For I Am A Side Character - 110: We Fixed John's Problem And More.

After I defeated one of the members of the Purity Cult, Gypsy pulled me away from the dream and out back into reality. Here, as I was put back into my body, I saw John awaken from his sleep and Gypsy went into hiding using her magic.

“…Are you okay John?” I asked in question of his pale face.

“W-what just happened?” he asked as his expression showed no leniency towards how shocked he was.

“Do you remember anything from your dream?” I asked again.

“…I did. Was that you? Were you the one who cut off the man’s head?” he asked as he was having vivid flashbacks to that memory.

“Yes, that was me…and from what I know, that head was an enemy from a cult known as the Purity Cult.” I explained.

“…Purity Cult?”

“An Organization meant to go against God’s work.” I said.

And as I said this, John could only look to me in disbelief.

“…Who are you?” he asked as his expression was set on my identity.

Yet despite his eager need to know, I felt that his eagerness to know might have come from a sense of panic. That in of itself could not be trusted.

I didn’t want to tell him my identity, but all of a sudden, Gypsy appeared from her hiding and she implored me to explain my existence to John.

To her sudden appearance, John was yet taken aback.

“Who is she?!” he asked as he was drawn in by her glowing blonde hair and ink black wings.

“She was the one who took me into your dream. If it wasn’t for her, who knows what would have happened to you this night.” I said in caution to the change of the Cult’s actions.

“S-she has wings…Is she an Angel?” he asked.

“No, more or less the opposite in fact. Gypsy, introduce yourself.” I said.

“My name is Gypsy, once known as one of the greatest magic wielding Angel of the heavens. Sadly because I’ve sinned against God, my wings have been tainted black as a sign of my betrayal to his trust.” she said.

“…A fallen Angel?”

“Yes.” she said in affirmation to John worries.

“Don’t worry, you can trust her. Despite how she looks, she is still loyal to God.” I explained.

“…” Being silent was all that John could do. His thoughts couldn’t fully process the happenings of today’s events.

“Now then, we need to move on with the actual problem tonight.” I said.

“There’s a problem? I thought you already handled it by defeating the man in my dreams.” he said.

“Don’t you think it was odd for them to take a different action rather than their usual habits of enticing you with a proclaimed vision? You said before that they only tried to lure you in with words…well tonight, they decided to act by force.” I said.

“That’s true…not once did something like that happen to me before. What do you think could have happened if that man succeeded?”

“I don’t know. Being inside of a dream, I rarely know how it works. But what do you think Gypsy?” I asked as I turned to Gypsy, the one who has the asnwer to our questions.

“Hmm, when I looked into their actions…it seems as though they were planning to either force john into cooperating with them or…they were trying to take over his consciousness.”

“Take over his consciousness?” I asked.

“Indeed. To have memories inside of a dream is to have a certain amount of control over your own mind. Your consciousness is connected to your mind…if they were able to grab hold of John, they could have controlled his body not just in the dream, but in reality as well.” said Gypsy.

“Would it have been a dangerous situation?” I asked for certainty.

“Who knows, but if it were me, I could have done even if it was the next to be saint.” she said confidently.

“…A-are you serious?” asked John as there was a hint of fear in his words.

“Of course.” she said and nothing more.

“What do we do now? If they do come back, do you think that we’re lucky enough to know when they’ll do it? I can’t be here all the time.” I said.

“You don’t have to worry. We just need to put a seal on John’s mind against all forms of interruptions. But if we do this, it will also mean that John will never receive any visions again from God himself. It’ll cut his connection from the heavens.” said Gypsy.

“…” as Gypsy explained this, I looked to John and saw just how difficult the situation was for him.

“John, we’re doing this whether or not you say yes. Its for your own safety. If you’re worried about your connection to God, you can always come to me.” I said.

“…What?”

“I haven’t said this to you yet, but I’m in the same position as you are.”

“Wait, so you’re also a saint?” he asked.

“…No, Its nothing as grand of a title as that. I’m simply God’s tool.” I said.

“What?!” he was taken aback by what I just said.

“He’s God’s agent. He does God’s bidding in a more direct action than most of the angels do. Like that of a soldier, he receives missions directly from God himself.” said Gypsy.

“…Wait, so you have a more direct connection to God than I do?” he asked.

“It doesn’t matter if I do or not. What matters is that I do God’s plan by the mission.” I said.

“…So you coming here to help me, was that also a part of God’s plan?” he asked.

“No it wasn’t. this was my own decision. Yet you said it yourself when we first met didn’t you? That you received a vision from the heavens about my name? In the same way you came to find me out of your own will, I did the same to benefit whatever it is in store for the future.”

“So if you did all of this out of your own will, what happens now?” asked John.

“We do what needs to be done. First off is to put a seal on your mind to stop the visions from coming in. And next is this.” as Gypsy went and and started creating a seal for John’s mind, I pulled out my phone and gave my number to John.

“Call me if there’s ever anything you need from God…and the same goes for me. I’ll call you when God has something to say to you. In a way, we’re both now working directly for God.”

“…O-okay.”

“And I’ll only say this once. John, as a saint, you need to do your Job…if you can’t, everything will fall apart.”

“…I will.”

After we exchanged contacts, I left the church.

***

When I finally made it back home, Gypsy went on her separate way. But before she could leave, she talked to me about something.

“By the way Soril, I’ve been wondering this for a while now, but did you notice the curse put on your head?”

“A curse?” I asked.

“Yeah…it doesn’t seem all that strong, but I took care of it while you were inside John’s dream.” said Gypsy.

“Huh, I never noticed it. What do you think it was about?” I asked.

“Who knows. It was such a small curse, I barely even looked at it properly.”

“Huh, thanks for that.” I said.

“No problem, and if you want ot ask for my assistance once again, just pray and I’ll come down.” she said.

From there, she left and I went inside my home.

When I entered inside, I noticed that Jessica wasn’t in the living room or the kitchen. And when I got to my bedroom, Jessica wasn’t also here.

“…Where is she?” I asked myself.

Being worried, I pulled out my phone and checked for anything that came from Jessica.

And to my surprise, there was five missed calls and three messages.

“…Hmm?” being curious, I opened the first message.

[Hey Babe, sorry but I don’t think I’ll be going home tonight. Me and my club-mates are planning on staying over at the school tonight to work on a a really difficult recipe. I hope you can understand. I love you.]

After reading it, my worries faded away. It seems as though it was related to her club, which I remembered was all about culinary practice surrounding a dungeon related theme.

And when reading her other two messages, all I got in return were a few selfies with her and her club-mates.

“…Hmm, looks like she’s enjoying herself.” I said as I smiled at the picture she gave me. All but immediately, I saved each and every picture she sent.

Looking at the time, it was still around 10:00 PM.

It was this late to start making lunch, so I just decided to sleep.

***

The next day, I went to school and found Jessica in our classroom sleeping on her desk.

When I approached her, all she could do was groan in annoyance.

“Hey Jess?”

“Ughh….~~~” she said as she had her face fully flat on her desk.

“…Did everything went right with your recipe?” I asked as I took interest about her club.

“No~~ the recipe still hasn’t finished yet. The meet we’re trying to tenderize takes over 36 hours just for it to cook all the way through.”

“What kind of meat takes that long to cook?” I asked questioningly.

“The Kind of meat that is said to be so savory, that rumors has it, God himself blessed this meat from the heavens.” said Jessica exaggeratedly enough.

“…What?”

“Anyway, you want to come by my club later? I’m sure by midnight, the meat will be done tenderizing and we can finally taste this sucker.” she said confidently.

“Hmm, that sounds like fun, but aren’t you overdoing yourself a bit? I mean…don’t be mad at me for saying this, but you look really…really…tired.”

“Shh~~ Sh~~” she shushed me as she pushed her fingers to my lips.

*Kiss*

By kissing me on the check, she patted my head and said some comforting words.

“Don’t worry babe, despite how I look, I can still last for the entire day.” she said.

“Okay…”

After a while, our classes went on as usual.

When it was finally time for lunch, me and my friends gathered at the canteen. In that time, we chatted with what was happening in school.

“So, did you guys hear that Jason and the rest of the Class-A participants just got back from the hospital?” said Marilyn.

And to her topic, I was reminded of the incident that happened in the first event.

“Really? Wow, the last time we saw them was that they were being carried out on a stretcher. Now they finally recovered. What do you think happened inside that dungeon for them to get so beaten up?” asked Zelisha.

“Who knows…but I heard that the academy is trying to hide this incident from the public. Even the newspaper in this academy couldn’t even get a single clue about the incident.” said Marilyn.

“Oh and speaking of the Class-A candidates, there they are.” said Kenji as he pointed to a certain group gathered at a table.

When I turned my head to where they sat, all but immediately I was able to lock eyes with one of them.

“…!?” it was Jessabelle who caught a glimpse of me even at a distance from where I sat.

“…” and to our eyes meeting, she reacted quite skittishly.

“Whats wrong?” asked Jessica as she could see me looking to the Class-A group.

“…Nothing. Anyway, Jess, have you decided on when we should take on the B-ranked dungeon?” I asked on the table.

“Oh, umm…no. I haven’t yet decided.” she said.

“What’s this about a B-ranked dungeon?” asked Zelisha as she heard our conversation.

“Her family just got ownership of a newly developed B-ranked dungeon. They tasked it to us to take care of it, so while we have the time, we’re still preparing.” I said.

“Wait what? What do you mean by that?” asked Zelisha.

“Oh right…we still haven’t told you guys yet, but yeah…me and John started a Guild together.” said Jessica as she was a bit embarrassed.

“What?!” Marilyn was surprised by this and so was everybody else.

“What does that mean when you said you started a guild together?” asked Kenji.

“Well in truth, the Guild belongs to Jessica’s Family and its named the Young Merchant Guild, with Jessica as the Guild Leader and me the Vice Guild leader.” I said.

“Wow, I can’t believe you guys actually started a guild. Who are the rest of the members? Surely it isn’t just you two right?” asked Marilyn.

“No, its just us two.” said Jessica directly.

“What?!”

“We’re starting small and slow, and surely enough, in the future, we’ll try to recruit more members into our guild.” said Jessica.

“So far, we’ve fully raided a C-ranked dungeon by ourselves.” I said.

“A C-ranked dungeon with just the two of you? How did it go?” asked Zelisha.

“Well, it was a dungeon filled with Fishken monsters and the boss was a Drake. We completed it in just under a day I think…” said Jessica as she was a bit uncertain of the time we spent raiding the dungeon.

“And now her dad got ownership of a B-ranked dungeon. We’re trying to plan how we should deal with this dungeon since it was a newly developed one.” I said.

“And we’re not trying to just raid in under a day…we’re taking it slow.” said Jessica.

“Are you confident that you can handle this dungeon all on your own?” asked Marilyn as she was worried.

“Yeah, I mean going at it with just the two of you is unheard of. And its especially worrying because the dungeon is B-ranked. All sorts of dangerous monsters can be lurking inside it. If it were me, I’d take a whole brigade of hunters if I have to.” said Zelisha.

“Well, you guys don’t have to worry about anything. I’m confident that Jessica can handle herself inside the dungeon. And its not just her, I’m going down too. “ I said it with full confidence.

“Still…its worrying.” as Marilyn said this, she looked really unsure of this raid.

“I agree with Marilyn. Its dangerous to go inside a B-ranked dungeon with just two people.” said Thors unexpectedly.

“…its okay Thors, I’ve handled much worse by myself.”

“Really? Like what?” asked Zelisha.

“I’ve taken on a B-ranked dungeon by myself.” I said. But that wasn’t the truth. In truth, what I’ve taken care of by myself was an S-ranked dungeon. A much worse dungeon than anything else.

“So trust me. This can be good for both me and Jessica to take on the dungeon. It’ll help with our guild’s record.” I said in assurance to my friends.

“Well…as long as you guys don’t rush the dungeon and take it slow, I’m sure in time, you’ll fully raid it.” said Kenji.

“it would have been fun if we could join you on this raid, but sadly, our ranks aren’t high enough.” said Zelisha.

“Yes, Zelisha is right. Tell me Soril, if in time when my rank does reach at a satisfying level, do you think you can have me at your guild?” asked Thors.

“You don’t have to ask me for that, Jessica’s in charge.” I said.

“Of course Thors. In truth, I planned on inviting you guys into the guild once we graduated from the academy. For now, since the guild is still at its infant stage, me and Soril plan on keeping things slow and small. With me as a guild leader, I have a lot to plan ahead for the Guild’s future. And if the time does come that we graduate and you guys don’t have any plans of your own, we hope that you will accept our invitation to join our guild.” said Jessica.

“We’d love to join Jessica, it’d be an honor.” said Zelisha.

“I’d be happy to join as well.” said Marilyn.

“That’s an interesting proposal, so sure, why not. If I don’t have any plans for my future, I’ll join your guild as well.” said Kenji.

“…” as For Tony, he only nodded his head in agreement. His silent demeanor continues on even at the canteen.

Our lunch ended and our classes continued. I haven’t seen the Class-A group since then, not even Jason.

AN:

Sorry Guys, I haven’t been able to write as fast. I’ve been experiencing burn-out for a while now. Its probably because I’ve been playing Elden ring for a while now…but that can’t be the case. Elden ring is good for the soul…if not that, how else can i find maidens in this god-forsaken world. also, yay!

I finally added John into Soril’s group. I have been planning this for a while now, and it finally came to pass! Now Soril doesn’t have to work all on his own during his missions from god! He’s got a partner now!