Chapter 89

Emmet’s glasses were askew, and his face was a picture of confusion.

“Ne… Nemesia?”

“Ah, so you finally know who I am now?”

“Big brother! That’s a fake!”

“It’s a fake!”

“Save me!”

“Help me!”

“It hurts!!”

The Emmet’s little sisters in the mirrors began to clamor all at once. Emmet, looking pained and on the verge of tears, turned to me.

“What you just said… is it true? Are you really… from the capital? You’ve seen my sister?”

“Mm-hm.”

I nodded casually.

“Felia Dyer. Brown hair, same lilac eyes as yours, right? We even talked before. She’s from Kidel Village.”

“…!”

Information spilled out of my mouth as if I’d been waiting for the moment.

“And… she told me to tell you that you’d better come back with that badger doll you promised her.”

“Ah…”

“You swore you’d be back. That when you returned, you’d see the evening primroses together again—didn’t you?”

When even those words—like a secret code between siblings—came from my lips, Emmet’s mouth fell open.

“I… I thought maybe she was already dead. Or that someone had killed her.”

“No. They’re just lying to you.”

I pointed at the sisters in the mirrors.

“They’re just using you, aren’t they?”

Then I got to my feet and held out my hand.

“I’m scared of a lot of things too. But if we want to get back outside, we have to beat this.”

Emmet stared at my hand for a moment, then slowly reached out his own.

“We’ve got a place to go back to. You’ve got to go back to your sister.”

The moment our hands met—

“You’ll cry soon enough!”

“You’ll regret it!”

“You can see your sister here!”

“Because outside… she’s already dead!!!”

At some point, the sisters in the mirrors had all turned into Emmets.

But Emmet didn’t waver. His gaze was sharper than ever as he said:

“This is all a lie.”

The only real way to break this paranormal phenomenon was to overcome your own fear.

At last, the shadows began to spread out from Emmet’s body—

Crack!

—and fractures ran through the mirror.

I smirked inwardly.

Emmet whispered quietly to the air.

“I won’t be fooled anymore.”

Yes. That’s the right answer.

Shatter!

The moment the mirror broke, we closed our eyes. A bright light washed over us, and when we slowly opened them—

“Huh…? They’re back!”

We were back in the room outside the mirror. The other kids, weapons in hand, stared at us wide-eyed.

* * *

—Ahahahahaha!

—Die!

—Die, die, die!

“Damn it…!”

Gidehme gritted his teeth, wielding a sword forged of divine power.

Mirror-born monsters with Emmet’s face kept reaching for them. They weren’t that strong…

But there were too many.

And behind him was a kid with no ability to fight at all.

He wanted to ditch them on the spot.

“Gidehme!”

But annoyingly, the moment that tiny, pink-haired kid shouted, it came back to him…

“Just hold them off for a little bit! Just a little!”

“There’ll definitely be backup coming!”

“Trust me!”

…who that loud kid was, and the memories from before they’d entered this place.

That same pathetic kid who’d been bawling in the first trial, who he’d mocked, insulted, and picked fights with… had saved him.

Gidehme had grown up in a village where survival meant everything.

Parents always on the move looking for a place to live, and if you wanted to keep the villagers from driving you out, you had to make yourself useful to others.

“If you’re not needed, you’re abandoned. So you grab hold first, and crush the other guy before they crush you. That’s the only way to live…!”

That was the survival instinct he’d lived by. It had won him an advantage here too.

But it had also made him the kind of kid who could never really belong anywhere.

And yet… right now, holding on for someone else’s sake felt strange.

He clenched his teeth.

The Oathwood Staff in his hand began to shine brilliantly.

They said divine power was a strength that manifested from faith in God. He wasn’t so sure.

Right now, the only thing Gidehme wanted to believe in was that kid’s words.

His sword faltered, just slightly off aim.

The smirking Emmet-mirror froze him for a split second—

Slice!

— Aaaagh!!!

The mirror monster disintegrated into nothing. Gidehme slowly turned his head.

“You’ve got good talent.”

He saw a sword—not glowing with the blue aura of a holy knight, but one wrapped in a dark navy aura.

“Candidate, look after the other candidates.”

A strong knight stood before him.

“I’ll take the rear.”

Black hair, a gloomy expression.

It was the holy knight Derek, exuding an overwhelming presence.

At first Gidehme didn’t understand why this man was here.

If he hadn’t seen Flora in the background, he still wouldn’t have.

Even in the chaos, he heard Nemesia speaking to Flora.

“So all I have to do is get rid of these?”

The mirror monsters began vanishing at an incredible pace. Gidehme stared at the knight’s back for a moment before quickly moving to help.

Until Nemesia came back out of that space again.

* * *

“The monsters that look like him are gone!”

“Is it over now?”

“Don’t jinx it! What if they come back?!”

Among the kids, I spotted a familiar face.

Daddy.

In his hand was a huge sword wrapped in that same dark navy aura.

[“Daddy” feels great relief!]

[“Daddy” was worried about you!]

‘Wow…’

So Flora must’ve cleared the quiz safely and brought this room’s guardian here.

And the guardian in this room was Daddy?!

“Daddy!”

No wonder Emmet hadn’t been taken over yet, even with so much time passing.

Daddy must’ve been keeping the outside safe.

He rushed over to me and knelt down. I quickly threw myself into his arms.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

I could feel his rough, unsteady breathing. Grinning, I hugged him tight.

“Mm, I’m fine.”

“From outside, it looked like monsters wearing that boy’s face were attacking you.”

I smiled brightly.

“It’s fine. Emmet took care of all of them!”

“…”

I turned to glance at Emmet, and he flinched, looking away like he was embarrassed and awkward all at once.

“…Th-thanks.”

“Hm?”

“I said thanks.”

Barely above a whisper, and then Emmet just walked off somewhere else.

* * *

Emmet walked off to the side, rubbing his lips roughly.

If he didn’t, he wasn’t sure he could stand the embarrassment.

‘I thought I’d do better than anyone else. I swore I would.’

He’d been through brutal training and strict instruction from his superiors, but facing it in reality had been completely different.

And the truth was, the reason he’d insisted on sticking by Nemesia hadn’t been pure. That made it all the more humiliating.

‘A kid who’s met Felia…’

Someone from the same hometown, who’d eased the biggest worry that had kept him from sleeping at night, not knowing what had happened to his sister.

If he’d known she’d be the one to tell him such news, he would’ve warned her.

About the danger to come.

Emmet’s eyes gleamed quietly.

It didn’t take long for resolve to form in those eyes.

* * *

‘Phew, one problem solved.’

Nestled comfortably in Daddy’s arms, I felt his big hand pat my back in that awkward way of his.

“So, we’re going to the next room now?”

I glanced at the wall.

“Nope.”

This was the fourth room.

And there was one trick you could only use around this point in the game.

I whispered softly so only Daddy could hear, full of confidence.

“We’re getting out of here all at once.”