May I Know Why You Wear That Mask?

After coming to the conclusion that Bryson might not actually be gone from the story, I decided to think of a way to deal with this. I mean, it's hard to imagine the main villain will be taking theft of his own body that easily.

"So, Natan. Have you ever felt something like a personality shift or something like that? I've noticed that you are acting a little differently today."

Raisa nodded shortly after I said that.

"Yeah, I was thinking that earlier. It looks like it's not just me."

Charlotte turned to Natan in curiosity, waiting for his answer. As for the person in question, his expression showed that he wasn't too sure about what he was supposed to say.

From his nervousness, I could tell that he was hesitating.

Though there was no way to confirm, my assumption is that he was wondering what to say so as to not inconvenience Nathan. Which was kind of ridiculous when you consider that Nathan basically hijacked his body.

Eventually though, he nodded.

"Haha... um, yeah. I'm not too sure why this happens either, but sometimes my personality shifts."

Charlotte let out a surprised gasp.

"E-Eh? Really?"

Arianne and Raisa also both looked at him rather curiously. Before they raised their questions though, I asked first.

"When does this change usually happen? Do you do it voluntarily?"

Natan scratched the side of his head and took a moment to think.

"Um, this change probably happens whenever I go to sleep. It isn't voluntary because I don't make myself to..."

He suddenly cut himself off, as his eyes drifted listlessly before closing. His body wobbled once before going completely limp. Charlotte was rather shocked, but didn't push him away. Instead, she just let him lay down in her lap.

The next second, Nathan's eyes slowly opened.

"Ugh..."

Charlotte tilted her head to the side.

"A-Are you ok, commoner?"

Nathan blinked a few times before groaning once more.

"Fuck, is this a nightmare?"

Charlotte smiled unconsciously.

"No, of course not! I'm right here!"

Nathan coughed and placed a hand on his forehead.

"Godammit, it really is a nightmare."

He sat up and observed his situation, still muddled with sleep and mumbling to himself. But after a little while, he saw me and came to.

"Wait, this isn't a dream?"

I shrugged my shoulders helplessly as a small smile formed on my face.

"It appears so. Let's meet up after lunch."

Nathan looked around him, clearly confused, but nodded afterward. Arianne mumbled in a bit of shock.

"He really does feel like an entirely different person."

Charlotte leaned into him once more with a curious expression.

"Really?"

Nathan grit his teeth immediately and wrestled himself out of her grip.

"I said no touching!"

Charlotte pouted before backing off.

"Ok..."

A bitter smile formed on Raisa's face.

"Do you see how different he is now?"

Charlotte turned to Raisa with a confused look.

"Eh? Is he different?"

My eyelid twitched. Honestly, I thought that the puppy love that Raisa felt was bad. However, the puppy love that Charlotte had was clearly several times worse. There was a phrase called rose-tinted glasses, but this girl was definitely wearing a rose-colored blindfold.

As confusion and awkwardness surfaced among us, I decided to just focus on lunch itself.

The period was over soon enough. I gave Raisa the book I had on me for safekeeping, and while confused she accepted. While the others went back to class, Nathan and I went outside and into an alley.

Nathan had one hand on his forehead in frustration.

"So, what the fuck happened to me?"

I held out one hand while smirking.

"It looks like Natan had taken over your body while you were knocked out cold."

Nathan looked back at me in shock, but soon his shock relaxed.

"Shit. That explains a lot of things."

I raised a finger and twiddled it back and forth.

"You should've figured this out earlier. From what I gathered, he's actually able to see what you've been doing, how much I do not know. When you go to sleep is when he can become conscious. Also, it appears that he can't voluntarily take control over the body."

Nathan massaged his temple with the base of his palm.

"That's pretty damn annoying. Do you think I'll be able to get through to him?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Honestly, you probably don't even have to. He didn't seem to mind you taking control of his body and even tried to help hide this fact, though he really didn't do a good job."

Nathan smiled bitterly.

"Hah. I guess if it's like this, then it could be seen as having another ally."

Yet, right after saying that his expression fell.

"...Wait. Does that mean-"

He didn't continue speaking after that. Still, it was more than enough to get his meaning. After taking a deep breath, I spoke.

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. So far, there haven't been any signs."

I thought back to the times that I do fall asleep. Nothing big happened the first time or so. However, now I only fall asleep while Jess is basically cradling me. I guess he may come conscious then, but only gets dragged around by an unreasonable Jess who forces him into the bed with her.

That's probably why I was already dressed by the time I woke up.

Because someone else had done it.

I rubbed my chin in thought. As it turns out, Jess's unreasonable antics actually locked up the options for the real Bryson. Still, that obviously wouldn't continue forever, and if he was willing to get more unreasonable, then those restraints wouldn't matter.

At least for now it seemed he didn't want to go against his sister.

That is, if the state my body is in is the same as Nathan's.

"Even if he is dormant in my body, I'm pretty sure that things won't go too wrong for now."

Nathan nodded.

"Alright then. Is there anything else?"

I gave a small nod right after.

"Do you think we will be able to organize a trip to go past the forests in the North?"

Nathan rubbed his chin in thought. He had already understood my main intentions.

"We won't have to worry about combat though for the next couple of weeks. Actually, now that I think about it, that spell can have other uses too."

The blackout spell made people unable to see. This could be used to support various discreet actions such as thieving. As of now, I hadn't thought of a specific way to use it, but I'm sure I would find a use before the time for real fights occurred.

Nathan closed his eyes and pondered for a little while.

"Let's do that next weekend. Honestly, it's probably going to take a damn long time. We might as well search for other things on the way there."

I gave a small nod.

"Oh yeah, there are also a few other things to tell you about. Apparently, there seems to be some cult with a sword sticking out of a book as their symbol. Along with that, Bernie tried to sit at my table and I ended up pissing him off. I was also told there was some sort of Divine Arts guy past the forest."

Nathan couldn't help but chuckle after hearing that.

"Ah, is that it? To be honest, I didn't make the best first impression on that Bernie guy either. I tried to follow the normal dialogue presented in the game, but he started responding differently anyway. That plan kinda went awry. Also, I'm a little concerned that the reason why Edward turned evil wasn't because of some sort of trauma, but rather his ability."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you say that?"

Nathan let out a soft sigh.

"I could be completely wrong, but it seems that he mentally experiences the pain from the blood he absorbs. From what I understand, the pain is definitely a much smaller amount than what they actually go through, but he experiences it nonetheless. My guess is this is why he turned into that insane guy."

My brows furrowed rather intensely.

"That... is not too good."

Nathan nodded.

"But at least for now, his conviction doesn't seem to be shaken. He is still very much the same person. Maybe that's just because they are animals, but it's still not bad."

I slowly nodded.

"Say, if he does go out of control, do you have an idea on how to deal with him?"

Nathan promptly smirked.

"I already dealt with that a while ago. I'd say there is a higher than ninety-percent chance of it working."

I waved my hand casually after that.

"If you say so. Those chances are good enough for me."

Nathan put both hands behind his head.

"I've been trying to get some of the items to trade in the black market, and while I haven't gotten any of them yet, there's some progress made."

He rested his head back against the wall and sighed.

"And that's all the pains in the ass that I've been dealing with."

I let out a laugh.

"Then let's head on back."

I got the book back from Raisa before proceeding with English class. The rest of the classes were fairly normal, nothing special happened there. Soon enough, it was time to go back home once more. Jess didn't have anything to say, so the ride back was silent.

Upon getting back, I thought about making contact with those people once more. They said that night would be better, but the evening should be close enough. Besides, I didn't want to get too involved, lest they were a threat to me.

While I had knowledge, my combat abilities were rather pathetic.

For now, my only intention was to make contact with them.

After telling my servants to go off on their own to the slums, I went to find the cloak and mask that I bought. Afterward, I got another cloth to wrap the cloak and mask in, not wanting people to see me leave in the getup.

Though I had last gone to the place by carriage, I still remembered how to get there. Initially, I was expecting it to be the same black market as the game, thus dedicated it to my memory.

Not that it still wasn't a good place to know about, but still.

After traveling for quite some time, I found myself not too far from said black market. I found a nearby alleyway to go into and put on my clothes. Then, I made strides over to the black market.

I inevitably attracted a lot of attention, but that couldn't be helped as the only person wearing a mask and cloak. Regardless, I still entered the place before making my way to the place I had last seen that symbol.

The vendor noticed me pretty quickly and gave me a wave.

"Ah, I see you are back."

There were still many different trinkets and junk spread out on his table. It was definitely not that popular to buy from.

"Yes, I was here to see the availability of that familiar item."

He nodded a few times before letting out a laugh. His voice dropped drastically in volume, making me nearly miss what he had said.

"Haha, of course, of course. Unfortunately, I don't have it here right now. After a bit of time, you can head over to the west of this location and make your way to a tree with a broken branch. Follow where that broken branch leads, then gesture a cross above your heart, and you should be able to purchase that familiar item."

I gave a small nod.

"When exactly will it be available?"

The vendor shrugged his shoulders.

"Within the hour."

After he said that, I decided to just go around the rest of the place, seeing if anything else interesting was laid out around here. While I hadn't seen anything noteworthy before, it was at least worth a try I guess.

While traveling around, I only found myself disappointed by the expected outcome. Though, before I could mull over it, someone called out to me.

"May I know why you wear that mask?"