Volume 2, Chapter 27-1 – Good Sister— You Screwed Me Over

‘Wait, if Aetlana really had broken out of prison and secretly returned to the Demon Realm…’

Then where would she be now?

Was she coming to find Stella?

Or had some other faction already set its sights on her?

Itheria wanted her to keep an eye out for Aetlana and capture her?

She wanted Stella to capture a dragon demon who had slaughtered her way out of the Holy See’s White Tower?

‘…Was she kidding?’

Stella felt the world spinning around her.

Mara Nightsong was clearly planning to use her as the target of the Pale Lord’s possession in order to resurrect her former master.

And now another loyal guardian of the Pale remnants had appeared. Given the way demons usually thought, once Aetlana found her, the first thing she would most likely do was arrange for Stella to become a vessel too, all so she could bring back the former master she served.

“This is bad…”

Stella weakly covered her forehead.

Maybe it was fake.

How could there possibly be so many coincidences in the world? How could a guardian really have just happened to break out of prison?

“Stella, I know you’re excited, but you can save the excitement for later.”

Remedios had clearly misunderstood her reaction.

Miss Book Demon patted Stella on the shoulder.

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“I know that news must have been a huge shock to you. After all, she was the servant who once cared for and protected you. Aetlana sacrificed so much for you… It’s only natural that you’d look forward to reuniting with her.”

“…”

Stella opened her mouth, but ultimately chose to keep it shut.

There was no helping it. Remedios truly had no idea what sort of attitude the Ash Drinker held toward her.

Passing out earlier had caused her to miss quite a few bombshells.

She needed to find some time to properly explain all of this to Remedios.

“Alright, let’s put your good news aside for now.” Remedios coughed lightly. “Sorry to interrupt your reminiscing, but the main reason I called you here this time is the second matter.”

“About the ghost attacks everyone’s been talking about lately… I need your help.”

“Help…?” Stella raised her head blankly. “But what does this have to do with you?”

“Someone capable of wielding divine power is already enough to become a target I want to capture.” Remedios said without changing expression. “Of course, if possible, I’d much rather she be a saintess. That’s why I want you to help me capture her. Out of everyone, only you possess that terrifying talent that lets you ignore Holy Arts. If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t be confident.”

‘Oh…’

She had nearly forgotten that her good sister Remedios had an exceptionally intense desire for a saintess.

Every time Stella remembered that, she immediately felt an enormous distance opening up between herself and Remedios.

“Mm… I actually have some clues about this.”

“Oh?” Remedios raised an eyebrow. “It seems our Sleeping Beauty wasn’t idle in her dreams? I’d love to hear the details.”

Stella lowered her eyes, recalling the information written in the Primordial Doctrine.

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“The road is glass, the walls are blades, every step draws blood.” She softly recited. “I encountered the ghost once not long ago, inside a mirror. I believe she’s a weapon of the Holy See.”

“A girl… in the mirror?” Remedios repeated softly.

“But she doesn’t exist. A weapon cannot swing its blade independently in the real world.” Stella turned around. “So she’s only a blade sealed within nothingness. If she wants to interfere with reality, someone has to hold the hilt.”

“Hold… the hilt?”

Remedios narrowed her eyes.

“She needs a coordinate, an anchor.” Stella raised one finger. “Only through the eyes of the person reflected in the mirror can the two sides interfere with each other. Only by using the command of someone in this world as a guide can the Girl in the Mirror be summoned.”

“In other words, someone inside the school is acting as an anchor, hiding in some dark corner and using mirrors during the Sixth Watch, when the sunlight is at its strongest, to guide that sacred soul who knows only slaughter and make her accurately attack specific students.”

Remedios pondered for a moment, then lightly clapped her hands. “That’s a very interesting theory. But I’m more curious about how you know this kind of secret history that even I’ve never heard of.”

“…”

Stella was stunned.

‘How did I know?’

That really was a good question.

She couldn’t exactly say that some crappy book encouraging people to rebel had told her, could she?

“As… her daughter, some knowledge is a curse engraved into my bloodline.” Stella lowered her eyes and deliberately put on a mysterious air. “I can always hear voices ordinary people cannot. Sometimes they whisper in my dreams, sometimes they scream from reflections in mirrors… Over time, I simply came to know some things I shouldn’t know.”

In any case, being the Pale Daughter was currently her best shield. Whenever something couldn’t be explained, she could just blame it all on an inheritance from her bargain-bin mother. Not only was it logical, it also preserved her persona.

Perfect.

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“A curse… within your bloodline?” Remedios murmured to herself.

Yet inside her mind, she had already filled in an entire tragic epic spanning a hundred years.

Of course. That was the Pale Lord, the mad queen who had once attempted to overturn the order of the Abyss.

As her offspring, Stella had inherited not only tremendous power, but probably also the madness and delirious whispers that accompanied that power.

Knowledge ordinary people could never comprehend howled beside her ears like the souls of the dead.

No wonder she always had to put on such a lazy appearance, and even frequently did things ordinary people could never understand.

All along, she had been fighting the madness inside her mind.

At that thought, a hint of pity appeared in Remedios’s gaze as she looked at Stella.

“Right. It’s about time.”

She seemed quite satisfied with this explanation steeped in grudges and destiny, so she stopped questioning her.

“But… since you know so much, you must also know what medium carries the Girl in the Mirror, right? There must be a door in the real world for her to enter and leave through.”

“Of course.” Stella nodded. “An ordinary glass mirror couldn’t possibly withstand her power. Whatever serves as her dwelling must be a vessel capable of containing high-level divine power.”

Stella thought about it.

A mithril mirror should be exactly what the words suggested.

Anyway, Remedios had managed to find Stella’s long-lost guardian from nothing more than a completely fabricated story. Digging up some sacred relic from a little random information shouldn’t be a problem for her either, right?

‘Oh, right!’

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Later, she could also ask Remedios what she should do about the Laxia Ritual.

“It should be a mirror… made of mithril…”

“A mirror made of mithril? I’ve got it. I’ll look into it.”

Remedios scribbled several notes in her notebook, then closed it.

“At this stage, my investigation has practically stalled, but it’s not as though I’ve gotten nothing out of it. I have a plan.”

“While you were sleeping away, I certainly wasn’t sitting idle. I investigated the list of victims from the recent attacks. Although there haven’t been any deaths, every single one of them has one extremely conspicuous thing in common.”

“What?” Stella asked reflexively.

“They…”

Remedios paused, and the way she looked at Stella became strange.

“All of them had openly expressed strong opposition to the ideals of your Lionheart Society and mocked them.”

“Every victim was someone who opposed you. Combined with the messages left at the scenes, it’s pretty conclusive.” Remedios shrugged. “I don’t know what her motive is, but clearly, the ghost hiding in the shadows is purging your opposition for you. Doesn’t that sound exactly like something a fanatical follower would do?”

“???”

Stella blinked, utterly dumbfounded.

‘How could something like this be connected to me too?’

‘Since when did my ramshackle little club carry this much weight?’