Chapter 127
That room was called the Chamber of Mirrors.
It was a small room without windows, with a stone pedestal set in the center.
Resting atop the pedestal on a scarlet cushion was the treasured heirloom passed down through generations of the House of Achenval: the ancient magical artifact 〈Mirror of Bern〉.
The woman who entered the Chamber of Mirrors alone, Constanze, picked up the 〈Mirror of Bern〉 from its pedestal and gazed at her reflection.
A woman with stern, sharp features and neatly braided hair stared back at her from the other side of the mirror. That face twisted with resentment.
──I don't like this. I don't like this.
Constanze in the mirror groaned, making no effort to hide her displeasure.
Constanze spoke to the mirror with a serene smile on her stern face.
“Please don’t sulk, Mirror-sama.”
Constanze’s serenity was that of someone who had resolved to go to her death.
By contrast, Constanze’s face in the mirror grew ever more sour.
What appeared in the mirror was the will of the 〈Mirror of Bern〉, borrowing Constanze’s appearance.
──I am not sulking. I am furious. Why must you be the one to sacrifice yourself, Constanze?!
“Because I’m the only one who can turn the tide of this war.”
The war between the Empire and the Kingdom of Ridill had begun between the two nations, but the Empire was now being pushed back overwhelmingly.
The greatest threat was the Seven Sages, the highest-ranking mages of the Kingdom of Ridill.
Approximately thirty percent of the soldiers on the front lines had been rendered useless by the curses of Adeline Albright, the 〈Deep Abyss Sorcerer〉.
During the Second Echelgar Front, the cavalry had boldly attacked, using their mobility as a weapon, only to be ensnared by the thorns of Sabrina Roseberg, the 〈Thorn Witch〉. They were then struck by attacks from Graham Sanders, the 〈Thunder Mage〉, and annihilated.
On the border, Margrave Varmberg, the 〈Wolf of the West〉, was holding his own and pushing back the Kingdom of Ridill’s forces. However, the Ridill army was bypassing Varmberg and attempting to encircle the Empire’s second capital.
If a large-scale magical attack began, the second capital would become a sea of flames.
“Mirror-sama. With your power, you could cast a reflective barrier over the entire second capital, couldn’t you?”
──Indeed. My power is immense. I am incomparable to the 〈Key of the Keeper of Knowledge〉 and the 〈Starweaver〉, both made around the same time.
The 〈Mirror of Bern〉 was an ancient magical artifact that could cast reflective barriers over a vast area, and its scale and precision were unparalleled among existing ancient magical artifacts.
There was nothing the 〈Mirror of Bern〉 couldn’t repel except the black flames breathed by a black dragon. It could accurately reflect anything else, even an attack from another ancient magical artifact.
That was precisely why using it placed such a heavy burden on its wielder. If it cast a reflective barrier over the second capital, its contractor would undoubtedly lose their life.
──But, Constanze. Are you asking me to… take the life of my friend?
At the 〈Mirror of Bern〉’s words, Constanze smiled, her eyes softening.
“You call me your friend.”
Constanze in the mirror pouted as if sulking.
──What? What? Did you not think of me as a friend?!
“No, no, Mirror-sama. You and I are friends—old friends who have known each other since childhood.”
Constanze closed her eyes and remembered the day she had made her contract with the mirror.
After making the contract, she had visited the 〈Mirror of Bern〉 every day to talk. They chatted about trivial things and sometimes even argued.
Those were Constanze’s happiest memories.
“Mirror-sama, please lend your power to me, your friend. I want to protect this country.”
Constanze’s reflection fell silent, looking sulky.
Even so, when Constanze continued to gaze at the mirror patiently, it eventually opened its mouth as if giving in.
──After I use my power, I’ll fall asleep for a while. This time, I’ll sleep for a very long time. I won’t wake for decades.
“They’ll call the 〈Mirror of Bern〉 a sleepyhead.”
──I don’t care! And when I wake up, if this so-called next contractor appears, I’ll make some excuse and rebuff them as coldly as I can.
“Oh, Mirror-sama! That will put my descendants in a terrible predicament.”
──I don’t care! I refuse to take a friend’s life with my own hands ever again!
Constanze in the mirror had a bright red nose and was crying like a child.
Though she wished the mirror would stop making such an ugly face with her own, Constanze sniffled.
A tear spilled over, wetting the surface of the mirror.