It's not a good day at the tavern.
Because those few Transcendents inside didn't have the heart to entertain their guests.
By around 11 p.m., the pub was largely amid a hiatus, with drinkers complaining that none of them would ever come back to the shady establishment again, and some threatening to complain.
At 1:00 a.m., Loveland, carrying one suitcase, slowly walks into the dimly lit tavern.
"What the hell are you guys up to? Not open today!"
The waiter, who was drowsy with his head propped up on the table, looked up with a jolt.
"Boss you're back!"
With some anticipation, he asked, "How's the stuff coming along?"
Loveland placed the package in her hand on the tabletop, "Well, it's processed, it's all been sold."
The waiter couldn't wait to unwrap the package.
The double plastic pallets were filled with densely packed gray pharmaceutical test tubes.
Loveland said calmly, "Fifty concentrated stabilizers, enough to last us six months."
"How come so little?" Hearing this result, the waiter of the Burglar's Way was a bit incredulous.
He even wondered if his boss had hacked part of it.
"That's 3 transcendental props..."
Loveland explained blandly.
"Those 3 items, I don't know how long it's been since they've been energized, the magic circuits work and don't work, and they've been chewed on by children as toys, so it looks like they're from an unknown source, and if you just check the recent major thefts, you'll be able to find out where you got them from. -- Above, buyer's original words."
"Duh, this isn't Loran anymore, stop comparing prices over there to here."
The bartender from Dark Path also chimed in.
"All right! All right!" Duke indignantly unwrapped the plastic tray.
"What about the soothsayer?"
Loveland looked into the curtained doorway to the back kitchen.
"That guy went to bed a long time ago and spends his days either eating or sleeping!"
"It's not even positive to share the spoils, I don't even know what she does to be positive."
Loveland looks at the two men and slowly pulls out 5 tubes of Transcendental Active Stabilizer.
"Here's the Diviner's share, I'll give it to her tomorrow."
"The 15 tubes belong to the chef, and he gets the most credit for this one."
"For the rest, we'll just split it equally."
Loveland triple-teamed this split.
Duke quickly puts his share away before showing his displeasure.
"It's all my effort, old Bud's just cleaning up the mess."
"That would have been your part."
Loveland said faintly.
"The crows are on the lookout, the butchers are on the lookout, the coins are predicting, you're in charge of getting your hands dirty, I'm looking for a target and making a plan, and everyone has their risks."
"Duh..." The former leader of the Black Rose looked at the stealer faintly.
"I'll say it for the last time, this isn't Loran anymore, if we don't get our act together we'll never be able to go back and get our revenge, and don't you want to go and get that mate of yours who was captured and sold to the circus back?"
...
...
Room 6 of the Hundred Orchards, a house that had been thoroughly cleaned out, appeared to be very empty.
But because of that, there was room for that dense circle of mirrors.
In the hall on the first floor, thirty-nine mirrors were arranged in a circle at 45°, illuminating the beeswax dripping with herbal incense in the center.
The three men sitting in the outer circle were drowsy from waiting.
Technically, they hadn't gotten a good night's rest since last night.
"Eleazar-san, it's almost time~"
Barely perking up, Finnian's classmates glanced at the clock.
Eleazar said with his eyes half open and his chin in his hand, "There's no rush, there's still two minutes left."
"Uh, I mean, doesn't it need some more preparation?"
"There's no rush to wait until the point, it's better to deal with something like this later rather than sooner, if you irritate it before the time is right, it'll be hard to trick it out later."
"Oh, so that's it..." Fintan is making notes in his book again.
There was another moment of silence, and when the second hand had made its last two revolutions, the wall clock sounded straightaway.
"Dang~"
Eleazar stood up at the same time, "All pay attention, when I destroy the last mirror in this room, the demonic spirits will only be active in the mirror array."
"Your figures must not appear in the mirror, the damage you receive in there, but it will be real feedback, if you get your head twisted off in the mirror, your head will be twisted off in reality, it's an unanswerable kill..."
The two Knight brothers, at once, shrank back a little more in some fear.
No amount of caution could be too much to ask for against such a rare and cryptic monster.
Eleazar raises a black cloth to shield his body and slowly walks upstairs to the washroom.
On the sink, only the last mirror in the house remained.
Just as he pushed the door open, there was a sudden, sharp retracting force at his waist.
The black cloth showed the outline of a pair of arms that were wrapping themselves around his waist in a death grip as if trying to snap him off.
Unlike the previous homeowners who were just scared away, the Mirror Demon sensed the crisis and was ready to deal with their gang of outsiders with a deadly hand this time.
Fighting through the excruciating pain, Eleazar threw the black cloth forward, covering the ghostly creature that seemed to be poking halfway out of the mirror and waving its arms frantically. The heat energy was then mobilized, causing the temperature of the washroom to rise by inches, and as a searing flame was pushed out, the entire wall, along with the mirror, melted away to nothing.
"Done!"
Touching two of his strangled ribs, Eleazar grimaces and quickly walks down the stairs.
"Ah!"
From below came two exclamations of horror, as if they had already seen what the ghostly creature looked like.
Eleazar then stepped into the hall as well, raising his head slightly to look at the mirrored banshee who was held at 45° in the air by thirty-nine mirrors.
A long, tattered white dress, a cloak of hair, a rotting face without a chin, and an old tongue hanging down.
Detached from that mirror world where it could do as it pleased, it became unbearably furious, constantly kicking up an eerie, ghostly wind in the room, trying to extinguish candles like it was toppling over a mirror, even if it was only one.
Eleazar looked at the mirror array which seemed to be quite solid and smiled at the two, "I heard that a first kiss full of love can resolve most grievances, would you like to try it?"
Fintan brushed his head away, "Jokes, how can I still have my first kiss!"
Finnian: "I'm actually out of ..."
"Huh? Finnian you!!!"
Eleazar takes the silver longsword from the shocked-faced knight.
Fintan looked back again, rather distressed, "You mustn't activate Silver!"
"No need, I can't afford to pay you for a second silver sword."
Eleazar hefts his single-edged sword, then a simple horizontal slash cuts a silver glittering crosscut, cleaving the mirror demon into four pieces on the spot.
"Rest in peace, you no longer have to guard the land in this way, the bullies who tried to encroach on the Hundred Fruit Orchard have long since gotten what they deserved."
Eleazar, who had investigated the history of the land a little, silently bid farewell to the soul that refused to rest in peace.
[Magic potion residue: 458→302]
Halfway through the morning, when the restlessness in his body subsided, he saw Finnian crouching down where the Mirror Demon had died, searching for something.
"Don't bother looking, most of the ghosts don't have material."
Hearing him say this, Finnian then patted the ashes off his hands and stood up regretfully.
"It's over isn't it, we're going back then."
Eleazar silently escorted the two to the door.
"Right." Finnian suddenly turned around again, rubbing his hands together expectantly, "Eleazar-san, yesterday's lodging fee..."
"Oh, that..." Eleazar cocked her head.
"Deduct from the money your brother owes me~"