OHNIR – Chapter 12
Chapter 12: The Gamble
Inside the cluttered warehouse, Gloria quietly watched as Kelusta, with practiced ease, moved a large stack of books to form a step. She climbed onto it, stretched out her arm, and pushed a book at the very back of the shelf with her fingertips.
The book tilted, and its hard spine seemed to hit some kind of mechanism. After a soft click, the wall-mounted bookshelf directly in front of Gloria split down the middle.
The silver-haired girl raised an eyebrow slightly and turned her head, her gaze meeting Kelusta’s smiling eyes. Kelusta jumped down from the stack of books, her plain, low-heeled shoes making a soft thud. As if presenting a treasure, she said to Gloria, “How about that?”
Gloria smiled and patted the head that had moved closer. “Very impressive,” she praised.
Kelusta’s eyes crinkled into a smile. Even though the other girl had only offered a simple compliment, her tone was so sincere that Kelusta’s heart couldn’t help but overflow with joy.
After placating her little hero, Gloria lifted her eyes to the pitch-black secret room. Her slender eyebrows furrowed slightly as she looked reproachfully at Kelusta. “You went inside?”
“I did. The mirror is in there,” Kelusta answered honestly.
“Reckless,” Gloria said. “Do you have any idea what this level of darkness represents in the eyes of a competent mage?”
“Huh?” Kelusta wore an expression of genuine surprise, looking like a country bumpkin. “Wha… what does it represent?”
Isn’t it just a normal dark little room?!
Seeing her expression, Gloria sighed helplessly. She reached out a long finger and poked her firmly between the eyebrows. Her tone was a mixture of residual fear and exasperation. “If you had even a bit of common magical knowledge, or if you paid any attention in class, you would know—when dark magic condenses, the surrounding environment visibly darkens. The higher the concentration of magical elements, the greater the effect on the environment… Just like this room before us. If there were dark magic elements inside, then… it would certainly be at a lethal concentration.”
Gloria’s ability to transform the painting by the swan lake was also related to this characteristic of dark magic.
“…”
Kelusta was dumbfounded, and so was the System.
“I’m giving you a bad review!” Kelusta, completely unaware that she had just had a brush with death, said angrily. “How could you not warn me about something so important—”
The System tried to placate her. “Calm down, temporary host… You’re fine, aren’t you? My detection systems didn’t register an error.”
“But you also didn’t tell me that dark magic had this property!”
“…If I recall correctly, you are the master of this plane, the core of this world,” the System reminded her. “And yet, you need an outsider like me to explain the common sense of your own world to you?”
Kelusta was at a loss for words, feeling that she was indeed a rather embarrassing heroine.
But on second thought, her confidence returned, and she retorted angrily, “Isn’t this because you help me cheat in class! If it weren’t for you, maybe I would have paid attention!”
System: “…”
So now you have a reason for not paying attention. How shameless.
Therefore, the System made a solemn decision. During the next potions class, it would absolutely not whisper the steps for making a hemostatic potion into the temporary host’s ear.
Let her be strung up and beaten by the potions master!
After complaining to the System, Kelusta’s attitude toward Gloria was no longer so arrogant. She pouted and, out of habit, started fiddling with her hair again. “How would I know such high-level common sense…” she said listlessly. “I grew up in Seaside Town. It’s remote and far away, and people with magical potential are rare. How could I possibly know anything about dark magic?”
She grumbled with her head down, and thus missed the momentary hesitation that flickered across Gloria’s face.
Seaside Town…
By the time Kelusta looked up again, Gloria had composed herself and spoke with great tolerance. “From now on, I will slowly tell you the things you don’t know. And for now… thanks to you ‘leading the charge’ last time, we can save ourselves a lot of trouble and go straight in.”
Dark magic was indeed a terrifying and troublesome thing, but for a dark mage, even the highest concentration of dark elements was essentially nourishment. Although the process of absorbing it was time-consuming and complicated, it was undoubtedly a get-out-of-jail-free card compared to others who would be harmed or have their minds eroded by dark magic.
But Gloria didn’t seem to care whether her own magic would grow stronger. She appeared to be in quite a good mood, showing not a single trace of disappointment.
Kelusta blinked, secretly tucking this observation away in her mind.
But no matter what she was thinking, her expression remained perfectly natural. The brown-haired girl, full of excitement, strode toward the secret room, but on her third step, Gloria grabbed her wrist from behind, forcing her to slow down.
When she turned back, a pair of deep blue eyes gave her a light glare. “No recklessness. Get behind me,” Gloria said sternly.
“Oh,” Kelusta said, obediently taking a few steps back to stand slightly behind Gloria.
However, even after she had complied, the slender fingers clasped around her wrist did not loosen their grip in the slightest.
The two entered the secret room, one after the other. Just as had happened with Kelusta last time, the moment Gloria’s black high heels touched the floor, bluish-green lights ignited on both sides. Gloria’s expression turned wary, but Kelusta patted the back of her hand and said optimistically, “It’s okay, they’re just for lighting.”
Gloria slowly retracted her gaze, noncommittal, and continued leading Kelusta toward the high platform at the end of the passage.
“It really is a magic mirror.”
Her fingertips pressed against the demonic script that formed an intricate pattern around the mirror’s frame. Gloria leaned closer, murmuring something as if translating.
She made no effort to hide it from Kelusta, but even though Kelusta was curious, after some thought, she politely stepped aside, only catching a few words.
The person one thinks of… blood… meeting…
It didn’t sound like anything human. She didn’t understand.
But while she didn’t understand, Gloria clearly did. Her stunningly beautiful face suddenly darkened. Her pale features, illuminated by the ghostly lights, inexplicably inspired a sense of fear.
Kelusta couldn’t help but take a step back.
As if sensing the sudden shift in the waiting girl’s emotions, Gloria’s fleeting anger vanished as quickly as it had appeared. She lowered her eyes, her silver lashes casting long shadows on her face. After a long silence, she finally looked up and beckoned to Kelusta. “Don’t be afraid. Come here.”
Kelusta walked over timidly, like a little squirrel that had its acorn stolen, looking lost and a little scared.
Gloria couldn’t help but soften her gaze again. “Alright, don’t be afraid… Let’s go. We shouldn’t stay here for long,” she said in a gentle voice.
Hearing this, Kelusta turned to look at the magic mirror in surprise. “You… you’re not taking it?” she asked, astonished.
Gloria paused for a moment, then, as if realizing something, she gave a teasing little smile and said deliberately, “Do I look like a thief?”
“Ah… no—”
You look like an angel, Kelusta thought.
“This is the school’s private property. How could I possibly touch it?” Gloria shook her head with a smile, her words carrying a deeper meaning. “Even if I were to… now is not the time.”
“Ding. Gloria’s favorability +2.”
…Fine. Even if an angel were to steal something, she could be forgiven.
With very little conviction, Kelusta nodded and followed Gloria as she slowly walked toward the door.
The pitch-black passage was lit only by a few ominous-looking flames. Walking down this path, Kelusta felt as if she were treading upon her own unpredictable future.
She didn’t know if revealing the magic mirror to Gloria was the right or wrong decision.
She was simply making a bet—a bet on one person’s change of heart. And the chip she’d placed on the scales was… the future of this entire world.
She also didn’t know if she could afford to lose such a heavy wager.
As she was lost in thought, her hands growing cold, Gloria, who was walking ahead, stopped. When Kelusta, as if in a trance, came up beside her, Gloria reached out and seized her cold, stiff hand.
“Scared?”
Kelusta started, as if awakened by the warmth spreading from Gloria’s fingertips. Her golden eyes still held a trace of her earlier confusion, which Gloria saw through completely as their gazes met.
“So timid. How did you dare to come in here alone last time?”
Her cherry-pink lips curved slightly upward. Gloria teased her lightly, and while Kelusta was still stunned, she took her hand. Like an adult guiding a toddler, she slowly yet gently led her toward the warehouse, which glowed with warm yellow light not far away.
And half a step behind her, feeling the warmth in her palm, the confusion in Kelusta’s eyes gradually hardened into resolve.
—She would win.
Both this world, and the person in front of her.
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