Every Morning, My Mirror Saves the World - Chapter 48

Chapter 48

The banquet hall had descended into chaos.

Sobs and screams crashed back and forth through the panicked crowd. The glow of magic and the snowy flash of knights’ longswords reflected off each other, flaring and vanishing in an instant. In those brief flashes, anyone with sharp enough eyes could see silver-haired, pointed-eared figures flitting through the hall like ghosts.

“It’s the Dark Elves!” a palace knight roared. “Damn it… didn’t those things disappear from the continent ages ago? How did they get in here?”

“The effects of magic have been weakened! They set up a barrier in advance!” shouted a white-haired old mage. His staff swept swiftly through the air, but the powerful spell that should have been capable of leveling a fortress produced only a few pitiful sparks.

Before he had even finished speaking, a roaring pillar of fire surged past from behind him like a dragon, instantly burning the poisoned arrows shot from the darkness to ash.

Juvina had absolutely no idea that his action had just slapped the old gentleman in the face several times over. His body hovered in midair, the staff in his hand blazing with radiant light like a sun in the night. Without the slightest hesitation, he fired off several large-scale spells in succession, smashing the Dark Elves’ first wave of attacks while issuing stern orders. “Knights, forward! Block their assault! Mages below level seven, stop attacking. Use Search Spell to locate their hiding places. All high-ranking mages, cast group spells with me!”

Most of the guests at the banquet were high-ranking knights and mages. They had simply lost their footing due to the Dark Elves’ sudden attack. Under Juvina’s command, the disorderly crowd finally regained a little order. The mages gathered together and, under the knights’ protection, found time to begin chanting their complex, lengthy incantations.

“As expected of the youngest genius mage in history.” Galahad, who was fighting with the other knights, seized a moment to glance upward. Juvina hovered at the highest point above the crowd. Even among a group of mages who had spent years in hard cultivation, his spell was undeniably the strongest. His golden hair streamed in the fierce wind, and beneath the faint glow of his staff, that epic-level exquisite face of his had taken on a rare seriousness. In this moment, Juvina was so handsome he could shatter a saintess’s chastity on sight.

“You mean a mage so much of a genius that even at a time like this, he still doesn’t forget to use wind magic and light magic to manage his image?” Ruiyin mercilessly tore the solemn illusion to shreds.

“…Could you maybe not be that honest?” Galahad turned his head, a vein bulging on his forehead. “Also! We are in a life-or-death duel here. Do you really feel no guilt at all sitting there making sarcastic remarks?!”

Ruiyin, quietly seated in a soft chair with a glass of juice in hand, calmly looked up. “I do. That’s why I felt duty-bound to take on the responsibility of commentary.”

Lars, his face cold and stern as he hacked and slashed along the outer perimeter, swept over to Ruiyin’s side like a gale. He respectfully refilled her glass with juice, thoughtfully added a lemon slice to the rim, then swept back out to continue fighting.

Galahad had seen people with cheat codes before, but rarely had he seen a bastard whose cheat codes drew this much hatred…

“My weapon is a dagger. Against Dark Elves, there is no way I can gain any advantage. That Landatini knows very well what our relationship is. Rather than delivering myself to him as a hostage, I might as well behave and stay here instead of making trouble.” Ruiyin said, “Calm down, Galahad. Haven’t you noticed something off about this attack?”

Galahad paused. He carefully considered the whole sequence of events, then asked hesitantly, “Something off… You mean the fact that neither Vigia nor I ran away, and instead charged to the front line?”

“…While that is indeed very off, that is not what I meant.”

Ruiyin raised her head and stared at the Dark Elf locked in fierce combat with Lars in the center of the hall. She murmured to herself, “I just find it strange. A creature like Landatini, who excels most at assassination and ambush, why would he choose a head-on clash with knights and mages?”

As representatives of the boss characters from the righteous and villainous sides, Lars and Landatini were currently engaged in a duel of dignity on the stage everyone had deliberately cleared for them. In the center of the ruined hall, the Sword of Shadow radiated an ominous red light in the knight’s hand. In the darkness, like a nightmare devouring reality, it warped the boundaries around it. With an expressionless face, Lars attacked the Dark Elf’s most vulnerable spot again and again without hesitation.

“If I were you, I would not get tangled up with one person at a time like this,” Landatini teased, dodging through the gaps with an incredibly agile body. He found a moment to raise his hand, and the second wave of arrows lying in ambush outside shot into the hall like a rainstorm.

“Sorry, I just find you especially irritating. If I don’t kill you, it’s very hard for me to concentrate on the other enemies.” Lars smiled, raised his hand to scatter the Cursed Arrow, and shamelessly continued his attack.

“Oh? For someone who indirectly caused the deaths of sixteen hundred Dark Elves not long ago, you really aren’t qualified to say that.” Landatini was still smiling. “Let me guess. Is it because I once insulted your liege? Or because… you think that if you kill me, you can stop the attack outside?”

Lars’s smile grew even more warm and amiable. “Neither. Did I never tell you? What I hate most are effeminate pretty boys who look better than me.” As he spoke, he continued his earlier obscene campaign against Landatini’s weak point, each strike of the Sword of Shadow driving straight toward the absolute forbidden zone between Landatini’s legs.

…You two are the boss representatives here! Could you please not make a peak duel look this filthy?!

However, combat often did not care about methods. The knights led by Lars effectively bought time. At the same moment, Juvina and the other mages completed the final lines of their chant:

“O noble Lord of the Inferno, we take our blood as covenant and beseech you to cross the Twelve Star Heavens, to burn clean all sin. We beseech you to tear apart the Moon of Exile and descend once more upon this world-”

Given Juvina’s usual nature, any long and elaborate buildup was bound to lead to an earthshaking entrance. Under his comrades’ cover, Landatini narrowly protected his family jewels from Lars’s sword. He turned his head, and before the team of mages who had exhausted their mana and collapsed in all directions, he saw a monster slowly step out of the flames that had suddenly risen into the air.
The humanoid monster was covered from head to toe in crimson stones that radiated blistering heat, molten-gold lava flowing through the cracks between them. It emerged with a dark iron sword in hand, every step carrying heat intense enough to melt steel.

“Heh. You actually managed to summon a Flame Demon…” Landatini clicked his tongue in disgust. He raised a hand and made a gesture, and every Dark Elf present stopped attacking at once.

“Giving up?” Juvina walked over slowly with a light laugh. His face was somewhat pale from spending too much magic, but his expression held a restrained pride. “A wise choice. Unfortunately, once a Flame Demon has been summoned, it will not leave until it has caused considerable destruction.”

His expression turned cold as he raised his staff. “Destroy. Your target is…”

Landatini stood calmly where he was, the corner of his mouth curved in a mocking smile. He was still covered in the various wounds Lars had gifted him with, yet he looked as leisurely as a young nobleman admiring flowers in a garden. He reached into his robes and slowly drew out a sheet of white paper between two fingers. “Are you sure you want to kill me right now? I brought the alliance contract from Her Majesty the Dark Elf Queen, Your Highness.”

With that, he folded his arms and stood there with a cold smile, happily watching every face in the room twist in an instant.

“…Your target is this hall,” Juvina ordered the Flame Demon without changing expression. “Please… destroy the most luxurious royal banquet hall in the Sunan Empire TAT…”

It was a crumpled sheet of white paper, covered in atrocious, crooked handwriting. The dried golden words exuded the rich, sweet fragrance of honey fruit jam. Ruiyin had not even read the contents yet, but this familiar deranged combination was already giving her a bad feeling.

“Dear Prince Juvensen,

Yesterday, I just became Queen again, and everyone demanded that I do things other than eat and sleep. I heard you are preparing to fight the Orcs. Since Kandaru stole my honey gummies a very long time ago, I have decided to beat him up with you. Once I have finished enough paperwork, I will personally visit the Sunan Empire. Please prepare sweets and meat to welcome my arrival.

Written personally by Her Majesty Tio, the cutest beautiful girl in the world.”

The entire letter was full of blacked-out blobs and misspellings. After the signature was a Dark Elf Royal Crest solemnly stamped in strawberry jam.

Landatini rested both hands on the table and happily watched as everyone collectively flooded the room with ellipses.

Lars asked hesitantly, “This Tio should be the same Tio from the tower, right?”

Ruiyin rubbed her temples with a headache. “Judging by the style of the letter, it should be her. But how did you let someone like this… ahem, become Queen?”

“She is the most suitable candidate,” Landatini said coldly. “The strongest magic, the most cunning mind, and the fact that two hundred years ago, she once saved the Dark Elves from annihilation… Even now that she has lost the favor of the God of Darkness, she remains the most suitable one. Though I do not agree with that at all.”

…It felt like he was talking about a completely different person…

“An alliance with the Dark Elves?” Lars said with a cold laugh. He looked at Landatini provocatively. “A Dark Races faction whose chief god governs deception, conspiracy, and betrayal. Allies like that could very well become enemies even more terrifying than the Orcs. What makes you think we would agree?”

Landatini raised a wicked brow. “Because our chief god governs deception and betrayal. If you refuse to accept this potential enemy as an ally, then you will gain a true enemy.”

“There is no difference between clearing away one pebble and clearing away two. But if I allied with you, I fear I would be too disgusted to sleep all night,” Lars said with loathing.

“Ruiyin.” “Woman.” The two men in the middle of their verbal duel turned back at the same time, their tones completely different but their words almost identical. “What do you think?”

“I cannot decide this on behalf of the commander of the Alliance Army,” Ruiyin said calmly. “But from my perspective, an alliance with the Dark Elves may not be impossible. The war against the Orcs requires more power. We can use a magical contract to restrain both sides’ behavior. Also, Landatini is not wrong. If we refuse this ally, we may very well gain a troublesome enemy.”

She completely ignored Lars’s wounded little look, stood, and asked, “I want to know exactly what your status is. Do you have the authority to decide this matter?”

“No.” Landatini folded his arms and leaned back against his chair. His blood-red eyes narrowed as he studied Ruiyin. “Her Majesty the Queen will personally visit the Sunan Empire in a few days. We can discuss this matter in detail then.”

“I understand.” Ruiyin nodded. She turned and looked toward Juvina, who had not said a single word since the beginning. “Then, Your Highness, as the commander of this Alliance Army, what is your view?”

Juvina slapped down the quill he had been using to calculate his losses. When he raised his eyes again, he had concealed his lapse in composure quite well.

He slowly said, “I have only one question. Her Majesty the Queen addressed me as Juvensen at the beginning of her letter. Surely that is merely a term of endearment, yes?”

Everyone: …You don’t have to lie to yourself. She just completely failed to remember your name!

Author’s Note:

His Highness the Prince, furiously tallying the bill: Ten thousand, twenty thousand, thirty thousand… Fine, I will charge all of this to that Queen!

By the way, I bet one coin he will never get it back. (Gets punched into the distance.)