The gap in the orbit connecting island to island.
An empty space where magic dust drifted in vain.
“······.”
Sylvia sat upon a pile of stones in that dark clearing, staring into the air.
The flow of rocks and mana, held by the gravity of the floating islands and revolving like things in space, was reflected in her pupils.
“Have you sorted out your thoughts?”
Rustle— Idnik asked as she took one step closer. Sylvia silently nodded.
A hawk landed on her shoulder.
Speedy, now sharper and fiercer than before. Gomtaengpanda was dozing on her thigh.
“Then what will you do?”
“······.”
Sylvia gazed at the countless fragments rippling in the sky.
The materials that had shattered without becoming an island formed someone’s shape. They carved out her memories.
······Deculein von Grahan Yukline.
Were the feelings he had for me nothing more than guilt, pity, and sympathy?
But how could he say he was doing it for my sake after killing my mother?
Sylvia recalled his blue eyes.
Eyes as dazzling as crystal, yet endlessly cold and composed.
······The streaks of blood spreading across that beautiful face.
The red that stained him.
Mother’s blood.
“I’m going to hate him to death. To the ends of this world, with all my strength.”
“······.”
Idnik did not answer. She merely watched the scenery Sylvia brought forth. She watched the torrent of mana.
Swaaaaaaa······.
Rock fragments, grains of sand, and dying moss that had wandered through the air clung to this small patch of earth. Slowly, it grew in size.
Those that had fallen away, unable to become an island, composed an island once more.
──Idnik.
At that moment, a voice called Idnik. A tone that rang out mysteriously, as if descending from the heavens.
Idnik and Sylvia looked in that direction.
“······It’s been a while.”
There was a blue being. A figure made entirely of mana, wavering like an illusion.
The perfectly sculpted male body had only an upper half, but its height reached two meters.
Idnik called his name.
“Rodran.”
The Divine Soldier, Rodran.
A transcendent being of the magical world and, at the same time, the worst wanted criminal of the floating islands.
The title “God’s Soldier” came purely from that bizarre appearance.
──The “Voice” is approaching.
“I know. What about what I asked?”
At that, Rodran looked at Sylvia. Sylvia sat there dryly and met his eyes.
He said,
──It is true that you killed him.
“······.”
Sylvia’s face sank coldly.
It was a pain like a blade drawing across her heart.
──The creation your mana unconsciously manifested devoured a demon named “Nescius.” The creation and the demon became entangled and turned into a variant.
“So the demon was partly to blame.”
At Idnik’s words, Sylvia shook her head. She needed no defense.
“Then I’m a murderer too. The person I killed must have had a family······ so I’m not much different from that professor.”
Idnik let out a small sigh.
The blood of Iliade, the daughter of Cielia. No matter how she thought about it, it was not a good combination.
“By the way.”
Sylvia looked back at Idnik.
“What is the ‘Voice’?”
“······A demon.”
“A demon.”
“Yes. An ancient demon known simply as the ‘Voice.’ Whether they take the form of a human or a monster, demons that actually exist are relatively easy to deal with. You simply kill them. But those that are a ‘phenomenon’ or a ‘concept,’ like this ‘Voice,’ are extremely troublesome.”
Sylvia sprang to her feet.
She strode over and looked up at Rodran.
“Then will Yukline face that demon? Will Deculein go to him?”
Rodran silently stared straight into her eyes.
Dry, parched golden jewels. Within them, a vast sea of mana surged.
──You possess the quality of “Eternal Imperishability.”
At length, Rodran left behind only those words and departed.
It was praise from a historic figure of the magical world.
However, Sylvia did not show even the slightest stir of emotion. She merely stared into the empty sky and said,
“On the floating islands, there is an unwritten rule that whoever discovers an island owns it.”
She stretched out her hand. Mana erupted like a volcano from her slender body.
Kwaaaaaaa──!
The surging mana gathered the fragments in the area and bestowed color upon each and every piece of matter.
She was recreating this entire place into a proper “island.”
“So this island is mine.”
“Hmm.”
Idnik folded her arms. Since a tree had grown right beside her, she leaned against it at an angle.
“In that case, what is the island’s name? If you’re going to register as its owner, it will need a name.”
Sylvia looked back at her.
“······Mumyeongdo will be enough.”
* * *
I arrived at the Imperial Palace. Without meeting anyone, I walked down the corridor.
Keiron’s words were being written on the message paper.
[ The underground door has opened. ]
“Sir Keiron.”
I reached the wooden door leading to the underground of the Imperial Palace. Keiron stood beside it like a statue.
“How is Her Majesty?”
“She has gone to her bedchamber.”
I was certain. The underground door opened only at the moment Sophien was “consumed by sloth,” after all.
Keiron asked,
“Do you intend to enter?”
“And you?”
Keiron kept his face expressionless and placed a hand on his sword. It meant he would guard the place.
“Yes. If Nescius happens to come out through this door, please tail him rather than kill him.”
I slowly approached and pushed the doorknob.
“I will do so.”
Creeeeeak—
Beyond the stiffly opening door, there was a sentence announcing the resumption of the quest.
「 Darkness of the Imperial Palace · The Demon’s Mirror: 2nd Cycle 」
* * *
······The garden of the Imperial Palace.
Sophien was walking along the lakeside, trying to steady herself through the pain. In any case, she had revived, but the agony that felt like an axe was crushing her entire body remained.
Chirp, chirp─ chirp, chirp─
The sound of birdsong grated on her nerves.
Sophien asked the attendant beside her,
“What month and day is it today?”
“It is June 3rd.”
“······.”
Have I truly regressed?
Now, half a year after dying, she had no choice but to accept that fact.
Damn it.
Of course, at first, she had breathed a sigh of relief, but she belatedly realized that things had gone even more wrong.
Only time had been rewound; the disease remained as it was.
“Haa······.”
With a sigh, Sophien staggered along, then suddenly sat down by the lakeside. Then she looked at its clear surface.
“······!”
Shock filled her wide eyes.
She stepped back once, twice, then fell on her backside onto the road.
“Ugh!”
“Your Highness! Are you all right?”
“Your Highness—!”
The attendants rushed over in a great commotion. Sophien, helped to her feet, first pushed them away.
“Are you all right—”
“I’m fine. I’m fine, so go, go. Stay over there.”
The attendants shuffled away, and Sophien swallowed.
Gulp—
The clear lake of the garden.
She quietly peered into that surface, shining like a mirror······
“······You.”
There was a man there.
The man who, in the past, had introduced himself as a professor.
An illusion caused by the disease before her regression.
He said,
─We meet again, Your Highness.
Sophien instinctively turned around. He was not standing where he appeared to be.
She thrust her face back toward the lake and said,
“Professor?”
─Yes. That is correct.
“······How are you?”
As soon as Sophien realized she had regressed, she had drawn up a composite sketch of the professor and ordered a search.
However, there was no professor anywhere on this continent who looked like the one in her memories.
She had thought he was merely a mental illness after all······
─I told you, did I not?
The professor, who had appeared again now, spoke with the same arrogant, handsome face as always.
─I will always be with Your Highness through the process.
“······.”
Sophien stared at him blankly. She placed her hand upon his face—upon the lakeside.
Splash— the water rippled.
“Gah! Your Highness! Please stop!”
“You mustn’t!”
“No matter how painful it is, you must not take your own life······.”
The attendants, misunderstanding her action, rushed in like lightning, and Sophien, dragged out, was practically confined to her room.
Even then, her mind remained dazed.
─Are you all right?
“······.”
The professor who did not disappear.
The illusion in the mirror.
Her own mental illness.
When she did not move in the slightest, that professor muttered as if sighing.
─I exist. If you find that so difficult to believe, bring someone tight-lipped and trustworthy. I will show myself to them as well—
“No, that’s enough.”
Sophien resolutely shook her head.
“I will believe you, Professor. You are the only being connected to my previous life······.”
* * *
······For the next two months after that.
I spent time with Sophien in her second cycle. For now, even the “quest objective” was vague, so I had no choice but to remain.
Put simply, it was an “exploration.”
Of course, there were not many things I could do together with the Sophien of the past.
Sophien had a sickly body, so she could not go outside, and most of her time was spent only in the garden and inside the Imperial Palace.
Within this mirror, my only role was to be her conversation partner.
During that time, Sophien confided many things to me.
Her life was a history of surgery and healing. A succession of vain hopes and torturous expectations.
It was a life of only nine years, but the weight of those years was heavier than anyone’s.
Sophien conveyed all of it in an indifferent tone.
─How cruel.
Time passed like that······ and today.
─I am still dying.
Sophien said. Lying in bed, her death was now not far away.
─Even though I have experienced the miracle of regression······ Professor.
“Yes.”
Sophien stopped speaking for a moment and clenched her teeth.
─If I······ come back to life again······ ngh.
A violent pain was striking her entire body.
─Will I be able to see you then too······?
“Of course.”
I answered immediately. Sophien gave a bitter smile.
─That is a relief······.
“What is a relief?”
─You are handsome. If you looked like those many eunuchs······ I would have shattered the mirror the moment we first met.
It was an extremely realistic reason.
However, I did not laugh.
······For two months.
I witnessed the process of this child reaching death.
Of course, pity of that sort could not make me suffer, but not laughing was a courtesy I had learned, and it was dignity and grace.
─Professor. What I fear is not death, but pain······.
It was at that moment.
Beside her, “Nescius” revealed themselves. The ones I saw had the shape of ordinary skeletons.
Skeletons holding scythes.
Grim reapers.
“There is nothing to worry about, Your Highness.”
It was proof that I had no fear, but Sophien would soon die.
“Next time, I will be by your side again.”
─······Yes. That puts me at ease······.
I cannot kill those demons.
While I am inside this mirror, I cannot extend any helping hand to Sophien on the other side.
─I hope······ that I can see you again······ as well······.
Sophien in the bed quietly closed her eyes.
Nescius stretched their hands toward the sleeping girl and harvested the essence of regression.
Truly like honeybees.
「 2nd Cycle 」
Immediately afterward, the system appeared before my eyes.
Bzzzzzt—
The number “2” trembled, and the newly engraved number was······
「······ 7th Cycle 」
At that moment, I opened my eyes.
At the same time, Keiron said,
“Deculein.”
“······.”
I looked at him.
I lifted my eyes and scanned my surroundings.
It was the scenery of the Imperial Palace.
The two months I had spent with Sophien scattered like a dream, and I had returned to reality.
“Deculein?”
Right now, my head was full of questions.
Why had I skipped straight from the 2nd cycle to the 7th?
If the cycles of regression did not continue in sequence, I would be unable to keep my promise.
“Deculein. Are you all right?”
Perhaps because of my compulsive nature, a vein rose on my temple. Anger surged up.
I looked back at Keiron.
“······I’m fine. How many days have passed?”
“Not even a day. Did you find anything out?”
I shook my head.
“I do not even know the objective yet.”
Knock, knock— I knocked on the underground wooden door. Naturally, there was no reply.
Keiron said,
“You do not even know the objective?”
“······In this world, there are demons that ‘exist,’ demons that are ‘phenomena,’ and demons that are ‘concepts.’ Nessius is a third-rate demon that ‘exists.’ On the other hand—”
“You mean the demon underground is a phenomenon.”
“Yes. It is both a ‘phenomenon’ and a ‘concept.’”
······This past beneath the ground is Sophien’s world.
The world before the regression, abandoned when Sophien died.
The “Demon’s Mirror” did not recreate her past.
It “preserved” the worlds abandoned by Sophien’s regressions.
Therefore, this underground world is not false, but real.
It is still only a hypothesis, but it is likely connected to Sophien’s current memories as well.
“Deculein. I am currently tailing Nessius.”
“That is fortunate.”
The Chiron standing here and the Chiron tailing Nessius were the same soul, but different bodies.
That was Chiron’s “magical talent.”
“Please inform me when he reaches his destination.”
I walked down the corridor of the Imperial Palace.
Then, at one point, I turned back to Chiron where I stood.
“Nessius must certainly be storing Her Majesty’s vital essence somewhere, but······ Chiron.”
Chiron faced me in silence.
I asked him.
“How far can you sacrifice yourself for Her Majesty?”
“Everything.”
That was Chiron’s answer.
* * *
“······.”
Sophien opened her eyes.
She felt strangely sad and melancholy. They were emotions she had hardly felt in this life.
From somewhere, Chiron spoke.
“Have you awakened?”
Sophien looked there.
Truly like a metronome, one knight stood there as if to announce reality.
“Can’t you tell by looking?”
“How are you feeling?”
“······What happened to Deculein’s lesson?”
Sophien asked that first for no particular reason. She had fallen asleep after listening for an hour or two.
“The lesson was concluded, but apparently the cat touched the barrier on the 80th floor, and all the notes were blown away.”
“······I see. Is the cat safe?”
“Yes. Several mages lost their reason, but the chairman stopped them. As of now—”
Meow~ The red-furred munchkin perched on Chiron’s crown cried out.
“I see.”
Sophien nodded, then raised herself and leaned against the window.
The Imperial Palace garden spread full in the distance.
Looking at the spring scenery, feeling its abundant atmosphere, she murmured softly.
“······Chiron.”
“Yes.”
“When I was young.”
Sophien carefully counted back through something from some day, no, through the faint memory of a day that had already vanished.
“Please speak.”
“······No. It is nothing.”
A past sunken in sorrow.
A faint voice crumbled at her ear.
—Next time as well, I will be there.
After that, “he” did not come.
He broke his promise.
And yet······.
Who was “he”?
“I had a strange dream.”
Sophien sat on the bed again.
Beyond the window, her hair fluttered in the softly flowing wind. Fragrant petals clung to her snow-white face.
“I see.”
Chiron spoke. Sophien looked at him.
“······Chiron, was it you?”
“I require a more detailed explanation.”
“No. Never mind.”
The emperor, returned once more to reality, buried the unfamiliar memory deep within and yawned as usual.
“Haaah······ Is there anything in particular I must do today?”
“There is the trial of the merchant companies that received mana stones from the Altar.”
“Ah, shall I personally cut off the heads of those damned fools?”
“That is forbidden. The trial has not even ended yet.”
“In any case. Let us do something before I get sleepy again. Today, physically, I have some leeway······.”
······And just like that, after rolling up her sleeves with such enthusiasm, she sagged again like a squid.
“······.”
Deculein watched from afar.