"Hmm? Escaping from home, huh?"
Oh no... Not him again.
That bastard...
Giannetti - DAEMON of LUCK
He always appears before me as a seemingly unassuming young man... But that bastard is despicable beyond any words. That bastard is singlehandedly responsible for all the misery everyone endured!...
"... Someone will not allow me to."
"Don't play dumb. I know exactly who it is, you're my extension after all. It's that woman your dead sister snitched me to. I wonder if I shouldn't have yanked her from exposing me. She isn't all that appealing, but there is a charm to hard-to-getters like her. But oh well, back then I still had your family dancing atop my palm."
"... Don't you dare."
"I can't. Not if you snitch me to her. You know, if you told her about me, I could just leave you be. Sure you would get a massive beating from your dad, but think about it. You will be finally liberated from my curse. Now you don't owe me anything. And certainly you wouldn't feel any remorse - she is a stranger after all. Hehehe."
"Shut UP!!! I would rather let myself be terrorised by you than letting you lay even a finger on her! Never!"
"Woah-woah~! Big words, small guy! But certainly you're merely all talk and no bite, so let me put you in your place. You've broken a taboo, and all the bad boys and girls must be punished for their misbehaviour~"
As that bastard reaches out to me as I back away, a certain forcefield appears as he dashes and burns his hands. He yells out and begins to curse. Then we both notice something.
"A dream charm... Goddamnit! And a strong one too! Shit! Ahh... Fuck... Well, there go my plans of getting her to myself."
"A dream charm?..."
"This bitch ain't a wizard, what the fuck?! Argh... Fuck... Well, call yourself lucky, guy. But know this... Tomorrow, you better spend the night in your house from now on. Else I'll tell Matthew, and unlike him, he isn't restrained by the conditions that were placed upon me. Surely those screams will not be pretty."
"... Fine. I'll try to convince her..."
"Great... Shit... I'll let you off the hook... THIS TIME"
And so he disappears just as quickly as he appears. Goddamnit. Does that mean he could see through me...? Fuck. That bastard...
I feel so sick. I feel like I'm about to throw up...
NO! I can't do it just yet! I will soil someone else's bedding if I do! Not to mention I will also throw up on Cathy if she's under me...
Come on! Wake up!
--
"AAAH!!"
Good, I woke up. Yet that sickness still remains...
And looking at my dim surroundings, I see that dream charm that bastard was talking about. From it I can see a faint glow.
I quietly sneak out of the bed and test the door... It's locked. Maybe there are keys nearby...
Through my nausea, I feel through everything and managed to find something metal. Feeling some more in the dark, I realise it must be keys. Now the keyhole... Voila.
I carefully open the door and lock it back in once I exit the room. Now I need to search for the bathroom...
God it's so dark in here...
"Fortune? What are you doing?"
"GWAAAAH!!!"
I turn around and see Carolyn in her nightgown holding a candle holder with her right and clutching her heart with her left.
"Geez! Don't scare me like that! I'm... Nearing the age where a lady should treat her heart with care."
Old.
"... Where's the bathroom?..."
"Oh. It's this door. Here are the matches."
"Thank you..."
Opening the bathroom and closing the door for privacy, I lit the match and managed to find a lamp. Now that's better... Hurk.
...
There goes my lunch... Surprisingly not a lot has come out. Well...
...
Washing my hands, I extinguish the lamp and exit the bathroom. Surprisingly, Carolyn was still here waiting.
"Are you alright, Fortune? I've heard... Noises."
"Oh. It's alright miss Carolyn. Just felt dizzy all of a sudden, you know?"
"Hmm... Is it... Something you can't speak of?"
"..."
"It's alright... If you don't wanna say it, don't. Sorry for being too snoopy."
"Ah! That reminds me. What's that glowing thing in the room? I only just noticed it."
"Oh! Um... Let's go to the kitchen. Even through the fabric I can feel the heat starting to seep in, so I would like to put it down as soon as possible."
"S-Sure."
We go to the kitchen area and Carolyn settles the candle holder on the table.
"Now, where were we? Ah-huh! Those glowing things are the dream charms. They block out the bad dreams and are said to have daemon warding capabilities! The only daemon to bypass it is the DREAM DAEMON, but from what I've heard from her it is one of the benevolent ones..."
"Her?"
"Oh! I'm talking about Virgilia, the maker of the dream charms placed around the hospital. You know, Cathy back then was terrorised by bad dreams when we first moved in and she couldn't sleep at all even with me by her side, constantly crying and panicking. So I called Virgilia. She is a very powerful witch and obliged to my request in spite of how busy she was, given that she wanders from area to area. I was also suffering from nightmares at the time, so I requested multiple of these.
She began weaving such beautiful charms and began her incantation. A some sort of spider with a cross appeared out of nowhere and at first I freaked out, but Virgilia scolded me, saying this is a venerated DAEMON of PROTECTION. It gave its blessing and Virgilia thanked her wholeheartedly, paying her a tribute.
---
"Here, your household should be free from nightmares. Hang them in the areas of rest and your sleepless nights should come to a close."
"Thank you, miss Virgilia! I can't express how I'm grateful that you've arrived!"
"... No need to. I've told you could call me if you need any help. Can't guarantee that I can arrive in time though, so I apologise in that regard."
"No-no, it's okay. Now, shall we hold a little tea party together? You know, catching up and all."
"Alright. I'll humour you."
---
And after we had a tea party, she went on her way. I wonder how she's doing nowadays. She did say that I can't just message her willy-nilly. Ahh..." A small blush appears on Carolyn's cheeks
"Hmm..."
"Well, now you know where those charms came from. Now, why don't you go to sleep? I know you've slept a lot this day, but try to regardless alright? It's not good to have your inner clock malfunctioning like that."
Funny.
"Look, I didn't mean to make a joke about it! I'm still trying to grasp the fact that you're a full-blown magician!"
"Are you a psychic?"
"No!"
Walking back to Cathy's room and locking the door, I set the keys back where I think they were and navigate my way back to bed.
In that amount of time, Cathy plopped all over the bed, making it difficult for me to easily go back here. Welp, hopefully she's a deep sleeper.
"Hup..."
Alright, now I station myself in bed and go back to hugging Cathy. She's so tiny. I wonder... No, I need to move on now.
At least this bastard won't bother me for the night...