258

Chapter 258 — What If (6)

After barely managing to pry the Mountain Lord off, I placed the delivered bundle on the floor of my hideout.

It was a little bulkier than I had imagined, but I let that pass.

I had placed the order myself, but it wasn’t as though I knew much about this sort of item.

Rustle.

“……!”

However, the instant I saw a clump of hair between the loosened folds of cloth, I regretted my lax attitude.

The sight looked like something out of a cheap horror movie, and my breath stopped for no reason.

“Ah… scared the hell out of me….”

Two seconds later, I managed to realize the truth before it was too late.

This is a wig… right?

It’s a wig, right?

Strength slowly returned to the body that had frozen on instinct, and I awkwardly picked it up.

Hair had been carefully planted strand by strand into a mesh backing instead of leather.

It definitely seemed to be a wig.

God, that startled me.

Breathing out in relief, I examined it closely.

The texture seemed to be actual human hair rather than plant fiber or wool.

A soft wheat-brown color that didn’t glitter like gold.

A subtly awkward length that passed the shoulders but didn’t reach the shoulder blades.

And instead of broad waves, the hair was covered in tiny curls that gave it a fluffy, voluminous shape.

Overall, it felt fairly ordinary.

Plain, even.

But if I remembered correctly, real hair was supposed to be expensive…?

Perhaps because it had been packed inside the bundle, the wig was slightly flattened, and I turned it over from several angles.

The strands slipping through my fingers seemed to be human hair after all.

Rougher than hair from the modern world, where shampoo and conditioner were everywhere, but still soft and smooth.

…But seriously, why is this in here?

I didn’t order a wig.

I ordered hair dye.

Confused, I rummaged further through the bundle.

Roll, roll.

A rolled-up bamboo slip and several glass bottles filled with dye tumbled out.

“……?”

The dye in the bottles appeared to be the hair dye I’d requested.

Then what was this bamboo slip?

I untied the string and checked the contents.

The writing was slightly crooked, but still neat and respectable.

And the script carved into it wasn’t from the Great Forest.

It was from outside—the kind I could read, or rather, the kind the System could translate.

⌈(Earlier portion omitted) …While carrying out your request, we discovered that ordinary dyes do not work very well, while magical dyes are expensive considering how long they last. Therefore, taking Benefactor’s future travels into consideration, we used the money you provided to obtain something else instead. Of course, it is possible that you requested dye for another reason, so we have also enclosed several bottles… (middle portion omitted) …There is no need to worry that our purchase of the wig will draw suspicion. One of the priests suffering from hair loss purchased one for himself, and an extra happened to remain, so we obtained it…. (later portion omitted)⌋

As I read, a quiet sense of emotion began filling me.

They could have just mindlessly carried out the purchase I requested.

Instead, they had considered my future and obtained a better alternative…?

And they had even prepared a plausible excuse in case someone tried connecting the purchase of a wig during this period to anything suspicious?

The handling of the matter was so clever—no, so wise—that I almost wanted to cry.

I was touched.

“If I’d known….”

And another thought occurred to me.

I had put a million gal in the pouch because I’d worried dyes might be expensive.

If I’d known they were going this far, I would have put in twice that.

No.

Three times.

“Good thing I haven’t had much reason to spend money lately….”

For the past several months, I had personally paid for inns, food, and other miscellaneous costs.

But so what?

Compared to the amount I had casually donated toward rebuilding one particular city, those were trivial expenses.

Meanwhile, the combined money I had earned from selling Biryuho’s corpse and working in Bemurchen had a completely different number of digits from what I had spent.

Paying extra for the wig wouldn’t cause any problems.

I started thinking about how much more to give them.

“Would two million gal be about enough?”

Ideally, I wanted to ask exactly how much they had spent.

But there was no chance the Grand Chieftain would tell me.

So I arbitrarily estimated the market price.

All I could do was hope the amount exceeded what the Grand Chieftain had paid.

Rustle.

That settled the matter of the wig’s price.

I put it on to see what I would look like.

So they used pins to secure wigs here too.

I had worn wigs several times in college while doing theater, so putting it on wasn’t particularly difficult.

Click.

The clips inside the mesh fastened my real hair securely to the wig.

“…Hmm.”

Does it look okay?

Can people tell?

I examined the difference in impression now that I had abruptly become a brown-haired male character.

Maybe the combination of gray and black hair had simply been that striking.

Or maybe it was because I had relaxed my expression.

Either way, I did look quite different.

Though if anyone examined me carefully, the eyepatch, the scar at the corner of my mouth, and the eyebrow color I hadn’t changed yet would probably give me away immediately.

“I can deal with the eyebrow color, but what am I supposed to do about the eyes…?”

Eyebrows and eyelashes could probably be covered with dye somehow.

Unlike dyeing my entire head, eyebrows and eyelashes wouldn’t consume much dye, and even if the color turned a little uneven, it probably wouldn’t be very noticeable.

My eyes were different.

Hair color, eye color, and distinguishing marks were especially noticeable when identifying someone.

“The eyepatch and heterochromia both stand out too much.”

If I removed the eyepatch, I had heterochromia.

If I kept it on, the eyepatch itself stood out.

Contrary to what people assumed, my right eye wasn’t completely blind, so I could technically play some tricks, like taking off the right eyepatch and wearing one over the left instead….

But how far would such a shallow bit of confusion really get me?

Changing my eye color was still the best option.

I wondered whether an item that could do that existed and touched the scar at the corner of my mouth.

Designing all this had been fun.

Now that I needed to hide my identity, every single detail was becoming a headache.

My eyes.

The scar beside my mouth.

How was I supposed to conceal them well enough to actually deserve praise?

“…Should I make more scars?”

My makeup skills weren’t good enough for powder.

Maybe it would be better to cover the existing scar with something like a burn mark instead.

Of course, then there were two new problems.

If I was identified while wearing that disguise, escaping afterward would become even more difficult.

And I had never once seen this body retain a scar.

“…….”

Was I ultimately going to have to live with this anxiety every time I traveled?

Even in a world without CCTV, hiding your identity was this difficult.

What kind of nerve did criminals in the modern world have when they committed crimes and then pretended to be somebody else?

Facing obstacle after obstacle, I dryly rubbed both hands over my face.

The joy of finally being able to hide my Demonic Energy had disappeared somewhere.

Now I was only overwhelmed again.

“…For now, I should buy a left eyepatch and new clothes.”

Still, one thing was certain.

Every time I cleared one of these obstacles, gathering information would become easier.

I forced myself to picture that hopeful future.

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* * *

【How does it make any sense for exactly one item out of all those goods to disappear?!】

【…I have no excuse.】

【Instead of giving me the same thing anyone could say, come up with a proper explanation! An explanation!!】

Ekua watched the commotion that had erupted because he and the Mountain Lord had gone to such lengths to obtain a single wig for their benefactor.

【How many goods did you purchase outside, and how many people were assigned to guard them? And you expect me to believe that only the wig vanished out of all of that?!】

【We have no idea what happened either. Truly.】

【If the transport party doesn’t know, then who does?! Hm?!】

There was the bald priest bellowing in unbearable disappointment.

And there was the warrior chief who had been responsible for this shipment, driven into a corner and sweating profusely.

It wasn’t an especially unpleasant sight.

The bald priest was someone who had caused all sorts of trouble because he didn’t want to let go of authority even after Ekua became Grand Chieftain.

And the warrior chief handling the shipment was that priest’s faithful ally and right-hand man.

【Now, now. Please calm yourselves.】

Of course, Ekua did feel slightly….

Very slightly sorry for them.

It wasn’t as though the warrior chief had lost the wig because of incompetence.

He had simply encountered the wrong opponent.

After all, the one Ekua had sent to steal the wig was none other than the Mountain Lord—

Me, me, me, me! I wanna do it. I’ll do it. I’ve always wanted to try something like that!

So even if someone else had led the transport, the wig would certainly still have disappeared.

Of course, the one who had appointed that particular warrior chief to oversee the shipment while fully aware of what would happen had been Ekua himself.

【Nothing else was disturbed, yet only the wig disappeared without a trace. Does that not suggest some reason? Perhaps the forest despises objects made from cut human hair….】

【Does that make any sense?! You might as well say it despises all foreign goods!】

【But the other goods didn’t disappear.】

Exactly.

Who told you to buy a wig at a time like this?

If you had behaved like usual, insisting that trade with the outside was forbidden, that it would anger the forest, that absolutely nothing should be bought, you wouldn’t have suffered this loss.

【Th-then perhaps someone in the transport party took it! Shouldn’t we investigate every member of the convoy?!】

【…That is slander!】

【Hmm… it is certainly not impossible….】

For reasons like those, Ekua even wondered whether this entire incident was proof that the forest itself favored him.

Indeed.

With a single wig, he had helped their benefactor, caused a split among the conservative faction, and even inflicted financial damage on them.

He had heard they had spent a staggering amount of personal wealth on that wig.

If that wasn’t the forest’s blessing, what was?

[Grand Chieftain! We have a huge problem!!]

【…Mountain Lord?】

While the meeting—though it was closer to an interrogation—continued, the Mountain Lord suddenly poked the head inside.

At the words “huge problem” coming from none other than the Mountain Lord, the priests were the first to panic.

The matter of the vanished wig seemed to disappear from their minds immediately.

【Mountain Lord, we…!】

[Ah, not that. I only need the Grand Chieftain.]

【Mountain Lord, why take only the Grand Chieftain?! We should also—!!】

[If I say no, then no. Or what, are you someone important now? Is a priest talking back to me?]

A few words from the Mountain Lord forced the priests to shrink back down.

The Grand Chieftain postponed the meeting until tomorrow and followed with light steps.

On his way out, he noticed the bald priest and the warrior chief looked ready to grab each other by the hair—

Ah.

One of them had no hair to grab.

Perhaps he should revise that to grabbing each other by the collars.

Either way, it put him in a strangely good mood.

【Why did you call me?】

[Sir Knight says he’s leaving. What are we supposed to do?]

From the fact that the Mountain Lord had shaken off every priest, Ekua had already guessed this had something to do with the Black Thunder Serpent.

But already?

Had the time come that quickly?

Ekua sank into thought over the person who seemed ready to leave at every opportunity.

Unfortunately, this time there was no excuse he could use to hold him back.

“I don’t know what else we can use to keep him here. It seems the justification for him remaining has already run its course.”

Ekua couldn’t claim to understand the Demon Knight’s circumstances particularly well.

But he did know one thing.

The moment the Demon Knight left the Great Forest, there would be no chance to rest comfortably.

That was why Ekua had wanted him to stay here as long as possible….

But.

[So we really have no choice but to let him go…….]

“There’s nothing we can do. All we can do is pray that the road ahead of him is peaceful.”

Mindful of any possible eavesdroppers, Ekua lowered his head while speaking in another language.

He had barely even gotten a proper chance to speak with the man, and already it was time to let him go.

Regardless of lacking any legitimate reason to stop him, Ekua was just as upset.

If there were any way to keep him, he wanted to.

[Even if you pray, I can’t make that come true…….]

“That’s true too.”

Meanwhile, the Mountain Lord grumbled at the mention of prayer.

The Great Forest’s faith centered around the Mountain Lord, but the Mountain Lord possessed no authoritative power of that sort.

The Mountain Lord lowered the head dejectedly while Ekua instead lifted his.

[Then should we ask Ancestor……?]

[I can’t answer prayers either. Maybe the Creator could.]

Then, for a brief moment, Yukgwi joined in.

Having recovered enough strength over the past few days to swim through the air alone, Yukgwi had apparently approached without either of them noticing.

[Though even if that one had the ability, they wouldn’t answer….]

[Huh?]

“…Creator?”

But Yukgwi’s sudden appearance wasn’t the important part.

The statement was.

The Mountain Lord and Ekua both lifted their heads.

Creator.

That was a word that only appeared in the doctrines of the Temple that dominated the lands outside.