Oh. That’s oddly convenient. Too convenient. I know the Goddess is always listening in… I had a thought like that before, right? Who am I even asking? No matter. This has me thinking… is this all a ploy by the Goddess? Is she manipulating us? Hmm… whatever. Those are questions for later, but for now, questions I can ask today.

Ahem… testing, testing, can you hear me?

“Is that you Curiosity?”

Yep. 

“Telepathy.”

That’s right, Estelle. I have a question, Patience. Actually, multiple, but I’ll go through them with you one by one.

“Ask away. We have plenty of time.”

First question, I have no idea where those places where the other Masks are, so can you tell me where they are?

“The Forest of Death is nearest, located north of my mountain. In fact, the Forest of Death starts at the foot of my mountain. Do be noted that it is a Dungeon. There are many monsters within it. Bloodlust should be within the centre, and it is very possible she is either the Dungeon Master or associated with them.” Oh, that’s convenient. 

“Avari borders the Forest of Death, but it is a rather large country, so to reach the capital city, which is Fleeze, it’ll take you roughly three weeks by foot. You have Insanity by your side, however, so it should be rather quick with her Magic. Warning, bandits love Avari, so you will encounter many of them there.” Hmm… maybe we could speed up the process with horses. Wait, can horses even support me? How heavy am I?

“The Unnamed Desert is somewhere. Due to its… unique properties, it is constantly changing locations. I fear that you simply have to get lucky.” How does a desert teleport? Seriously, how does one change an entire desert’s location? Is this the Gods’ doing? Get lucky? How? Would having high LUC help? If so, I’m glad I’ve aligned myself with Estelle. 

Anyways, guess that makes the plan simple. First, we go to the Forest of Death, talk to the Mask of Bloodlust, then to Avari’s capital to talk to Greed, then lastly attempt to find the Unnamed Desert to find Love. Not find love the thing, but Love the Mask. 

Speaking of Masks, the dragon said we wouldn’t be able to find Tragedy, Apathy and Rebellion since they’re young. Why exactly do you say it’s impossible to Apathy, Rebellion and Tragedy?

“All three, alongside you, were birthed into this world this year.”

Couldn’t they be monsters like me?

“That is possible. However, even monsters require time to grow. Your race just happens to be the exception. It is much more likely they are one of the races, in my opinion. Masks tend to be given to a member of a race that is either entirely compatible with it or not compatible at all. My race is Ancient Dragon, the race with the longest lifespan. Fitting for Patience. You, Curiosity, on the other hand, are a Golem. Considered to be the monster species most incapable of thought. Not even instinctual thought. Ironic, is it not?”

That sure is ironic. I know Bloodlust’s race, so what are Greed’s and Love’s?

“Greed is a Fairy. Specifically a Golden Fairy. Not very subtle, but neither is she. Love is a Bee. No, not a Meditating Bee like your friend. I believe she said she was a Hugging Bee. I will admit, I do not believe her.” There sure are a lot of Bee types, huh.

I’ve got roughly two questions left. Second to last question, what is up with your Status? For reference, here it is:

“It’s the effect of a Skill, Status Change. It merely changes what the Status looks like when appraised.”

Why make all your stats 10?

“To make it obvious I have the Skill. My true Status can only be seen if you have a higher INT than my FOR, or you have Appraisal at max upgrades.” So Appraisal can reveal hidden stuff at max. Good to know.

Okay, last question. Let me ask the biggest question on my mind. We wouldn’t happen to be related to the long-gone Evil Goddess, would we? That we Masks are broken off pieces of the Evil Goddess?

“What makes you think that?”

You see, a while back when I was in the Dungeon I was born in, this old man tax collector told me three stories. The first was about you, the second was about an Oni from the Forest of Death, and the third was about how the Evil Goddess was split up.

“Hmm… that could just be a coincidence, could it not?”

I dunno. The Goddess seems really keen on interfering. I’ve tried using Appraisal on my Mask, but she won’t let me see it. No way she’d be interfering unless it’s related to something big, like, let’s say, an Evil Goddess. There are other things too that make me conclude this, but for brevity’s sake, I just want to know if you do know if we’re related in some way.

“Well, I do not know if we are. All I merely know is that there are other Masks.”

Haa… alright then, keep your secrets. I assume you have secrets. Darn. If there was anybody that I thought would have an idea, it’d be Patience. Then again, there’s always the folks inside Estelle… but there’s something about them that makes me want to keep interactions with them low, even with them piquing my curiosity. Oh well. Maybe the other Masks have ideas. Wait, there’s always The Library, although I feel not many things have been written about us Masks. Argh, so many questions, too few answers.