Mia hesitated.
It wasn't that she had forgotten the salamander's request. But could a few drops of blood really solve everything?
Wasn't this exactly like the deal she had made with the fairy king of Muria? Nothing had happened back then either, aside from a bit of fatigue. If so...
"Yes. Make the wise choice. If you act foolishly, everyone suffers…"
The cat blinked its violet eyes as it spoke.
Mia felt the words "I understand" rising in her throat. But some instinct seemed to be holding them back.
Summoning her resolve, Mia barely managed to open her mouth.
"…I've decided to refuse."
Ah! I meant to say I'd accept! At Mia's words, the cat's eyes widened in shock.
Afraid it might persuade her again, Mia quickly flew into the air.
Behind her, the cat shouted in a booming voice,
"You'll regret this! You will! Foolish human!"
Mia returned to the room where everyone else was.
"Salamander! I'm back! How are you feeling?"
"Ah, Lady Mia…"
"Waaah… The salamander's gone all limp, it won't even move…"
Roy was on the verge of tears. Mia hurried to check the salamander, gently placing her hand on its quietly breathing body.
"I'm here now. Please don't die…"
"Lady Mia… You are incredible… You resisted the temptation of dark magic…"
The salamander looked at her with difficulty and smiled faintly.
"Yes. But now there's more I have to do. I need to find Jakiel as soon as possible."
At those words, Leca stood up.
"I've heard the whole story. Roy, stay here and guard the salamander. I'll accompany Lady Mia to search for him."
"Huh? I'm staying here alone?"
Roy looked surprised, and Leca said,
"This castle is empty now, so you'll be fine. Jakiel won't be coming back for a while. Let's go, Lady Mia."
"Salamander, I'll be back soon, so please hang in there just a little longer. Okay?"
The salamander blinked in response, as if to say he understood.
"Where do you think Jakiel went?"
To this, Leca answered cautiously,
"For now, let's search the castle. There might be a clue somewhere."
"Then let's start with the room that had the altar on the first floor."
The two headed back to the place where they had just parted ways with Bastet's cat.
When they arrived, the cat was gone, and only the blue flame on the altar burned with quiet indifference.
"That flame is suspicious. This space, too…"
Leca glanced around the room, which was completely untouched by fire.
Come to think of it, the room also felt damp and gloomy somehow.
"Could Jakiel's life be tied to this flame?"
Mia gazed intently at the fire as she spoke. Leca nodded.
"I think so too. It's the only room left untouched."
At that, Mia took off her cloak and tried to smother the flame.
But as soon as the cloak touched the fire, it vanished into ashes without a trace.
"Gasp… A flame this small should've gone out easily…"
Mia murmured.
"As expected, it's a fire born of dark magic. It's nothing like a normal flame.
It won't go out through ordinary means."
Leca looked around with a heavy expression and answered.
"Jakiel used mirror magic as his main spell. If that's the case, maybe visiting the real Paradise of Monsters might give us a clue."
"You mean the clue from what happened inside the painting?"
"Exactly."
"There's no time to waste. I'll teleport us there."
Leca draped his cloak over Mia and began chanting a spell. He wouldn't have been able to do this with his mana depleted,
but thanks to the ring his father had given him, he had regained both his mana and stamina.
Before long, the two of them arrived at the Cave of Pitch, the entrance to the Paradise of Monsters.
Leca cautiously pushed open the cave door and walked in without hesitation.
Mia followed after him.
The inside of the cave was quiet and still. No shadow creatures, no monsters appeared, and there were no traces of any battle.
Even when they reached the familiar fork in the path, everything was exactly as it had been before.
"This is… strange. It's perfectly intact. As if nothing ever happened."
With nothing to gain, they had no choice but to leave the cave. But at the entrance of the cave—
"Ah… you're here…!"
It was the three ghost girls.They stood at the entrance, smiling brightly.
"What happened? We were so worried!"
"When the flame went out, we came to our senses and entered the painting. That's how we were able to appear like this."
"But the world inside the painting wasn't the real Paradise of Monsters, right?
Even the cave looked like nothing had happened…"
At that, the smallest girl smiled and opened her hand to reveal what she was holding. It was a small fragment of a mirror.
"Oh… that's…"
"Do you remember how the vanity mirror was missing when we came back?"
"Ah, yeah, that's right."
"I found this on the floor. I think it's that mirror."
The tallest girl handed the broken shard to Mia.
"I picked it up without thinking and ended up inside the painting, but somehow I arrived at the real Paradise of Monsters. I think it was because of this, so I'll give it to you. It might help somehow."
"Ah… thank you so much."
"We have to go now. We want to help more, but we can't stay in this physical world for long. We'll be hoping for your happiness."
With those words, the ghost girls faded away, dissolving into the light.
Mia and Leca looked at each other. It was clear they were thinking the same thing.
"Let's hurry back. To the altar."
"I agree."
Leca performed another teleportation spell. Mia and Leca stood once again before the blue flame.
Mia stared at the flame, her heart trembling. Then she glanced at Leca.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes."
"Then…"
Mia threw the shard of the mirror into the blue flame. At that moment, the fire let out a deafening, almost living scream.
The sound was sharp enough to tear at their eardrums.
—Kyaaaaaaaak!
And then…
Something astonishing happened.
They were standing in a completely different space.
A taxidermied crocodile hung from the ceiling, and one wall was lined with shelves filled with thick, ancient books.
The opposite wall was covered in mysterious writings, and a strange magic circle was drawn on the floor.
"Leca… this place…!"
"This must be Jakiel's real room…"
"It might not be just this room. What if the entire castle has changed?"
With those words, Mia rushed out of the room.
As she suspected, the castle was completely transformed.
The desolate landscape they had seen when they first arrived was nowhere to be found.
Maids bustled about with laundry baskets, and servants were moving packages with purpose.
But none of them seemed to recognize Mia.
Leca came running out and stood frozen at the sight.
"W-What on earth…?"
"This doesn't feel like reality. We must have crossed time and space. They're not even aware of our presence."
"In that case…"
"We have to check that room! There has to be a clue there!"
Mia and Leca flew toward the room where the painting had once hung.
And there—
They saw two young women. Two vanities. Two beds. A painting on the wall. It was unmistakably the same place.
The girl with brown hair sat at one of the vanities, brushing her hair.
The other girl looked slightly older—perhaps around eighteen to twenty years old.
She had black hair, and the dazzling diamond embedded in her forehead was striking.
The black-haired girl was sitting on the bed, writing something intently. Her face was filled with worry, and her thin, frail body looked lifeless.
—Selene, are you really not going to eat again? You're already in terrible shape.
The brown-haired girl asked the black-haired one. Selene, as she was called, lifted her hollow silver-gray eyes and replied,
—I just don't have an appetite. I can't help it.
—Seriously, it's a miracle you're still alive and working like this.
The brown-haired girl clicked her tongue in disapproval.
Selene winced, then crumpled up what she had been writing and threw it away.
She took something out from a drawer in the vanity and began knitting intently—it looked like a scarf.
—My little brother is coming in a few days. When he gets here, we'll buy something to eat at the market, so it's fine.
—Ah, how is your little brother doing?
At that, a faint smile appeared on Selene's lips.
—He's doing great. He's brilliant. Just the other day, he ranked first in the entire school. He's going to be the greatest court mage someday—he'll succeed our lord…
—Wow, that's amazing!
—Of course. The name Jakiel Meyer Lapis will go down in the history books of Sibareth forever…
Mia gasped and turned to Leca, their eyes meeting in shock.
And then—
The scene inside the room changed in an instant.
Both beds were now empty and desolate. A man in a brown robe—a Grand Vizier—stood in the room with a cold expression.
It was Jakiel. He looked aged, but still younger than he was now. It didn't seem like a scene from the distant past.
He was peering into a laundry basket set in the corner of the room—the very one Mia had frantically searched through—and muttering incantations over a pile of bones.
Then, as he waved his hand gently over them, something suddenly floated up into the air.
"Gasp… that's…"
It was Selene—the black-haired girl they had seen earlier. Her eyes were closed, her hands neatly folded over her chest.
Her body was semi-transparent.
Jakiel looked upon her and muttered,
—My sister, it won't be long now. Soon, you will live again. Out of the one hundred and eight, one hundred and five are complete.
Only three more to go. Just three more…
"What does that mean?"
Mia murmured.
Leca furrowed his brow.
"It's a form of dark magic. A method for resurrecting the dead. The caster needs the hearts of one hundred and eight people of the same gender and similar age to the deceased…"