Chapter 118: Story (1) (1/2)
Stomp-
I stopped in the corridor of the Imperial Palace, reading the status window that suddenly popped up.
[Quest Complete: Devil’s Mirror]
◆ Store Currency + 10
◆ Talent Acquisition: Origin ─ Mirror
“…”
Devil’s Mirror, quest completed. Acquired store currency and talents. I didn’t understand, so I turned back time in my head for a moment. While studying mirror and glass magic in the library, I got a call from Sophien and went to the Imperial Palace, played chess and…
No matter how much I thought about it, there wasn’t much that happened. On the other hand, the rewards were enormous. The three talents, perhaps as important as traits, were attributes, origins, and items. Among them, I learned an origin.
“The origin.”
Deculein’s magical talents were in elemental attributes, specifically earth and fire. Of course, earth and fire were elements that broadly contained the concept of mirrors, but this origin held different implications. Simply put, I had the combined talents of the origin – mirror, and attribute – earth-fire.
“But.”
I still didn’t know why the quest was suddenly resolved or how I had learned the origin of the mirror.
─Come out!
Then the hallway suddenly grew noisy. No, the whole Imperial Palace was a mess. The knights of the Imperial Palace appeared from nowhere, sprinting through the hall, and the servants moved quickly.
─Come on! Everyone come here…
I followed them slowly. The further I walked, the more people I passed by. Countless servants and knights were clinging to the windows on the first floor, watching the sports ground.
“…Oh, Yukline Lord! Look at this beautiful scene!”
Someone grabbed me. The very next moment, I immediately understood.
“It’s been almost 15 years, but Her Majesty is exercising this morning…”
Emperor Sophien was practicing the sword with Keiron. I, like everyone else, looked at her a bit blankly.
“…Has the world changed?”
Someone mumbled those words, but the sentence seeped into my ears and replayed again. Like a stone thrown into a pond, it created small ripples. And those ripples led to some thoughts.
Sophien’s impulsive behavior and desire for morning exercise. If the fact of the quest completion were added to this eccentricity that served as a harbinger of the world’s destruction…
“…”
I backed away without a word. Leaving the servants and knights behind, I continued down the hallway, turning back the way I came until I arrived in a space with few people to be seen. I now stood before the passage leading to the basement of the Imperial Palace. I approached the wooden door slowly and grabbed the doorknob.
Rattle—
It creaked but didn’t open.
“…”
I put my hand on the door. An unfamiliar feeling flowed coldly from it.
“…Is it here?”
It was as if my intuition was telling me what consciousness failed to convey. There were hidden memories inside that I didn’t know or had forgotten. But, not just yet, it wasn’t the right time.
“Okay.”
I nodded and turned around without hesitation. All of a sudden, a shout of ‘Whoa!’ echoed outside. The whole palace was making a commotion while watching Sophien. Should I take a look, or should I take Julie with me, or…
“Julie.”
“…!”
Julie, pretending to be a statue of a knight in the basement hallway, began to shake.
“Did you… know?”
“Let’s go see Her Majesty together. You are also a teaching knight, so I hope it will be helpful for your next lesson.”
“…Yes.”
Julie approached, wearing plate armor. I walked with her. Now, our parting wasn’t far away, but…
As long as it was a bizarre day like this one, we could be together.
* * *
“…Ifi! Ifi!”
A voice permeated her hazy consciousness, and a hand shook her body. Epherene, who was sleeping, opened her eyes with a zombie-like groan. Her friend Julia was saying something she could only half-hear.
“Did you hear that?”
“What…”
“Sylvia!”
“…Sylvia?”
Epherene sat up as she yawned. Julia continued noisily.
“Yeah! I heard she has already become a Monarch!”
“…”
Epherene was still dizzy. She yawned a second time.
“Monarch?”
“Yeah! Monarch!”
“…Are you talking about the wizard rank?”
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She stretched out with a third yawn.
“That’s right! Monarch rank!”
“…Well, it’s understandable with her level.”
“Understandable?! Ifi, she could suddenly become our professor.”
“No way~.”
Epherene looked at the blackboard. The lecture required for the major ‘Wide Area Magic Against Monsters: Fire Attribute Destruction Series’ had already been completed.
“But if she’s already the Monarch rank… I’m jealous.”
To be honest, Epherene felt like she was wasting her time. Most Solda lectures were too easy to learn.
“Jealous?! It’s just because of her family connections! Had she been a commoner, she would never have reached Monarch. It’s been less than 6 months since she received the label of Solda, yet she’s already a Monarch!”
“…Yeah.”
She roughly agreed with Julia, who was fuming mad, and raised herself up.
“But Ifi, why aren’t you coming to my restaurant these days?”
Julia tilted her head as if she were very upset. Her expensive earrings were dazzling in the light. Epherene let out a sigh.
“Whew~, I want to go too. But, there is so much to study.”
She had no time to eat. To be precise, she didn’t even have the time to leave the tower. In a month, of course, it was impossible to understand the content 100%, but she had to understand, to some extent, the thesis that Deculein offered her.
“We recently started a delivery service.”
“…Really?”
Those words pierced her ears. Julia smiled brightly.
“Yeah. The price is a little higher, but since you’re a regular, the delivery is free.”
“…Really?”
Epherene smacked her lips without realizing it, thinking of eating.
“Then today-”
*
Epherene, who had ordered a Roahawk through delivery, went up to the 77th floor happily.
[Head Professor: Deculein]
She knocked on the office door, fiddling with the papers to be handed to Professor Deculein.
Knock, knock-
There was no response.
“Is he not here today too?”
Epherene muttered and pushed on the door. The door opened naturally, but no one was there. Was it because he forgot to lock up, or was he just away for a minute? Epherene snuck in and placed the papers on Deculein’s desk.
“…Hmm~, hmmmm~.”
She was about to head back, but instead quietly checked her surroundings. Then, she reached out to the drawer of his desk-
—What are you trying to do?
“Ugh!”
Startled, Epherene turned her head towards the voice. A long mirror hung on the wall, and in it was Professor Deculein. She instinctively looked behind herself, but Professor Deculein wasn’t there.
“?”
She looked in the mirror again. In it was Professor Deculein.
“…What? Why are you in the mirror…”
And not outside of it. It was a situation that denied human perception and her cognitive abilities. As Epherene went slack-jawed, Deculein jumped out of the mirror.
“Huh?!”
“…”
Deculein approached calmly and sat down in his chair. The frightened Epherene stepped back, trying not to touch him.
“Why is a wizard surprised to see magic?”
“What… is that magic?”
“It’s mirror magic.”
Epherene looked at the mirror into which Deculein had just left. It didn’t seem like a special artifact.
“Epherene. I’ve often found you in here without permission lately.”
“Ah, because the door was open… and you said that these documents were also important.”
“Three penalty points.”
“…You should lock the door.”
Deculein ripped open the papers, quickly signing them with a fountain pen. Immediately after-
-So!
A loud voice echoed inside the office: Adrienne.
-Hello! This is Adrienne, the chairman!
“What?”
Epherene glanced at the documents Deculein had signed. Its title was [Confirmation of Candidates for the Next Chairman].
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—My term is coming to an end! Finally, today, I’ll announce the nominees for the next chairman!
“Epherene, do you have this much spare time?”