds of blank magic contracts in my inventory," Evan said. "Just in case I need to use one, like now."

He placed the contract on the table between them and infused magic power into it, using that magic to write out the terms before sliding it toward her.

Idrilla read through it carefully, noting the restrictions on mentioning the names of those involved in Evan’s plan, the safety guarantees she had asked for, and the limits on revealing the plan’s details.

After going through everything, Idrilla infused her own magic power into it, added a few terms, and after a short exchange of words that didn’t even reach the point where it could be called a negotiation, the magic contract was finalised.

Evan used magic to duplicate the contract, handing Idrilla a copy she could keep for herself.

"About your question regarding how much you can tell King Taher," he said, folding the contract and placing it into his inventory, "if they ask what we discussed, tell them this exact statement:

’Your country is the target of a Demonic Hand Disaster, and while I would’ve liked to put your Legendries and Sovereigns to work, there’s absolutely nothing anyone in or from your nation can do to help me resolve this disaster.

So just sit back, do the little I tell you to, and don’t interfere, or I’ll leave you to your fates.

And I can swear an oath of mana on this, that when the Demonic Hand is finished, there won’t be any fates left in the Aelum Kingdom."