Jackson nearly fell off his chair. “What did you just say?”

  I could feel Rebecca tense up as I said. “You heard me.”

  “Young man, the idea that there is a new Rolander in this world is almost preposterous. We′d have noticed by now.”

  Someone clearly had, I thought to myself, if the people who had taken Simon and Emily were any indication. They had literally said, “Die Rolander.” They also had, in some way, either determined that I was the Rolander or that kidnapping Simon would lead them to the Rolander. Somehow that detail had escaped me till now.

  I gave him a friendly smile as I scanned him.

  How truthful was he to me? Did he know, and just pretend he didn't, because he thought I intended to scam him by making him admit my claim to be true? Even if he did not know, how could I convince him I was truthful-

  “I guess it's a bit hard to believe me.”, I said.

  “Yes, young man, it is.”, Jackson said as he poured himself something to drink. By the looks of it it was water.

  “Do you know who I am?”, I asked.

  The man shook his hand.

  “Does the name Henry Vide ring a bell?”

  Rebecca stared at me, holding her breath.

  “Seventh Son of the Vide Family, married to a Canid.. of.. all - things.” He looked at me, then at Rebecca. Then added a confused look at Nico, then back at Rebecca. He focused on me again. “No.”, he said unbelievingly.

  I rummaged in my pocket. Yes, I had said I'd stop using it after the squire thing, but the Vide coat of arms was too useful to give up on fully.

  “Yes.”, I said. “Henry Vide sent me out with his wife as a decoy.”

  Jackson leaned back. “So, the fake Henry Vide people talk about-”

  “Is the new Rolander, yes.”

  Rebecca started coughing, and Jackson poured her a cup of water, which she graciously accepted.

  “What you mean to tell me is that three people are running around, pretending to be Henry Vide, including the real Henry Vide. Why?”

  I sighed and shrugged. “I was just sent out with Henry Vide′s wife. My real name is Lucas.” Nico chittered in confusion, looking at Rebecca, who also didn't seem too sure where I was going with this.

  Jackson began sweating. “This is…. a lot to take in. If it's true, that is. Can you… back it up?”, he asked.

  “Would the fact that the gods cursed me for impersonating an aristocrat, even with the guy′s consent, be enough?”, I asked.

  Jackson swallowed. “Can yo-”

  “Prove it?”, I opened my grace.

  The gods wish to fill your sinuses with boiling lead.

  I wasn't disappointed. Another colorful threat by the gods. A lot weaker than usual, though, if I may say so. Rebecca furrowed her brow. “You′re getting these again?”, she asked, concerned.

  “Never stopped getting them.”, I replied.

  Jackson stood up, then sat down. He didn't know what to do anymore. That suited me just fine.

  “I- O-ok, one, one last question if you know it. Why?”, he asked.

  “Why?”

  “Why would the youngest son of the Vide duchy be impersonated by the Rolander, and why would he hire a double to travel with his wife?”

  I shrugged. “I wasn't told everything.”, I began. “But from what I understand, the Rolander wishes to travel in peace without being hounded by people who want to manipulate him for their goals.”

  “You wouldn't happen to have an idea about what their unique power is, right?”

  “Henry Vide seemed to think the Rolander could change his face. Apparently, he looked somewhat plain, even a bit chubby, before his body changed to look like Henry′s.”

  “So let me get this straight. The new Rolander met with Henry Vide, took a face like this before Henry Vide, who, for some reason, decided to go on the run to help the Rolander, sent you out with his wife to muddle his own footsteps.” He pointed at Rebecca. “You′re Henry Vide′s wife?”

  Rebecca hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Most certainly.” She said, before giving me a pointed look I didnt tquite understand.

  Jackson got up, then sat back down. “I- I have no clue what to-” he got up and walked to the door, opened it, then closed it again before sitting back down.

  “Im-”, he slumped down in his chair. “Yeah, I don't know what to do with this. Like… yeah, it's… what do we pay for that kinda scoop?”

  “How about you pay us back with info?”, I asked. “If you can't pay us with cash, I'm sure it's worth some information, no?. ”

  “I guess. I'll have to ask my wi- boss first. Is that ok?”

  I nodded. “Sure is!”

  After Jackson finished his talk with his boss, our discussion on the terms of this deal began. What we finally decided on was that we could get five pieces of information, and they would spread the information on the riot, that being that it was most likely a setup as a sweetener on the deal.

  “Well, that was a rip off.”, Rebecca said tersly.

  “You think so?”, I asked, confused. “The terms seemed fine to me.”

  “YES!”, she yelled out and suddenly I felt dozens of pairs of eyes on me as people turned to look at us.

  “Yes.”, she said a little quieter. She took me by the arm and turned a corner so we′d be out of the sight of the staring crowd. “You′re underestimating how big a deal Rolanders are.”

  “I didn't get a guideline now, did I? All I know is that I'm here and that the gods insult me at any chance they get.” As I said that, her grip tightened slightly.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “Yeah, you said that. Though I had assumed iit stopped.”, she said. “If I'm being completely honest.”

  “You remember when I was trapped under that house?” Rebecca′s grip tightened again.

  “How could I not? I thought you died. I was panicking.”

  “When I was buried under the rubble, my grace opened, and I got a message telling me that the gods wouldn't let me die that easily.”

  At those words, her frustration seemed to vanish in favor of worry. “And you never brought that up before now?“ She let go of my wrist.

  “Isn't that normal among Rolanders?”, I asked.

  Rebecca raised her hands. “No, it-”, she froze, arms still up before slowly letting them sink again. “I don't know.”, she admitted. “I can't think of ever hearing of something like that.”

  “And honestly, after a while, it was just…. something that happened.”

  Nico′s feathery fingers grabbed my right hand and took it between his own and gave a few whistling notes.

  “You shouldn't be allowing yourself to be pestered by death threats. Thats not something you should be able to go numb to.”, Rebecca translated. How much information fit into so little sound?

  I kicked a rock. “I guess.”, I said.

  “Tell me stuff like that going forward.”, Rebecca said. “We can't ask a priest, but you don't have to take this all on your own, at least.”

  I wanted to say something in response, but my mind was empty. There was nothing to respond to that. “Ok.”, I said. “I'll make sure to tell you going forward. We′re a team after all, right?”

  Nico looked at the two of us, tilting his head in a manner that I could not describe in any other way than birdlike.

  “You′re really not too bothered with all this?”, I asked, and Nico nodded, and I turned to Rebecca again.

  “You didn't tell him, did you?”

  “No, I didn't, I swear. That's just how Nico is. Robin might rip your head off if she finds out.”

  “She does dislike me enough already without knowing, yeah.”

  Silence lowered itself over us. Nobody was quite sure what to say or do, so I picked up the conversation again.

  “So, with that done, we′re gonna look into those six people now, are we?, I asked.

  Rebecca hesitated.

  “Yeah, about that. I figured it would probably be better to go with just Nico; we can cover more ground like that.”

  “Isn't three better than two?”, I asked. “I can help, I promise.”

  “It's fine.”, Rebecca insisted as she already turned to leave. “You can look into the poison some more, can't you?”, she suggested. “It's one of the three things you needed to look into, right? Come, Nico.”

  Nico hesitated, looking between the two of us, before making his way to follow Rebecca.

  Soon after, the two of them vanished down the street, leaving me alone.

  For the first time since arriving in this world, I was fully left alone, but all I could feel was like… a roommate that one could not get rid of returned. A roommate that sat on the couch, laid his feet on the table, eating chips and stinking up the place, yet you couldn't get rid of him, no matter what you did.

  And right now, the feeling of being alone, of being left alone by choice, felt like that old roommate returned. A feeling I knew well enough, yet despised. I thought about it, trying to get [New World Mental Block] to trigger, but nothing. My feelings did not seem strong enough to trigger the effect that was, allegedly, meant to protect my mental state.

  Part of me told me that this was just Rebecca being sensible; there was no need for three people to run around after all. But part of me felt like that hadn't been her actual reason to leave me behind like this and I didnt understand why.

  Standing in place, I thought about what to do. All alone, there was nobody to stop me after all. Hell, I could′ve decided that this was the time to leave on my own. Bribe my way outta town, make my way back to the Vide Manor and abuse the privileges the blood in this body granted its owner, or run off elsewhere to try and become an adventurer. Who knew, maybe my skill would change again? Maybe it had only been like this since Rebecca had been so close at the time? I could–

  I could hear a scream from an alley. The other people could clearly hear it as well, but nobody reacted. Before I could ask myself what I should do, I was running. My hand wrapped around the chain of my weapon as I turned the corner. There stood a man, wearing a guard uniform, with a club in his hand, dripping in blood. He stooped when he heard me. “You'd think people would know better to not try being heroes.”, he said. He dropped the club and grabbed a spear that leaned against the wall.

  When he turned to me, his sunburnt face covered in blood splatters, he spat on the ground. “Tell me. Why would you attack this poor Semi-human? They′ve done nothing to deserve this.”

  I took half a step back. “What? Are you mental? Clear-”

  “No, no, I know what I saw. You stood there-”, he pointed at the spot where the blood originated, “Clubbing down that creature, trying your best to kill it. Sadly, I couldn't help them, but I did manage to bring you to justice at least. Thats my job after all.”

  He lunged forwards, the tip of the spear glistening in the sunlight, as I jumped to the side, slamming into the wall as the metal flew past me through the air.

  He stepped forward and turned, the spear making a sweeping motion only to be stopped by the wall when I jumped to the side once more. But just as I thought I had done the right thing, I noticed my mistake. Now, he was standing between me and the exit.

  “Tell me, why would you do this? Why harm that creature? Some see them as citizens, but you clearly don't.” He stepped closer to me, the spear ready to thrust.

  I didn't understand what he was trying to do with this. Was the plan to make me agree to something so he′d spare me? Try to make me seem guilty in case someone else came in?

  I fully pulled my flail from my belt and swallowed. What could I do? The chain was not long enough to hit him, and if I tried getting closer, he′d stab me.

  Slowly, he made his way towards me, getting closer, thrusting his spear at me anytime I didnt retreat further, pushing me back more and more. He put the pressure on me until I felt my back hit the wall.

  “So are you gonna admit to what you did and get a fair trial?”

  He thrust the spearhead towards me, the tip slamming into my chest like a hammer. Something cracked.

  “Or are you gonna keep resisting arrest?”

  Talking was out of the question, giving up would be a death sentence, and resisting would be more of the same. I remembered Rebecca's words and took a deep breath, before I began putting pressure on my basic pearl.

  “I'm gonna level with you.”, I said.

  The pressure increased rapidly. I had never done this before, but by the feeling alone I had a good idea what to do..

  “I don't like any of these options.”

  As I put more pressure on it, I could feel a crack forming. But would that suffice to bridge the gap?

  “So I plead self-defense.”

  The pearl snapped. Time to find out.

  ._________________________________________________________________________

  Current Status:

  Stats:

  Power: 2 (+5)

  Agility: 1 (+5)

  Toughness: 3 (+5)

  Mental: 2 (+5)

  Perception: 3 (+5)

  Mana: N/A

  Effects:

  Bleeding  Lvl. 1

  Broken Pearl (Basic)  Lvl. 1

  Night Vision  Lvl. 1

  Overlapping Protection  Lvl. 1

  Skills:

  [Basic Core Technique]  Lvl. 1

  [Behind every great person, there's their spouse] Lvl. 2

  [Emperors Gaze]  Lvl. 2

  [New World Mental Block]  Lvl. N/A

  Known Ritual Spells:

  [Basic Healing Magic]

  [Determine Value]

  [Filth to Food]

  [Ignite]

  [Liquid Equilibrium]

  [Rite of True Death]

  [Simple Transportation Magic]

  [Trigger]

  Dont forget to fill in the Poll in "Interlude Demihuman 2/2" if you haven't yet!

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  Have a wonderful day.