Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: I'm Stronger Than That Villainous Old Man
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The reason I was able to regain my senses and stand up after staggering and collapsing.
It was because, just as I had squeezed my eyes shut, ready to give up, a voice whispered in my ear.
‘Calm down, Sien. Those words are fake.’
At that moment, the small necklace Leonhardt had given me sparkled with light.
A bluish glow flickered faintly, as if it might protect me.
But the feeble fairy energy couldn’t dispel the powerful illusion entirely. Of course not—I didn’t have fairy blood in me, after all.
‘Still, thanks to this light, I feel a bit stronger.’
The voice in my ear grew louder, and something began to shimmer before my eyes.
The bluish light that had enveloped me faded away, drained of life force. I thought I heard “You can do it” in my ear.
I slowly opened my eyes.
It was a place where an ordinary five-year-old would break down mentally, perhaps even die—but it was okay.
‘Because I have my dad.’
I would protect my foolish dad, whose hands and feet were callused from farming, with these tiny hands of mine.
I clenched my pale little fist tight and forced my trembling legs to stand.
And I muttered under my breath.
“No.”
I pictured my rabbit-shaped bag.
I thought of the days we spent together in the countryside, when Dad would lovingly pack my lunchbox every single day.
‘Our Sien, that rabbit bag is so cute.’
‘I’m not a rabbit, though?’
‘You’re the cutest baby rabbit in the world, then.’
The dad who said those things was my real dad……
“Those people aren’t my family.”
I knew.
One way to get through the [Illusion Maze] was to face the horrific trauma head-on and break free from those memories.
Those who didn’t know that wandered the maze, fleeing hallucinations and voices, only to die lonely deaths—or if they escaped, they lived on broken, tormented by mental scars.
But I knew both the [Illusion Maze]’s tricks and how to escape it.
So I had gambled by throwing myself straight into the trap.
If you couldn’t avoid it, you had to confront it and win.
I spoke softly, like kindling a tiny spark.
“I…… have a precious dad.”
The children who fell victim to the Dean’s illusions had no hope.
But I had great hope now—and a dad I had to protect.
If I crumbled, there’d be no one in all of Mirmod to stand by Dad’s side.
I clenched my fist tighter and said it a bit louder.
Just as light drives out darkness, positive hope overcomes negative despair.
“My dad said he loves me.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and endlessly recalled every word Dad had ever said to me.
Sparkle, sparkle—like light bulbs flicking on one by one, warm comfort flooded my heart.
‘Dad said he loves me. Said I’m pretty even if I do nothing, lovable no matter what.’
My legs gave way, and I leaned against the maze wall.
‘My dream is to live happily with Dad forever.’
I began to softly chant my wish under my breath.
Like lighting a single candle in pitch darkness.
The noisy murmurs in my ears gradually quieted.
And in place of the noise, visions of Dad appeared before my eyes.
Dad baking delicious bread for me every day in our rural village.
Dad bringing mountains of healthy food every time I sneezed.
Dad teaching me letters one by one, showing me how to pronounce them.
Dad insisting I wasn’t slow, just learning steadily, whenever others muttered about it……
Dad preparing my rabbit-shaped lunchbox.
Even the way he’d stroke my hair and hold me tight as we slept.
‘My girl, my daughter’s the prettiest in the world.’
Whenever fragments of my past triggered nightmares, Dad would sing lullabies until dawn.
Singing all night until his voice grew hoarse.
‘You know Dad loves our Sien, right?’
Our Dad, who kept whispering kind words in my ear.
‘I’ll take care of everything. All you have to do is be happy.’
A gentle, warm voice that wrapped around me like a cozy blanket.
The unconditional love I’d never known in my past life, abandoned by my parents.
I had to protect it no matter what.
‘I’ll save my dad. I’ll survive for sure and live happily.’
I had reincarnated with one wish: to build a “happy family.”
Everything was because the gods had answered that wish.
If even the gods protected my dream, I wouldn’t lose to some mere Dean.
‘I won’t lose to mere illusions. Never.’
Only the strongest hope could shatter wicked illusions.
The stronger the hope for the future, the less past traumas could sway you.
I was someone who had summoned a god with nothing but faith in happiness and gained a new life.
That’s why I could enter here with my head held high.
I would survive.
‘I’ll live happily with Dad.’
I opened my tightly shut eyes.
Then, like a mirror shattering, the illusions began to break.
As the Illusion Maze crumbled, the Dean’s shocked face appeared before me.
“You…….”
“Now it’s your turn, Grandpa.”
Illusionists’ illusions had a fatal flaw.
It was called reflection.
Reflection.
When an illusion shattered, the illusionist had no choice but to take the backlash fully.
Unlike me, his body hadn’t fully entered the maze thanks to his “privilege,” but his body and spirit would be half-separated.
In other words, part of his spirit would be trapped in the maze, forced to endure torture-like illusions.
I shook the now-shattered magic stone in my hand.
“The magic stone’s turning red.”
“You, you…… You think you’ll get away with this?”
“Yeah. Grandpa’s gonna hurt a lot now!”
Were my words the signal?
The magic stone vibrated violently in my hand, and the Dean clutched his heart in panic.
“Urgh……!”
Finally, a new illusory nightmare began for him.
‘How does it feel to be attacked by the very illusions you created?’
I trudged over to where he writhed in his horrific visions.
And whispered softly in his ear.
“If you’re strong, break free.”
“……Sh, shut your mouth.”
Could he even hear me?
Who knew.
But I intended to throw back every word he’d said to me.
“If you’re weak…….”
I might be a little kid who knows nothing about Mirmod family traditions, but today I learned one thing for sure.
“You’ll get eaten, right? The weak get devoured.”
The Dean, who had sent so many children into horrific traumas.
Now he was dreaming his own terrible nightmares in the vicious illusions he’d created.
Just like those children he’d tormented, he might dream them forever.
It all depended on his heart.
I gave a cold smile and turned to Teacher Rilmi, the Dean’s lackey.
He stood frozen, legs giving out in the bizarre situation, mouth agape.
“Hi, Teacher.”
“……Do you even know what you’ve done to the Dean? You, daughter of an exile!”
“What did I do?”
“You threatened the Dean’s life! You didn’t even take the test properly. You think you’ll get away with it?”
Yet even as he blustered, he was too scared to come near me.
‘Doesn’t he get what’s happening?’
I sighed deeply and pulled a small mirror from my rabbit bag.
“Dummy?”
“……What nonsense is this! Release the Dean properly right—”
“Teacher should come along too.”
He blinked at me in confusion, question marks all over his face.
I turned the mirror’s front toward him.
This was a common low-grade artifact you could borrow from the library, but in this situation……
“Reflection.”
This mirror could reflect and return the magic I’d just endured.
Only once, with limited power, but still.
“You, you……!”
“Say you’re sorry to me.”
He was a bat-like coward.
His snakelike eyes flicked toward the kneeling Dean, then back to me as he blurted desperately.
“S-sorry!”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes, let me live! I’m sorry!”
I tapped the mirror’s front and grinned.
“Hmm…… Nah, don’t think so?”
Clear refusal.
Realizing too late, he widened his eyes and raised his hand high.
To hit me? I might’ve let him land one……
But the mirror artifact worked faster.
“Gahk!”
With a weird yelp, he crumpled to the floor just like the Dean.
“Dummy.”
I clicked my tongue inwardly and shook my head.
The nightmares of those with wicked natures were always more horrific.
They wouldn’t be leaving this room for a while.
And even if they did, their minds wouldn’t be intact.
‘Your life’s standard is nothing but corruption and personal gain.’
I looked down at them coldly and turned away.
‘I thought about bringing you to my side, but trash like you would just stab me in the back!’
And what can you do if I don’t like you?
I gripped my bag strap tight.
A blue light flickered around me and vanished.
‘Thank you for protecting me all this time, Fairy!’
I remembered the blue light that had hovered near me intermittently in the Illusion Maze.
I’m just an ordinary person, but if I study hard, maybe someday I could summon the Fairy—such silly thoughts crossed my mind as I turned.
Right then—
Bam!
The door burst open.
And outside stood Dad, with a terrifying expression.
“Sien!”
“Daddy!”
I rushed to him and hugged him tight.
Rubbing my face against his clothes like a cat, I didn’t notice.
How he coldly glared at the two men staring blankly into space.
How they collapsed in soul-crushing terror at a single glance from Matthias.
Those two would never rise again.
***
Holding tight to Dad’s hand as we entered the North Tower, I faced an interrogation.
“Sien, Dad told you never to do dangerous things.”
“But the test! They said I had to……”
“I told you not to go with bad people. What if something happened to you? How could Dad live alone?”
I pouted my lips.
“But thinking of you gave me strength. So it was okay?”
“What exactly happened, Sien? Huh? How could a tiny, weak kid like you…….”
“Um. Um……. Nothing much! Just thought of you, and the illusions shattered right away.”
I deliberately skipped the part about getting revenge on them. Our kind Dad might get heartbroken and cry if he heard such awful things.
One hundred percent truth would stay sealed forever.
“You……. Sigh, fine. Let’s eat cake first.”
I went “Ahh,” and Dad fed me a bite of cream cake.
As I munched, I suddenly recalled fragments of the nightmare from the Illusion Maze.
The long-buried past shards tormented my heart.
I shivered faintly and called to Dad.
“……But Dad.”
“Yeah.”
“Did you say it every day?”
“Say what?”
My heart thumped nervously for some reason.
“That I’m okay even if I’m useless…….”
“Yeah. You don’t have to do anything.”
“Even if I’m not good? Even if I break all the cups?”
Anxious, I fidgeted my fingers—just a little, out of Dad’s sight.
“Break cups?”
His voice sounded a bit puzzled.
“Uh-huh…….”
As I rolled my eyes in worry, Dad’s warm voice rang in my ear.
“If you break a hundred cups, I’ll buy you a thousand.”
My old Dad wasn’t like that. He’d insulted me as useless, berated me for being incompetent.
But this Dad, my foolish rural farmer Matthias Dad……
“That stuff’s not worth a thing, because you’re our daughter.”
……He called me his daughter.
Gently, warmly, he said it wasn’t worth anything at all.
My eyes trembled faintly, and I brought my little steamed-bun hand to them. It was like a dark curtain fell over my vision. Even peeking at Dad through my fingers took courage now.
Did he take my covered eyes as a signal? Dad’s voice grew more urgent, more hurried.
I pressed my fingertips to my brow bone, desperately fighting back tears.
But……
“You don’t have to be good. You can be really bad. But Dad just wants our daughter to think happy thoughts. It’d be even better if she only has good experiences.”