Angor inspected the other parts of the illusion.
It seemed Freud maintained strict self-discipline even after his body was killed. The illusionary room was kept in good order. The only thing different was that Freud had carried a pile of books to his bed.
Angor checked the books as this might tell him about Freud’s personal tastes.
He was rather surprised to notice that none of the books were from this world. Freud’s “to-read list” only contained books Angor copied from his hologram tablet.
Adventure of a Swordswoman, a story about a transsexual guy in a foreign world; Sins of Lilies, the daily mishaps between two homoerotic sisters who served the same God; Beast’s Mask, the tale of a monster who thrived and dominated the world...
These were mostly non-productive fictions used for idling away one’s time.
When traveling on The Redbud, Angor read some of them out of boredom and found nothing apart from dull stories and unrealistic inspirations. However, he would admit that they were perfect for someone who had too much time to kill.
These books were nothing special. Even the wizarding world had similar novels. Angor left them here just to fill up empty space so that Freud’s room didn’t look too poorly-furnished.
But it turned out that Freud preferred cheap novels to the other wizardry-related magazines that Angor prepared.
Next, Angor noticed a desk on the other end of the room, which had a pile of papers on it.
“The Possibility For Further Enriching One’s Soul”, “Points Of Caution When Finding A Suitable Body For One’s Soul”, “Self-Discipline For Bisexual Entities (draft)”, “Whisper Of Dreams”, “Minor Notes Regarding The Dream Whelk”, “Does Illusions Work Well With Dream Whelk?”...
These seemed to be Freud’s research papers. Most of them were about knowledge of souls and dreams, which was expected since Freud was talented in dream-reading.
Freud was interested in soul-related development probably because he already made plans for his future path. However, Angor was wondering whether Freud’s plan involved gender shift and lesbians since the man was reading books about these concepts.
What attracted Angor most was the subject “Does Illusions Work Well With Dream Whelk?” because he saw his own name on the paper.
[The illusion created by Mister Padt looked rather realistic, which seemed as potent as the dreams made possible by the Dream Whelk. If used together, they might do wonders I can’t imagine.]
That was all there was on the paper, which was placed at the bottom of the pile.
Angor assumed that the bottom-most paper was the first subject Freud worked on, but what did it mean?
The “Dream Whelk” was undoubtedly in reference to the Mystery item called Whelk of the Dreaming Coast.
My illusions look similar to dreams?
As Angor thought about his questions, Freud had put down his Chronicles Of Dragons and moved to the table Angor was checking.
“Um, Mister Padt?” Freud saw his research papers being moved by someone.
An intruder who discovered the illusion would attempt to destroy it first. Freud knew Angor was the only one who could check the illusion without doing so.
Angor quickly returned Freud’s works to their right positions even though he did not need to feel embarrassed—everything in the illusion was made by him. He was free to look at Freud’s papers at all times, and Freud knew it too.
“I see you didn’t stay idle in these months,” Angor’s voice was heard.
Freud looked at his “Does Illusions Work Well With Dream Whelk?” draft.
“I only made an outline for it. As for the major content... no, I haven’t thought about how to start yet. I can certainly keep working, should I find a chance.”
By “chance”, he meant staying alive. He was indirectly reminding Angor to stick to their agreement.
“Of course you can, if you don’t give up on yourself first.”
Angor would like to ask Freud about that particular subject, but when he saw Freud carefully glancing at that paper, he realized that this man intentionally put his name on it and placed it there for him to see.
Angor didn’t know whether his doubt was correct, but he still decided not to ask about it for now.
“You have plans about how to proceed from now on, right? Since you look capable of it, you won’t need my advice.” Angor changed the subject. “The Soul Floret is getting weaker. I need to transfer you somewhere safer. I came today so that you can tell me what kind of place you prefer.”
He kept his full attention on Freud and easily saw the man showing disappointment when he stopped asking about the research subject.
Heh. Guessed as much.
Angor wouldn’t take Freud’s “invitation” because he had so much work to do these days to mind anything else.
Besides, he did not fully trust Freud yet.
One of the reasons why he neglected Freud for several months was to tell Freud who was in charge. Deception and dirty tricks were not tolerated.
As long as Freud finished his end of the deal by presenting Whelk of the Dreaming Coast, Angor would obey their agreement willingly.
“Ask away. I’ll do everything as long as your conditions are acceptable.” Angor tried to sound as friendly as he could.
“I...” Freud looked hesitant. “Nothing in particular, really. Can you just move this illusion over? It’s fine if you can’t.”
Those who wished to achieve great things on the path of wizardry had to know how to bear with loneliness. Freud was someone who was very likely to reach the wizard level should he enjoyed enough peace. But now, losing his body had greatly hindered his progression. Even if he could forcefully take someone’s body now, he could not regain his original strength as the new body would not be a perfect vessel.
This was the same case for Greya, who also had to retrieve her true body in order to move on. Otherwise, it was near hopeless for someone to keep up in this world without a proper body.
But compared to Greya, who knew where her body was, Freud’s old body was already killed, which left his soul isolated.
“Do you like these stories?” Angor chuckled. “I can get some more into the illusion if you need them.”
“They help me forget about my burdens, Mister Padt. These books may be a little pointless to most people, but I believe certain wizards who always hide their true selves from people will love them, if you sell the books to them, that is.”
“It makes sense. Should the time come, you certainly can try writing similar stories and publishing them. Of course, you’ll have to earn your ‘time’ with honesty.”
Without waiting for a response, Angor brought several more novels into the illusion and placed them on Freud’s bed.
“These will help you pass time for a little longer while I work on your new house. Hope you don’t have high expectations.”
He retracted his spirit feelers and put the Soul Floret in his bracelet.
He could tell that Freud had something else to say, but he wasn’t going to listen.
This “inspection” told him that Freud was setting up new objectives instead of giving up hope completely. While it was a good thing for someone to recover from decisive blows, Angor was feeling a little annoyed when Freud considered HIM a “factor” in the plan.
Angor did not know what kind of role he would be playing, but he really hated it when someone decided to drag him into random business without asking for his opinion first, and he absolutely wasn’t going to entertain Freud.
With the Soul Floret safe in his bracelet, he canceled the bigger illusion, which isolated the item from the Krakoks.
When the mist completely disappeared, Angor saw several Krakoks standing near their “skyscraper apartment”, looking at him, while the one standing in front of the group was a gentle-looking woman—Papaya’s grandmother.
The Krakoks looked hesitant about something. When Angor saw the family members of Lococo and Kudodo among them, he quickly realized what they wanted to do.
It was Papaya’s grandmother who finally decided to speak up and ask for Papaya’s situation.
When the other Krakoks saw Angor talking to Papaya’s grandmother patiently, they also joined them so that they could learn about what happened to Lococo and Kudodo.
The entire Krakok tribe celebrated in happiness when they heard that three of their members were talented to learn wizardry.
While Angor watched the tiny figures dancing in joy, he suddenly had a question in his mind.
Papaya loved her grandmother and would always stick close to her. Now that Papaya was taken in by Madelyne as an apprentice, she was very likely to stay at Brute Cavern from now on. However, Angor was planning to return to the Old Earth this year and bring all the Krakoks with him. Should he leave Papaya’s grandmother in Brute Cavern as well?