Kagami Toshiki POV
If looks could kill, I would definitely be six feet underground right now.
"So, would you kindly answer the question, kid?" he said while slowly moving toward me.
"Let me explain! I swear I'm not a bad guy," I said while shaking my head and hands at the same time.
Gathering the courage to fight back the scary pressure he was emanating right now, I took a deep breath.
"I only know them because of my dreams," I said, feeling the atmosphere around us slowly calm down.
"Go on," he spoke in a quiet but forceful manner.
"First, I would like to confirm—are you really the same one I saw? What was the name again? Osmontheus something—" I said while racking my brains for information.
"That's Osmond Kendrick Bartonwood. Who the hell is Osmontheus?" he interrupted in a mildly annoyed manner. "To answer your question, yeah, I am that person."
"Sorry, Bartonwood-san."
"Osmond is fine."
"Okay, Osmond-san. My name is Kagami Toshiki, but you can just call me Toshiki."
With the introductions out of the way, I carried on with what I was supposed to say.
"Exactly three weeks ago, I started having these dreams of a place full of magic, monsters, and various races," I started narrating what I had seen over the past few weeks.
"There, I started knowing a loud old man named Jin Baiharu. Most of the time I see him, he's always fighting. So much so that in most of the squabbles I see, he's always present."
"Sounds like the Jin I know." He just nodded.
Eh? Was there a chair earlier? Why are both of us sitting on it right now?
"Are these the faces you see?" Osmond said, lifting his finger.
Multiple clouds surrounded us. The clouds then morphed into portraits of different people.
"Yeah, those are the guys!" I nodded after seeing all the faces.
"That pretty woman is Carys, the guy on the left side is Roy, the guy carrying a katana is Kazuma—"
As I named them, I explained what happened in my dreams, while Jin just listened attentively.
When I finished telling everything I knew, he just looked at the ground before letting out a huge sigh.
"I'll just say this, kid. I believe you," Osmond said while crossing his arms. "I'm quite confident in seeing through lies, so don't worry, you're clear. For now, at least."
Thank God he didn't call it a hoax. I didn't want to get disintegrated into pieces by a powerful wizard. That would be super awful.
Appearing out of thin air, a table landed in front of me. There were also two glasses of juice on top of it.
"I apologize for scaring you earlier, kid—no, Toshiki," he said while taking one of the glasses and handing it to me.
I just gave a wry smile because I was reluctant to receive it.
I just decided to not overthink. I took it and drank it slowly.
My eyes widened when it entered my body.
'THIS IS DELICIOUS!!!'
What is this?! I have never had juice this good in my entire life.
"You like it?" he asked as a slight smile appeared on his face.
I just nodded aggressively after finishing it.
"Now let's have another chat, shall we?" he said after finishing his portion of the juice.
"What do you want to talk about?" I asked.
"You a novelist or something?" His tone was calm, curious.
"Yeah, I am, I guess. I'm only a beginner, though," I said, scratching my head as I answered his question.
"Wait, I haven't mentioned anything about writing, though," I added in a confused manner.
"Well, see that black square?" he said while pointing somewhere.
Looking at where he pointed, I nodded my head in response.
"That wasn't black earlier."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, how do I say this," he said while contemplating.
Wait a minute, you're telling me this guy has been seeing what I've been doing?
My privacy is found dead in a ditch from now on.
"Since when?" I nervously asked.
"Just earlier. Don't worry, I only saw you writing on a paper while mumbling to yourself," he said dismissively.
Hearing his words, I discovered that he only knew I was the same kid he saw on the screen because of my name written on the desk.
He had simply connected the dots after I introduced myself earlier.
"Back on the topic at hand, I'm quite interested in what you wrote earlier."
"Really? Why?" I said in a curious manner.
"Can I be blunt?" he said with an amused tone.
"Yes," I answered.
Weirdly enough, I unconsciously gulped when he mentioned my writing.
"Your premise is good, without sugarcoating anything. The structure is interesting, even for me," he complimented.
"But the direction you were going in was kind of questionable. Most notably how you handled the relationship between your main character and his parents death," he added as criticism.
"I knew it," I sighed to myself. Even if I wasn't in the right state of mind earlier, I knew how shallowly I had handled that.
"Oi, don't give me that face. You're still young, so you can still improve your writing," he snapped his fingers while talking in an easing manner.
Talking to Osmond is kind of fun, not gonna lie. He suggested some good advice on what to do and what not to do when I'm in a writer's block.
"I'm surprised that a wizard like you knows so much about novels," I said in an honest manner.
"Just because I use magic doesn't mean I only read spellbooks, kid. I would die of boredom that way," he shook his head. "I'm somewhat of a book collector myself."
"So that's why pointing out my mistakes was super easy, barely an inconvenience," I smiled.
I learned something from this talk; the only thing left is to apply what I learned.
"Aren't you lonely being trapped here, Osmond-san?"
"Don't act like I've been trapped here for millennia already," he said while scratching his chin.
"But to answer your question, knowing I can't escape this place for the time being, I'd sure as hell get lonely as time goes on if you hadn't shown up out of nowhere." he answered honestly.
"What you should be worried about is yourself, kid," he said in an amused manner.
Now that he mentioned that, I forgot one thing.
Will I be able to get out of this place?!!