Despite knowing that it wasn’t real and that its real body was far away, under its gaze, I felt utterly powerless. The top of my head ached, and my vision blurred slightly.
Thankfully, the sensation didn’t last for very long and I was able to come back to myself shortly after.
“Haa… haaa…”
Unknowingly, my breath was heavy, and my lips were dry.
Licking my lips, I looked back at the owl that was resting calmly on the table while looking at me. Its eyes glowed with a serene, almost dispassionate curiosity.
It didn’t say anything, but it had already said all that it needed to say.
‘As expected, another twisted relationship.’
Leon, Delilah, Atlas, and now the tree… I really had a knack for this type of stuff.
I bitterly laughed to myself while taking a seat.
“I get it. You don’t need to remind me.”
From the very start, I knew of the risk of proposing something like this. After a certain point, I thought that the tree had rejected my proposal and that I was going to die, but in the end, it did accept my proposal.
But there were still a few things that I wanted to know.
“I won’t ask you about where your main body is, but what about your current form? Will others be able to see you like this?”
“….Yes, they will.”
“Then…”
“I can hide inside of your body without a problem. And it shouldn’t be a problem even if they see me. I am just a harmless animal.”
“That’s true…”
But an owl? That would be rather odd to see. It would certainly attract a lot of gazes.
Then again, that wouldn’t change a thing from how things were right now, so it didn’t really matter all that much.
On another note,
“What should I call you? Since you’re an owl, calling you a tree doesn’t sound quite right. I can’t also call you an owl. It’s more fitting if I give you a name.”
“A name…?”
The owl tilted its head, seemingly in deep thought. Eventually, it shook its head.
“Do as you wish. I do not mind.”
“That would be for the best.”
It was my turn to fall into thought.
I thought about it for quite a while, to be honest. Not because I thought the task was hard, but because I was just generally bad with names.
‘Dog’
‘Cat’
‘Mouse’
There were a lot of names that would probably get me weird and disgusted looks from people.
….Well, at least I knew that my naming sense was quite bad.
“Uh.”
I rubbed my head.
“Ah…!”
That’s when it finally hit me. Squeezing all my wisdom and experience, I was able to come up with a great name.
“That’s it, I got it.”
I smacked my hand against the table and looked at the owl.
“Owl-Mighty!”
I started laughing to myself.
Not only did it sound great, but it also was hilarious.
“Hahahah.”
Since there was no one, it didn’t matter if I laughed. I was sure they’d be shocked if they saw me like this, but well… I was also sure they would understand if they learned of the owl’s name.
“…..”
Strangely, Owl-Mighty didn’t say a thing while it stared at me.
I couldn’t guess what it was thinking, but seeing that it didn’t know about emotions, I wasn’t worried about it being angry.
“…..Do as you wish.”
In the end, I got the stamp of approval and I secretly rejoiced.
But the excitement was quick to die down. I was soon reminded of my current situation and cleared my throat.
“What about those that were in the illusion? Won’t things be complicated? Since a lot know of—”
“Besides you, no one will remember.”
Owl-Mighty replied in a flat tone. Strangely, its tone was flatter than usual.
So strange…
It couldn’t be that it was unsatisfied with its name, right…?
‘No, no way. It has only a rudimentary knowledge of emotions. It’s probably just me.’
It was also a great name.
But that was beside the point.
“Are you saying that you’ve erased the memories of all those that were within the vision…?”
“Correct.”
Owl-Mighty replied.
“….There will be a few traces of me left around the city, but it will take some time for you humans to figure out. You can use the time to go back to where you belong without arousing any suspicion.”
“Oh.”
That made sense, and I dropped the topic there.
But there was something else that aroused my curiosity.
“There’s something else that I’m curious about if you don’t mind me asking.”
“What…?”
“How were you able to get everyone under an illusion? And what about the memories that you’ve wiped from me?”
It wasn’t just that.
From what I could tell, the tree was weaker than the post-leaders. Or more like, it was on equal terms with them.
Although the tree thrived on mental weakness, the post-leaders weren’t just nobodies.
How could it deeply affect them, and at the same time, the entire supply station so quickly?
Surely, there was no way that people who were strong would not be able to detect if there was something wrong.
In that case, how was it possible…?
“Ten years.”
The owl replied, its gaze deeply boring into me.
“It took me ten years to erode their minds to the point where I could bring them into the illusionary world. Slowly, bit by bit, I eroded their minds, crawling into them while waiting for the right time to cast the illusion. Bringing one isn’t hard, but bringing many is difficult. Your arrival came at the exact time when their minds were at their weakest. You were an unforeseen variable. I had to expend quite a lot of power just to trap you into the illusion.”
“I see…”
That made sense, but it was still not exactly the answer that I was looking for.
I thought that’d be it when its voice reached my ears.
“…..But I didn’t do this alone. I had help.”
“Uh…?”
That’s when my head snapped up and I looked intently at it.
“You had help?”
“Correct.”
Its approval wasn’t that surprising to me.
I had expected Owl-Mighty to have received some help. While it was true that it had waited quite a long time, it still didn’t make sense for it to have been so successful. There were certainly outside factors that played a part in this whole scenario.
‘Given that I received a quest, it might have to do with them…’
The Inverted Sky.
…Or at least, that was what I thought at first.
Then, I recalled.
Atlas.
Surely, he would’ve told me if something was going on.
‘Could it be that it’s not related to them…?’
The thought made me shudder.
I did not need to deal with another organization.
“Do you know how they look? What they gave you, or anything like that?”
“No.”
Owl-Mighty shook its head.
“…..They communicated with me through telepathy and never showed their faces to me. Since their goals aligned with mine, I didn’t care to look for their faces.”
“Is that so…”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
That made sense.
Well, sort of. Not all of it made sense.
“When did they decide to help you?”
“Last year.”
“Did they give you anything, or…?”
“They did not give me anything. They only helped weaken the minds of those living within here. The same is true for your group. If not for them, I wouldn’t have been able to do so.”
“Uh…?”
I was stunned on the spot.
Blinking my eyes slowly to make sure that I heard correctly, I carefully asked,
“Including my group?”
What did that mean…? Could it be suggesting that the culprit had been in the station and subjected us to some sort of weakening ritual, or… I swallowed my saliva.
Could there be someone from the Inverted Sky, or whatever organization was responsible, hiding within the first years?
The thought chilled my heart for a brief moment.
‘This shouldn’t surprise me.’
There had been an incident in the past where I was called out by another member of the organization. It had been back in the cave during one of the first runs in the Mirror Dimension.
The fact that there were more shouldn’t come as a surprise to me.
But the only problem that I had was, how…? How were they capable of doing this to all the first years?
…And if it was truly the case, how could I expose their identity?
Given that they even involved me in this incident, if they were truly from the Inverted Sky, then there was no need for them to remain here.
I needed to get rid of them.
“Alright.”
I relaxed my mind.
There was no use thinking about it now. I was going to figure it out one way or another. At the very least, I now knew that there was potentially someone who was hiding within the first years.
I didn’t know who, but I had time to figure it out.
There was a more exciting thing that I wanted to figure out.
My new skill.
I licked my lips at the thought.
‘Veil of Deceit… I wonder how that works.’
There were no instructions for the skill, but that didn’t particularly matter as I turned to look at Owl-Mighty.
“Last question. What can you tell me about the skill that you imparted to me? Veil of Deceit. How do I use it?”
“It’s not difficult.”
Turning to face the bed, Owl-Mighty raised its wing to point at it.
I was confused about its actions, but before I could even say a thing, my eyes widened as the bed suddenly changed, turning into a large wooden table.
“Ah…?”
I blinked several times to make sure that I wasn’t seeing wrong.
Then, once I was sure I was seeing correctly, I stood up and reached for the table. I wanted to check if it was real, but the moment my hand reached for the desk, it passed right through it.
That’s when Owl-Mighty spoke.
“…..What you see is fake. Veil of Deceit is a skill that enables you to cast illusions. So long as you focus your attention on what you want to change, you will be able to alter the reality that is before your eyes.”
Waving its wings again, the room suddenly started to change.
All of a sudden, roots started to appear from all sides, tangling over every little piece of furniture in the room. They crawled up the walls, twining around the light fixtures and creeping across the floor like living vines.
Staring at the scene before me, I found myself breathing harder.
Not because of fear, but because of excitement.
It all… felt so real.
To the point where I found myself shuddering slightly.
‘What if I couple this skill with my emotive magic?’
What would happen then?
“Ah.”
This skill…
It was perfect.