The dark elf was disturbed by the young man's hands. She was used to only minimal physical contact, such as handshakes and now someone was doing to her a kind of ma.s.sage of her hips. From time to time she turned her face towards Hector, hoping that he would understand what she wanted, but it was a waste of time.

Hector was half out stunned since he was tackled on the ground. And the elf knew very well that it was her fault; moreover, she was in great danger. If the Weiler family ever learned that she had almost killed one of their sons who were already dying, she would certainly be dismissed from the army and most likely enslaved like the other members of her race.

She had to be as lenient and considerate as possible towards Hector, or rather from her point of view, towards Krein, who had the sad reputation of being a resentful and sharp boy.

"Uh…" Selena began by trying to find her words. "Young master...? Do you feel a little better? I solemnly apologize for my actions."

"Uuuh…" began Hector while his vocal cords were still having trouble functioning. "Yes, I'm better, don't worry more. I also thank you for sewing my throat and changing the bandages, I don't think anyone other than you have had the guts to do such a gross thing." he muttered, trying to be as clear as possible.

"Y-you're welcome… If your pains ever come back, I can prepare a new mixture of plants to soothe them down." she said with a tense smile.

"It's all right, I've already delayed you long enough…" replied Hector, who seemed to have more and more ease to talk. "Selena, right?"

"Yes, young master."

"Aaah… please, don't call me like that… just call me Hect-" he stopped immediately what he was going to say and changed his mind. "I know that what I do with my hands makes you uncomfortable. I apologize, but if I don't do this, I think, weak as I am for the moment, I risk falling off the horse."

"It doesn't matter." she concludes by lying to herself.

Selena tried to do her best to stop thinking and focused on the road to get to go to the military camp that was cutting the road to the capital in two pieces.

The evening before, when the first survivors from the village of Vaine arrived, the Felia squadron was fortunately present in the same camp after a day of investigation into the actions of one of the 8 great families. They were the first to learn that an attack had taken place on the Weiler family's town. The squadron tried to extract information from the survivors, but none of them seemed to know whether it was an attack by Jericho or an attack by one of the great families.

For her first mission as an army soldier and part of the elite, Selena was very anxious, but when she arrived on the scene, she could only see the result left by the edge of the sword. She knew very well that it would now become part of her daily life, but as a dark elf, she had to prove that she was ready to sacrifice everything, even her feelings; and it was by wanting to do things right, hoping to give a good first impression that she rushed towards Hector.

Selena remembered her mistake again and hid her face with one of her hands, in shame.

"I don't blame you. Wanted to do the right thing is not a punishable act, even if you were wrong in your judgment. And then, for a new recruit, it's normal to make mistakes… but I have to admit, our first meeting hurt me enough." he tried to rea.s.sure her by using the information he had learned from Balam.

Selena simply nodded and made sure that no one saw her face. It is after several minutes that the elf finally calms down before giving a canteen filled with water to the young man. By swallowing a few sips of water, he could taste and smell the blood still present in his esophagus slowly disappears. He was finally able to breathe healthy air again and not pollute by the pungent smell of hemoglobin; he thanked the elf with a pat on the shoulder. She gave him a smile before drinking in turn.

It was after three hours of a long journey that the squadron arrived at the military camp, it was a larger complex than expected. It looked more like a hamlet than an army facility. There was no tent, but small straw houses were divided into blocks to differentiate groups if several squadrons were present on the scene.

After lighting a fire as dusk invaded the sky, allowing its wonderful stars to reappear, the squadron captain stood up and spoke to her thirty soldiers.

"We are only staying here for a night, the village inspection took us too long for too few results. After what happened, continuing the night drive is too risky. In addition, we need to bring the wounded back to the capital, but preferably alive, I was told it was better. So we take a break here to treat and feed everyone… and we have this kid." she said, pointing to Hector, as everyone turned towards him. "He's a priority wounded man. If he dies, I'm still the one who's going to get yelled at, so please avoid me this pain, I'm already having enough trouble getting sleep."

"Captain, I know his father and mother, he may be more comfortable by my side, would you like me to take care of Krein?" Gregory asked as he walked towards his superior.

"Huh? Uh…" she continued as she began to fall asleep standing up. "N-no… no… Selena will take care of him, after all, she is the one who… believed that Krein was a piece of meat, so we can give her the privilege of looking after this rich kid just for tonight-" she explained as her body crashed to the ground like a rag doll.

"The captain collapsed!" exclaimed one of the riders.

"And to think she's the captain…" Gregory whispered as he scratched his head. "Carry her to one of the houses, she needs sleep, she probably hasn't slept for several days." he ordered; the man seemed to be the second-highest-ranking member of the group and after having opened his military clothes a little bit, he turned to Selena. "Take him to one of the huts, I allow you to use your magic to heal him."

"Huh?! But! If the others see me, I'm going to have trouble…"

"That's not going to happen. Because you're going to be discreet." Gregory said with great seriousness. "The magic of the elves. That's the main reason why the captain and I decided to recruit you. Average score, average abilities, but a formidable female elf able to heal quickly from serious injuries and those with her own energy. This is the first step if you want your race to be accepted again in this world." he whispered to Selena with a cold look. "If you can't do that, I'm sorry to tell you this, but you have no reason to be part of the army's elite."

Selena didn't add a word and stared at her supervisor while trying to stay proud. After about ten seconds, she finally asked Hector - who was a little embarra.s.sed by the situation - to follow her and headed for the huts. Even Balam had not said a word for a while, feeling that the atmosphere of the place was not conducive to conversation.

The elf blew with a saddened look on her face and come inside one of the small straw huts, inviting the young man to come in. The place was simply furnished with four rudimentary beds slightly raised from the ground; Hector settled on one of them while Selena lit an oil lamp.

"He was unnecessarily acerbic with you." he declared to Selena with a gentle tone and face.

"Ah… Don't worry about it, the people of my people are used to it, including me. Anyway, you must have learned at school about the atrocities my ancestors are doing." she explained with a little smile.

"Yes… A childish grudge from a distant past."

"I suppose… But it's also normal that Major Saranel is worried about you, he knows you personally and on top of that, you are the son of a baron. Your life is very valuable." she said as she pulled out a little penknife.

Hector opened his mouth and hesitated to say something. After a quick thought and discussion with Balam, he looked at the young elf straight in the eyes and articulated words he didn't think he would say so soon on his journey.

"If I told you there was nothing left to save, would you believe me?"

"Uh… What do you mean?" she asked as she was about to make a cut on the tip of her index finger.

"Krein is dead." he approached the elf and put his hand on her cheek. "Krein is dead, the one you're looking at is called Hector, okay?" he continued, hoping not to have to use Balam's magic to control her. "I'm a whole other person… it takes me a lot of courage to tell you that, so I'd like you not to tell anyone right now." Hector finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you for listening to me… I have the need to confess that to someone… I feel guilty for stealing someone's life in this way." he ends with sincerity.

Selena didn't answer right away. She had heard everything perfectly, but the hand the young man had placed on her cheek had captured almost all her attention. Her dark skin blushes slightly, but it was difficult to see this with the lack of light in the hut. After realizing what Hector was talking about, she detached her hair before putting it back in a ponytail and cleared her throat.

"If I believe you, what do you give to me?"

"All my consideration and who knows, maybe I could even use the money the former body host had to make you my personal guard and get you out of all your problems. It doesn't seem to be easy for you."

"I'll gonna think about it…" she replied with a look lost in the vagueness. "After all, there have been some cases of similar reincarnation in the past…" she replied in a disturbed voice, at the same time she had made to herself a small cut on her index finger. "Open your mouth, my magic requires a connection through the blood to work properly. Don't worry, my blood is clean."

The young man did as he was told and after swallowing the drop of blood. The dark elf removed the bandage around his neck and put her hand at the st.i.tches. A red aura spread to the palm of her hand; some kind of pieces of flesh came out of Selena's hand and flew gently towards the young man's throat before landing on the wound. The process took about ten minutes and had obviously exhausted Selena's by stole all of her remaining energy, as she collapsed into one of the beds a few seconds later.

Hector was amused by one thing. She who had a strict face and honorable behavior snored like a 50-year-old man after a bender of vodka. This fact also amused the demon who made his first entry in a long time.

[Once her guard is down, she shows us the true her, haha!]

[I guess you could say that's part of her charm.] Ironically, Hector giggled.

[Ahahah, I guess.] answered the demon by starting to take a more serious tone. [I thought you might need my magic, but obviously, you pleased her. She seems to have believed your word. It may be due to Gremory and Zepar…] he theorized just before Hector asked him who these two people were. [These are the two other demons who fought to try to cross the dimension with you. The poor Gremory was killed very quickly by Zepar, as for me, I won, but only by chance…] he paused and resumed. [Gremory and Zepar were two demons who ruled love and s.e.xuality: Gremory allowed men who believed in her to make women of all ages, but mainly young women fall in love with men. As for Zepar… he was one of the most disturbed of us… he pushed men to infamous desires and made women fall in desire before making them sterile.]

[I… see…] replied Hector, destabilized by what he had just heard. [So, you mean to tell me that my soul has mixed with these two demons… and I have taken some of their powers? So, it's because of that, I influenced Selena more easily?]

[Right.] Balam replied briefly. [In short, your body is a mixture between several races and your soul, you're also a mixture between two different races. You should take advantage of it, it would be a waste if you didn't.]

An idea crossed the reincarnated man's mind, but he preferred not to think about it for the time being. It was time to sleep, even if her neighbor's snoring would probably prevent him from getting any sleep.

He stared one last time at the dark, translucent ma.s.s that seemed to be sitting on one of the beds, thanked him for his help and closed his eyes.

Thus began the very first night of a boy whose life was about to change.