Bolisa…
Angor did not know who that was, but it had to be someone important since Lady Mirror would use his or her stuff.
Angor picked one of the scrolls and spread it open.
The portrait showed a short-hair man in a strange metal suit who stood in the air. A majestic mechanical city existed in the background.
“This is Guardian 37 from Harbor of Machines in Grand Plane,” Lady Mirror explained. “Cool guy, but he’s a half-puppet.”
Angor took out the next portrait, which showed another decent gentleman.
Lady Mirror explained in the same anthomaniac manner, “The Staff Wielder from Tower of Hurricane. He has such a charming voice too. Pity… he’s only attracted to other dudes.”
The third paper still had a man on it.
“The Platinum Enforcer from Shoman Plane. Someone already claimed him. Ouch.”
Angor kept on looking even though he already lost interest.
Next was a red-haired man.
“Bogula from Floating Mech City. A terrible pervert.”
Another red-haired man.
“Thewis from Goman Kingdom. Looks rather handsome. He got a really bad temper, though.”
Thewis? Angor looked at the picture again. The man in the portrait had bright red hair which flipped against the wind and in great contrast with the dark cape he was wearing.
“What, you know him?” Lady Mirror spoke.
“Yes, lady. I think someone by that name came to my homeland, the Old Earth. He went after a… certain criminal.”
“Criminal? Probably the ‘Bloodied Stabber’. The little girl stole the Crimson Crown, the very national treasure of Goman Kingdom. It was quite the big news back then,” Lady Mirror explained in a casual manner.
Angor knew nothing about Thewis. He only heard it from Mara, that Thewis was pretty famous for his easy-to-trigger character, about which Lady Mirror just mentioned.
Angor did not really want to check the remaining portraits now. He only did so since Lady Mirror asked him to.
“‘Lord of Night’ Moodick. He’s always so grim.”
“This is the enforcer of Supreme Cult’s Eastward Expedition Team. Now dead.”
“This… was how ‘Light Walker’ Gandolf looked like when he was still young. That man never took care of his looks, thus his current old face.”
Every portrait in the basket described a handsome-looking man. And each time, Lady Mirror would leave a negative comment.
Angor even saw Sunders in there. Lady Mirror blushed when mentioning the gentleman, though she still ended her comment with a “but”.
“Sunders meets everything about the very man I dream about, but he always gives everyone the cold shoulder.”
When Angor was finished with all the portraits, Lady Mirror gave him a conclusion. “These men all have their own problems. But at the same time, their problems make them special. You see, Bogula’s just an average charmer if not for his extreme character. Moodick’s always so dark, but it gives him charm.”
Next, Lady Mirror grinned at Angor. “So how about it? Can you place them all inside an illusion?”
Angor revealed a sad look. Every single man he just looked at was someone who led a legendary life over at least multiple centuries. If he made them into Lady Mirror’s tool of pleasure and was found out… he did not want to imagine what would happen.
He really wished he could travel back in time and prevent his former self from asking “whether he could use real people”. It was stupid!
“Um, lady, if there are too many people in the illusion, you’ll quickly develop Stendhal Syndrome if you stay in the illusion for too long. Let’s just consider my professor. I know him better, so I can do a better job recreating him. I don’t think I can make these people good enough just by looking at their pictures.”
Angor was totally fine with “selling his professor out” now. The worst thing that could happen was probably receiving several cold stares from Sunders. However, Angor had no clue what kind of bizarre reactions he would expect from other people.
“Stendhal… what the hell was that? I told you about the Phantom of Festivity because I’m expecting something similar, like, a woman surrounded by wolves! Handsome wolves!” Lady Mirror began to lose patience. “It’s settled. Get every one of them into the illusion, or keep trying until I’m good with it!”
“But I only have their pictures! I don’t know about anything else about them…” Angor protested helplessly.
“Are you questioning Bolisa’s expertise in painting?” Lady Mirror raised an eyebrow.
Angor did not even know who “Bolisa” was, and there was no way he could negatively comment on someone unknown, so he quickly shook his head.
“Wait…” Lady Mirror suddenly spoke again, “Maybe you have a point. Bolisa has been studying oil painting in a mortal school for ten years, and she’s still a repeater now. I can understand if she doesn’t yet know how to express people properly.”
Angor brightened up just a little. “So…?”
Could he avoid creating these terrible figures now?
Lady Mirror pondered. “Alas… I guess I’ll have to lower my standard, just a bit. Okay, you can give these people new characters as you see fit, but the illusion must look real. It should be something like the floating island that triggers my deep emotions, or I won’t accept it.”
Angor tried not to cry. It meant he still had to create all those people.
“We’re done here. Give it to me when you succeed,” Lady Mirror ordered Angor to leave.
Angor could no longer find the courage to protest again. He tried to comfort himself by considering the request as another illusion practice. He even thought about a title for the lesson: “How to Give Emotions to Imaginary Characters”.
But why would he need such a lesson?!
He picked up the basket with a sad face and Lady Mirror teleported him away.
Lady Mirror did him a small favor by sending him directly into the mirror world so that he did not have to go through the mirror again.
Above, was what Angor went through in the past hour.
Angor walked toward his villa in a trance. His entire mind was occupied by “distasteful elements” and “real beings”. How could he achieve a balance between them?
“Damn. Maybe my almighty tablet will save me again…” Angor comforted himself. However, he did not believe Earth could provide something to help him with this.
He was unaware that creators on Earth already developed many amazing ways to express the “business” between men and women and make either films or novels to fully indicate vulgar culture in a realistic way while avoiding going over certain boundaries just right.
Angor entered his house while sighing in frustration.
The hanging clock told him that it was ten in the morning, and his airship would depart in four hours. He decided to put the troublesome matter aside until he was back from Twilight Well. Lady Mirror never gave him a deadline anyway.
Since he had time to spare, Angor was going to find something proper to eat outside.
And of course, he would not forget to bring Toby together. But again, he did not find Toby in the attic. The music box was also gone.
He frowned. Did Toby go to the mysterious friend again? But he just told Toby to stay and get ready for the trip a while ago!
Angor was determined to talk with Toby about the matter. At least he should find out who Toby was dealing with.
For now, he had to go eat on his own.
Angor went to Bartterfly Pub again, for he really liked the roast beef there. Besides, he had enough money to enjoy some extra-expensive meals.
He came back again around noon, and Toby was still nowhere to be found.
Angor sighed and sat in his garden to meditate.
He enjoyed a good moment in the gentle breeze which carried the smell of his mistletoe tree. About an hour later, he finally heard a familiar sound of flapping wings coming from the woods.
He opened his eyes and looked toward the other side of the river.
A green shadow dashed through the sky and glided into Angor’s yard swiftly.
When Toby landed on the tree, Angor noticed that Toby was dressed in another green skirt that he had never seen before. The skirt was weaved from soft vegetation vines. There were velvet-like fringes around the skirt shifting gently in the wind.
Angor did not immediately mention his concern. “You’re late. Go and take some clothes to change on the road. We’re leaving now.”
Toby seemed a bit worried just a moment ago. However, he quickly perked up again when he realized Angor was not going to question where he went in the morning, and immediately dived into the attic window.
A quarter hour later, Angor came to Prome’s Alchemy Shop with Toby.
To prevent getting found out due to Baron Milk’s “prominence”, Angor placed Toby into his chest pocket. When looking from outside, people could only notice a small head poking out from the pocket, glancing around curiously.
“This way, Angor!” He saw Dave beckoning him from afar.
Prome also appeared from the shop and nodded to Angor with a smile.
“Sorry for coming so late, sir.” Angor returned the courtesy.
It seemed Prome did not mind. “Let’s go. We have enough time.”
…
The airport was located at Windmill Town.
When he came here last time in the morning, Angor failed to notice another giant cave beside the entrance toward the mirror, where the airship was parked.
The other end of the cave was the cliff of the mirror abyss. The airship could directly ascend to the sky from there.
Angor had spent half a year inside the mirror world. Now that he was outside, he leaned on the guardrails of the ship and looked down at the familiar plateau, as well as the giant gap through which the ship just emerged. This was where he followed Ness and jumped into the abyss, which led him into the real wizarding world for the first time.
Despite the short interval, looking at the great wilderness which was Parmigi Highlands gave Angor a strange feeling, as if he had been cut off from civilization for ages.