"Something feels very off—"
I was sitting on the floor for some time after waking up. The quietness was too obvious and I could hear my heartbeats without giving it much attention.
Somehow, that felt more like a Mental torture chambers that would kill you if you dared to speak a lie…
Still, the fact that they made me stay here without checking my belongings was saying enough about how much they trust this Vessel.
"And it's a Vessel after all." They couldn't fully trust what they couldn't fully understand.
After a while of thinking about this issue, I gave up and decided to lay down again. I wasn't that hungry so I didn't get anything to eat, and somehow my ability to sleep was done since I slept for more than twelve hours.
Nobody came either, and I didn't wake up at the right time to talk with Silas.
"Wait, I have the earpiece!"
I took it from my pocket, put it on, then tried to talk to Adeline first. "Adeline, how are things going with you?"
"..N-lb—" the signal was so bad that I couldn't understand a word. I tried it again a couple of times but nothing worked either.
Then tried to call Silas and the same happened, even when it was the time of the comb to work again as a Telepathy device, It didn't work at all.
"So I'm typically in a jail or something?"
Nothing was working, the door wasn't opening and it seemed as if they could leave me here forever and no one would even find me…
"What a nice trap—"
I was sure that there's more things to know about this place but I wasn't even in the mood to think. Instead, I was worried that the time may pass differently here so I checked my system again.
And it was.
I made sure that I didn't sleep more than half a day, and by adding that to the work day I had gone to the Festival in, that made it one whole day.
Twenty four hours.
So what must be remaining for the mission was three days… but what the system showed me was twelve hours.
"So I stayed here two and half days already." Sleeping.
Twelve hours to go to the Happy Carnival Vessel… just twelve hours.
I took a deep breath, then opened the items shop. The festival mission gave me 1000 S.P.s so that was enough to see if I could have something else.
[Do you want to invest 1000 S.P.s in your specialization?]
[No.]
[Do you want to invest 900 S.P.s in your specialization?]
[No.]
[Do you want to invest 800 S.P.s in your specialization?]
[No.]
[Do you want to invest 700 S.P.s in your specialization?]
"I said No. Stop that! Just search for an item that could make me see through things."
Carnivals means lots of chaos and tricks, seeing through that may help more than anything else. And since I don't know much information about the Vessel, I couldn't choose any other option.
[◇Doctor Glasses: (800 S.P.s)
Make any harm in any body you see invisible.
Use for five times.
◇Happy Glasses: (1000 S.P.s)
You will see what you need to see.
Side effects: the 'need' depends only on what you really 'want'.
◇Sunglasses: (1000 S.P.s)
You can see true faces.
Works only if the user was in his full attention.]
"What's up with these prices?!"
The effects weren't that bad but it was so tricky too. Like, why didn't it write "make you see what you want?" When the needs were depending on the wants in the first place?
And what does 'full attention' even mean?
"I must stop using this system, why do I even believe it?"
I exhaled, then chose the Happy Glasses. An ordinary prescription glasses with color-filtering lenses fell into my hands before the panel disappeared.
I put them to see what they do, but nothing seemed different. The room was still the same, it didn't show me anything special… and I didn't really think about what I 'need' maybe because I just don't know what to do.
"Oh, right! I need food supplies."
That demon gave me a card so I swiped it over the only square in the walls. What I thought of was: 'food that is enough for five people to stay alive with for a week.'.
That was an extreme order but I didn't change my mind.
Two minutes later, a box appeared in front of me… when I opened it, a huge amount of non-perishable food appeared in front of me, there's bottles of water too.
"Okay… that will do." I put everything in my belt's pocket while praying that it won't be enough to fill it.
It didn't, and somehow that confused me.
"Was the belt's information wrong?"
Did they just lie about the information being accurate? Or did they have something in mind when they wrote the maximum ability for the belt's pocket?
What's the point of thinking about this?
What I need to think about now is how to enter the Carnival Vessel without being caught…
Oh,
Wait?
Why should I over think this?
That green-demon said that 'eventually' I won't find myself in any other Vessel. But the chance was always there, since all Vessels are somehow connected to each other.
And, I already have the envelope…
Yes, it wouldn't be that bad, all I have to do is to open the envelope and torn it into pieces, or just read it?
Agh—
I had no idea what I was supposed to do, but I left that aside and got ready to go.
This time I didn't wear the hat before going, I settled for wearing just the jacket, the glove, and the expensive ring… and though I hesitated for a moment, I also put on the glasses and the Silas's earpiece.
When I was done, I looked around the room and made sure that it seemed as if I didn't intend to leave but left without a warning— even my necktie was still beside my pillow and blanket, and I put open potato chips beside it.
If they believed it, then fine. If they didn't, I would think about something to do then.
"All right, time to go."
I took the envelope out of my pocket and put it on the table, then with a deep breath I opened. And since I've already read out on the Festival Vessel I thought that reading it wouldn't be enough, but unfortunately… I didn't even continue it to the end before finding myself standing in a dusty old playground with nothing but broken equipment.
It felt sad, as if the place itself was crying… that thought alone was enough for me to have shivers all over my body.
"Crying place, haha— don't be stupid."
Then I heard it again, the far crying sound. My body froze and I didn't move until I was sure that nobody was around.
First thing I did was to call Adeline.
"Adeline, What happened to you all?"
"Oh, Nathan? Silas told me that you are already arrested?"
"Yes, I got arrested. But where are you?"
"We've changed the place three times. The Carnival is under renovation for the opening. By the end of the day we won't have anywhere to go except the open ones."
"And you need the tickets for it."
"Right."
"Okay. Describe your place to me in detail, I'll find a way in the next few hours."
Somehow Drew was the one who told me where they were, and by the end of our conversation, they said something about Guard patrol so we finished.
"So it's near the animal's cages."
Where were the animal cages in the first place? I didn't know.
I just kept wandering around until I remembered that I needed to talk to Silas too.
"Silas, where are you?"
"Nathan?! Are you even still alive?"
"Woh— why not?"
His tone was too shocked to the point I was terrified.
"They were talking as if you'd died during the interrogation."
"... Ha?"
"Why didn't you get out of it, then?"
"Perhaps because they locked me inside?"
"They locked you inside that Vessel?!" His shouting made my ears bleed.
"Yes, why?"
"Illusions! It's called the Illusion Vessel for a reason! Don't you hear or see things that were never there? Things that force you to say the truth that nobody asked for?"
…?
Eh?
Is that why they let me go in without checking my belongings?
I was sleeping without even nightmares… What could that even mean?
"Anyway, Silas. Is there anything else that has happened?"
"Ah yes." He just stopped for a second as if he couldn't shape a sentence. "Why in hell would you keep children's clothes in your room?"
"What?"
"They went through the room and turned everything upside down."
"My room?"
"Who else? What should I tell them about the clothes?"
"Ah," I scratched the back of my neck while I was fabricating a lie. "Did you ever go to an orphanage then think 'oh man, I really need to give them something.' I just found things with a discount and decided to buy it in order to give them to the orphanage I know in my town."
"That kind of luxurious clothes?"
"Discount I said, Discount."
"I'll never believe you if you ever mention being in debt again."
"Okay, okay…" I didn't have anything to say about that so I moved on. "What did you mean by 'telling them about it?' Are they questioning you?"
"No. They are in the process of making your room look like a bird nest."
Ah.
Now I have to tidy it up when I finish?
"Anyway, I'm in the Happy Carnival Vessel."
"WHAT?!"
"Don't shout like this, my ears are already bleeding."
"How could you even be there?" This time he literally hissed as if he didn't want anyone to hear. "You were in that room, right?"
"I used the envelope." I checked my surroundings again and like magic, there was a piece of paper on the ground that was shining as if it was a treasure. "I'll go to find the others, I'll call you if something happened and you do the same."
"Okay, okay. Talking with you for another minute will raise my blood pressure. I'll tell you if something happened."
The conversation finished that way, and I swiped all my attention to the paper I found.
It seemed as if the glasses did their job very well, since it was a map for the Carnival and its surroundings.
It was obviously a good thing to find, but after looking at it for a couple of minutes, disappointment filled me.
The playground was in the South while the animals' cages were in the far North—
And they were separated by a ten-hour walk…
Ten.
When all I've got was eleven.