One-Eyed Monster

”Then you’d better tell me why we have to do this. You’re not the one wearing the mask, you don’t know what it feels like!” Kadi had plenty to say about Igor’s decision too. Having a mask strapped to your face was anything but pleasant; it kept scraping and scratching, super uncomfortable, and he had to look through those tiny eyeholes, which felt incredibly awkward.

”Uh… actually, the reason we’re doing this is…”

”Don’t tell me it’s ’for my protection.’ At this point, who’s protecting who between us is still up in the air!” Before Igor could finish, Kadi cut him off.

”Uh…” Igor’s mind spun at high speed. He really didn’t want Kadi to see through him that easily. He had to come up with a new reason so Kadi would stop obsessing over the whole mask thing.

To be fair, putting himself in Kadi’s shoes, Igor also felt that wearing this mask was annoying as hell. But there was no helping it—he didn’t want to take such a risk. If they attracted those Soul Devourers right now, the loss would far outweigh the gain. Sure, those things might not necessarily be able to hurt them, but he was worried Kadi might be affected. If Kadi really triggered some hidden thing inside his body, they’d be in trouble.

Although Igor still didn’t know whether Kadi actually had anything hidden inside him, he felt like Kadi was full of potential—potential that you couldn’t see at a glance. And that kind of potential could very well be that hidden power…

”I think—I think we should use this identity to infiltrate the Circus…” After thinking for quite a while, Igor finally came up with a reason. This one should be enough to convince Kadi; after all, it had taken him some effort to think of it.

”Infiltrate the Circus?” Kadi was very interested in Igor’s idea; his excitement instantly flared up.

”Shh, this is my secret plan, don’t shout it out loud!” Igor deliberately put on a mysterious air. He knew that the more he acted like this, the more curious Kadi would become.

And sure enough, just as Igor expected, Kadi immediately dropped his hands and leaned in, clearly eager to hear the details!

Good thing I’ve actually thought this through a bit. I can still talk through the details. Igor was secretly quite pleased with himself.

”We’re going to use this identity to slip into the Circus from the inside. The closer we get to them, the more we can understand them. Once we know their movements, we won’t be stuck in such a passive position anymore.”

”Do you even know how we’re supposed to do that? We don’t even know where their shadows are, much less their people!”

”That’s exactly why our current identity is so important. Only this way can we earn their trust, get inside their organization, and then slowly dig out their secrets!” Igor patiently, slowly explained to Kadi.

”What you’re saying… kind of makes sense.” Kadi listened with great interest and felt that what Igor was proposing actually had a pretty good chance of working.

”Anyway, right now we need to make people believe we are Wandering Bards. Only then will the Circus think we’re Wandering Bards too…” As he kept talking, Igor almost convinced himself.

It had just started out as a makeshift excuse he’d cobbled together to bluff Kadi into wearing the mask, but now Igor felt that this excuse could actually be turned into a complete, pretty decent plan.

Infiltrate the enemy from within, then gather intel. That way they might quickly find the enemy’s weak point…

Thinking of this, Igor couldn’t help the corners of his mouth curling up.

For Igor, this was actually quite a pleasant surprise.

So he started sorting out his thoughts, slowly reworking the plan. This impromptu idea had appeared out of nowhere and taken shape just as suddenly… like a pie falling straight from the sky.

Seeing how excited Igor was, Kadi couldn’t help waving his arms and legs around as well. All of a sudden, he didn’t feel nearly as resentful about having to wear the mask.

”How did you even come up with this plan? I think it’s absolutely perfect.” Kadi’s mouth overflowed with praise, and just like that, his old sense of admiration for Igor came rushing back.

To be honest, Igor really had come up with this spur-of-the-moment plan because of Kadi. Since Kadi didn’t want to wear the mask, Igor had tried to find some reason to make him accept it, and by a twist of fate, this temporary plan had popped out of that.

”How I came up with it? Haha, it was thanks to you!” Igor couldn’t help but praise Kadi; this was, in fact, his true feelings.

”Me?” Kadi didn’t get it. He wanted a detailed explanation, so he shot Igor a hopeful look.

”Heh, it’s a bit complicated if I spell it all out.” Igor laughed awkwardly. He certainly couldn’t tell Kadi that he’d invented a lie to trick him into wearing a mask and the plan had come out of that. If Kadi heard that, he’d definitely blow his top. So at this moment, Igor had to think up something else related to Kadi to keep him steady—to make Kadi understand how important the mask was, and make him feel the whole plan was tailor-made just for him.

Even Igor felt he was turning into a professional liar…

But when he thought about how it was all for Kadi’s own good, he felt much better. His self-justification skills were really something.

Cough, cough. Igor cleared his throat once or twice, smoothing his voice. What he was about to say needed careful brewing; after all, completely fooling Kadi was not exactly an easy task!

Igor looked at Kadi and said, ”Your unusual looks made me feel we had to make something of it. The world is changing fast—lots of people are abandoning their old selves and turning into something weird. That makes your appearance not stand out as much anymore.”

”I get all that. Can you get to the point?” Kadi said.

”Where’s the safest place to hide a single leaf?” Igor asked, deliberately mysterious, as if his question was extremely profound.

”Goodley once told me the safest place to hide a leaf is in a pile of leaves!” Kadi said smugly; he was very sure about this one.

”Exactly. So if we sneak into their ranks, isn’t that the same as hiding one leaf in a pile of leaves?” Igor said.

”I guess that does sound about right!”

”Because you’re really not that different from them now—I mean in terms of looks!” The ”them” in Igor’s mouth referred to those who had abandoned their sense of self in pursuit of power!

”Oh, so your plan is to make use of that, pretend that I’m also a Non-professional chasing after power, currently searching everywhere for an organization to join!” Kadi was actually quite smart; he caught on immediately.

”Yeah! That’s exactly what I had in mind!” Igor let out a deep sigh of relief in his heart. It hadn’t been easy, but he’d finally achieved his goal!