Return to Backlund (Bonus Chapter)

Sifa found several magazines in a desk drawer and memorized the fashionable woman on one cover. He put the Thousand-Faced Traveler back on and pictured her face over and over. The mask began to shift again, and two or three seconds later, Sifa had become a young woman with wavy blonde hair and finely sculpted features.

Looking at himself in the mirror, Sifa remembered that Beckron's profile described him as lecherous. Maybe I could disguise myself as a woman and lure him into being alone with me?

Then he looked at his flat chest and promptly abandoned the idea.

Sifa wiped a hand across his face. In an instant, he became George Green again, complete with slicked-back hair. The change was remarkably fast.

"The first change takes two or three seconds, but once it's done, the mask remembers the face. Next time, it can change into that face instantly. That's convenient."

"It's a bit like a computer. Entering data takes time, but reading it only takes milliseconds."

Sifa flipped through the magazines again. After memorizing several faces, he "entered" those of an older gentleman, a middle-aged woman, a young girl, and an office worker, then made small adjustments so they differed from the people in the magazines.

Those faces all had one thing in common: they were ordinary. If he took on any of them and disappeared into a crowd, people would soon forget him.

Sifa also "entered" Duke's lightly tanned, bearded face so he could switch to it easily.

That gave him six faces in reserve. He left the remaining four slots open for now, planning to "enter" more when needed.

He took off the mask, changed his clothes, and went downstairs to eat.

Over breakfast, he told Bison and his mother, Enilu, that before joining the navy, he