Damnit! I actually failed! I actually failed to win one of those freaking trials! Why was this one actually balanced?! What is so special about that girl that she doesn’t get thrown into a nearly impossible-to-win trial?

  It went without mentioning that my plan had completely failed to begin with. That Mari girl had been more agile and dexterous than expected to be able to get through one of my wire traps without activating it at all.

  Also, I had only ever found a single piece of evidence ahead of her–And since I had botched that occasion to lock her out of victory, it had cost me the entire trial. If not for the restrictions on speed and such, I would have caught her at the rooftop part.

  In fact, I would have been able to jump far enough to land right on top of her, but alas…

  It did serve some good to lose, though. Namely, I now knew that there was no penalty whatsoever for me. If I lost, the only bad consequence was that my prey got to live. That was it.

  …Anyway. What the fuck is going on here? I wasn’t gone for that long, was I?

  Somehow, the small town had been infested with what looked like soldiers, warriors, and adventurers in the few hours I had been away. It seemed like everyone was here to either find a way to destroy my curses or to find and slay me, the culprit behind the curses.

  When did those three idiots make a quest to lure these bastards over here? Did they do it without me noticing anything a while back? Why would all of these people show up at once? I hate missing out on what happened, with missing context, nothing makes sense!

  That’s way too many people looking around. One will eventually stumble upon me with these numbers… Very well, then. I guess I’ll leave for now. Not like my curses will go away if I do.

  I had been interested in the trio, but I felt that the situation could quickly spiral out of my control now.

  It was best to just leave right. As much as I would have liked to make sure that Miss Tigress was infected with the nightmares as well, I guess I’ll just leave it up to chance, maybe she’ll hang out too close to those bearing ‘Remember Me?’ and be affected without me having to do a thing…

  I picked a direction and began waddling away, keeping my ‘Plush Form’ active to evade detection. In this manner, I got away slowly, but while keeping the chances of being found out as low as possible.

  Nonetheless, I couldn’t help but think about the prey that had slipped in between my fingers. I had read the one piece of evidence I had run into, and clearly, those things were bizarre. The one piece I had found had told me clearly that it was about what had happened at Harvey’s Diner back then, but I remembered no newspapers bearing such an article.

  There had been some articles written about it, but the story had not gained traction quickly. It was a story from a poorer part of Tolten, and the newspaper was primarily read by the more wealthy. Thus, only when the story had begun to appear like a genuine mystery had it made its way there.

  Nonetheless, I had read all of those newspapers. I had no memory whatsoever of reading such a thing.

  Nara, you can look through my memories. Did I ever read such a thing, or did I ever miss a newspaper within that period?

  You are correct to believe that the articles featured on the torn pieces of paper do not truly exist. They seemed to be an interpretation of what they could have been like under different circumstances–As far as I can tell, they don’t seem to actually make up facts

  Actually, it would appear that they further elaborate by adding elements that were omitted, but are indeed true

  That’s what I was worrying about. What if one of those damned things mentioned me by name? I was a pretty big suspect at one point, after all. The original papers never said my name, since exposing that when I was bourgeois would be a bad look for the so-called writers.

  They only make a living out of writing such things because the city lord allows them to. Thus, they are always careful not to ruffle any feathers, so anyone with a good reputation, or a somewhat high status, would always be spared by them–This included me. As a bourgeois, they never dared to actually give my name or even a description when mentioning the suspects.

  Regardless, since the versions inside the nightmare were different, it was not impossible that my name had been mentioned, and that Mari thus knew my name and might repeat it.

  That would lead to my connection to nightmares being exposed… This was something I would rather keep a secret. If I am not forgetting anything, right now, Leton should only know that I am a machine with a single form, bearing an affinity for spirits and curses. That was basically it.

  Well… If SHLAD could communicate directly with his creator, then my knightly form was already exposed, actually…

  How annoying. This reminds me that I went to work at Harvey’s Diner and got caught in the mess because I was doing something for that rat’s sake. I’ll really need some explanations when I get my hands on him.

  Anyway, tell me, Nara… Any idea why this particular trial wasn’t as tilted in my favour as the previous ones? Or why that girl coincidentally ran into the last piece of evidence by running into the backstage area? That last part in particular felt way too convenient.

  There are multiple reasons a trial can appear less punishing for certain prey… At least, according to what I can tell

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  This Mari girl seemed to have possessed some sort of innate ability–Even if it is an ability of no real use, innate abilities are considered something truly intrinsic to a person, thus, they are complicated to ‘block off’ when a person is taken into a nightmare

  This, in turn, leads the nightmare to consider the person to be of ‘higher quality’, giving them a fairer trial to reflect their supposed strength

  Huh… So, the stronger a person, the more balanced the trial?

  In theory, yes. There is much that I don’t know about the nightmares, however. There is definitely a lot of randomness to how they are generated… And as you experienced, the nightmares can even give you access to new abilities for their duration

  Considering that the nightmares seem intent on giving you your human form when partaking in them, it isn’t strange that it would consider giving you a boost when facing a prey that is considered of high strength

  Although I am not certain, I have the feeling that if the lion-man were to be pulled into a final trial, you would receive a substantial boost, as otherwise, you would be the one at a disadvantage–Unless the rules of the trial aren’t about strength, of course

  Nara marked a small pause.

  As to why she seemed to be extremely lucky toward the end… I believe it is due to your relationship with negative and positive emotions

  …Did she get very hopeful or something? Does this mess with the integrity of the trial, somehow?

  Indeed, the trials are designed to invoke fear, despair, and a whole slew of negative emotions in the victim. They get there by repeatedly failing and experiencing false deaths, are told that the nightmare is ‘final’, and are then given instructions to follow

  Everything is designed to inflict maximum mental anguish and dread

  Mari inexplicably went through a surge of a powerful positive emotion, this surge carried on throughout the rest of the trial, seemingly leading the nightmare to bend in a way that led her to victory–Though, as you saw, it was still a very close call

  Positive emotions, heh? I only had to deal with that once before. People usually feel quite negative when dealing with me. After all, one needed to think in a very pessimistic manner in a fight. It was most common for people to imagine the worst possible scenario and prepare for it, just in case.

  If it actually happened, they wouldn’t be taken by surprise, and if it didn’t happen, well then, you were in luck.

  Thinking in a positive, optimistic manner when your life was on the line was for the ill-brained. Optimism was best used elsewhere than when someone was trying to eviscerate you and wear your intestines as a scarf.

  I couldn’t really feel inside the trial. What positive emotion was it?

  I am afraid that I do not know either…

  Heh, it isn’t important anyway.

  One weird thing, though… I am supposed to know about the finer details of the trials, especially those that have ended. Yet, I am unable to check what was written on the other pieces of evidence. I can only consult the one that you have already read

  Could it be because I lost this trial?

  I don’t know… But it means that we have no idea what Mari knows–Hopefully, she’ll die from the strike you landed at the last second. It should have pierced one of her lungs

  I hope so too. I don’t want Leton to invent an anti-nightmare machine if he hears about the trials. I know very well that he could somehow manage to come up with one.

  Nara and I discussed until I believed myself far enough to transform into my ‘Base Form’, immediately moving far quicker than with my ridiculously small legs as a plush.

  The wildness of Heldinot was a well-known fact about the country, but experiencing it firsthand was quite something. I ran, climbed, and swam–Well, walked underwater, for an entire week.

  The journey was rhythmised mostly by spending some time and speaking with my adorable sisters, a few nightmare trials that I won without breaking a sweat, and with the cooking of chicken.

  The last activity resulted in a curse worse than the two previous ones.

  Inferior Curse Of Berserk - At the sight of a bleeding ally, the target will enter a short stage of uncontrollable rage and try to attack their bleeding ally. The rage only lasts for half a second. The curse can only be cast on a target every twenty-four hours.

  It seemed like in system-speak, ‘inferior’ was worse than ‘minor’, judging by how impractical this curse was.

  Not only was it a rather prominent limitation, being realistically usable only once in a fight, but the effect wasn’t even that good. Half a second could mean a lot, but it mostly meant very little. Most people wouldn’t be able to actually land a hit within that timeframe, especially if they had to move to actually attack.

  The condition requiring the sight of blood was a good thing, though. It could allow me to better control when the cursed target would actually be affected. However… To apply curses, I need to touch my target.

  So, if I can hit a target, I should obviously hit them as hard as I can. Which will kill or injure them if I do it correctly, and they aren’t resilient.

  The problem was that after testing on wild creatures–At the moment, at least–I could only apply one curse at a time, there was a bit of a delay if I tried to use several.

  So, compared to the other curses I have available, this one is simply not a priority unless I have a very specific idea in mind.

  Regardless, it seemed like chicken dishes were geared toward inflicting rage, or at least, inflicting ailments that render someone unable to think clearly. This was good to know.

  This is making me worry about what I should prioritise once I get to more elaborate dishes. Cooking complicated meals will result in a much higher time to wait before cooking something else, so I needed to use my time wisely and get myself a good curse that would pull its weight.

  So far, all three curses I had acquired were promising if brought to a greater strength level.

  I really need to acquire more ingredients, though. It is surprisingly harder to do than I expected.

  As I traversed some thick vegetation, I unexpectedly set foot upon a dirt road. Judging by how bare it is, I can only assume that it is a road that sees common usage.

  I looked to my right and instantly spotted a most awful-looking creature coming out of the greenery opposite from where I had come from, carrying what was clearly a person’s corpse in its maw.

  It dropped the corpse to roar at me… Well, it actually sounded more like an old man yelling than anything else.

  In any case, who told this ugly wretch that it could shout at me without consequences?