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#331. Side story 2. The girl in the marble (7)
Ray thought so.
The force that constitutes human nature and determines each of them to be different from others is none other than emotion.
Tastes, preferences, habits, mannerisms.
These things are fairly permanent, but they cannot be guaranteed to be immutable.
It was like clothes that could be taken off and changed into something else at any time.
"But Ray, I think emotions are less permanent. Our emotions change from moment to moment."
"Look at Veronica. When something bad happens, she acts like a witch, but if you give her bread, she becomes gentle."
Philip performed a miracle by putting a limited edition croissant from Sophen Bakery into Veronica's mouth, who ran over because her ear was ticklish, and instantly made her lose her temper.
"oh."
It was indeed Bbangsooni.
What Philip said made sense, but what Ray said was a little different.
“Emotions are volatile, of course. But I think each person has a core emotion that makes up their essence and has a huge impact on their values and behavior.”
Core emotions.
Although its volume may change depending on the situation, it never completely disappears from the vessel.
In Veronica's case, it would be 'worry' represented by pure white mana.
In Philip's case, it would be the 'longing' represented by the pink mana.
It's a matter of taste or preference.
It's a habit, it's a custom.
It could be seen that all the elements that are apparent are in fact based on core emotions.
And in the case of Curiosa.
'Lavender.'
The core emotion was curiosity.
If Philip had been here, he would have questioned me again.
─Huh? Isn't Curiosa's curiosity an artificial emotion created by the doctor's interference?
No, that wasn't the case.
Because the tattoos on the bodies of the Murkred executives were not emotion generators but rather amplifying devices.
You can't create emotions that didn't exist before.
It just amplifies existing emotions to a very powerful level.
In other words.
'Curiosa is a person who has been curious from the beginning.'
The proof was that Noah and Curiosa's vessels contained the same colored emotions, although their volumes were different.
So from Ray's perspective.
Curiosa hasn't changed at all since her childhood.
“Curiosa.”
"ok?"
"hmm."
What words should I choose to convey the message that dwelling on the past is extremely foolish, stupid, irrational, and inefficient?
While Ray was thinking for a moment.
Squeak!
“You’ve waited a long time!”
Noah is back.
The girl said, moving the teacups on the tray onto the table.
“I don’t have many kinds of tea at home, so I just made some coffee. Is that okay?”
“Curiosa doesn’t drink coffee unless it’s iced….”
“Ah! Hot coffee! I like it! I have to like it!”
Curiosa lifted the lid of her mask slightly and took a big sip of the steaming coffee.
“Hmm, coffee should be drunk warm. You should enjoy it slowly while savoring the aroma. I just can’t understand those who pour in ice and gulp it down.”
Ray had a gut feeling as he watched Curiosa engage in a fierce battle with herself.
No matter what you do, this man will never be convinced.
The interview then resumed.
“What is the most impressive book you have read? There are so many, but if I had to pick one… .”
Noah readily answered the barrage of questions.
“I’ve always liked small animals, memo… .”
Curiosa busily took notes in his notebook like a priest receiving a revelation from God.
At that time.
Whioooo──!
A shadow appeared in the room and an eerie wind noise could be heard.
When I turned my head, it had already become dark outside the window, and the surroundings were covered in a hazy mist due to the blowing sand.
Beyond that, everyone could see.
A giant tornado that is fiercely rising toward the sky.
Kwarung!
Inside, a thunderstorm raged, scattering sparks and pieces of ice.
“Mana Storm…!”
Curiosa muttered in a voice of shock and amazement.
Mana Storm.
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A phenomenon that occurs when the elements within mana combine and collide abnormally.
It was a disaster that was sometimes called the silent death of the wilderness among explorers, as no signs of life existed until it grew to a certain size.
“But this is a space where mana does not exist, so how on earth…?”
Curios, who had been questioning, soon realized that it was a meaningless question.
Fantasy or whatever, this wasn't the real world to begin with.
What happens if you get swallowed by that?
If I die here, will I return to the real world?
'That can't be.'
There were still mountains of stories I needed to share with my past self.
“Little one! Noah! Get up! We have to get out of here quickly!”
Curiosa got up from her seat in a hurry, pushing back her chair.
Ray had already opened the door with quick judgment.
But Noah did something completely different from the other two.
“It’s here…! Finally…!”
His eyes lit up with excitement, and he began to hurriedly walk around the room, gathering equipment such as windbreakers and lanterns.
“Myself, no, Noah! What are you doing! Get ready to run away quickly─.”
“Run away? Why me?”
There was a smile on Noah's lips that he couldn't hide.
“How long have I waited for that storm to come! There’s a portal to the Mirror Labyrinth inside! This time, I’m definitely going to succeed!”
Noah quickly packed his bags and quickly disappeared out the door, past Ray.
therefore.
Whioooo──!
Towards the coming storm.
“I am the world’s greatest explorer!”
Leaving behind a single cry.
Curiosa was dumbfounded.
“The world’s greatest explorer…?”
That's definitely a habit I have.
Curiosa concluded that the elements of her current self were reflected in this fantasy world.
As if the structure of this cabin was very similar to the cabin among the scrap heaps he was currently living in.
“What are you going to do?”
“Of course I have to chase after it!”
Curiossa and Ray ran out the door and into the storm.
Laughter was heard far ahead.
─Kyahahahaha!
Noah used his small size to his advantage and made his way through the lightning and sparks without hesitation.
There wasn't really any time to be amazed.
Because disasters do not discriminate against people.
Wedge!
"crazy!"
Curiosa looked back at the ice shards that had flown past the black cloth and swore.
A situation where even the slightest break in concentration could lead to you performing a magic experiment with your bare body.
Moreover, since he had no ring and could not use magic, he had to rely entirely on his physical abilities to evade.
‘I should have exercised more regularly…!’
Curiossa looked at Ray, who was moving forward with feather-like light movements, and felt regret.
I'm talking about myself who was lazy about using my body while shouting 'More than 10 steps is space magic'.
But I didn't give up and kept running.
Hurrruk!
“Haha! I dodged it! I dodged it! Ugh!”
The black cloth was scorched and torn in places.
Now that I can't use magic, it's just an obstacle to my movement, but I never took it off.
And finally.
widely.
Arrived at destination.
The center of the storm, where sandstorms blew in circles, was paradoxically calm.
────.
In the middle of it, a portal was rippling in a space of purple mana.
'An incredibly strong mana gravitational pull is occurring. Is this portal the cause of the mana storm currently blowing?'
As Curiossa was instinctively analyzing the situation, Ray said.
“Noah seems to have already gone in. As you said earlier, this portal seems to be connected to a place called the Mirror Labyrinth. Do you know anything about it?”
Mirror maze.
It took Curiossa a while to recall the relevant information.
Because there were so many mazes that had been cleared so far.
Although she had been searching for fragments of the rainbow on the doctor's orders, there were few people in the world who had experienced as many mazes as she had.
And the mirror maze.
“… I remembered. It’s the only labyrinth I couldn’t conquer.”
In other words, the story was that she knew very little.
“All I can figure out is that it’s a maze made of mirrors on all sides.”
“What else do you know?”
"doesn't exist."
Further discussion is a waste of time.
The assessment of the situation was quick.
The two exchanged a glance and then jumped into the portal simultaneously.
*
Curiosa came to her senses with the characteristic dizziness of space travel.
‘… Ugh, it’s true. Did the little guy fall in a different location?’
There was no one else around.
The walls and the floor were all mirrors.
He raised his head.
The walls were tens of meters high, as if to block escape by anyone, but the ceiling was open.
It was visible from afar.
The scorching sun and the worn glass surface of a giant snow globe.
“The location has changed, but the structure itself doesn’t seem to be much different from what I remember… .”
Curiossa slowly got up, looking around, and hit the mirror with her fist.
bang!
The mirror didn't even nod.
This was also exactly as I remembered.
A useless mirror that is impervious to any physical force and even blocks the activation of magic.
As I was staring blankly, I remembered something I had forgotten.
“Yeah… nothing was reflected in this mirror.”
The mirror was simply transparent.
This side's appearance was not reflected.
No matter how hard I tried to move my body, it was only shining on them, creating a narrow space inside with infinite space.
On the subject of mirrors, it's not doing its job properly as a mirror.
"Ha, what kind of perverted, dark wizard created a place like this?"
I remember exploring the labyrinth while cursing like that.
Of course, after 8 days and 12 hours and 32 minutes of being stranded, I finally found an escape route and escaped, shouting, "Boohoo, I want to go home."
Of course, at that time, I could make the excuse that I was just a novice explorer who didn't know anything.
And now that I have gained a lot of experience.
'I want to calmly look around and try to attack again.'
It was also true that I felt like washing away the shame of the past.
But that's not possible now.
I have other priorities.
'I have to find Noah.'
The current self was nothing more than a shell that lived like a machine without any will of its own.
In the true sense, 'myself' could be called Noah, and I had to get as many clues as possible from here.
'Noah is the real me.'
It was at that moment that something strange happened.
A ripple appeared in the mirror and something appeared there and was completed.
“Noah…?”
A girl whose silhouette was clearly Noah's, though her form was blurry, moved in time with my gestures.
In other words, the mirror was reflecting this side as a child.
Why on earth?
Why is the mirror that only reflects empty space?
I racked my brain, but I couldn't figure out why this had happened.
And then.
─Who's there?
A sound came from the other side of the wall.