Chapter 101: Trap (5)
“Invisible twin or something?”
Someone muttered in disbelief in the sudden standoff.
It was Lian Gwendil.
Lian Gwendil, who revealed himself from the darkness, muttered again, seemingly dumbfounded.
“No, maybe not that. They say when doppelgangers meet, one must die. But since both are alive…”
The Lian Gwendil across from me.
The one with my face smirked as he looked this way.
“But when did you steal my face?”
“I’ve been quiet, but what kind of nonsense are you spewing?”
I muttered as I stared at him.
“Did I beat you so hard you lost your mind? Want me to smack the other side to knock you back to your senses?”
“Go ahead. I’ll just crush your skull in return.”
“Oooh, scary.”
With that, I drew my mace.
He too pulled out a mace identical to mine.
“……”
“……”
Despite the harsh words exchanged earlier, he and I—
Neither of us moved, only observing the situation.
I didn’t know why he wasn’t moving.
But I...
‘…This is.’
It was a feeling I couldn’t put into words.
As always, without evidence or reason, intuition warned me.
That thing hadn’t stolen my face.
It also told me not to act recklessly.
“…Who are you?”
“I should be the one asking that. Who are you?”
“I’m Lancia Jintia.”
“…Ha, how shameless. Flaunting someone else’s face and name. You should be ashamed.”
The Lancia Jintia beside me also exchanged sharp words with the Lancia Jintia who had appeared from the darkness.
Next to them, Cecilia and Yuran watched silently.
“…What is this.”
Cecilia tilted her head in puzzlement.
Surely, she should be able to sense the flow of nature through her contract with spirits.
Yet even she seemed completely lost, staring at the me and Lancia that had emerged from the dark.
That meant, at the very least, the enemy hadn’t used magic or sorcery to change their appearance.
In other words, it was a truly baffling and troublesome situation.
‘Wait, I think I’ve heard something like this before…’
While keeping my eyes on the other me, I dug through my memories.
Then, once again, we heard a rustling sound from somewhere.
It came from our side.
Naturally, both we and they adjusted our stances to respond.
And shortly after—
“Oh.”
“…This is unsettling.”
This time, Cecilia and Yuran emerged from the darkness.
They too looked quite surprised to see us.
“This is insane.”
I muttered, and the Lian Gwendil across from me nodded in agreement.
But this was just the beginning.
In a moment not even long enough to sip a cup of tea—
In that brief span, the clearing where the four of us had stood now held no less than sixteen people.
“I think I understand what this is.”
The third Yuran to appear out of the four spoke.
Our Yuran looked at her quietly and replied,
“The Mirror That Speaks Truth.”
“Exactly that.”
The other two Yurans nodded.
Yes, clearly.
Though they used different words, the intent was the same.
“I shall explain. And declare.”
“We must not fight amongst ourselves. If we do… um… our heads will…”
Yuran, who had hesitated, nodded.
“Brains. Brains will hurt.”
Roughly translated, if we ended up fighting each other, we’d be in for a splitting headache.
As the remaining twelve people stayed silent, seemingly awaiting an explanation, one of the Yurans spoke.
“This is originally a sorcery of Garusol. Specifically, a sorcery of the Sky Guides. To look at oneself, from here and there, and gain self-awareness.”
“Those who complete that process move to the next step—understanding the difference between how others perceive you and your true self.”
“And then… mm.”
As she slowly explained, Yuran let out a deep sigh, seemingly struggling to translate the words in her head into Imperial language.
“Everyone here is real. And real ones fighting each other is not good. Understand?”
“Also, this sorcery is different from the original. Its effects may be unknown, so caution is needed.”
“Indeed. Furthermore…”
Putting together Yuran’s explanation, it boiled down to this:
First.
The situation we were facing happened because we were caught in the Sky Guides’ training sorcery called the Mirror That Speaks Truth.
Second.
This spell manifests a physical form of how others perceive oneself. Those incarnations truly believe they are the real one.
Meaning, since there were four of us here, we each multiplied into four, totaling sixteen.
Also, it was almost never used offensively.
Because you might end up facing enemies multiplied several times over.
Third.
If you fight your own self and defeat them, you won’t die or become disabled…
But you will experience extreme exhaustion.
So much that you’d have to lie down for at least half a day.
Fourth.
However, the spell we were caught in now was distinctly different from the one Yuran knew.
Because sorcery could not be dismantled or altered to the extent that even its original form disappeared, even with minor modifications, the opinion was given that some kind of external factor must have been applied.
Lastly, the fifth point.
“It’s simple to break a spell. The real one only needs to be convinced they’re the real one, and the fake needs to realize they’re a fake. Then the fake crumbles into dust and disappears.”
“Simple and clear. Though I doubt the process is simple…”
I nodded and asked her.
“Then how does the real one become convinced they're the real one, and the fake become convinced they’re a fake?”
“…Why are you asking me that?”
“?”
“?”
Yuran tilted her head.
The other three Yuran also tilted their heads.
“…Insufficient explanation. This is an old sorcery from the distant past. It hasn’t been used in a long time. Too wasteful, not efficient. That’s why I only knew of it. So it took time to notice.”
The other twelve reacted in various ways to her words.
One of the Lancia spoke.
“Then shall we all gather together for now? We’ve already confirmed through certain means that none of us are enemies in disguise.”
“That sounds good. Especially if we’re to figure out who the fake is.”
“There’s no need for that.”
That was when it happened.
Cecilia, who was on our side, stepped forward.
She pointed at several among us who had appeared late.
“You. You. And you. Yes, you.”
Yuran, Lancia, and ‘Lian Gwendil’ who had been pointed at looked at Cecilia as if asking what she meant.
“You’re fakes.”
“What…?”
“On what grounds are you saying that…!”
“Wait a minute, what do you mean, Cecilia?”
Each of those labeled as fakes reacted indignantly.
But Cecilia ignored their protests with an utterly calm voice.
“Yuran said it at the beginning. Each of our remembered images has manifested into physical form. That means if you misremember someone, then the misremembered version is what materializes.”
As she said this, Cecilia pointed to Lancia, then Yuran, and finally to me.
“The handle of the sword you’re holding is different. Also, the braid in your hair. The symbols of the Holy Sun Church are slightly different as well.”
“On the surface, they look nearly identical… but look closely, and you’ll see a red glint in their eyes.”
“…That Lian over there.”
Cecilia hesitated for a moment, then spoke as if she had no choice.
“There’s no mole behind the neck. The real Lian has one.”
“…Huh?”
Unconsciously, I reached for the back of my neck.
I hadn’t known that myself.
No, more importantly, how on earth did she know there was a mole on the back of my neck…?
“How can we believe you…! And more than that, how can you even see us so clearly in this darkness?”
“Red glint?”
“……”
Lancia murmured in disbelief.
In contrast, Yuran furrowed her brow as if finding the ‘red glint’ absurd.
Lian—the other me—remained silent.
Cecilia merely gazed at them indifferently.
I instinctively understood that she wasn’t seeing them with her own eyes, but through a spirit.
“…No, if Cecilia says so, then that must be how it is.”
‘Lian Gwendil’, who had remained silent all this time, muttered in a strangely hollow voice.
Because he already knew how eerily accurate Cecilia’s memory was from long ago.
“Fake, huh. Ha.”
With that, ‘Lian Gwendil’ dispersed like a mirage and vanished.
Following that, it wasn’t long before the images of Yuran and Lancia also disappeared.
Thirteen remained.
That meant we had found the correct ones.
“…Then let’s start by identifying those whose appearance differs the most.”
One of the Lancia spoke.
No one objected to her words.
Soon, everyone who remained stepped closer to the bonfire.
The Forbidden Forest, devoid of sunlight, was dark and damp all year round, and at night, with an excess of mana, the darkness deepened even more.
But now, as everyone moved close to the fire, the faces previously obscured by the darkness became easier to distinguish.
“Shall we take turns and eliminate one by one?”
“That sounds good.”
I nodded at Cecilia’s suggestion.
We first looked at the four Cecilia grouped together.
“This Cecilia is a fake.”
“Yes, looks more mature than the others.”
“And this one is wearing a different glove from the rest.”
They figured it out through differences in appearance and clothing.
“Ah! I fake! Not fake! Not! No~! Nenio! Nenio!”
“…Who? Who the hell thinks of me like this?”
“…Speaking nicely. Shut that mouth. Before I hide you.”
The remaining Yurans muttered coldly, watching the odd Yuran spouting nonsense like a broken toy.
It was the first time I’d seen her so angry since our first meeting.
One by one, as we sorted and eliminated them, my turn eventually came around.
With one already gone, three ‘Lian Gwendil’ remained.
And only three people were still observing the Lian Gwendils.
“This one, first.”
“…Hmm, yes. I agree.”
Without hesitation, Yuran and Lancia pointed to the ‘Lian Gwendil’ in the center.
There was nothing particularly unusual in his appearance, but he had been murmuring Ilionel’s name and praying the entire time.
“This too must be the will of the great Ilionel…”
With those words, he vanished like a mirage.
…I didn’t know why, but I had a vague idea whose version of me that was supposed to be.
I glanced at Lancia, who quickly averted her eyes, and I shrugged my shoulders.
“Well, that’s the end of it then.”
“Hmm, glad it ended without trouble.”
Yuran and I murmured just as—
“…What are you talking about?”
It was Cecilia.
She looked at me and the other me with a serious expression.
“There are still two Lian. That means there’s still one more fake to identify.”
“Hmm?”
Yuran looked at her, confused, but Cecilia remained grave.
“…I don’t know. Which one is real? Their appearances are completely the same.”
Cecilia shook her head slightly, as if she truly couldn’t tell.
Yuran, Lancia, and I looked at each other, equally puzzled.
Then we turned toward the ‘Lian Gwendil’ standing a bit farther away, seemingly sensing that something was off.
Excessively thick eyelashes.
A nose so sharp it looked like it could cut paper.
Anyway, as the person in question, I wanted to look away the moment I saw that overly beautified version of myself standing there in perfect posture.
‘…You’re confusing that with me?’
That ‘Lian Gwendil’ over there…
No, unlike the two that had already disappeared, it was embarrassing to even call that one “me.”
It was so obviously a fake that I hadn’t even considered it worth checking in the first place…
Yet Cecilia genuinely seemed to be confusing that one with me.
“……”
I stood there blankly, unable to say a word.
“…She must really think her benefactor is handsome.”
Yuran patted my shoulder as if to comfort me.
Her voice was filled with laughter, so it didn’t comfort me at all.