Visit

It was an unusually quiet afternoon in the small house shared by Lian, Mira, and Kael. The sunlight filtered through the windows, casting warm, lazy patterns across the floor. Lian was quietly fiddling with a small wooden puzzle on the table, Mira was reading, her brow furrowed in thought, and Kael was pacing around, humming a tune that was slightly off-key.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Not just any knock, but a dramatic, almost theatrical rap that made all three startle.

“Who could that be?” Mira muttered, adjusting her glasses and glancing at the door cautiously.

Kael immediately bounced toward the entrance, leaving Lian to sit stiffly, his hands gripping the puzzle a little too tightly.

When Kael opened the door, the three were greeted by a man who looked… well, eccentric might be an understatement. His hair was wildly unkempt, sticking out in all directions, and his clothes were a chaotic mix of bright colors and patterns that somehow didn’t match in any sensible way. His boots squeaked with every step he took.

“Hello, splendid humans of extraordinary reputation!” the man announced in a voice far too loud for such a tiny doorway. “I am Videl, at your service! I’ve heard tales of your bravery and competence, and I have a small… err… mission for you!”

Mira tilted her head, studying him. “Um… and why exactly did you come to us?” she asked cautiously.

Videl’s eyes twinkled mischievously. “Ah, why you, you ask? Simply because I hoped—prayed, even—that you would do it for a slightly lower price than… say… anyone else in the kingdom!”

Kael laughed loudly, slapping his knee. “Well, that’s… honest, I guess!”

Lian said nothing, but his thoughts raced as he considered the implications of yet another odd client. He glanced at Mira, who shrugged, and then Kael, who was already laughing at his own joke about “cheap heroes.”

Finally, the three agreed, curiosity and the chance for a reward outweighing their hesitation. Videl’s eyes sparkled with glee as he explained the task: they were to collect three quail eggs from the forest nearby.

“Oh, that sounds… manageable,” Mira said, pushing her glasses up her nose.

“Manageable, yes, but also potentially hilarious!” Kael added. “I have a feeling this is going to be fun.”

Lian didn’t respond. He simply sighed and followed the others out the door.

The forest was alive with the rustling of leaves, the chirping of birds, and the occasional suspicious squawk of quails. Finding the eggs turned out to be more complicated than anticipated, as the tiny creatures were surprisingly good at hiding. Kael kept tripping over roots while Mira carefully navigated through the underbrush, muttering instructions to stay quiet and not scare the birds.

“Quiet!” Mira hissed sharply as Kael nearly stepped on a nest.

“Quiet is boring!” Kael whispered back with a grin, ducking just in time as a quail fluttered away.

Lian, meanwhile, moved silently, his sharp eyes scanning for the eggs. His mind kept racing—not with worries this time, but with the absurdity of their situation. How often did one get paid to collect bird eggs by someone who looked like a walking carnival?

After about an hour of sneaking, crawling, and a few minor tumbles (mostly Kael’s), they managed to collect three pristine quail eggs. They returned to their house, triumphant and slightly muddy, but otherwise unscathed.

The next day, Videl appeared again, practically bouncing as he approached their door.

“Marvelous! Simply marvelous!” he exclaimed. “You have done exactly as requested! Allow me to compensate you for your… uh… heroic efforts!”

He handed them a small pouch. Lian, Mira, and Kael exchanged hopeful glances, opening it eagerly. Inside, along with the agreed-upon payment, was a single cent as a tip.

“One cent?” Kael said incredulously, holding it up to the light.

“Yes! A token of my deepest appreciation!” Videl replied solemnly, as if it were the most precious coin in the world. “Spend it wisely!”

And with that, he twirled around, his boots squeaking dramatically, and disappeared down the road, leaving the three staring after him.

Mira finally broke the silence. “By the way… did anyone else notice something strange?”

“What?” Kael asked, still shaking his head in disbelief.

“That his name… Videl,” Mira said slowly, “is typically a female name, isn’t it? And he’s… clearly a man.”

Lian frowned, looking down at the cent. “Yeah… that’s odd,” he said quietly, but said no more, letting the absurdity of the morning sink in.

Kael laughed again, louder this time. “I don’t care what his name is. That was probably the funniest delivery mission ever. Who collects quail eggs anyway?”

Mira sighed but couldn’t hide the small smile tugging at her lips. Lian simply shook his head, his thoughts briefly drifting elsewhere before he returned to the present. The three of them settled back inside, the cent sitting on the table like a tiny monument to their latest ridiculous adventure.

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Later that afternoon, after Videl had disappeared down the road, the three of them were lounging around the house, still laughing intermittently at the absurdity of the previous day. Kael was sprawled on the floor, pretending to be a dramatic hero who had just survived a “terrifying quest,” while Mira was organizing the collected quail eggs on the table, as if cataloging them for a museum exhibition.

Lian sat quietly, fiddling with the single cent that Videl had left behind. Something about the whole encounter gnawed at him. He had tried, as he always did when meeting someone new, to read Videl’s thoughts. But… nothing. Absolutely nothing.

He frowned, turning the coin between his fingers. Not a single stray thought, no hidden intentions, not even a fleeting emotion. It was… impossible. He had never encountered anyone whose mind he couldn’t sense. Mira, Kael—they were always readable, as were strangers, merchants, even random passersby in the market. But Videl?

Lian leaned back in his chair, silent, lost in thought. Is this because he’s… somehow suspicious? Or… does he literally have no thoughts at all? The idea made his chest tighten slightly. Could it be that some people… had nothing inside their heads? Maybe it was possible. Maybe he’d just never met someone so simple… or so peculiar.

Kael, meanwhile, had gotten up and was dramatically mimicking Videl’s strange walk and squeaky boots, spinning around in a circle. “I swear,” he said, collapsing in a heap of laughter on the floor, “if he comes back, I’m dressing exactly like him. Imagine me in rainbow chaos fashion! I’d scare all the cats away!”

Mira pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing but hiding a smile. “Honestly, I don’t even understand how he can walk without tripping over himself. And that voice… it’s like a trumpet and a foghorn had a baby.”

Kael jumped up again. “And the cent! The cent! I mean, come on, what am I supposed to do with this? Buy a single grain of rice?”

Lian’s mind kept turning, quietly detached from the silliness of his friends. Is it because he’s… too stupid to have thoughts? Or maybe… he’s hiding something so deeply that even my mind-reading can’t penetrate it? His brows furrowed as he leaned forward. He had never felt this kind of mental barrier before. Normally, he could sense at least a flicker of desire, fear, or curiosity, but Videl’s mind was a complete blank.

Kael flopped dramatically onto the sofa, arms flailing. “I bet he goes home and just… stares at the ceiling all day, thinking… nothing. Absolutely nothing! Like, ‘Hmm… do I exist?’”

Mira snorted, laughing despite herself. “Or maybe he just spends his day inventing the weirdest ways to annoy people and leaves no thought behind. Honestly, he’s like a walking, talking, slightly dangerous cartoon character.”

Lian forced a small chuckle, hiding his anxiety behind a calm expression. He couldn’t tell them that he was actually worried, or that this was more than just a silly encounter. If Videl really had a mind that he couldn’t read… well, that was dangerous in ways Kael and Mira couldn’t even imagine.

Kael, noticing Lian’s silence, poked him in the arm. “Hey! You’re quiet! Don’t tell me you’re suddenly afraid of a guy who paid us a cent for hero work!”

Lian smiled faintly, shaking his head. “Just… thinking about how… weird some people can be,” he said, careful to keep his voice light.

“‘Weird’? That’s an understatement!” Kael shouted, leaping onto the table for dramatic effect. “I mean, he’s like… if a clown, a wizard, and a chicken had a baby, and that baby was also rich in… mystery!”

Mira laughed so hard she had to put her face in her hands. “Kael, please, stop before you break the table. Lian, tell him he’s exaggerating!”

Lian’s lips twitched, but he only shook his head, returning to twirling the cent between his fingers. He didn’t need to say anything. Even without revealing the truth about his power, he already knew: Videl wasn’t ordinary. And if that was true, he would have to keep a very, very close eye on him.

For the rest of the afternoon, Kael and Mira continued to make jokes about Videl—his boots, his voice, his impossible sense of timing—while Lian silently observed, trying to understand why this encounter felt so different. He didn’t yet have answers, but he knew one thing: Videl’s blank mind was a mystery he couldn’t ignore.

And so, the three of them laughed and joked, completely unaware of the silent tension building in Lian’s chest.