CHAPTER 334: GET BACK TO ME

He turned inward, reaching—feeling—not with his body, but with something deeper.

That thread. That invisible link he’d forged during the tournament. The strand that now tied Dani Okvar’s mind to his own.

It was faint. Hard to grasp.

Like a fishing line cast too far into murky waters, nearly lost.

Finding it was harder than he expected, as the connection was quite weak to begin with.

But it was still there.

Buried deep, like a heartbeat under layers of noise.

He focused.

He pushed.

Then—click.

Something latched.

Harry’s breath hitched, and his vision warped.

The white lounge, Leon, the endless void—all of it collapsed into shadow.

The light peeled away, like silk being drawn from his eyes.

Then everything turned black.

And then—something else began.

A memory.

Another life, not his own, slowly unraveling before him.

Dani’s memories flashed before his eyes, starting from the most recent ones, and the simple ones and then...

He found it.

The one that happened just after the tournament.

He now stood inside a modest room, dimly lit by the amber glow of wall-mounted lamps. Wooden floor. Faint smell of dust and incense.

Dani Okvar was there also—pacing slightly, shoulders tense. The curtains were drawn tight, and the place had a lived-in, disorganized feel.

A half-eaten plate of food sat untouched on the counter.

Dani held something in his hand—a small, thin device no larger than a matchbox. It shimmered with faint magical lines, pulsing as he pressed it to his ear.

A communication artifact, and one quite high ranked at that.

That artefact was probably how he managed to escape the AMO taping into his calls, and also maintain his secret.

"—Yes. It’s done," Dani was saying. His voice was low, uncertain, but laced with a forced calm.

"I raised the alarm, just like you said. I didn’t run into anyone. I... I assumed Adolf had already taken care of things on his end."

The voice on the other side responded, filtered and mechanical—but unmistakably female.

Veiss.

"Adolf is dead," she said coldly.

Dani froze. The silence that followed was sharp, almost tangible. His lips parted slightly, but no words came.

"...Dead?" he echoed, breath catching. "How—? I didn’t see him. I thought... I thought he’d done his part. When I arrived, there was nothing. The forest was damaged sure... but I thought that was him, and that he had left."

"You assumed wrong," Veiss replied, her tone dry and grave. "The mission was a failure. He died before doing his part."

The words seemed to hit Dani like a slap. He staggered slightly, lowering the device for a second, before quickly pressing it back to his ear.

"But how? Who could’ve—? I didn’t see anyone. No witnesses. We were careful, weren’t we?" He was sweating now, visible drops running down his temple. "You don’t think someone saw us? Saw me?"

Harry watched the man unravel, eyes narrowing slightly.

Veiss didn’t skip a beat. "If someone saw you, you’d already be dead."

That silenced him.

"Adolf’s death doesn’t concern you. It just means he was pathetic. Too weak, and it’s nice we’re finally rid of trash."

Her voice held no warmth, and from her words, one would never be able to guess that Adolf was actually on the same guild as her.

"But—" Dani started, lifting a hand as if trying to argue, but the line had already gone dead.

The crystal in his hand dimmed instantly, lines fading like the last embers of a fire.

Dani stared at it, lips still parted in stunned confusion.

Harry simply stared at the man.

Even here, inside the memory, there was something pitiful about the way Dani stood there—sweat running down his neck, chest rising and falling in shallow panic.

"I need to get in contact with him and explain everything," Dani muttered to himself, running a hand through his hair. His voice shook now, the thought of him getting exposed sending chills down his spine.

Harry’s expression didn’t change, but his thoughts sharpened.

This part of the memory—the conversation, the panic—was authentic.

But everything before that?

Harry had already manipulated it.

The moment Dani arrived in the forest and discovered Adolf’s corpse—those memories were long gone. Erased cleanly. In their place, Harry had planted something different.

A false memory of him stepping into the trees, only to be overwhelmed by a surge of dense mana pressure.

He made Dani think that intense mana pressure was what knocked him out for the first few minutes. Nothing more, nothing less.

It made everything seem like an embarrassing miscalculation on Dani’s part, but then, it made it easier to believe.

It also made Dani overestimate Adolf’s strength quite a bit, and the realisation that there was someone out there who could take out Adolf was extremely terrifying.

All these were things Harry took into mind when manipulating his memories, and despite how simple it was, Harry had learned that sometimes, that was all it took.

Not every lie had to be complex. Not every falsehood needed to be a masterwork. The best deceptions were often the ones closest to the truth—ones that were too dull to question.

Harry folded his arms and stood quietly as the memory continued to play in the background.

Dani was pacing again, muttering under his breath, trying to piece together next steps. But none of it mattered.

"I need to call him... I can’t let myself get caught... I just can’t." He muttered, biting his fingers in frustration.

As for the "him" he had in mind, it was none other than Harry himself.

He had made sure to plant another false memory within Dani’s mind, in order to give the traitor hope, and also make gathering information easier for himself.

He made Dani believe there was another dark guild member he was working with, one even higher in rank and more powerful than Veiss.

However, Veiss didn’t know about the presence of this other dark guild member.

Harry made the adventurer believe he was the only one in touch with him, a figure he could run to and explain everything to whenever he was confused.

’Now I’ll just wait... for him to get back to me.’ Harry thought, finally exiting the memory.