Turning Chapter 1090

"That guy Fay had a pretty unusual ability. It was like... sothing mirror-like."

"Oh, you an the one who made copies of people?"

"Yeah, that one."

"I rember too. During the first test, soone who looked exactly like Ishias appeared in front of her and suddenly used her ability. She was so startled she almost fell over."

As he listened to the talking mbers, Yuder quietly observed their faces.

‘So it is the sa guy I rember.’

In his past life, he had been granted the surna Failan—known as Fay Failan.

The first ti Yuder saw Fay, he had already been transferred from the Northern branch to the capital due to the uniqueness and potential of his ability.

He could create a doppelgänger of soone by using a part of their body—like hair or nails. The copy could use the original’s powers and even speak a few phrases, following Fay’s commands. It was essentially like a mirrored replica.

It sounded like an incredible ability, but in his past life, Fay had been treated like dead weight for several years after joining the Cavalry. The main reason was that the duration of his copies was extrely short—only a few seconds—and he couldn't activate his power without obtaining part of soone’s body. On top of that, the stronger or more complex the original person's power was, the harder it was to replicate, and even harder to make the copy actually use those powers. In other words, soone like Yudrain was impossible for him to duplicate.

‘And he couldn’t make a copy of himself either, which only made things worse.’

Still, after grinding through a few years in the Cavalry, Fay’s ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) ability began to evolve. The once-nervous recruit who couldn’t et Yudrain’s eyes during training eventually started looking him straight in the face. One day, he even managed to create a doppelgänger of Yuder during a real battle, throwing the enemy into chaos. Of course, it only lasted about a second and disappeared before doing anything—but even that brief shock was enough for the real Yuder to strike and kill.

By the ti Fay could maintain a copy of Yuder for about ten seconds, he beca Sub-Commander of the Cavalry. After that, he could replicate the abilities of most mbers with ease, though the duration was still limited. Still, many began to regard his power with awe.

That’s when the nickna One-Man Cavalry stuck—because having him alone was like having the entire force.

Fay was particularly adept at copying elental Awakener powers. Yuder suspected it was because he had spent so much ti trying to recreate his own nature-based ability.

‘Using the powers of others as one’s own... in that sense, he’s similar to that fake Sage, Diemon.’

Fay remained Sub-Commander until the day Yuder died. Naturally, he never once believed Yuder’s warnings about the abnormal rifts or the coming apocalypse. In fact, one day, he said this:

“The failure rate of Cavalry missions keeps increasing, and more mbers are dying. Both the Commander and Sub-Commander are dead, yet you insist on clinging to this aningless investigation. Do you really think everyone will stay silent forever like they did?”

Fay never spoke to Yuder outside of official matters, so the sharpness of that one sentence was striking.

That was their final conversation.

Shortly afterward, Yuder left the Cavalry once again, continuing to search for any traces of the rifts. He next saw Fay on the day of his execution—standing next to the empty throne, holding the red mana-stone staff that had once been the symbol of the Cavalry Commander—his symbol.

He doesn’t clearly rember Fay’s expression anymore. After that burning fury of having sothing taken from him by a subordinate faded, he’d stopped caring altogether.

While Yuder recalled all this, the Northern branch mbers continued speaking.

“He’s quiet. Doesn’t talk much. Weliven said he seed timid, and Shuseiner said he kept people at arm’s length but didn’t seem bad at his core.”

“Oh, but I did see him talking passionately once. When the Cavalry ca up.”

Yuder frowned slightly.

“What do you an? Tell more.”

“Haha, curious, are you?”

They exchanged sly glances and chuckled before answering.

“Most new recruits tend to admire the first-generation mbers, but Fay really stood out in that regard. Every ti your na or the Commander’s ca up, his eyes would light up, and he’d start asking all sorts of questions.”

“...Mine and the Commander’s?”

“Yeah. He said he’d always admired the Commander—makes sense, I guess, since he’s from the North. But he even had your achievents morized, which surprised us.”

“He wanted to et the Commander badly, but they missed each other and he got sent to the capital instead. He must’ve been crushed.”

“Hey, don’t make it sound like he’s so shady fanatic. Anyway! We just an he had that unexpectedly passionate side to him.”

Ishias jumped in, smacking the others’ backs when she noticed Yuder frowning silently. She seed to think he was irritated.

But Yuder’s frown wasn’t because of annoyance. It was because of the dissonance between the Fay he rembered and the Fay he was hearing about now.

‘He said he admired Kishiar from the start? I never heard a word of that in my previous life.’

Sure, it was possible. As soone from the North, he might have heard of Kishiar, the Duke of Peleta and forr Commander. But Fay had never once spoken about him, not even in casual conversation.

‘...Could this be one of those mories related to Kishiar that were erased from ? No... that doesn’t seem right.’

“Oh! That reminds —there was one more thing Weliven said about him.”

“What? That was everything I knew. What else?”

“Not much. After Fay got selected, Weliven looked over the application again and saw his hotown and family info. He said it reminded him of young Sir Zuckerman. Said it made sense that the kid seed timid.”

“What’s that supposed to an?”

“Like I said, not much. Fay’s hotown seed to be a really remote place. I figured Weliven ant he acted timid because he grew up sowhere isolated.”

“Stop dumping every little detail on Yuder. Just give him the important stuff.”

But to Yuder, that was the most important part.

‘Nathan Zuckerman’s childhood. A remote village. A comnt about timidity... I think I get it now.’

Yuder politely humored the continuing chatter about the other recruits and slipped away. Naturally, he went straight to Weliven.

He found him at the Cavalry headquarters near Castle Peleta. When Weliven saw him, he stood abruptly in surprise.

“Oh. What brings such an honored guest here...?”

“I’d like to ask you about one of the new Northern branch recruits—Fay.”

Weliven blinked in confusion. Yuder could tell from that look alone that he rembered Fay.

“I do rember him... but what exactly are you asking?”

“I’ll be blunt.”

Yuder t the gaze of the veteran captain—his sharp, hawkish eyes—and asked directly:

“Was Fay of Southern Nation descent?”

Yes. This was what Yuder had deduced by piecing together the comnts Weliven had made.

Nathan Zuckerman had been born to Southern Nation parents and spent his childhood in a segregated village for Southern prisoners. If he hadn’t t Kishiar during a brief convalescence in the South, he might have lived his life in hiding, constantly controlled and judged as the child of captives.

If anyone knew that history, it would be Weliven, who had taken care of Nathan since he ca to Peleta. If Fay’s hotown had triggered that mory in Weliven, then what else could it an but Southern heritage?

‘Fay didn’t look Southern... but then again, neither did Naham.’

If Naham hadn’t revealed it himself, no one would have guessed his bloodline. Without eting him, Yuder might never have even considered this possibility.

He watched Weliven’s face shift slowly. The seasoned knight’s eyes widened. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but for a mont no words ca out. Then, with difficulty, he finally spoke.

“...Yes. That’s correct. How did you know?”

Just as he thought.

Yuder felt a piece of the truth he’d never known fall perfectly into place in his chest.