A full week has passed since I've had my first lesson with the students. Today's lesson went well. I began to create a relationship with Iusus, which I have figured to be my goal while teaching the students, and go over an important rule of thumb. I discussed the art of concealing your intentions. How to create a smoke screen for your enemies to be lost in and how to create red herrings in the path your enemies follow so they are left confused while you remain the puppeteer. Of course, I made sure to not expose all of my secrets. That would be foolish. Give enough for them to raise my status in their minds and make it feel like they have learned; that was all I needed.
Hiding your intentions is still a very interesting topic, one that I have dwelled deeply into over my many years of life. It is something that everyone, no matter their status, participates in. Though probably the best-known version of this in my last world was the aristocratic world. The game of aristocracy is interesting because of how everyone hides their true intentions behind a facade of kindness and smiles. It was a game that you had to follow the rules of or everyone else would take advantage of your mistakes. Having the deepest plots and the most conniving schemes, yet still hosting parties, showing the correct respect to others, and courting those higher up. It was a dance of concealment.
Ever since I exposed a personality shift in my character, I have been practicing this law; in a different way of course. I've shown to my enemies and most people who know me that I am someone who wants strength but is still just a child in the end. Convir knows that I have strength both physically and mentally, yet he is comfortable with using me.
Why is that?
Along with the benefits I give him, I've shown naivety and subservience, aspects belonging to a youth who shares his identity with the people around him and the place he lives. He believes I won't betray him because I have roots with him. If I betrayed him then what of the people I have grown close to? What of all the benefits I gain from him? He trusts me, not because he believes to be completely superior to me, but because he believes to have a foothold on me. And, as of now, he does. That's why I'm working towards getting rid of his power before I expose myself as a true traitor.
To do that I also need power of my own, and power comes in all different forms. Physical power is by no doubt the most powerful power, but other powers have their merits. For example, while in the binds of society, political power is very important. If you have enough physical strength, you can do anything you want. But in the absence of true strength, political and social strength takes precedence. And since I still would have to wait a couple more months before having the chance to upgrade my physical strength, I have to focus on the next most important one.
I walked down the unlit circular wooden staircase while using my Genesis Sight to make sure my next step didn't send me spiraling down. As I reached the bottom, I walked through the small rectangular-prism-shaped room through an empty door frame. Once I entered the large, smooth, and wooden cube-shaped room, I made my way to the sagging piece of flesh tied to one of the walls.
Her black hair was disheveled and covered her face. Through the gaps in her hair, you could see her empty eye sockets which looked like they belonged to a corpse, her lips, devoid of any color, and her empty cheeks. Her body was flaccid and bent to gravity's will like an inanimate object. As you overlooked her body, you could see malnutrition through her skeleton that shone through the surrounding skin. She couldn't see or hear, but even if she could, you could tell her current attitude wouldn't be anything different. In fact, it even looked like she was dead.
But she was still breathing, I made sure of that through each visit. She couldn't even kill herself as I made sure to always break her jaw before I left. This woman had gone through hell, and I could sympathize with that feeling. I only knew this method because it was used on me in my last life before I became the Demon King. But it didn't matter to me, she was just a tool for my use, why do I care if I abuse a tool a little to make it work better? But it would still be difficult, so I had to be careful.
I went up to her, and using my bare flesh, placed my palm on her chest. Even with this sense, there was no reaction. That was a good thing, as every time I touched her with the leather gloves, she jumped out of trauma. This meant she didn't connect my hands with her pain. And it also meant that she probably wouldn't connect my appearance or voice to it either. In that case, everything was ready to get into action.
I walked over to the admin console of the tree and imputed a command. Once I submitted it, the sound of wood crumbling could be heard, followed by a thud. I turned around and saw that Vernam had fallen onto the ground. Her body was on its side facing me, loose as could be. It was like the soul belonging to the body had disappeared completely. But I knew that was untrue, it would only take some encouragement to get her moving again.
First I'll start with her hearing.
I activated one of the last remaining healing Fruits I restocked from Hasrem two days ago and used it on Vernam's ears. Once the effect was over and her hearing returned, I said soothingly, "It will all be alright now. I am here for you Vernam. Everything will be fine."
What I said was definitely out of character, but that would only matter if she were in a mentality of sanehood. But she wasn't. She was emotionally, and mentally dead. When someone is in a state of despair as such, kindness goes miles, even if it's faked. That sort of comfort from someone else can be a life changer.
Even when I said this though, there was still no reaction from Vernam. It made sense since you can't get over something like this in one second, but it was a fact she heard me, and that's all that mattered. After I said those words I held her in a baby cradle and proceeded to heal her eyesight. Her empty sockets suddenly began to grow from the veins connecting to the brain, to the anterior pole. Once her eyes were back, not much changed. She looked as dead as before, but I still made sure to make eye contact with her and sweetly smile as if she were the only thing that mattered to me.
I began to make my way out of the tree while maintaining eye contact and whispering honeyed words to her.
"Everything is fine now. You are safe with me. It's over now. There is nothing to worry about any longer..."
___________________________________________________________________________
As I walked with the limp Vernam still in my arms, my head pushed through the last of the dense leaves, exposing a clearing. The grass was tall and weedy with the rain bouncing off of the blades. It went up to my knees and went up to a quarter of the door in front of me. This clearing belonged to another one-story building. This building used to be a material research facility, but around 10 years ago, when Convir broke off from the L'Amour Family and bought the Campus from the Sect Leader, it lost its funding and became another one of the abandoned buildings on the campus.
I found it while searching for the classroom Medisma prepared for me, and now it's serving a purpose. This is where I'll be indoctrinating Vernam. It was small, out of the way, and not well known, the perfect place to have her stay when I was out and about. The outside appearance was similar to the classroom given to me, except that it was in slightly better condition.
I balanced Vernam in one arm as I opened to door, exposing the inside to me. I wasn't very surprised when I didn't see much besides a chalkboard, a large meeting table, and paper scattered about. Research for things belonging to the Magic Path was a lot less practical, usually consisting of things that you couldn't put up on display, but only could write down on paper. That was especially so for research on materials which was similar to botany or zoology where it was just lots of observation, writing down those observations, and connecting those observations. So nothing else was needed for a research room besides people, paper, and ink.
The good thing about this place that made me choose it over others was that it had a much more comforting feeling. It was similar to being inside a cabin on high mountain peaks while watching the snow fall from inside your heated shelter. It was a peaceful place. A place that was perfect for bringing Vernam out of hell and teaching her that only I can do that for her. A perfect place to make her completely dependent on me. But that'll take time. For now, I have to get the basics down.
I placed Vernam down in a chair, and once I did, she made her first movement since she completely broke around three days ago. She raised her bony hand and reached out to me while shaking, 'Hmm? I didn't react like this at all when I was saved from this torture in my last world... maybe it's because we were at different points in life? And I also suppose she boasts different genetic makeup than I did, which could cause different reactions... either way, this seems like a good thing, so I'll just go with it.'
I lifted Vernam out of her seat and carried her again. Once I held onto her, she stopped shaking. After making sure she was locked in my grip, I walked over to the corner of the room. In the corner of the room were a loaf of bread, a cob of corn, a banana, and a robe. I bought this food earlier today along with the outfit for Vernam. I was a teacher now, so I could come and go as I pleased without having to be sneaky. And I had gotten some money from Convir for teaching, although it wasn't a lot, it was enough for this little spending spree.
I dressed Vernam into a black robe that draped over her because of her bony structure and then grabbed the food. I then placed the food on the table and sat down with Vernam on my lap. Although the food was in front of her, she didn't move an inch. Understanding she wasn't going to be able to feed herself, I began to pinch off pieces of bread and place them in her mouth. Once they were inside she would chew and swallow on her own. When about half the loaf was gone, I stopped. She hadn't eaten in a week, so her stomach must've shrunk. It would be bad if I overfed her, so I would go about it slowly.
There wasn't much of a bed in the building, but the floor would work just fine. I placed Vernam on the ground and instead of one of the normal phrases I whispered sporadically, I said to her, "It's time to go to bed Vernam. You need your rest."
Once I said that, she started shaking again and pointed at me. I got the hint and resigned myself to my fate. I would have to spend the night here. It was fine since I already used my Talent Plunder Fruit tonight.
I shrunk my body and ended up on the ground, next to Vernam. I turned to her, smiling before kissing her forehead and caressing her head, "Goodnight Vernam."
It was only then that she closed her eyes.
And just as I was going to close mine, and follow suit, I heard a faint whisper, "goodnight..."
I feigned a happy smile and fell asleep along with her.