Returning back to the Inn, while keeping my distance from Rayla and her new friend, I wait outside of Rayla’s door in case she calls for me but she doesn’t. Then, about fifteen minutes after they entered the room, the guy leaves. Rayla told me if that happens I’m just supposed to go to my room, so I do. About an hour later I hear a knock on my door, it’s Rayla. She seems to have freshly washed upand looks very frustrated.

  “So…I’m guessing it didn’t go well?”

  “How would you know that?”

  “Well you obviously didn’t sleep together. If you did, you'd be sleeping in your room and not be here.”

  Brushing though her hair and brushing over her arm, ane answers, “Yeah…Let’s just say it wasn’t very satisfying for me. I thought this was going to be a lot more fun than it ended up being.”

  “I’m sorry…You were all excited about it too…Do you need a hug?”

  “I kinda do but I also feel kinda dirty right now and I don’t think it’s right for me to hug you…”

  “But didn’t you clean yourself? It looks like you took a bath.”

  “Yeah, but I still feel dirty…”

  “Don’t say that come on, come here.”

  I give her a hug and say,

  “It’s okay ane. You’re never going to be dirty enough that I won’t give you a hug when you need one.”

  Crying a little in my arms, she answers,

  “Sniff Thank you oki…”

  “Was it really bad?”

  “Sigh I dunno…He was just so selfish. I don’t think he cared about me at all…I know I didn’t really care about him either so it might be selfish to say but it just felt like we were both trying to exploit each other and he won because he had more experience…”

  “Hmm…To be honest I don’t understand at all but I know you’re feeling bad. Is there anything I can do to cheer you up?”

  Still a bit teary eyes, she puts her hand on my cheek and gives me a smile, “Pfft, you already did. Thanks, Thoma.”

  “No problem.”

  Wiping her tears way, she asks, “So, how did it go for you? You seemed really popular too. There were a bunch of really pretty girls trying to chat you up right?”

  “Yeah, but I wasn’t interested in going on dates so I politely declined.”

  A bit sheepishly she replies, “Hmm…You seemed to be talking an awful lot at the end with that pretty boy. Were you perhaps…Interested in dating him?”

  “Nope, I politely declined him too.”

  “So he was hitting on you! I was wondering about that but at that point I was about to leave anyway. But you really are popular huh? Even guys are trying to court you, haha.”

  “The mask seemed to interest a lot of them.”

  “Huh! I knew it! It’s the mystique, a lot of women find that sexy. Were you at least able to have a bit of fun?”

  “Eh, not really, I was mostly just concentrating on making sure you’re okay, but John was nice. He asked if we can be friends and he’s an E-Ranked adventurer. Him and his sister are going to come by tomorrow morning because they want to join our party.”

  Rayla seems intrigued, “Oh? You didn’t outright accept them right?”

  “Nope, you’re the party leader so I told him he’ll have to convince you.”

  Petting my head, she smiles at me, “Okay, very good. I’m proud of you oki.”

  After a bit more light conversation to cheer her up, I ask, “Are you gonna sleep here or in the other room?”

  “To be honest…I don’t really wanna go back there for now so if you don’t mind I’ll stay here.”

  “Of course I don’t mind. Come on, let’s go to sleep.”

  The next day, we wake up early, go down to the seating area and eat our breakfast while waiting for John and his sister to show up. Once we’re about half-way done, I see John coming in. He’s wearing a chain shirt, peach colored silk clothing and a staff. Behind him is a tall beautiful High-Elf woman with green eyes and silver hair reaching down to her butt. She is wearing shiny half-plate armor and has both a large steel shield and a spear on her back and a sheathed sword dangling from her hip.

  “John, over here!”

  “Oh hey, Thoma Ahad, how are you doing?”

  “Doing good, is that your sister? Nice to meet you, my name is Thoma Ahad.”

  Giving me her hand, she answers in a gentle voice, “Likewise, I am Sher Aka.”

  “And this here is my big sister. Her name is Rayla, she’s the party leader.”

  Sitting down with her legs crossed and a calculating glare, Rayla says, “Let’s get right to the point. I’m more than skeptical about this. My little brother is a bit naive and easy to take advantage of. Even though he’s a good person, I find it hard to believe that he managed to convince a random guy that hit on him and his ‘sister’ to just join our group. What’s your aim in this?”

  Keeping a polite smile Sher Aka answers, “Ara, it seems like we had a similar thought. I find it hard to believe as well that my brother who is usually so reserved and untrusting suddenly comes to me after a night at a bar saying he wants to join the party of a mysterious masked stranger cursed with amnesia. If anything, aren't you the suspicious ones? He is even calling a Beastman his sister even though he is supposedly Human.”

  “Oh? Well, you two don’t look blood related to me either.”

  “Uhm, ane? What are you doing? Why are you so mean?”

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  John also looks to his sister and adds, “I’ll have to agree with Thoma Ahad on this Sherry. You’re also going a bit hard on them aren’t you?”

  “I’m just doing this to protect you.”

  “I’m just doing this to keep you safe.”

  Both of them say in unison before angrily leaning back in their chairs.

  John then asks, “Have you two practiced this or something? This looks like a cheap comedy act.”

  Trying to defuse the situation, I say, “Uhm, maybe it will help if we all point out the things we’re worried about and then go through them. You said you were worried because I’m masked right?”

  I take my mask off.

  “See, that’s what I look like and this is my guild card. Show them yours too, ane.”

  “Fine, this is my guild card.”

  In a kind tone the elven warrior asks, “Why does it say ‘Probably Human’ under your race?”

  Ane answers bluntly, “Because we don’t know.”

  Observing us closely, Sher Aka asks, “Is that so…Why don’t you know?”

  “There is a decent chance that his race changed from his curse.”

  “What do you mean his race may have changed? John, do you know of any curses that can do that?”

  Putting his hand on his chin, he answers, “Yes, but they would have to be very powerful…”

  “What exactly does this curse entail?”

  “I’ll tell you once you have shown us your guild cards and told me what your aim is.”

  “Fine.”

  They show us their guild cards and they don’t seem to have lied about anything.

  John speaks up, “Uhm, as for our motives. It’s pretty simple, Thoma Ahad doesn’t seem to mind that I’m gay and he’s an adventurer of a comparable level to us searching for new members. So far, we couldn’t really find anyone on our level that didn’t have a problem with me being gay or with my sister being an Elf so that’s why I really wanted to give this a shot.”

  Ane taps her finger on the table, “Hmm…I guess you guys have it hard too. I know from experience that it isn’t easy to find people that accept and understand you when you’re not human. I imagine it’s even harder when you’re gay too.”

  “Yeah…It really is. Usually the only way is to hide who I am but I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to live a life where I have to be ashamed of who I am.”

  “Well, neither me nor Thoma have a problem with your race or sexuality. BUT!”

  “But?”

  “If you ever do something to Thoma that he doesn’t like I won’t forgive you.”

  “Yeah, no worries. I’m not a pervert, I'm just gay.”

  “Good.”

  Giving us a polite business smile, Sher Aka interjects, “Now then, it’s our turn to ask questions again. I’d like a detailed explanation of this curse and the info you have about him.”

  “Sure, but Thoma is going to have to leave for that. There are some things that might trigger his curse if he overhears them.”

  “Interesting. Fine, he can leave.”

  “Uhm before I go, can I ask you two a question?”

  “I don’t mind, go ahead.”

  “What are your dreams?”

  Raising an eyebrow, she asks, “Dreams? You have to be a bit more precise than that.”

  “Well, like what are your goals? Why did you become adventurers? For example Rayla wants to be rich and famous and marry a lot of men. As for me, my dream is just to help make her dream come true and to achieve that dream we want to travel the world.”

  Laughing loudly John answers, “What a unique dream to have. I guess for me, my dream is to find or create a place where people like me can live without discrimination. I’m also trying to research the neglected arcane tradition of light magic so that we’re no longer bound to the whims of religious followers.”

  “As for me, I also want to find a place where my brother and I can stay together. Additionally I want to get strong so I can destroy the slave trade for good.”

  “Nice! So our dreams don’t clash and they’re all good dreams to have too! If you do join our group I’ll make sure to help your dreams come true too.”

  A tad amused, Sher aka answers, “Oh? Quite the optimist that brother of yours is.”

  “Yep and trust me he means what he says. Could you maybe start some of your mana training now, oki? I’ll get you when we’re done, it shouldn’t be too long.”

  “Alright, I’ll head to our room then.”

  I then go upstairs and start my mana training.

  —-------------------------------------

  Once, Thoma Ahad is gone, Sher Aka speaks up,

  “Before we start this conversation, is it alright to discuss his curse in the open like this?”

  “It’s fine, we aren’t keeping it a secret, also most people here just want to eat breakfast and leave anyways. So, essentially there are three parts to his curse. The main one affects his body, a slightly broken one affects his mind and the last part makes his body reject holy magic. Thoma still sometimes instinctively uses knowledge from before his memories were sealed. Usually when that happens, he instantly forgets it again after he said it but you sometimes can make the conversation go a little longer to find out more things. But if you press him too hard or you confront him with something he already forgot, you may trigger his curse, causing him to wipe out most of his short term memory of the last few minutes. I actually have a notebook here where I keep some of the things he says to maybe help piece together who he was.

  According to a member of the Five Winged Angel, it seems the most intricate part of the curse is about changing his body and was the main purpose of the spell. Basically to kill him without killing him, make him completely disappear by erasing and changing everything he was before. Currently the running theory is that he was either an Elf or raised by one. And thanks to that light magic rejecting part, the only way to remove the curse is by finding a powerful dark mage to remove that part first then have a powerful holy mage like the three saints of the middle kingdom remove the rest. Apparently, the only other way we have to remove the light magic blocking part is to go to the Everglade in the Woodelf kingdom and somehow convince the people there to let Thoma into what is basically their holy place.”

  “Oh my…You seem to really have your work cut out for you then. May we take a look at that notebook?”

  “Sure, but I’m going to keep it in my hands. This is too important for there to even be a chance of losing it.”

  “I understand, we’ll be careful.”

  Reading through it, John says, “Hold up a second, it says here that Thoma Ahad speaks Elvish fluently. He told me yesterday he doesn’t speak it.”

  “Oh, yeah he only speaks Elvish when someone speaks to him in Elvish first and even while he speaks Elvish he still thinks he’s speaking Uni.”

  “Huh…Weird.”

  Sher aka point at another entry, “It says here you want to visit flower fields with him to stimulate his memories. Have you had any success in that?”

  “No, not yet. We haven’t traveled beyond Berk yet so the flora of this place is basically the same in most places and it didn’t trigger anything. I assume the closer we get to the south the higher our chances get.”

  John interjects, “What’s this about his mother potentially having a tail? Have you had any more clues about that?”

  “Nope, so far that was the only time he remembered something that points to that directly, but he also didn’t remember anything that goes against it.”

  “Gotcha.”

  Sher aka points at another entry, “It says here you want to start looking into missing children's cases of boys related to festivals once you get to the middle kingdoms. Is there a reason why you only look for cases of young boys?”

  “Yeah, it’s because Thoma said he was there with his older siblings and his uncle, that together with them not being allowed to go to the festival by their father makes me believe he was a minor.”

  “Oh, I am not doubting that deduction, I’m asking why you are so certain he is a boy?”

  “Huh? Because Thoma is a guy.”

  “He is now, yes. But if the goal was to make him unrecognizable and they potentially even changed his race, why couldn’t they have changed his sex too?”

  Rayla looks extremely flustered, “I…Nooo…But…Nooo…He wouldn’t be, right?”

  “I’m just saying there is a possibility. It doesn’t have to be the case. But there also doesn’t seem to be anything written down in here that would contradict him being either a boy or a girl. How about his behavior? Does he have many masculine or feminine traits?”

  “I…I’m not sure. I never thought about it. I don’t think I remember him as being particularly masculine or feminine. He is just…Pretty childlike. But I also have a really hard time imagining him as a girl because I know him so well as my little brother.”

  “I understand, I would have a hard time imagining my little brother as a girl as well. Though I’m sure he’d be really vain. He already cares way too much about his appearance.”

  “Hey! I’m just trying to look presentable.”

  “I have not met any man beside you that spends an hour every day on their hair.”

  Pushing his hair back, he answers, “Look, if you are given beautiful hair you have a duty to care for it. Also my hair is a bit curly so it gets tangled up if I don’t take care of it.”

  “Hahaha, you really are brother and sister. Sorry for doubting you before.”

  Sher Aka nods, “Likewise, you wouldn’t care that much about him if he wasn’t your brother.”

  “Alright, looks like we got over our initial doubts. Do you have any other questions about the curse? Otherwise I’m getting Thoma.”

  “Nah.”

  “Not currently, no.”

  “I’ll go get him then.”

  —--------------------------------