Only I Am A Reader

"Cassian?!"

Leo's latest face was popular enough for almost everyone to recognize. However, the shock on Jane's face was even more exaggerated.

'...How?'

She was lazy, but she wasn't stupid. Whether it was inside or outside the Gate, both her encounters with Leo involved the use of her ability. 

However, all she got was irrelevant hints regarding what he ate or drank the day before.

'Did it bug out or something?'

Jane couldn't help wondering if all her laziness had caught up to her. Did her lack of use make the ability useless?

Although she couldn't control which hints she received, it was almost completely guaranteed to receive the correct hint if the target had a certain degree of renown.

In such cases where she even used her ability twice, the reason for their fame was bound to be disclosed!

"Is it fun to put on someone else's face?"

The only conclusion that Jane could come to was that the person in front of her was indeed using an illusion! The shadows that were about to grab her looked real, but this couldn't be Cassian!

"Oh? You think this is a disguise? Doesn't this trick get old?"

Jane was still on guard, but her heart had started to calm down. As much as she hated to use her ability, this was the one thing that she relied on for the majority of her life. Her ability could never fail!

'Interesting.'

Seeing the confidence in Jane's face, Leo was slightly intrigued. He wondered if Jane's ability was actually misguiding her for once.

'Maybe I worried too much.'

He still didn't know how Jane's ability worked or how she determined something, but it was obvious that her ability was pointing her in the wrong direction.

From a realistic point of view, it was more likely that Leo's Shadow Mastery had masked him from Jane's tricks. However, Leo had another guess…

'Or perhaps to her, I'm not really Cassian?'

Was his identity as a Reader still revealed in a very subtle manner?

"You can't be Cassian."

Firmly planting her feet on the ground, Jane held nothing in her hands as she moved into stance. She was going to smack this imposter for frightening her like this!

"I guess you are entitled to your opinion."

Unlike Leo, Jane didn't seem to be having that much fun as she held onto her beliefs. With how convenient her ability was, it was hard not to overly rely on it compared to her own judgment.

"Let me just take care of this so we can play without any interference."

The hyena-faced monster that should have died was still standing on the side without moving a muscle. Naturally, it wasn't being obedient for having a kind heart. In reality, it was being restrained by its own shadow.

'The safety pin comes first.'

The reason that Leo kept this monster alive was obvious. Since he was going to deal with Jane first, he couldn't leave any openings for the Imaginary Archer to escape.

Even if he actually grew another brain and decided to abandon Jane, killing all the monsters wouldn't lead him anywhere as long as this single monster remained alive!

"Did you also make that monster? Nice trick, but I won't fall for it!"

Seeing the hyena-faced monster being wrapped in a shadow cocoon, Jane mistook it for Leo's attempt at convincing her of his fake identity. She believed that both the monster and the show were illusions created by the infiltrator.

"That's okay, let's have a Martial Art exchange instead."

With one thing taken care of, Leo could now redirect all of his attention back to Jane. She was the only team member other than Miyu that had both brains and brawn.

Aside from her hint ability and laziness-pursuing tactics, Jane was actually a Martial Artist, and she was good enough to be right behind Miyu in combat strength!

Instead of taking out his sword, Leo took a stance just like her, it had been a while since he practiced close quarter combat on some life targets.

"Now you are mocking me?"

Jane didn't know which illusion master was behind this, but she was starting to get irritated. Things had been going so well, yet as soon as this Cassian cosplayer had stepped foot into this place, it was a downward spiral!

Throwing away all thoughts of lazily handling this with words, Jane took a step forward. She was going to beat up this faker!

'I spent years learning this troublesome ability so I wouldn't get into these situations!'

Though unrelated to the mental nature of her main ability, Jane's Martial Arts were still a gift given to her by hints.

Some hints were purely informational, but in very rare cases, she found golden hints that could teach her something supernatural.

Naturally, obtaining something using nothing but a magical hint was an effort heavy task, so Jane ignored most of them. In fact, she paid no heed to all of them but one!

The reason? It was something that could completely compensate for her ability's lack of practical use!

Although the source of the hint was an old and dilapidated dojo, it opened up a great shortcut into the path of Martial Arts.

It wasn't just something that allowed her to learn what others took decades to learn in a few years, the hint went all the way and provided a method to transform Enigma into Qi, supplementing her lack of physical strength.

The method was convoluted and specifically tailored for her, so Jane could even pass it off as her actual Special Ability. The fact that others couldn't learn it even if she tried to teach them also worked well for her.

The necessity of something that she could protect herself with made Jane learn all she could, but she never exerted more than half of her maximum force ever since joining Aurora's team. However…

'I will give it my all just for you.'

She was going to make an exception just for this imitator!