The God of Jesters

Chapter 161 - 3.08.2 Speak now.

"A weird confession." She replied without much emotion on her face. But I can feel that a curious tingle in her eyes that she hid soon after. "This is not the place to talk about subjects such as this. As it appears more like a confession of mental illness." Her following words did make it a bit embarrassing. Which I don’t actually mind.

Considering we both are traveling partners, some things are better known beforehand as it would develop some trust between us, instead of causing suspicions and problems along the way, which would eventually expose my problems to her anyway. So why wait?

"Sit." She ordered me to climb the carriage first. Then after stuffing her bags into the carriage compartment, she climbed it as well, but her face was a lot calmer than before.

A bit weird. "Where will we be going first?"

"The City of Kyrat, there are mages there and they can help me with my face problem." Captain Remira spoke, and I recalled the map in my memory. A map that I had never personally studied before, but somehow it appeared automatically, proving that this knowledge didn’t belong to me. But I won’t be picky.

"A journey of twenty kilometers? Not so far." I said, after looking at the map. Which surprised Captain Remira a bit from the looks of things. But she still refused to ask any intrusive questions even now.

"Captain, do you consider this place private? No one is listening in on us, right?" I asked her and after some thought, she nodded. "Yes, there are none. So is there something important you wish to speak about?"

At such a question, I shook my head. "Captain, I have already spoken what I wanted to. It’s now your turn to ask questions... I have been noticing you holding back for some reason. And I concluded it’s probably due to certain eyes on us."

"But enough about that. Please ask away, I won’t mind any kind of questions. But I would prefer if you stick to the extra memories in my head." Anyone would be curious in her case. But for some reason, she had refused to do so. Which meant only one thing, there were people following us.

And who were those people? Of course, the people who were following me, protecting me in darkness, or came here to end me and take my flames.

They can be anyone, and they might have good or bad intentions. But none of that mattered for now, I had a powerful captain on my side and those fools would do their best to not fall to her sword. But enough about me.

Focusing on Captain, I can see it was as I had expected. "You know of the ones following us?"

"I can’t sense them. As an undead, my senses are not strong besides looking for the vitality of ’food’." A toothy grin escaped my mouth. Which the captain didn’t appreciate, one bit.

Though not all things were going to go smoothly, there were some discrepancies in my personality. Why did I even make that ugly joke, I don’t know.

But after a bit of sighing, she finally asked a question I was looking forward to. "How do his memories impact you? Is there something to worry about?" Captain went straight to the point, while still holding back on one of the questions she might have wanted to learn about most.

Though I didn’t push her. I just explained to her the details. "Memories make a person, as you must already know it."

Originally, I was very cold and depressed most of the time. Holding back my desire to kill and even maintaining some distance from my family. A fear that was noticeable by my mother who had done her best to approach me. But for her own safety, I had pushed her to the side.

And as it seems, she came to a certain understanding of me after that simple spat.

But too much about the past. As I was saying.

As Jester’s memory started to appear in my head more and more. My mood started to lighten up somewhat, while foreign information started to surface in my mind in tandem with that lightened emotion.

A play or a trap, I don’t know. But I know one thing, his memories were the reason for my change. And I don’t know when it will end.

"... Sometimes, I do feel my mind slipping. All the narrations in my head take a toll on me, while pieces of myself are being digested by his memories."

"That’s why I am in a bit of a hurry. I wish to make sure of his end before I am too long gone." I place all my fears in front of the Captain, hoping that she holds some understanding of my situation.

And she nodded. "So you are a liability and still chose to come with me?"

"Not strong enough to harm you... you can harm me, in case I do go rabid. I won’t mind it one bit." Though her words hurt a bit, some things are better to be discussed beforehand. "Though I do hope in the off chance I am lost or dead. You can go and destroy the cause of my death." I knew who Captain Remira was.

She appeared cold and distant. But I have memories of Jester and although they are incomplete. I have a certain understanding of what kind of person she was.

’She will kill me if the need arises. But would also take revenge for me in return.’

*****

It was close to morning by the time they reached an isolated place where the chances of problematic people appearing were low.

Of course, there was no Sheva next to him. He had sent her elsewhere to recuperate. Let her rest and the congratulations will be done later.

For now, there was him and the dwarf alone.

"Wake up," Max said as he injected some drugs into Krugal’s body, sending him in a jolt and waking him up from his groggy state.

"You... you bastard..." Krugal said, looking around the room in worry. Finding it all alien and empty. "Where... where is he?" There was no reason for Max to think who Krugal was speaking about.

It was his son, Krotal, the only remaining family member of Krugal and his direct bloodline. "Not so inhumane like your people. He lives and is probably in the hands of the police by now."

"Police?... hehe.." A laugh that almost sounded like a cry of a wild beast. The dwarf continued. "You bastard... know the police are with them. Giving him to them is the same as killing my son."

"The sin was of the father, for working with inhumane bastards."

"I had no choice." Finally a proper answer, a kind of emotional filled response that Max was looking forward to. "You can call me all sorts of things. But if it was not me. Others would have taken my job and I would already be rotting in some ditch, just for refusing their proposal." One can hear the anger and hate in his voice.

He did a job that he hated and now suffers due to it. Suffering that would have come to him eventually.

"You made your choice already and I believe you also know that I won’t let you live past this room. So make a new choice. Tell me the gangs that you led, the people that you worked under. Any name will do."

"And just to let you know, I already know of your patriarch’s involvement. So no need to hide it anymore." Max said as he slapped Krugal and let him know his situation.

But to Max’s surprise, after hearing his words, Krugal started to laugh. "So it was him?" As if something dawned on him finally.

"So he gave me up... he is the one that ruined my life?" A laugh filled with the madness of a man who knew that his end was nigh.

"Act like you didn’t know?" Max asked, curious at this new information.

"Why would I lie to you... I didn’t know who recruited me. All I knew was my job, control the gangs, and give them money and orders. None of which belonged to me. A glorified messenger and fall guy."

"I knew I would be shelved by them soon if things went awry."

And they did, with my order as Max started to assassinate and harass certain targets. The company knew that there were people working against them and soon it would be the turn of their collectors. So they chose to recycle them before something happened.

It’s just that the timing can’t be more bad for those people, they took their time and now this happened.

A man who hates them now holds one piece of the puzzle in his hand.

"The people the gangs kidnapped. Where were they taken?"

"And why should I? I would die anyway? And my son is dead as well."

"I would expose the information to the public, they would have to keep your son alive. So choose."