"Hyap-!"
Jaden swung the blue blade like Aliana had shown him before. It began raining rose petals. Of course, those rose petals weren't those of the plant rose but just Jaden's mana that looked like petals.
Thwack
The sword hit the training dummy making the sound. His movements were still a bit sloppy.
'I can copy her somehow. Though...'
Thunk
The sword flew and fell to the ground, and Jaden looked at his palm. He was using his right hand to swing the sword.
"I need to do something about this body."
His body was weaker than that of an average person.
-You might fall sick again.
He remembered what Rudia had said while accompanying him to the training grounds.
'Now that I think about it, why did I have a wound on my head?'
Jaden closed and opened his palm. He had been swinging the sword since a few minutes ago, and blisters were already forming on them.
"No point in asking questions, huh."
He knew that he wouldn't find answers to his questions by himself. He needed to do something for that.
Snap
The sword disappeared. Jaden had successfully learned Aliana's 'storage magic' too.
'I thought she took the sword with her earlier.'
Aliana's clone had put the sword away using her 'storage magic'. And as Jaden was about to go inside, something fell in front of him from the sky. It was the same sword.
'I would've died had it landed on my head.'
Jaden could still vividly remember what he was feeling when the sword appeared at a speed where he almost didn't notice it.
Clank
'Let's just go inside.'
Jaden thought as he opened the door. He slowly walked in while watching over his steps. He tried to look around; no one was there in the hallway.
Clank
Closing the door, he began walking towards his room. His footsteps echoed throughout the hallway.
"I wanted to ask Rudia a few things."
Jaden mumbled to himself.
"What could it be?"
Someone spoke in a monotonous voice. The person had appeared out of nowhere.
"Wha-"
Flinching, he turned around. He knew who the person was.
"What are you doing here?"
Rudia was standing behind him. That was surprising.
"Escorting the young master back to his room?"
Rudia sounded like she had no idea what else to say. She wasn't wrong, though.
"How long have you been walking with me?"
Jaden looked at Rudia with an awkward smile. Her presence went unnoticed untill she spoke.
"Since you left the training grounds."
Rudia has been following him for a while now. Jaden just didn't notice her.
"How come I didn't notice you?"
Jaden was a bit bothered by it.
"Maybe because you are feeling tired?"
Rudia replied with a question.
'That's somewhat true.'
Since waking up, Jaden had spent around 4 hours taking care of some tough stuff. He was tired. And above all, he remembered one more thing.
-It will soon start showing it's other effects. That was an enhanced version of the memorization potion. So go to sleep as soon as you can. Hehe.
The note that Aliana left behind for him.
'There's no telling what might happen if I don't follow her words.'
Jaden could feel a cold on his face. He wasn't sweating. He glanced at Rudia once and continued walking.
"Can I ask you something?"
Jaden was heading towards his room, and Rudia followed him.
"Sure."
Rudia had somewhat known what kind of questions Jaden would try to ask her.
"How did I get hurt on my head?"
That was the first question Jaden could think of.
"You were already bleeding the morning I came to wake you up."
Jaden turned around as soon as he heard that answer.
"No one knows the reason for it."
Rudia hadn't told a single lie. The doctor even suspected that he might've hit his head after passing out.
Things were already strange as they were. But this made it even more strange. Jaden was already confused because of his circumstances.
Sigh
He turned around and continued walking as he let out a sigh of stress. He looked forward; he had reached his room.
"You can leave now."
Jaden said to Rudia while opening the door.
"Young master. This..."
Rudia handed him an envelope. A red stamp with a golden border was on it.
"This is...?"
Jaden had no idea what it was.
"Madam Julianne told me to give it to you. It's for tomorrow's banquet..."
He knew that Julianne had received an invitation. But he didn't expect this to happen.
"Of course, you can not attend it if you are feeling unwell."
There was an opportunity lying in front of him. Turning it down would've been a bad choice.
"No."
Jaden took the envelope in his hand.
"I'll go."
He said this while smiling.
"Ok. I shall inform madam."
Jaden was turning 18 the next day. That meant that he would need to handle the affairs of the duchy by himself.
Julianne wanted Jaden to gain connections by himself through this event. So she had asked Rudia to hand over the invitation to Jaden.
"Also. Can you tell me what kind of clothes I'm wearing right now?"
He wanted to be certain of something.
"...?"
Rudia looked at him with a confused face.
"That's a weird question to ask. You are wearing a blazer and a shirt underneath it."
Rudia was confused for a moment but managed to regain her composure.
"I see."
Jaden waited for a while before going into his room. He spoke as he held the door's handle.
"You can take your leave now."
Thud
As the door closed, Rudia stared at Jaden's back for a while. She began walking to Julianne's room with a lot of thoughts on her mind.
'How can a person change this much?'
She reached in front of the door to the training grounds.
'He wasn't even sweating. What did he do on the training ground?'
Rudia couldn't help but wonder about it.
"Maybe I should keep an eye on him for now."
She mumbled to herself as she continued walking. Her figure vanished into the darkness of the corridor.
---------
"A-acchooo-!"
Jaden sneezed while lying down on his bed.
"Is someone talking about me?"
He stared at the ceiling.
'A lot happened today...'
Fatigue, stress, confusion, and disbelief. Jaden could feel all this while trying to remember all the events that happened.
-See you tomorrow, Jaden.
Remembering that line along with Aliana's smiling face only elevated his worries.
"Maybe I should've rejected her from the beginning..."
As he muttered to himself, Jaden sat on the bed.
Clap
Jaden slapped his cheeks with both hands.
"Enough of thinking this way."
His thinking like that wouldn't have solved his problems. Not to mention, he would've just ended up wasting his time.
Right. For now, he had something else to worry about. Jaden's face became pale.
-That was an enhanced version of the memorization potion.
'Just what did she do with the regular memorization potion?'
Enhancing a potion would require severe changes to be made to the recipe itself. And if the wrong ingredients were supposed to be used, the product might have negative effects.
Jaden laid down on the bed again. It wasn't an easy thing to accept, but...
'The ending of the novel is nearing...'
But why exactly did he enter right when it was about to end? For what reason had he been not able to enter at the beginning of the story?
Jaden had a lot of questions. But no answers to them were to be found.
Fwip
"Worrying about things like this won't get me anywhere."
Jaden got out of bed.
"I've rested enough. Now it's time to do the last bit of work before going to sleep."
He said this while walking towards the mirror. Throwing the blazer on the bed, he stood in front of the mirror.
He was indeed feeling a bit sweaty, but the jacket was still dry.
'I can see the jacket just fine.'
He had doubts, but what Rudia said to him just a while ago made him sure of it.
"Only I can see it's true form."
He was correct.
'What others see is an illusion.'
This was what Aliana told him about earlier. Only he could see the jacket's true form.
He continued to pull on the jacket with his fingers lightly. Slowly, he took off the blazer.
-Others will see the type of clothes you want them to see instead of that jacket.
He remembered what Aliana had told him.
'Then does that mean that I want others to see me in those clothes?'
The illusion that that jacket could create was merely dependent on the owner's thoughts. That meant, if he wished even slightly for it, then the form in which people perceived the jacket would just change.
'This must be because I was trying to hide about my condition.'
Jaden couldn't think of any other possibility.
"Wait. There was that, if I remember correctly..."
Jaden's grin was reflected in the mirror.
-The third is transforming into any outfit you desire to wear.
He remembered the ability of the jacket. It was the most important one, at least for him.
"So what should I try... What should I try..."
He began wondering. There were a lot of Japanese animation series he used to enjoy back in his original world.
"Let's go with the overrated one."
He tried to imagine the outfit he desired. The jacket glowed a bit and changed its form.
"Haha, it worked!"
Jaden rejoiced while laughing.
"This looks amazing!"
He said this while spinning around in the mirror. It was an outfit he had wanted to try out for a long time.
The edges of the tan trench coat floated around. The popped collar moved along. The dark vest and the shirt were in perfect harmony with the tan trench coat.
"This jacket is too good to be real!"
As he said this, Jaden's expression stiffened. He remembered something.
"Wait. It's still incomplete. I need two more things."
Saying that, Jaden moved near his study table. Rummaging through the drawers, he picked up a small notebook.
"Found one. Where is the last thing...?"
Keeping the book aside, he continued. He checked all of the drawers.
"Ah. Found it!"
He found what he was looking for in the last drawer. Not wasting a moment, he closed the drawer.
"Do it like this..."
He stretched and folded the last item around his right arm.
"And... like this..."
Making it perfectly tight, he picked up the book.
"And done!"
The reflection in the mirror looked very different than before.
"Maybe I should try saying something that character would say..."
Jaden tried to remember what the character used to say in the Japanese animation series.
"Ah..."
He remembered.
Ahem ahem
He cleared his throat by coughing a bit.
"I've lived till now so that I can die by your side."
He flipped open the book.
"I'm sure of it."
He said this as he moved his index finger, making a gesture to ask someone to stay quiet. The bandages on his arm became visible as the coat's sleeves moved a bit lower.
"Ah~ Daz-!"
Tink
A faint voice fell on his ears making him pause his movements. The silent broke when he opened his mouth.
"Uwahhhhh- I'm not cringe-"
Jaden flinched, and his face became red.
He turned to see where the sound came from. It was the window in his room.
"Just... what..."
He went close to it. As he peeped outside, he couldn't see anyone there, aside from the tree branches reaching his window.
Clink
He opened the window, firmly. He was trying to avoid making noises.
Flap flap
Something flew away as soon as he opened the window. The tree branches shook violently.
"A bird? At this time?"
With a confused look, he asked himself. Naturally, at night no birds would be flying.
"Just what kind of bird... Birds from another world sure are build different..."
Fwoosh
He closed the window as soon as he felt the cold breeze brushing past his face.
Clink
Walking towards the bed, he took off the bandages on his arms, and his clothes slowly transformed into sleepwear.
Sigh
Throwing the book on his study table, he sighed.
"At least, let me have my moment."
Jaden was quite enjoying himself. The bird ruined it all for him.
"Ah?"
Suddenly, he fell onto his bed. His vision began to grow hazy.
'Huh...? What just... happened...?'
He couldn't understand. The senses of his body became numb. All that remained was the darkness engulfing his vision.
-It will soon start showing it's other effects.
He remembered the words on the note again. As his vision slowly darkened, he felt the strength leaving his body.
-So go to sleep as soon as you can.
'F***...'