"The Thousand Faces" — a Relic that allows its bearer to become anyone.
Its true identity is unknown. An unusual figure, even among the 1st-rank delvers.
"This is the first time I've been found out so quickly, gesu. At what point did you figure it out, gesu?"
"From the very start."
"...Gesu?"
"The moment you walked into the meeting room, I knew you weren't Shiro. So where's the real Shiro?"
"Hey-what-did-you-do-to-Shiro?"
Even after revealing their true identity, Chive's blade remained pressed against their neck.
"I certainly won't show mercy in a situation like this."
"Whoa, hold on — let me explain that first or my life's in danger, gesu. First of all, I haven't done anything to Shiro. I took on Shiro's request and became a body double, gesu."
"Oh? A body double, huh."
"So then — what about over there? They said the 'Thousand Faces' user isn't here."
"Don't worry about that, gesu. I've got a 2nd-rank female delver I have leverage over wearing this outfit, gesu. Right about now, she's probably desperately trying to keep up the act without getting caught — adding 'gesu' to every sentence while looking all embarrassed, gesu."
"You're scum."
"I am scum."
"You scum."
"Quite the scumbag, I'd say."
"My, my. What scum."
Unanimous scum.
"Oh my, now you're flattering me, ya know."
"I wasn't praising you."
"Well, well, what shall we do, hmm?"
"I'd be happy if you'd shut up, ya know. And even happier if you'd put away the sword, ya know."
"Whoopsie~"
Chai-bu put away his sword.
Thousand Faces heaved a long, drawn-out sigh.
"This time was genuinely unexpected, ya know."
Thousand Faces looked at me. Probably. Hard to tell with the mask on.
"That too, that too, I suppose."
"For starters, this whole situation is abnormal, ya know."
"Sure is~"
"That it is."
"Who even are you, ya know? You."
"Even if you ask me that..."
"Thousand Faces. Rudeness toward the master will not be tolerated."
This time, Munieka placed a knife-hand against Thousand Faces' neck.
"I-I didn't mean it like that, ya know. I was just shocked, ya know. I've never been found out this quickly before, ya know. What on earth did I do wrong, ya know?"
He asked me in a somewhat desperate way, but... hmm.
"It's not so much about mistakes—it's just that nothing about you was like Shiro at all, so all I can say is I figured it out right away."
"T-that's..."
Thousand Faces slumped. Looks like the damage hit harder than I expected.
I was starting to feel bad, but it was the truth. Sorry about that.
"Well, well, I'm not saying this to defend anyone, but even Kon couldn't tell, huh?"
"No. Neither could I."
"Me neither~"
"Nor I."
"...You guys are really terrible, huh?"
"It's just that Wof is the weird one~"
"Weird?"
I wanted to deny it, but some part of me was already agreeing.
"Haa~ can't be helped, I guess. As expected of the witch's apprentice and the one who conquered the 'Impregnable Fortress,' I guess."
"No, I didn't actually do anything to the 'Impregnable Fortress' or whatever, and I have no intention of doing so, either."
For some reason, the women's gazes were starting to feel scary, so I hurriedly said that.
I mean it, too. I was honestly more interested in asking how this even happened in the first place.
Thousand Faces stood up and left the room without another word.
I wondered if that was okay, but there was nothing really worth stopping them for.
"Well then, I should be heading back to the lab."
"I'll walk you there."
"I can manage on my own, you know?"
"As long as you're fine with getting caught and sold off again."
"I'm counting on you."
I had been captured before. Nearly been sold to a sideshow.
Half of them were still alive, so I handed them over to the guards.
"Take care now, you hear."
"Safe travels!"
"Ah... be careful, okay?"
"Yep. I'll be back."
"Then I'm counting on you."
I left the room.
I walked with Haighern perched on my shoulder.
"About that Talisman's Prank you were talking about... that was about eggs, wasn't it?"
"Indeed. The Talisman's Eternal Egg. Drink its liquid, and you gain eternal youth."
"One of the three eggs?"
"It does grant eternal youth, but there's a side effect known as the Talisman's Prank. It transforms the one who drinks it."
"So that's why Alhazad-Abramilin ended up with a black panther's head."
"The transformation reveals the soul, they say. Most of them end up with animal heads."
"This side effect — does that go for the Phoenix's Revival Egg too?"
"It does. Wof. Listen. The dead must never be brought back to life. They must never return."
At that moment, Haighern's voice was devoid of all emotion — utterly mechanical.
It felt like he was simply stating a flat prohibition, nothing more.
The three eggs had once been in Haighern's possession.
He must have run all sorts of experiments back then.
"...So the elixir too... any side effects?"
"That there are not."
"There aren't?"
"If anything, just be careful not to drink too much."
"Ahaha."
Fair enough. Even the best medicine becomes harmful in excess.
Let's stick to the recommended dosage.
"Oh right, Wof. I've decided to earn some money soon."
"Earn...?"
"Money makes the world go round, as they say. I need it to keep the lab running. When I was active before, the lab was state-funded. But that's no longer the case."
"Yeah, that's true."
"If I use the lab, it's not difficult — but standing out too much wouldn't be good. Something simple, mass-producible, and convenient is what I'm after."
"Like potions?"
"With existing products, you'd just disrupt the market balance and attract even more attention."
"Well, couldn't you just avoid disrupting it?"
"If it were that simple, I wouldn't need the lab. I want something only a lab can produce."
"There you go again with the unreasonable demands..."
"I know it's reckless. But still. That's what the lab is for."
"I mean, yeah, sure."
Something you can only make in a lab, that you can mass-produce, that's simple, and that's actually useful.
No way a wish list that greedy could actually exist.
"Oh, it does. It does!"
"What did you say?"
"It's just... I need to sort of confirm, or rather, get permission."
"From who?"
"So we need to make a little detour."
I veered off the route home.
The place I arrived at was a mansion.
"This is it?"
"Have you never been to Hayiarn before?"
"Nope."
Come to think of it, I hadn't.
"This is the Torquetam hideout."
"Oh. So this is it."
Without missing a beat, she knocked on the mansion's door knocker. After a moment, the door opened.
What appeared before us was a peerless beauty wrapped in gleaming golden hair.
"...Huh?"
"Oh?"
The peerless beauty immediately pulled a scary face. Terrifying... A beautiful woman's glare is both lovely and terrifying.
Haiyaan was about to rush in too, but froze solid under that glare.
"Um, is Riv here?"
"Hey, who the hell are you. A customer?"
"A friend."
"...Wait here."
"O-Okay."
We stood there in a daze.
Then out came a small, cute little girl with gray hair.
She had fox ears and a tail. Another child I didn't recognize. She stared at me with golden eyes.
"Lord of the vortex that disturbs the starry sky."
"Huh?"
The starry... what now?
"Oh. Me?"
"That alchemist rabbit is nothing but a pitiful twinkling star caught in the vortex. Lord of the vortex that disturbs the starry sky."
"M-Me?"
She was staring intently at me, so probably.
"Indeed. I, too, am ultimately nothing but one more shining star. An unremarkable soul adrift in the sea of souls."
"R-Right."
"But the master is different. The master of the vortex that winds in every star, no matter how large or small, and swallows them into itself."
"Um."
"But the master is not the only vortex. There are small and large vortices. My sister is one such vortex. But you, master, are an incomprehensible vortex. One that shifts between large, small, shallow, and deep. Even my Relic cannot read this one."
"...Relic?"
"Indeed. It is a family secret, but I can predict the future. I can read the stars and the vortices to some extent. But I cannot read you. You constantly change and never reveal the depths of your vortex."
The family secret is something you shouldn't talk about.
Haiarn was surprised.
"Predict the future!? In another era, wouldn't that make it a national treasure?"
"It is, even now."
"...Could it be, are you a child of the Tassan family?"
The mention of a family secret made it click.
This place also served as a villa for the Tassan family.
"I am indeed Sedichi. Sedichi of Tassan, age eight."
I held up three fingers on one hand and five on the other to show the number eight.
What kind of eight-year-old is this?
"The young girls these days are rather different, aren't they."
"Hmm. It's time. Let's talk again later, O vortex master."
"I'm Wof."
"I know. Then, I'll take my leave."
With that, Sedichi hurried off.
What was up with that little girl?
Before long, that golden-haired, peerless beauty came back.
"Go in. Riv wants to see you."
"O-okay."
Could she be a Tassan too, I wonder?
I just get that kind of feeling.