“Did you hear? Your trial is taking place in a few days and you’ll be sentenced for execution.”

That was the first thing I heard in the early morning, by no other than the yellow-winged eyeball that I was starting to think was a figment of my imagination.

“… I’m sorry?” I groggily responded, having just awakened. I rubbed my eyes to see if I was still in the dungeon. I must still be dreaming. “What was that again?”

“You will be sent for trial,” Be declared again, “at long last, you’ll be let out of the cell! I can’t smell anything but I’m sure the place we’re in is unsanitary…”

“No, no, I meant the last part,” I shook my head, hoping maybe I was just hallucinating.

“Oh, your execution?”

I think a nerve in me snapped as I stared at the eyeball, mustering the most patience I could possibly have held since coming here. “Yes, my damn execution. Is that not worth discussing now?”

‘How on earth is Ai dealing with them?’ The job interviews must be easy in the Seer land.

“Well, you kidnapped a noble, attempted to kill another one while also framing them for fund embezzlement,” Be paused to remember the other unfortunate crimes. “I think bribery and forgery of documents are also considered crimes in the human world. Not to mention the fact that you are suspected of possibly working with your father on a rebellion…” I could feel my eyes grow wider as the number of felonies increased. To think I had a chance of getting out of this situation unscathed!

I really should stop being surprised at this point.

“I ought to let you know that it was stated that you would have a clean execution. If you weren’t a noble and the heir of an influential marquess, you would’ve had to endure endless torture and humiliation while being burnt at the stake—“

“How about none of those things?!” I exclaimed. Seriously, what is wrong with this world?! “Why am I paying the price for crimes that I didn’t even commit? Are you saying that the original Raphael caused this mess to happen and just dipped thinking he could let an unsuspecting poor soul handle it?—“

“I doubt he knew he would die in the first place—“

“—That’s not the point!” I yelled, growing fed up with the situation. “Why am I the only one taking this situation seriously?! I know my life means very little to you guys but I—I don’t want to die!”

“Human… calm down,” the eyeball dropped their teasing remarks and flew closer to the floor so that they were facing me. “Did you not listen to Ai yesterday?”

I tried remembering last night’s conversation after I passed out. Sometimes, I found myself forgetting things, especially after coming into this world. But I did remember the doubtful promise they made to me that day.

“When they said they would return you home, they meant it,” Be said as I listened quietly. “Ai is not the type to make promises with humans and then abandon them.”

‘But you guys will eventually abandon me. Once I’m no longer an entertaining thing.’ I was a fool to believe that those eyeballs would continue helping me. It was why I had agreed to taking those stupid alchemy lessons, despite my lack of interest in studying. I had to find a way to survive in this world for the meantime.

“Hmmm, it’s interesting.”

I snapped my attention back to Be. “What is?”

“I can’t seem to read your eyes,” they said, causing me to frown. “Could it be because you are a stranger to our world? Or were you always like this?”

I didn’t know how to respond to the weird comment so I only stared blankly at the eyeball, hoping they would change the topic soon. I turned my head, avoiding their gaze when it got too uncomfortable to handle.

Eventually, they realized we were getting out of track and then cleared their throat. “Anyway, you don’t have to worry about getting executed.”

“… Right, so will my lighter sentence be prison?” I let out a sigh. No matter from what angle I looked at it, I was a criminal; I could even vaguely remember Jian talking about the villain’s whole thought process when it came to planning out his disastrous plan. Now if only he had a ‘get-out-of-prison-in-case-things-go-wrong’ planning sheet somewhere…

“Do you want to stay in prison for life?” the eyeball jokingly asked. I shook my head.

“Obviously not.”

“Then that won’t be the case,” the eyeball descended to the ground and started using their light magic to sketch a list of some sorts. “We currently have two options. The first option is that we rely on your lawyers and lack of evidence to support that you’re not guilty. That is, assuming your father will try to save you rather than the rumours being confirmed that he’s staging a rebellion.”

‘Unfortunately, those aren’t rumours.’ I certainly do remember hearing about a marquess hoping to save his son by dividing the nobles and going against the royal family around the end… In fact, this was the only scene he was mentioned in, so I knew nothing else about him.

I frowned. “What’s the percentage of that working?”

“1.23%” they answered almost immediately.

Of course. “So the second option?”

Be sighed. “This one is a little trickier, in terms of avoiding attention from unwanted eyes. As I’ve mentioned before, we cannot interfere in human meddling… however, your case is an exception.”

I looked at them hopeful as I waited for them to continue.

“The second option is that we wait it out until it’s time the judge makes a decision and then…” the eyeball grinned. “Boom! We cause an explosion.”

“Ha… avoiding attention you say,” I shook my head. I wish there was a manual that told me what to expect from these guys. “What happens next? Certainly we’re not waiting to be exploded.”

“We get you out of there, of course. The explosion merely acts as a distraction; I’ll have Ce take charge of it once I give the signal, and then I’ll come for you.”

I rubbed my forehead. “And this is the only option I have, right?”

“Yes. But you don’t have to worry, I’ll be able to fly us out of there in no time without anyone finding out.”

I must’ve looked doubtful because Be frowned at my response. “What? I can really fly us out of there!”

“With what wings?” I didn’t mean for it to sound demeaning, but the eyeball’s little wings hardly counted as a means of transportation.

“These.” In an instant, Be expanded in size before I could blink twice. I quickly backed away as they took up the space in the cell, watching in awe until the top of their eyelid was now touching the ceiling. “Changing sizes is only one of the many things we can do; I will be able to turn us both invisible when we help you escape.”

“Wh-what… why don’t you do that now?!” I blurted out.  

The eyeball sighed. “As I was saying, we’re not allowed to interfere. In fact, doing this much is enough to get me killed,” they said while maintaining eye contact. “As long as the possibility remains that you could escape your fate without our interference, I cannot do much for now.”

“And either way, this whole place has anti-mana technology to prevent strong prisoners from escaping.”

“But I’m sure it’s nothing compared to you,” I reluctantly pointed out.

Be smugly smiled in response. “You’re right. But it is a problem to you.”

“Hmph.” Upset as I was, at least there was a plan b. And I knew I couldn’t complain much considering the circumstances. Now if whoever was responsible for my reincarnation should show up right now… I would be having a ‘different’ conversation.

“So, any questions?” The eyeball was peering at me again, as if they were expecting me to say something comical. I crossed my arms.

“None at the moment, I’ll let you know when I find another error in your plan,” I dryly responded. I decided that starting from now on, I would lower my expectations when it came to surviving.

“Perfect! Then this sounds like the best time to study alchemy, don’t you think?” Be pulled out a monocle out of nowhere as they switched to their teacher mode. I dreaded the new lesson, but I knew it was necessary for now.

As the session began, I found myself growing a little curious when the eyeball started talking about upgrading skill levels; I opened my summary panel as a guide while they talked, making the small connections between what they said and what the original Raphael had already mastered. 

This sparked a new train of thought; if I was in his body, then according to muscle memory, I was capable of using whatever skills he had right now.

“Hey eyeball… can I try using my fire mana?”

The flying eyeball paused what they were about to say to turn and stare at me. They shook their head. “You’re not ready to implement what you know into action yet.”

“But why?” As far as I knew and what was displayed in front of me, Raphael was plenty skilled in magic. “My mana capacity may be low compared to the rest, but it’s still good enough for combat.” Did they think I would lose control or something? In any case, it wouldn’t damage the dungeon anyway.

“Human, the problem is not your body or your skills or your knowledge,” Be sighed, rubbing their imaginary forehead with their wing. “The problem is you.”

That didn’t feel nice to hear. “How is it my fault??” The silence that followed didn’t make me feel any better. “Come on, what is it? Surely, you don’t mean I’ll remain useless like this forever—“

“That’s not the case—“

“Then what?” I didn’t know why the eyeball was stalling. Was this another thing I was not supposed to understand?

“Remember what I told you, how powerful magic requires a strong body and mind?” they started. “You currently lack the ‘mind’ that is necessary to control your mana and not get consumed by it. After all, you come from a world where magic apparently doesn’t exist; the damage it could potentially do to you would be lethal.”

My face fell as I listened to the grim explanation. “Does that mean I will never be ready?”

“You’re wrong, dear human,” this time, the eyeball’s smile seemed to be comforting in a way. “Just because it may seem impossible doesn’t mean it is. After all, someone like you exists, and I always like to consider every possibility before resigning to one.”

I rolled my eyes playfully. “Should I be glad that you’re stubborn? Jeez, I don’t think I’ll be able to win an argument against you at this rate…”

Be lightly giggled. “I think it would be best to avoid any argument with a Seer.”

***

A/N: From this point on, we’ll be introduced to new characters :) Sorry for the long wait.