| Author: SS Samurai | Original Source: Syosetu |
| Translator: rm31439 | English Source: Re:Library |
We arrived in front of the castle.
This time, the gates leading to the castle’s interior had been completely shut, so we couldn’t enter the normal way.
Therefore, I called the minister by message. Mika asked me to relay the messages to her, too.
[Minister! Minister!] I sent him. [Please, please wake up, Sir, there’s an emergency, you have to wake up!][Please!] Mika added. [I-it looks like something awful has happened! Please, you really need to wake up!]
After calling him two times, the minister responded.
[W-what happened? Miss Alim, Miss Mika, what sent you in such a panic?][I think something terrible happened to Karua! You must… please… it would be best, if you could call the knight commander and the others, too.]
[W-wait… First of all, I have to confirm princess Karua’s situation. Hey, I have the approximate strength of an SS-Ranker, too, right?]1
That’s true. This reaction… isn’t surprising in such a situation.
“P-please do that first,” I put emphasis on my earnest plea.
Two minutes later, we got a reply from the minister.
[No, Miss Alim, there doesn’t seem to be anything unusual? You see, Princess Karua is soundly asleep, as she should be.]That shouldn’t be the case. At the very least, the accessory I gave Karua is national treasure grade.
[I did not expect that. To be honest, Sir, after that situation with Faust2, I gave Karua an accessory that would notify me, if something happened to her. I was contacted by that accessory! It is of national treasure grade, by the way, so I don’t think it’s malfunctioning.][Hm… understood, we’ll open the gates temporarily for now, Miss Alim, Miss Mika. It would be best if you enter and try to examine princess Karua immediately. Since you apparently know something, right?]
After that message, the gates opened, and we could enter the castle. The minister and the knight commander, along with several knights, were already waiting for us in the lobby.
“Alim, Mika,” the knight commander asked, “is it true, you said something happened to the princess?”
“That’s right, Sir,” I replied. “Was… was there anything unusual?”
“Anything unusual…? Now that you mention it, the princess sent me a strange message, asking me to save her. Ultimately, it was because of a big insect.”
“Hrm, Miss Alim,” the minister interjected, “couldn’t that have been the reason?”
Crap, I was still somewhat asleep, wasn’t I?
From the start, I grew suspicious when he said she sent him a strange message, you know. I think there was something. There’s no way Karua would panic because of some bug.
“No matter how you look at it… She seriously asked you to ‘save her’. In the first place, I can’t see her getting scared by some insect, these days.”
“Hm? But the princess herself said…” the knight commander mused. “Wait, what is going on…? Could she really…? M-minister, we quickly need to check on Princess Karua once more.”
“U-understood. Miss Alim, Miss Mika, please come with us.”
We followed the knight commander, who finally started to hurry, and reached Karua’s room. The minister quietly opened the door. We immediately rushed to Karua’s side, and, while lightly shaking her shoulder, called out to her to wake her up.
“Karua, Karua! Please, wake up!”
Thereupon, Karua woke and opened her eyes wide… but what she let loose next, were unbelievably shocking words.
“What is wrong…? Did you forget something, Lady Alim?”
She called me “Lady Alim”.
Needless to say, this confused everyone. That was because the people present, including the knights, knew that Karua addressed me just by “Alim”.
“Wh-what the…!?”
“Why are you calling her ‘Lady Alim’?” The knight commander asked3. “Are you not yet quite awake, Princess? Wait, did something really happen…”
“All of you, what’s going on?” Karua wondered.
They couldn’t help being confused. Because of what happened, they now suspected, the Karua in front of their eyes might be a fake.
However, merely judging from her appearance, she was definitely Karua.
“Y-you know, Karua seems… weird. Doesn’t she… Alim?” Mika whispered in my ear.
“…yeah. But she might only be half asleep. We can’t completely eliminate this possibility. Mika, could you check if something like a mirror that reflects the truth exists in this world? Look, this happens often in games, so maybe this is someone else who has been transformed into Karua somehow.”
“Got it…”
Mika used the Tozumaho for a quick search. She then showed me its screen.
“Yeah, there was something.” She told me. “It was called a ‘Mirror of Truth’. Looks like it belonged to a hero from 1000 years ago. It says, if you held it over someone who utilized a disguise skill, it reflected their true appearance. It looks like there were other effects, but…”
“Wait, that’s enough. In any case, it’s probably legend grade. I’ll create it via dark matter, you know. Mika… in case Karua turns out to be an imposter, could you prepare Psychic Magic to hold her down momentarily?”
“Yeah. Got it.”
I manufactured a “Mirror of Truth” with Dark Matter. When the legendary mirror suddenly appeared, everyone present, except for Mika, was shocked.
“A ‘Mirror of Truth’!?” the minister exclaimed. “Why do you have this, Miss Alim?”
“According to a biography from 1000 years ago, it should have been destroyed when the hero vanquished the demon lord…” I replied. “Wait, rather than that, we can use it to examine Princess Karua, right?”
“Yes. As I thought, since she seems suspicious.”
I held the “Mirror of Truth” aloft and turned it towards Karua. Just then, the mirror emitted a dazzling light…
After a while, the light faded away, and in the place where Karua had been, stood someone with a human figure and light purple skin.
No matter how you looked at it, this clearly wasn’t Karua.
Footnotes:
- It would be interesting to know what level/strength equals SS-Rank. The only examples we have are Alim and Mika, who are probably not a good comparison for normal people.
- There’s an error in the original, using the name Mephisto (メフィスト). While Mephisto was the one controlling Faust, Alim should not know him or his name at this point.
- Not sure who’s the speaker here. Might be the knight commander or minister.
