"Where have you two been!?" A muscular island local chewed us out, "No one saw you guys since you left to go on that walk of yours! Hell, it's already sundown, where in the world were you!?"

"Chill, Shaw, we were just hiking up the hill." Showa nonchalantly replied, "It took us a while, so we thought to sit down at the top and rest up a bit before heading back here."

"It was a pretty breathtaking experience." I added.

"...Sigh, whatever." He gave up and let us go, "You guys are headed to the hospital, right?"

"It's already well-known, huh?" I raised a suspicious Eyebrow accompanied by a chuckle.

"Heh, of course it is!" He laughed, "Everyone knows our poet has befriended the mighty Fairy for a while now. We just hope that one day you'll accept us as well."

Accept you guys? I don't think a day like that'll come, honestly. Not because I don't think I'll ever trust them, quite the contrary in fact, but as soon as Lem wakes up—We're leaving. Well, there's also the thing with reviving Olya's friends if we get the time to do that as well, but it's only a secondary objective for now. It's the old man I can't accept, so even this much is just my generosity and niceness speaking.

"Hey, slow down a bit." Showa giggled, "Are you that eager to see him awake, Nelly?"

"Am not!" I stuck my tongue out at her, "I'm just giddy, is all. I finally figured out how to have Lem wake up right here, right now. Anyone would be excited, but it's not for whatever weird reason you're thinking."

Just write in that Lem will wake up tonight... Seriously, how did that idea only pop into my head just now? Looking back, Olya had drilled into me countless cans and can'ts in regards to how Misfortune works, so the idea never truly crossed my mind. But can you really blame me though? I'm still not used to having the power to alter the world completely as I see fit.

"Y'know, there's still a chance you messed up the order you gave that Book." She giggled, "Or who knows? Maybe something scary will happen~!"

"I'm not a kid, there's nothing you can say to make me scared." I opened the doors to witness abject horror, "Ahhh! Oh no!"

Lem, his bed is...! Empty! It's empty, he's not there anymore! Oh Gods, he didn't somehow roll off and under the bed, did he?

"Showa, go and check under there." I pointed.

"What? Why me?"

"Well I'm not gonna do it! What if something jumps out at me?"

"It's not!"

"Then you do it!" I crossed my arms, "Since you're so fearless and all!"

"Hell no!"

"Why not!?"

"Cause something's gonna jump out at me if I do!"

After a bit more back and forth, I had conceded and ducked under the bed to check if Lem was there. Scared out of my mind, I had expected to see that guy lying lifelessly and staring back at me with bloodshot Eyes or something to that effect, but no, it was empty under there. One could almost say it was a disappointing find.

"Wait, that's even scarier!" I worried, "If he's not in the room with us, then where did Lem go!?"

"Isn't that much obvious to figure out?" Showa shrugged, "You woke him up with the Book, so now he probably left to go find out where he was."

"But that's bad, what if Olya finds him!" I was hyperventilating, "Think about what he did to Shaid. So help me, if the same happens to Lem...!"

"It's not." She grabbed me by the shoulders, "Look, let's just return to those two and inform them about Lem. The four of us can split up and look for him."

Right, we have Meil and Lee on our side now. It's just as much their goal to find Lem as it was to find me, so they'll surely oblige without a second thought. Besides, our target doesn't know the layout of the island like we do, so I'm sure we can find him without too much trouble. Alright, it's decided—We'll go tell Meil and Lee to help us look for Lem, and once that's over we can all leave and go home! Perfect!

"Except that is factually incorrect." Meil shook his head the moment he heard me hand out the plan, "Nelly, if we left once we found Lem then Olyahim will just come back for you again. It will be an endless cycle of going back and forth to the islands."

"I'm just glad Lem is awake, if I'm being honest." Lee patted me on the head and gave me praises, "Good job, kid! You did well!"

"It's already nighttime, so most of the locals are asleep." Showa added, "Luckily, as long as your newly awakened friend is even the slightest bit careful, he'll be sure to sneak about and not cause too much noise. At this point, I imagine it's a race against the old bastard."

That's right, Olyahim has the upper hand in this search. He has the Book of Fortune, a Book that tells the past. Unlike him, we can't just pop open Misfortune and ask something like "Where did Lem go when he woke up?", so we're fresh out of luck in that sense. He has Lem's exact location, while we can only ask if we'll find Lem soon.

"The protagonist does not find Lem until much, much later in the story." I read aloud what the Brown Notebook said, "Yikes..."

"In that case, is it even worth it to try?" Showa glanced back at Lee.

"Sigh, well, what else can we do?" He shrugged, "If the old man finds Lem first, I imagine he'll be as good as dead. We have to find him before that, even if it means that moment's not coming anytime soon."

"Yes, after that we can all go to confront Olyahim." Meil nodded, "Properly help him with his own mission and after that..."

"We can go home." I smiled, "Okay, we have a plan!"

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"Ugh, bugs..." I tightly wrapped my arm around Meil as we walked through the bushes, "There's no way anyone passed through here. Why are we even searching this way?"

"Because logically speaking, someone sneaking around an unknown place would definitely try to avoid the main roads." Meil explained, "Lemmy is far from stupid. His sense of survival is something to be praised, so there's a high chance he ran here into the jungle to hide."

"And what if that's not the case?" I asked.

"The other option he has is to make a break for the beach in the hopes of finding a ship to hijack." He continued, "That's where Showa and Lee are going. Unless something unexpected happens, it's only a matter of time before one of us finds him."

You just had to raise that flag, huh? Dammit, now I can expect everything but for things to go smoothly because you said that. But I get what he means though—The island is large enough for someone to hide for a pretty long time, but not nearly big enough to give Lem plenty of hiding spots. Thankfully, he woke up when the island is least lively, so unless someone knows they're looking for Lem, he won't be found.

"That being the case, should we really have left Showa alone with Lem's dad?" I worriedly looked back, "He made some pretty lecherous remarks regarding her outfit. Not that I didn't agree, but..."

"I do not understand. Was it not your idea to go with me?" He tilted his head, "Dividing ourselves equally whilst pertaining to the rules you have put in place would only leave us with either this lineup or not splitting up at all and going as a group. The latter would disallow us to check both the beaches and the wilderness at the same time, thus we are only left with this."

"Using big words to essentially shift the blame on me, that's so unfair." I pouted before squeezing his arm tighter, "But I guess I'll forgive you this time~! Man, am I glad you guys showed up when you did. I started to get used to being a captive."

"Was it scary?" He asked.

"A bit at the start, but thanks to Showa it wasn't all that bad."

"I see..." He looked down, "I am sorry, Nelly. This whole thing could have been avoided had I just... Been there for you."

"Right, where were you even?" I chuckled.

"In Cardina."

"Eh? Oh, haha, making jokes at a time like this!"

"I was accompanied by the deceased spirits of my ancestors."

"Pfft!"

"We ran into a hunter and his pet talking doe."

"Oh my Gods! Bahaha!"

"So they helped me and my ancestors get carried back to Simpleton by seagulls."

"And I imagine you met a God on your travels as well?"

"No, that would be false."

"And everything else is true?"

What happened to my regular aloof cutie patootie Meil? He's a lot more lax and carefree, making these unrealistic jokes that actually manage to get an honest chuckle out of me even though we're in a hyper serious situation. Couple that with the beard, and I really feel like I'm falling for him all over again. Man, I used to think Lem's dad was a bad influence on him, but that might not be so true after all.

"The spirits are a bit shy, but they are good people." Meil smiled, "It was in no small part thanks to them that Lee and I knew exactly which island to go to in order to find you."

"You're still continuing with that joke?" I smirked.

"Joke?" He tilted his head.

Just as he did, his entire body turned upside down. Eh? Weird, looks like the trees did too. Ah, that's not it! It's me who's upside down, what the hell!?

"Meil, help!" I screamed.

"My Lord, we believe it is in your best interest to not let this girl get so touchy feely with you." A gentle gust of wind whispered.

"I do not mind, she is deathly afraid of insects, after all." Meil replied calmly.

"Meil, what's going on!?" I reached my hands out for him to grab me and pull me back down and onto the ground.

Soon after, he had explained to me the situation. This gust of wind that had grabbed me was apparently those very souls of the deceased Raamans, and they're apparently referring to Meil as their Lord or whatever. Makes sense when you realize Meil used to be Ouroboras...

"Ahem, how much do you know?" I glared at the voices.

"We know plenty, little girl." The voices whispered back with a smug tone, "Like for example, we know you have no chance closing the distance between you and our Lord any more than this, so best move along."

"I think you're just jealous I get to hug his arm all I want while you can just sit there and watch!" I stuck my tongue out at them as I did what I boasted about.

"Are you two perhaps not on good terms?" Meil looked awkward, "Maybe it was a bad idea for you to show yourself, voices..."

"W-What!? No! My Lord, we will forever be by your side if need be!" They backpaddled, "Ugh, little girl, we will leave the topic at that for now."

"Blehh~!" I kept mocking them.

Fuck outta here with that "We will be with you forever" shit. I already have enough competition to deal with when it comes to winning Meil over, so I'm not gonna let you join the game anytime soon. First it was Silvia and Kiria, but thankfully they're dealt with in one way or another. Then Jelena started being a nuisance, and now you're being annoying too? Hell, I think even Showa started swooning for him when they first met... Geez, she has Lem! Wait, no—I don't want that either! Lem can just... stay single, and I'll be with Meil! There, perfect!