“Hello, Mr. Adventurer!” eyeglasses greeted enthusiastically.

Despite the fact that I stated that I needed to get this over with as quickly as possible, him actually interacting with me made me unable to do so. Not out of fear or anything like that, but simply because the idea of simply being acquainted with him is enough to make my skin crawl and gives me chills all over my body.

Therefore, my approach is to ignore him. Although it may seem like I won’t get my answer if I act like this, in reality, there isn't much of a conflict between what I'm doing and my aim because his reaction to my passivity will help me get to my answer.

“Ahem, well, I supposed it is impolite of me to call you out in such a manner.” He awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “I bet you don’t have a favorable opinion of me after what Mr. Robert did to you.”

I snickered inwardly. You’re making it sound like I got my ass beaten, but…

Who the hell is Robert?

I stole a glance at Bob, who was sulking in the corner. Him?

Well, Bob is a nickname for Robert, but I thought it was his actual name since everyone else is calling him that, and with his character, most people wouldn’t dare to call him by his nickname.

“Since this is our first official meeting, please allow me to introduce myself.” Eyeglasses extended his hand and greeted with a smile, “Hello, my name is Ryan Barnes. Your… fellow adventurer for the expedition.”

Yeah, I heard it from the other adventurers during the meeting. I’m not deaf, alright?

I’m still calling you eyeglasses.

I ignored his extended hand, but even after a couple of seconds had passed, he did not retract his hand. Instead, he looked at me with an intense gaze as if saying he was telling me to shake it or else he would never let it down.

I heaved a sigh and decided to stop ignoring him. I reached out my hand to shake his as I offhandedly introduced myself too using my alias, “Nathan Axel.”

Almost immediately, as soon as I shook it, it was as if electricity coursed from my hand to my brain, momentarily stunning me.

After coming to my senses, I had a sly grin behind my mask. I now have my answer.

“Good, good.” He gave a slight nod and a smile that was oddly satisfied. He then stepped aside as he said, “And these two are my new… uhh, f-friends!” He struggled with that last word.

As if on cue, the woman standing behind him introduced herself.

“Hello! My name is Sarah Silverstein.” The petite woman curtsied. “And I’ll also be joining the expedition together with my brother here.”

Wait, what?! Silverstein?

That’s… the family name of one of the main supporting characters of the novel.

Is she… like a relative of him?

“Hey, introduce yourself too!” Sarah struck her brother, who was taking cover behind her, at the back of his head, causing him to grumble in annoyance. “It’s rude, you know?”

As I looked at the man behind her, I noticed that he really looked similar to Sarah.

Wait a minute. The more I look at him, the more he looks similar to that character.

Dark brown hair.

Brown eyes.

And is also from the Silverstein family.

Don’t tell me he’s—

“…Fine.” The man breathed in deeply before letting it all out. He introduced himself with a slight bow, I’m Brian Silverstein.”

“…” This… the guy before me is part of the main supporting cast, Brian Silverstein?

No, no, no, there is no way he is him. There is absolutely no way in hell it could be him!

After all, in the novel, I wrote him as a serious large hulking man despite his young age.

Because of his powerful muscles, strength, and power, he carries himself like a tank at the protagonist’s party.

And the man standing before me has nothing of that except the young part. Although it may look like he has the serious part down, too, I can clearly tell it was due to social anxiety.

I mean, for gosh sakes, his hands were trembling, and he avoided looking at me in the eye. It was a clear contrast to the Brian Silverstein I wrote.

To confirm, I asked MERLIN using my smartphone if he truly is Brian Silverstein, and I received an immediate response confirming it.

[The gentleman before you, sire, is, in fact, Brian Silverstein, and the lady standing in front of him is his sister and the heiress to their Silverstein Family.]

Wait, what? He’s… not the heir, but instead, she is? That’s not right…

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not misogynistic or anything; as a matter of fact, I’m an advocate for gender equality.

It’s just that… Brian was supposed to be the heir.

I know that it is unrealistic for me to expect things to be the same way as they were when I wrote them in the novel, much less when there’s a high chance I’m changing them since I’m here five years before the story begins, but I don’t believe that the mere fact I’m here would result in such a shift in the status quo.

After all, Brian’s entire motivation throughout the novel was to fulfill the responsibility and obligations that came with his position as the heir.

His family had produced remarkable and talented Mavens, which benefited humanity, but for the past couple of years, they couldn’t produce a child who had the proper talents to become a strong Maven, or at least until Brian was born.

So, as the heir and his family’s last hope, he bears the burden of reviving his family's once-proud reputation and returning it to its former glory.

Aside from that, I don’t think I’ve ever written him a sister, even as a background character.

Something really is wrong here. However, I can’t be sure since it could be because I wrote him in such a way that he didn’t get much chance to talk about his family due to his overall character, but still, him having a sister and the original heir(ess) at that is a strange and random addition for one of the important main characters.

Ugh, shit.

The realization that things may end up way different from what I wrote gave me a splitting headache. After all, the only reason I felt so sure of myself was because I was aware of what would occur in the future and who would play a significant part in it.

However, if things become different than what I know of, then—

“And everyone knows who I am! I’m Bob Dunn!” Bob suddenly yelled from the corner as he raised both of his fists up.

I chuckled a bit at this. Honestly, he looks like a kid who got punished and was made to sit in the corner with the way he is now.

I heaved a sigh. It's a good thing he did that because if he hadn't, there's a good likelihood that I would have begun a downward spiral into dejection and self-doubt. I need to stop being pessimistic about it.

Come on! Don’t be a bitch about it! I chided myself. As if my life on Earth just worked out the way I always wanted it to be. If things don’t go as planned, then all I need to do is continue doing what I normally do.

Improvise, adapt, and overcome.

If I can achieve my goals on Earth and become an influential figure there, then there is no reason why I can't do the same thing here.

So even if my knowledge of the future is changing, there is nothing to completely worry about.

I exhaled through my nose. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I'm grateful that Bob was present… just a bit, though.

I’m still salty about what he did though.

There are two things that I need to concentrate on right now: getting the All-stone and dealing with eyeglasses here.

Why do I have to deal with him? It was because the moment I shook hands with him, activated.

Although it didn’t automatically attack him, it told me explicitly well that he’s someone I need to deal with.

Why? I don’t really have an exact answer, but the most logical answer I could think of is that he has done something to me as I shook hands with him.

I heard he has been a prodigy since birth, which means he has been nurtured and trained properly. So there’s a high chance he has already created his own magic ability, and one of the conditions he needs to use it is through a handshake or physical contact.

If that was the case, then what is his ability?

No, there’s no point trying to figure it out since it literally could be anything for as long as the right constraints are set.

All I have to do for now is to watch him and depending on what he does and his goal, I may have to deal with him.

========

A/N: Here's the bonus chapter! The pacing of the story should improve by the next few chapters.