CHAPTER 31: FOREST OF MIRRORS [1]

The mirror didn’t speak again.

I opened my eyes for a moment, then closed them. When I looked back, the mirror that had been talking to me was gone—vanished without a trace.

As if it had never existed here in the first place.

The whole thing felt unreal, like waking up from a hazy dream.

I had no idea how they chose the doppelgänger, but one thing was certain: it wasn’t me.

’First the Dullahan, and now a doppelgänger... I don’t know if it’s the curse affecting things, but the difficulty here is completely off the charts. Even considering the party’s level, this makes no sense. It’s like they’re deliberately testing how far I can go before I break.’

A part of me couldn’t help but wonder—was I the one causing all of this?

The Sieghart bloodline had always been wrapped in mystery.

Even the chairman of the board, Ashtar—one of the Seven Transcendents—had personally stepped in to defend me. Naturally, the examiners were curious about how deep my abilities ran.

But I wasn’t about to play along with their games.

No. I’d show them only what I wanted them to see—just enough for them to understand. Nothing more.

I turned away from where the mirror had been and kept walking through the quiet forest path.

Before long, the rest of the group came into view.

They were gathered together, whispering among themselves with unusually grim faces. The mood was heavy—no one even noticed my footsteps at first.

Eden, who was the first to notice me, called out with an unusually serious expression.

"Captain, why are you so late?"

"I came as fast as I could. What’s going on?"

He pointed down at the ground without another word.

"Take a look at this."

On the grass, glowing faintly with mana, was a line of text.

[Welcome to the Forest of Mirrors. Now, I will briefly explain the rules of this forest. One of you has a doppelgänger. If you fail to find and kill the doppelgänger before the sun sets, everyone here will die. Likewise, if you kill the wrong person, you will all die.

1. A doppelgänger perfectly replicates the memories and experiences of the person it imitates.

2. Doppelgängers cannot lie.

3. Doppelgängers cast no shadows.

4. Doppelgängers grow through ’recognition.’

5. The only way to escape this forest is to find and kill the doppelgänger among you.

Anyway, I wish you good luck.]

The glowing letters flickered briefly before fading into the soil.

A chill wind brushed past.

I already knew the Forest of Mirrors was supposed to be about doppelgängers, but seeing the rules written like that... it hit differently. I didn’t know the test would go this far.

"So there’s a doppelgänger among us," I muttered quietly.

"That’s right," Eden replied grimly. "This is insane... there’s a fake version of one of us walking around here."

Frey folded her arms, her expression tight. "If what it says is true, then a doppelgänger would have all the same memories as the real person. That means... we can’t tell them apart by questions alone."

Her tone was calm, but there was a faint tremor in her voice. I could tell she was rattled.

"Lord Zail," she continued, "if the copy shares the same experiences and memories, it’s basically identical to the original. How are we supposed to find it?"

"...We’ll figure something out," I said after a pause. "It’s not like there’s no hope at all. We just need to think carefully."

The group exchanged uneasy glances. The tension in the air was so thick it was almost suffocating.

That’s when Charlotte’s voice cut through the silence.

"Aren’t you the doppelgänger?"

Her sudden accusation made me frown. "Are you talking to me?"

"Yes, you."

"And why exactly do you think that?"

Her expression was unusually serious, without a trace of her usual arrogance.

"The commoner and I went in the same direction," she said, nodding toward Eden. "We both saw the mirror, but nothing strange happened. That means we know we’re both real. If something had gone wrong, I would’ve noticed. Right, commoner?"

Eden looked flustered but nodded. "Yeah, that’s true, but—"

Charlotte pressed on. "So if you rule us out, the only suspects left are you and Frey. And guess what? Frey got here before we did. Isn’t that right, Frey?"

Frey’s eyes darted between us nervously before she finally answered. "Y-yes... that’s right."

"See?" Charlotte said firmly. "Since she arrived early, it’s likely nothing happened to her. The commoner and I came right after. But you, Captain—you were the last to show up. Much later than anyone else. Doesn’t that seem suspicious?"

I let out a slow breath.

It was nonsense. Pure, baseless nonsense. Her reasoning was full of holes.

"So you’re accusing me of being a doppelgänger just because I came late?" I asked. "By that logic, Frey—who arrived first—could be one too."

"I-I’m not!" Frey blurted out quickly, shaking her head.

Before I could say anything else, Eden looked up at me, his expression torn between confusion and doubt.

"Captain," he said quietly, "then... can you explain why you were late?"

His tone was cautious, but his eyes were full of suspicion.

For the first time, I realized everyone was waiting for my answer.

For a brief moment, no one said anything. The forest felt eerily quiet, as if even the wind was holding its breath.

My gaze swept over them — Charlotte’s sharp eyes, Frey’s uneasy ones, and Eden’s uncertain expression.

They were all waiting for an answer.

"I wasn’t late because of anything suspicious," I said finally, my voice steady. "There was... something in the forest. A mirror that talked."

"A mirror that talked?" Charlotte’s eyebrows shot up. "Do you expect us to believe that?"

"I don’t care if you believe it or not. That’s what happened."

The memory flashed through my mind again — the cold glass, the reflection that moved before I did, and the voice that spoke my thoughts out loud.