"Okay then, Amy: wait a moment. I'll bring it here; it will only take a moment. In the meantime, think about what you felt and feel right now and everything I taught you. A smart person thinks, feels, and analyzes the things they have learned many times."
"Yes, big sister!"
Good—I had her—now it was time to act separately. I quickly left, went upstairs, and once in my room, I prepared two baskets. I was ready.
"Ugh! How do we separate?"
There I encountered a problem I had overlooked: how to separate? Before, it was because of the great dissonance between thoughts about what to do with Azalea, but now I don't have that.
The system said that if mana was scarce or we both agreed... but only I exist. Ah!
"I want to separate, it's time to act separately—"
Ssssffshhh
"Ugh!"
So that means reaching an agreement?
I came to the conclusion that if only one existed, and that one was both of us, if he wanted to separate, it would be the agreement of both—with a clear thought and intention. We managed to separate, and again I felt the sensation of dizziness and nausea wash over me.
I grabbed a basket and...
Blegggg!
I started vomiting again.
This isn't right.
Even while vomiting, I was thinking about the current situation. Now that I'm back in complete control, I realize that what we're doing isn't really a good thing.
First: the whole plan of action—since technically I was the one who made it—is feasible, but there are many holes and things I didn't consider.
The implications of infiltrating a royal castle are not simple, and there are many other things to take into account.
Second: I really don't see the need to get involved in the affairs of someone we just met.
Yes, her situation was unfortunate and all that, but even so, we shouldn't get involved considering we haven't even been in this world for a single day.
Sure, we have to put on the mark of lethargy since our lives are at stake, but even so, it's not worth going to such a dangerous place just because we were moved by her situation.
Honestly, I put our safety first, and if that means I have to give up putting the stigma, I would.
But the problem here was Iris: she is naturally sociable and sometimes too empathetic with people, and unfortunately she quickly resonated with Amarillys even though we were merged.
The thought that they were both a little silly and that's why they seemed to resonate so much came to mind.
But honestly, Iris wasn't silly: she really is someone who can think for herself and has decent reasoning skills. In fact, academically, if she set her mind to it (or if her mother threatened her), she was very good at understanding math problems, problems that even I found difficult.
The problem was that she was impulsive: too impulsive. She never stopped to think and always did what she felt and wanted. If she stopped to reason and think...
"No, that's not right either."
Yes: she wasn't dumb, but when she thought, it was also dangerous, because her logic went beyond any framework, and bizarre ideas like the shared harem and so on would come out.
Not to mention the tendency I had been noticing since we got married to really not think and leave that task to me. I tried to correct her; the consequence is that illegal and highly questionable ideas come out, so it was better to maintain the status quo.
Anyway, it seems she liked the way Amarillys acted, and that awakened her desire to protect her; she felt a lot of empathy, and it all ended when she started calling us "big sister."
"But now... I think I have to stop this and not get involved."
"Ugh, I'm not going to throw up."
I looked in her direction and, unlike me, she wasn't vomiting; she was holding it in. For a moment her cheeks puffed up, but I'm going to pretend I didn't see that. Finally, the nausea passed. Next time I'll try to endure it like Iris, but that's secondary now.
I have to convince her to stop; I have to be careful and calmly convince her to abandon that plan.
"Love, about Amarillys..."
"Come on, honey; call her Amy—she's almost family now—and yes, I already have a clear plan of what we're going to do. Don't worry, I remember everything!"
"I mean... don't you think it's dangerous to go there? Let's think about it more calmly and—"
"What is there to think about, honey? We have to seek justice for Amy! I know you want it too. Otherwise, we would have separated before, and why is it dangerous? It's only the doppelganger who will go."
"..."
That's true: even if I deny it, the evidence is there. It's only now that we're not separated that I want to stop this, since I'm not influenced by emotions.
But, on the contrary, it means that I never totally disagreed: if there had been that dissonance and contradiction, we would have separated.
I have to say that I really don't like Amarillys' situation, but we shouldn't get involved either—I put our safety above everything else.
"honey, don't back out now. Amy is my friend, I have to help her, and I really need you, sweetheart. Only you can come up with such interesting and... how should I put it... sadistic ideas?"
"...(≖_≖ )I'll take that as you not finding the right word... Haah~. But even so, I think it's too much to go against the king and a possible apex force in this world. That king and his entourage are not something to be trifled with—"
"Ugh! Don't even mention him, honey. Every time I remember what that bastard did to my beautiful Amy, it makes me angry; I will definitely make them all pay. Honey, even if you don't want to, I'll do it myself."
"..."
This is bad. Very bad.
Now I remembered earlier when we were fused, I felt a lot of anger at Amarillys' situation; if I'm not the angry one, it was obvious who that anger belonged to.
Iris is really a hard person to anger—and when I say hard, I mean I've only seen her angry at most twice in our entire lives—so for her to get this angry means she won't back down.
Honestly, I don't want to go against an Iris like that: I remember the last time she got angry—it was no laughing matter—the hospital bill was not easy to pay.
And since I had no plans to go against what she was going to do, I had to go along with her on this.
"And I'll definitely deal with that Estella. How dare she tell Amy to stop breathing! Once I get there, I'll—!"
"Wait, calm down. I'll help you, but let's stick to the plan, remember? It's not like we can just go in and do whatever we want; it'll take time. You have to calm down."
"Oh, you'll help me? That's great, honey! I needed your intelligence; it would be difficult without you."
I don't know what she expects from me. I don't really consider myself intelligent, or a genius, as my mother used to call me.
I just think and do what I have to do, like anyone else: I just look for the answer to the problems that life throws at me, no more, no less.
Now the problem is calming Iris's anger, who wants to go against an apex being in this world, when we are only rank 1 masseurs... As always, life doesn't make it easy for me.
"...Okay. Wait, let me take care of a few things first."
"Yes, honey, don't be long. Amy is waiting."
There was nothing left to do but think it over. If I think about it, the risk is great; but, after all, it's a doppelganger that will go.
What I didn't want was to get involved so early with the forces of this world: one wrong move, and even if it was just a doppelganger, it could bring us trouble. I have to prevent that.
"System, can the doppelganger use abilities?"
[Yes, user. The doppelganger can use one skill, and two if you create it when you are fused.]
"...tell me the reward for the ability card. How does it work?"
I took the card I had received earlier. The rewards came for both of us, except for the Myr; both she and I received the five status points, which I haven't assigned, as I didn't know which would be the best or most efficient.
There was also the skill card, which I didn't know whether it was better to use or not; I planned to ask tomorrow, if it weren't for Amarillys arriving.
[With the card, the user can access the skill catalog available for their current profession and subprofession.]
"How do I use it?"
[Just hold it and throw it in front of you. If you don't want to choose any skill, just think about getting it back.]
"Okay."
I quickly did as he said: I took the card and threw it forward. The card didn't fly very far and seemed to be caught by something invisible; the next moment, a large panel appeared.
___________________________
Therapeutic Masseuse (2)
—Soothing Palms (2)
—Relaxing Touch (1)
—Body Alignment (2)
—Muscle Release (2)
—Sensory Caress (1)
—Healing Pressure (2)
—Analgesic Touch (2)
..
.
----
Jester (2)
— Echo of the Court (2)
— Sarcastic Applause (1)
— Spectator Analysis (2)
— Annoying laugh(1)
— Truth and Madness (2)
— Bomb Trick (2)
— Functional Chaos (2)
..
.
___________________________
Damn, I don't have any, hmm, but I need that skill too.
Two lists appeared in front of me, each with about thirty items, showing what I deduced were the skills I could choose as a masseur and buffoon.
I feel like I can deduce that the number next to them indicates the rank, but first I had to clear up a doubt.
"System, is the Jester profession also rank two?"
[That is correct, user. The sub-profession will always share the current rank of the profession.]
I see. So these are all the skills I can choose with this reward.
[It's circumstantial: if the user wishes to use it at this moment, yes; but if the user increases the potential rank of the profession, the list will expand according to the new rank.]
So, if I save this reward, I'll be able to choose higher-ranked skills later, right?
[Correct.]
"Tell me something: since I've been using them, it's obvious that they can be used. The skills, even if they have a higher rank than I currently possess... what is the limit?"
[There is no limit. You can use any skill you possess regardless of its rank. The only limitation would be your skill.]
"Give me a practical example of this skill."
[If the user obtains a skill far superior to their rank—for example, a rank (7) skill—the user will be able to use it even at their current rank, but it will be limited and will not show 100% of its capabilities. The percentage depends on many factors, such as physical endurance, amount of mana, etc., until it reaches rank (7).]
"This also applies to the inhabitants of this world, right?"
[That's correct.]
"I see."