Chapter 97
The Hunting Castle, located somewhere in the Garden.
In front of the magic circle that tracked records of every being coming and going inside and outside the Garden, two Number 4 card soldiers were diligently filling out paperwork, while the Number 6 soldier examined the existing records and frowned, apparently noticing something wrong.
<Hey. Who was on duty that day?>
<W-what seems to be the matter?>
<The records are wrong. Why is Her Majesty's return logged twice? Seriously, am I the only one who checks this stuff? You slackers.>
Whenever someone left or entered the Abyss while hunting in another dimension, or simply moved between the inside and outside of the Garden, an entry and exit record was created. It didn't matter whether they left on foot or by teleportation.
The knights and soldiers had to have all their entry and exit records checked and signed, but the sole exception was the Queen of Hearts. No one had the courage to go to her personally for a signature, and she was so capricious that it was impossible to check every record of her going in and out of the Garden several times a day.
<Look at this. Her Majesty left at this time, then returned with one piece of prey and one toy. So why does it say here that she returned alone again? You wrote this while dozing off, didn't you?>
<S-sorry. I'll find the person who was on duty then and confirm it.>
<Confirm what, you idiot? Go back to your station and write it down. It's obviously just a mistake, so why leave your post to confirm it? Do you want me to take your place and write it for you?>
<N-no! I'm sorry! I'll write it right away!>
<Tsk. The rookies these days come in expecting to make their seniors do all the work.>
The card soldier, who had been cursed out for doing exactly as he was told, swallowed his resentment and sat back down to resume his diligent record-keeping.
He was probably regretting rushing into the Garden at the earliest opportunity, but that was also how the card soldiers who ranked below him felt whenever they looked at him, so he had no grounds to complain.
There had been no error in the magic circle. If someone had actually checked the records against reality, one of the many soldiers might have noticed something strange, but no one had the courage to do so. Everyone simply assumed the properly completed records contained mistakes and moved on.
* * *
'Ugh, why is this castle so huge? Why are there buildings in the Abyss in the first place?'
[If we manage to return to Earth, perhaps you could write a book. How about the title Alice in the Strange Garden?]
'That's plagiarism, you idiot.'
[Alice was the one who came up with that concept.]
'Ugh.'
This was something I had often experienced while working as a magical girl. This concept was far too famous.
Of course, there were plenty of magical girls who based their concepts on something specific. If anything, there were more of them than not.
The first-generation magical girls had lived in an era when no one even knew what a magical girl was, so they had blundered forward without any precedent to guide them. And by coincidence, Alice had been the most famous figure at the time, so countless fairy-tale protagonists besides Alice had also appeared as magical girls.
Most of them had retired by now.
Anyone who could operate with a concept like this while remaining sane was the strange one. No matter how many magical girls had something wrong with them, anyone who wasn't completely insane would have retired long ago.
[Stellar Shift]
-Flash!
[I envy that magic every time I see it. If Aia could use it, it would greatly aid our forces. Would you consider teaching it to her?]
'If S-rank magical girls' ultimate moves could be learned just by teaching them, everyone would have shared theirs. What a shame.'
While infiltrating the Abyssal Ones and living among them every day, quite a lot of time had passed. And during that process, my mastery of Stellar Shift had improved by leaps and bounds.
'...Was infiltration my forte?'
It was certainly a technique with great potential, but seeing how useful it was even in a situation like this made me think it had been very well designed.
Most of my techniques were nothing more than direct copies or imitations of Alice's techniques, but Stellar Shift was my own original. Naturally, it was bound to suit me best.
The difference between merely avoiding people's eyes while operating as Alice and openly infiltrating an enemy lair to steal information was enormous, so perhaps its potential was unexpectedly exploding now.
'...My potential was a thief?'
...It felt a little strange, but it was useful, so I decided to set that thought aside.
In any case, my goal was to return alive.
'...Momo. Could you find Earth's coordinates?'
[It would not be impossible if someone on Earth were to do something, but without that, it would be more difficult than finding land in a vast ocean without a lighthouse.]
'I have a feeling Aia didn't send you for no reason.'
It was an unfounded belief.
That woman was eccentric and did countless inexplicable things, but even if she was a competent, undisputed number-one S-rank, the idea that a human who had never even visited the Abyss had predicted this situation and left Momo behind so that I could track Earth's coordinates was honestly too much of a leap.
She had probably sent Momo because she thought I might need her. That seemed like something she would do.
[Oh. I've seen this somewhere. The cliché where, by believing in a teammate's potential, the teammate responds and awakens hidden power.]
'I really hope it turns out that way... Wait. What is that?'
[It appears to be a picture. Shall Momo go and take a look?]
...I couldn't see it well because it was far away, but it looked like a picture of a person.
What could it mean for there to be a picture of a 'person' in this Garden, where everything operated under the Queen's name?
'...Would you go take a look?'
I had only barely managed to calm myself down the last time, and I had no idea how my body might react again, so I left the task to Momo.
Momo turned on stealth mode, flew over to the picture, and came back...
<It does look like the Queen... but... Hmm... something is different.>
'...What?'
<It does seem to be Alice's doppelgänger... but... It would be quicker to show you than explain it. I took a picture. Would you like to see it?>
...I grew anxious about what could possibly be different, but I had to check.
If the appearance of the biggest variable had changed...
-Tremble tremble...
"Phew..."
I first held onto my trembling hand and took a deep breath. If my body freaked out again, I would have to bite my finger once more.
"All right. Let me see."
[Here it is.]
And the woman in the photograph Momo showed me was...
"What the fuck is this."
'Ah.'
The shock was so great that I couldn't stop myself from saying it aloud.
Han Serin? Yes. If you looked closely, you could see her features, even though she had changed somewhat.
However, compared to the image I had expected—Alice's 'doppelgänger,' in other words, the appearance of 'Alice' I had described to Momo—it was a completely different image.
Right down to the colors, she was the opposite of Alice, with black hair and red eyes. Her dress was also the exact opposite of Alice's, which was based on white and blue.
And the weapon she was holding was...
'...A whip sword?'
[It's a type of weapon called a whip sword. I don't think it's very efficient, but if it's an Abyssal One's weapon, that changes things.]
...The weapon was different.
She had never once shown Alice using a sword. At most, she had always elegantly waved her wand.
The wand was with me, so had she found another weapon? Even so, why choose something like that?
It was as if she had deliberately chosen an image diametrically opposed to 'Alice.'
'...No way.'
I said no way, but the Han Serin I knew really was that kind of bitch.
Although it was difficult to understand what was going on inside her, she was someone who absolutely adhered to the rules of the world she had created for herself.
That had been true both when she was Alice and when she was Han Serin.
If the concept she had adopted after coming to the Abyss was the Queen of Hearts—if she had built this kingdom of her own by establishing all these ridiculous rules—
'...That crazy bitch...'
Eight years had passed since then. She had only operated as Alice for two years, yet she was still maintaining this concept.
My younger twin sister was exhibiting behavior so bizarre that I couldn't begin to predict her state of mind.
[From what we heard, it seemed this Garden attached some significance to the act of beheading. If she can properly wield a weapon of that shape, it would certainly be well-suited for cutting off heads.]
'...Is that why?'
...No, there was a good chance that was exactly why.
She was exactly the kind of bitch who would use a bizarre weapon simply because it was 'good for cutting off heads,' and it would make perfect sense for her.
...What if I got caught?
Would this concept-obsessed bitch try to cut off my head, too?
........................Ha, of course not.
There was no way she would let me die.
The woman who had made me wish hundreds of times that I could just die, yet had never let me go, would never cut off my head, no matter how much time had passed.
And...
-Grind
The very person who had guided me into living as 'Alice'—and anticipated all this.
[Hmm... If you're reading this email, Oppa... does that mean I failed? I've set it to be sent if I haven't had any activity for more than a few weeks, so I suppose that's probably it?]
[Most of my passwords are your birthday, Oppa. Mine too, of course. I also use the username you made for me for most things.]
[Then, I'm counting on you, Alice.]
I didn't know how she had predicted it, but if she had, it must have gone like this.
She had absolute confidence in her own overwhelming power, so if she found herself unable to act while I was somehow able to calmly use the internet, then no matter what method I had used, I must have escaped her.
If an enemy beyond her ability to handle had appeared and killed her, Earth would simply be finished. I would have rotted away somewhere sunlight couldn't reach, so I wouldn't have been able to read the email in that case, either.
In other words, something had happened to Alice, while I, on the other hand, had been freed.
It seemed she had left only one possible explanation for that situation.
For someone like me, who had been trapped for years, to return to society and support myself, the detailed information she had left behind was essential.
She was that kind of person.
A completely unpredictable, crazy woman.
My younger twin sister.
The worst woman to ever ruin my life.