Every Morning, My Mirror Saves the World - Chapter 11

Chapter 11

By the time they finally escaped Kandel Castle, the peaceful, warm little town behind them had already been reduced to ruins. Orcs had set fires in the streets, and everything prosperous, beautiful, sinful, greedy, struggling, and despairing was swallowed up in that crimson blaze.

The people lucky enough to survive the Orc attack gathered on a hill. But surviving a disaster rarely brought new hope. More often, it only forced them to face the brutal reality that their precious home was gone.

A daughter’s father. A wife’s husband. A boy’s mother. A young man’s hero. Everything they had dreamed of, longed for, loved, and cherished.

All of it had turned to ash amid the ruins and flames.

Lars, Ruiyin, and Galahad were in the middle of the crowd as well. The black-haired young man walked numbly past the weeping, wailing people. It felt as if only yesterday, he had still been strolling through the streets with these familiar faces, looking forward to the arrival of a better tomorrow. In the blink of an eye, his home and his faith had both collapsed.

“Because of the previous war, there were no knights left in the city to defend it. Also, there seemed to be some mysterious power inside the City Lord’s Mansion, constantly summoning the Orcs there.” Galahad stood with his hands behind his back, looking solemn, clearly trying to salvage his image, which had long since been beaten into the ground, through explanation. Unfortunately, no one paid him any attention.

“Why… did this happen?” Staring at the town burning in the distance, the young man’s tear-streaked face was empty and lost.

“I clearly… swore before Xisaluo once. Why would my lord…”

“No, my lord is dead too. Even the Undead mage is dead. Then… whose fault is all this? If the ones who died were sinners, why do the living still have to suffer?”

“If Lord Xisaluo is truly watching, why would he allow these things to happen?”

The young man sank to his knees on the hill, devastated. This was something his simple life had never encountered before. His ideals and faith had been overturned in an instant, yet even Ruiyin could not answer his questions. Why did evil always exist? Why did kind people so often fail to receive good endings? The same things happened in every time and space, in every world, every minute and every second.

“A world like this… why not just destroy it altogether… Why does it still have to exist…?”

Lars’s voice grew lower and lower. Ruiyin, sharp as ever, noticed that something black-purple and almost imperceptible seemed to be spreading out from his body. This anime-style effect that was obviously from a completely different art direction made Ruiyin abruptly remember the most dangerous scene in a certain unreliable notebook…

Oh no, oh crap! Was Lars’s mage bloodline finally about to awaken?!

“Shut up!” Ruiyin drew in a deep breath, then slapped the back of Lars’s head with the force of thunder.

The young man, knocked flat onto the ground, sat there on his knees and stared blankly at her.

“So what if evil exists? So what if greed is part of human nature? Anywhere there is light, there will be shadows, unless you’re standing in some barren wasteland. You’re the ridiculous one, going on and on the whole way about impossible dreams!”

Ruiyin planted her hands on her hips and looked down at him coldly.

“Lars de Praetextatus, listen to me. Stop whining at every little thing, stop giving up on yourself, and stop acting like you’re the only one who understands anything. You’re already nineteen. Do me a favor and stand up like a man. Fight like a knight. Struggle for what you want!”

She pointed toward the town in the distance, where black smoke billowed into the sky, and said coldly, “Your faith was destroyed, so now you’re in despair? It’s far too early for that! So what if your lord is dead? So what if the world is full of sin? If you’re a man, then stand up, become your own king, and create a world you’re satisfied with! Complaining, taking revenge, and giving up on yourself are things only the most disgusting cowards do!”

Ruiyin was righteous, impassioned, and full of fervor, as if a disciplinary director, a principal, a professor, and even Naruto’s Talk no Jutsu had all possessed her at once. When she reached the height of her emotion, she grabbed something beside her and, for the sake of atmosphere, hurled it hard at the ground!

After a crisp crack rang out, Ruiyin finally realized what she had just smashed. Her face changed drastically, but before she could try to save it, the cracked object trembled. Then, like an overturned bucket of paint, it suddenly sprayed all kinds of colors into the air. Deep blue, bright white, and eerie green intertwined and spun rapidly, gradually condensing into a scene so beautiful it could steal the soul.

A deep, shadowed blue spread out like the surface of a dreamlike sea, shimmering purple beneath the moonlight. Clouds like swans with their long white wings half-unfurled drifted lightly around the enormous full moon in the sky. Song rose from the depths of the sea, a melody far more beautiful than anything humans could imagine. It seemed not to be sung with voices, but to be a tremor sent directly from the soul. Light, lilting, sorrowful, and radiant, those tones could drag even the strongest human sailor down into the depths. Beneath the purple moonlight, the singing creatures slowly surfaced. Their snow-white arms were linked together, and they stretched soft, slender fingers toward the stars scattered across the sky. These heaven-blessed beings all had eyes as blue as seawater and faces as vivid as roses. They circled the spire-like stone pillar rising from the middle of the ocean, singing and laughing. Beneath the full moon was their free and unfettered feast.

The scene floated in midair without any support at all. Only after a full five or six minutes did the colors begin to fade, gradually drifting apart, leaving Ruiyin sitting on the ground, staring blankly at the mirror she had just cracked.

“You…”
Ruiyin immediately sensed something was wrong and turned back. Sure enough, Lars was staring at her with his mouth hanging open, looking shocked beyond all measure. She took a step back and racked her brains for an explanation, but before she could come up with one, the boy was already scrambling toward her on all fours.

With a smack, Lars dropped to his knees in front of Ruiyin. He lifted his head and gazed at her with reverent emotion. “You… you really are Lord Xisaluo! Please save our town!”

…Where the hell had this guy’s imagination run off to now?!

“You are Lord Xisaluo! Only Lord Xisaluo could possess divine power like this… Just imagine, creating the image of an entire world in midair. Other than Lord War God Xisaluo, who else could do such a thing?”

“I am not!”

“You must be! Ah… To think I was able to become companions with Lord Xisaluo and even travel with you for so long. I am truly blessed!”

“I am not Lord Xisaluo or anything like that!”

“This must be Lord Xisaluo’s trial for his faithful, but I… I have been so disrespectful to Lord Xisaluo all this time. I am simply, simply unforgivable! Please punish me, my lord! I… I am willing to repay you with my life!”

“Damn it! I told you I’m not that cursed War God Xisaluo!” Ruiyin flew into a rage. To stop the boy’s runaway delusions from galloping off beyond all hope of return, she slammed a fist into Lars’s head.

The effect was not obvious. The boy collapsed clutching his forehead, but he was still staring up at Ruiyin with sparkling eyes and an expression that said, “Ah, I was struck by my own god, I am so happy!” He even devoutly closed his eyes, every movement and every look on his face clearly saying, “Please punish me a few more times. It would be my honor!”

Ruiyin was so disgusted by that masochistic expression she couldn’t even speak. She honestly could not understand how Lars, who had always seemed like a normal person, had turned into… Oh. Fine. Her mistake. Lars had never been normal from the very beginning!

Panting, she stopped beating the cultist boy and glanced to the side, only to find Galahad also looking at her with a strange, thoughtful expression. Ruiyin reflexively retreated three huge steps and asked, trembling all over, “What… what do you mean by that? Don’t tell me even you think I’m that… that Xisaluo!”

“You…” Galahad strode forward in excitement, dropped to one knee, and gazed devoutly at Ruiyin. “If you are, can you give me the wealth of an entire kingdom?”

“…No!”

“Then, then… can you turn my [censored] life around?”

“No…”

Galahad immediately stood up, disappointment written all over his face. He turned away dejectedly. “Then forget it. Whatever you are, it has nothing to do with me anymore.”

The practical knight quickly regained his composure. He frowned at the cracked mirror in Ruiyin’s hand and thought for a moment. “It looks like… there may be magic inside this mirror, and that’s what made those things appear.”

“Magic?” Ruiyin froze, then quickly made the connection. This mirror was the essential item she needed for her return-home exam. She nodded. “If we’re talking about magic, then yes, it does have some. This is an important item a White Ch… a White Mage gave me.”

“May I have a look?” Galahad held out his hand.

Ruiyin shrugged and handed the mirror to Galahad as if she didn’t care. The knight carefully examined the delicate Silver Mirror. Only after a long while did he return it to Ruiyin.

“I can’t see anything special about it,” Galahad said with a frown. “No matter how you look at it, it’s nothing more than an ordinary mirror.”

“But don’t forget, you’re only a knight,” Ruiyin reminded him.

“…I am a Silver Knight! If there were magical fluctuations, there is no way I wouldn’t sense them!” Galahad snapped, embarrassed and angry.

“But this really is a magic item,” Lars said softly. “I heard that Mordova say this was a relic of Seres.”

Galahad stared at him wide-eyed. “You said… you heard who say that?”

“Mordova.” Lars looked uncertainly at Ruiyin. “The knight summoned by that mirror. That’s what he said, right?”

“Wait. You’re saying that man named Mordova was also a knight?” Galahad’s eyes widened even further, almost popping out of their sockets. After both of them nodded in agreement, Galahad plopped down onto the ground.

“Do you know… who Mordova is?” Galahad lifted his head with a vacant stare.

“Dark God Seres. When he was alive, his name was Mordova.” Galahad slowly shifted his gaze. When he looked at the mirror again, his expression had turned into the longing worship of someone gazing upon a Dragon’s Hoard.

“This is a divine artifact! Thank you, War God Xisaluo, I actually… sob, sob, sob… I never thought I would get the chance to see a divine artifact in this lifetime!” Galahad affectionately took Ruiyin’s hand. “Let’s sell it! It should fetch a fortune, yahoo~!”

Ruiyin slapped Galahad’s face flat into a 2D shape. “Don’t talk like this thing belongs to you. Also, wash your face before you come over here making cutesy noises.”

Author’s Note:
Delusion Emperor Lars-