‘…Look my way.’
‘Help me.’
‘It’s burning. I can’t shake away the paint.’
The mirror tunes echoed silently in the air, their voices drifting in and out of my mind as I focused on immersing myself into the character.
I had just managed to do so when the tunes played again in my mind.
‘Why is this happening to me?’
‘…Where is this place?’
Unlike the tunes I was accustomed to near the Academy or the Safe Zones near the Empires, the tunes in this place were a lot louder.
It almost felt as though they were screaming inside my mind.
I wanted to make them stop.
They were disrupting my concentration and making things harder for me.
Walking out of the alley and moving past one of the windows, I caught sight of my own reflection staring back at me and then blinking. But I didn’t blink. I know because I had purposely tried not to blink.
…Soon my reflection smiled, and I looked away.
I drew a deep breath.
This wasn’t my imagination. What I saw was real, and it wasn’t because ‘Julien’ had suddenly broken out of the seal that I had placed with the mirror.
Far from it.
This place..
It was a lot more treacherous than originally anticipated.
Everything about the city, people, and Mirror Dimension felt incredibly eerie. I could see why people would go crazy if they stayed in this place for long enough.
I also wanted to leave, but I had a goal and a mission.
Until I fulfilled my mission, I could only stay here.
“…This should be the place.”
I stopped before a fairly sized building, not far from the bazaar, as a large glass window displayed a large room behind. The place was currently empty, but not for long, as I turned my head to see a chubby man with a mustache slowly make their way in my direction.
He had a general greasy look to him that made me want to stay away.
“My apologies… You must be the buyer.”
The man dabbed his sweaty forehead with a clean white tissue.
“I was tending to another customer just now. I apologize if I couldn’t make it quickly.”
“That is alright. I’ve also just made it here myself.”
The language they spoke here was called ‘Virith’, and it was considered the universal language around these parts. Of course, because everyone came from all over the place, it was hard for everyone to speak the same language.
It was the same for me.
Thankfully, there were relics and devices that had the ability to translate languages smoothly.
It was also for that reason that the Empires never struggled to communicate.
Of course, English was also included, although from what I understood, most English records were gone, and could only be sparingly found in the Mirror Dimension.
‘I wonder why they don’t speak English here.’
It was an interesting thought, but there were more pressing matters at hand.
I raised my head to look at the empty place before me.
“How much were you saying you’d rent this for?”
“…The price is about 3,500 Solas per day. We do not offer any lower prices. Do you still wish to rent?”
3,500 Solas…?
‘Talk about daylight robbery.’
Solas was the currency used in the city and the regions under the jurisdiction of the Goddess of Light. The exchange between Solas and Rend was about one to ten. Meaning that 3,500 Solas was equal to about 35,000 Rend.
Just thinking about it pissed me off.
However, these were the prices over here. And it wasn’t as though it was too much for me.
Before leaving for this place, I had made preparations in advance, storing a lot of things inside the ring. Noel had also told me in advance about the things that would sell well here, and with that, I was able to bring enough items to open up a merchant house.
Which was what I was about to do.
“Will you take it?”
“….Yes.”
“Sweet!”
The chubby man rubbed his hands and smiled. He then proceeded to take out a piece of paper from his pocket and started to fill in some details.
“For how long will you be renting this place?”
“….A week.”
“A week? Okay.”
The man jotted down all the information.
“Is this individual work, or are you going to work as a commercial group?”
“Commercial group. A merchant group, to be exact.”
“Oh, what group?”
“Gray Chamber Merchant Group.”
“Understood!”
The man continued to jot down several things on the paper, asking several questions along the way before finally handing the paper to me.
“All details have been filled out. The Goddess of Light shall bear witness to our transaction. How do you wish to pay?”
“I’ll pay right here.”
I retrieved a fairly sized pouch and handed it to the chubby man, who took it with delight. He opened the bag and started counting the money.
“It’s all there.”
“…Just have to make sure.”
I shook my head and turned my attention back towards the store. Staring at the empty frame of the place, I quietly sighed. This was quite a big investment. However, it was a necessary investment.
This store was key to my plan to get to the Remnant South.
For that reason, this price was nothing. Furthermore, I was confident that I would make all the money back in no time.
“Yes, it is all there! Very well, I wish you a pleasant stay!”
The chubby man left shortly after. I didn’t even bother bidding him farewell and just focused my attention on the store. After a while, I quietly moved in and looked around the place.
With another sigh, I shook my head.
“This might take longer than I expected.”
Thankfully, I wasn’t alone.
“…It’s time I get my assistant to work.”
***
Haven.
About four months had passed since the events.
It was now the start of the third year.
The number of cadets that entered the Academy had reduced significantly as a result of the incident with the Mirror Crack, and a few other events that had made the news. This was a source of trouble for the Academy since its prestigious reputation was starting to decline, with several other Academies starting to make a rise.
This naturally brought quite a bit of panic amongst the elders of the Academy, bringing up the topic in discussion with the Chancellor several times.
However…
“Oh, yeah.”
“Okay.”
“…Do as you wish.”
The Chancellor seemed wholly unmoved by the entire ordeal. In fact, it almost felt like she didn’t care about the situation at all.
But this was something big.
If the Academy fell down the rankings, then it would reduce the money that came through sponsorships significantly.
This would be a massive blow to the Academy since the maintenance costs were extremely high.
“Chancellor, you must listen to us! We need to do something about this situation quickly! Otherwise, we might be in some serious trouble!”
“…Oh.”
Sitting at the edge of a large oval table, Delilah casually glanced at the elders. Her dark pupils scanned the room before she leaned back on her chair.
Her lack of interest made the elders want to rip their own hair out.
The situation was especially bad when taking into consideration the fact that Atlas wasn’t present. Ever since Julien’s death, he had been on indefinite leave.
He was the only voice that could somewhat reason with the Chancellor.
However, with him gone, the situation was a mess.
All the elders could do was discuss things amongst each other.
“We need to think of a way to make everyone more attracted to the Academy. There won’t be a Summit this year, and even if there is, I don’t consider the chances of our Academy dominating like in the last event to be very high. The quality of the students this year is significantly lower.”
“…Then we should focus more on the second and third years.”
“You’re right. They should be our primary focus. The second years are promising, but they still lag behind the third years in terms of talent.”
“That’s true, but with Julien gone…”
“Oh, don’t even remind me.”
Professor Chambers muttered, massaging his throbbing head. He was suddenly reminded of a certain incident that happened a few days ago.
It was with regards to a year-wide party that said ‘Third year lives matter! With the Jinx gone, we can live!’
They, of course, were unaware of what had truly happened to Julien.
However, the real trouble came from the moment Leon, Kiera, Aoife, Kaelion, Evelyn, and several of the top rankers in the year found out about the party.
All hell broke loose.
Chairs were thrown. Tables were thrown. Cadets were thrown…
“Oh, god.”
That day, it rained cadets.
A PR nightmare.
“That incident aside, they are now at a stage where they are stronger than even a large quantity of the professors within the Academy. With their abilities, they’ll without a doubt achieve something great.”
“That’s true.”
The elders nodded.
And then, just as everyone was in deep thought, thinking about them, Professor Evenhart, the leading Emotive Mage within the Academy and elder, spoke.
“But they still need to do their graduation trial, right?”
“…Graduation trial? Yes, that’s correct.”
The Graduation Trial was essentially the test the cadets needed to take in order to graduate. From going into the borders to fight monsters to helping several places that had been hit by bandits or natural disasters, it was an event that was used to elevate the Academy’s status, and at the same time, display their ability.
It was a very important event.
“What about the graduation trial? Why are you bringing it up?”
“Because this might be the opportunity that we’re looking for.”
“Hm? What do you—”
“This year, cadets are far stronger and more talented than ever before! I can count over a dozen that are on the same level as the Black Stars of the previous years. Wouldn’t it be a waste if we let them do some boring trial?”
“Ah.”
The eyes of the elders suddenly widened. They were finally starting to see the picture.
“Right!”
“You’re right! If it’s them, then I’m sure we can have them do something big! This might be able to enhance our reputation again!”
The eyes of the elders gleamed at the thought. However, pouring cold water was Professor Wallace, his finger lifting his golden spectacles.
“But how exactly are we going to do that? It’s true that they’re talented, but what can they do to catch the eyes of the world?”
“That…”
The expressions of the few elders tightened upon hearing those words. Indeed, how could they make the trial challenging and rewarding enough to elevate their status?
Just as the argument went on a brief stalemate, one of the elders hesitantly spoke.
“What if we were to send them deep into the Mirror Dimension?”
“Hm?”
All eyes turned on the elder who spoke.
“…Like send them deep into the Mirror Dimension. Have them survive inside a Red Zone for a certain period of time? I mean, the Mirror Dimension is the direct threat to our world and the reason we train the cadets. Wouldn’t this make sense to prove that our teaching works?”
The room fell silent in that moment, all eyes stunned.
Sending them to a red zone to survive? What…?
Although his words made sense, it was still ridiculous. This was just asking them to die.
The elders were just about to reject the idea when a quiet voice suddenly spoke.
“Let’s do that.”
All eyes suddenly fell on the Chancellor, her listless eyes gone. In their place was a certain gleam as she looked around the room.
“….I’ll personally supervise the event.”
