Don Quixote's Reverie (9)
-Release.
Her lips moved, barely parting.
The next moment, white radiance swept across the courtroom sky.
For a moment, their ears went numb, leaving them unable to hear. Instead of an explosion, only a faint ringing echoed.
-----!!!
Pure white dyed their vision.
The writhing pitch-black mass shrank back, then was mercilessly torn apart along every branch where the radiance touched its edges.
It was like daybreak spilling across the sky, drying up the night that had been surging through the space.
The delayed sound of rupture rang out, but it was only the remains of something.
The aftershock that burst out flung everyone from where they stood.
The star the girl had kindled, and the boy had set afloat, was that powerful.
Only after a long while did the courtroom's view return to normal.
"Ugh..."
A groan slipped out on its own.
The children had been pushed all the way to a corner of the courtroom.
"Sir Vik...tor..."
"I am fine."
Fortunately, neither of them had been seriously caught in it.
Ranne had evacuated in advance, and the crown's effect still remained on Viktor.
Bzzt, bzzzt-.
Had its duration ended just then?
The crown floating above the boy's head lost its shape and scattered.
The timing had been perfect. Otherwise, he might have been ground away along with that light.
"This is..."
A landscape, literally razed flat.
The shadows that had swelled like a sea had dried completely, and in the end, not a single drop remained before they withered away.
Especially at the center of the courtroom, where the explosion had happened, every fixture except the [Scales] had been destroyed.
"......"
"......"
They stepped over the scattered debris.
Crunch, crunch-.
Shards of ice broke under their boot heels.
As they stepped through them, a single form came into view, lying in front of the bench.
<Ha, haha...>
A voice cut off like a broken machine.
It was the Grand Justice.
Only its head remained there by itself.
Who knew where the rest of its body had gone. Only a few fragments lay scattered beside it.
<This... was, quite a, splendid defeat...>
<To think you would link them, them, together that way.>
The judge's few words sounded perfectly calm.
Even with half its face destroyed, the corner of its mouth was smiling idly.
<Splendid.>
<As expected of the human child I chose.>
The Grand Justice's lingering thought had already stopped functioning.
What remained here was something lingering in that shell, wagging its mouth.
"......Delkirn."
Viktor looked down at it.
The head carved from ice had been staring only at the boy the whole time.
The Evil God, Delkirnos.
A pitch-black haze shimmered inside the rift.
"What do you mean, the human you chose?"
<Who knows.>
Viktor asked with his brow furrowed.
But instead of answering, the Evil God only raised the corners of its mouth.
<It means exactly what the sentence says, says, says.>
<Humans really are, are, interesting.>
The smile around its mouth deepened.
The rift opened, and even the face that had barely remained began to crumble.
Its splitting lips looked up at the boy and spoke.
<So, my child.>
<Struggle all you like so that you do not break.>
<Otherwise, the wildfire will try to begin everything anew and regenerate it all.>
A chilling, yet somehow soft resonance.
The haze began to fade.
<Then... someday, day, day, day, day.>
A few incomprehensible words lingered at the edge of its lips.
After that, the haze completely detached from the Grand Justice's head.
A scene that settled like death.
Viktor simply stood there with a hardened expression.
The lump of ice broke apart, and the portion of the lingering thought that had been forcibly held there returned to nothingness.
<Let us meet again.>
Srrk-.
A face without the mask.
Something stroked the burn scar on the boy's face, then passed by.
"......"
An indescribable feeling.
A tangled mind.
And so, Kim Muro had to stand frozen there for a moment.
***
After the Evil God left, the air settled into a lull.
The devastated courtroom held a rough but calm stillness.
"......"
My head was tangled with stray thoughts.
A cold silence sank down.
What broke it was a single murmur.
"......It's over."
Thud-.
Only then could we collapse where we stood.
The two of us sprawled onto the floor side by side, as if neither of us knew who fell first.
"Ugh, haa..."
The strength left my legs.
After starting with a trial and ending with a fifteen-minute, blood-draining battle, Ranne seemed to have hit rock bottom, and I was getting dizzy from the aftereffects of overusing bugs.
"Sir Viktor..."
"Yes, I'm here."
Purple eyes forced themselves to turn toward me.
Was she barely conscious?
There was no light to be found in those pupils.
The girl only squeezed out a faint question, as if forcing it through her throat.
"Is it all... over...?"
"It seems so. For now, at least."
"Ahh... thank... goodness."
"Miss Ranne?"
"I can no longer... stay conscious..."
Maybe her body had overloaded from forcing out the starlight.
Ranne's eyelids covered her purple pupils.
Several times, the girl's eyes fluttered open and shut.
Soon her closed eyes did not open again, and only the sound of her soft breathing echoed through the silence.
"......"
"Miss Ranne."
No answer came back.
I whispered to the exhausted girl, careful not to wake her.
"You did well."
It had been a hellish situation.
Even I had been flustered, so how must this child have felt?
The fact that she had trusted and followed me even in that situation was admirable.
"Please rest for a while."
I quietly reached out and lightly tidied her disheveled blond hair.
The courtroom had been razed white.
Over it, I raised my wavering vision.
The dizziness was rising, but I could move well enough.
'First... I should do what needs to be done.'
I looked around.
Then, beyond the courtroom corridor, one wide-open door caught my eye.
'Is that the exit?'
Lumiera's Temple.
It was the passage leading outside.
Ding-!
[You have cleared the 5th floor of hidden space 'Lumiera's Temple'.]
[The door leading outside the temple has opened.]
As if confirming it, the status window notification rang out.
Beyond the passage, stairs and a pure white backdrop awaited us.
'We stayed here for two full days.'
I needed to hurry back.
By now, everyone in Kihano County would be searching everywhere for us.
'Let's finish my business first.'
I moved.
The reason I had entered this place, Lumiera's Temple.
Ding-!
[Chain Quest]
-Title: To Live, Perhaps to Die.
-Objective: O meaningless life. Prove the value of my death.
-Failure Penalty: None
-Success Reward: ???
[Time Limit: Until the trial ends]
It was to obtain the item hidden here.
I stepped into the center of the courtroom.
A few steps ahead, the Scales carved from ice stood in plain view.
Among the battered surroundings, it was the only fixture that had not been destroyed.
"As expected, it's still here."
Tap, tap-.
My gloved finger touched the Scales.
One part of these Scales was the item I was looking for here.
Clatter-.
I checked the plate section of the Scales.
More precisely, the side where the judge's paper crane had been placed.
When I pulled with a little strength, the transparent plate slipped right out.
Ding-!
[Mirror That Recreates Images]
-Category: Accessory
-Grade: B
-Status: Incomplete
-Description: A mirror left behind by the ancient sage 'Lumiera'. It can duplicate one of the items reflected in the mirror. However, this effect can only be applied to items of B-grade or below. Immediately after the effect is used, the mirror becomes part of the duplicate and disappears.
It was a mirror.
An event item that could duplicate items of B-grade or below.
'Done.'
After reading the description, someone might wonder.
It had an interesting effect, but it did not seem all that worthwhile.
After going through so many hardships, it would look like I had come here just to get a B-grade duplicate.
'Of course not.'
Why else would I have called this a cheat item?
If its performance had been limited to what the description said, I would not even have cared.
'The Mirror That Recreates Images. Originally, for balance, it was set so that it couldn't duplicate high-grade items, but...'
By using a bug, it was possible to break through even that restriction.
In other words, it could duplicate an item regardless of grade.
A ridiculously generous event you could not find anywhere else.
Back when I played the original, I would put things like the 'Black Mist' or the 'Evil God's Mask' into the mirror.
'Then what should I duplicate this time?'
I had already thought about that question in advance.
Because I had one item saved for this exact moment.
One of the joker cards I possessed.
[???-Grade Reward Selection Ticket]
-Category: Selection Ticket
-Grade: ???
-Status: ???
-Description: ???
I took a single pitch-black ticket from my clothes.
A glossy piece of paper holding a mysterious light.
At the same time, the list of selectable rewards opened before my eyes.
-Selection Ticket-
[Please choose one of the following options!]
1. Obtain Merit Points (10000p)
2. Damaged Item Repair Ticket x1 [Sold Out]
3. Broken Item Restoration Ticket x1
4. Grade Demotion Ticket x1
5. Spatial Leap Ticket x1
6. Cooldown Reset Ticket x1
7.■ ■■(???)
.
.
.
28.■■■■■■(???)
29.■■■ ■■(???)
30.■■(???)
"Nice."
My fist clenched tight.
As expected, it seemed this thing could also be included as a duplication target.
'Now this is farming.'
From this moment on, I intended to turn one Reward Selection Ticket into two.
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