From Player To Npc

"I am still uncertain if she is who she says to be. Her class is different from what it should be, but her voice is the same." [Shingi]

Garry nodded but then looked towards Shingi with a surprised look. Finally, Shingi got used enough to use his senses to read the state someone was in.

"How could you know what her voice sounds like?" [Garry]

Shingi brought out of his Spatial Ring the music box that Aneta had gifted them with the recording of their mother singing. He could tell that Garry recognized it.

"I didn't think I would ever see it again? Where did you find it?" [Garry]

"Aneta gifted it to Annoue on her birthday." [Shingi]

Garry got another big sip, and it was clear that he was trying to make himself so drunk to pass out.

"You sold it, didn't you?" [Shingi]

"It is none of your business, boy." [Garry]

Shingi stood up and hit the table with both of his hands. He used MAJOR ILLUSION to make himself look like Mikhail. He even used some Dark ELement from a Mana Gem, which he stealthily summoned from his Spatial Ring, to make it sound more like Mikhail's.

His result wasn't completely accurate, but for someone who hadn't ever met Mikhail or had only known him through descriptions, it was close enough.

"I am nor the boy in this situation. I have more power and knowledge than you have gathered in your entire life. I have faced dangers, of whom you have heard tales of only. I am not one to mess with and will never be. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" [Shingi]

For the first time, after a long time, Shingi cast his FEAR Spell.

It was useful if they wanted to weaken powerful enemies with a weak mind, as the Spell would make them run away or be less effective in fighting.

He got frustrated and used it because he could tell that even if Garry told him many things, he was hiding even more. Shingi knew that the best way to hide the truth was telling only part of it. He couldn't use his eyes, so this was the only way he could think to get the full truth out of him.

He didn't use the Spell in full power as it could make him pass out or run away, and he wasn't physically strong enough to hold him in place. Shingi could hear Garry's heartbeat going faster as fear spread and took over him.

"Now, you better tell me the whole truth… BOY." [Shingi]

Shingi heard him swallowing some of his salivae, as it seemed that his attempt had worked.

Garry told him everything he knew, and his story seemed to last longer than he thought. The part about having never met Mikhail was true, but he had communicated with him a few times through magical means, and not only one of his messengers.

But still, the voice through those means didn't help get a grasp of the person's image the voice belonged to.

He had worked for him for a long time and had even been to his headquarters a few times. One of his minions had teleported him in there and out of there, so he didn't know where exactly it was. He had actually helped to make that door Shingi had seen, and he was certain that it had something to do with Annoue's disappearance since Syra had mentioned a similar one brought her here.

He tried to find Mikhail when he was at his Headquarters, but it seemed like the man didn't want to show up.

He had helped him with other projects, but only partially and not enough to know what the final result could be.

He could tell that he worked on different things, and he really was preparing for something big. Garry thought his father told him the truth was near, and only Mikhail could do something about it. He had to make sure that Mikhail would help them and not doomed them; that's why he helped him as much as he could.

Even his wife, Angel Feather, didn't know about Mikhail, as he wanted to keep a distance between the two if something went wrong. His wife was a Blessed One, meaning she couldn't stay dead. But he didn't want to see if Mikhail would find a way around it.

After Shingi was born and his wife started becoming more distant, his alcohol-seeking way starting appearing, and after his wife sent the note that she wouldn't return, he was at the point of selling things.

The only thing that he couldn't sell was the shop, and that was because Aneta didn't let him do it. She preferred for it to stay close forever than to be sold to someone else. She had tried to help him stand on his feet many times, but he was never willing to.

Then, after Mikhail's messenger started appearing once more, he denied working for him again. But then, one day, Mikhail himself communicated with him, but this time it wasn't a mental message of his voice.

It was actually an Illusion of an event that could happen—the death of his children and everyone in the village.

He wasn't the best father, especially after his wife left him, but that didn't mean he didn't love them. As for the village, he was close mostly with Aneta and Karemon, who had a close relationship with his wife, even if he had stayed far from them all those years.

He couldn't let them get hurt, and he remembered the last words of his father. He had to make certain Mikhail wouldn't become their doom.

They never got him at his Headquarters and just kept moving in different forges and making more things about him, but this time after ending each of them, his crafting memories got erased. He remembered being asked to craft something, but the moment they gave the blueprint to him and crafting it was something he couldn't remember anymore no matter how much he focused.

He didn't know that Mikhail was the one behind the kidnapping as Shingi didn't give that good description of him or mentioned the name back then. But deep inside him, Garry knew he was the one behind it; that's why he left once more.

He tried to communicate with him, but everything led to a dead-end no matter where he went or what he tried.

He started hearing rumors about what was happening back to Carda, about his son, and how a new Grandmaster Blacksmith appeared to be part of it. One that L'liw himself approved, and he also made a blade for Aella.

Garry didn't know if he should return, as it seemed his son was doing fine without him around.

But then, one day, he found something. There was an old document, written in a language he didn't recognize, but he recognized one symbol it had on the cover. It was an M, and he had seen the same one as a burnmark at the necks of the ones that worked for Mikhail, even if some tried to hide it.

The document was actually for sale in an antique shop and was quite expensive as nobody could read it and so was rumored to have secrets from the Ancient Times.

Garry didn't have any money to buy it, so he had acquired it through other means.

One would expect him to have a Warrior class, but he actually was a Rogue. Even after all those years of doing nothing but drinking, he had a well-trained body, but some things were hard to forget.

He finally found out that this was the Old Runic Language, which a RUNEMASTER would use to make a Rune, but he didn't have the skill to read them. So he returned to find the only person he knew that might have a chance to read it; Karemon.

Garry knew Karemon was mainly focusing on Enchantments, but he didn't have any other options or anyone else he could trust. Even if Enchantments and Runes worked differently, an ENCHANTER always tried to study Runes that could help them improve his Enchantments if they never became a RUNEMASTER.

He had arrived just a few days ago, and he had only met Karemon and gave him the book, while the rest of his days, he stayed home putting his thoughts together. He had Karemon telling him what happened to Shingi but didn't ask for the shop as he didn't care about it anymore.

Garry had decided that the shop was in the right hands and didn't want to have anything to do with it anymore.

Then it was when Shingi arrived.

Shingi also asked him why he had a Mana Pool now, and Garry told him he always had one, but he had it sealed a long time ago until recently had it unsealed. So there were some leaks of mana now and then, which was why the Earth mana dust Shingi had found in the past.

Garry had calmed down, as the FEAR Spell didn't last forever, and he didn't seem to be angry with his son but felt relieved instead.

"Since you have revealed everything, I should too." [Shingi]

Shingi removed his mask and heard the bottle Garry still held, leaving his grasp and hitting the floor. Fortunately, the bottle didn't break as it wasn't made of glass, so the drink in it wasn't completely wasted.

Shingi told him about the maze and how he came to be in this state. However, he didn't tell him anything about the Tower or what he had found about Mikhail. He still didn't trust him fully, even if he understood he didn't want to harm him but to protect him and Annoue.

But if he was here when Mikhail got Annoue, things could be different. Or maybe it was part of the plan of Mikhail for Garry not to be around back then.

"What… what are you going to do now? You can't get back Annoue from him, especially now." [Garry]

"Will take a nap." [Shingi]

Shingi smiled at him, stood up, and went towards his room, saying nothing else. And taking a nap was really what he was going to do for now. He had been through a lot in such a short time and needed time to rest in somewhere decent, even if his bed wasn't the best.

He had to get a more confortable one at some point.