UÆ€dÉted by BÊXNÊVEL.CÆM
Lumian, Franca, and Jennaâs eyes widened as they caught sight of the strange golden lamp, making a bold conjecture.
Could it be 0-05, the Magic Wishing Lamp?
Yes, the pumpkin carriage is one of Major Arcana Maâam Hermitâs trademark symbols. She has close ties to Element Dawnâs leaderâEmperor Roselleâs eldest daughterâand the current owner of 0-05, Bernadette. It isnât outside the realm of possibility that she might have borrowed the Magic Wishing LampâŠ
As these thoughts raced through their minds, they heard Anthonyâs respectful greeting, âGood evening, Madam Magician, Madam Judgment.â
Snapping out of their momentary trance, Lumian and the others quickly followed suit with their own greetings.
âAnd this is Maâam Hermit,â Magician added briefly.
Once the introductions were complete, the woman in the beige dress with a gold-embroidered high collar retrieved a bottle of dark-red wine from the void and said to Franca, âHand over that cufflink. Once you do, you can all head home and get some rest.â
Confronting the School of Truthâs Overseer was clearly a battle at the demigod level. It wasnât something Lumian and company could get involved in.
Franca had no intention of forcing the issue. She handed the glass-like cufflink to Madam Magician.
In exchange, Madam Magician gave her the wine bottle containing a faint dark-red liquid.
âThis is a mystical item that restores stamina and spirituality after drinking it. But remember, you can only have it once a day. Donât go turning into a drunkard.â
Just one more sip and youâll become a drunkard? Franca and the others instantly understood the deeper meaning behind Madam Magicianâs final warning.
Seeing only a single sip of dark-red wine in the bottle, Franca turned to pass the old glass bottle to Lumian.
He had expended the most spirituality, after all.
Madam Magician rubbed the Mirror Cufflink between her fingers, a smile playing on her lips.
âDonât worry. You wonât be able to finish it. Itâs called Bottomless Wine.â
I see⊠Franca still wanted to give it a shot. She unscrewed the thin metal cap and downed the light dark-red wine.
As the slightly astringent and sweet alcohol slid down her throat, she felt refreshed, as if sheâd just had a good nightâs sleep and hadnât been in a fierce battle with Moran Avigny.
At the same time, she noticed dark-red liquid seeping from the bottom of the old glass bottle, forming a thin layer of wine.
It really is bottomless⊠Franca sighed, handing the old glass bottle to Lumian.
But just as she reached out, a sudden sense of unease struck her.
Acting on instinct, she changed course, intending to let Jenna drink first.
Yet upon further reflection, she realized something was even more off!
Because she still had to pass it to Lumian afterward!
Never mind, never mind. No point getting caught up in trivial matters⊠Franca muttered in her native tongue.
Instead, she circled her finger around the bottle and managed to form a thin layer of frost.
As the frost naturally fell away, Franca passed the Bottomless Wine to Jenna.
Jenna drank the dark-red wine, mimicked Francaâs actions, and then handed it to Lumian.
Franca breathed a sigh of relief.
Lumian paid no mind to the Demonessesâ odd behavior. He was more concerned about the strange actions of Maâam Hermit and Madam Magician.
Maâam Hermitâs eyes, obscured by lenses, grew dark but remained unfocused, as if staring into a vast expanse. Countless brilliant specks of light appeared around her, as if she had shrunk the universe and brought it down to the ground.
Performing divination or prophecy before tackling important matters? Lumian took the old glass bottle and drank the dark-red wine.
His spirituality rapidly recovered, as if heâd experienced six in the morning.
Of course, the portion of accumulated spirituality he had used didnât âreturn.â
Phew, Lumianâs anxiety over his spirituality deficiency had been alleviated.
After Anthony drank the Bottomless Wine and returned the mystical item to Madam Magician, the Mirror Cufflinkâs dark glow, mixed with starlight, flew out and landed on the Major Arcana card holderâs eye.
Madam Magician sent Mirror Cufflink flying toward Franca while extending her hands, grasping the void, and pulling it apart on either side.
Without a sound, the void ripped open like a transparent membrane, revealing passageways formed by spiderwebs of emptiness and darkness.
This was a standard mirror world.
Magician had opened an illusory door to the mirror world without using a mirror!
Is this the advanced power of the Apprentice pathway? Lumian and company inwardly marveled. Madam Magician glanced at Maâam Hermit beside her.
The Hermit, wearing a purple robe, held a vibrant, unreal ball of yarn in her right hand. She wound its thread around the peculiar golden lamp.
Then, the Major Arcana card holder tossed the vivid and illusory ball of yarn through the illusory door Magician had opened, into the mirror worldâs dark and ethereal tunnels.
The ball of yarn rolled into one of the passageways and quickly vanished into the depths, leaving only the thread connected to the golden lamp to mark its path.
Magician immediately led The Hermit and Judgment into the mirror world, chasing the ball of yarn.
After their figures disappeared from the mirror world, the forcibly torn void rapidly closed.
Franca muttered again, âI think Iâve heard the story about a yarn ball before, but I canât recall its nameâŠâ
Lumian turned his attention back to Moran Avignyâs corpse.
âYou want to bring him back for your godson to eat?â Franca said with contempt. âLetâs not even discuss whether Ludwig should be eating humans in the first place. A Mirror Personâs flesh will gradually turn back into mirror fragments. Do you really want Ludwig to be eating glass shards?â
âIâm considering whether I should take Moran Avignyâs makeup mirror.â
After tracking the vibrant yarn for a while, the three Major Arcana card holders reached a country villa matching the mirrorâs coordinates and spotted the target mirror on a desk.
It was also a makeup mirror.
They didnât pause. They followed the ball of yarn and walked through the spirit world.
In a mere two to three seconds, they returned to reality and saw the vivid and illusory ball of yarn come to a halt in a dark cathedral lacking a deityâs statue.
Beneath the cathedralâs dome, humans hung in the air, gently swaying in the wind.
Some were old, some were young, and some were gentlemen wearing half top hats. Some were beautiful ladies in vintage dresses, some were tall and muscular like giants, and some were covered in wet, sticky scales resembling fishâŠ
What they all had in common was their firmly closed eyes, suspended by invisible ropes, looking like hanged corpses.
In the cathedralâs depths, a man in his thirties with average facial features and dark hair sat in a wooden black armchair. His aura and soul felt both familiar and unfamiliar to Magician.
It was familiar because she recognized Loki, the head of April Foolâs, who had been compelled to exhaust his resurrection times. It was unfamiliar because the other party had been stained with an odd sensation.
At that instant, a blurry female figure stood next to Loki, resembling a sketch. Her eyes were pitch-black, like a lake in the dim night.
He looked at Magician, The Hermit, and Judgment, a smile playing on his lips.
âItâs all thanks to you that I found some hope of returning.â
Before Loki could finish his sentence, the suspended corpsesâ eyes snapped open simultaneously.
Those eyes were pitch-black.
In the quarry cave with a fixed entrance to the mirror world.
âTaking away Moran Avignyâs makeup mirror?â Jenna echoed Lumianâs words before a realization struck her. âDo you want to see if any other Mirror People will try to contact Moran Avigny before news of his mysterious disappearance spreads?â
âPatience is a virtue,â Lumian replied with a smile.
For a Hunter, this was an essential quality.
He stooped down and retrieved the makeup mirror from Moran Avignyâs corpseâs pocket.
At that moment, the makeup mirror snapped open.
Dark light surged from the palm-sized glass mirror, instantly filling the dimly lit quarry cave.
In the next instant, Lumian, Franca, and the others saw a figure quickly take shape beside the fixed entrance to the mirror world on the protruding rock.
It was a stunning woman with black hair and brown eyes. She wore a bright red dress with layers of embroidery and lace, revealing a large expanse of snow-white skin on her chest despite the cold winter. A friendly smile graced her face.
The renowned courtesan in Trier, Perle, the theater actress from the Loen Kingdom?
Lumian was shocked and at a loss. He hadnât expected to encounter this flamboyant courtesan in such a setting.
Franca, Jenna, and Anthony also found the situation surreal and hard to believe.
Almost simultaneously, Lumian recalled two key facts related to Perle.
The first time he had observed Moran Avigny, Perle had been on a date with her new lover in the hotelâs annex restaurant.
All courtesans were standard, textbook brokersâpolitical brokers!
Combining these two points, a guess formed in Lumianâs mind.
Could Perle also be a member of the School of Truth?
Could she be the Overseer that Jebus directly reported to, the bestowed of an evil god at the demigod level?
If thatâs the case, where did Madam Magician and the others end up? Who were they tracking?
Flee! We must flee immediately!
At that moment, Perle looked at Lumian and the others, a smile forming on her lips as she uttered the Words of Order.
âYour crimes remain unpunished!â