The Reincarnated

Chapter 22: Bogeyman's Reputation

If I have a list of acts that I detest most, confrontations would be second. My first was self-pity. The shame of engaging myself in remorse for the past few weeks was a big slap on my dignity's face, but there was no helping it. Losing everything that you care about has that effect on people.

As of this moment, I am standing in front of Leopold Tartan, and even I can tell that he already knows my purpose for dashing inside with a steamy face in his office without knocking.

"I thought I told you that I have no interest in wielding powers or anything that has to do with your kind. That scheme-"

"Was just a test to see if you really are capable of controlling your mana. Don't take it the wrong way, but having a supernatural creature around even if he or she is a Caster and not a Phantom, is never the safest zone to be involved in."

"You took me in your house in the first place!"

"Because you don't have any safer place to stay."

"But you didn't have to risk Lydia in the process!"

"Lydia knows full well what she was getting herself into. She's faced worse people and monstrous creatures and Phantoms that you've never imagined."

"I could have lost my control and did something worse than scaring her off!"

"If you did, I would willingly take full responsibility of it and heal her injuries with my mana."

I stopped my banter for a moment to inhale. It annoys me that he was acting so calm and composed about the matter. It annoys me that I couldn't make him see my point. But most of all, I was angry of him for making me feel like a puppet as he directs my strings. He knew so much about me like his eyes are staring straight to my soul. And I hate myself for doing exactly as he predicted.

What I really wanted to say was: I didn't want to be reminded of who I am supposed to be. Two precious lives lost are more than enough to shatter my self-respect and having to deal with this is making me feel more like an animal than a person. These words are at the tip of my lips burning up inside me. But I didn't tell him that.

"So was it enough?" I jeered. "Was I able to entertain you old man?"

Leopold furrowed his eyebrows in a show of irritation, but it wasn't enough to portray anger. "Say whatever you want. One thing you should know is that the only chance you have against Phantoms is mana. But that potential will be worthless if the user doesn't know how to summon and control it. Since I know for a fact you wouldn't train, I will not force you to do it. A simple test wouldn't hurt."

Of course it would never hurt. He wasn't the one being directed with it. And he was especially not the one trembling in anxiety and shock over having control – if you can even call it control – of the wind! He didn't feel the disgust of such capability and fear of the horrible possibilities that may happen. Leopold might be having the same horrifying abilities but he never felt any kind of revulsion for it. I couldn't be like him in that sense.