Ch. XXVI - Personality (Elice)
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"My name's Elice, by the way."
I suddenly said to him when he came out of the bathroom.
I was sitting in the living room, not doing anything important because I had nothing to do. So I ended up just looking at the ceilings while thinking about many things.
Included in those things, are the fact that I haven't really told Rake my nickname.
"Elice…? I thought you said Elicia."
"That's my official name. Just call me Elice from now on."
"O-Okay… Elice."
He ended that while calling my name weirdly.
I turned my gaze away from the ceiling to him, and noticed his condition. His hair was wet, and he already took off the bandage from his face. His shirt looks too small for him, causing those muscles to stick out.
W-Why is he going red??
"Are you done preparing…? Hurry up, I want to visit the church."
"Ah… right."
Rake then immediately began walking again and went to the bedroom. He was about to close the bedroom so he can have some privacy, but then he realized that there's no door.
He shrugged the back of his head and simply walked to the corner of the room, where I won't be seeing him.
Why the hell is he being weird in the morning…?
Anyway, my mind wanders away again. Previously I was thinking about what Luca and the other kids are doing in the orphanage in the morning. Maybe I could come and mess things up with them or something.
But then Rake came out, wearing the previous black robe he wore yesterday, but with no mask.
"I will go to the adventurers guild."
"Huh? Why?"
"I will… talk with the guild master. Those knights came to our position must've been because of them."
H-Huh?
I tried remembering what I missed, but then I remembered the guy from yesterday who came to the orphanage just to meet us. He mentioned that they have spies that have been watching our every move behind the shadows, and that pissed Rake quite a bit.
"Do you think those knights and the spies are related?"
"There's no way the knights could have sniffed us this far. The only reason they would come is when there's a tip of our whereabouts, and the only ones who can do that is the adventurers guild.
Their spies can hide behind my radar. They are rather capable, so we should've been more wary of them."
He… is definitely planning something bad, huh?
"Then what are you going to do?"
After I asked the question, Rake somehow grinned madly.
"I'm going to make them understand the payment for going back on their words."
That's… kinda scary…
"Can you… not kill anyone?"
Hearing me asking that, Rake turned his confused face back to me. Meanwhile, I took a deep breath and finally conveyed what I had in mind.
"I know you're like a psychopath. So if you can…"
"I-I was not in my right mind, that night… I'm sorry."
I turned my gaze to him, and found him shrugging the back of his head. He does look ashamed from that, and I can tell he probably wouldn't want to kill anyone.
"If you wished for it… I won't kill anyone."
"Kill only those who I wanted to die. Like the King of Ardjestyn."
"Very well."
That may have been too much of a quest for him, so I chuckled.
"You can visit the guild later. For now, accompany me to the church."
"All right."
"… And what did I say about acting?"
Rake immediately remembered something, and he quickly coughed.
He then placed his hand on his forehead and saluted. And with a really wide grin, he shouted.
"Yes, ma'am!"
H-He looked so bright… It's genuinely like a different person had taken over.
"A-Also… where's that bandage?"
"Hmm?"
I pointed at his forehead, and I told him what I noticed just now when he saluted.
There's a rather long scar on his forehead, possibly the one that I caused last night. I feel a little guilty seeing that scar, because I'm the one who caused it. So if possible, I want him to hide it, otherwise people will start asking questions I don't like.
"Wear a bandage to cover it. It makes you look bad."
"Don't scars make you cooler…?"
"Huh!?"
"I'll wear it."
I had to scare him off so he wants to do it. I don't want people to see the scar that I did on his face, otherwise I feel guilty.
"Tadaa! Is this good?"
Rake then put on the bandage on his forehead. And what do you know, he covered his eyes…
"You covered your eyes?"
"You said I looked good with it."
"… Right."
Whatever. That's his permanent look. Though, he does look better with his hair spiked upwards…
Wait.
"Is it just me or is your hair turning white?"
I asked him, but of course that was dumb to ask. There is no mirror in the house, so Rake definitely had no idea about his hair turning pale. But to me, it was quite weird.
His hair was blonde, but since the blonde color is very close to white hair, it was quite easy to miss. It's like his hair barely changes color, even though it completely did.
"White hair…? How did that happen?"
"… Did you have a terrible dream or something?"
Rake placed his hand on his chin and tried to remember, but he couldn't think of anything. In the end, I ignored it and moved on.
But he seemed to be minding it quite a bit.
"What caused a person's hair to turn white?"
He asked as we made our way to the church. It's still quite early in the morning, but the sun is already up quite a bit. The air is cold, and birds can be heard being loud everywhere in the forest.
"I don't know. Age?"
"Pretty sure people don't age overnight."
"… Was it because I beat you up last night?"
"Definitely not unrelated, but who knows. I didn't really feel any pain from your punches, so…"
"… Do you want to get beaten up again?"
Rake then chuckled slightly, and I bet he is enjoying this new personality of his. He is indeed pissing me off right now, but it's understandably a lot better than his previous antisocial personality.
Even though it's not his true self. I wonder how he feels about it.
"Is it annoying?"
I asked him, and he turned his gaze back to me.
"Is it annoying to use the fake new personality?"
Hearing my worried tone, the guy turned to me and grinned.
"Hmm… are you worried?"
"I am."
"Oya. No need to be so straight forward."
I let out a sigh thanks to his annoying behavior. It's annoying to me, all right. So, I decided to just ignore it.
We arrived at the front of the church, but we didn't enter immediately. Rake stopped right outside, and he turned away.
"This is where we part."
He said, and I nodded.
"Remember. Don't kill anyone. We're not completely sure that they are the ones who--"
"They are the ones. There is nobody else."
Rake said coldly, and it startled me quite a bit. I seem to have forgotten his true personality thanks to the new personality I told him to do. So hearing him speaking coldly out of anger just now made me quite surprised.
"J-Just don't kill."
"I won't. I'll be back."
Rake then began walking away, but before he got far, he disappeared. It's like he leaped away from existence. He just disappeared from view instantly.
Woah. That guy has neat abilities.
"It's big sis!"
I turned back to the entrance of the church, and found a few exiting the building. It's Luca, the orphanage lady Miss Rina, and three other kids rushing out to see me. They're rather happy seeing me, so I'm quite happy as well.