“And what’s with that disguise technique? If you couldn’t even do proper disguise techniques normally, were you hiding your skills? Am I a joke to you?!”
He must have been laughing at me all this time. How ridiculous it must have been to see me not getting a single glance no matter how desperately I tried.
16 years old. For over 10 years, I had lived desperately struggling to receive the guild master’s affection. It had been 6 years since I became conscious of Jack. During that time, he had been closer to a cowardly competitor inside me. A dishonest fraud who always won against me despite being incompetent.
“What does that have to do with you?”
But Jack only looked at me with indifferent eyes. Those glass bead-like pupils that contained no emotion didn’t seem like someone who was the same kind of person as me.
The same pupils that looked at me when Jack was young, no, slightly more twisted strange pupils. Seeing those pupils, my mouth wouldn’t open as if it had been coated with glue.
“Then I’ll be going now. I’m a bit tired.”
He turned his back from me and headed to the dormitory. By his side was the beast that had grown quite large now and gave off an intimidating presence. Seeing that, my fear disappeared and anger filled that space again.
It was exactly the same as 6 years ago. Low-quality inferiority and jealousy tore through my insides as if stirring them. Why does that bastard easily obtain what I cannot obtain?
Now I couldn’t say he was completely incompetent. That disguise technique was quite excellent, and that honey trap that charmed the man who must be a mission target was quite high-level. Because the man was looking at Jack almost worshipfully. It was to the extent that I was curious why he hadn’t shown that appearance sooner.
I had always been angry citing his incompetence as the reason. But now that he proved his abilities, my anger lost its way.
He was now a useful existence. Since he was a useful existence, it was unjust for him to receive my anger. And that thought accelerated once he started demonstrating his abilities.
He handled missions so quickly that it made me wonder why he had remained such an incompetent human until now. He would process over twenty cases while sitting in one place, and the sources of that information were suspicious.
But everything he brought was true and never wrong. Even if it was wrong, it was only slightly different.
It wasn’t strange that the guild members who had stuck to me turned their backs one by one. Even I could see that Jack now was amazing. Sometimes it felt like he was more amazing than even the guild master.
In proportion to that, my mood fell into the mud, and I felt like I was rolling in hellfire from self-loathing.
I thought he was useless and called him a rock. I resented the guild master for treasuring such a rock. I wanted to say that it was because I didn’t shine brighter that she didn’t recognize me, that she treated well an existence I originally hated, and that she was magnanimous enough to embrace him.
But in the end, I was wrong. I was just a more pathetic existence than him. I was that rock.
Thinking that way, I felt I had to go find Jack right away. I didn’t know the reason. Was what was moving me now anger, or was it sadness?
I could feel Von, who had always believed in and followed me, worrying, but I didn’t have the leisure to look back at him now. I had to see Jack right now.
Jack seemed to be spying on something while clinging to the dormitory wall full of ivy. Doing that in a secluded space, he looked like a member of the Thieves’ Guild. I couldn’t see his face and only saw his back, but that back was quite broad.
And for some reason, that appearance reminded me of the guild master. The guild master was a woman and Jack was a man. Their ages were different, the guild master was much taller, and the two didn’t resemble each other at all. Yet I unconsciously identified the two. It was strange.
Unable to resist the impulse, I snatched Jack. The eyes looking back at me were wide open, and seeing that, I felt an inexplicable elation for some reason.
* * *
The person who suddenly snatched me was Carl. Carl was looking down at me with an indescribably complex expression. Joy? Anger? That complex face that couldn’t be defined by just one thing made me shut my mouth.
Why is he acting like that?
Not missing the opening I showed, he dragged me to a secluded warehouse. That place behind the building was so deserted and eerie that there were even rumors that ghosts appeared. Whether no one still visited, dust was piled up white.
I should suggest something to Rose later. If left neglected like this, even the stored items would rust. Ah, anyway, that wasn’t what was important right now. Though I had been distracted for a moment and was helplessly dragged by Carl, what was important to me now was Belly.
“Carl! Why are you suddenly doing this?”
My voice rose a tone higher than usual and was loud, as much as I was flustered by this situation. Isn’t that understandable? It was Belly who never had any secrets. For such a Belly to have secretive behavior. There must be some reason.
I was just spying on him when I was suddenly dragged away like this. Raising my voice to this extent was justified.
By the way, normally Belly would have noticed my presence like a ghost and chased after me… Something strange was definitely happening to him now. I should quickly escape this situation and use Glutton or something.
Once books in an unimaginable quantity were added to Glutton, I was distracted indulging in new things. Thanks to that, I had been somewhat neglectful of Belly’s book, so it was quite difficult to grasp what situation he was in right now.
Even so, since he was the protagonist of this world, I should have read more carefully. As I was blaming myself for my carelessness, I felt a gloomy gaze. I raised my head and looked at the source of the gaze.
“…Are you sick somewhere?”
Because I continued to fail to focus on Carl, I was late to notice, but he was looking at me with somehow desperate eyes. That gaze somehow looked sorrowful like a lost child, so I was silent for a moment.
What was the title of Carl’s book?
“Yeah.”
“You’re sick?”
Since he was someone who always showed a perfect appearance, I didn’t know he would say he was sick so readily. Revealing his vulnerable insides for the first time, he looked younger than his age. It was strange.
“No, if you’re sick, you should go see a doctor. Are you okay?”
Carl mumbling that he was sick resembled Belly who had been gasping and looking for me, so I couldn’t ignore him. Someone might laugh at me placing my hand on his forehead to check his fever. After all, I had memories of being grabbed by the collar by this guy and my life being endangered.
But for some people, there are things they can’t pass by nonetheless.
“…No. I’m not okay.”
The weak voice dying out contained neither the malice he usually showed me nor the inexplicable kindness. It was like ash with no vitality, like completely burnt firewood. It was a voice completely different from his appearance. He who had boasted such intense vitality now seemed to be in the middle of midwinter.
“Let’s go. I’ll take you to a doctor.”
First, I should take this guy to the hospital. I was worried about Belly, but for now, I could check on him through the novel. The probability that he wouldn’t be in that spot even if I went now was high, and Belly’s abilities were also excellent, so there probably wouldn’t be any big problem.
“…Okay.”
Moreover, because of his behavior, I couldn’t leave him behind even if I tried. Carl was holding onto my arm firmly as if it were a lifeline, and that grip was so strong I couldn’t shake it off. I wondered if he was really sick.
## Chapter 6: Frankenstein Lizard (2)
After taking Carl to the hospital, I tried to use Glutton, but it was too much to use outside.
If I exaggerated, this was no different from a book of prophecy. Since I had obtained even the intimate information of the information guild, thousands of people’s information was connected to Glutton. I didn’t know what mechanism it was, but Glutton even analyzed information to derive information about other people and updated novels of people whose information wasn’t in my guild.
Let me give an example. A and B’s information is in the guild. A person named C passes through A and B’s lives. Unless they’re an important person, there’s no information about person C in the guild.
However, person C is bound to be mentioned in the novel’s narration. And Glutton gathers such information and creates a novel about person C. Creating new novels on its own like that, it was truly an inexhaustible spring.
Odin offered his own eyeball as a sacrifice to obtain wisdom. But I obtained wisdom without offering any sacrifice. It was no different from being chosen.
Anyway, Glutton was that amazing, and as such, I wanted even less to show it outside.
Since an ability user like Belly was right by my side, I couldn’t think there wouldn’t be someone else with skills as amazing as his. Even if I used it secretly, the existence of Glutton would be discovered in front of such a person.
Having left Carl at the hospital, I quickly returned to the dormitory. The security of my room was safe as Belly thoroughly protected it.
“Huh?”
However, on the way back to my room. A familiar thing was lying there. That thing made of black leather was the necklace that was always obediently hanging on Belly’s neck.
He wore it on his body 24 hours a day without taking it off. If it hadn’t been a magical item, it would have already decayed and crumbled. Since I saw it every day, I couldn’t fail to recognize it.
“Why is this here?”
With ominousness, the back of my neck simmered.
Belly was a guy with abilities so amazing that there was usually no need to worry. He was so excellent it was ridiculous for me to worry. For such a Belly to have the item he cherished lying on the floor was a clear abnormal phenomenon. Because if he were fine, this could absolutely never happen.
