Mage Manual

Chapter 267: Chapter 231 Mirror Chapter 267: Chapter 231 Mirror “Other people?” Liss blinked, looking around suspiciously. “But it’s only us here…”

“Although I don’t find it something to be proud of, I rank second on the ‘Two-winged Spirit Rankings: Azura Subdivision.'”
“My nose can smell emotions, my eyes can see thoughts, and my ears can hear desires.”

Igula walked over to the phonograph and picked a record from the cabinet below that looked like it depicted the end of the world—this reminded him of a dream he had had a few days earlier—he put it on to play, and sure enough, it was very noisy, but unexpectedly quite good.

He took a serious look at the cover, oh, it was ‘Angels Destroying the World’, no wonder it sounded so nice.

“Although this music might be premature for you, it’s enough to mask our voices,” Igula said as he sat down. “Let’s have an honest conversation, Liss.”

Liss nervously took a seat as far away as possible, close to the mirror. “But I don’t want to talk to you…”
“Is it the mirror?”

The little girl blinked, and her face no longer showed the deliberately feigned nervousness, instead revealing genuine astonishment. The Swindler was pleased with this expression—ever since that damned cult leader, he had not had a successful swindling negotiation and was beginning to doubt whether his eloquence had declined to the level of an inebriated City Council member.

“I’ve been watching you, Liss. Not just during the game just now, but last night too, when you and Ash played ‘Mage Duel 14’, you showed a side different from usual: competitive, impolite, straightforward, almost like a child…”

“I am a child!” Liss shouted loudly.

“If I was only somewhat suspicious last night, in the game just now, you completely exposed your secret,” Igula walked over and stood with Liss inside the mirror. “Your ‘personality switch’ medium is the mirror. Every time you look in the mirror, it means that something inside may have already changed.”

“Very clever confinement, extremely clever. Perhaps others might see it as a weakness, but I’ve seen patients tormented by multiple personalities to the point of wishing for death—for a Spirit Mage, multiple personality patients are undoubtedly very worthy research subjects, and very fortunately, psychological patients are practically a specialty of the Kingdom of Blood Moon, giving Spirit Mages a locational advantage.”

“Industrial workers, Sin Hunters, psychologists, these three professions continuously mass-produce the psychological samples I favor—especially psychologists, those colleagues who gaze into the Abyss for too long will inevitably go insane and strip before the Abyss.”

“Patients with multiple personalities are greatly affected in their lives due to different personalities occupying their bodies, unable to escape and thus tormenting each other. In the end, they either become sugar men living in a dreamy daze, or they choose rebirth, erasing all emotional memories and turning into a blank slate.”

“But you won’t have this worry, the mirror this confinement minimizes the impact of multiple personalities, even if other personalities cause trouble, you can keep them inside the ‘mirror’, at least not affecting reality—”
“My sisters are not locked inside the mirror!” Liss said angrily.

“Do the personalities refer to each other as sisters?” Igula asked interestedly. “A very common instance, but in the cases I’ve seen, female patients are highly likely to develop male personalities, or rather, the male personalities that women imagine, and similarly, male patients almost always develop female personalities, the longing and approach toward the opposite sex seems to be an instinct embedded within the biology—do you have a brother?”

Liss was about to say something else, but as if she heard something, she reluctantly looked towards the mirror.

When she turned her head back, her cute face was cast with a tranquility that completely contradicted her appearance. Instead of saying she had torn off a mask, it was more like she had put on yet another layer of a mask, yet underneath the mask was still another mask.

Igula raised his eyebrows, “How should I address you?”

“Just call me Liss.” Liss calmly said, “It’s only between us that we are different; in front of others, we are all Liss.”

Multiple personalities that stand united to progress or retreat together… Igula thought it was a rare case. Generally, personalities within multiple personality disorders differ significantly. Dominant personalities often look down on the weaker ones, which is why the stable organizational pattern of multiple personalities is mostly a ‘monarchical dictatorship.’ This consists of a King personality leading other subject personalities, which are further divided into noble personalities and civilian personalities, with clear hierarchical distinctions. It was akin to creating a feudal society within a single human body.

The ‘democratic republic’ model of mutual respect among multiple personalities like Liss’s was simply the ideal template for multiple personalities. Even after combing through databases of psychological patients, Igula had never come across such a perfect sample. Furthermore, she had voluntarily added the mirror restriction to herself, which led him to some conjectures.

“Liss, in the first question earlier, ‘Would you kill the other five present here to obtain the Divine Lord’s wish,’ you voted ‘yes,’ right?”

Though it was phrased as a question, Igula’s tone was very certain.

Liss promptly admitted, “That’s right, how did you figure it out?”

“I noticed it when Ash was interacting with you,” Igula coldly stated. “The way you looked at Ash, like a piece of wriggling rotten meat, was a look I’m quite familiar with—Harvey does the same when looking at others.”

“Sorry, in order to control the voting outcome, we had to let one of the more violent sisters vote.” Liss slightly nodded. “That sister has that attitude towards everyone; we had no intention of harming Ash.”

“In the second and third votes, you voted against your own persona, didn’t you?” Igula remarked. “I originally thought you wouldn’t sacrifice everything for someone you love, yet you voted ‘yes’; I thought you couldn’t possibly trust others, yet you still voted ‘yes’… Why did you want to control the voting results?”

“Mr. Bokin, since you already know the answer, why bother asking?”

Liss shook her bracelet, “First, naturally, it’s for this reward; second, it’s to go along with Hanna’s arrangement.”

“Hanna…” Igula chewed over the name, as if eating a barely ripe, undercooked fatty meal.

“A beautifully blatant conspiracy, isn’t it?” Liss spread her hands. “She restricted our ability to lie and granted us the right to ask questions anonymously… It’s as if she locked us in a ring and threw down swords. She didn’t need to use verbal manipulation because we would voluntarily pick up weapons and harm each other.”

“She wanted to destroy the foundation of our cooperation, and coincidentally, I wanted to do the same.”

Liss placed her hands on the table, sitting with a proper posture and no minor movements, this serious demeanor made it impossible for Igula to look down on her: “Compared to you who once shared hardships, my and Ash’s relationship is far too weak. But Ash is the easiest ally to win over for me. If I can’t even get Ash on my side, it’s even less likely for others to cooperate with me.”

“So, I needed to first tear at your foundation of trust, then I could form a true alliance with Ash. A mere contract is simply not enough to make Ash stand by me… On this point, Hanna and I have a common interest.”

“So, you aided Hanna in muddying the waters, intensifying our suspicions through voting?” Igula sighed. “You almost succeeded. The two ‘yes’ responses to the first question nearly destroyed all my trust in Harvey and Ash.”

“Yes, I almost did.” Liss also seemed regretful. “If it hadn’t been for the third question.”

Igula was slightly puzzled. “But in the third question, why did you choose ‘yes’… Ah, you wanted to use the opportunity to boost your affinity in the eyes of others!”