Every Morning, My Mirror Saves the World - Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Ruiyin sat calmly atop the collapsed divine throne in the standard model of “how a king acts cool”: back straight, expression serene. Except that her paralyzed face made it painfully clear this was not composure. It was agony. Her integrity and bottom line had long since weathered into chunks the moment this new world opened up before her.

She forced herself through several deep breaths before tentatively speaking. “You…”

“…Ngh… ah…”

What should have been a deep, magnetic male voice had been unnaturally suppressed into a hoarse rasp. The desire, pain, and pleasure he was barely holding back seemed to lace his tone with honey. Even that short gasp carried a pink, decadent tremor.

Ruiyin crushed the armrest of the divine throne in her grip. The courage she had just managed to gather shattered into dust along with her integrity. After rebuilding herself mentally again and again, she spoke once more. “You…”

This time, the other party made no sound. Unfortunately, her eyes were sharp enough to notice that beneath the Dark Elves’ hipbones, where a scrap of cloth covered him, something seemed to be trembling as it stood up…

A mouthful of old blood.

At last, she no longer dared to make a single sound.

“Ruiyin!”

“My liege!”

Only then did the three men below, who had been equally stunned, finally react. Lars and the Black Knight rushed up almost at the same time. One used his tall frame to firmly block Ruiyin’s line of sight, while the other drew his sword with a clang. Ignoring his own trembling hand, his face flushed as he shouted, stammering, “H-how can we let you see something like… I-I-I… I’ll kill him!”

…Young man, where did your worldview go?!

“Wait.” Ruiyin silently swallowed the blood rising in her throat and stopped Lars’s utterly illogical movement. “Don’t be impulsive yet. We still don’t know what’s going on here, do we? This is perfect. Let him down first and ask him.”

Considering that this frail (?) one of the Dark Elves might very well drop dead under the murderous movements of the two great knights, Ruiyin had originally intended to do it herself. But perhaps because he had been tortured by that beep-worthy drug for too long, the half-conscious elf risked his life trying to cling to Ruiyin the moment he sensed estrogen approaching. After Lars went berserk several times, Ruiyin had no choice but to retreat to the second line and watch resentfully as the Black Knight snapped the chains in a few swift moves and lowered the dying Dark Elves member down.

When he was moved, the scrap of cloth covering his lower body was tugged up slightly. Ruiyin happened to glance over.

Damn it! A bird imprisoned in an iron cage, ready to spread its wings and fly after abuse. Sir Integrity, are you really still alive?!

The Dark Elves member, who had just been beaten several times by two violent offenders and then pinned by the limbs, had finally settled down. His whole body was radiating an abnormal heat. Ruiyin lightly extended one finger and poked his forehead. Seeming to sense a woman’s cool body temperature, he opened his eyes halfway. His blood-red eyes, hazy with a mist of moisture, looked over. “…Your Majesty…”

Lars silently rolled up his sleeves and showed his sword.

“…I’m not.” Ruiyin withdrew her hand. “I’m just someone who wandered in by mistake. We’re looking for a… a dragon. Can you give us any clues?”

The Dark Elves member seemed to regain much of his clarity in an instant. He narrowed his eyes and studied Ruiyin warily. “Human?”

“Mm.” Ruiyin nodded calmly. Just now, the Black Knight had already given everyone a brief explanation of the Dark Elves’ hostility toward other races. However, given this particular elf’s special condition, he was still quite comfortable allowing Ruiyin to question him.

“If you want to be racist toward me, I don’t mind. But based on the value of the clues you provide, we’ll decide how tightly to tie you back up in a moment.” Ruiyin swept an arm out, displaying the team behind her like a set of intimidating enforcers, putting on a shameless air of someone with powerful backing.

“…Hey, didn’t you let him down because you wanted to save him?” Galahad asked, his expression painful to behold.

“How could that be? We’re neither friends nor relatives, and this race is so dangerous. Why should I save him? Or do you think he’s as useless as you were back then, and saving him would count as a good deed?” Ruiyin looked at him strangely.

Galahad clutched his knees, which had been shot to pieces, and quietly crouched off to the side.

The Dark Elves member panted harshly. His eyes remained fixed on Ruiyin the entire time, his blood-red pupils narrowing to slits. In the dim light, they looked like gems with brilliance flowing through them. After a long while, he finally said, “I’ve seen it.”

“Oh?”

“A pink baby dragon. Both its physical and magical damage were very low,” he said briefly, proving he was telling the truth. “But release me. Otherwise, I won’t say another word.”
“My liege, there is no need to worry.” As if sensing Ruiyin’s hesitation, the Black Knight stepped forward. “I can bind him with contract magic. If he violates the contract, his soul will fall forever into the Abyssal Demon Prison.”

The Dark Elves captive gave a derisive laugh. “Abyssal Demon Prison? Are you a Fallen Knight?”

The Black Knight did not answer. He swiftly chanted an incantation, and before long, pitch-black vine-like markings spread across the Dark Elves captive’s scarred chest. At their ends, the markings sank deep into his heart.

“Tell us everything you know, and make no malicious move against us,” the Black Knight ordered. “As for what kind of place the Abyssal Demon Prison is, your people must know that better than these two knights.”

Lars and the others released their hold on the Dark Elves captive. He stood, rubbed his numb wrists, and took several deep breaths. When he spoke again, his voice was still hoarse, but that sleazy, porny air that made people want to beat him to death was finally gone.

“That dragon came here yesterday. It entered at noon, same as you, and then…” He paused, seemingly trying to calm some emotion. But when he continued, his expression was still thick with disgust. “…drooled over me for a very long time before leaving through the passage over there. Even now, this place still reeks of that nauseating Dragon Clan mating stink.”

“…” Vigia, you have already disgraced yourself across two continents. Could you please stop spreading it to every race too?

“Where is that passage? Can you open it?” Ruiyin asked, steadying her breath.

The Dark Elves captive lifted his chin toward a corner, his face full of revulsion. “The passage is over there. As for how to open it… there should be a Memory Crystal here. Go look for yourselves.”

A Memory Crystal was a type of Magic Crystal, somewhat like a modern surveillance tape. After magic was fed into it, one could view images from the surrounding area over a certain span of time. Of course, such an advanced, high-tech product was naturally very expensive. A crystal that could record three hours of footage was already priced beyond the realm of gold coins.

They found the crystal on the wall. The palm-sized crystal was an opaque white. Among the four of them, only the Black Knight possessed magic, and after he infused magic into the crystal, Vigia’s pink figure appeared on the smooth, mirror-like surface.

“So it’s actually a precious item that can record as far back as yesterday,” Ruiyin said, stroking her chin. “What a shame it only recorded the place where Vigia appeared.”

“…” Were you hoping to see how the Dark Elves captive got injured?!

Deeply shaken by the regret and vulgarity in those words, Galahad swallowed a mouthful of blood and tears and focused intently on the little dragon’s image in the crystal. It was his mount, after all. Even if the thing was spoiled, useless, and unreliable on a normal day, after it had been missing for so long, he still rather missed it. Besides, this place was so complicated and dangerous, yet it had actually managed to barge all the way here on its own and find the passage. Had Vigia unknowingly unlocked some hidden Dragon Clan skill?

On the screen, Vigia had both claws planted on the Dark Elves captive’s lean, narrow waist, its face flushed with a mysterious look of intoxication. Then the Dark Elves captive, who had happened to regain consciousness, kicked it away in disgust.

Its ball-shaped body bounced off the wall and ceiling several times before getting wedged into the corner with a squelch.

It braced all four limbs against the wall and successfully freed its head, but because of its body shape, its back half remained firmly stuck in the corner, unable to move.

It opened its mouth and burst into tears, to no effect whatsoever. Then it glared furiously and expressed its anger by whipping its tail. It used too much force, twisted the tip of its tail, flattened its mouth, and started crying again.

Because it was bored, it continued whipping its tail around, accidentally hit the mechanism in the corner, and opened the passage in the wall. Finally free, it rolled around in celebration, then bounced off the screen and ran away.

The onlookers: “…”

The Dark Elves captive, who had calmly watched the entire scene, stood and asked coldly, “That idiot seems to have a Dragon Contract on it. Is its knight among you?”

His crimson eyes swept across all four of them before finally locking suspiciously onto Galahad, who looked like he wished he could retract his head into his own chest cavity.

Drenched in cold sweat, Galahad waved his hands desperately. “How could that be possible! Who would ever be willing to sign a contract with such a stupid dragon? Ahaha, we’re only looking for it out of moral obligation. We absolutely have nothing to do with it!”

A hidden Dragon Clan skill, huh…

“The passage… is right here, then?” Ruiyin rubbed her temples as she walked to the corner. “In that case, second question. What exactly is beneath this place?”

“I don’t know,” the Dark Elves captive answered decisively. Noticing the suspicion in their eyes, he added, “The area beneath the temple is forbidden. The only area we can reach is here. Farther below lies the Forbidden Land, where only the priests and the Elf King may set foot.”
“A forbidden zone…” Ruiyin murmured. “In that case, opening the passage for us shouldn’t be a problem, should it?”

The Dark Elves’ lips curled into a mocking smile. He had just been about to say something when the Black Knight made a grabbing motion in midair. The color drained from his face, and every word he had meant to say was swallowed back down.

He slowly walked to the corner shown in the Memory Crystal, crouched with his back to everyone, and reached out.

He stayed there for a long time. No one could see what he was doing. After what felt like ages, a tooth-aching screech of stone grinding against stone rang out, and only then did he stand before the wall as it gradually opened.

He turned around slowly, but in the next blink, he had vanished from everyone’s sight.

“Careful!” the Black Knight barked.

Almost at the same time, Ruiyin drew the dagger at her waist and, by sheer reflex, raised it in front of her neck. With a sharp clang, it stopped the pitch-black blade thrusting straight for her throat.

“Not bad reflexes.” The Dark Elves’ exquisite face was right in front of Ruiyin. He pressed down on her with a malicious smile. On his bare chest, apart from the bloodstains, the contract magic the Black Knight had placed on him had vanished without a trace.

The sound of a knight’s greatsword slicing through the air came from behind her head. He laughed wickedly and twisted around to Ruiyin’s back, his dagger still pressing hard against her vitals. The Black Knight swung a pure-black greatsword that had appeared in his hand at some unknown point, nimbly changing the direction of his attack in midair. The blade never left his side, yet it was as if it could no longer get any closer. It did not so much as graze him.

“Give up,” he said lightly. “When it comes to close combat, no matter how powerful a knight may be, they can’t compare with the Dark Elves. Besides… you care about her, don’t you? A knight with a weakness is no different from an unarmed civilian!”

The whoosh of blades sounded constantly before Ruiyin’s face and behind her head. Without changing expression, she shifted the angle of her wrist, but the instant her blade moved aside, his dagger pressed dangerously against her carotid artery.

“Oh? You use a dagger too?”

His frivolous laughter was like a cold snake, coiling ambiguously beside her ear. “Then do you know this? Never show off petty human tricks in front of the Dark Races.”

“I don’t know,” Ruiyin said coldly. “Then do you know this? Men shouldn’t casually turn around when they’re wearing skirts without underwear. Your birdcage is swinging out with you.”

At most, she could only play the hero with her mouth now. In that instant, time seemed to slow to an impossible crawl. The Black Knight’s swinging greatsword, the blade pressing down toward her, and the terror frozen on Galahad’s face in the distance all seemed to become a silent film, waiting for the final cry of despair to burst forth.

Then, all at once, the blade pressed against her throat seemed to pause. A look of surprise and confusion flashed across his face, so close it was almost touching hers. Ruiyin had no time to think about the reason. She seized that one second of hesitation and roared, “Lars!!!”

The young knight’s figure seemed to burst out of the ground itself, flashing like a ghost to his back. The sword in his hand was covered in chips and notches, but at this distance, it was more than enough to kill. Lars’s body bent into a full arc, like a poisoned arrow loosed from a taut bow, and the longsword in his hand carved a vicious gash across the Dark Elves’ lower back. After landing from a forward roll, he did not hesitate in the slightest. He reversed his sword and drove the hilt into a certain relief hidden in the corner.

“Ruiyin, here!” Lars shouted.

While pain distracted him, Ruiyin drove the dagger hidden along the inside of her elbow across his chest with savage force. At the same time, the Black Knight, who had been circling him all along, reached out and pulled her firmly. The two of them leaped together into the brand-new passage Lars had just opened. The whole sequence happened as fast as a hare springing up and a falcon dropping from the sky; in the space of a few breaths, all three of them had reached safety. Their coordination was so seamless it could only be called perfect.

“…Wait, didn’t you forget something? How is that perfect?! Hey, I’m still back here, you bastards!!!”

Author’s Note:

Because I haven’t read any works related to Dark Elves and I’m too lazy to look up the settings, this story’s version is basically based on pictures and whatever I made up -_-||| Experts, please be gentle…

I keep feeling like the moment Vigia shows up, its face gets passed around like a game of hot potato O(∩_∩)O