The next few days were a mixture of stress and forced cohabitation, with Thomas avoiding going out of his room as much as possible. He mostly stayed inside reading books and writing his findings, but he had discovered something about him he had feared : Without Bael he was incapable of eating and sleeping. Thankfully, thanks to both sources, the flow and demonic power, his health wasn’t affected and he could continue his life without any inconvenience, but he grew thinner and thinner, his skin becoming so pale that it started to look translucent, and his veins were fully visible. In fact, this helped him a lot. Since his first day in this dimension, the color white made him uncomfortable and he had gotten used to scratching his skin until he drew blood, just to subtract the white color from his sight. But now he did this less and less, to the relief of the twins, who were however growing more and more concerned about Thomas’ appearance that was declining rapidly.

  A week after his arrival, Thomas was once again sitting at the desk in his bedroom, his long bck hair tied with a ribbon. The clothing style from this world was confusing, mixing modern and traditional oriental in a sexy mess. It probably served the visuals of the game, but it made him comfortable. He had tried a few times to sketch outfits and present them to the twins to ask for them to be made, but the only answer he had received were confused looks. Instead, he had been searching for a way to use his magic to create his own clothes.

  ‘Is this how you do it ? I’ll try then.’

  The problem was that, as much as the flow followed his will, he needed to have a clear image in mind for what he wanted, and he had never studied garment making, so he had to study sewing first. But now, he thought that he had an idea about the whole process. Thomas closed his eyes and tried to picture the outfit in his head. When he had the image in mind, he let the flow seep out of him, and the pink light engulfed him. It didn’t take more than a second for him to feel the fabric rubbing against his skin and he opened his eyes and walked towards the full length mirror.

  His emaciated body was hidden by baggy sport pants and a hoodie that was too big for him. The clothes were as bck as his hair, just like the sneakers at his feet. With his hair messily tied and the bags under his eyes, he looked unemployed and unkempt, but he felt much more at ease.

  ‘That’s what magic is all about ! Now I feel like I can live.’

  He sighed in relief. Being fully covered felt like armor, a battlesuit to venture safely into the world. Thomas thought that he was finally ready and opened the door to his room. In the hallway, a maid opened her eyes wide when she saw him step out, rushing to rey the news to the twins. Ignoring her, Thomas cautiously walked in the corridor, staying close to the walls and flinching everytime someone came close. He started to sweat, not because of the warmth of his outfit since with the power of two gods within him he couldn’t be inconvenienced by the heat anymore, but in stress. Even if he had gone outside, it didn’t mean he felt comfortable.

  He finally reached the white marble stairs leading to the ground floor and climbed down cautiously, his eyes rolling in their orbits to survey his environment. When he reached the st step, he noticed Tira waiting for him with a big smile, his pink hair combed to the side.

  “Good evening, master ! I am gd you feel good enough to walk around now. I prepared a small meal for you in the dining room.”

  Thomas didn’t have the freedom to refuse, he felt too tense to even open his mouth. So he quietly followed the boy in a nearby room with a table big enough for all the servants to eat together. The meal served was all but ‘simple’, dozens of dishes were pced in front of the central seat, with different kinds of meat, vegetables, sauces, cereales and more things he couldn’t identify. It was a nostalgic sight.

  ‘Bael would have loved this, he hates Hell’s food.’

  Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t keep his mind off the king. It was his sole reason to keep going, so he had accepted it and now freely thought about Bael without beating himself up over it.

  Tari, the purple haired boy, emerged from a nearby door with a smile.

  “Good evening, master ! It is lovely to see you here ! But… What is this strange outfit ?”

  Tira rebuked him with a deadly gre.

  “Don’t be rude when the master is still recovering ! It’s probably the fashion of his previous dimension.”

  Thomas sat at the table without looking the twins in the eyes. He successfully muttered under his breath :

  “A battlesuit.”

  It was just a regur outfit for an employed guy, but he wasn’t wrong because at this moment it was the toughest armor permitting him to be so far from his room. Mistaken about his intentions, Tari nodded.

  “It’s clever. It’s easy to move around with while providing full coverage of the body for protection, and it’s bck to allow you to infiltrate the enemy base from the shadows. Were you something like an assassin previously ?”

  Thomas didn’t answer, he picked up his fork and stared at the meal.

  ‘As if… I’m not that brave, I couldn’t even fight back against Mariane and I accepted my death… Well, I guess I’m just too nice compared to the stuff the world puts me through. I will have to work on that now.’

  He tried to pick up a piece of meat and bring it to his mouth, but the smell alone made him nauseous.

  “Master, are you alright ? You are sweating.”

  “It’s nothing.”

  Thomas put aside the food, he didn’t feel like eating anymore, and this move made the boys’ brows furrow in worry, but they didn’t say anything. After taking a deep breath, Thomas turned to them.

  “I think I’m good enough to start with the curse, now. Let’s go in the woods tomorrow.”

  Tira immediately shook his head.

  “You can’t, master ! You aren’t eating properly and your flow levels aren’t enough ! What we performed st time was an emergency measure, it’s not enough to go to battle ! If you encounter cursed monsters and need to use your magic, you will be completely depleted again and enter a critical stage !”

  But contrary to him, Tari nodded.

  “I think it’s a good idea.”

  His brother turned to him in shock.

  “What are you saying ? It’s extremely dangerous !”

  But Tari was inflexible.

  “Master isn’t getting better by staying here, you have noticed it too. Maybe going outside and seeing the world while breathing fresh air would do him some good. Besides, the knights are currently on a subjugation mission near the artifacts because the number of monsters has increased, so we will have some protection while the master takes care of the curse. And, if he ever meets another familiar, it would be better. Maybe our current master doesn't like the circution with us but will be more open to it with someone else.”

  Tira thought about it for a while but finally nodded.

  “I guess you are right… We can try it, but we’ll retreat as soon as it gets dangerous !”

  Thomas was listening to them while looking outside the window. He couldn’t deny that he was a bit curious about this new world, but he was very apprehensive about the artefact’s restoration. From what he had researched, it needed such a huge amount of flow that one could never provide it on their own. The most effective would be to do a circution on site. To sum up, another sex scene was coming.

  He took a deep breath. Even if the idea was dreadful, if he succeeded, that would make it one artifact done out of seven. The quicker the curse would be stopped, the quicker he would be able to return to Bael. He needed to be efficient.

  “The knights you are talking about, they are the Animalis Kingdom’s troops, right ?”

  The twins nodded.

  “Yes. This is the kingdom we are living in right now. It was created by the first Shaman, and the king was chosen by him, now it’s his descendants who are reigning. We have a friendly retionship and Tari takes care of different businesses, essentially controlling the greater part of the economy in the kingdom.”

  It was a strange power dynamic. Essentially, there might be a king but Thomas, as the Shaman, was the one ruling the kingdom. It made his head spin, but he had more important things to worry about.

  “The knights will be here tomorrow to subjugate the monsters, right ? How many are there ?”

  “A troop of twenty with the commander being a powerful fighter.”

  Thomas sighed. A powerful fighter mysteriously present on the site of his first artifact ? This guy would turn out to be a familiar, he could guarantee it.