Greg sat there, frozen stiff in fear. How should he respond to this?

You cannot be found out, You cannot be found out, You cannot be found out, You cannot be found out, You cannot be found out, You cannot be found out, the pop-out read, repeating thousands of times. It seemed to be more of a threat.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he stuttered, miserably pretending to tell the truth.

"What a horrible lie," he responded, lowering his head. "I'll have to tell everyone about you, of course. You'll be burnt alive."

Greg stood up, saying, "Please, father, you cannot do that."

"I must." He, too, stood up, though he didn't look at Greg anymore. He turned to the kitchen, though he didn't move towards it. "What a waste of food."

That made Greg the most anxious; Dio never wasted food.

So, taking a deep breath, he sat back down. "I'll tell you."

Slowly, Dio went to the kitchen, watching over the stew.

"I'm not sure who I am. I could be your son, or I could be a different soul that took over this body, memories included. But none of that matters, compared to what I have to do." He felt his conviction strengthen, just by him finally speaking those words.

"And what is it you have to do?" Dio asked, swirling the contents around.

You cannot say! You cannot say! You cannot say! You cannot say! You cannot say! it kept repeating, and this time it truly felt like there would be no wiggle room.

"I wish I could tell you, but I can't."

Dio laughed. At first, it was barely a whisper, but it grew, turning into the most boisterous laugh Greg had ever heard from the man. It faded, quickly turning into silence.

"Those were the same words she said, you know? Down to the last detail." He took out two bowls, serving the contents of the stew, and placed them in front of himself and Greg. "I will have to say something about you, eventually."

"Church," Greg remembered, a horrible concept that he hoped he never had to deal with. "The Confession Booths have truth magic on them, don't they?"

Dio nodded. "I overheard the Priests of Gourdia talk about it more than a decade ago. Don't worry. I already confessed this morning, about something else. I wanted to be sure."

"Then, that gives me a week?" Greg asked, counting the days on his hands. Dio nodded.

"I'll have you permanently off work, too," he added, eating his stew.

"Thank you." Greg started eating, too. "This is really good!" he said, downing the rest of the contents quickly.

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The next day, Greg didn't leave his room, spending most of the time either thinking or training. He hadn't heard anything from Lily, either, but he wasn't so concerned about that. She was strong enough to handle herself.

He felt like he had his plan pretty thought out, except for who would 'die'.

"Show the goal, please," Greg said, sitting on his bed.

You must blame the death of someone close to them on a Monster. This must happen before the Academy closes admission, or the world will be doomed to fall. You have more than four months.

"Someone close to all three of them..." he pondered. There had to be a simple answer. "Ah, well. What do I get if complete this, again?"

To live.

"Suppose I can't complain, then. But I'm gonna." He took a deep breath, before quickly whispering, "Youbringmetothisworldtosaveit,butIdon'tgetanyhelp?HowamItosaveitifIdon'thavehelp?Huh?AmImeanttodietosaveit?Thenwhathappensafterwards,huh?Ishouldatleastbecompensatedforthiskindofstuff,right?Especiallysinceyoubroughtmehere,youshouldhelpme..." The words were so quick that it started to sound like magic chanting, a process that wasn't necessary but increased the power of a spell. In order to cast it, Mages train for years to speak quickly and quietly, so that the enemy has no idea what they're saying.

After almost an hour of nonstop whispering the popup finally appeared, reading, Fine. Stop.

"Yay!" Greg celebrated, clapping his hands. "So, what's the reward?"

It will depend on how you complete the given task. That is all you need to know.

"The plan stays the same," he announced, standing up.

Walking to the door, his thoughts were only focused on who would be the victim.

When he opened the door, he was surprised to find all three main characters in front of it

"What is it?" he asked, feeling uncomfortable because of the silence.

"Are you... feeling alright?" Janus asked, fidgeting.

"You haven't been out all day," Leia put in, holding her staff. 'Why does she have her staff?' he thought, noting it.

"And you were kinda mumbling to yourself," Lily finished, turning her head as far as possible.

"Oh." Greg facepalmed himself, making the three jump a little. "Why didn't I realize it sooner?"

Janus, standing in the front, put a hand on Greg's shoulder. His blonde hair stuck in one of two directions: completely upwards, or completely downwards. Today, it seemed to be upwards, so Greg saw the worry in his eyes before he spoke.

"Are you sure you're alright, Greg? Sunlight is important for-"

Gently moving Janus' hand, Greg said, "It's alright. You three just solved one of my problems. Thank you so much. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go take a walk."

So he walked away, leaving the three in their own conversation.

"Is he- Is he really alright?" Janus asked.

"We definitely shouldn't leave him alone right now," Leia said, holding her staff close.

Lily nodded.

Greg's destination was simple: The forest. Particularly where the Honour Spiders lived, if he could figure that out, but it didn't really matter. All that mattered was scoping out the place.

As expected, there was dirt, grass, animals, and trees. No signs of any spiders, which was strange. Maybe the spider he saw was passing through.

"No, that would be stupid," he told himself, waving the thought away. "Anyways, how does one fake their death? I have to leave enough evidence to have been here and was killed."

Blood was something he'd need; a lot of it, too. Otherwise, it wouldn't be believable. Then, how would he prove his identity?

"Personal items would work, wouldn't they?"

He stopped walking and sat down. Then, he laid on the ground, looking up at the sky.

In the corner of his eye, he saw something yellow, hiding behind a bush.

Standing up, he sighed. "Janus, would you stop hiding already?" The figure flinched, moving vigorously before rising up.

"Hi, Greg," Janus greeted, awkwardly avoiding his eyes.

"I'm guessing the other three are there, too?" Janus nodded. Again, he sighed, standing up. "Are you all really that worried about me?"

The other two, who were crouched right beside Janus, stood up, acting just as awkward.

"You all should be spending this time training. Ever heard of the word? Tr-ain-ing. Go."

Slowly, they walked away, their heads held down.

Feeling bad, Greg said one last thing. "Thank you for worrying about me." Then, too quiet for them to hear, "And sorry."