Chapter 91

A strong breeze swept through, and the scenery changed around them. Flowers bloomed that were out of season, and the lush ume blossom trees were painted white. A tree sprouted from the ground and grew several meters tall, its branches and flowers covering the sky. “…Magic Sword, Wind Whale!” Alice shouted, drawing and swinging her magic sword. Wind Whale absorbed mana and broke spells. It could be used to erase offensive spells directed at its wielder or illusionary spells cast on the surrounding area. And yet activating the magic sword did nothing to return her surroundings to normal. “I’d be careful swinging that sword around, if I were you. You won’t break the illusion, and you’ll end up owing over ten million dina in damages if you cut a tree. This ume blossom orchard is part of the Teran Lord’s Culture Preservation Project,” echoed Diamond’s voice. “Is that really important right now?!” Alice shouted, before noticing that the fake Karan had disappeared among the trees and flowers. Diamond had used her Sword of Resonance power to reverberate Karan’s voice and make Alice hear it from all directions at once. Alice had no idea where she was actually speaking from. A vision of Diamond playing a bewitching tune on the keyboards around the Sword of Resonance appeared and disappeared, making her look like a spirit frolicking in the wind. She was cute, stylish, and mysterious all at once. Her captivating melody written to lure people into a dream penetrated Alice’s mana-proof defense and shook her mind. “You can’t do all this and not expect me to fight back. Are you ready?” Alice said. “Of course,” responded Karan. Alice resolutely gripped her sword amid the sound-induced illusion. “Wind Whale! Expel the mana you’ve consumed!” Alice shouted, and mana surged from her magic sword in ripples. It wasn’t an attack—the mana didn’t burn or cut the trees. Instead, it rebounded off all obstacles and returned to her blade. She was using a skill that scanned the user’s surroundings in more minute detail than Tiana’s Magic Search, allowing Alice to fight without difficulty when her vision was impaired or her opponents were hiding. “There you are!” she shouted. Now able to tell which trees and flowers were fake and which were real, she leaped toward Karan. “You shouldn’t jump at a sick person like that.” “You? Sick? Don’t be ridiculous. You just produced a wide-ranging illusion without mana, and you can block close-range attacks. That’s a terrifying ability.” “Oh, there appears to be some sort of misunderstanding. This garden is my territory. This is my barrier spell, Musha Lane. Admiring the flowers is a wonderful pastime, is it not?” The person Alice had leaped toward wasn’t Karan, but Samurialie, who blocked her sword with a large pair of pruning clippers. That was hardly a weapon made for combat, but she had an expression of ease on her face. “I may not be a professional, but I have dabbled with the sword. I recommend you surrender,” she said. “You’re behind this trap?! This is no ordinary illusion!” yelled Alice in shock. “The culture of admiring flowers is engraved deeply into human hearts. It is easy for a person to look at a branch and see flowers that are not there,” said Samurialie. She kicked Alice in the stomach with her leather sandals to break their sword lock. “The essence of illusion magic is imagination. All you need is a little mana to push one’s mind in one direction or another. An illusion that relies too heavily on mana to twist one’s perception is easy to break.” Samurialie wasn’t lying, but she wasn’t telling the truth, either. This barrier did not use an insignificant amount of mana. Each and every tree in the orchard had been infused with magic to act as a source for the barrier. Cutting down one tree or robbing it of its mana wouldn’t accomplish anything—the other trees would respond by casting healing magic and maintaining the functionality of the entire orchard. Samurialie was just misleading Alice so she didn’t figure out how the trap worked. “…In that case, I see no reason to keep playing along,” Alice said. She sighed and turned her back on Samurialie, then leaped off the ground, kicked off the trunk of a tree, bounded off a branch, and disappeared among the grove. Her movement was even sharper than Nick’s when he used Light Body. “Hmm… That is not Light Body… Is she using the Fool’s Gait?!” Samurialie exclaimed. Fool’s Gait was a magical pair of boots with soles that produced shock waves to grant explosive jump strength and instantaneous speed. They granted both offensive and defensive capabilities. “Take care, Karan! She intends to disturb your sound with shock waves!” Samurialie warned. “That’s no problem… Harmonize: Mirror Sound,” Karan chanted. A raucous song resounded throughout the orchard. It came from an illusion of Diamond, who was singing and playing the keyboard. Her voice layered on top of itself, then split off to sing different parts—and where there had previously been only one Diamond playing all six keyboards, there were now six Diamonds, each playing one of the keyboards and singing. Together, they formed a full band. The sound penetrated the magic item’s shock waves, then passed through Alice’s eardrums to rock her nerves, emotions, and memories, ensnaring her in violent emotion. “Grk…,” Alice grunted. “This is an angry rhythm that freezes you to the bone one moment, then burns you the next. Let’s see if you can bear it,” said Diamond. A shock ran through Alice’s body. It wasn’t from a physical blow; she became violently numb and dizzy, as if she had been poisoned. “No…way…” The intense music carried anger, sadness, and pain tied to Karan’s memories and transferred those emotions to Alice. “That’s pot snake poison you’re feeling. It’s awful, isn’t it?” Karan asked. “You’re gonna kill me… Why isn’t my…anti-poison buff working…?” Alice gasped. Her face had become deathly pale. “You’ll be fine. I only transferred my memory of being poisoned. You weren’t actually poisoned, so you won’t be harmed at all. That said, you’re experiencing the memory of my pain, so your own strength is meaningless. You’ll suffer as long as the music is playing, and you’ll be healed as soon as it stops.” Karan and Diamond stopped performing, and Alice’s face quickly regained its color. She looked at Karan despondently before eventually putting down her sword. “…Well played. I surrender,” she said. “So we passed the test?” Karan asked. Alice nodded with a tired expression. “I would’ve preferred we had a more amicable dialogue, though.” “You threatened me first. You basically told us to block your escape and corner you.” “I was just trying to get you motivated.” Alice sat up, smiling bitterly. “I also couldn’t discard the possibility of you being in league with Argus and the demon-god worshippers. There are a lot of questions surrounding the deaths of Nick’s parents, so there was no way to know for sure that you hadn’t received support from the demon-god worshippers,” said Karan. “Yeah. I could’ve been a spy, for all you knew. Confiding in allies can be risky for that reason. I could’ve passed along everything you said to the enemy… Why did you decide to trust me?” Alice asked. Karan nodded calmly. “…Do you remember the girl who died in the Garbage Heap?” “Yeah. I remember her well. Nick scolded me for not finding her.” “That’s not all. You regretted not seeing her yourself. You felt that if you did, you would have been able to identify her and find and stop the fake Steppingman.” “Huh? Is that your only reason?” “You’re also kind toward Nick. Like you’re watching over him.” Alice didn’t say anything. She looked ashamed. “…It’s time, Alice.” The voice spoke from out of nowhere. It was a dignified woman’s voice that didn’t belong to anyone present. “Are you sure, President?” Alice asked. “There is no point in continuing to hide after they have come this far. You did well.” “I lost in the end, though.” “This isn’t about winning and losing, child. I told you to test them. I admit I did not expect this sequence of events, however.” “Show yourself. And talk to us. No one will hear you here,” Karan said. “That is right. We are within my barrier, Musha Lane. No magic detection spells or tracing will function here. I guarantee you that the Sword of Tasuki will hear nothing,” Samurialie added. Alice answered by reaching into her pocket and pulling something out. “A mirror…?” Karan said. “This is the person you—and the demon-god worshippers—are searching for. Her name is Marde, and she’s the president of the Dineez Adventurers Credit Union. Her official name is the Magic Mirror of Marde,” Alice said. “Oh, you’re a magic mirror. That makes sense…,” said Diamond. The mirror had a distinct oval shape, resembling a small window on a traditional brick building. It was about twice as big as a hand mirror and had a silver rim with a matte finish. The glass shone, and someone appeared within it. “Magic mirrors look like ordinary mirrors at first glance, but the reflection is intentionally distorted. A hidden image will appear when it reflects light. She’s probably projecting her image magically now, though,” Diamond said. “Your knowledge is impressive. This is our first audience, Sword of Distortion.” That “someone” was a young woman. She had dark skin and long golden hair, and her sharp eyes appeared sorrowful. It was hard to imagine she had such a bad reputation from her current calm demeanor. “That name… You were made before the Demon God War, weren’t you?” Diamond asked. “Yes. We never spoke because I wasn’t yet sentient at the time. There is much I would like to discuss with you as a fellow long-lived being, but…my business is not with you.” Everyone’s eyes fell on Karan. “Yeah. I don’t know what you want, but I have business with you, too,” Karan said, looking directly at the figure in the mirror. “Karan Tsubaki. You have reached the truth. You also satisfied my conditions and welcomed me to this place. As such, I have decided to show myself and give you my name. I am Marde, president of the Dineez Adventurers Credit Union.” Marde said she would start by answering questions, and began to speak of the past. First, she spoke frankly about why Argus had killed Nick’s parents and how Alice came to possess her magic mirror. “Nick’s parents—Richard and Robin—were merchants. Do you know what kind of business they dealt with?” Marde asked. “They sold trade goods, right? Like thread, oil, and food?” said Karan.