The Man’s Representative recruited new gods to cooperate in the search for the real doppelganger.
However, most of the gods demanded harsh prices this time without asking for reasonable compensation.
[One god mocks, saying, “Isn’t there only one god poor little lamb can believe in?”]
“…”
The Man’s Representative realized.
The trap set by the God of the Mirror was far more lethal than expected.
Countless gods were following his wishes.
It was too late to resist.
This flow could no longer be avoided.
If he was trapped, he had to at least gain some last profit, if nothing else.
“What more do you want me to do?”
“I need hair. Oknodie’s hair.”
“That’s convenient. I can get you as much as you want.”
Oknodie is the Doppelganger Queen.
Through transformation, she can easily replicate and produce hair.
In truth, this is not a standard offering.
[Fill a sack full of Oknodie’s hair]
Normally, this is an offering that could never be fulfilled.
To fill a sack with hair…
If one were to kidnap a child and regularly shave their head, it wouldn’t even be feasible within a year. Given that level of strength, it would be a ridiculous task allowed to mess with the original rather than a doppelganger.
However, with the Doppelganger Queen secured, this contradictory task could be completed.
Compared to other gods asking for a left arm or pancreas, this was a much more lenient and merciful offering, one that allowed for loopholes.
Of course, the Man’s Representative did not take the required offering at face value.
‘They’re just pushing the offerings.’
Other demigods were on the same page as the God of the Mirror.
That’s why they asked for offerings so extravagant they had no choice but to gather the God of the Mirror’s offerings.
Suspicious, but the offerings were all collected.
As he offered a sack full of hair, the God of the Mirror formed a gigantic map on the ground with countless strands of hair.
At the end of the snaking hair trajectories appeared one of the seven magical territories, [Isolation of the Spirit’s Magical Territory].
Beside it were explanations like Golden City, Gold Region City, and Isolation City.
━━━
Territory of Dark Princess Oknodie
The ownership of the core facilities in this golden region has been transferred to Oknodie.
Currently, these facilities are managed by the Golden Dancer Riske and Kiote.
大量의 금기 생명체가 격리되어 있다. (A large number of forbidden lifeforms are isolated in the city.)
大量의 금기 연구물이 보관되어 있다. (A large number of forbidden research materials are stored in the city.)
大量의 금기 기술이 연구되고 있다. (A large number of forbidden technologies are being researched in the city.)
━━━
Isolation, storage, research.
Research, unconcerned about all kinds of lawful and unlawful access, isn’t happening solely in this city.
Amidst the imperial system, the Dark Empress Masugaki has secured pathways connecting to the Demon Realm and is promoting a nationwide movement for the acquisition of Dark Mana, encouraging even the children of the imperial system to possess more mana than the creatures of the demon realm.
Her radical policies rival those of the Dark Princess.
Dark Empress and Dark Princess.
Just based on their titles, isn’t there a difference between Empress and Princess?
Though not based on military power, in terms of influence confined to the empire, the Dark Empress takes the lead unchallenged.
With such shocking private affairs, the Man’s Representative finally arrived.
Darknodi.
He reached the existence and confined position of Oknodie’s true rival who should have been raised as a Demon King.
‘How far away it is.’
Honestly, the moment he realized that position, he felt despair at Oknodie’s immense sanity.
To confine an entity that could possibly become his rival in a secret city located right in the center of the military region, and even prepare numerous forbidden technologies and forbidden lifeforms to protect the city.
How many of those are as dangerous as the
It was a shocking situation for someone unaware that the entire city was a protective zone for Darknodi.
‘But there must be a gap. Even the seemingly invincible Seonhwang and the Director of the Foundation met their ends eventually. The Dark Princess can’t last forever, either.’
Just as the immortal fairy lord suffered the humiliation of seeing the World Tree burn and fell, the Dark Princess must not be invincible either.
[Whenever that day arrives, the future you will face will not be yours. Now’s your time’s up.]
“… Is this finally revealing its true nature.”
[The mirror is a symbol reflecting oneself. Here, I declare with the countless mirrors containing you, oh demigods. Claim your own reflections!]
The moment the God of the Mirror Mirak revealed its true colors, the Man’s Representative realized that the situation was far more dire than he had anticipated.
Mirrors were positioned all around.
The divine presence began to imbue the images within the divided mirrors.
The figure of the Man’s Representative reflected in countless mirrors.
In each one, the demigods began to migrate one by one.
Killing all other followers and making the gods submit to him.
The new gods are only those he can control thoroughly, using all the power of the demigods for his own ends.
Contrary to the Man’s Representative’s plans, the God of the Mirror Mirak established an escape route to distribute the concentrated power through the mirrors, causing a multitude of gods to follow him.
The war for supremacy.
The rebellion of the demigods.
Even the expression “Man’s Representative” was rendered meaningless, as he no longer had even a quarter of followers left.
Crash!
The Man’s Representative burst forth with a colossal divine presence, shattering the mirrors, but the figures that had already vanished into the mirror world had long fled to all corners of the universe.
Oknodie’s doppelganger.
The figures reflected in the mirror used to explore Darknodi vanished into the void.
[Hehe. What can I say in gratitude? Thanks to you, many gods have become my subordinates seeking freedom. The power of the demigods you so crave has, at least a portion, gathered to me. Now isn’t that name a bit too much for you to bear? [Man’s Representative] Suffering One.]
“You’ll see. In the end, who the final victor will be.”
Once more, the Man’s Representative shattered the mirror reflecting the world, suffering another tremendous loss.
The God of the Mirror Mirak cackled as he fled into the shattering shards.
Shatter!!
All the fragments were scattered without leaving even a dust behind.
In the depths of the ruined Mirror Dungeon.
The Man’s Representative immediately used a branch of the World Tree obtained from the Fairy Lord Roelheim to escape beyond the dimensional boundary, outside the Gift Academy.
Naturally, what remained in the now desolate depths was a lonely throne and a dumbfounded landlord.
“If a new event is this tiresome, I’d rather not enjoy it…”
This poor landlord’s identity was the defeated Oknodie, swearing never to casually open his front door to unknown adults again.
*
While the Mirror Dungeon was getting smashed to bits, chaos erupted within the academy.
An explosive self-destruct mission following the declaration of godhood by the elf assassins armed with the powers and blessings of the demigods.
Rather than targeting the Dark Trading Company, deemed the headquarters or an affiliate of the organization that plays with Oknodie, the targets were organizations that could be considered subordinate groups.
The damage was severe.
43 students dead, 13 instructors dead, 1 professor dead.
Considering the recent year, when the foundation’s rampage was also not tolerated, this can be seen as the highest casualty rate occurring in the main campus of the academy.
“Was it really such a serious incident that even a professor died?”
“They say he was slain in an instant by the unfamiliar holy spell.”
“Wow… I thought things would quiet down since the foundation wasn’t causing trouble.”
“Indeed, the only good elves are the dead elves.”
“All the forests need to be lumbered and burned down!”
Even amidst the furious anger of the students, there were some who did not get swept up in public opinion and began assessing the damage and offering condolences to each organization.
“I’d like to express my condolences to the deceased. We will provide compensation to the families of the departed, and assist with relocation for those who wish, along with protection for their safety!”
“While I appreciate that, isn’t that something the academy or our nation should be doing? Why are you doing it?”
The head of Hector’s Retainer Group, Hector.
Honestly, he was bewildered.
As the prince of the Kingdom of Troy, he wouldn’t mind caring for the families of his retainer’s deaths, but Oknodie had come out of nowhere.
“If it weren’t for me, the elves wouldn’t have lost their homes and become assassins. I feel a heavy sense of responsibility!”
“Is that so… it seems fair to just express sincere thanks right now. Thank you, Oknodie. The deceased, and the families, will surely be grateful.”
Thanks to the construction and tourism costs of the Collection City, Hector’s Retainer Group fared relatively well, leading to significant improvements in national support and equipment status within their organization.
Therefore, though the number of casualties was relatively low, the damage to Camela’s Organization and the Jigoku Pirate Group was serious.
In fact, most of the casualties came from these two organizations.
Specifically, one organization was particularly noticeable in terms of casualties.
“Oknodie. Will you help with revenge?”
“Of course!”
“Once we find them, I’ll rain down shells from the Jigoku non-fair flight modified from the Foundation’s flagship onto the elf bastards’ hideout.”
The Jigoku Pirates were full of weak lower class students taken in and raised to become pirates by Jigoku’s unique hobby, so they had many victims.
But Oknodie wasn’t one to overlook her friends feeling sad and angry at the loss of their subordinates.
Most of them had walked a similar path, so empathy came easily.
“Eh? But why was this place attacked?”
“I don’t know. I’m just passing on what I heard.”
“Let’s go check it out, Sia!”
Using her unique stealthiness, Sing acted as Oknodie’s informant and reported back from the tumultuous campus, revealing a shocking organization that had been attacked, one that even Oknodie herself was clueless about.
[Plant Club]
Goo had been kidnapped and regularly having growth fluid stolen, with the head of the club reported to have collapsed due to stress.
“Hello, Club Head!”
“You ungrateful brat. What face do you have to come here?”
“I was thinking of reimbursing you, but given how lively you seem, perhaps I came for no reason!”
“A shameless, thick-skinned head like me needs to get beaten by the members. Guess I’m a stupid head who burned up all the plants!”
The head’s self-deprecating remarks made Oknodie chuckle and she asked.
“But why were you attacked here?”
“You, remember how you dealt with the Spirit Tree during the Foundation Workshop Battle?”
“I do.”
“They said the only places to gain wisdom on how to deal with the Spirit Tree are the Academy’s Plant Club or Professor Weird.”
“The professor wasn’t attacked though?”
“Of course not. They were too scared to hit us and only attacked our club.”
“Oh dear…”
For a reason far more pitiful than expected.
“Would you like me to fetch some rare plants for you?”
“I would really appreciate that. Though the world may not recognize that you stole the Mandragora, both the victim and the perpetrator know, right?”
“Hehe. I do feel sorry, so I’ll gather plenty of plants with high species value for you!”
The Plant Club head Orcatch felt a bit of softening.
The members weren’t injured, and as the stolen plants would be replaced with ones even more valuable than the Mandragora, there was no reason to be angry.
“Thank you. Anyway, I do appreciate it.”
“It’s I who should thank you for rescuing our Goo from the wasteland. I’ll make sure to get you hardy new plants!”
“How hardy are you planning to go?”
“Ones that even Professor Weird would crave to use for practice?”
“…Wait, could you tell me the names of the plants you’re planning to bring? Oknodie? Why are you laughing and stepping back towards the window? Why are you hopping away? Hey. Hey!”
This was a week before they would face a daily routine of being beaten every time the club members entered the club room from the ridiculously strong plant monsters they filled the space with.
