"Who am I?"
Damien repeated it back.
"Who…are you?"
The man was still coming to consciousness, so he couldn't say much more than the words he was already saying, but the look in his eyes was desperate, as if his entire life hinged on Damien's answer.
'Is there really a need to lie?'
He'd been concealing his identity whenever he left the palace, but he didn't feel the need to do so this time.
More so, he felt like it would be wrong to do so.
"I am Damien Void."
He answered truthfully, removing his disguise.
When the man saw his purple eyes, when he heard his name, his face morphed once again.
"Ah…ah…Void…!"
He knew he'd felt it properly before.
The aura of Void, he'd sensed it when Damien acted earlier. It was because of that aura that he called Damien over, but Damien wasn't the man he expected to see arrive.
"Void…?"
It became clear at that moment.
This man had indeed confused him for someone else.
And that person was nobody other than his own father.
"Were you perhaps looking for Dante Void?"
The man shook upon hearing the question.
'As expected.'
The name "Dante Void" meant something to this man, and whatever that something was, it made him so desperate he sent out a pleading call without any hope for an answer.
Damien frowned.
He didn't know a lot about his father.
However, he knew who his father had positive relationships with in this world.
Claire told Damien everything about Dante when she heard he was curious. Since he was a grown man now, he deserved to know the hidden truths behind his birth.
Those hidden truths included the origin story of Void Palace, the origin story of Dante Void.
In that story, everyone was mentioned. Whether it was the Veritas Clan, Holy Empire, Dragon Clan, or even Kyushu Federation, almost every influence was filled with people who had relationships with Dante Void.
Most of those were positive. Dante never went out of his way to make enemies.
And since Damien was going to take the reins of Void Palace until Dante was back, Claire made sure he knew all those people by name and appearance. That way, he could always turn to others for help when he encountered something he couldn't handle alone.
The information given to him for the sake of his safety came in handy at times like this.
Because there was nobody among Dante Void's associates with an appearance like this.
Damien didn't know if this man was an enemy or just a random man who got a look at Dante once in his life, but it didn't matter.
'He's not a friend.'
Which meant he was a foe until proven otherwise.
Damien didn't have any mercy for foes.
His arm flashed out.
He grabbed the man's head, prepping his mana.
It would be extremely easy to read this man's existence.
All he had to do was try.
But why was he hesitating?
There was definitely a real chance that this man wouldn't be left in one piece when Damien was done, but did that matter?
He could have the information he wanted if he just pushed for it.
He didn't need to wait for this man to recuperate.
Plus, what if he was an enemy?
This man, no matter his state, was a God. If he was given the chance to use his strength, Damien wouldn't be able to stand it.
That was the main reason Damien healed the man's mind and left his body alone.
Everything pointed towards doing it. Damien couldn't find a good reason not to.
But there still was one.
Morality.
He didn't want to lose it.
Morality was a precious thing that could only be possessed by those in fortunate positions.
He didn't have any when he was suffering in the First Dungeon or surviving after that, but as he became older, as he became more powerful, he started caring about others again.
He didn't want to ruin his morality by crossing a line he shouldn't cross.
And that line was exactly what kept him from taking the easy road this time.
He would rather take some more time and effort to get the answers he wanted than open the gate for less morally acceptable means against people who hadn't been proven guilty yet.
It was hard to fight against power.
With power, Damien could have everything he wanted. He tread his difficult path because he wanted to see the light at the end of it.
But power corrupted even the most upright of men.
Power made it easy to cross the line.
Damien fought because he refused to be corrupted.
As someone close to the natural order, he knew exactly where his line was and what he needed to do to stay away from it.
It was because he knew that he couldn't bring himself to simply read this man's existence.
And, if that wasn't enough…
'...that shit on the ground is…'
Damien thought it was something along the lines of "impurities" at first, but seeing how those globs of black slime wriggled and gathered together like a living organism, Damien figured it had to be more than that.
'With that size, it's hard to tell how long it's been inside him.'
Carrying a parasite was usually a sign that someone had a story to tell.
A brutal one, at that.
'For stories like that, isn't it better to hear it from the mouth of someone involved?'
Damien wouldn't understand the emotions behind it anyway.
'Or maybe that's all just excuses.'
He didn't care. Those excuses helped him justify his decision to ignore ease, so he allowed them to flow like running water.
It took quite a while for Damien to get a hold of himself.
He didn't want to admit it, but he was definitely feeling a serious sense of urgency after learning about his father's situation.
His emotions were desperately wanting to burst out, but he kept himself calm.
The problem was that Damien was always an emotional person. If the right stimulus appeared, he couldn't guarantee that he would stay calm.
But, this wasn't the time for him to explode.
He loosened his grip on the man's head and stepped back.
He could see the man's fear-filled eyes staring at him, but no words were exchanged yet.
Since the man didn't seem capable of starting the conversation, Damien decided to speak first.
"Who are you?"
He repeated the question back to the man in the simplest way he could so the man's mind could process his words easily.
The man's eyes lit up. He was excited that he was able to understand something.
And his mouth opened.
Words didn't come out first. The man had to cough out several mouthfuls of blood first.
But he got them out somehow.
The words he knew best, his own name…
"Alex…West…"
…and his most earnest wish.
"Please…please…read my story."
Damien's eyes widened.
Those weren't the words he expected to hear.
But, as he thought them over, a strange thought came to his mind.
He thought he was crazy, but he had no choice but to wonder.
'Does…does that mean what I think it means?'
