Chapter Text
After getting delayed by basic body needs, he had to spend some time convincing himself to get out.
Some time in the later hours of morning, Manye finally convinced himself that he needs to get this done. The whole "bread thing", he means. He'd really rather not drag around random people with him while also making them carry his bread, people stare at him constantly for that.
Manye has gotten over his shame and people pleaser stuff long time ago, but this still makes his skin crawl. It's never a good time when people decide you're the outlier.
...To be fair he's been the outlier. The body and the new soul. That doesn't mean he can't complain about that.
Anyway. Get it done - that's the goal. Then he can reward himself with some weird medieval thingamajig.. if he's using and pronouncing that word correctly. Perhaps he will even buy a sword for himself. He remembers being at a cosplay fest and seeing someone with a real, metal sword. It was an incredible sight.
With that, it was the last nail in the coffin and he got up from his bed. First stop is Deruth's office. There's no way he's spending the money he already has when his new.. father.. has lots. Good lord it feels so weird to call Deruth 'father'.
Dango, as if knowing where Manye is heading to, went out the door first. It's logical that by this point she knows where he's heading, they've been at this for the past couple of days.
Following the lead of a cat that knows quite too much for a cat, they went through the now familiar halls of the manor. By this point, Manye has been to quite the lot of the rooms here, either just investigating or searching for rooms the locations of which were never disclosed to him. So, he knows where Deruth's office is now.
One of the only things troubling him today was the kind of act that Cale kept up with his father. Was it different from his drunkard trash acting, was he just pretending to be an asshole son, or was it so complex that a troupe wouldn't explain quite right? There had to be something his act could fall into.
There needed to be. If by the point Manye reaches Deruth he doesn't figure this out.. actually, he doesn't think there will be repercussions. If there was something that could give him away, it would have happened on the first day.
Transmigration, reincarnation, possession of body - it was all something no one would ever believe, and especially believe that it happened to someone close to them. People believe in fairy tales up until someone in their life says that they've experienced a fairy tale.
The door to his office opened easily, maybe today the Count wasn't so busy.
From the open door, Manye could see Deruth muttering something to himself, looking out the window. Trouble again, isn't it? How usual, Manye even came to expect this.
At which point did life in this body became something so ordinary that he could predict someone's behaviour? It's pleasing to think of, really. He could use some of that in this life.
"Hey, father. What's today about? Another report about me?" Manye leaned on the doorway. An urge to smile mischievously clawed at his face but he wasn't sure if that's the right action, so he remained with a stoic face.
Deruth turned his head to the open door in surprise. Huh, did he not hear him come in..? "Ah, yes, actually." He said with a cough to clear his airways.
Oh. Okay. So he's the worst son in the world- no, don't dramatise, Vel-whoever-it-is is worse. Manye doesn't remember the name, but that one with a V in his name, surely that prick is worse. He laughed, amused by his own infamousy. "I should have known. But can't you spare a gold on your son anyway?"
Taking the opportunity, he looked at the papers on his.. fathers... desk. Good lord why is that so awkward to think about. There was, indeed, that report front and center. Something about weird behaviour.. oh that, yes, he can confirm that himself, they didn't need to tell that to Deruth.
"Huh. You mean my outings actually bothered people that much. Such crybabies, good lord, do they really need you to sort that out? I didn't hurt anyone this time." Manye rolled his eyes and crossed his arms to visibly express his annoyance.
Something between a sigh and a groan came from the Count, who came around behind the desk to pick up the report. "Cale.. i do not know what's going on with you, but just know that we're in this together. You might try your hardest to push me away, but you can always come back. I will be there for you."
..What? Manye didn't have time to process what was said before the usual coins of gold were offered to him. He walked up to the desk and took the gold, still with a shocked and disbelieving expression, staring into Deruth's eyes. There was nothing left to be said, as the man sat down and started writing a response- a response?
A response? Who on earth wrote the letter for the Count himself to write back? Is this how this usually worked? Good lord, Manye really needs to think about his behaviour. "Let me see the report."
He didn't wait for an approval before he took the paper and started reading it. All seemed normal, absolutely and damningly normal. Yes, he bought bread in droves, that one's true, shouldn't be a concern.. what's next.. ordering around people- huh? He paid the people! That's outrageous. But probably nothing Deruth wasn't used to.
The name of the sender seemed perfectly fine too. He doesn't know who that is, but there was no titles attached that would make a response letter appropriate. "Why are you responding? This is- that's so ordinary, just another one of my-" Manye struggled to find the words, barely finding the capacity in himself to understand this.
"This is a letter from one of your supervisors. I have to let them know how to proceed." Ah. So that's the deal, then? He can't be trusted?
Manye sighed. At least he didn't catch someone's important ego. "Whatever. I'm going out and doing the same thing as have been reported."
The door closed with no problem and no response. Dango waited outside, and perked up as she saw that Manye was ready to leave and do the thing. You know. The shield thing.
Hm. Damn it, he forgot to ask for a carriage. He planned to go to the puzzle city right after getting the shield - he doesn't want to die, after all. Welp, guess we'll delay that by a day, because he's not talking to Deruth right now.
That.. sounds a lot like a grumpy teenager's thoughts. To be fair he is, so. No complaints at that comparison, It's just that this feels too much like a father-son dynamic and he doesn't quite like the idea of that. No idea why, but that doesn't feel right.
Manye untied the pouch stuck to his belt and opened it. These were the leftovers from all his outings, gathered into approximately.. uhm. There is definitely less gold than before. Shouldn't be a problem, he has fifty seven left. Fi- fifty seven?? Holy Moly, who took so much?
Manye leans on the wall with his back, looking at the gold coins in his hand, recounted. Fifty seven.. he can work with that. To some, that would change their life. He still feels a slight chill on his neck when he realises how careless he had been with his defense and awareness.
Dango sits a few meters away from him, waiting and urging to come with impatience. Haaahh, right, he has a weird cat up in his business that won't leave him alone.
No time to sulk, he guesses. Besides, that cat's actions always seemed to save his ass. Last night he snuck out of the manor and Dango ushered him back in right before Ron checked his presence in the room. From that experience, he knew to do what Dango does.
Except licking himself to clean his body. That he will leave to the cat race. Or specie. Whatever they're classified as. Who cares.
He walked down the hall, a little more comfortable looking at the paintings than he'd been before. It's not as bad, and he shouldn't take things so close to heart. If a painting is better than his, he should learn from it, not hate it. Frankly he even liked some of them, now that he's not insecure.
Doors passed, statues stared past, and Manye arrived at the exit shortly. The building is pretty large, so he thanks Cale for taking care of the body.
To be true, he's been sneaking glances at the guards training outside, and has been repeating the exercises in his room. Just to keep the body finely trained. Though, likely, he will try and train past that. Sorry not sorry, Cale, he needs to be stronger if he needs to survive in this warzone.
Outside, he snatched a guard off his training. "You will come with me today."
Other people on the training grounds looked at the guy with pity, which proves that Manye still hasn't slandered the trash name to ash. Good, keep pitying the poor guy, Manye is evil and will make him suffer.
Today, Dango did not choose any bakery. In fact, she didn't even run around to search for one, so he had to visit the last bakery. He dropped a gold coin on the counter, staring blankly at the person behind the counter. "Surely you know what I'm here for."
The young girl nodded, writing down the transaction in a notebook. That wasn't there before. He tilted his head, reading what he can with text being upside down to his point of view. At the top of the page, he managed to read, was Cat Funds. Funds.. must be saving up or something.
Out of the transactions, some math had been done to get a number that she circled. Must be her share of pay. "Do your tips get taxed, cut, shared, or anything like that?"
She stuttered for a bit before nodding her head. Manye took another gold coin, took the girl's hand, and shut it tightly with the coin in her hand. "Then you found this on the street, got it? This is for your cat, it's not a tip."
Then, like nothing happened, he waited for his order. Even if shocked and a little bit intimidated, the girl packed quickly, with a vigor in her movements.
Today seemed nice, even if a bit foreboding. He didn't understand why sweat ran down his back each time he thought too hard about the tree, the one who will give him the shield.
Everything was pretty quiet, with some chatter in the background and people walking by outside. He could even hear a morning dove, though maybe it wasn't quite the call of it. It's not like he took special interest in bird calls. If something was truly wrong, it would be so quiet that even existing would feel wrong in this space.
So, at least he hopes, everything will go fine. It will be fine. As the sack of bread got handed to the guard, he forced himself to get over it and walk the streets, still with the same goal of searching for the cat clan kids while he's here.
Same as always, nowhere to be found. Choi Han isn't here today, probably having been asked to help within the village. Manye needs to figure out his shit out and go get the ancient power. That will probably help with the future invasion, as there will be no power to invade for.
Approaching the tree, as usual, the guard backed out and Manye dragged the bread up himself. It was fine, he even preferred that.
Dango sat by the tree, watching the hole curiously. He dumped the bread and sat down on the stone fence surrounding the tree, watching for any change within it. Out of nowhere, practically in his head, a ghastly voice talked to him.
The branches moved and any surviving leaves fell, Dango instinctively running away with a dreading feeling. "That.. that was so good! You really picked some good bread, hah??"
Wording of it all seemed innocent so far, but he just couldn't shake off the feeling of unease as he listened. It did not speak all this time. Could it, all this time, speak, and simply chose not to? Weird.
Branches lowered, some in the direction of hypothetically his cat. Manye still doesn't know if he can count Dango his cat, but nonetheless this worried him. "This one.. this fella looks enough to fill me just a bit more.. Kind stranger, surely you don't mind?"
Ah. There it is, then, that creeped out feeling proved to be not for nothing. A nauseous feeling pitted in his throat, making him grip unto the stone fence to double over in case it wanted to release. "..What?"
"Yessss, that cute little cat! I want to eat so much, and you've done so much, I'm sure you can do just this one thing for me, please?"
Formulating a response felt like a herculean task, thoughts jumbled together into something he couldn't piece together. He stood up and started walking away. Who cares about the shield anymore, he just wants to get away from this weird situation.
A root grabbed him by his foot, sending him straight into dirt. "Oh- don't go! Sorry, sorry, okay, i'll give you the reward, okay?"
He could tell that behind him, something started glowing, so he stood up to at least grab the shield before he ditched the place. Weird freaking tree, man, this shouldn't have happened. "Just.. do it quick."
Dango hid behind his leg, her tail puffed up either in agitation or fear. She cowered behind even more when the glow reached Manye's body. When the glow fully hid inside him, the tree became the same motionless tree as it had been all these years.
...He needs a break, for sure. Looks like Puzzle City is delayed.