The Professor in the Mirror
The corridor of the old mansion. Ifrin clung to Deculein's back, eyes squeezed shut tight, arms wrapped around his waist.
Voices murmured in the darkness.
Mumbling, like chanting sutras—indecipherable words. The touch of a ghostly hand brushing her neck.
Ifrin shuddered violently, but Deculein remained utterly calm. He showed no fear whatsoever.
Thud—thud—
"When do we get there? My heart's about to explode."
Even his footsteps terrified her now. Ifrin stammered the question.
Tap.
At that moment, Deculein stopped.
Have we arrived? But then another voice drifted in.
"Professor."
Julie's voice as a knight. Ifrin flinched in surprise and opened her eyes.
"The sun has set. Are you alright?"
"I am fine. What are you doing here?"
"On patrol."
Julie held a torch in one hand. But whether this was the real Julie or a ghost mimicking her, who could say?
"The sun set so suddenly, I thought many might not have made it back to their rooms."
"……."
Deculein gestured toward his back with his chin.
"Did you see the poster?"
"……."
Julie said nothing. That meant she had.
"Your father's name was on it too. I see why His Majesty didn't summon Zeit. He must have caused a riot, ready to tear down the mansion. Good thing you're the composed one."
"……Please. Say no more of my family."
Julie bowed her head politely. Deculein handed Ifrin's wrist to her.
"Take her."
"Eh? Yes?"
"Yes."
Julie accepted without protest. Cradled in the knight's arms, Ifrin blinked up at Deculein.
"Professor, where are you going?"
"I have a soul to investigate."
Julie's face stiffened as she asked,
"A soul, you say?"
"Indeed. Souls who died in the Imperial Palace or harbor deep grudges there linger as ghosts, attached to this mansion. Those who cannot accept their death, have words left for the living, or refuse to die even in death."
Deculein handed Julie a book. It was the one from Sophien.
"To add unnecessarily, Veron is not here. Nor Rockfell. They are not strong enough vermin to remain as ghosts."
"……."
Julie ground her teeth. Ifrin glanced nervously between them.
"Go."
"I entrust my disciple to you."
I entrust my disciple to you. Those words pierced Ifrin's heart. Her breath caught for a moment.
Julie nodded.
"Yes."
"Ah, I wanna go with you too, Professor—"
"Come along."
Julie dragged Ifrin away by force, and Deculein retraced his steps. His figure vanished into the darkness.
"……Disciple."
Ifrin murmured softly from Julie's arms. The fear had vanished, and for some reason, her cheeks burned.
……Her heart was pounding.
I arrived somewhere in the mansion.
I did not know where this "somewhere" was. But guided by the instincts of Iron Man, to the place where the soul I sought resided, I walked and walked until I reached it.
"……So this is where you were."
A chandelier swayed, blood pooled on the floor. At the center, a woman sat at a tea table, sipping calmly. As if waiting for me, one seat empty.
"Your Imperial Majesty, the Empress."
"……."
The Empress.
Officially assassinated by Rohakan, she looked up at me. Blood still oozed from her neck, thick death seeping toward my feet.
"Sit. Professor Deculein."
For some reason, she invited me to sit as if we were familiar. I nodded and approached.
"It's been a while."
Had we met? Her greeting puzzled me, but I sat without comment.
"Did Sophi tell you to find me?"
"……."
"No?"
I gazed steadily at her. She chuckled lowly.
"……Sophi."
Her face grew wistful, as if recalling Sophien, murmuring softly.
"The monster I bore."
Crack!
In an instant, the Empress's neck twisted unnaturally to stare at me. Blood tears streamed from her bloodshot eyes.
"That monster killed me. Not Rohakan—that child killed me… her own mother."
"……."
"That child is a monster."
The Empress called her own child a monster.
I listened without a word, showing no reaction.
"Professor Deculein. Why do you think a long-dead woman like me lingers here? Injustice? Hatred?"
She shook her head.
"No. It's Sophi. Sophi must die. That child is a calamity that will destroy the world. Here, we cannot let her leave."
"……Is that so."
"It's not a lie. You must believe it too."
I regarded the Empress silently.
"Whenever I see that child, I feel something artificial, contrived. Isn't it strange? Too perfect."
Perfect exterior. Features sculpted like a statue, the golden ratio.
Talent to reach the pinnacle in sword and magic, administration and scholarship, soldier and emperor—all fields of the human world.
Born of imperial blood, an utterly flawless human.
"Can one so perfect truly be called human?"
The Empress offered me a teacup. She poured black tea with elegant etiquette.
But it was blood. The metallic stench spread.
"No? Absolutely not. How could such a child be human?"
Self-answering. The Empress continued, savoring each word.
"If there were a truly perfect human. Completely flawless, without deficiency."
Bang!
The door I'd entered slammed shut. Blood surged from the cup.
"We would call it 'God'."
God.
The being the Altar sought.
"Is that so."
I smiled faintly. The Empress asked, staring at me.
"Do you believe me?"
"No. I neither believe nor disbelieve. I merely take it as Your Majesty's claim."
Too perfect—yet the current Sophien had far too many flaws.
Thus, I could neither believe nor disbelieve the Empress.
"Then. Will you continue serving Sophi? Even if the world ends?"
The Empress gnashed her teeth, blood tears flowing as she growled.
"I'm on humanity's side. If you don't believe, the world will perish!"
"……I see. Thanks to you, one thing is clear."
I shook my head.
"The soul His Majesty seeks is not you."
"……."
Roooar!
A deafening explosion. Windows shattered as a wave of blood crashed in.
"Then who is Sophi seeking? If not the mother she killed, who?"
The Empress's voice trembled with rage.
I answered briefly.
"A soul that shares her memories."
The darkness outside pressed in like terror, a coldly sunken night. Julie's room.
Ifrin perched on the bed there.
"Rest well."
Meanwhile, Julie prepared to head out again. Ifrin asked with a tense face.
"You're going out?"
"Yes. Others might be wandering. I have a map, so as a knight, I cannot hide."
Equipping map and torch like weapons, as she moved to leave, Ifrin tossed out a word.
"I… heard."
"……."
Julie's legs froze.
"This special petition. You filed it, right, Knight Julie?"
Julie turned silently to Ifrin.
"I know too. The Professor won't talk with you. Even if you try, he never says what he doesn't want to. Always hiding. But……."
Ifrin sighed briefly.
"The Professor still loves you, Knight Julie."
Silence. An awkward quiet hung.
Ifrin avoided her gaze, swinging her legs. Julie murmured lowly.
"That love might be why things turned out this way."
Love.
Because of that love, Julie's body failed her early; because of it, Veron and Rockfell died.
"……I'll go now."
"Really?"
Ifrin grabbed the departing Julie one last time. Julie gripped the doorknob and stood still.
"Really, did the Professor kill your subordinate?"
"……."
Julie sighed.
"Yes. He killed my subordinate. I petitioned to learn why."
And she stepped out. As if she wanted no more words.
"……Sigh."
Ifrin flopped onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. She pulled a card from her pocket.
"What to do with this."
Julie von Dayia Phairden
The name of the one she had to protect.
Then, a mana stone tumbled from her pocket.
Sylvia's gift.
Ifrin stared at it, then slowly sat up.
"……Not very polite."
What if someone peeked at a gift meant for her first?
She'd be furious.
"……Not the time yet."
Sylvia said to give it to Julie "when Deculein is in danger and she does nothing."
"……Wait. Isn't it dangerous now?"
If the special petition goes wrong, it's over.
"Ughhh……."
Ifrin wrestled with morals and manners, then.
"No choice."
She concluded and infused mana into the stone.
Fsssh…….
A green image rose. From long ago, an event Sylvia had witnessed with her own eyes and recorded in the stone.
It began imprinting on Ifrin's retinas too.
The next day at noon, the mansion's plaza.
Sophien on her throne smirked at the poster list.
"Quite a few signatories."
Innumerable signatures of the dead on the poster. Ministers nodded, faces pale with fear.
"Very well. It matters not. Noon has come; I hereby commence the Emperor's Hearing."
Sophien propped her chin. Some ministers offered her papers.
"Hear this. The target of this special petition's crimes is……."
She paused, scanning the hall. Ruina, Adrienne, Ihelm, Maho, and others waited tensely for the Emperor's words.
But the one she sought was absent.
"Deculein von Grahan Yukline."
The plaza erupted in uproar. All looked around, murmuring, but Deculein was nowhere.
Not in the hall.
"Is Deculein not here? He signed the list."
Sophien seemed unusually flustered. She needed him here to proceed.
"……He must have fled in surrender."
Gawain spoke. Sophien's brows furrowed sharply.
"Fled? That one?"
"Yes. Our evidence is ironclad—"
"Silence."
"……."
Sophien rustled the evidence they'd presented.
"Regardless, the Emperor's Special Hearing proceeds without Deculein. No one left to refute."
Hmph. The smirking Emperor pointed at Isak with her chin.
"Speak. Why do you believe Deculein committed those crimes?"
As Sophien spoke, and Isak and Julie moved to step forward calmly.
That instant.
Bang!
The plaza's gates burst open.
"Your Majesty! Disaster!"
A knight, drenched in blood, rushed in.
"Get away from here— Aaargh!"
A blade pierced his chest, and robed figures poured in behind.
The Altar.
"……."
Sophien stared wordlessly. Knights including Julie drew swords to fight, dark clouds blotting the sun outside once more.
The mansion drowned in darkness.
"Damn pests."
Sophien scoffed, watching the plaza clash.
Clang! Clang—! Swords met; magic useless here.
One big destructive spell, and all died.
"The timing too—"
"Your Majesty."
Then, from the plaza's shadows, one emerged. Daring to approach the throne and address the Emperor.
Sophien turned, frowning.
"Deculein?"
"Yes."
"Why so late? The hearing is still—"
"It's been a while, Your Majesty."
"……A while?"
Sophien tilted her head in confusion, then recalled.
The uncertain "request" she'd made to Deculein.
"……Follow me. This place is dangerous."
He grabbed the Emperor's arm, pulling her up, evacuating her amid the chaos, explaining "his existence."
"Over a hundred years."
"……."
At his words.
Sophien's face went blank for a moment.
"The professor from the mirror."