Remnants

"And that's it, that's the whole story" Cain said with an anticlimactic smile that didn't match the story he had just told.

"Alright, but... what does that story have to do with all the stuff going on?" Edward asked, still confused but with that same strange feeling he had before.

"Well, the story I just told you is mine."

"Yours? What do you mean?"

"It's exactly what it sounds like, it's one of the stories of my life." Cain said, still wearing that strange smile.

"Wait, wait, I don't get it. What do you mean that story is yours? What does the king and everything you told me have to do with this?"

"That king is me."

"What?... That king is you?..." Edward had more and more questions.

"What the hell does that mean?"

"You see, I'm not from this place, I'm someone who's been reincarnated into several lives in different worlds." Cain's smile disappeared, and he had a completely serious expression.

Normally, Edward wouldn't believe a single word coming out of the man's mouth, but after seeing his expression, the strange things that had happened recently, and that inexplicable feeling he had, it wasn't hard for him to believe what he was hearing.

"Reincarnated? How is that possible?"

"Well, the truth is, it's pretty long to explain right now. But if you come with me, you'll know the whole truth. Plus, you're already involved in this, so you don't really have another option." Cain's offer sounded more like a threat.

"Come with you? Where?" Edward didn't understand what the man was saying and didn't know whether to accept his 'offer', so he decided to gather more information first.

"To get rid of the general once and for all."

"Why? But first, what or who is this general?" Edward still didn't know what decision to make.

"Well, there are several reasons why I want to do it. Do you remember that story I just told you? That's where the general comes from."

"What? Didn't that story take place in a kingdom? Is the general a reincarnated person like you?"

"Not exactly. He also travels to different worlds like I do; however, he doesn't reincarnate into other lives. Instead, he moves through desires."

"Desires? What do you mean?"

"You see, the general was once a high-ranking officer in the Albaria army, who, as you probably saw, was killed by me in the story."

"But I don't understand anything, to begin with, how did he reincarnate?"

"Hmmm... that story is also pretty long, better if I tell it another day. But in short, in the first world I lived in, there were entities called remnants, which are like what you saw in the store."

Remnants... remnants... does that word exist?... it sounds familiar... For some reason, Edward found the word familiar even though it was the first time he had heard it.

Cain continued, "The remnants are entities that originate from the persistent desires of people, though they're positive desires."

"Positive? That thing I saw in the store didn't look positive at all."

"By positive desires, I don't mean they are good desires, but that they grant a certain positive emotion or feeling to a person. Even though it may sound nice, it's not at all."

"Why?" Edward didn't understand how something that made people happy couldn't be something good.

"Well... there are many perverse people in this world. The desires from which the remnants originate are mostly what people consider crimes and sins."

"Stealing, murder, abuse, kidnapping, torture... these are some of the desires that remnants come from. Things that, even though they're evil and sinful, give certain happiness to people."

"Oh... I get it now..." Edward was horrified to think about what these beings could do, originating from this kind of desire.

"The general also came from these types of desires, although he's a bit special because he didn't come from someone else's desire, but from his own and his army's."