Monia’s situation was no longer just my problem.
Now that she made a contract with a demon, it’s inevitable that she’ll become a target of Tillis.
Originally, according to the game’s scenario, we should’ve had much more time before this happened. But because of an unexpected variable, that timeline has been drastically shortened.
“Oracle, just calm down and listen to me first.”
“Oh? The fact that you’re groveling must mean you’ve done something wrong. Go ahead. Recite it all.”
I stayed wary of Oracle’s clenched fists as I explained in detail everything I’d learned.
I made sure to emphasize my position as the victim in all of this.
“At this point, I’m honestly amazed. With all that going on, maybe you were just destined to die this year?”
…I’m starting to think the same.
Doesn’t it feel like someone out there is holding a ritual to make sure I die or something?
But even so—
“Yeah, no. I’m definitely not dying.”
“So let me get this straight. Someone who holds a grudge against you has made a contract with a demon?”
“Exactly.”
“And because of something you did, the Judge ended up retrieving the 71st demon from Loki?”
“That did happen.”
“And now, if this Monia person falls into the Judge’s hands, that would trigger the countdown to the end of the world….is that what you’re saying?”
“Yeah! That’s exactly it.”
“And you had the nerve to tell me to calm down?”
“Thanks to that, you didn’t freak out, right?”
“I’m seriously considering killing you right now. I mean, aren’t you the root cause of literally everything?”
“I turned myself in voluntarily.”
So cut me some slack, would you?
And strictly speaking, I was a victim too. I hadn’t done anything, but the other party resented me anyway.
“Tsk, fine. I get the gist of the situation.”
“So, what do we do now?”
“Well… I’m not sure if I should get involved in this.”
“Huh?”
What kind of nonsense was that?
If we sat around doing nothing, we’d be heading straight for the world-destruction route.
“Johan Damus. This situation is far more complicated than you think.”
“How complicated?”
“It’s too complicated to explain.”
“What…?”
Well, if that’s the case, I guess there’s no helping it.
“Anyway, for now, it’s best we just observe the situation. If we recklessly step in to solve it ourselves, we’ll only end up getting in Olga Hermod’s way.”
Not wrong.
Olga Hermod specialized in illusion magic that affected the space itself.
If we got caught up for no reason, we might just end up interfering with her work.
Looking on the bright side, maybe Olga Hermod would take care of Monia before Tillis ever got involved.
If that happened, Tillis would be barking up the wrong tree, and I wouldn’t have to worry about the aftermath.
Of course, there was still the chance that Tillis would find Monia first, or that the two might clash somewhere in between…
“Are you sure this is okay?”
“…At the very least, this is what’s best for you.”
“Then I guess there’s no choice.”
Stay put.
It was my favorite phrase. And from the start, it was also the right thing to do.
***
Monia had escaped the Cradle and was constantly on the run.
“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!”
She had failed.
Her life wasn’t worth much anymore, but even after risking it, she couldn’t even take care of Johan Damus.
Why had she failed?
“It’s all… your fault, Shax.”
“Oh, now that’s not fair. If you had used my power from the beginning, it would’ve been a simple matter. But you insisted on taking the long way around, didn’t you?”
“Ha! Don’t make me laugh. You were beaten by that Archmage in the end anyway.”
Monia had borrowed Shax’s power to disrupt Johan Damus’s senses.
And that wasn’t just a temporary effect.
It had twisted his entire nervous system to the point that aftereffects would remain.
But Olga Hermod had overpowered even Shax’s authority.
She had restored the warped nervous system with her illusion magic.
“What do I do? What am I supposed to do now…?”
“Poor Monia. You’re so broken down you can’t even make a proper decision.”
“Shut up! I said shut up, Shax! If you don’t want to give up here, then cooperate with me! Find a way!”
“A way, huh… What we need to do now is clear. If not for your stubbornness, we’d have already left the capital and vanished by now.”
Monia had escaped the Cradle, but she hadn’t gotten far.
She still hadn’t dealt with Johan Damus.
That lingering regret kept her circling the area.
She knew it was foolish.
But she couldn’t help it. Hatred was all she had left.
If she had to abandon even that, then what would be left of her?
“Big sister…”
Her beloved family had been murdered.
Shattered by the shock, she wandered, falling into a dream she thought she would never wake from.
But the dream ended, and she was pushed once more into the frigid reality.
No…after all that time, the world she returned to was even colder than before.
“I’m sorry… big sister.”
Luda and Monia had been commoners.
Before enrolling at the Cradle, they’d lived skimming by in back alleys.
And now, that half-year gap had cruelly reminded her just how grim their circumstances had been.
The grave Monia returned to after waking from the dream had long since been cleared away.
“But sister… how am I supposed to apologize to you now? There’s nothing left of you. Not even a trace.”
It was because she hadn’t paid the maintenance fees.
No one knew where Luda’s body had gone. It might’ve been dumped by the roadside or thrown into a river.
Having run away into a dream, Monia had lost even the final trace of her sister.
“Monia, she’s here.”
“Ugh!”
Snapped out of her daze by Shax’s voice, Monia came back to her senses.
Through the dark alleyway, the Archmage was approaching.
“When I see children like you, it becomes unbearably painful.”
“……”
“This world is so harsh; there are many who never get even a single chance, simply because they have no power.”
The moment Olga Hermod saw Monia’s devastated appearance, she understood.
Monia was just like the children Olga had seen before—
Kids crushed by the monstrous disaster called war, writhing in pain.
“The world is still immature, and the Empire remains unstable. So all this tragedy must be the fault of greedy adults. I’m sorry we couldn’t protect you. If I’d known sooner, maybe things could have been different.”
“…Don’t make me laugh.”
Monia clenched her teeth at the clear pity in her voice. Words were cheap. Anyone could say them.
In the end, Olga Hermod hadn’t come for anything other than to deal with her.
“And who are you to pity me? What do you even know? You came here to eliminate me anyway. Isn’t that right?”
“…Yes.”
Olga Hermod lowered her head as if in sorrow.
In the end, she had tracked Monia down to capture her. More precisely, she had come to use what Monia was.
She was no different from the foolish, greedy adults she spoke of.
She pretended to be mature, but she too was just an inexperienced person.
“I’m just as pitiful as you are.”
Olga Hermod lightly tapped her staff to the ground and began casting a spell.
The world around them started to expand and distort.
“That’s how it is for everyone. That’s what it means to be human. And because we’re human, we can help one another.”
A perfectly sealed space.
Within a world where no one else could see, Olga Hermod reached out to Monia.
“There’s still a chance.”
“……”
“If you wish, I’ll help you disappear from this place. Somewhere no one can ever find you. So forget everything. Give it all up and live a new life.”
Olga Hermod was naive.
She still believed that people could save one another.
And she believed that someone like herself, who had once taken so many lives, had to save just as many to make up for it.
Because without that belief, she wouldn’t have been able to endure.
“You haven’t hurt anyone yet. You still have a chance to turn back.”
Just as Monia lived by feeding her hatred toward Johan, Olga Hermod lived by saving others as a way to atone.
“Save it.”
But Monia slapped the hand away.
Olga Hermod quietly nodded and straightened her posture.
“Convincing children has always been difficult for me. I often don’t know what to say, because I can’t see what’s in their hearts.”
“……”
“So, Miss Monia. I will ask you again. Again and again until you collapse from exhaustion.”
The space twisted once more.
Now, not a single trace of the real world remained; only Olga Hermod’s illusion filled the surroundings.
“Shax! Get ready!”
Seeing the signs, Monia shouted the demon’s name.
The demon, shaped like a giant bird, spread its wings wide and scattered its feathers in every direction.
“……”
Monia sharpened her focus, ready to counter Olga Hermod’s magic.
If she let her eyes wander to the illusion for even a moment, it would all be over.
“Do you know how I earned my title?”
Olga Hermod was a master of space magic and illusion magic.
And she was a strategist on the battlefield. An Archmage, renowned for her control over the tides of war.
After rising to the rank of an Archmage, she created two major schools of magic.
The first was illusion magic centered on herself. Spells like [Polymorph] and [Camouflage].
And the second…
Olga Hermod’s original spell:
[Kaleidoscope – Synesthetic Expansion]
A spell of overwhelming power that could only be used by her.
The world was covered in mirrors.
Reflections appeared all around, showing countless images of Monia and Olga Hermod.
Seeing a dizzying number of versions of herself, Monia sharpened her focus even further.
That was her fatal mistake.
“I first stepped onto the battlefield when I was even younger than you are now.”
“Wh… what?”
Monia could hear Olga Hermod’s self-deprecating voice.
But something felt strange.
The direction of the voice was… off.
It wasn’t simply coming from the left or the right.
“Wh-What is… happening…?”
The voice came from the left.
More precisely, from the reflection of herself on the left side.
Which meant… the Monia standing here right now was not the one hearing it.
“……!”
A chill ran down Monia’s spine.
Her senses were sharper than ever, and yet, her sense of self was fading.
She no longer knew where she was standing.
She could see all the mirrors surrounding her from above, below, and in every direction….and she existed in all of them at once.
She had no idea which one was the real her.
Her senses began to tangle.
She could taste sound and feel light scattering across her skin.
And finally, all of her senses wove together…then scattered into the air.
Everywhere and nowhere at once.
Monia couldn’t even scream. She was overwhelmed by a synesthesia so close to omnipotence, yet utterly helpless.
“Those who suffer from Transcendence Syndrome report sensations like this.”
It was an emotion she had never felt before.
She flailed in an indescribable terror.
Or was she flailing at all? She couldn’t even tell where her arms and legs were.
But at that moment, someone grabbed her hand and pulled her up.
Monia knew instantly. It was Olga Hermod.
And at that same moment, she felt something being pulled out of her body.
“Shax…?”
“Kh! Kuh—!”
Shax, who had been clinging to her senses and emotions, was torn away.
The demon thrashed inside the kaleidoscope, making a metallic screech.
Olga Hermod had extracted the demon that had been parasitizing Monia’s body.
“I’ll ask again, Miss Monia. Not the you who was controlled by the demon’s emotions and senses…but the real you.”
Monia was still sad. A deep pain lingered in her chest.
But she didn’t hate Johan as much as she used to.
Only then did she realize—
All the hatred and anxiety she had felt were deliberately stirred up by the demon, Shax.
That it had been feeding the flames, tossing kindling onto even the faintest sparks of emotion.
“I won’t ask you to forget everything. But… don’t you want to live a new life?”
In that moment, something began to sprout within Monia’s heart once seething with hatred.
What she had seen in her dream. Her dream.
The dream of two sisters who had hoped to run a pharmacy in a quiet, rural domain.
That dream had already been shattered.
The largest piece was gone.
But Monia knew—
That dream was still hers.
The path of alchemy was one she had chosen for herself.
Monia no longer pushed away Olga Hermod’s hand.
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