Chapter 141: The Temple of Byagoona - A Warning!
As he stared at the stew, Kai recalled the Simon he had met during his Initiation Mission and waited for the Faceless man to speak.
He didn't know Simon's actual identity then, but he strongly doubted that even Arlen was oblivious to it, what with him being the Set Lord's blood brother.
Nevertheless, Kai had noticed the oddity about Simon, despite him not finding out the reason for it. Then, on the very next mission, he had met him again. Kai had instinctively felt that the second and the first Simon were different, but only after listening to Meg's explanation about the Faceless Men of the Temple of Byagoona did he learn the cause behind those instincts.
Now, once again, the same instincts were prickling his mind.
Those monstrous instincts screamed this Simon was neither the first nor the second, but a third person different from all, entirely. These instincts had no base, but had they ever let him down before?
No.
It was then Simon lifted the mug and spoke. "A man met you during your Initiation Mission," he told Kai, drinking a mouthful of wine. "Based on what a man saw, your Code Name got reported as a potential Priest. Now, more often than not, a man waits before checking up on the growth of the potential candidates. What happened next was entirely unexpected. A man met you again in this world, a different timeline of course, and then reported your inexplicable and unexpected growth to the Temple."
-/That Simon was different,/- Kai said brusquely. -/Besides, the second Simon didn't even recognize me./-
The Faceless cackled. "A man is Simon, and Simon is a man, Red," he told him, breaking a piece of bread and dipping it into the scalding broth of the stew. "A man had never expected you to be there in the sewers. A man had also not expected you to be the kidnapper. Anyway, checking for tempered memories is a fairly common routine."