No one in Ilias Village knew much about the man who lived in the small mansion, not that they cared. No, the villagers were content to pretend he did not exist, and that was how they preferred it. Which also made him one of the most tolerated outsiders in the community, if such a thing were possible. The village was never one to accept outsiders, but he was a bit different from even the occasional hero. He spoke in an accent that none had heard, dressed in clothing that seemed fit to give children nightmares, and rumors circulated of his dealings with even more strangers

Not that the man cared about what others thought of him, he had long since outgrown that aspect of society. Oh perhaps once he had enjoyed the dealings of society and its various trappings, but that was before, well before The Dream. Before that nightmare, before his infection, and before his current situation. He had wanted to wake up, to get out of that infernal nightmare! But even after all of his suffering and effort, he was not successful! He still bore the marks of that city, of the abominations that haunted it.

Death would have been preferable at times, if only for the pain to end. But no, death there simply meant that he'd have to backtrack and keep pushing forward. It wasn't pleasant the first time, and it wasn't any easier any other time. Sometimes it was a fall that got him killed, other times it was from dodging too late, or other times it was just from being on the wrong end of a gun. The fights were never easy, and he supposed it did make some sense. Was any of it truly real, did the laws of man have any authority over the nightmare? If the nightmare had any semblance of normalcy, then it had been torn to ribbons when the Paleblood sky came. That damnable moon, that damnable blood.

He clutched his head in pain, thinking about it didn't help him at all. He refused to touch the substance again, if only in some hope that he would no longer have to deal with the obsession that Hunters had with it. A hunter must hunt they said, and he hunted. Both monster and man, although the distinction between the two was blurred. After all, there was only one thing separating a hunter from the frenzied mobs in the streets. And even then, how many hunters lost themselves to the blood? It was nearly inevitable, to find oneself unable to see friend from foe. He had learned that from experience, thankfully only from fighting those who were truly lost.

He needed to get out of here, just for a bit. If only to try and relax. Not that he hadn't tried of course, but nothing helped. Fighting just made it worse, even if the monsters here were a bit easier on his eyes, marginally. Other times he had tried letting out his anger in a nearby forest, but it had only been temporary relief. He had even decided to try spending time with various monsters, the ones that he didn't kill on principle alone. What manner of creation had led to all of those plant hybrids? It didn't matter in the end, they would no longer vex him or humanity.

"You're awake!"

Well, he wasn't lying when he said that he had tried being around some of the new monsters around here. It had been when he had first arrived, back when he barely understood the language. All he had needed to see on the contract was the reward, location, and the fact that it was being taken out for monster removal.

He hadn't expected, well he hadn't expected a kid.

Alright calling her a kid was describing her body, not necessarily her mind or personality. She certainly wasn't human, but she also didn't fit his idea of a monster. He expected something with more arms and eyes, maybe even a few extra tails.

Purple skin, small horns, and a poor sense of hygiene was not what he had been expecting. But than again, perhaps it was for the best. After all, she could be reasoned with. To a point at least.

Alright, so she a slightly unsettling fixation upon the dead, but she held herself to higher standards than those of Mensis and the Healing Church. At least, as far as he concerned himself with her. She prided on her knowledge, yet thankfully she had yet to ask any truly painful questions. She seemed to have some sense to her, she stopped her questioning before she would find an answer.

If she truly wanted an answer, then he would not deny her knowledge. But, she would first truly have to know the price of it. Mensis had wanted the same knowledge that he now possessed, and look at what had happened to them. The lucky ones had died quickly, the others had to suffer. Or were they truly capable of feeling the pain of slowly exploding? Well, it wasn't a pleasant fate for anyone, and he would prefer that no one would have to deal with it again. But if she kept questioning him, then he'd give her one last chance. One last chance to flee, one last chance to run, one last chance to ignore the pursuit of knowledge in exchange for something more useful in life.

His musing was interrupted as the girl began to start poking him again. She viewed him as some sort of interesting specimen, and was always trying to poke or pry something from him. She had always said that he was an interesting subject, not that her attempts were successful. Her blades were not sharp enough to cause damage to him, they were just normal steel. It hurt him even less than those deluded mobs in the street did.

"What are you trying to prove this time?" To most it would've been a strange request, but to her it was nothing more than one of his many complaints that he voiced to her.

"You're not really alive, are you?" Oh dear, not a question that he was expecting. And in truth, he had little in the way of explanations. He certainly wasn't a scholar, and in truth as an outsider he had little in the way of knowledge about the various practices and rituals of Yharnam. It had always been that way, few ever would willingly travel to the city. But circumstances had required him to leave for it, for the Pale Blood. Then again, the plague spread by blood as well. Perhaps… no that wasn't a good chain of thought. Better to just let her make her own conclusions.

She sighed for a moment, before continuing with her tests. In truth he cared little for her affections, as that was what they truly were. He did not pretend to entertain her fantasies, but not out of a disgust for the girl herself. No, it was more that she was mentioned marriage, or maybe even children. That damnable nightmare was not helpful to him in that regard. Before he would not have had any problems with either idea, but he had seen enough children to last him several lifetimes.

In truth what had led to him taking her in had been more something of convince, at least at first. He had taken up the contact as a way to make money. Blood Echos may have been fine in Yharnam, but people did not appreciate him trying to bargain with blood. It was supposed to be simple, there were rumors of a house being haunted. That was all that was written, that and the quite useful sum of money that was to be rewarded.

The first warning sign was when the house looked like something that had been pulled from Old Yharnam. Large, Old, and decrypt. The second warning was when he opened the door, and nearly fell into the basement. In fact, the only thing that stopped him was the fact the rug covering the hole had also fallen down. In fact, that had to have been one of the worst traps he had ever seen. And he was more than willing to admit that he had made his fair share of mistakes. But usually it was because he had spotted something useful, or had ended up staring down at the face of one of that nightmare's residents.

Then came the ghosts, female corpses. And not some amalgamation of flesh and blood, no legitimate corpses that were more interested in him because he was male. Now if only things could be so simple. They moved and talked like a normal human, and were certainly sane, well as close as one could call a corpse. So he hesitated, if only to think. They had taken that as a cue to tackle him, and what he had done afterwards was simply instinct. He supposed that in the end, it was a good thing that they could be revived or sent to ground.

That was when she had appeared, if only to find herself falling face first into the floor. Apparently, for all her supposed genius she lacked a certain modicum of grace. Or to be more precise, she was a remarkably clumsy girl. Apparently she did not view that as a failing, as she immediately moved to attack him, this time with a syringe and bone saw.

He supposed that she was quite lucky that he was able to restrain himself, this time contenting himself to just hitting the poor girl with the pommel of his sword. He could control himself, he wouldn't lose himself in a frenzy, not like other hunters. He was no longer tied by his original bloodlust. If he had wanted too, then he certainly could've put the poor girl out of his misery, but he wasn't a hunter like that anymore. He was a merciful sort, and if he told himself that enough times than perhaps it would be true.

So in the end he had ended up with an unconscious… girl. Yes, at the end of the day he would be better of calling her a girl. Despite her horns and skin color, she was no beast. She could be reasoned with, and she was certainly able to complain as she had begun yelling at him, like someone that had the unfortunate luck of being captured by a Snatcher. If anything, she should've been thankful that it was him and not a snatcher that she had met, or else she would not be able to talk, or with eyes to see her kidnaper. No, he wouldn't be so cruel as to leave her to the bitter hands of the nearby townsfolk. But he did manage to convince the townsfolk that he had resolved the problem, by displaying the remains of the various undead that he had slain.

Of course, he made no mention of the little girl that he was now under his care. But they didn't need to know about that small detail. No, he just needed to collect his payment and be on his way. If there was one thing he learned about this new world, was that people were far more sociable. It wasn't as if he were a social outcast, but his time in the nightmare had dulled him socially. Who could have guessed that being surrounded by the insane and the dying would have been bad for his sanity?

In the end he did let her go, but unfortunately somewhere along his trip she must have noticed something off about him. He didn't know why she decided to stick around him, but he wasn't the one to care about it. In truth, she was originally a nuisance, constantly asking him questions that he barely understood. But the main reason that he let her tag along was simple, she had her uses. She was more than willing to prattle away, and to teach him the language of the area. All in exchange for sating a few of her curiosities.

It was a fair exchange he supposed, although a strange one at that. That nightmare had taught him many things, and one of those things was to beware those who considered themselves scholars. She might not have said it at first, but it was easy enough to infer. What with her constant questions and experiments, but perhaps it was just him preferring to ignore potential problems. In truth, he had preferred to try and take the easy way out, something that he had tried to do in Yharnam. Admittedly, the first thing he had done after spending an hour in the nightmare was to try and wake himself up. Eating his own gun didn't wake him up, and dying repeatedly to the frenzied mobs certainly weren't of any help in that regard. Of course, when he found out that it wasn't so simple, he did not take it well.

"Hey! Stop starring off like your having a flashback!" The tiny girl barked at him, as she picked up another syringe.

That was another strange custom he had noticed about the people here, they treated things far more casually than he was used too. That, and he found more than a few of their observations to be of little benefit. It was either than or their side comments that got on his nerves, sometimes he wondered if there was something wrong with those people. But than again, was it really his place to investigate? He should view this as a well-deserved vacation, even if unexpected.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying?" Well, at least he had responded. Right?

"You know, there are a group of adventurers that were asking about you." Oh, so that was it.

"Do you know why?" In truth, it was just as likely that they were men who just were hoping to come barge into his mansion and attempt to steal some artifact of his. He was well acquainted with those sorts, and he was hoping that no one started to ask questions about what had happened to those sorts.

"That's just it, they said that they're on a mission to kill the Monster Lord!" Oh, well that was certainly interesting. But what did it have to do with him? He knew enough from his talks and travels that the Monster Lord supposedly was the leader of all Monsters. In practice, he could tell that allegiance was likely very thin, considering he couldn't see how Harpies and Insects could compare in policy, not one bit.

"And why exactly are they looking for me, have I developed some sort of reputation behind my back?" He had meant the last part as some jest, but from her expression he had actually hit the truth.

"It's not that bad, just a few rumors about how you… may be trying to take over the continent for the Fifteenth." Alright, he knew that a majority of the village was filled with some of the most stubborn and isolationist folk that he had ever had the displeasure of encountering, but even he doubted that those rumors were given much thought.

"So, what are they going to do?" His gaze lingered over her for a moment, his eyes seemingly analyzing her for some unknown flaw.

"They're just asking about you, and asking about ways to meet you."

Meet him, now there was something that he hadn't heard in quite some time. Then again, it would be quite rude to deny these adventurers their request, right?

"Let them, I believe that a meeting would be for the best. Hopefully they will be able to listen to reason, I have no connection with the Monster Lord, correct?" He spoke the question to her directly, although she already knew what he was truly saying.

"Sure, I'll go see if someone can find that purpled haired kid." Hair color, did he even need to go on a rant about that.

Well, at least she was being productive. In truth the other major reason why they spent a lot of time together was because of her skills.

She was an excellent doll maker, and caretaker. And that was more than enough for him.