Toriden V4 - Precient Mask

 Volume 4: Bargain Sale on Magic Power

Precient Mask

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“So um, I was wondering why there’s no breakfast on my table?” Ryner Lute mumbled, with his bedhead and a questioning expression in his sleepy eyes.

It was breakfast time in an inn’s dining room.

“Hey, did you hear me? I’m gonna ask one more time: where’s my breakfast?”

“……”

No one responded, because why would they.

The inn’s owner, who had laid breakfast out for everyone, quickly and awkwardly left the room.

“…Huh? She ran away,” Ryner said in awe as he watched her go.

“Actually, Ryner, there’s something I’d like to talk to you about. Alone. It’s very important.” So said his partner in crime, Ferris Eris, who had a lavish display of breakfast set before her.

“Huh? Alone? And it’s important? Well, I have something even more important: where my breakfast is—”

Then Ryner looked at Ferris, and his words cut off. Her hair shone in the morning light. She was usually expressionless, but today he could see seriousness reflected in her eyes. 

“What’s up all of a sudden? Did something happen?”

Ferris nodded gravely. “You see, yesterday, I had a revelation by chance.”

“A revelation?”

“Yes. I came to know what could be considered the truth of this world. It’s something that I want to convey to you alone.”

“What the hell, just spit it out. What is it?”

Ferris’ eyes narrowed, and she was silent for a moment before responding. “Eating is a privilege for those who work.”

So she said. Then her serious aura faded and she began to eat as if nothing happened.

Ryner stared blankly for a moment. “That’s it? That’s your worldly truth? Haah? So that’s why I don’t have any breakfast?”

Ferris shook her head. “No, not just breakfast. Lunch and dinner, too. You spend your days doing nothing. You haven’t been working nearly hard enough lately.”

“You’re not doing anything either!”

“What are you saying? You’d compare me to you, Ryner Lute, a useless man who habitually drinks, gambles, and buys prostitutes? You’re always yelling ‘stop hangin’ around and buy me something to drink! If you don’t got any money, sell yourself for it!’ at an admirable woman such as myself, who lives by working at a flower shop, aren’t you?”

“Literally none of that is true!” Ryner argued as he glared at her. “And what’s this about a flower shop?”

“Mm. It suits a lovely maiden such as myself, doesn’t it?” So said the ‘lovely maiden’ with absolutely no expression to speak of.

Doubtful. Still, Ryner considered it. “A flower shop, huh. Ha-haa. Hmm. Huh. Humm. Sounds fake, but okay. So what are your plans for today? Working hard at the flower shop?”

“Hm? You want to know about my plans?”

“Just tell me.”

She stared at him a little too closely. Then she folded her arms as if deep in thought. “If you’re trying to take me out on a date, know that it has to involve dango—”

“I don’t want to date you! Ugh, just answer me,” Ryner grumbled. “What’s the plan for today?”

“Mm. Let’s see. I have plans to take dango from a shop I’m partial to with me to the park to have a dango party with the stray cats this afternoon. As such, I’m too busy to accept your invitation to take me on a date.”

“What happened to the flower shop!?”

Ferris tilted her head to the side. “Flower shop? What are you talking about?”

“I’m gonna kill you!”

“Hm? You’d go as far as to kill me for turning you down? I see. So that’s how a stalker is born— 

I (naturally) turn down an invitation from a sex fiend.

↓

He suddenly goes mad.

↓

‘How could you turn me down!? We’re destined to be together! You were the Princess Kyumel to my Prince Abernu in our past lives! Our burning unfulfilled love scorches through my chest even now! You have to remember me! If you don’t, I’ll come to you deep into the night and force you to rememb—’”

Just then, Ferris’ energetic speech came to a halt. True fear broke her expressionless expression as she played her part of a scared maiden. “Good lord. Good lord! It got so realistic that I broke character and my voice became feminine out of fear.”

“It’s even scarier when it’s feminine! Ugh, what the hell! You completely derailed our conversation. Just shut up for now, and listen to what I have to say for once!” 

“Mm? I don’t want to hear anything else about our past lives.”

“I don’t either!!” Ryner yelled, then took a minute to regain his composure through a deep sigh. “Anyway, as I was saying, you’re not doing anything either. You have the nerve to lounge around eating nothing but dango as the days pass by. If you’re trying to say that only those who work should eat, then you should starve too.”

Ferris nodded calmly. “I don’t particularly mind eating nothing but dango.”

“That’s not the probleeemm!”

The door to the dining hall opened and the owner peeked in from all their ruckus. “Is something wrong?”

Ryner looked over. The door widened to show a few men, and he just knew that things were about to get troublesome. He recognized them. They were the guys who were hanging around the tavern the other day. Were they here to eat breakfast too? But it was just Ryner and Ferris. Did that mean that they came here to get even for that day?

“Aah, today’s sucked ever since I woke up…”

The men entered all at once, then prostrated themselves before theme. “Lady Fe-Ferris! We apologize for being late!”

Ryner was shocked. “What in the world is going on?”

Ferris nodded at the men, and that was all the answer he needed. 

The men raised their heads in a hurry. “We were finally able to find the information that you ordered us to search for, Lady Ferris! So please, please! Just spare our families!”

“Hm. That depends on your information. If it isn’t satisfactory, you may bear witness to a hilarious incident where your twelve year old daughter - Jessica, wasn’t it? - is found with her upper and lower halves spread between two dumpsters—”

“Forgive me! Anything but thaaaaat!”

Ferris nodded, satisfied, then looked at Ryner. “We are not the same. As you can see, I’ve been working hard day by day. I have been spending my time leisurely eating dango while waiting for this information to arrive. I’m nothing like you, a man who spends his days doing nothing but attacking women.”

Ryner didn’t even bother to look surprised. “Yeah, I guess my life is pretty shocking compared to finding twelve year olds cut in half…”

“Isn’t it?”

“Not! Ugh, but that’s besides the point… So? What’s all this about? What kind of information are you trying to get out of them?”

Ferris motioned with her chin, signaling the men to nod and speak. 

It was a story about the mountains far east of the port town. It was said that there was a sign there that said ‘Entry Strictly Forbidden,’ near a building protected by magic. 

“A building surrounded by protection magic? What’s all this about? Are they new hires for some kind of dango shop or something?”

The man who was explaining looked ill at Ryner’s interruption. Then he continued. “You see…”

So about that building. 

It was, in a way, famous. Who wouldn’t be curious about a strictly forbidden building, especially one that was protected by magic? It was the center of all kinds of rumors.

They said it was haunted, or that a monster lived there… Over time, the rumors got more and more outlandish. 

“Then it clicked,” the man said. “We realized how we could be useful to Lady Ferris, so we began to investigate it…”

Ryner tilted his head to the side, confused. “Hey, wait. What’re you going on about? Like, there’s no tonal consistency. I’m really not following…”

The men once again looked unhappy about Ryner’s interruption. Then they looked to Ferris for help.

Ferris looked at Ryner. “Isn’t it obvious? We’re searching for information on the Heroic Relics. What else would it be about?”

“Huh?” Ryner went silent for a moment as it suddenly clicked. “Ah… ah, yeah, right. Right. That makes sense. We were supposed to be looking for those, weren’t we…”

He’d totally forgotten. So what were they doing for the last however many days…?

“Okay,” Ryner said, totally super motivated at this revelation. “Alright. The Heroic Relics. I finally understand what we’re supposed to be talking about. You can continue now.”

The man who’d been speaking glared at Ryner, doubtful that he’d get to speak without being interrupted. Even so, he continued. “In any case, we found something important out in the neighboring village. The elders said that the magic was enacted to seal a dangerous implement…”

“A dangerous implement?” Ferris asked.

The man nodded. “Yes. That was a story from fifty years ago, but… everyone thought it was best to destroy it because of how dangerous it was. But ‘it’ was not destroyed. Its power was just so enticing. And so it was sealed away, a single mask inside of a building. They say that one can see the future just by wearing it…”

Ryner paled and jolted up. “Are you kidding? You can really see the future with it!?”

By then, the man had had enough of Ryner. “What the hell is wrong with you!? Stop interrupting when other people are talking! Just leave if you don’t want to hear what we have to say! After all, we’re trying to talk to Lady Ferris here!”

“No, uh, sorry, sorry,” Ryner hurried to say. “I’m not trying to talk over you or anything… I’m really just shocked. I mean, a mask that lets you see the future? That means there’s magic like that, right? I can’t believe it…”

“Hm? Is it really that impressive?” Ferris asked.

“How is it not? They’ve been researching it back in Roland, and came to the conclusion that the future has too many variables to be predicted… After all, if you told someone the future divined from the mask, they’d automatically alter their behavior and then the future would change, right? So—”

“Say it in a way that’s easier to understand,” Ferris interrupted.

“Huh? So, um, basically, if something like that really existed, then that’d mean that the future as we know it would end. Someone could easily use it to rule the world by making it exactly what they wanna see. It’s an incredible power… but…”

Ryner stopped to consider it for a moment before continuing. “But like… if that kind of power actually exists, then the other Heroic Relics might be… hmm…”

Ryner raised his head after mumbling to himself for a while. “Anyway. If what he’s saying is true, then we’ve got a major problem on our hands.”

Ferris might have finally understood his explanation, because she began to shiver. When she spoke, it was with fear. “It can’t be that… according to this legend, I may be able to change the meager bargain sale of twenty dango into a sale of twenty-one deluxe tri-colored dango!?” 

“What part of that am I supposed to be shocked by!?”

Ferris tilted her head to the side. “Am I wrong?”

“I mean, no, not really… It’s just a shabby future that you’re imagining. If all this is true, then we’ve finally found an extremely powerful relic. Even if they’re exaggerating it a little, any relic that can predict the future is amazing. So why’s it out there on some deserted mountaintop? If it wasn’t serious, they wouldn’t have gone as far as to protect it with magic. You’d think that someone would use it to become rich and famous…”

One of the men laughed. Apparently he’d been waiting this whole time for the chance to speak. “It isn’t as easy to use as you may be thinking. There is a valid reason why it’s been sealed away.”

“What is it?”

“You see, those who wear it can only mumble ‘the future is over,’ or scream ‘I saw the future, this is my end!’ Just like that…”

His expression turned serious.

“…they all go mad.”

  “Mad…?”

Ryner and Ferris exchanged a look. 

“I see,” Ryner said. “That village was hiding some useful secrets.”

“You think so?” Ferris asked and stood. “Then we should leave at once.” 

“Huh? W-wait,” Ryner stammered, “what about my breakfast?”

A sharp sound revealed Ferris’ sword.

“Uuh… you’re really making me skip it…”

All Ryner could do was cry.

---

Ryner and Ferris arrived at the mountain.

It was a dark night lit only by moonlight.

Ryner moved his arms as if to cut through the darkness, and a magic circle formed around his touch. “I wish for a shining light - Dark Break!”

A fist-sized ball of light was born from his magic circle to light the darkness. Ryner looked around his newly lit surroundings.

He was tired whether it was day or night, in the dining hall or in the mountains, and now was no different. “Did we really need to come here in the middle of the night? Like, couldn’t this have waited until morning? Going two nights without sleeping just to walk all this way is too much, right? Don’t you think we can take a break and sleep until morning? I don’t mind sleeping here…”

“Stop being so lazy ,” Ferris said seriously. “This relic would be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands - more so than any relic we’ve seen so far. Our Roland Empire would be in dire straits if another country found this relic. Do you understand? It’s a race against time.”

Surprise was written all over Ryner’s face. “Hmm… So you value your country when push comes to shove. I’m shocked. Even you can be serious sometimes…”

“Also, there’s Sion to consider,” Ferris continued. “If we failed to follow-up on this matter, he would send us a letter condemning our actions. It would say, ‘I might just destroy Roland’s famous Wynnet Dango, you knooowww,’ and I absolutely cannot allow that to happen! Protecting dango is my sworn duty. Let’s go, Ryner!” Ferris ended, determination evident through her quick steps.

So… what about that patriotism from before? And the danger the world was in? She’d sounded so courageous, and yet… 

“I’m just not feeling it,” Ryner mumbled as he followed her. “I just don’t wanna die. I’m gonna get back at Sion for all this, mark my words. I don’t care how important he is.”

 Eventually, they happened upon a large sign. Ryner was fairly tall, and it was three times as big as he was. Its message was simple: ‘Trespassing strictly forbidden.’

“Hm. This is it,” Ferris said.

Ryner nodded. “Looks like it.”

Their eyes moved past the sign. Countless trees gave way to a building that resembled a shrine… but it was impossible to say what it was for sure because of how dark it was. 

Ryner sighed. “Everything they’ve said is true. There’s a magic barrier, too. My magic light dimmed out once we took a step past the sign. I bet there’s gonna be an impassable invisible wall too.”

And sure enough, when he tried to reach his hand out past the sign, it stopped on something he couldn’t see. It felt distinctly metallic. 

“See?” Ryner said. “It’s protected by magic. We can’t get in. It’s way stronger than a metal wall… I don’t doubt that it’s been fifty years since anyone made it through. I mean, I can do it pretty easily. All I have to do is use my Alpha Stigma to see what it’s made of so I can nullify it…”

Ryner trailed off. He was suddenly at a loss for words.

Ferris unsheathed her sword with a flash and faced the wall. She swung her sword as if nothing was there, and then took a step into the land of Trespassing Strictly Forbidden.

Ryner was absolutely dumbfounded. “You… broke it? The barrier? You actually broke it? It’s supposed to be stronger than steel… actually, back up. Magic is supposed to be stronger than physical attacks. It’s a law of nature. So how’d you do it so easily?”

Ferris turned back towards him. “What? Come on.”

“…No, seriously, how can you act like nothing happened…? This is so anticlimactic. I guess it’s good that it was easy, though. Even though I have no idea how.” With that, Ryner took a reluctant step into the land of Trespassing Strictly Forbidden.

They quickly found ‘it.’

The musty altar, decorated with an adorned mask - and it was a mask, plain and simple, no matter how he looked at it. It was white with red and black patterns with holes for the mouth and eyes. That being said, it really wasn’t all that fancy. Yes, it had patterns, but they weren’t particularly strong. It didn’t stand out much. In fact, it almost looked like a toy mask made by an amateur. 

In other words, it was more of a child’s mask than a mask one would wear at a fancy ball.

All that Ryner could do was stare. “So this is it? The famous mask that’s said to be able to divine the future?”

Ferris nodded. “Seems so.”

“This shoddy old thing?”

“Mm.”

“The one that makes people who wear it go mad?”

“Mm-hm.”

“Do you think this thing actually works?” Ryner asked.

“Your role is to figure it out.”

“That’s fair, I guess,” Ryner said and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they showed a scarlet pentagram, proof of his special eyes that could copy any magic he saw down to its composition and effect - the Alpha Stigma. He stared at the mask.

“……”

Stared and stared.

“……”

And stared. And stared.

“Ugh, I really don’t know. I mean, judging by our past experiences, it’s impossible to tell what is or isn’t a relic just by looking at it with my Alpha Stigma. They just don’t react to it. Y’know?”

“Mm. And?”

“Yeah, so I think we should take it home and have a proper lab investigate it. That’s what I think, anyway,” Ryner said.

“So you’re saying that a useless excuse for a person such as yourself is unable to comprehend it.”

“I reeeaaallly don’t like how you said that, but… I just think that you’d need proper equipment to really know what it can do.”

“Mm. In summary, you’re a pointless existence who I should have never bothered to bring along.”

“Uuh… Do you really have to say it like that? But I mean, I guess you’re not entirely wrong. But if I was useless, then you were too.”

“You think I’m useless? Do you truly believe that I’m as useless as the average person? You think that I’m unable to investigate this mask?”

“Huh? Does that mean that you have a plan—”

Ferris stopped Ryner with a single look. He instantly understood what was about to happen. If he wore the mask, he’d know if it could see the future or not. Then the future would be set in stone. He’d know everything… 

Ryner instinctively shivered. His voice shook when he spoke. “You… plan to make me wear it, don’t you?”

“Mm? How do you know? Don’t tell me that you already have the power to see the future…”

“There’s no fucking way!”

“Hmph. You’ll have it soon.”

Ryner’s eyes couldn’t catch up to her as she moved at inhuman speeds. He only saw her afterimage of her trying to press the mask against his face.

Ryner forced his body to move with everything he had. “You bastard! Wait! I could go mad! I can’t wear—”

The mask stuck to his face with a soft sound. 

“Aaugh… eh… aah…”

He saw something other than the shrine through the holes in the mask’s eyes. 

It was a different… different… 

“Hm. How is it? Can you see the future?”

 “No, it’s something… weird, but… ngh, ah, uuh… a-aaaah!” It was a blood curdling scream. Ryner clinched his hands against his chest. “Unbelievable. This is… w-wrong, don’t look down on me…! I didn’t kill… but… everyone’s dead… dead… if you die… the monster will… I should die… I’ll die… I…”

It was like his body was going to rip apart. He pressed his hands as hard as he could to his chest—to his heart.

His teeth were chattering. His whole body was shaking. Nothing… nothing mattered… 

“Ryner, did you see something? What… hm. He’s not responding to my voice. This isn’t good. I’m removing the mask, alright?”

An extremely familiar sound… one that he heard all the damn time resounded through his mind. He couldn’t escape it. It was the sound of metal sliding.

“Ryneeeerrrrr!!”

That wasn’t all. There was also that inescapably nostalgic voice, getting louder and louder as it got closer and closer. 

The combination of those two things snapped him out of it. The world flashed back into existence - he was back in the darkness of the inner shrine.

“Huh? What am I doing…? Augh!?”

“We’re leaving, Ryner.”

“I found you, Ryneeeerrr!”

There was a fist and a sword.

“Hah!? Wh, wait. I’m okay… gyaaahh!”

Ryner’s screams echoed through the shrine for a second time that night. The mask flew off of his face. Then Ryner flew off too, only to land back on the ground rolling. 

Ryner didn’t even bother to open his eyes. He was just so tired. “Hauu… the mask is off… I’m… saved… I’m saved, but… it hurts so bad that I kind of wish I was dead…”

Then the owner of the fist that’d just slammed into him spoke. “I finally found you! I came all this way ‘cause the old men at the tavern said you’d be here, and you are!”

Her familiar voice sucked all the energy out of Ryner. When he looked up, he saw the usual. 

No explanation of who it was was necessary. It was Milk Callaud, who was always chasing him around, a ghost of the past yelling about how he promised to marry her back when they were kids… and as usual, she was flanked by her fellow Taboo Hunters - Luke, Lach, Lear, and Moe. 

Milk was pointing at Ryner with purpose. “You’ve made me mad again today! It’s so unfair that you got to come out here for a masquerade party in the middle of the night! I’m wearing the mask, too!”

“Haah!? How the hell does this look like a masquerade to you!?”

“A-a-ah, I can’t believe you, Ryner! You’re doing everything you can to hide from me while you cheat with that beauty-for-brains woman! I’ll never forgive you! I wish for—”

“Ugghh! Destructive magic again! Why the hell does it always end like—” Ryner yelled, only for Ferris to cut him off.

“It looks like the mask is the real deal. We don’t have time for that girl you threw away. Let’s go, Ryner.”

With that, Ferris swung her sword to break the wall of the shrine, opening up a path for them to escape. Then she hurried out.

“Ugh, losing sight of her now would be such a pain. Wait up, Ferris!” Ryner said and got up as fast as he could.

“I’m not his traaaash!” Milk screamed. “I’m so mad! At times like this, I need to use this spell! I wish foooor—”

Ryner stopped running. He turned around to lock eyes with Milk.

“Huh?” Milk faltered. “Uhh… what? Ryner… why are you staring? Umm…”

“Aah, ‘what’ is right,” Ryner said with a grimace, his tired voice coming out unexpectedly shrill. “Umm… yeah. “So… it’s like, just a little bit ago, that mask was killing me. You saved me… again, Milk. Thanks.”

“……”

Milk’s big eyes stared up at him. She was completely dumbstruck. 

Ryner shrugged. “So yeah.” Then he jumped out to the path that Ferris created and hurried to catch up to her.

Milk didn’t follow.

---

Back to the inn’s dining hall. It was early afternoon.

Ryner was laying his head down on the table, the perfect picture of death itself. “Forgive me… This is day four without sleep. I can barely walk… how come you’re okay?”

“I’m not fine,” Ferris said from across the table. “I’m sleepy.”

“Then let’s sleep. We can think about the mask tomorrow morning.”

“We can’t. The fate of Wynnet Dango is at stake.”

“I’ll die before the dango even starts to become an issue, you know.”

“Whether you’re alive or not isn’t my responsibility.”

“Yeah, I realized that painful truth when you made me wear that mask…”

Ryner sighed. He’d pretty much given up all hope. His eyes slowly moved to the mask on the table. 

“So do you think that there’s a possibility that this mask can see the future?” Ferris asked, pen and paper in hand.

“Will you let me sleep if I answer that?”

“Mm. We at least need to tell Sion that much when we send him the mask.”

Ryner sighed again before finally explaining. “I’ll go with a ‘no.’ I don’t think that’s what this mask does. In the first place, I don’t actually believe that someone could create something with that power.”

“So you didn’t see the future?”

“Hmm… it was like the future, but… it was definitely fake. I saw my own dead body. When I saw how horrible it was, I thought, is that really my future? I think that’s the same future that the other people who wore the mask saw. But the mask isn’t showing anyone the real future. That’s not what it was made for.”

“Hm. So what was it made to do?”

“To kill,” Ryner said bluntly. “It was made to kill people. It shows the wearer the absolute worst thing that they could imagine, including their own death. It isn’t the kind of magic that just anyone can do - it’s the real deal, and it’s extremely effective. It gouges your heart out from the inside…”

Ferris shook her head. “That’s strange. You’re saying that someone created it to put on another person to influence and kill them. Why would that be necessary? It’s easier to just kill them.”

“I’m saying that it’s… most likely made for torture,” Ryner said, his tone remaining cold. “You put it on someone who you want to suffer the most painful death imaginable. But that’s also the reason why it was possible to save me. If you remove it, then everything stops. It’s meant to torture - to toy with people’s hearts.”

Ferris nodded. “I see.” Then she began to write.

“So that means our work is done, right?” Ryner asked.

“Yeah.”

“So we just have to give it to Sion, right?”

“That’s right.”

Ryner was silent for a moment before standing. “I’m going to sleep.”

“Mm.”

Ryner turned on his heel to leave. But then Ferris’ voice stopped him.

“There’s something I want to ask you first,” Ferris said. “What did you see when you wore the mask?”

Ryner didn’t turn to face her. “Nothing, really. Nothing important.”

“…Was it hard?”

Ryner was quiet for some time before responding. “What? Are you actually worried about me? Seriously? That’s new. But it really wasn’t anything special. I’m kind of exaggerating the pain…”

“…Never mind,” Ferris said softly. Then that familiar high-pitched metallic sound from earlier was back. But it wasn’t just that. There was an unfamiliar sound, too.

“Aah?”

When Ryner turned back to look, he saw Ferris’ sword on the mask. It had been cut in two.

“Whoa, what are you doing?”

Ferris averted her eyes. She looked… sad, somehow. “Hmph. That Sion is your perverted brother-in-arms. He is the exact type who would put this mask on himself. So… he has no need for this mask.”

Ryner could only… only… sigh. “What the hell. We finally got a relic, too.”

“It’s your fault.”

“Huh? How’s it my fault? You’re the one who cut it in half.”

“Do you have a problem with that?”

Ryner shrugged. “No… not really. Thanks.”

“Mm.”

She smiled, faint as it was.

---

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