Chapter 86: Two Entities
"Noooo! He’s not a ***! Arthur is a ***?! What the heck is even that! Believe me, he’s a ***! Fuck, you definitely can’t hear me, don’t you?"
"Stop speaking, please! Whatever you’re trying to say is annoying!
Ignoring Mouthful Eye, who was throwing a tantrum at the table, demanding to be understood, Cillian looked at Melissa weirdly. The way she appeared in distress, as if she had just heard the worst thing in her life, made it much more confusing.
The way she scratched her ears was a little bit too much.
"Wait, you found the censor words irritating?"
Cillian asked, a slight frown appearing on his face.
Melissa rubbed her ears in annoyance, her face showing clear signs of anger.
"Huh?! Censored?! It feels like bugs are swarming over my ears! It’s just that irritating!"
’What?’
Listening to Mouthful Eye’s some censored words is irritating? As far as Cillian remembered, Aiden himself also said some censored words in the Investigative Crew Club with Phillip, Vin, and Caspin in the same room.
Almost immediately, the answer came from him.
’Nah, it made sense if they aren’t reacting to it. The Humored Insanity Aiden possessed is much stronger than these censored words. But that doesn’t mean it’s weaker. So it’s basically [Nine] Piece or the categories Aiden mentioned when we talked yesterday? Or an Artifact close to the Legendary Artifact that the Captain possessed? Or just a very overpowered Piece like my Faceless?’
But that didn’t even begin to explain the most surprising part of it all, as to why he hadn’t been affected by the irritating sounds that Melissa heard while the Mouthful Eye spoke about them.
Obviously, an answer came yet again.
"It’s the system..."
[Yo?]
Cillian glanced at the Death Flag System that called out to him when he muttered it under his breath, but another message that he hadn’t been able to see for a while appeared in the corner of his eye.
[A scent of Death within you is complementing you.]
[A scent of Death within you is saying that a smart bastard should be able to do that much.]
[A scent of Death within you is saying be thankful.]
’Now, I’m definitely sure now.’
Cillian couldn’t help but come to a funny realization after noticing that the Mouthful Eye’s words were not affecting him at all.
There are at least two entities from his Death Flag System. The first one is the legit Death Flag System, the one that gave him access to the real deal, such as the unique abilities.
And there was the second one, this annoying screen of the scent of Death that continued to pester him, and the reason why he was unaffected by the Humored Insanity’s powers.
That already happened once, and it happened again today. This time, there was living proof why he’s not irritated at Mouthful Eye’s words while Melissa was, which made this deduction quite easy if he connected the dots.
[A scent of Death wishes to make a bet with you.]
"Ah shit, why do you keep wanting to make a bet with me..."
Cillian replied with a slight smug smile on his lips towards the screens in front of him after making yet another discovery. However, his sudden weird reaction only left Melissa and the Mouthful Eye staring at him in confusion.
Just who the hell is he talking to?
"..."
Cillian had to stop daydreaming when he noticed the strange gazes from the two and had to do a light cough to interrupt whatever was crossing their minds.
...
Cillian’s everyday life for the next several days consisted of attending Arthur’s consultations, asking the Star Breaker for clues regarding the missing people from the expedition in the ancient ruin, visiting the library to discover more censored words, and training at the mall to see his overall improvement in skills.
Even when he woke up and right before he slept, Cillian read books to increase his knowledge of mana, improving it in the process.
It was a repeating life cycle that almost felt like he was merely doing this because he had nothing to do.
Well, of course, he doesn’t have anything to do. Why would he even pry into Arthur’s life in the first place?
Even if he had a Death Flag like Fergus, at the very least, he was someone bearable to mess with. A totally different type of people in Cillian’s dictionary, as one was someone is worth messing with while the other was just... an entitled young master who thought everyone was below him.
He might get rage bait himself by trying to mess with Fergus when Aster had already done the job in the early days.
"Moon, clock, lamb."
Cillian couldn’t help but scratch his head in annoyance the instant he realized Arthur’s image didn’t quite fit with these three words.
The Clock and Lamb words were the additional words Cillian and Melissa discovered after the word Moon.
But Arthur is a moon? What is he, an astronaut?
Definitely not.
Then Cillian even imagined Arthur’s face being placed on a lamb, consulting with more little lambs like Willow, Kash, Ivy, and Melissa. If there was one difference between the former lamb and the latter lambs, it was that Arthur was definitely not some innocent lamb.
But there are quite a few similarities to the knowledge he currently possesses, and it’s the fact that lamb is almost derived from a young sheep.
And sheep were something Cillian had already encountered.
’But Arthur being a Black Shepherd?’
Cillian found it ridiculous but never eliminated the matter. Even so, things don’t add up if he made a connection that Arthur is under them.
At the very least, Arthur is the type of person who doesn’t hate being out in the open. The Shepherds are quite different, and they are rather secretive yet full of crazy people.
’So is he a clock then...?’
Cillian didn’t even begin to imagine Arthur’s face as a clock. It was just nonsense. What was a clock person supposed to be anyway?
"I love this fantasy world, man. No wonder I got addicted to reading novels while hating them. They are just so unique, each one of them. And this place is rather cliché, but so-so in terms of uniqueness, I guess. Ugh, I’m thinking that this is a book again. This is not a damn book at all."
A quiet sigh escaped Cillian’s lips before he finally looked at himself in the mirror.
Dressed in a black tuxedo tailored with black gloves and white sleeves, along with brown leather shoes, Cillian was ready to head out and attend the ball.
[Inventory 10/10]
Cillian looked over his inventory as he got ready to use the things inside whenever something bad happened in this ball. It was a precautionary measure to be ready if he ever were to encounter a problem.
"Please, make something happen. Please, make something happen...!"
At this point, Cillian was wishing that his reverse jinxing would work, as there was no way he was accepting trouble coming his way.
After looking through the mirror for one last time, Cillian glanced at his breast pocket and said.
"Don’t you dare sleep on me."
"I know, I know. Just go, will you?"
Cillian let out a short sigh, finding this Artifact unreliable and not trusting his words at all. He might somehow disappear at the nick of time he needed him, but he’ll have to trust his words in the end.
"Okay, let’s go to this ball."
Cillian went to his room and met his family downstairs, who were just waiting for him. They were all dressed formally like him.
It was now time to attend the Ball Of Honors.
’Balls of Honors. Hah!’
For some reason, Cillian found the name hilarious.