Crimson Servant

Chapter 7 Mariana, the Mind Flayer
  The sense of crisis in his heart was already calling the police frequently. John stood up and wandered towards the door. He stepped on the floor with his bare feet, and there was no reaction when his toes were stained with cold mucus. An inexplicable sense of relief drove him to hold the handle and open the door.

The people outside the door are floating. The feet are about ten centimeters above the ground, and clear mucus drips from four wriggling tendrils. The humanoid creature has a protruding and wide back head, and its smooth gelatinous skin stained with mucus slowly expands and contracts, and moisture is squeezed out from the gill cavity during breathing. The evil red pupils almost completely occupy the eyeballs, leaving a little bit of white at the edges. The cold gaze has the magic power to control the mind.

An adult mind flayer floated outside the door like a visiting guest. Those eyes were full of magical aura, and it was effortless to control John, who was currently lacking in energy.

But she just waited quietly, waiting for John's pupils to shrink in surprise, waiting for him to clarify the situation again.

"Marian." His voice was soft and sleepy, and these things were disappearing along with the surprise.

John's voice made the Mind Flayer's pupils shrink. She stepped on the floor, and the hoarse telepathy appeared directly in John's mind, accompanied by a pleasant emotion, which was a palpable taste of honeydew melon.

[Good night, John. 】

John turned sideways to invite Mariana Dahl into the room and answered while holding his head.

"My mind is a little confused. Why did you come here in the middle of the night without any prompting."

Marianne no longer uses telepathy to communicate. She uses the mouthparts under the four tentacles to pronounce words, and at the same time she releases a spiritual force to invade John's unsuspecting mind. The sting in John's head instantly eased.

"I have heard about your return. Based on your personal habits, I guess now is the time when you need me. John, if you are a little better to yourself, I will certainly be more happy to come back the next day. The result is that I As expected, you’re driving yourself crazy again.”

John saw Marianne's tendrils caressing his cheek, her breath on his neck. Two slender arms hugged him, as tenderly as a fragile porcelain doll. Mariana Dahl always has an elegant temperament, especially when eating. Sensing the slightly angry emotion and the smell of spices in his mind, John immediately changed the topic.

"You broke curfew. I'm glad you avoided the night watchers. You're lucky you didn't encounter them."

"I think so too. When I entered the South District, I almost passed by those blood servants." Mariana took John to the stone chair in the secret room, because this is the only place in the magician's family that can withstand two people. Human weight furniture. She leaned back on the chair, placed the warlock's head on her knees, and leaned forward slightly so that her tentacles could easily cover John's entire head. As if she thought of something, Mariana laughed.

"This reminds me of your old days. Nora and I would always take turns to comfort you. We would fantasize about waiting for you to feel better, and maybe one of us would be interested in telling you a bedtime story."

[No, that's too embarrassing. 】

John didn't speak, Mariana had captured his thoughts. The front end of her tentacles inserted into John's ear holes, and she used magical mind control to completely sort out his mind.

"You bit me then, and Francis took off your arm to calm you down. After the shock, Nora never mentioned those ridiculous ideas again."

"What could be more ridiculous?"

"She tried to get us to form a circus. Animal trainers, diviners, jugglers and lions."

"Am I a fortune teller?"

"Yes. Francis can also make a guest appearance as a lion, when it comes time to hunt down the trainer."

His mind was dominated, and John could feel Mariana touching the swelling in his mind, those entangled chaotic memories, Crenzo's remnants and his own parts. Cold tentacles penetrate these memories, dismantle the semi-fused fragments, and then eat the excess.

[I need to keep the "Crenzo Secrets" and the "Crenzo Family Secrets", the rest is up to you, Marianne. 】

The two people's minds have been connected, and John and Marianne simultaneously developed bitter almond-flavored complaints.

"It's like a piece of steak asking me to fry it until medium rare. John, it's these memories that are interfering with your self. Memory determines consciousness. Dealing with it in this way treats the symptoms but not the root cause. Only by giving up completely can you ensure your safety."

Marianne ate Crenzo's childhood memories, picked out what John wanted from the dinner plate, implanted it into the cortex at the edge of the hippocampus, and watched it being absorbed bit by bit. The stinging pain that had healed recurred, although the intensity was much weakened.

[I can bear the rest. 】

Just like what John said, although the memory fragments integrated into John Camp's mental body are still a little inconsistent, they have been implanted into his memory normally. As the brain circuits circulate, they gradually become pure knowledge.

Before disconnecting, Mariana took one last look at the depths of John Kemp's mind. The mental body regarding self-awareness was wrapped in a vague red mist, which was the contaminated area of ​​​​the mind flayer's cognition. Mariana was never in touch, and she was never reassured about John Kemp's mental health.

"Remember to think of us, me, Nora, and even Francis. Well, you can add this to your daily prayers to that god..."

John raised his head and gave Marianne a strange look.

"I only bless His name during rituals. Any questions?"

"……nothing."

After finishing her meal, Mariana planned to leave, but John, who was completely clear-headed, walked her out the door. Before leaving, Mariana seemed to have thought of something again.

"I felt a lot of fear in that Carlton before, and you scared him."

"Really? Maybe I wasn't the one who was scared." John turned his head to the other side.

"I gave him a psychological hint when I came here." Mariana's eyes were a little dangerous, and she regained her elegant and dignified demeanor only after feeling John's surrender. She floated up and merged into the moonlight that broke through the window.

"You should pay attention to your personal image and make more friends."

John sneered.

"Where? Dark City? Still looking for those outsiders, I am a Veltis magician..."

Mariana turned around, and the Mind Flayer whispered in the moonlight.

"The gods determine your origin, and you can determine your own soul."

"……it is good."

John added as he watched the mind flayer float down the stairs.

"Watch out for the night watcher." "Okay."

……

next day
  Northwest District of Dark City.

Ogre Gambling House.

A green thick-skinned troll wearing giant overalls sat on the card table, holding a few cards in his thick corn-cob-sized fingers.

"Baroque thinks this is good luck." He smiled naively and pushed down the chips in front of him.

The other two trolls also twirled the cards, scratched their scalps, and looked at each other again.

"Me too, follow."

"Me too."

The giant monster Baroque had a black cloth hood clasped upside down on his left shoulder. Just as he was about to open the cards, there was a noise from the hood. So, Baroque turned his attention away from the cards and happened to see the man in black appearing across the card table.

"You have something to do with Baroque?"

"I want clues to Nora Sebas' whereabouts, forty gold coins."

Upon hearing the news, the troll put down his cards. He didn't reply, but sniffed the air first, smelling something. Quickly, Baroque nodded and held the cards again.

"We're looking for someone here, dead or alive, forty gold coins. But that little mouse Sebastian, you can get two hundred and seventy gold coins."

The man in black immediately asked: "Why is it so expensive?"

"That little mouse stole Baroque's money. You have to make up for her. Including interest, the total is two hundred and thirty gold coins."

The man in black was stunned.

"Should I pay the money she owes?"

The troll nodded.

"You ask her, of course you pay for her."

The man in black smiled angrily, put his right hand lightly on the gaming table, and said, "You talk pretty interestingly."

Baroque's expression was grim, and he slapped his card-holding hand on the gaming table, opening his mouth and roaring, "Baroque is not interesting! Do you want to be beaten? Pay the money, or let Baroque eat your head off, black mouse !”

The giant's big hand stretched across the gambling table. The trolls on both sides also put down their cards and began to look for weapons. The man in black did not change his movements and quietly smiled.

A foot away from the hood, the giant hand stopped.

Because Baroque's head was covered with a black hood, and where the black hood was originally placed, another shrunken giant monster head covered in wrinkles looked at the man in black with a contrived smile.

Baroque sat back in his seat and the other head began to speak.

"It's so rare to ask Nora Sebas for a commission. Everyone knows that the female thief comes and goes without a trace. Everyone who should know about her knows, and no one who shouldn't know about her knows. You want to entrust us with the investigation. She, shouldn't you know better than we do? Red Mage John Camp."

The black clothes were stained with red, and John took off his hood, with a sinister smile on his pale skin.

"That woman stole something from me and betrayed my trust. I heard that you stitching trolls are the most efficient at getting things done. Give me clues and I'll make her pay."

Baroque touched his little head with a smile on his face.

"We accepted it, but if you capture it alive, you will have to pay twice the price, eighty gold coins. We will collect some valuable debts from Nora Sebas before we can give it to you."

John Kemp's smile remained unchanged and his eyes were contemptuous.

"Forty, as long as she has clues. Do you catch her? If you can catch her, will your money be stolen? Are the two hundred and thirty gold coins a gift from you? She is not someone you can handle. "

"We are Mr. Adrian's creation..."

"Is it the thousandth one, or the two thousandth one? I don't think it would take much effort for the wise man to create another one from the corpse."

"...Then please wait and see, Red Mage."

John Kemp put on his hood and left without saying a word.

The troll Baroque stood there. After about two minutes, he looked at the hood on his right shoulder and slapped his other self roughly.

"What did Baroque say? Classification! Fool, that's yours; brain, that's mine!"

In the black hood, Baroque muttered.

"He doesn't smell like a brain."

Baroque slapped himself again, his left head yelling.

"That's not a fool, that's a madman! The madman is also mine!"

(End of this chapter)