CHAPTER 246: TRUE DISCIPLE (1)

0% To summarize the first half to the letter:

[I’ve been caught, sis.]The part beneath Akasha’s eye quivered.

Rosemary.

Rosemary Tarkenil, who I love like my younger sister, was captured by lowly, ignorant humans?

“You bastard─!!”

Akasha grabbed Vermel by the collar and screamed.

“What the fuck did you do to my sworn sister!”

This was clearly a threat.

The threat of a cunning elf bastard who captured and detained her kind to keep her hands tied.

She had already realized his intention, but she couldn’t just leave it be. Because Rosemary was her precious sister, having been together for hundreds of years.

No matter how much plotting and backstabbing went on in the Demon Army, hence her keeping things professional with her other colleagues...

She absolutely couldn’t stand by and watch Rosemary come to harm.

“You dare touch a hair on my sister’s head and I’ll chop her head off and feed it to Leviathan!”

That was the best threat that Akasha could come up with it. Leviathan. Because the elves trembled just from hearing the name, having been under a big attack recently.

But unexpectedly, Vermel calmly raised both hands and sighed. The way he had no fear of a Cataclysm was infuriating.

“Did you finish reading it all the way?”

Rather, he just suggested that she keep reading the letter and closed his eyes.

“.......”

It didn’t make sense that some moron who had only taken down Tortoise had such a calm and collected attitude in the face of the Great Mecha Secundus like her. There had to be something that had his back.

Her head cooled down. Akasha let go of his collar and continued reading the letter.

[I’ve been caught, but there’s a reason.]

[Gilach, that yellow-eyed High Elf made a mess of the lab, you know? While the two of you weren’t here, I mean.]

[Reason? What else. He was screaming his head off for Klara Hasfeldt to be handed over.]

Gilach the Summer Heaven.

That yellow-eyes High Elf still must not have gotten it through his head.

How could he mess with big sis’ property even after seeing her blow up the World Tree replica without leaving a trace with the atomic bomb....

[I tried to stop him until the end, but he just wouldn’t listen. So I fled to the Empire with the Hasfeldt sisters.]

[I’m alive thanks to the Hasfeldts and Vermel Horde putting in a good word for me. The Duke believed it when they told him about big sis.]

[Especially Vermel. Don’t hurt that elf and just leave him alive for the time being.]

[I don’t know what’ll happen later, but he’s on our side for now.]

It was absurd.

“Recruiting this lanky bastard as an ally without discussing it with me...?”

On what grounds?

–was her question, but if she thought about it, it wasn’t impossible.

It was because the process of Rosemary becoming a prisoner of the Empire was valid.

Gilach would be the type to do that, because he didn’t get along with Aether.

“My poor sister.”

She had been caught in the crossfire of two Heavens.

She must’ve been surrounded by countless Flares and White Nights upon returning to the Empire, and since she had been recovering, she would’ve been bound without being able to do anything.

Help me, sis!

She could picture it as clear as day–Blueberry trapped in prison while crying out like that over and over again.

Gritting her teeth, Akasha finished reading the whole letter.

[Sorry about acting on my own. If big sis gets upset, talk to her well for me, okay? I’ll even send you a photo of me bowing.]Akasha looked over the photo once more.

Rosemary who had her head in the ground and was in a headstand position.

Even now she was doing her best so that she wouldn’t be hated by big sis. Akasha smiled bitterly, pounding her chest.

“So, you’re on the same team as us, is that it.”

“If you have a hard time believing, then come up to the dorms. I have the ‘Inner Mirror’ there.”

The Inner Mirror.

It was a magic item that Rosemary had.

Rosemary wouldn’t have just given away something that valuable, so checking it should be enough to prove that they were allied.

“Alright.”

Akasha took a cigarette in her mouth just in case.

She didn’t trust him completely. If he reported or attacked her, she was thinking to exterminate Vermel right away and secure an escape route to the island chains.

The two went up the stairs.

“It might be weird to go inside so I’ll bring it out.”

“Up to you.”

How many minutes had passed?

Vermel appeared carrying a mirror that was a little over three meters long.

A flat mirror, clean and immaculate with all sorts of antique decorations and patterns, was placed in front of her.

“......It was true.”

It was impossible to copy it with this much precision. Mouth hanging slightly open, Akasha took a step towards the mirror.

She saw her other self.

It was a girl with eyes, nose, mouth, and everything else that looked like her, except for just one part–the hair. Akasha’s hair was white, but the hair of the girl in the image was black like big sis.

“What do you see?”

“......I see my twin sister.”

It was the characteristic of the Inner Mirror.

As the Inner Mirror was indeed a mirror, it reflected her. However, it reflected the person inside.

The inside was another world. Some called that world the mind realm or the image of the mind.

Normally, a person’s inner image was themselves–Vermel’s image was Vermel, Lotte’s image would be Lotte, and Freyr’s image would be Freyr as well.

But the inner image of black was white, and the one of white was black.

Aether’s image was Akasha, and Akasha’s image was Aether.

“I see.”

Vermel said significantly. When she turned around, he was nodding like he understood something.

“It’s the Inner Mirror that you know of, right?”

“It is.”

She had stood in front of the Inner Mirror before.

Each time, it was Aether who showed up instead of her. She had been surprised at first, but she accepted it from the second time onwards thinking that it was the nature of the mirror.

But today, Akasha was surprised once again.

It was because of Aether’s lecture in the morning.

─Parity is a mirror.

A mirror, mirror.

The Inner Mirror was one that reflected the mind.

Then what did it mean that parity of the inside was conserved? If the image of the mind was conserved, could it be said that there was symmetry? What were the symmetrical quantities?

Unintentionally, Akasha took a moment contemplating. Her brilliant mind raced in search for the answer.

“You’re going to believe me now, right?”

“...Huh?”

She must have been thinking for quite a while. At Vermel’s prompting, Akasha snapped out of it and nodded.

“Good, I’m about to tell you about the plan Rosemary and I came up with. Do you have time?”

“Sure, why not.”

Akasha and Vermel sat facing each other at the gazebo and took out a few things including a notebook. A basic explanation was given, and Akasha responded absently every time Vermel asked if she understood.

Her head was full of parity which she learned today.

It wasn’t long before she came up with a strong hypothesis. Even while listening to the explanation, Akasha kept mumbling to herself.

“If parity is conserved, then.......”

**“...What happens?”

Good girl, to think that she already thought that far.

Patting Yufiel on the back, I replied.

“I’ll tell you about it next class.”

“Ah.......”

Yufiel looked disappointed.

“Can’t you let me know first?”

“It won’t be fun if you already know.”

Her sullen face was quite cute. I’d be happy having one... no, two grad students like this.

Right now, I was tutoring Yufiel.

I say tutoring, but it was nothing more than a q&a session.

Yufiel was smarter than I imagined, but her marks weren’t that good for the amount of studying she did.

It mainly had to do with her understanding of magic theories. She seemed to be fine with other memorization-based subjects, but was helpless when it came to high-level magics or scrolls in particular.

That was expected, actually. Part of magic involved a certain amount of intuition; it required having a ‘sense’ for it, in other words. A novice mage needed time to bridge the gap between theory and reality through practicing the magic themselves.

Such practice had been impossible for Yufiel who had Mana Depletion Syndrome, so between effort and talent, she ended up flying with just one of the wings.

“...Miss.”

After contemplating for a while, Yufiel spoke tentatively.

“...If I work hard, can I also be like you?”

“Can you become a professor, you mean?”

“Yes.”

That was sudden, and also a difficult question to answer.

“It doesn’t have to be a professor. I just want to be a great mage.”

“Great in what sense?”

“I want to create a magic that would make even Cataclysms shaking in their boots and serve the country and the world.”

“What a noble thought.”

I complimented her with pure admiration.

Until what Yufiel said next.

“It’s embarrassing, but.... My role model is a Golden-Eyed who made Flare by the name of Aether.”

“...What?”

[...What?]

My heart sank.

It felt like my senses were numb, my head was spinning, and my soul was churning.

But it soon settled down. ‘Aether’ gathered herself and calmed her breathing, squeezing her eyes shut in order to not give away that she was a Golden-Eyed.

She’d look like a lamenting professor to Yufiel.

“...It has been long since that person was revealed to be a Beast.”

‘Aether’ asked.

“Do you admire that black-blooded monster?”

It was an aggressive tone that was different from a moment ago.

The air around them froze rapidly.

“Tell me.”

“.......”

“You could be guilty of national treason depending on your answer.”

Yufiel’s flustered eyes darted around, looking as if she didn’t know what to do.

After a few hesitant glances, she moved her lips.

“I-I....”