That Person Is Me

"Understood," Alan replied upon hearing Geralt's instructions, then ran into the back room.

When he emerged again, he held two gleaming gold coins in his hand. "Big brother, here you go. When will you treat me to roast lamb leg again?"

Kraun reached out, but the boy did not loosen his grip on the Gold Shields.

If he didn't provide a specific time, he wouldn't be getting his payment.

He smiled faintly, calculated the time, and said, "The night after tomorrow. I'll treat you both at my place and let you see what real cooking is like."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Alan released his grip, and the two little darlings dropped into his palm.

Tucking the Gold Shields into his pocket, Kraun pulled up a chair and sat down, asking, "Have you found any clues about the Evil Spirit?"

The boy shook his head. "The victims' bodies were all cremated, and the houses where the incidents occurred have already been purified. We searched the rooms where the most recent accidents happened, but found nothing. Tomorrow, my teacher and I are going to Skunk Street to visit the place where the first incident of this kind occurred in town. I heard there was a survivor."

Isn't that talking about me?!

Just as Kraun was about to respond, Geralt's cold voice rang out, like a winter gale sweeping across an icy, desolate forest.

"According to the descriptions from the priest and the patrol, such a powerful Evil Spirit would never leave a survivor. That person's constitution must be unique; it should be highly suitable for an Evil Spirit to inhabit."

"Teacher, didn't Father Nick say that the person had already received the Holy Baptism at the church? If he were inhabited by an Evil Spirit, there would be no reason for it not to manifest, right?"

The Witcher let out a cold snort and said with a hint of mockery, "The abilities of Evil Spirits are strange and varied. It's not surprising that some have methods to resist the holy power of exorcist priests; I encountered one such case a few years ago. Besides, Nick is only a junior exorcist priest."

"A person inhabited by an Evil Spirit would only have a slight fever after drinking holy water, and would recover completely before long."

"Tomorrow, I will thoroughly examine that survivor. With the powerful spiritual perception I gained after undergoing two Trials of the Grasses, the Evil Spirit will have absolutely nowhere to hide."

"Uh, yeah," Kraun coughed twice, feeling somewhat awkward. "Actually, the survivor of that Skunk Street incident is me."

"Ah, it's you?" Alan's eyes widened, and he circled Kraun's chair several times.

The Witcher also stood frozen on the spot. In his spiritual perception, the young man was like sunlight, warming people's hearts.

Yet the aura of an Evil Spirit was always cold and sinister, and their spirituality even exuded a foul stench.

Facing the burning gazes of the two men, Kraun felt a bit embarrassed.

A strange silence fell over the room, with only the sound of Alan's footsteps clearly audible.

After a brief quiet, Geralt seemed to recall something and picked up a dark red wooden box from the table.

The box had no decorations, and its wood was naturally dark red.

He opened the box, and Kraun's sharp eyes noticed that it was lined with a thick layer of white velvet, with several small oval glass bottles resting quietly inside.

Geralt took out one of the bottles, which was filled with fine silver sand.

The sand floated inside, and under the lamplight, it sparked with tiny glimmers, like stars gathered together in the sky.

The Witcher opened the stopper and placed his index finger at the mouth of the bottle.

His finger acted like a magnet, drawing the stardust upward to wrap around his fingertip.

Replacing the stopper, Geralt chanted an awkward-sounding word: "Axii."

The stardust on his fingertip instantly shone as brilliantly as a galaxy. Kraun felt a surge of blinding silver light before his eyes, and the room was suddenly filled with a faint, refreshing fragrance, as if he were strolling through a field of blooming jasmine.

Geralt's brows furrowed tightly, making the scar on his left eye look even more ferocious.

After a long while, he finally spoke: "There is no reason for the Evil Spirit to have spared you. Do you remember what happened at the time?"

Kraun shook his head; his predecessor had absolutely no memory of it.

The real 'Kraun' only remembered going to bed early as usual that night, and when he woke up the next day, his soul had already been replaced.

After thinking for a moment, he gave a half-truthful answer: "I only remember that something seemed to squeeze into my body, and it was very painful. When the priest performed the holy ceremony for me at the church, I felt a giant octopus covered in tentacles and eyes appear in my mind. That monster burned up in the light radiating from the priest's holy emblem. A few days later, I discovered that my consciousness could reach a magical place, where there is a silver hourglass cast in bronze."

"In other words, you didn't awaken your bloodline to become a Warlock, but became a Spirit Controller without consuming any potions. What exactly is your ability?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Geralt immediately added, "You don't have to tell me; that is a secret that belongs only to you. What I am more curious about is why you were completely unaffected by the Evil Spirit. I can sense malice from other Spirit Controllers to varying degrees, but on you, there is absolutely no such ill intent."

The Witcher was deeply puzzled at this moment. Because Spirit Controllers bind Evil Spirits within their bodies, a symbiotic relationship forms between the two.

Even if a Spirit Controller does not use the Evil Spirit's power, as time passes, the Evil Spirit will inevitably manifest its wicked nature.

Kraun spread his hands and uttered a few words that represented the highest level of playing dumb: "I don't know."

Speaking too much leads to mistakes; letting the listeners fill in the blanks themselves might provide them with a more reasonable answer.

"Then why didn't you tell the priest when you were at the church?" Alan, standing to the side, asked in confusion.

His reply was a matter of course: "I think it was because I was afraid. With something inexplicable inside my body, if I said it out loud and ended up being burned at the stake, who would I go to for justice?"

"So that means the subsequent supernatural events were caused by other Evil Spirits. Teacher, where should we go to investigate tomorrow?"

The white-haired Witcher's gaze was solemn. "Let's just wander around the town or the nearby wilderness. For now, we can only wait—wait for new victims to appear."

"Sir, according to what you said, now that I have become a Spirit Controller, how should I proceed in the future?"

"I don't know much about Spirit Controllers, only that they tend to become increasingly extreme under the subtle influence of the Evil Spirits. As for how they become more powerful, I am unaware. Now that you have become an extraordinary, you can wait until you are integrated into this circle to ask other Spirit Controllers for advice. As far as I know, all Spirit Controllers struggle with how to maintain their sanity. But through observing you, I find that you have absolutely no symptoms of that."

The group chatted for a while longer, but the Witcher didn't offer any concrete advice.

Kraun rose to take his leave; he still needed to spend the night practicing the production of the Blood-Boiling Potion.

The bright moon illuminated the path ahead as he set off with a steady gait, quickly returning home.

As he reached his door and took out his key, preparing to unlock it, he suddenly stopped.

There was someone inside!