Chapter 22
“Then we take it.”
“M-Master!”
At Raphaella’s cold words, Ferry shouted with a pout, hands planted on her hips.
“You scared Rosalie! Please speak kindly.”
“Kindly? How could I be kinder than this? I said I’d send her home safely. I even waited without raising my voice while she cried!”
Raphaella protested indignantly, but Ferry ignored her and gently stroked Rosalie’s cheek.
“Rosalie, don’t worry too much. To our master, she looks rough and her words are sharp. She can be scary sometimes. She’s always doing things her own way and she’s quick-tempered, too.”
“Ferry.”
Raphaella called her in a low voice. Ferry flinched, then hurried on.
“Ahem. Anyway, she’s not a villain. Really. Trust Ferry.”
“…Y-Yes. I—I’ll trust you, Ms. Ferry.”
After hesitating for a moment, Rosalie took a handkerchief out of her pajama pocket. When she slowly unfolded it, an egg-sized shard of mirror appeared inside.
Seeing that it truly was a fragment of the Divine Realm Mirror, Raphaella finally smiled. She reached out her hand toward it.
“Alright, just a moment.”
“W-Wait!”
Rosalie hugged the mirror shard to her chest again.
“J-Just once… I want to look at it one last time.”
“What’s going to change if you look at it one more time?”
“M-Master!”
Unable to withstand Ferry’s tight-lipped glare, Raphaella relented.
“Fine. But be quick. If dawn breaks, it’ll be troublesome for both of us.”
“Y-Yes.”
“And if the mirror… No. Never mind.”
Raphaella started to warn her, then stopped. The shard was small, so she assumed it wouldn’t have much power.
Rosalie moved to the edge of the cavern clearing. She slipped into a pile of rocks and quietly raised the shard.
Inside the small piece of mirror appeared a beautiful woman with pink hair who looked exactly like Rosalie. She was smiling warmly—the image of her mother, who had died ten years ago. Rosalie’s eyes reddened at once, and tears streamed down her cheeks.
The woman in the mirror spoke.
—My Rosalie, why are you crying?
“M-Mom… I—I won’t be able to see you anymore.”
—Did something happen?
“I-I was happy, being able to see you even like this. I was h-happy.”
—Mom was happy too, seeing you again. So don’t cry. Tell me what’s wrong.
“I-If I keep this mirror, they say I c-can’t grow up.”
—Who would say such a thing? You’re already grown up enough, my Rosalie.
“T-The person who came to find this mirror.”
—…Who came?
In an instant, the woman’s gaze turned vicious. But Rosalie, busy wiping her tears with her sleeve, didn’t see it.
“A-A round-faced older sister. H-Her eyes are a bit scary.”
—My kind and pretty daughter, listen to your mother. That woman is a swindler. A beast trying to tear you and your mother apart.
“H-Huh? B-But she can command spirits… B-Beasts can’t control spirits.”
—Rosalie! Are you telling me you trust a stranger you just met more than your own mother?
“B-But… s-she said that the mom in the mirror—”
The woman in the mirror now twisted her face grotesquely, her voice turning sharp as she berated Rosalie.
—Everything that wench said is a lie! Are you saying you don’t care if you never see your mother again? After everything I did to raise you!
“M-Mom?”
—Kill her! Rosalie! Then you and I can be together forever!
Startled, Rosalie nearly dropped the mirror.
But black threads spilled out of it, instantly wrapping around Rosalie’s hand.
“Eek!”
—Kill her! Kill her! You can do that much for your mother!
Rosalie collapsed to the ground as something touched her back.
It was Raphaella.
“I had a feeling. Figures.”
The mirror shard, clutching Rosalie’s hand with black threads, sneered.
—You bitch! After falling from grace, you dare covet me?
“Tsk. I wondered how something not even palm-sized got this strong. Turns out it’s because of Rosalie.”
—Get lost! I have no intention of going back to that prison called the Divine Realm!
“That’s your problem. My problem is I have to take you in.”
—Ha ha! What can you do without your authority? I’ve already begun bonding with her! You’re just a human—you can’t do anything! Kyahaha!
The mirror laughed madly, spewing out even more black threads. Dozens of tentacle-like strands fluttered and wrapped tightly around Rosalie’s left arm, cocooning it until her bare skin was no longer visible.
“Aaah! P-Please save me!”
With her free hand, Rosalie clutched at Raphaella’s hem, begging.
But Raphaella didn’t help. She only smiled playfully and placed a spirit-tree club into Rosalie’s hand.
“I’ll lend it to you. Use it.”
“W-What?”
“The bond you made is yours to cut. No one else can do it for you.”
“H-How am I supposed to—”
“What are you afraid of? With your strength, it’s enough. Just strike and sever it.”
“B-But what if—”
“Don’t worry. No matter how much divine protection you have, a human can’t break the mirror itself. Only that vile power will shatter.”
As Rosalie awkwardly tightened her grip on the club, the flustered mirror cut in urgently.
—Rosalie! Look at your mother. Don’t you pity me? I came like this because I missed you so much. We finally met again—can you really live without seeing me?
“M-Mom…”
—Yes. I’m your mother. If that woman disappears, we can be together forever. So hit her with that club!
Raphaella merely stood there with her hands behind her back, unmoved by the mirror’s screams.
“Little miss. Think carefully. Is that really your mother? You already know the answer.”
As if making a final desperate struggle, the mirror spewed even more threads. They had now reached Rosalie’s shoulders.
—Rosalie! How can you do this to your own mother! After everything I did for you, you ungrateful brat!
With trembling hands, Rosalie raised the club high. Tears streamed endlessly down her pale cheeks, sorrow shaking her eyes.
“M-Mom… I actually still remember it clearly. T-That day, running from bandits… the moment you held me tight and fell off the cliff…”
Rosalie closed her eyes and recalled that voice.
“Dear God, please. Let this child be strong. Let her survive. Please grant your mercy.”
“T-That earnest, warm prayer… I still hear it in my dreams every night. Y-Your voice was so gentle. Always.”
Lost in memory, Rosalie slowly opened her eyes.
Her tears had stopped. Her gaze was steady now. Her grip tightened on the club with a creak.
“S-So telling me to kill someone like this…”
Rosalie swung the raised club down with all her strength.
KWAANG—!!
“You’re not my mom.”
—Kyaaaaah!
The black threads bursting from the mirror crumbled like sand with a single blow. The strands wrapped up to her shoulders scattered like dust.
Thud.
The powerless mirror shard fell to the ground.
Rosalie stood there clutching the club, staring at it, but there was nothing inside the mirror anymore.
“….”
She said nothing—neither crying nor smiling, just standing there blankly.
Raphaella and Ferry, who had watched everything, walked over to her. Raphaella awkwardly patted Rosalie’s back, rough and clumsy.
“Good job. You did well.”
“Rosalie! You did great.”
Ferry hopped onto Rosalie’s head and stroked her hair as she chimed in.
At last, Rosalie smiled, tears still pooled in her eyes—a bittersweet yet strangely relieved expression.
“I-I did it.”
“Yeah! Ferry saw everything. You really did it, Rosalie!”
“H-Hehe.”
“Such a good girl~”
While Rosalie and Ferry were at it, Raphaella approached the mirror and picked up the shard.
She had let her guard down, thinking it would be weak since it hadn’t fallen long ago and was so small. She’d assumed it would be buried in the dirt somewhere, dormant—but it had already amassed this much power.
At least it was small. If the larger shards were out there… just imagining how powerful they might be made her head ache.
“Tsk. This is going to be a headache.”
Raphaella clicked her tongue softly. She took out the map Gilliphus had given her and placed the mirror shard on it. The shard melted into the map, as if being absorbed. A corner of the complete image labeled “Divine Realm Mirror” filled in slightly.
Staring at the many empty spaces still left, Raphaella sighed and spoke in a weary voice.
“Ferry, homework’s done. Let’s go back. You too, little miss—go home.”
“I-I told you, I’m not little.”
“Anyway. Let’s hurry and—hm? Come to think of it, how did you get here by yourself? Even Ferry and I had trouble finding this place.”
