Roger was laying on top of a piece of plank, completely restrained and clearly set up in every way. Watching the firewood that was being piled around him more and more as well as the hateful gazes of his fellow students towards him, he began to panic.
"UUOHHHUO"
Roger wanted to shout out loud to explain himself, but his mouth was already tied up with rope, so he couldn't do anything but whimper helplessly.
Roger hatefully looked at the security guard with the entire course of events already thought up in his head. The mastermind behind everything was Dean Michael, so this security guard must have been the Dean's spy, joining the Abnormality Elimination Squad with ulterior motives to try and frame him for everything.
While there were differences with the truth and he didn't know that Michael had already been replaced by 'Negary', his version of the events was essentially correct.
Roger was eager to explain himself and everything, but the other party didn't seem to even want to give him this opportunity. After doing some standardized investigation, the institute's council directly charged Roger with the sin of worshipping demons.
Conspiring with a demon, conducting an evil ritual, bringing harm to fellow students, as well as performing a terrorist attack; all sorts of crimes were being pinned on Roger without any reservation while Roger didn't even get a chance to prove his innocence.
Right as Roger was in despair, he noticed a horse carriage stopping in the distance and a mid-western middle-aged man hurriedly disembarking the cart, causing Roger's hope to flare up once again.
The middle-aged man was his father, someone who had connections to a lot of big shots, which was part of the reason why he was relatively wealthy. All in all, Roger believed himself to be part of the privileged class of people, and as long as he was given the chance, he was confident in being able to clear everything up.
The middle-aged man glanced at Roger with a gaze full of disappointment, then stopped looking at him altogether and headed towards 'Negary', respectfully greeting him.
"Sir 'Negary', it was my fault this time for not being strict enough, letting that damned son of mine be deceived by a demon. Please deal with him however you wish, sir" the middle-aged man looked at 'Negary' full of fear in his eyes.
As a member of the House of Mages, Michael was a true noble among the nobles of the Academic City, and this young man was said to be a relative from Michael's family. However, with how much he resembled Michael when he was young, there was a very real possibility of him being Michael's illegitimate son.
Obviously, Roger's father didn't have any connections with the House of Mages, otherwise, he would have assumed that this was a rejuvenated Michael instead.
Due to the magical hexes placed on the name Negary, everyone would automatically understand it as a completely different name despite it being used again. In their eyes, this 'Negary' was a completely different person to the 'Negary' who founded the new food company that produced dirt-infused algae.
At first, Roger felt moved by how his father was willing to lower himself so much for his sake, but when the man stood there coldly without any emotions on his face, Roger faintly realized that his father hadn't come here to save him but to instead brush off all relations with him.
After understanding this fact, Roger fell into complete despair. His entire body fell limp as he lay on the wooden cart like a literal corpse.
'Negary' calmly observed it all happen. Only in the moment of complete despair would humans be able to see through certain things clearly, and only when they had once again grasped their own meaning of existence in that moment would they be able to grow into a half-decent talent.
Of course, there was also the possibility of Roger never being able to escape this despair and becoming worthless garbage.
"'Negary', so this is your new name, Michael?" right as he was thinking that, a voice called out to him.
When 'Negary' turned around, he saw a world-class beauty. Her every gesture stimulated all the hormones that a man could produce, her every gaze could command a man to kneel at her feet and carefully lick it while lifting it with both hands.
As soon as he saw this woman, 'Negary' was able to confirm her identity: an upper-brass member of the Mystic Demonesses; his previous guess about Michael's relations with the Mystic Demonesses was completely correct.
Pregnancy magic was built on the principle of utilizing the natural female function of producing offspring to obtain mana through expending one's own vitality. Long-term usage of this technique that went against the natural order of life would cause a living being to mutate, but with their long experience of using pregnancy magic, the Mystic Demonesses naturally understood the hidden risks.
And so, after many years of its existence, the Mystic Demonesses eventually found a roundabout way to circumvent its side effects, which was dubbed the Substitute Pregnancy Technique. After inducing pregnancy, they would not digest the fetus within themselves as soon as they could, but instead transfer it to another woman while modifying it into a cursed fetus that would never be born, using it as their source of mana.
By forcing another person to carry a cursed fetus that would never be born, they would only need to periodically extract the mana from that person to use. While there were still side effects to this method, at least the most severe side effects had already been taken on by the substitute woman.
For that reason, the demoness in front of him did not appear as a pile of shit within his spirit sense. At least, if Nox were to stand alongside this Demoness, while they were equally powerful, most would prefer this Demoness over her.
〖 A new life would naturally need a new name 〗'Negary' leisurely answered, then continued: 〖 My ritual was conducted prematurely by a few brats. While I've successfully obtained a second life, some of my memories were lost because of the side effects 〗
"Is that so?"
The Demoness stared straight at 'Negary', transferring a small bit of mana through her gaze into 'Negary's' eyes. With the catalyst of a large amount of vitality mana, the physiology structure of Demonesses had undergone great change, their gazes could even charm humans to the point of mind reading and mind control.
However, as this vitality mana flowed into 'Negary's' eyes following her gaze, they felt like water being dumped into the ocean, not a single bit of feedback could be felt by the Demoness.
〖 There's no need for this level of probing. Although I've forgotten a lot, I can still remember just as many things 〗'Negary' said as he placed his hand on the Demoness' shoulder, at which point she felt like the mana in her entire becoming suppressed, unable to circulate even a little bit.
It wasn't until 'Negary' had let go of her that the Demoness once again regained control over her own mana.
"That indeed seems to be the case. If that is so, I hope that the documents I can provide sir 'Negary' will be able to aid sir somewhat" the Demoness smiled sweetly, then slowly made her way off.
After a short stroll, the Demoness swiftly turned at a corner and entered a certain secret path.
"Mistress Lorley, was that 'Negary' actually Michael or not?" a faint shadow appeared behind the Demoness and asked her.
"Perhaps it truly was Michael who had lost his memories due to the side effects of the ritual, or it could be some other monster disguising as Michael; but it doesn't matter now whether he's real or fake" Lorley chuckled and answered.
'Negary's' control over vitality magic far surpassed the Demoness' expectations. Even if 'Negary' wasn't actually Michael, it didn't matter as long as their cooperation could provide mutual benefits; and 'Negary's' existence had shown them a lot more benefits to be gained.
As for what happened to the real Michael, no one truly cared to know in the first place.
