After that, I made my way to the old man to report the shady locals' behavior. You might find this to be a bit childish or otherwise wimpy of me to do, but I was terrified, dammit. I was mere minutes away from getting my foot cut off and thrown into the salty ocean without it!

"Hrm, that does seem to be an issue..." He thought to himself before shrugging, "Well, guess we'll deal with it later."

"Deal with it now!" I complained, "What if those guys come back tonight? Or tomorrow? Or right now even?"

"If young Showa was the one to scare them off, then you have my word that nothing bad will happen to you, at least involving them." He explained, "She's a fierce and well-respected critter of the Schnell islanders, you're lucky to be under her watchful Eye."

That's not what I meant, though! The old man said the same thing about himself, and look where it got me! What if this girl only just caused more of a rift to open between me and the islanders? If this continues, never mind escaping, I might actually die before anyone even shows up to rescue me from this damned place!

"You know, the only reason you're so hated in this community is because of your outlook on them." He smirked once he saw my terrified expression, "If you were just a tad more friendly and transparent with them from the start, they would have never demanded work from you."

Eh? So I was supposed to just meekly let them walk all over me and boss me around? Help them with their work without even getting anything in return? Pheh, yeah right! Besides, I'm a hostage, I don't need to do squat for these people!

"...Follow me outside." He sighed as he shakily got up, "And bring the Books with you."

"What? No, this is important, I-!"

"I won't ask again." He glared back.

With a simple threat, the old man had effectively forced me to do as I was instructed. Before long, I was standing outside with both Books in hand, wondering what he was going to have me do.

"Can I ask what's happening now?" I gulped.

"We're fixing your reputation with the locals, or course." He explained, "And helping you get a grasp of the Books' true powers while we're at it."

As he said this, he threw me a pen and began explaining my role in better detail.

"Have you ever tried to write in the Books?" He asked.

"No, never." I replied, "I would never scribble on such a mysterious tool."

"Hm, I see..." He nodded along, "Yes, makes sense. You felt it dangerous to tinker or experiment with the Book, so you simply used it for its secondary purpose of telling future or past... But as it stands, I have no use of you like that."

"I don't follow."

"Nelly." He pointed at the Book of Fortune, "I'm gonna teach you how to write whatever you want into this story. With proper planning, you could do some of the most incredible things with ease, cause incredible events to unfurl, and even become immortal like me."

"I'll pass." I looked away, "Living and dying like a normal human sounds way more appealing. You kinda look miserable anyways."

"You're not wrong." He chuckled, "I'm pretty damned sad. So won't you give this old man an ice cream?"

"Ice cream? Do you guys even have ice cream machines here?" I asked.

"I wouldn't be asking you if we did, would I?" He laughed, "Use the Book's powers to make it for me, that's your first task."

"What? Why should I?" I shot back.

"You want to be able to protect yourself in case of any emergencies like today, don't you?" He slouched, "Cause if you do, you better listen to my lessons. You've been given not one but both sides of the strongest items in the world, but I can only imagine how useless that'll be if you don't know how to use them. With just a bit of care on your part, you wouldn't ever have to worry about going out on a walk alone, or getting manhandled and almost forced into leaving the island prematurely. Think about it, I'm here to help, not hinder."

Here to help, not hinder... Right, I guess he did say he never intended on seriously hurting me and Lem. Besides, it's a fact that he gave me both Fortune and Misfortune to take care of, so it's not like he's lying. Thus, I clicked the pen open, and was immediately paused before I even put pen to paper.

"Hold it!" He shouted, "Before anything, tell me what you wanted to write."

"Uhh, an ice cream cone?" I looked confused, "What, want me to specify the flavor?"

"No, no no no no... I mean, yeah, that too, but no!" He chuckled, "I meant HOW exactly you were going to write it in?"

This is when he explained to me that the Books do in fact have a syntax you needed to follow with them if you wanted to make it manifest stuff for you. Indeed, as he told me this, he flipped through some example pages of the Book of Fortune which I had opened and explained it in detail.

"What does it say?" He asked.

"The protagonist had bickered with Lem over a rather unsavory topic." I read my own story out loud, "Augh, I remember this one..."

"Notice how "you" are always replaced with "the protagonist", and how for Fortune, it's written in a past tense that already makes it set in stone." He explained, "Now, flip to the nearest empty space and tell me how you would write in some ice cream for me."

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Right, and why ice cream of all things?" I asked.

"I wanna eat ice cream." He revealed plainly.

Turns out the old man has an insatiable sweet tooth, in spite of his old and sensitive teeth.

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***

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Okay then...? Let's see, maybe it'd be...

"The protagonist writes in some ice cream for the old man." I said, "Would that work?"

"Close, but you forgot about the tense." He corrected me, "Also, from my experience, results can be unpredictable if you mention writing in the Book inside the actual Book. Just a thought."

"...Am I gonna explode when I write in this thing?" I asked just to make sure.

"Not unless you make yourself explode with it." He cackled, "Now try again."

This is all just too strange for me. Why is he even teaching me how to use the Books all of a sudden? I understand him wanting to help teach me to defend myself from them, but is this really gonna help? I also have my doubts about this whole thing with writing stuff in working, but that's a whole other topic in and of itself. Eh, his Eyes look honest, so I might as well humor him.

"In that case, it'd be something like..." I thought, "As the protagonist held her hand out and blinked, as if magic, a large serving of chocolate chip ice cream had somehow gotten into her hands. Would that work?"

"Smarter, and better!" He praised me with a thumbs up.

"So it'll work?"

"Try it and find out."

"But I don't wanna do anything if it might put me in harm's way." I declined.

"You'll never learn how to use and abuse the true powers of the Books unless you do." He said, "Besides, aren't you used to getting into trouble all your life? What's with the sudden cold feet now?"

Egging me on until I obliged, I eventually wrote in the test sentence and extended my hand out before taking a deep breath and blinking. A slightly noticeable weight had appeared in them, and when I opened my Eyes...

"No way...!" I could hardly believe it, "It actually appeared! Ice cream!"

What the...! But how!? It just appeared out of thin air! Like my own personalized form of Materialize! Is this how dad does it? Still, this doesn't have anything to do with Iro Abilities. Either way, it worked! I did it!

"Ah, here you are." I held my joy back to hand him the ice cream.

"Great." He tossed it away, "Moving on..."

Eh? If you weren't gonna eat it, I would've gladly taken it off your lousy hands! This damned old man, why did he even ask for ice cream if he was gonna do that!?

"I'm gonna ask you to do the same for the Book of Misfortune. Remember, that one tells the future."

"The future, in other words..." I figured, "After writing in the Book, the protagonist will extend her hand and somehow create ultra tasty chocolate chip ice cream out of thin air. Something like that?"

"Try it."

"Again with the learn from your mistakes mentality..." I sighed, writing the sentence down before extending my hand to feel no weight being added on my hand, "Hm? It didn't work?"

"You mentioned the Book." He explained.

"Gah! I totally forgot I can't do that!"

"It's those small details that might save you." He explained, "Think about it, what if instead of ice cream, you asked for a protector? Or a weapon? Or even immortality itself? The concept doesn't even have to exist, as long as you define it properly and follow the Book's rules, it'll show up. That is the true power of Fortune and Misfortune."

"I see..." I looked at the Book's cover once again, "Then, is that all?"

"I wouldn't say that. You still haven't made yourself well-liked within the island community." He winked, "Now, which Book would be better suited for accomplishing such a task?"

As if to constantly ask me about my own opinions on what to do, he effectively made me screw around with the Books until I had gotten a good sense of understanding on them. Thinking about the best way to go about doing so, I had decided to write in the Book of Misfortune—The protagonist and the old man call for a meeting wherein they surprise all the islanders with a whole lot of ice cream, enough to fill everyone with enough for seconds or even thirds!

"That ought to do it." I closed the Book, "You think it'll work?"

"Who knows?" He winked, "Try it."

Thus, we walked to the main meeting area of the island, where Olya had rung the bells to indicate everyone needed to show up for assembly. Lending me the stage after all the wary islanders watched on, I proudly puffed my chest out with a bright smile as I yelled:

"Ice cream party!"

"..."

"Ice cream..." I gulped, not seeing anyone with ice cream in their hands, "Party?"

"Ah, I get it now." Olya noticed, "You forgot to specify the exact time, so without it, the Book doesn't know when or how the ice cream shows up."

"...Huh?" I quickly darted my gaze between him and the antsy crowd, "W-What?"

Dammit, he made a fool out of me again! This old man, he could've told me that sooner! Geez, everyone's expecting a reason for me to have called this meeting, but now they'll only hate me more when they find out it was for nothing! Screw you, Olya!