Which one should I pick? Each of them had a boon and a bane. As I hardly thought, a voice called me repeatedly.
"Hey, are you not hearing me?" Philia waved her hand at my sight, miffed.
"Pardon me," I said, looking at her grumpy face.
"If you didn't like the bread, you can just tell me earlier," she continued to walk.
I tried scanning through the surroundings. We have been walking for a while, and the architecture has shifted to a more organized and formal style. Maybe we walked to the capital.
"Where are we going?" I looked at Philia.
"Just wait a little bit, we'll almost arrive there," she replied.
I looked at my watch. It was two o'clock, and these clothes didn't suit me at all. I couldn't blame her since my appearance wasn't expected. Other than the Sievert plan.
"We have arrived," she stopped at the street side.
Then, she entered the nearest shop. The shop didn't stand out like the others. They were displaying antique items. Philia seemed to need something there.
As I entered the shop, a small bell rang. I looked around, but nothing matched the display. It wasn't an antique shop, it was more like a minimalist tavern. Philia didn't appear in my sight.
"Welcome in, kid," suddenly a heavy voice greeted me.
"Who was it?" I gazed around.
Then, I glanced at a person nearby. He looked aged. He seemed to be constantly wiping like a tavernkeeper.
"Come and sit in, what can I help you with?" He asked.
"In here just to find a woman named Philia. Have you seen her?" I walked closer to the bar
"The girl with those brownish eyes and glittering deep purple hair?" He specified.
I nodded, but he didn't respond any further. As I sat, he gave me a glass of water.
"You can't get hydrated while waiting for her," his eyes stared at me.
"Thank you, I guess," I didn't grab the glass immediately.
A suspicion filled my thoughts. I rotated my head around, only a single customer here. He looked like a mature man. He sat far from me with a mysterious feeling, motionless.
"Sorry to keep you waiting Rirt," suddenly a feminine voice called my name from behind.
I turned my gaze behind. There was a staircase to the upper floor. Then, a flowery dress appeared—Philia. She walked downstairs and approached me. But her face looked confused.
"There was a customer? I rarely saw them once when visiting here," she explained.
But the man didn't react or gaze back. He seemed unreactive. Without hesitation, I pulled my revolver and shot him. Philia was shocked.
The bang noise burst out. The bullet travelled and hit him. Immediately, his body tore up from the inside with those bloody fractals.
"Rirthe, can you at least inform me if you want to do something. I could get a heart attack," Philia trembled with her words.
"What a great intuition," the tavernkeeper impressed.
Was this the setup by this tavernkeeper?
"I could say no, but 'that' appeared unexpectedly as soon as you rang the bell," he gave Philia a glass of milk.
He answered my question without me asking. This was extraordinary.
"May I know you?" I lowered my revolver.
"Rirthe calm down, he is a good person," Philia tried patting my head.
"You are interesting, it reminded me of someone. Sadly my memories of him had faded away." He took a glass and filled it with water.
The tavernkeeper tried to approach me. He stared at my eyes. I looked into it, but I felt empty. He reached his hand to my head. His hand was rough and stiff.
"Pardon me, this won't take so long," he closed his eyes and focused.
What was he trying to do?
"Stay still Rirthe, he is sort of like a fortune teller. Also, his name was Keindest, and he followed the Recollection pathway." Philia took the glass and drank it.
He didn't have a last name. Maybe he tried to read my fate. He finally let go of his hand. His hand reached his chin, his brow furrowed, and he mumbled.
"Hmm… It seemed his destiny was encrypted. I barely touched his soul to be able to inspect it," he didn't look happy about it.
"Do you often encounter someone like me?" I asked.
"No, this was my first time," he said as he sipped his water.
No wonder he was confused and invested in my appearance. But it confirmed those statements by that puppet. Was I really a part of this world?
"Young Lady, pardon me for ignoring you," he bowed down to Philia.
"Take it easy, don't need to be formal," she urged him to raise his gaze.
Philia was being respected by Sievert and him. There were so many puzzles to solve at once.
"May I know why you didn't have a last name?" I stared at him.
He hesitated.
"It was an exchange for my pathway. Recollections will remove your memories, and the reason I forgot my last name," he explained.
Recollections seemed a good pathway, but the consequences might be unpredictable. I could ascend higher, but I would lose information that was still sedimented.
"Why can't you dig up the information?" I asked.
"I've tried, but something kept burning it. It was known as 'The Concept of Inevitability,'" he pulled out a cigarette.
"Keep that in Kein, there was a young man here," Philia demanded as he begged her pardon.
It seemed identical to recent scenarios. Yet another mystery. He didn't respond to my thoughts like earlier.
"Why have you stopped reading my mind?" I looked closer into his eyes.
Those dense scarlet pupils brought a dreadful feeling. He was like reading a horror script.
"It has a cost which can't be defined as something simple," his voice slowly became soft and yielded.
"There was something called 'Purgatory Theory.' Basically, it answered some of the uncertainty stuff by an uneven exchange," Philia gazed at me.
Was it like some sort of mana in a magical world? Or even simpler like an energy for activities.
"The usage of your soul into 'Purgatory Effect.' It consumes, it results, then it diminishes," he tottered and sat on the stool.
"Kein, you used so many of them. Better take a rest," Philia worried and came closer to him.
The cost of the power was my own soul. Was it worth using my existence for temporary authority? It made me think twice about becoming a Portrayer.
It didn't matter since I was here beyond the world's destiny.
"Rirthe," suddenly Keindest called my name.
"…"
"What is your purpose in this world? I often wondered if something descended into this world as an answer. But 'The Concept' kept abandoning my dogma." He fell asleep after he said it.
He knew something from me. Like an anomaly.