Trust

Alex quickly pushed the scary thoughts away and asked Sal

"I can understand why you're doing this, But you said 100s of years, How old are you exactly?"

Sal replied nonchalantly

"I don't know, I stopped counting

I'm older than some kingdoms, But that's not so rare, Every Lord should be either as old as me or even older, The oldest should be The Ancient Dragon Lord ... Or maybe The Archivist"

Alx became intrigued

"Who are they?"

Sal waved his hand

"It doesn't matter

Now let me introduce you to my two amazing followers"

He started by pointing at the masked man

"This here is Alpha, He is usually a reliable man, But his tongue gets him in trouble"

Then he pointed at the masked woman

"And this is Beta, She's very smart

But she's very delicate, Although, She often tries to show otherwise"

" ..... Nice to meet all of you"

Sal's answers only confused Alex further

'What are these people, How is this guy so old?

And what is all this talk about Lords and so on? I can't understand most of what he says'

Alex's mind spun trying to think of an answer

'Think Alex, Think, How do I get out of this situation, Nothing is left for me here'

Sadly, He couldn't think of anything useful, So he looked at Sal and asked

"So ... What now?"

"Ah yes ... Listen - "

Alex got scared of the answer, So he interrupted him and quickly changed the subject

"No, Wait, uhh, How about you tell me

Assuming that you found whom you're looking for, Are you gonna put them in this Object as well?

It's really tiring and I can hardly move, Why didn't you prepare something better?"

Alpha quickly replied

"These are just cheap constructs, We can't afford to waste valuable materials on random summons, And if we get real bodies things will be messy"

Suddenly, The atmosphere of the cave became so tense like someone dropped a bombshell

For a second, Alex thought he saw smoke coming out of Beta's ears, And Alpha audibly gulped.

Sal quickly stepped forward and stood in front of Alpha, Hiding him from Beta's piercing gaze

"Ahaha never mind this guy he doesn't really understand anything"

Alex found the situation amusing

'Looks like Alpha's tongue really gets him in trouble, Beta is so scary'

Sal wanted to change the subject, So he looked at Alex and explained

"These incredible pseudo bodies save us a lot of time, effort, and obviously materials

It's designed by our genius Beta, However, When we find the correct person we'll obviously give her a real body in one way or another, it's not like the world lacks bodies

Although I'm not really sure how we will do it yet"

Alex didn't like what he was hearing

"What do you mean in one way or another? Will you kill people?"

Sal replied nonchalantly

"Kill people? It's not the only way to get a body but it's one of the ways

Why? Do you mind it?"

Alex replied with disdain

"Of course I mind it, Do you have no problem in taking lives just for your own sake?"

After Alex said these words, Alpha put his hand on his sword

He didn't like the tone of disrespect directed at his lord.

Sal noticed that and put his hand on Alpha's shoulder

"Easy Alpha, It's okay"

He took a step closer and kneeled down to be at Alex's eye level

"Alex, You might have come from a peaceful world, However, Here, We don't lack enemies

Anyone can die at any moment, especially if you are wandering around

Death is normal, Strife Zones are many, And the only thing that allows you to have a say on this matter is either your own power or the power of someone you rely on,

Be it a friend, family member, or the kingdom that you serve

Don't expect silly things like mercy or such, And do not judge others on things that you have no idea of, Do you understand me?"

Sal's tone was stern which made Alex a bit nervous

After a couple of seconds, Alex replied neutrally

"I get it"

'So it's like that huh, I don't agree with him, But I don't want to anger him right now ... I'm not really in a situation that allows me to act smart, Let's get this over with'

He looked Sal in the eye and asked

"Sal, What will happen to me now?"

"Naturally, You'll die"

"Are you going to kill me?"

"To kill something it has to be alive, You are not really alive, Alex"

"...."

"This is a pseudo body, It's feeding on my mana to keep your soul from shattering it and escaping

Once I cut off my mana supply, Your soul will go where it's supposed to go

However, Before that happens, I must do something"

"What?"

Sal avoided looking Alex in the eye and said

"Pay you"

"Pay me?"

Both Alpha and Beta glanced at Sal but they didn't say anything

Under the mask, Alpha had a neutral expression, But Beta had a displeased one

However, There was nothing she could do about it, So she kept quiet

Sal explained while looking at the ground and with a lower-than-usual tone

"I'm not selfish, Alex,

I do not understand exactly how death works, Nor how souls work, But from my experience, it seems that after dying, The soul occupies another body and its memory gets reset

I also know that souls can travel between different realities because my previous life was not in this world"

Sal looked Alex in the eyes and said

"However, Now that I brought you here, I have interfered with the natural process, and have no idea how exactly that will impact you"

He looked away again and said

"The general idea is that your soul will leave this Object and inhabit a body of a human being who is about to be born"

Sal took a deep breath then said

"To compensate for the trouble I caused, I'll help you"

"And what exactly are you planning to do?" Alex asked

"Improve your next life ... You just have to trust me"