“So, this is the plan we came up with last night,” Max leaned forward with excitement, as he spoke quickly. “BB, you said you knew of a rich, merchant family currently visiting the town on holiday. We’re going to sneak a peek at them today. If Cy thinks one of the daughters will work, then we’ll start the next part of the plan. Time is against us, but BB’s body is luckily more adept at time manipulation magic. Leading us to operation The Long Night. Any questions so far?”
“Yeah,” BB raised her hand, as she continued to remain face down on her bed. Next to the door, Cy was looking queasy too while leaning against the wall. He was ready to bounce at a moment’s notice if he got close to spewing. There was no way he was fully listening, but Max didn’t notice. “Can we skip this plan, let the system take me, and try again next lifetime? I’m not up for anyth-”
“No,” Max said sternly. To help give the pair a wake-up call, Max threw open the curtains causing the midday sun to beam brightly in the room. BB gave a small shriek, as she tried to bury her face in the overused pillow. “We’ve already wasted more than eighteen hours. Even assuming the system is kind enough to consider three days as a full seventy-two hours, we don’t have much time to get this going. You need to get up.”
“Don’t wanna.”
Max scowled in her direction before Cy interjected. At least he was willing to play along. “What’s operation The Long Night?”
The simple question was enough to get Max talking again. “Here’s what we’re going to do. BB, with my help, you’re going to cast a time lengthening spell. It makes those afflicted to feel like time is moving slower-”
“I know what it is!” She snapped back, her hand gestured for him to close the curtains, but Max had no issue with ignoring her.
“Good. Cy, with the help of some runes in place, you’re going to create a dream conjuring and dream entering spell for us and our target. Think you can do it?”
Cy frowned while he thought about it. “I’ve tried something like that before with Delrid… It wasn’t the best for me since-”
“You’ll be fine. I’ll be coaching you through it. Lastly, we’re going to use my memories of my previous life to power the dream.” The idea suddenly clicked in Cy’s mind and on his face. “Since it’s based on reality, it’ll be easy to keep a tight control of things that appear in the dream. That was your problem last time, right?” Cy tilted his head for a moment before merely nodded. “We know we’re finished if BB’s fate changes colour and the story is completed.”
BB raised her head to give him a scowl. “If it were that easy to make someone fall in love in one night then I wouldn’t have even needed your help with staying on land.”
“And we’re not in Tsujuma anymore. I don’t know how long I could keep this dream going,” Cy added.
The pair of them were equally uninterested in Max’s plan. How was it they were so eager yesterday? Drunken thoughts, perhaps? “This is our best chance with the time we have,” Max tried persuading them. There were other equally as good plans, but selfishness was consuming him. “Just think about it, BB. You’ll literally be the woman from her dreams.”
Finally, BB’s interest perked up slightly. “What kind of world were you last in?”
“Similar to the Regency Era, think Jane Austen and Napoleon.” BB nodded sternly to show she understood, but her enthusiasm noticeably dwindled. “We’ll be dealing with nobility.”
“Small problem already. People of that time period usually had a problem with people of my skin colour.” BB merely raised her hand as a demonstration. The hand then quickly flicked him off before returning to its duty of blocking out the sun. “Can you keep up the validity of the dream without me being booted out?”
“What’s wrong with your skin colour?” Cy asked, confused. His eyes were homed in on the hand where a small tattoo visible on her wrist.
“Aww, isn’t he cute?” BB finally looked up from the pillow to shoot a grin towards Max, who couldn’t help smiling himself. Not all worlds were like his original one, nor did they have a similar history. Cy’s simple confusion was a prime example of why some worlds were better than others. “Some people aren’t as nice to me since I’ve been kissed by the sun.” Cy’s confused face didn’t change.
Max pushed the conversation along. “Can you play instruments?”
BB scoffed, “You’re better off asking what instrument I can’t play.”
“Perfect. Just pretend you were invited there as a promising musician.”
BB still seemed sceptical, “Would that be enough?”
“For those times? More than enough.”
“Genre of your last story?”
Max gave a knowing smile. He had already seen this reaction last night. “Romance. We’re talking romantic walks in the garden, dances and balls, and suppressed women dying for an adventure; the perfect environment to get things going.”
It was enough fire to fuel her sails as she leapt up from her bed. “Then there’s not a moment to lose. Nice plan.” Max modestly shrugged. They had all come up with it the night before, but he was the only one who could remember. There were also a few steps he took out and added in for his own personal goals. “You said I have to point out some merchant families?”
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“That’s right.”
“Then let’s get going.” BB reached for her coat when she suddenly screamed causing Cy to wince. “What the fuck is on my wrist?”
“Just a small tattoo,” Max raised his own left wrist to show a couple small stars. “There’s one star for you, one star for Cy, and two for me to complete the pattern. Put all three of us together and it’s the constellation for Aries.” Cy looked puzzled at his own wrist before his face drained of colour from seeing the more sizable tattoo of runes on his forearm. “Don’t scratch it!” Max suddenly barked out at Cy, causing him to jump out of his skin. “It might not heal properly.”
“Okay, okay,” Cy pulled his sleeve down so he wouldn’t be as tempted. The revelation of the tattoos had been a shock. Did he forget the additional runes scarred behind his ear?
“You should be glad I talked BB out of all of us getting a Hello Kitty tattoo.” Max tried to reassure him before remembering Cy wouldn’t know who the character was.
“Aries, huh?” BB was still staring intently at the small shape before a smile began to spread. “I do like fiery women.”
“That’s the spirit. Now, let’s get going.”
“There she is,” BB said, as she eyed up her target. The three of them watched from an alleyway as a noble looking woman began weakly beating one of her servants on the street with a clutch purse. The coachman rolled his eyes, pretending to endure hit after hit of the softest blows imaginable. While trying to punish him, she was yelling something about the order not being up to quality. How was he linked to the order? Who knows. But it was enough to create a small crowd to stand nearby and watch. “A feisty one.”
“A rich one too,” Max could see from afar that her clothes and weapon of choice were partially made of silk. The colour was a highly saturated purple. The final tip-off was the string of pearls around her neck. It was too far away to tell if they were real or not, but seeing as she was coming from a jeweller, the woman was undoubtedly richer than some of them.
“Isn’t this you?” Cy wasn’t even watching the woman. He was too busy focused on a wanted poster affixed to the wall. It was a simple message. MAX. WANTED DEAD. There was an alarmingly accurate drawing of Max before his haircut. Below the picture was the sign for gaeles, a one, and then a long string of zeros.
“Focus,” Max instructed, as he pointed at the woman.
“It does look like you.” BB peeled the poster from the wall. “These weren’t around here yesterday.”
Max ignored her. “Well, will she work?”
Cy squinted for a couple of seconds before turning back to the wanted poster. “Yeah, I think so. She’s pretty desperate. She’ll go for anyone with a pulse,” he murmured quickly before refocusing on the poster. “Wait, isn’t that the emblem of the king?”
“Looks like it.”
“Come on, you two, we’re working against the clock.” Max yanked the poster out of her hands before ripping it up. “Something like this shouldn’t be a surprise with the sub-goal appearing for everyone.” The two looked at the pieces on the floor. “Right, it’s your time to make an impression.” He grabbed BB by the shoulders and gently pushed her towards the opening of the alleyway. “Don’t let your girl get away.”
“As if.” BB rolled up her sleeves and pushed up her tits before stepping out with confidence.
“Help her stay on the right track. The bigger the impression, the easier it’ll be to steer her in the right direction within the dream.” Max was significantly less confident while instructing Cy. “I’m going to go draw a few runes in her home before she gets back.” Fortunately, while looking for the members of this merchant family, Calico Shaq and his newest bird gave them a guided tour of all the buildings and land the merchant family owned.
“Are you really not worried about this?” Cy asked while picking up a piece of the poster with his face on it.
“Not at all, I doubt anyone would recognise me thanks to my new haircut.”
The tall gates around the property weren’t a challenge, neither were the guards, servants, or even the dogs patrolling the area. Everything had been smooth, as he searched room after room for bedrooms. The first potential problem was when Max finally paid attention to the family portraits used to festoon the hallway. There were two daughters of similar age in the house. Luckily, there was a massive distinction between them. One daughter was decorated in rich jewels and fabrics in every painting. The other… had unique tastes. Presumably the room’s closets would be an easy indicator for him.
The second problem arrived when Max finally found a bedroom only to be greeted by a row of red squirrels working in unison to chew their way out of their enormous cage spanning the wall. He had never seen anything like it before. The squirrels immediately stopped chewing, as they began screeching at the intruder threatening their escape plan. Without thinking, Max closed the door behind him and used one of the blankets on the bed to cover the cage. It didn’t stop the shrieks, but it was enough to considerably dampen the noise.
A sharp exhale escaped him in disbelief. Why the fuck were there so many squirrels? It was so unexpected. On a small coffee table next to the cage, there was a notebook with meticulous notes about each squirrel, their physical condition, and comments about their relationship with the other squirrels. As bizarre as the owner was for keeping so many squirrels in her bedroom, she was dedicated to them. Slightly intrigued if the details of the notes were consistent for each day, Max flipped through the book to see it had been going on day after day, week after week, month after month, until he finally came to the beginning of the notebook. It made his stomach drop. There were designs for an intricate winter dress with squirrel fur lining the edges.
His modern brain felt a twang of pity for the creatures freaking out below the blanket before he realised how hypocritical his thoughts were. He helped farmers raise cows for food. She was raising squirrels for fur. It was the way this world worked, adjust or end up like the vegan amnesiac.
With the thoughts pushed out of his mind, he began to search for evidence about which sister was a squirrel farmer. Opening the closet quickly revealed she wasn’t BB’s target. Along the walls and floor of the big walk-in closet was a chaotic mixture of clothes, fabric, and thread. The discovery made Max a little excited, as he quickly began plotting what to steal before leaving.
Just when he was turning to leave, there was a little alert from the system. It suggested he should look at his sub-goal page. Holding his breath, Max navigated the HUD. Problem. They had yet another problem. A sub-goal was starting to tick down even though the contents were still redacted.