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Chapter 11

STILL RATTLED, Emella found herself jumping and flinching at even the slightest noise. Asval was faring a little better, but he still looked uncomfortable and seemed ready to leave the castle as soon as possible.

As a mage, Flicker lost all trace of anxiety when she learned that one of the major disciplines was at work. Having the opportunity to fawn over Mira once again didn’t hurt either.

“Hey, why don’t we have some food? I worked up an appetite getting all the way down here,” Zef said, plopping to the ground and rubbing his stomach.

“Hrmm, indeed,” Mira agreed, feeling pangs of hunger as well. The other guild members nodded halfheartedly and began pulling ingredients and cooking utensils from their Item Boxes.

“Come on, you too, Vice Captain.” Zephard prodded Emella.

“I’m good, thanks.”

The men were in charge of the cooking while the women were in charge of supplying the ingredients, which allowed the ladies to sit around and chat while the food was prepared.

“By the way, about earlier,” said Emella, trying to take her mind off of what she’d stumbled across in the castle. “Who was that guy you called for at the mirror? Howard, wasn’t it? Or is that also a secret?”

“Oh, did I pique your interest?” Mira replied as she passed Tact an apple au lait.

“Well, there’s a possibility that I might have met him before, I think.”

Mira stared at Emella for a moment and considered her reply. Her reasons for finding Howard were still confidential, and she didn’t feel like spreading rumors about the threat of encroaching demons. At the same time, Howard had been a fairly well-known character, and there was a chance she could find someone who did have a connection with him that would be strong enough to call him in the mirror. Besides, perhaps the Howard whom Emella knew was a different person. Mira wasn’t expecting much, but figured she’d start with a few easy-to-recognize features.

“He called himself a demonologist and always wore this trench coat and capotain hat.”

“I knew it! That’s the same old Howard I met!” Emella’s expression brightened and her eyes narrowed as she reminisced.

“What gave it away?”

“Oh, it had to be him. A while back, in the Lion King’s Lair, he popped out of nowhere and splashed me with holy water. When I saw you sprinkling holy water on the mirror and saying his name, he was the first thing that came to mind.”

“He got you too, huh…” Mira and Emella shared a bitter smile at the recollection.

Sprinkling someone with holy water was the first step in an exorcism when checking if someone was under demonic influence. For Howard, it was just a standard greeting.

“So, why did you want to talk with old man Howard? Could it…have something to do with the stories we’ve heard lately about Lesser Demon incursions?” Emella lowered her voice and crawled closer to Mira.

“Well, I can’t say that it doesn’t.” Mira scooted away, not liking the sudden turn in the conversation.


It was no surprise that the news of the demon incursions had begun to spread. When half the Alcaitian army was called out to deal with the threat, there was no way to keep it under wraps. Still, her own association with the king needed to be downplayed so she could slip easily into other countries should the need arise.

“I knew it,” said Emella with a joyless grin. “I’ve heard nothing but bad things about them, and the other day, our guild got word that they had started appearing again. I’ve been trying to find out more.”

“They say they’ve also been showing up around Alcait recently,” Flicker interrupted, having somehow tucked herself so that Mira scooted into her as she tried to scoot away from Emella.

Mira tensed for a moment, but Flicker didn’t seem to push her luck. Maybe she was in her intellectual state again…maybe she’d learned her lesson.

As she relaxed, she couldn’t help but focus on some of the things that they said. Again? Also around Alcait? It sounded like there had been more appearances of the demons than just the ones she’d been involved in.

“I know about the incidents near Lunatic Lake. Have there been others?”

“Sure enough,” Flicker smiled and leaned in as she eagerly began to elucidate.

Word had traveled among the top guilds that two other kingdoms were also attacked by packs of monsters being led by Lesser Demons. Their motives were currently under investigation, but a general warning to nearby adventurers would be issued soon enough. Mira was impressed by the speed of the work being done to mobilize the guilds in response to an emerging crisis.

After listening to Flicker’s story, Mira put a finger to her chin and groaned as she pondered over the details. It seemed the issue of invading monster hordes wasn’t just limited to the Kingdom of Alcait and was far more of a threat than the in-game events she was used to. It seemed several player-founded nations had been attacked and managed to bring the situation under control while minimizing loss of human life…so far.

Nothing was preventing future incursions by Lesser Demons. But what were they after? What did all of these incidents have in common?

Looking for links between the wealth of information, Mira sank her consciousness into the sea of wisdom. Flicker took the opportunity to sneak up to her side, staring at her with glittering eyes.

“Your serious expression is so cute!” She let out a sigh and lunged forward, only to be struck down on the fly by one of Emella’s knife-hand chops.

Unaware of the momentary battle that had occurred, Mira was lost in the memories of past quests involving Lesser Demons. The motives of the Lesser Demons had always been shrouded in mystery, even back during the game. The only common thread between the in-game events were their inevitable pyrrhic conclusions. But this new wave of outbreaks—with coordinated incursions in multiple locations—was clearly the start of something larger.

This just keeps getting more intriguing and troubling.

Now she lamented that she hadn’t gotten the chance to talk to Howard. He may have been a self-educated demonologist, but his information was solid, and he probably would have had some sort of hint as to what was going on. Mira frowned and sighed before glancing over in Emella’s direction.

“I don’t suppose you had a deep connection with Howard? One that might be able to call him in the mirror?”

Typically, in order to use the mirror, you had to have some kind of strong bond with the person you wished to see—for instance, you might be their blood relative, a lover, or a best friend. Mira had only ever interacted with him through quests, so that wouldn’t cut it.

Emella shook her head with an apologetic smile. “Probably not. I only met him that one time in the Lion King’s Lair, and I doubt that would be enough.”

“But the mirror doesn’t require that the person have a connection, just an item with a strong link to the dead, right?” Flicker said quietly with an intellectual-looking smile as she slowly got to her feet. It seems her cuteness lust had subsided. “Why don’t we try our luck in Iblis Village? That’s where Howard did his final research. Maybe he left something behind.”

“Iblis Village, hmm? Kind of a hike but possibly worth it.” Mira rubbed her chin. Maybe she could convince Solomon to send someone to collect his leftover possessions.

As Mira began to ponder the logistics, Flicker’s affliction surged back with a vengeance.

“Mira’s so cute!”

And once again the purple-clad mage was felled by Emella’s hand before Mira could even notice.



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