He is amnesiac?!

How the hell do I fix that?!

[Try and remember! Please!]

"W-who are you?!"

Fuck!

[Gran, do you have anything that can help memory?!

Some special tea or something?!

We need to-]

"HAHAHHAHAHAHAHA."

She is laughing?!

I turn around to the confused youngster.

What is…

Right, he's a goddamn actor!

[Hey, are you playing me?!]

He breaks into a laugh.

"Haha, you should have seen your face!

All panicked and all!"

What the hell?!

I was really worried!

[But seriously what happened to you?]

"That…I'm not sure.

I just remember that whatever you did…

You looked like an abomination.

I instantly knew that I couldn't live in a world with…

That…whatever you were."

[That's so damn cryptic!]

"Look, brother. All I know is it was terrifying."

Gran comes closer.

"So you did manage to use illusion magic?!"

"Indeed! For a while, he looked like a purple shadow."

She is looking at me like I am some rare specimen.

"Alright, follow me, kid."

[What about him?]

"He'll be fine. He's a smart kid."

We simply leave him behind and go outside.

We go far away from the others.

"Alright, use your magic."

[Are we training?

Aren't you scared?

What if the same happens to you?]

"Kid, don't underestimate my will."

[Alright, fine.]

I focus and I visualize once more.

"I see it.

A purple shadow.

Not human anymore.

Now try something else."

I do it.

[Now?]

"Nothing, still the same thing."

Weird.

Let's try for a human appearance once again.

"What the hell?! Stop this!"

I quickly switch back to purple shadow form.

[What did you see?]

"That…it was monstrous.

Something that shouldn't exist.

DISGUSTING!

Abomination was an understatement.

It kept switching too.

As if you couldn't manage a clear picture.

Even when it did settle it didn't look human.

No, it looked human but felt grotesque.

I can't really explain it…"

Wow.

Why is this happening?

Lacking focus is something understandable.

Not that it's easy to fix.

The second part, however.

Is it because humans are complex?

Am I failing to capture all the intricacies?

"Don't overthink it.

For now, only use the first one.

Or the second one if you want people to try and kill you."

I guess that is the ultimate taunt.

Except it could become extremely dangerous.

Especially if it works on strong opponents.

Judging by the kid's reaction, most people lose their rationality.

Then again Gran was able to resist it.

But she also was ready for it.

I'm pretty sure that lowers the difficulty rating by a lot.

[So what is the plan now?]

"We'll leave this place.

Our caravan has been stopped for a full day.

I was expecting you to become a useful actor but…"

[Hey, I'm trying!]

"Hehe, it's fine. You can use lost magic. That ought to count for something. "

[Ah, I guess if I ever encounter that elf again, I could ask her.]

"They are creatures of legend. It is unknown if she'll help."

[What do you mean creatures? They are pretty much the same as us, no?]

"No haha. From what I know elves are a magical species. Even their young ones know magic."

[That doesn't change much, does it?]

"Well, it is different from us that revere magic.

Something we all long for they take for granted. "

[I mean, you know that from legends, right?

Maybe these are wrong.

I already heard a few rumors that were wrong.]

Like the savage forest being full of beast kings.

Or even my albino friend being a vampire haha.

"Hehe, I like your open-mindedness.

This is a good trait to have in our line of work.

But you need to remember not to exaggerate either."

[What do you mean?]

"People have expectations.

If you act a play that diverges too much from it…

They won't be able to enjoy it as much."

I think I get it.

No one cares about historical accuracy.

It's all about the entertainment value.

[I'll remember it.]

"Good."

We make our way back to the camp.

"Alright, everyone!

Time to depart!"

At first, I'm excited.

But then I realize how slow we are going.

Very slow.

I am just sitting cross-legged inside.

Meditating.

Doing image training.

From time to time the youngster comes to bother me.

He asks me questions about the world.

Except that more often than not I don't know.

I have traveled a bit, but I was often cooped up in one place.

Doing one thing or another.

Sometimes I do feel bad for leaving everything behind.

But at least I didn't have to fight Eaglevein this way.

This is a pretty peaceful conflict resolution.

One I am pretty happy about.

Apparently, we will soon be reaching a town.

They told me the name, but I instantly forgot.

Was a weird one.

In my opinion, they should use numbers instead.

Town 1 to 999 in order.

Could instantly know the geographical location.

For the ones added later on, you use decimals.

Sucks to be them haha.

Then you can use letters for the bigger cities.

You know city A to Z.

I feel like many would complain, however.

The plan is to spend a few days to weeks there.

Apparently, they never know in advance the timing.

They leave whenever there is no more money to be made.

This requires pretty good insight.

Gran is in charge of it all for now.

This is her contribution to the troupe.

She did teach a few others how to do it.

Ah, that and crystal ball readings.

She is amazing.

Ah, but I have found a flaw in her act.

She sticks too much to common sense.

She was able to know I was being chased.

She was however completely ignorant of the details.

I told her a tiny bit and she already told me she'd rather ignore it.

That begs to question why she isn't worried about me bringing them trouble.

She simply sighed saying that the world is a big place.

One extremely complex that one cannot understand easily.

That there are risks everywhere.

That one shouldn't stop living because of fear.

I quite like that philosophy to be honest.

Just as I'm pondering about that I hear a scream.

"Oh fuck! Bandits!"