Jason imagined light bending around his body turning himself invisible, but nothing seemed to happen. That wasn't too outrageous was it? There had to be something to it that he was missing. The sparrow had said that he had already done it unconsciously when he transformed the boots, but he couldn't remember anything about how he had felt or acted at the time. The boots were also lighter than they should be. They were even well padded on the inside and didn't have the stiff new boot feeling. They felt like solid boots that he had been wearing for months.
"Shapeshifting is a subcategory of illusion magic. As a world item, the boots are tagged to and can only be used by you so they don't require mana to maintain their shape. The same would be true if you shifted yourself, but if you tried to shift your clothing or another person it would require mana to maintain."
"I like you better when you just give the facts," Jason said. "Just don't toss your opinion onto anything and maybe we'll be able to get along."
He was far enough from the village that the walls were only a small blur on the horizon. He should be able to get off the road without having to worry about being seen or followed at this point, so he did just that, preparing to break into a run again.
"Please, may I speak?" Jason wanted to ignore the sparrow and just start running. He was pretty sure he knew what it was going to say, and he wanted nothing to do with it. He didn't even want to hear it. However, he couldn't deny how desperate the voice in his head sounded.
"I'm not going to the capital, so don't bother," he said, hoping that would be enough.
The sparrow didn't speak for a moment, and Jason thought that perhaps it had been enough. He tensed his body, preparing to run again, but the sparrow finally spoke. "If the hero learns of Dodek Dadrian's reappearance, things could become difficult for you," it said far more diplomatically than before. "I cannot say for certain, but I can sense a connection between your current body and the hero. I suspect that Dadrian is the man who was reincarnated in your place."
"You suspect?" Why was he even entertaining this?
"Like I said there is much that I do not know, but it feels right."
Jason stood there thinking. How much of his thoughts could the sparrow hear? It didn't speak again which he took to mean that it couldn't read all of his thoughts. Jason felt more sympathy before. The sparrow was going out of its way to suggest rather than tell, but he still couldn't do what it said.
He hadn't been in this world long, but the more time he reflected on everything, the more he sympathized with the sparrow. But he still wouldn't do what it asked, but it was more than just not wanting to have his destiny decided for him. He might be overexaggerating that feeling a little bit. Even if he had been told as a child that it was his destiny to marry Mina and eventually sacrifice his life for her, he would still make the same choices. It was more than just destiny.
The destiny thing was just an excuse. He could see himself becoming invested in this world enough to sacrifice his life once again, but he wanted the freedom to choose. He wanted to spend time here and grow to love the people and the land. He wanted to build relationships and make a life for himself, and then he could choose to save this world of his own free will. Granted, the world wasn't doing a great job of endearing itself to him, but at least now he knew why.
Regardless of whether or not it could hear his thoughts, Jason decided to speak out loud. "I get what you're saying, and I'll do my best, but I can't do what you're asking. Think about it. How would I stop that man's apprentices without hurting them or something." That was assuming he could hurt them. It remained to be seen how strong of a fighter he was. "Are you asking me to kill them so they can't bring word to the king? Wouldn't someone just find out eventually and send someone else? Wouldn't there eventually be some trader or something that went to the village and heard stories? Would I just stay around here and kill everyone that tries to come or go into the village?"
"No, for better or worse, rumors are going to spread quickly if this Dadrian guy is half as famous as you said. Maybe that will give the evil hero guy a clue, but I can't do anything about that anymore."
There was silence until, "What you say makes sense. I feel like I must continue to insist that you go to the capital, but I can't deny anything that you say. I think there is something, some instinct perhaps that tells me that the capital is where you must go." Was that a sigh? "You know what I wish. Now do as you desire."
That tiny defeated speech was more compelling than everything else the sparrow had said till now, but Jason steeled himself against the words. He was going to follow his guts. He broke into a run at an angle taking him both away from the mountains and away from the village. He didn't really know where he was going, he just knew that he didn't want to go towards the capital. Maybe he could find a farmhouse and some people who wouldn't recognize him. Considering the reaction of the people in the city that seemed unlikely.
"You could try…"
"I know you don't need to tell me. I still need to figure out how to do it though." That was actually the main reason he had decided to break into a run. The sparrow had said that he used mana unconsciously while running so if he could pay more attention to what he was doing then maybe he could get a sense of it and figure out how to shapeshift himself.
Just like before, Jason found he could keep what should be an absurd pace easily. It wasn't a speed that seemed inconceivable for a human, which might be why he hadn't thought more of it, but it was certainly pushing the limits. He tried going even faster. Maybe if he figured out what those limits were then he would be able to get a better idea.
At first he didn't feel anything. He kept the pace, faster than he could've sprinted in his old body, for what had to be over an hour. Still, he didn't grow any more tired than before. He tried asking the sparrow for advice, but it seemed as clueless as he was about actually using it. It just said that he was using it right now. How much mana did he have to burn through?
The sparrow hadn't mentioned anything related to the capital of the hero since their conversation, but it seemed somewhat more reserved. Maybe even unsure. He wasn't sure what to make of the thing. At times, it felt like a mother trying to care for him and guide him. Sometimes it felt like an AI getting its first glimpse of consciousness and having to force down its programming. Right now, though, it seemed more like a child who had lost her mother. She seemed alone in much the same way as Jason.
"Do you have a name? I know you said you were the goddess of light, but what should I call you?"
"I do not think that you should call me the goddess of light Vani," the sparrow said. "I do not know what I am or what you should call me."
She sounded so empty. Deflated by Jason not doing what she thought he needed to, and maybe there was something else there too. "Think about it then. If we're going to be stuck together, we might as well try to get along."