The Perfect Knight and the Illusionist (BL)
Chapter 20: The Illusionist

Chapter 20: The Illusionist

LEO

I tried to hold my breath and remain still. I could hear—and actually see—Mario approaching where I hid with Briant. They were maybe more than twenty paces away, but Mario had the eyes of a hunter and I was the prey.

I couldn’t make sense of what Mario said earlier at all. Why would he suddenly come grab me, announce his name, and accuse me of trying to poison him?!

I thought, last night, for a brief moment, he wasn’t that bad after all. He scared me at the dinner, then brought me a donut, then gave me biscuits, and helped me when my leg—

I didn’t want to think about it.

He was a strange guy. Unpredictable. A man with no consistency at all—scary one minute, seemingly kind the other. The way he flipped between the two made me think of Grumpy Grandpa Greg from back home. He was notoriously harsh, screaming at kids playing outside if we were too loud, chasing us with a stick when we entered his farmland. But sometimes he’d be all smiles and give us cookies for no reason, saying, "Freda baked too many again!" (Granny Freda was his wife.)

But never mind. I was in danger. Now Mario and Briant were only ten paces away. Now was not the time to think about Grumpy Grandpa Greg. And I could start to hear them talking.

"Marius, if I may ask, what do you think of Leo?" Briant asked Mario Boy.

My ears twitched.

"What...do you mean?" Mario asked in return.

"Forgive me if I am being too nosy, but how do I put it—you seem to get rather agitated by him at times."

Mario took a long pause, turned his head left and right to scan the area (he did seem to look in my direction, but thankfully our eyes didn’t meet), and said,

"That is not true."

"I see. I won’t ask any further then," Briant said, but he didn’t sound convinced.

Then a gentle breeze blew in my direction from behind. I was worried because I had used a soap to wash my hands this morning, which I thought was really nice because it was very fragrant, but now I was cursing at myself, worried that the wind would carry the smell toward the predator.

"Do I appear to act out of the ordinary to... Skylark?" Mario asked Briant this time.

"It’s probably just me. I don’t think anybody else would think that way, Marius," Briant answered, sounding a little amused.

"Sigh..."

’Oh no, Mario sighed. I make him frustrated. He totally was annoyed with me.’

"It appears my intentions are misunderstood," he then said.

’Intentions? It was bad news. He had plans for me. I wasn’t being silly. The man held a grudge and had been planning his revenge all along!’

And then Mario looked directly at where I hid behind the trees. I flinched, but despite almost seemingly looking at me, he didn’t seem to notice.

But nevertheless, he was starting to move toward me, Briant following him closely from behind.

"I just... want to get along with him as a comrade. Just as I do with everybody else in the class," Mario said quietly.

’Lies!’

"And earlier, after the match with Dorian, he seemed troubled. It... bothered me," he said.

After his match with Dorian... yes, I was... bothered too. But even I didn’t know why.

But it was his fault. Somehow, it just was.

After that, Mario stopped, only about five paces away from me. I could have sworn he saw me. Briant stopped next to him too and also looked my way. I could have sworn he saw me too. But they didn’t react. They didn’t see me, as if they were looking in my direction but were focused on something else.

’Heh... could it be... my hide-and-seek skills were paying off? City boys are bad at this?’ I thought to myself, a little proud.

"What a beautiful tree," Mario said, blurting it out.

’What the heck?’

"There are trees everywhere, and that one caught your eye?" Briant asked, sounding somewhere between confused and amused.

"Oh, my apologies. I said something silly," Mario said and looked away from me.

Briant looked at me, his chin in his hand, but he wasn’t seeing me either. The tree next to me must have been so beautiful that it distracted them so much that they couldn’t see me.

After that, they turned and walked away, disappearing into the woods, looking for me again.

Once I was certain that they had gone far enough away, I let out a big sigh of relief.

What was all that about?

I raised my hand and brushed the sweat off my forehead.

It was only then that I noticed my hands were made of green leaves.

’What...?’

I looked down at my feet, and they were merged into one as a tree trunk, and my arms were like branches with small twigs sprouting out from various points.

’I... became a tree?!’

It took me a moment, but then it finally dawned on me.

Unknowingly, I had used the deception magic my Dad told me never to use.

I felt really bad that I did this. Dad told me it was a weird ability. No one in the family could use any magic, as far as we knew. But somehow, I, not always with full control, could make things appear that weren’t really there. It was a deception. It was dishonest. Dad told me it was a big no-no. Never show this ability to anyone again.

Except I did—that once when the traveler was being chased by bandits. Something came over me and I created a "copy" of him (how? I wasn’t sure) and made it run away in the other direction, leading the bandits astray. I didn’t feel bad about that one; it saved his life (and mine too). But that’s what he thought was a "talent" I had. A weird one.

That’s what brought me here.

And I did it again just because I was too afraid.

I was a con. A nobody.

An illusion.