Mirage's True Form
The party arrived before the stone sarcophagus deep within the World Tree.
"Alteer Woodgard was a truly compassionate queen."
Mirage, in the form of Alteer, said this as she gently stroked the sarcophagus.
The first time she had met her was 800 years ago, when she visited the elf village alongside the Magic King.
"As I mentioned before, the elf village was under threat from a fragment of the Servant Lord at that time."
"Yeah, you said that."
"That was when I first met Alteer, my lord. Tina and I, along with a total of three homunculi, were with him."
"……Three?"
This was news to him.
There had been another homunculus besides Tina and Mirage?
If that's true, how much of a monster was that fragment from the past? Even at his peak, the Magic King with three homunculi and the elf queen herself couldn't take it down.
Well, yeah. It went berserk even after eating every debuff in the book. Must've been horrifying at full strength.
And if a mere fragment was that bad, he couldn't even imagine what the actual body must've been like.
……Thank god it didn't notice me.
It was a huge relief that the perception curse had been lifted.
This was yet another moment to be grateful for Unlock.
As Carpe let out a quiet sigh of relief in his mind, Mirage continued.
"It was a tough battle, but we emerged victorious."
In the end, the fragment of the Servant Lord fled with fatal wounds, bringing peace back to the elf village.
After obtaining the materials needed for the next homunculus creation, the Magic King left the village, ending Mirage and Alteer's first meeting.
They met again about 20 years later.
After the Arkram Empire's defeat in the War of Dignity.
Unlike before, this time it was a meeting forced upon them by the Magic King.
"Even thinking back on it now, it was utterly ridiculous."
The Magic King had tossed the sarcophagus and Mirage with a casual "Hey! Take care of this!" and just left.
Crunch.
Mirage ground her teeth just recalling it, and Tina nodded in full understanding.
……It seemed the Magic King hadn't been the best leader to his homunculi.
"I thought being kicked out like that left me with no choice, but the outcome was the opposite."
Alteer welcomed Mirage with open arms.
And that wasn't all.
Normally, she would've been sealed away in the sarcophagus, waiting indefinitely for some successor to appear, but Alteer allowed her to live freely in the village simply because "that would be too pitiful, wouldn't it?"
"Those were the happiest moments of my life."
Not just the queen, but all the other elves were kind as well.
There was no need to worry about war. The only threats in the forest were occasional wild monster attacks on the village.
"But…… that happiness didn't last many years."
While patrolling the village as usual, Alteer suddenly vomited blood and collapsed.
In truth, she had been suffering from a chronic illness for many years.
She had suppressed it with her immense mana until then…… but time had worn her body down, and her aged flesh could no longer withstand the disease.
"I couldn't accept it at all."
Alteer herself calmly accepted it as the natural order, apologizing only for not being able to stay longer, but Mirage couldn't.
A great queen dying from mere illness? Absolutely not.
Mirage desperately searched for a way to heal her.
And in the end.
She found a clue in the elves' ancient texts.
The young leaf of the World Tree.
It was a tale from long-forgotten legends.
"There was a record that the first leaf sprouted by the World Tree could cure all diseases in this world."
Elated at finding a method, Mirage soon hit another wall.
The first leaf of the current World Tree had vanished ages ago.
That left only one option.
To birth a new World Tree.
"But it would take nearly 800 years for the current World Tree to bear its next fruit."
And that was under the premise of Mirage steadily supplying her own mana to it.
There was no way Alteer's body could hold out that long.
Mirage immediately sought the next best thing. Fortunately, a perfect tool was right there.
The sarcophagus that preserved the entity inside.
She decided to seal Alteer in the sarcophagus meant for herself.
"But the sarcophagus alone wasn't enough. Unlike a homunculus, Alteer was a living being."
To sustain life for so long, she needed to lower the temperature and slow her metabolism to the extreme.
That's where the "Servant Lord's Chill" came in—the coldest energy Mirage knew of.
"Ah. So that's why you transformed into the Servant Lord fragment back then……."
"Your guess is correct. It was to maintain the chill."
Carpe nodded.
Like cryogenics in real life. Captain America vibes?
Probably. Straight out of a movie or game.
Everything after that matched what Carpe knew.
With Alteer's consent, Mirage sealed her in the sarcophagus and mimicked her to ensure she wouldn't be forgotten.
She lied to the other elves, claiming Mirage had entered the seal to conserve power.
……And so began 800 years of absurd acting.
"……Mirage, you're strong. I couldn't have endured that long."
Tina said with a complicated expression. The pain and loneliness she must have felt were unimaginable.
"Don't make that face, Tina. I'm overjoyed."
Now everything could return to normal.
Mirage said this as she pulled a World Tree fruit from her bosom.
"……."
With a tense expression, she buried the fruit around the sarcophagus.
A sprout bursts forth from the planted fruit in a brilliant flash!
"Whoa. It's growing crazy fast. As expected of a World Tree?"
Less 'World Tree magic' and more 'gotta rush the quest,' right? Slow growth would be infuriating.
……Always killing the vibe like a pro. No romance. Zero romance.
As Carpe and Cheonma bickered inwardly, the World Tree sprout grew in an instant.
Soon, it became a small sapling as tall as Carpe's knee.
And at the very top of that sapling.
"Ah……!"
Two fresh green leaves hung there.
Amazed, Mirage plucked one and approached the sarcophagus.
Rumble……!
As the sarcophagus opened, Alteer lay inside, pale-faced like a corpse.
"……Alteer."
The voice calling her, from a face identical to Alteer's, brimmed with regret.
Mirage placed the World Tree's young leaf to Alteer's lips.
Melt.
Like a snowflake dissolving, the leaf melted and flowed into Alteer's mouth.
And after a brief moment.
"Ugh……."
"Alteer?! Alteer! Are you awake?!"
"……Mirage?"
Alteer, who had slumbered in the sarcophagus, awoke from her long sleep.
"Alteer!"
Mirage threw herself into Alteer's arms.
Her form was no longer that of the elf queen Alteer Woodgard.
"Huh? A kid?"
"Yes, my lord. This is Mirage's true form, not mimicking anyone else."
"Oh."
That made sense.
Alteer and Dretsch had been doppelganger mimics, so of course her real form was different.
But he never imagined it would be a child like this.
He'd pictured something like a typical doppelganger— a squishy, slimy blob.
An ambiguously gendered, androgynous child.
A pretty little one with snow-white bobbed hair that suited her perfectly.
In the real world, entertainment scouts would've cast her as a child actor without question.
Of course, as a homunculus, she literally was a doll.
"Alteer! Alteer! Waaah!"
"Yes, yes. Mirage. I'm right here. Stop crying now. You'll ruin your pretty face. People are watching."
Alteer stroked her with a gentle smile, like a mother gazing at her beloved daughter.
"Waaah. Alteer. Alteer! I, I worked so hard. I protected the village……! I beat monsters……."
"Thank you. For working so hard."
"I even forced down that tea you hate every single day…… Hic…… Sob!"
"You must've suffered."
Alteer patted her back knowingly.
"It was…… so hard, but I knew you had it worse. That thought kept me going."
The unmimicking Mirage was actually extremely shy and passive.
A quiet child who only nodded or shook her head around the Magic King and other homunculi.
Yet that Mirage had ruled as queen and sustained the village for 800 years.
Alteer could well imagine the mental toll.
"Thank you, Mirage. For saving me."
"……Sob. I missed you so much."
Mirage kept crying.
Pouring out all the emotions she'd bottled up for over 800 years, endlessly.
Watching the scene, even Carpe's nose tingled a bit.
"Sniff. Touching, huh? Right?"
He turned to Cheonma, who promptly looked away.
No way…….
"Bro, you crying?"
……What kinda nonsense? Why would I cry?
"Nah, looks like it."
Bullshit. Let's just get outta here instead of yapping.
"No, you cried. All that talk about graphics sucking or not overimmersing in NPCs, and boom—caught red-handed! If you didn't, look me in the eye!"
Piss off. I don't make a habit of staring at another dude's face!
Real name: Kang Jinho. Age: 34. Nickname: Cheonma Jijon.
He was weak to melodrama movies.
You have completed the Magic King's second relic quest! The next quest unlocks at player level 40.
The second relic "Illusion's Mirage" is now bound to the player.
You performed the quest flawlessly. "Illusion's Mirage" favorability is fixed at maximum.
The elf race now appears in Last Savior!
The final episode in the elf village drew to a close.
And that very night.
A new post went up on the RaSe IpVen.
And some time later.
The entire RaSe board exploded at once.