As soon as I exited Sopien’s bedchamber, I moved.
My destination was the underground of the imperial palace. I had run there in one breath, but on the other side stood a statue.
“Keiron.”
Keiron raised his eyes to look at me. The blade of the sword he gripped with both hands touched the stone floor.
“······.”
Keiron said nothing. However, yesterday, Yulri had conveyed that my wound was a ‘sword wound (劍傷).’
From that point, I had expected as much. To begin with, there weren’t many skilled enough to instantly pierce the vital point of an 「Iron」.
“I have thought long and hard.”
Keiron’s voice rang low. The blade scraped across the ground with a rasp and rose.
I asked.
“What is your conclusion?”
“······It was that I am Her Majesty’s knight. That whether the world is overturned or things proceed according to the demon’s will, it matters not to me.”
Keiron was a knight solely for the Emperor. Therefore, he desired only Sopien’s happiness and protection.
Perhaps a knight as old-fashioned as Yulri. No, even more of a stubborn diehard than Yulri.
“The Mirror swore to me. It promised a new world.”
“······There is nothing more foolish than trusting a demon, Keiron.”
The new world that the 「Demon’s Mirror」 had promised Keiron. I could easily imagine what that world would be like.
It would likely be a world where Sopien had never fallen ill. A world where she, having grown up in peace, ruled the empire. A mirrored world where the ratio of right-handed to left-handed people was reversed.
At the same time, it would be a world that had become Game Over.
“To become so would be no different from the end of the world. A demon is a demon because it is a demon, Keiron.”
“No. It is not the end, but a restart. There is no one in this world as important as Her Majesty. If there is a master of the world, it is Her Majesty. Where Her Majesty is, that is the true world.”
To some extent, those words were correct.
Though it was impossible to separately designate a protagonist of this worldview, if one were to call the most important character the protagonist, it would naturally be ‘Sopien.’
The moment she died, the player’s game would end as well.
“If there is a sun in this world, it is her. The living witness of the miracle—”
Thud──!
Just then, a war hammer surged from the air and slammed into Keiron’s side.
Kwa-aaang──!
From the sudden ambush, Keiron was sent flying, and I instinctively turned toward it.
There stood a knight in full plate mail.
“Go, quickly!”
It was heavy armor covering even the face, but the moment I heard that voice, I knew who it was.
Yulri.
“······.”
Keiron wiped the blood he had coughed up and rose. The soles of his feet froze as he tried to move.
“Professor, hurry!”
Yulri shouted without revealing her face. Keiron released mana to incinerate Yulri’s ice.
“Please go!”
If I stayed still under the guise of worry, I would only end up worsening Yulri’s burden.
“······Understood.”
I nodded and ran toward the underground door.
Chaang──! Sparks flared as sword met sword. It was Yulri blocking Keiron, who was rushing at me.
A wooden door leading to the underground of the imperial palace. I sprinted headlong and seized the doorknob.
Sssshhhhhh······.
A blinding light filled my vision.
* * *
······I, who had entered the 「Demon’s Mirror」, looked around. A space where all sides were mirrors, and within it, my solitary form was reflected infinitely.
“Hello.”
A voice flowed from behind. I saw her in the mirror.
It was Sopien. To be precise, it was the 「Demon’s Mirror」 having taken on Sopien’s outward appearance.
“I borrowed this form to make conversation easier.”
“You don’t have to say it. I know.”
I asked it.
“Did you persuade Keiron with that appearance?”
“Yes. That friend is a knight, after all. A knight solely for the Emperor. When I showed him my sincerity, he came up with a way for Sopien to be happy.”
The Mirror grinned. The smile worn with Sopien’s appearance was alien.
“The ‘Altar,’ too—was that your doing?”
“Yes.”
“So you never intended to revive their god from the start.”
“Yes. I was planning to use them and discard them. Because I’m a demon.”
After all, the 「God’s Resurrection」 led by the Altar was an event belonging to the latter half even among the main quests. It was something that could neither be hastened by a demon’s power nor prevented.
“What will you do now?”
“What do you mean? Dekyulrein. Your world has already been greatly contaminated. Precisely because Sopien regressed exactly 143 times did cracks of that magnitude occur.”
“Cracks.”
“Yes. There are others besides Sopien who regressed, aren’t there? That, too, is because of those cracks. Do you think it makes sense for a human to regress just because a lesser demon spilled a few drops of regression essence?”
“······.”
“At this rate, the moment Sopien dies a few more times, the entire world might disintegrate.”
I looked at the Mirror that had taken on Sopien’s form. It continued speaking, looking up at me.
“But if I become the world, everyone can live happily. Safely. Without any risk or burden.”
“······.”
The inherent demon-loathing of the Yukeurain bloodline surged up my throat. I wanted to strangle its neck right then, but I simply shook my head.
It snapped back sullenly.
“You don’t like it?”
“I have only come to keep a promise.”
“······A promise? Fine, try whatever. But how? I will never open the door for you. You’ll be trapped here for life.”
It crossed its arms. Without giving it a glance, I looked at the ‘mirror’ of this space. I placed my hand on that glass surface.
“Your will is unnecessary.”
“Why? This is my world.”
“Because you are a demon.”
The 「Demon’s Mirror」. It was a demon, and demons and demonic energy were mutually indispensable.
Therefore, the Demon’s Mirror harbored demonic energy. No, demonic energy was floating throughout this entire space.
Which meant—within this thing’s world, I could use 「Comprehension」 infinitely.
Of course, if I did so, the burden (負荷) inflicted upon me would be enormous. Even putting aside the possibility of Dekyulrein’s personality being overwritten, my very life might be endangered.
“······.”
Even so, I placed my hand on the mirror. Without hesitation, I activated 「Comprehension」.
────!
A thousand mana was consumed in a lump in an instant. Next was nine hundred, eight hundred, seven hundred······ Mana leaked from the blood vessels throughout my body.
The amount of mana disappearing every second was tremendous, but I converted that much demonic energy back into mana.
“······What are you doing?”
It asked, puzzled. But with my eyes closed, I couldn’t see its face.
“Wait, hold on.”
Merely its voice was enough.
A demon without this kind of ‘experience’ was flustered by my actions.
“How is this······ Ah, no!”
Its reaction changed bizarrely. Its voice trembled, and its grip clutched my waist tightly.
However, it possessed no physical power whatsoever. A mere mirror could not harm a human.
“Stop!”
The deeper I looked, the deeper I 「comprehended.」
Its reaction transformed even more desperately.
“I said stop—!”
As 「Comprehension」 progressed, demonic energy devoured my body, and my blood vessels rampaged as if about to burst, but I didn’t care.
“Don’t, don’t! I’m telling you, don’t——!”
Thump—!
At one point, my heart lurched violently. Surely, a cluster of blood vessels had burst. Blood surged back up from my mouth.
“You’ll die too! You know it too—!”
Though I might die as it said, I was not afraid. My ego was not so weak as to be broken by something like that.
“Don’t look, don’t look into me——!”
A shriek as if being torn apart. I opened my eyes again. The pupils reflected in the mirror were already dyed purple. The blood vessels around my neck were pitch black like roots.
“······.”
I turned to look at it. It held its head with both hands and was barely managing to breathe roughly.
“Stop. Stop······.”
“······This is what a promise means to me.”
Words once uttered are never taken back. I will keep them even if it kills me.
An obsession bordering on paranoia, that psychotic will.
For Dekyulrein, there was no greater emotion than that.
I would mobilize 「Comprehension」 to the very end, digging to the bottom of this 「Mirror」······.
“Stoooop————!”
* * *
「3rd Cycle」
When I opened my eyes, it was the 3rd cycle. It was Sopien’s room. I looked at the calendar hanging in the center of the spacious, empty living room.
January 1st.
It was the starting point of Sopien’s regression.
I had succeeded in 「comprehending」 the Demon’s Mirror.
“······Hah.”
But the breath flowing from my mouth was purple. Not only that, but the blood vessels across my entire body flickered blue and purple.
[ Status Abnormality: Severe Acute Demonic Energy Poisoning ]
[ Status Abnormality: Mana Rampage ]
[ Status Abnormality: Fire Deviation (走火入魔) ]
Injuries whose recovery was uncertain even with an 「Iron」 body, but it didn’t matter.
I looked at the mirror placed in Sopien’s room. Its surface reflected Sopien. She was lying in bed.
“Your Majesty.”
—······!
Sopien bolted upright. And then she opened her mouth blankly. I spoke to her.
“I have come again.”
—Uh······.
Sopien forcibly suppressed the smile trying to form at her lips. I sat in the chair beside her. She called out to me with deliberate sternness.
—Ahem. Professor.
“Yes.”
The next words from her were sufficiently satisfying.
—Yes. Welcome. You kept your promise.
Promise.
For some reason, it was a word that put my heart at ease.
* * *
······Though I had arrived boldly.
There wasn’t much that I, a person inside the mirror, could do. The 「Mirror Magic」 and 「Glass Magic」 I had learned were completely useless.
I merely read the books Sopien brought, talked with her, and repeated my inhales and exhales.
However, every moment of that breath brought pain. It was the side effect of consuming nearly 60,000 mana in an instant.
Likely, part of my heart or lungs had necrotized.
Chirp chirp chirp— chirp chirp chirp—
In any case, this was the imperial palace garden where birds chirped.
Sopien, lying on the grass, spoke.
—Professor.
“Yes.”
—These days, my body has been starting to hurt again.
“Is that so.”
—······It is truly stifling. How long must I live in this pain?
I recalled the words the 「Demon’s Mirror」 had spoken. It had said that Sopien had regressed exactly 143 times.
“Your Majesty.”
Would knowing the end make her suffer more? Or would she be able to accept it more calmly?
—Hm. Why do you call?
Sopien’s early salvation was impossible. Because her healing was already a ‘predetermined event’ in the setting.
Having died over and over more than a hundred times, the toxicity ravaging Sopien’s body had first been annihilated by the ‘world’s compulsion.’
It was the ‘miracle of coincidence’ caused by repeated regressions.
“Shall we play chess?”
—······Chess?
“Yes.”
—Chess······ Why so suddenly?
“I am quite good at chess. So much so that even if Your Majesty invested your entire life, you could not beat me. Therefore, would you not be completely healed by the time you defeat me?”
I had learned chess in my spare time whenever I had the chance. Even without the trait 「Comprehension」, I would likely reach the level of a grandmaster.
—Hmph. How arrogant. Are you sure? I learn everything easily.
“Yes.”
—Very well. Have the chessboard brought!
Sopien shouted energetically and raised herself from the grass.
—Hey! Is no one there! Have a chessboard brought!
* * *
······Sopien, the first in line to the imperial throne, was always with the mirror.
The hand mirror hung at her waist was nothing short of her symbol to the imperial palace officials, and the stories she occasionally told about the ‘Professor’ were simultaneously a source of worry and relief.
Worry that she might be going mad; or relief that perhaps, thanks to that imaginary ‘Professor,’ she could forget her pain even a little.
“Sopi.”
“Yes, Father.”
Even on the day she had an audience with Keurebaim, who was both the Emperor and her father, Sopien carried the hand mirror.
Keurebaim asked with a gentle smile.
“Is that friend inside the mirror doing well?”
“······.”
She wriggled her lips without answering for a moment.
Not a single person in the imperial palace was willing to believe her words. Though it was also because that Professor refused to show himself.
“Yes. He is fine.”
“Yes. If you are well with that friend, I am glad too.”
“...Yes.”
Krebaim said this and that as he presented a new hand mirror as a gift. Sopien received the mirror respectfully, and the audience came to an end.
She was not particularly happy. After all, if she died once more and regressed once more, it was an object that would simply disappear.
“...”
The moment she stepped outside, Sopien, who had been about to return to her room, suddenly noticed her younger brother Kreto’s quarters. After glancing around, she soon slipped quietly inside.
Snerk—snerk—
A child who looked about three years old was asleep in the bed. Sopien looked at him and let out a small “pfft—” smile.
“...What do you think? He can’t even speak properly, but he’s cute, isn’t he?”
She spoke to the hand mirror, and an answer returned.
—Indeed.
Her younger brother Kreto was a three-year-old little blood clot. Though they shared only half their blood, he was cute every time she saw him. He was one of the few existences in this life that made her smile.
“...I’m relieved this child won’t have to live as painfully as I do.”
Sopien pinched his plump cheek. Kreto scrunched up his face with a “nngh—” and rolled over.
“I should go back now. If I’m caught for no reason, I’ll lose face.”
Poke, poke—Sopien pressed his face a few times with her finger, then went outside. She walked with a tap-tap of her heels and returned to her room.
*
...That was the end of the ordinary.
The night Sopien had pinched Kreto’s face, she suffered from sepsis. She could not even withstand a mere three-year-old baby’s bacteria.
Your Highness——!
The despair-laden cries of her subjects rang out like background music.
She died that day, and so the 4th cycle began, and then the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th cycles... The regressions flowed in order, in due course.
During that time, Sopien did not endure more easily or live more resolutely because of my existence.
—Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!
Her mind shattered countless times. She committed suicide many times. She even approached the brink of madness.
—Anyway. I’m going to start over anyway. Anyway, anyway! I’m going to start over from the beginning! What the hell is the meaning of this damned life...?
This was the case only until exactly the 65th cycle.
From then on, it was resignation.
Sopien, having faced sixty-five deaths, spent her days lying only in bed.
“Your Highness.”
—......
「66th Cycle」.
That face, slackened like a cripple, turned to look at me. It was far too wretched to be called the countenance of an eight-year-old.
“No matter how many cycles repeat, there is something that does not start over. There is a skill that does not disappear.”
—...What is it?
“It is chess. Chess skill does not disappear even with regression.”
That was why I had gone out of my way to recommend “chess.” Sopien had steadily honed her chess skills, but she had yet to reach the level to defeat me.
—...Yes. Play well, then.
Sophien scoffed with a “hmph” and turned back over.
It seemed it had not gone down well.
“...”
As I looked at her, I thought deeply.
How many more cycles could I endure? For how much longer could I survive?
“Your Highness.”
—Why again.
I am dying.
The functions of my lungs and heart had already ceased by more than half, and the blood vessels eroded by demonic energy crushed my nerves, causing unbearable agony every single moment.
“Let us create a signal between us.”
Therefore, I had to conserve my strength.
I needed to allocate time efficiently.
—A signal?
“Yes. A signal to call me.”
Tap-tap— I knocked on her full-body mirror a couple of times.
“If you knock twice on the full-body mirror like this, I shall awaken.”
—Why go to the trouble?
“Do I not need time to sleep as well?”
—Hmph. I cannot sleep because I am in pain, and *you* sleep.
The current Sopien was still a young child. It was a childish complaint.
“In exchange, I shall spend all my waking hours with you.”
It could not be helped. As for me now, I could barely move at all. My lower body had been paralyzed from the start.
—...Fine. Do as you please.
Something I hated to admit, but had no choice but to acknowledge.
That my body had already been consumed by demonic energy.
—But I am committing suicide tomorrow.
Sopien grumbled sullenly.
She actually killed herself the next day, and of course, the world started over.
Even after that, I watched over the endlessly continuing regressions within my own suffering.
Life repeated, death repeated, despair echoed, everything started over, vanished again, started over again, vanished again...
Disease and pain, humans and all things, the world and causality, mind and body, time and space, evil and good, light and darkness...
At the moment I was drifting through futile, worthless, meaningless years, merely regarding all that creation as emptiness—
———Finally.
「140th Cycle」
I realized that the time had come.
* * *
December, in the depths of winter.
A fierce, cold, biting wind swept the continent, and winter beasts trampled the people’s livelihoods here and there, yet in the imperial palace garden, beautiful pollen still scattered about. A benevolent, warm energy enveloped the palace.
“Cough, cough. Did you not hear me tell you to get lost?”
A voice quite heterogeneous to that peace. A languidly drawling voice, like a rotten fish.
“But Your Highness, you have not finished your medi—”
“It is useless, so I will not take it. I told you to get lost on your own. Hey, Keiron! Send them all out!”
Sopien, lying in bed, dismissed all her subjects. Then, she raised herself and knocked on the mirror a couple of times.
“Knock-knock—Professor. Are you there?”
—Yes. I am here.
“...Yes. It is strange how long I am enduring these days, is it not?”
This life was unexpected for Sopien. Though her body still hurt, in this regression she was enduring surprisingly long.
No, she was “being endured.”
She had no particular will to live, yet she was “being made to live” against her will.
“How many times have I died so far?”
—One hundred thirty-nine times.
“Hmm... today is December 31st, so tomorrow is January 1st?”
—Yes. If you endure until tomorrow, think of it as being completely healed.
“Hmph. As if.”
Sopien twisted her lips. She held not even a shred of expectation. Her mentality had already shattered and been reassembled dozens of times, and she had no further interest in life.
Still, the one and only comfort was that Professor was with her through her regressions. She no longer cared if he was an illusion created by her mind.
—Your Highness.
The Professor spoke. Sopien tilted her head innocently.
“Why?”
—I shall be watching over Your Highness from wherever I may be.
“...So sudden?”
She glared at the Professor in the mirror. His eyes were gently closed.
—It is not sudden.
“...”
—Even if I should become invisible for a time...
Hearing those words, she was suddenly seized by foreboding in a corner of her heart. Sopien licked her lips for no reason.
—I shall always be present in Your Highness’s process.
“Are you telling me now that you will not leave, as if you are going to leave?”
—...Your Highness. Might I ask for but one promise. Just as I once kept Your Majesty’s promise.
Sopien said nothing. Even so, the Professor did not stop speaking. Rather, he continued gently.
—No matter what happens... do not take your life by your ‘own will.’
“...”
What random nonsense. At this sudden request, Sopien pouted her lips for no reason.
“What kind of dogshit is this.”
—Please... cherish Your Highness’s life.
“Do you have somewhere else to go?”
—No.
The Professor in the mirror smiled. A gentle, powerless smile. Yet it was the first smile Sopien had ever seen from him. So she was briefly dazed.
—Your Majesty. It is late now. Please rest comfortably.
“...”
Sniffling, Sopien looked at the clock. 8:30 P.M. It was indeed bedtime.
Her body would drop dead like a sunfish if she did not sleep at least fourteen hours a day.
—I shall be waiting first.
“...I am not going to sleep.”
Though sleep was slowly creeping in, she widened her eyes forcibly. She intended to stay up all night watching the mirror.
“I am not going to sleep...”
Sopien lay in bed and glanced sideways at it. Fortunately, the Professor seemed to have no intention of leaving; he was there every time she looked in the mirror.
Besides, even if he did intend to leave, how could she hold onto someone inside a mirror?
Having somewhat resigned and reassured herself, she fell asleep again.
...And so.
The next day came.
Chirp-chirp-chirp— Chirp-chirp-chirp—
When she opened her eyes to the chirping birds.
“...?”
Sopien felt a strange sensation. It was a refreshment with no known cause.
“Uhn?”
Blinking blankly, she raised her upper body. Having suffered so long, so accustomed to a certain sensation, when she could not feel it she briefly wondered if this were the underworld—then she felt around her body here and there.
But it was not there.
The pain—there was truly none at all.
“...H-hey! Keiron!”
—Your Highness. Have you coughed?
“What year, month, and day is it today!”
—It is January 1st, Year 23.
Year 23 was during Emperor Krebaim’s reign.
If she had died and regressed, it should have been January 1st, Year 22.
“Year 23? Are you certain it is Year 23!”
—Yes. That is correct.
If today was truly January 1st, Year 23.
Then, then, then...
Sopien trembled with excitement and cupped her own face.
“Does this mean... I am cured?”
Then, the Professor’s words suddenly came to mind.
—Yes. If you endure until tomorrow, think of it as being completely healed.
His words telling her to think of herself as healed when tomorrow came. Sopien clutched her pounding heart and shouted.
“Professor!”
There was no answer, but she quickly got up and stood before the mirror.
“...Professor!”
And she sent the promised signal. She knocked twice on the full-body mirror—tap, tap.
Knocking, she spoke.
“Professor! I think I am cured! Just like you said!”
But there was no response.
“...”
Even as she blinked and waited in silence, even as she stared deeply into the mirror.
“Professor?”
The Professor who should always—just as he had for the decades they spent together, as usual—answer with a cold yet composed voice, saying “Is that so,” did not appear.
Chirp-chirp-chirp—
Silence in which only damned bird sounds flowed.
“...Professor?”
Sopien called for him with a trembling voice.
But in this mirror, no, in any mirror in the world.
He never showed himself again.