Being looked down upon.
―That was going to be my main strength in this world.
I would manipulate the rumors around me and the feelings of the people around me, so that everyone wouldn't think much of me.
'Because of that, as much as I hate to admit it, this is prime time.'
Everyone in this village is slowly starting to understand that I am a bit impressive. As such, if I wait any longer, Frod will be wary of me.
Frod was mad, and he was hiding his madness. Those kinds of people are never good.
He was scheming something, and if I wanted to catch him, I couldn't wait any longer.
That's why, it will be now.
I will do it now.
I have gone hunting with Frod a couple of times, he is actually a leader of a group. Because of that, he chooses where we will hunt.
After taking into account all of the times he went out hunting, I noticed that there's a spot he likes being around, and he normally doesn't go directly to that spot at all.
Almost like he was making sure that nobody found something there...
But that was not even the weirdest part about that spot.
I was forgetting about it and I couldn't pay attention to it.
No matter how much I tried, paying attention to that spot was difficult. So difficult, that the only times I am able to realize that it is there, is when I am Thinking.
There was definitely some kind of magic at play.
From what Jagon explained to me, Charm Magic is used to... well, charm people, to make them have favourable impressions of you.
But that's controlling the mind, isn't it? And if you can control the mind in one way... why can't you control it in the other?
So yeah, there was most likely mass brainwashing happening in this village.
This also reinforced the idea that I can't ask anyone for help. If they are brainwashed, who knows how talking to other people will go about this topic.
That's why, this night, I alone will go and check it out. At the point where I am in my strongest state, while still being underestimated by the people around me.
'I'm gonna be dealing with mad people again, huh?'
I look at the huge scar on my stomach.
'Let's hope it won't go as bad as it did that time.'
And that I won't be forced to take drastic actions again.
***
Right now, I was Thinking. I had destroyed my self and stopped percieving everything, so that I can notice the existence of that spot.
The moment I stopped Thinking, I will start getting brainwashed again. It will not be immediate, but it'll still be fast.
I'd have to run at my fastest, and I'll have to take a map with me, so that even while partially brainwashed I will know where to go.
The map was already in my hands. If I became too brainwashed, I had written on the backside of the map on what I was doing and needed to do.
On it was written that I needed to Think, so that I will again be able to percieve the place again.
'Heh. I almost feel bad for whoever made this brainwashing. They met their natural enemy.'
Even Jagon, a mage who was actually really strong, couldn't understand that he was being brainwashed.
But I was someone who reconstructed myself from my memories, so I could tell when my actions made no sense, and could derive from that the fact that my mind was being tempered with.
'Alright, it's about time Frod goes to sleep. Let's go.'
I opened my eyes and started percieving the world again. The moment I did, my self came back.
I opened my window and ran straight into Zelen. After months of hunting in it, my fear of it was practically all gone.
'Well, that was my intention in the first place.'
Practically everything I had done since seeing Frod for the first time was to prepare for this moment.
Whether it be drinking Yadvine poison every other day, learning magic, hunting together with him, or making kites to see how far my knowledge could get me in this world.
All of it was for this night specifically.
I look down at the map. I was just about to get beyond the threshold of where Frod went.
I noticed a small clearing not far ahead.
'Let's be ready for any possible traps.'
I turned on external mana sense. It was dangerous considering my Mind Overload, but I felt like it would be needed here.
The moment I turned it on, I noticed that I was about to run into a barrier made of mana.
I lowered my body and thrust my heels into the ground to stop.
Then, I looked at the barrier of mana.
It was... not solid. I could go through it if I wanted to.
But this was probably some kind of alarm. If I just went through without any thought, Frod would know. The interesting part, was the fact that I could mana sense inside the barrier, and that the barrier was only a shell. In other words, if I could get through the outer layer, once I was inside, I wouldn't trigger the alarm.
'The reason I can see through it... is because it is not dense. And the reason it is only a shell... is probably to conserve mana.'
I... couldn't disarm something like this. My magic skills weren't nearly that good.
That said...
I broke off a branch of a tree and threw it at the barrier. It passed through without any problems.
'I can work with this.'
I took my dagger, enhanced my body with mana, and slashed through a big tree. Then, I did it again. After the third slash, the tree fell down.
Using the same method, I cut off the top part of a tree and ended up with a huge log.
Then, I started hollowing out the log. It was a long and annoying process, but the dagger Jagon gave me was very sharp ― probably something he used in the past ―so it was not too much of a pain.
After cutting down another tree, I made a small ramp.
I stood at the top of that ramp with the hollowed out log in my hands.
―When mana sensing, you could not see beyond enclosed spaces. As such, it made sense that this alarm barrier worked the same way.
So, I climbed inside the hollowed out log, secured the lid to make sure it was closed and wouldn't fall out, and pushed the log.
The log got pushed onto the ramp, so it started rolling down it and gaining momentum.
I could feel my head spinning at what was happening, but that was fine.
The moment the log stopped, I opened the lid and stepped out.
I had made it past the barrier, and was now inside it.
After recovering from my motion sickness, I started walking around and studying the ground, trying to find anything.
Once again, mana sensing saved this entire operation. I found a patch of grass that had different mana from the rest.
The question was how to get past the dirt.
'I've already used a quarter of my mana. I can try to enhance my leg and stomp as hard as I can repeatedly... but would I even have enough mana for that?'
I thought about hitting the ground with the log, but I didn't want it to break, as it was something I would need to get outside the barrier, so I quickly dismissed that idea.
Because of that... I had no choice but to start digging with my bare hands.
I wasn't smart nor strong, I just used what I had. There was probably a better solution I wasn't seeing, but I didn't care.
I would just do things my way, while giving it my all when I have to.
Digging with my hands wasn't that easy and was painful, but what choice did I have?
Eventually, I reached something that looked like a metal trapdoor that had some weird engravings on it.
'Probably some kind of magical object. How would I even open this?'
It probably reacted to mana of a specific person, or had a certain way mana had to be used on it in order to work.
I made mana exit my body and tried to do something to this trapdoor, but it straight up rejected my mana.
'No choice again, huh?'
I copied the pattern of the engraving onto the dirt nearby.
'This is gonna take all of my mana.'
Since I had been digging dirt for a pretty long time now, I had recovered some mana.
And now, it was time to use it.
"Feuerinfa, God of Fire, give me your aid. Create the fire to set everything alight, and so graciously allow me control of it."
A small flame appeared right above the metal trapdoor.
'You better work.'
I had put quite literally all of my mana into this spell. If this wasn't enough to melt the metal, I was stuck.
'I had specifically put extra power into the temperature part and less power into size part. Just work, please.'
After what felt like forever, but was actually three minutes, the steel did turn red... but that's it. There wasn't a hole burnt through that I could get through, the steel had just slightly disformed.
Ah, but that's exactly what I was aiming for.
'The engraving is now all messed up.'
The trapdoor was no longer magical.
I lie down on the ground to rest.
―I had a small amount of mana. More than the average person, but compared to people who actually fought or did magic, my capacity was beyond low.
As such, I had no choice but to take a rest to recover my mana.
I started waiting.
'―――'
My heart was beating hard. My vision was swimming. I was acting logical, but I was so unbelievably scared.
How could I not be? Not only could so many things go wrong, but... it was my first time dealing with a mad person since dealing with Yui.
Whether I liked it or not, her image was clearly imprinted in my mind for all eternity. And that image was not only scary, but also crushing.
So―
'Stop thinking about it.'
I looked at the stars to get my mind off the depressing topic.
After remembering the stars' positions, I had recovered all of my mana.
Then I stood up and stared at the now-normal metal trapdoor.
It didn't have a handle, so I couldn't just open it with brute force.
'No, that's not the way I should think.'
It didn't have a handle... yet.
I started forcing my mana to overtake the mana of the trapdoor. The mana of metal was really hard to take over, because of how strong it was, but I didn't need to take over the entire thing.
I just overtook a small part of it, and molded a handle.
Without even looking, I wiped my nose. I was expecting to see blood from pushing myself too hard... but my sleeve was just fine.
'Eh? Really? I expected it to go worse.'
That was an unexpected but very welcome boon.
Using Body-Strengthening, I opened the trapdoor.
When I looked in, I noticed stairs that were going down into the deep darkness.
I took a torch from my belt.
"Feuerinfa, God of Fire, give me your aid. Create the fire to set everything alight, and so graciously allow me control of it."
And lit the torch with magic.
With that, I slowly started descending the stairs.
It was spiral staircase going further and further down.
Nevertheless, I kept walking, not letting my thoughts wonder for even second.
But even after 200 steps, I was still not done.
'Is there no end? Is there something else I have to do? Like, trigger a secret door?'
I started paying more attention to the metal walls, but found nothing.
Even after another 200 steps I was still not done.
'I doubt it's an infinite staricase, that would require Foundation Magic, which is way too costly. But then, how deep does this thing go?'
Only after a total of 562 steps was I able to finally reach the bottom.
I entered a big corridor that went far both ways.
'...You gotta be kidding me.'
I started walking in one direction in a straight line, perfectly down the middle. After some time, even thought I was walking straight, I was no longer in the middle of the corridor.
There was only one explanation.
'It is curved for pancakes' sake!'
Which meant that this was a huge circle. A huge, huge circle.
A magic circle spanning the entire country.
'――!!!!!'
"Really?! This is what I find?! This is on the level of a whole country's problem! This is not at all a problem that I can deal with!"
I started stomping the ground in frustration.
"Who thought of this stupid idea?! This world doesn't have alchemists, y'know?! And why do I have to be the one to find this out?!"
Now that I knew about it... I couldn't just leave it alone. I had to do something about it.
If I left it alone, it would affect Abut. And that meant it would affect Jagon and... Angelica.
'Can she not take a break for once in her problem riddled life?!'
It's okay, it's gonna be okay.
Take a deep breath and calm down―
"How the fuck am I supposed to calm down?! How the hell is this gonna be okay?! This is on the level of a country! A country level problem! There are probably mad people all over the country working on this! This organization probably even has friends in high places! I cannot risk telling even a single soul about this, and yet I have to do something to stop this?! Are you kidding me?! What kind of bullshit quest is this?!"
I punched the wall with all my might.
"My most impressive accomplishment is killing an orc alone! That is my fucking best accomplishment! How do you expect me to deal with this, huh, God?! Answer me, Solevitasn! Is this why I was summoned?! To deal with this?!"
I gasped for air. I had shouted so much that my throat started to hurt.
"You've gotta be... fucking kidding me."
I leaned on the wall, and slid down it.
I just sat there, not thinking about anything, not doing anything but staring at the wall in front of me.
"Purrr."
Perhaps because I was in that blank state, I had not noticed the cat that had approached me.
It rubbed its body on mine, and started purring.
Without even thinking about it, my hand moved to pet the cat.
I clutched my hair with my other hand and looked at the cat with my eyes.
"It's you again."
Right in front of me was the cat I had seen so long ago.
Black fur, silver eyes that shined, crescent-shaped pupils.
And a nametag that I could now properly see.
On it was written "Ispra."
I knew that the cat in front of me was most likely a monster. I knew that I should've just ran from it... but I couldn't.
There was a task right in front of me that felt insurmountable. I was right now full of dread.
So I allowed myself to show weakness and not run away.
The cat, no, Ispra curled into a ball next to me. I continued petting... her? Yeah, it was probably a she.
Slowly but surely, the soft purrs healed my heart. The repetitive motion of my hand gliding through Ispra's fur made me stop jittering.
"Why is it that cats are always the ones that help me calm down?"
Whether it be in my old world, or in this new one, cats seemed to be the only thing that I could rely on.
'My parents were awesome, but they never really compared to Ashna.'
Cats didn't care about how you felt. They didn't care about your struggles. But that's exactly what made them so special.
Even if you started distancing yourself from everyone and started saying to everyone "Just leave me alone!", cats wouldn't care.
Your friends would leave you alone, your parents would leave alone... but the cats would always want attention and would always keep pestering you.
They'd snuggle up to you. They'd start purring. They'd start rubbing their body on your hand. They would demand attention and pets, and unless you're a heartless beast, you couldn't possibly refuse them.
I looked at the fur ball at my side.
"I always suspected that you had no malice towards me, but it's truly weird to see it first hand."
I could sense it, this cat in front of me was definitely a monster, not an animal. It had way too much mana to be an animal.
And yet, it wasn't attacking me.
"Just what are you?"
Cats are animals in this world, so the fact that this one was a monster definitely made it special.
Whether being special was good ar bad, I didn't know.
Suddenly, Ispra opened her eyes. Then, with speed I couldn't follow, she bit my finger.
"Ouch! What was that for?!"
I looked at my finger. Indeed, there were four holes that were drawing blood. They were small though, so I didn't have to care about them.
I glared at Ispra, but then noticed something weird.
I could feel emotions. Emotions that were not mine.
I could intrinsically understand that I could either push these feelings away, or pull them closer.
'This is... happiness?'
I could feel happiness, almost unparalleled happiness coming from somewhere outside.
I looked at Ispra with wide eyes.
"You... did you just make a contract with me?!"
I haven't heard anything about contracts from Jagon, but this was the only logical explanation.
I understood that I was feeling Ispra's emotions. These emotions were definitely hers.
Not only that, but there was some kind of constant signal in the back of my mind.
'This signal... is probably about the well-being of Ispra.'
So I now had a contract with a cat who is a monster...
Does this mean I have to take Ispra everywhere with me now?
I would prefer leaving her alone, but the constant feelings of happiness I was being fed... I just couldn't bring myself to end that happiness.
Not only that, the signal at the back of brain felt like something important to me.
It was weird. I was very clearly being fed emotions... but I didn't hate it, nor did I feel the need to stop it.
'...Yep, this is definitely mind control.'
My mind was being tampered with. There was no way it wasn't.
I was being fed emotions and feelings that were not mine, and would never come from my personality.
"Haaa... but I don't care."
This mind control was only minor, and it didn't impact my decision making.
I just cared for Ispra a bit more than I normally should. That was not something bad enough to break the contract.
"I don't even know how to break it in the first place."
Well, if this contract ever becomes a problem, I can just kill Ispra and everything will take care of itself... hopefully.
I looked at Ispra one more time.
'―――'
"Guess you're my pet now. I'll probably have to feed you meat, won't I? Well... welcome to the broken family, I guess."
I petted Ispra.
I picked up the torch from the ground and started ascending back up. Ispra followed me.
***
I collapse onto the ground from sheer exhaustion.
Descending was fine, but ascending 562 steps was truly painful.
And yet, Ispra seemed just fine. From her emotions, I could tell that she wasn't exhausted in the slightest.
She was still just happiness incarnate.
After recovering, I sat up. I couldn't rest yet, I had to make sure to not leave any traces.
I closed the trapdoor and started taking over its mana with mine again.
But I didn't just remove the handle. By using the copy of the engraving pattern I left on the dirt, I molded the trapdoor until it was enchanted again.
I tested it, and everything worked just as it had before.
I climbed inside the hollowed out log with Ispra in my hands, secured the lid, and started rolling until I was outside the barirer.
I climbed out, burned the ramp and the hollow log and started going back to Abut.
The sky was already starting to brighten up, so I actually cut it pretty close.
'But I managed to do it.'
With a smile hiding my dread, I started running back to Abut.
'...I wonder, just how did Ispra get past the barrier in the first place?'