She Professed Herself The Pupil Of The Wiseman (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

AFTER ALFINA HAD DEPARTED like a gale blowing across the open sea, Mira blinked heavily to shake the image of the ghouls from her mind. That problem should be solved.

“Shall we continue?” she asked, looking farther down the corridor at the fading azure light.

Tact rushed up to her side and took her hand. As if invited, Flicker followed suit and took her other hand. Mira furrowed her brow in dismay. Meanwhile, Emella, Asval, and Zef stood frozen as they stared down the passageway where Alfina had departed.

“Did you two see that too?”

“Yep. Pretty crazy.”

“Pretty awesome, though.”

All three had been transfixed by the battle aura that poured from Alfina. It was vast and far surpassed anything they’d encountered before. A battle aura was a special type of energy that surrounded everyone, no matter who they were. In times of crisis, its magnitude increased proportional to an individual’s ability.

Emella looked over at Mira, who was still gloating quietly to herself. What were the implications of Mira commanding such a powerful being?

“The summoning techniques you use are formidable,” came a voice that was at once familiar and yet entirely alien. “Though this is my first time seeing them, I’d like to talk with you at length once we’ve achieved our goal and returned to town.”

Mira turned and looked at Flicker. Something had changed drastically with the purple-robed mage.

Where was the Flicker who wanted nothing more than to poke and prod and squeal? Instead, the sorceress quietly stared at Mira with inquisitive eyes sparkling like stars in the night sky.

“Emella! Emella! Something’s wrong with Flicker!” Mira called, not taking her eyes away from the strange mage.

“What an odd response. We’ve been together this whole time.” Flicker replied as she pushed her glasses back up her nose like an academic interrupted in the middle of a study session.

“Hmm? How so?” Emella snapped from her daze and wandered over to investigate.

“She’s gone all…intellectual? Whatever it is, it’s weirding me out.”

“Oh, that’s what you meant.” Emella smiled mischievously and suddenly hugged the party mage, calling out, “I love you, Flicker!”

“What are you doing? Stop messing around.” Flicker brushed off Emella and slipped from her embrace.

Emella stuck out her tongue and laughed. “Just as I expected.”

“And? What was that supposed to do?” demanded Mira.

“Now you try it.”

“Why would I do such a thing?!” Mira blustered.

“Go on, give it a try, and it will all make sense.” Emella grabbed Mira’s arms from the back, and like a puppeteer operating an unwieldy marionette, wrapped them around Flicker despite Mira’s immediate protest.

“Oof, what are you doing, Emella…aaah?!”

Instantaneously, the composed and intelligent Flicker collapsed like a house of cards as she grabbed Mira and pulled her deeper into the hug, rubbing her face against Mira’s soft pudgy cheeks.

“Oh, Mira, did you need some attention? Come here, sweetie, let me give you a hug! I love you too!”

“What have you done?!” cried Mira, angry that she’d ever mentioned the problem in the first place.

“Flicker has a thing for cute girls. Usually, she’s calm and calculating—one of the best support mages around—but get her around something adorable in a dress and she can’t help herself.”

“Couldn’t you have just explained that verbally?!” Mira cried desperately as Flicker’s wandering hands kept exploring.

“Since this is an afternoon of education, I thought you’d prefer a comprehensive demonstration,” Emella responded with a giggle.

“Fool of an elf!”

Mira’s scream of anguish echoed through the silence of the catacombs.

The other members of Écarlate Carillon smiled apologetically while Flicker replenished her stores of cuteness at Mira’s expense. Tact gave Mira’s hand a small squeeze of condolence.

During the five minutes of cuddling, Zephard busied himself by wandering after Alfina to search for loot in her wake. His mastery of stealth made him the perfect candidate for such a task, since if he stumbled across something the Valkyrie had missed, he could simply withdraw from the area unseen.

When he returned, the party moved onward. The long, dark corridor ahead echoed with the sound of Alfina’s footsteps and the sounds of metal clashing. Mira tried to keep her Holy Knight between herself and Flicker, wary of the heavy breathing coming from the rear.

As the party made it to the next hall, Mira was the most apprehensive she’d ever been within a dungeon—but they’d encountered no further monsters, just piles of ash scattered about.

“All clear!” shouted Zef, peeking back around the corner with a wave of his hand. 

As the group entered, he continued to search the surroundings. Amid the piles of ash, he discovered something glowing.

“Hey, isn’t this a Mobility Stone?” he called, picking up a marble-sized purple stone from the ashes. 

Asval took the handle of his hammer and used it to scatter another one of the piles. Seeing another Mobility Stone fall out, he raised his lantern and looked around the room. “Are these ashes all that remains of the monsters?”

There were over a dozen piles of ash. Mira reached down to pick up a Mobility Stone from one of them.

Hrmm, looks like loot drops survived the transition.

Mobility Stones were a material item collected primarily from undead monsters. Besides being used by necromancers to animate corpses, they had a number of applications and were always in high demand. Back in the Ark Earth Online that Mira knew, players would farm the stones in the catacombs on “grave visits.” It was useful to know that the monsters of the catacombs still dropped them after the world had become real.

While Mira was lost in her memories, Zef zipped about to sweep the piles for any hidden Mobility Stones. In the end, the room contained fourteen of the valuable items.

“So this is all thanks to Alfina, right?” he asked as he counted out the loot.

“Based on what we’re seeing, that seems to be the case,” replied Flicker.

“But how were they all reduced to ash?” he wondered. “Wasn’t she carrying a sword? Can she use some form of fire spell?”

It was a fair question, and Flicker pondered for a few moments. “Even with magic, it would take a high-level spell to reduce them to this without leaving other traces. But there’s no residual mana in the air, so it couldn’t have been sorcery.”

As those present considered the discrepancy between the current situation and the facts, their eyes all slid to Mira.

“Go on, then, Mira. Enlighten us,” said Zephard with a wry grin.

Spurred on by Zef’s prompt and accompanying wink, Mira responded with a haughty “If I must.”

“Alfina wields a sword forged from condensed light,” Mira proudly explained, finger to her chin. “As it strikes the wicked, it releases a burst of concentrated sunlight…and sunlight incinerates the undead. Nothing here can stop her.”

“Such a sword exists…?” Emella stared at one of the ash piles with a twinkle in her eyes. If Flicker had a weakness for cute girls, then the elven warrior had a corresponding vice for nice swords.

“I see. That’s rather amazing that you can summon a being wielding such a sword.” Much to Mira’s delight, Asval’s opinion of summoning continued to trend upward.

This raid was progressing more smoothly than Emella had imagined—so much so, it almost couldn’t be called a raid at all.

The monsters that normally kept adventurers on guard were all reduced to ash in the path of Mira’s minion, leaving Zef to triumphantly sweep through the remains. The only moment that slightly resembled adventure was when the party got turned around in a room with multiple branching passages and Emella had to consult her map.

“Why’d we come down here again? These little guys?” Zef asked, picking yet another Mobility Stone out of the ashes. 

The idle comment struck Emella’s pride to the core and she could only groan in response. She’d gathered her friends to escort Tact to the Hall of Darkness. It’d seemed to be the only prudent solution at the time. She just couldn’t have let a little boy and girl venture off alone into a C-Rank dungeon! Even veterans faced serious danger here. An adult had to step in to make sure they were safe.

But judging from the current state of affairs, Mira alone would have been more than enough to accomplish the deed.

Now Emella was stuck carrying a spirit blade with nothing to swing it at.

“Are we just leeching?” Zef asked.

“Don’t say that!” Emella buried her face in her hands.

As the party continued on, they arrived at an atrium midway through the third level. A large pile of ashes sat in the center of the room where the giant ghoul should have been. Zef approached and began kicking through the debris.

“Whoa! A Mobility Crystal!”

Zephard raised the fist-sized gemstone high into the air, and the general mood lifted at once. Mobility crystals were very rare items that could only be obtained from the largest undead monsters. Adventurers had lost their lives trying to secure such treasures.

“Wow! Let me see that!” shouted Emella.

As the reinvigorated vice captain charged at Zef, Asval gazed across the room at the jewel in his hands. “Are you serious?”

“That’s a rare find,” Mira commented.

Loot secured, the group continued to pick their way through the dungeon until they arrived at their destination on the fifth floor—the Hall of Darkness.

Even at the site of what should have been the most challenging fight in the dungeon, there were no signs of monsters—just scattered piles of ash. The sheer volume of debris was a testament to Alfina’s unseen valor, and both Emella and Asval gasped at the sight. According to their plan, it would have been piles of bodies, and they would have borne the brunt of the assault.

“The monsters are defeated,” said a voice from one of the side halls as the Valkyrie stepped from the shadows. She showed no signs of exhaustion or damage, and her armor was as pristine as the moment they first saw her.

“Very well done, Alfina. I knew I could count on you.”

“I am honored by your praise, Master,” the summoned Valkyrie said as she took a knee before Mira.

“Get some rest.”

At Mira’s words of dismissal, a magic circle appeared to envelop and carry Alfina back to wherever she existed when not summoned by the master of the Tower of Evocation. The rest of the party stood and watched the solemn display, hesitant to interrupt. By the look on Zephard’s face, he was disappointed to see her go.

And with that, the dungeon was cleared.

The layout of the fifth level was quite simple. A corridor led from the stairs to a square-shaped hall, and each wall had a door leading to another passageway leading onward. The left passageway led to a storeroom where a chest of loot had once spawned when this was still a game. The path on the far wall led down to the sixth level. All eyes fell on the right-hand passage, which led to Tact’s destination.

Emella confirmed this on her map and signaled the party to follow. Zef, still searching the ashes for treasure, was left to bring up the rear.

“So here we are,” Emella said as she reached a copper door at the end of the hallway. She opened it, and they all stepped through.

The party found themselves in a room with an inexplicable language scrawled across the walls. The oddness of the chamber was impossible to ignore, and Mira found her eyes drawn to the full-length mirror on the opposite wall.

Emella and Asval checked for hidden enemies, but there were neither monsters nor piles of ash that might indicate Alfina had been here a few minutes earlier. The only thing of note was the mirror, its oppressive presence magnified by the eerie illumination of lantern light.

While the adventurers looked on in a mixture of apprehension and awe, Mira grumbled to herself and approached the mirror to get on with her mission. Remembering a disastrous quest where the mirror was cursed by a Lesser Demon, she decided to take preventative measures. She reached into her pocket to withdraw a phial of holy water. Popping the cork, she splashed some across the glass and stood back to observe.

“Hrmm, looks all right,” she mumbled, then turned and motioned to Tact to come forward.

“Huh? What was that about?” Emella asked with a quirked eyebrow.

“Hm? Oh, just a little…charm,” Mira responded evasively, not wanting to go into a story that might blow her cover.

The water slowly dripping from the mirror added to the eeriness. Though they had reached their target without a scratch, everyone in the room was on edge, save for Mira. Suddenly, the door behind the group flew open and Emella leapt into the air, spinning to reach for her sword.

“Oh, so this is where you guys got to. Did you find the thing?” asked Zephard as he took in the scene.

“W-we found it! See? There it is!” Emella blushed with embarrassment and pointed to the mirror.

“There you go, Tact. Now you can see your mom and dad again.” The rogue clapped a hand to Tact’s shoulder as if he’d been the one who made it all possible.

Tears welled in Tact’s eyes as he looked around at the party who’d brought him here. “Right! Thank you, thank you all so much!”

“It’s easy to use. There are a couple prior conditions that need to be met, such as having a close connection to the departed person you want to contact or having an item of value to them. I think you meet those standards. Now all you have to do is face the mirror and say their names,” said Mira, gently patting Tact on the back. “Go on, do your thing, kid.”

Taking a step forward he nodded and stood before the mirror. After a moment’s hesitation, he conjured fond memories of his mom and dad, then called his parents’ names…

…and nothing happened.

“Are they there?” asked Emella, breaking the silence and earning herself a glare from Flicker.

Still, nothing happened.

“Maybe they don’t appear to others?” Asval muttered. But no one had an answer for his question, and they all continued to stare at Tact’s back.

“Tact.”

Mira was the first to notice the change. As the boy’s shoulders shook and tears streamed down his face, she ran up and hugged the boy. The other four stepped forward to see what had happened and Tact began to wail while pressing his face into Mira’s robes.

“Father… Mother…” he sobbed as Mira gently patted him on the back, catching the endless tears that spilled forth with her clothing.

“What happened? Was it a sad farewell?” she asked.

The boy responded to her questions with a shake of his head. He looked up at her, eyes wet.

“Neither one of them wanted to see me,” he managed to get out before breaking down again.

He hadn’t been able to see his parents. Both Emella and Flicker wore dispirited expressions as they put their hands on his shoulders. Dismayed and unsure of what to do, Asval opened his Item Box and looked for sweet or a drink that he could offer.

But Zephard stood in front of the Mirror of Darkness, staring at it thoughtfully.

“Lyrica.”

His voice was just a whisper, but the name rose up unthinkingly from within like a quiet prayer.

As he said the name, a sliver of light leaked from the dark mirror and a girl—perhaps sixteen years old—slowly appeared within. She wore a red dress, and her brown hair was woven into twin braids. Her eyes gazed at the rogue standing before the mirror with a warm smile.

“It…can’t be…”

She was the same age as when she passed away, wearing her favorite dress with her hair done up just as he remembered. His sister looked like she’d just stepped out from his memories.

But he wasn’t alone in seeing her; Mira, Emella, and Flicker stood with their eyes glued to the mirror, though they still worked to console Tact.

“Lyrica… Lyrica!” Zephard unthinkingly clutched the mirror and shouted his sister’s name.

“Big brother?” The girl in the mirror tilted her head to the side in response.

“Lyrica, I’m sorry,” he rasped. “If only I’d come home faster. If only—”

His apologies began to blur together as his voice grew hoarse until he simply began repeating “I’m sorry” over and over again.

“Why are you apologizing? You did nothing wrong.” Her words were the only thing that brought pause to Zef’s apologies.

“But I…I couldn’t save you. If I’d returned to the village sooner, you wouldn’t have died.” His voice sagged as though he had just confessed a sin. 

Asval was the only one among the party who knew the story, and he walked over to Zef with a scowl. But just as he was about to tell Zephard that it never should have fallen upon his shoulders in the first place, Lyrica spoke up again.

“It was the illness that took me, Zef. It wasn’t your fault.” The girl in the mirror had a bright-red face as she scolded her brother. This wasn’t how she remembered him. She didn’t want him to apologize or blame himself for such a thing. “Listen to me, Zephard!”

“O-okay!” The anger in Lyrica’s voice snapped Zef to attention.

As she saw him flinch, she smiled and giggled.

“Wh-what is it, Lyrica?”

“I didn’t come here to hear you apologize; I came here to thank you! I’m glad to see you’re still the same.”

“Huh? Who, me?”

As a child, she’d often have to scold him for losing control of himself. It had been a while since that had happened last, but he’d never forget her chastising.

“It was a plague,” she said firmly. “Don’t take responsibility for my death, Zef.”

“But Lyrica—”

“But nothing! You did all you could to take care of me. And now I can finally tell you—thank you. I love you, Zephard.”

As she said this, her form began to slowly fade away. Time was running out.

“Me too. I love you too!” Zef shouted after Lyrica’s vanishing shade.

The final image was of a young smiling girl.