The Sorcerer Laughs in the Mirror
Chapter 12
“Honestly speaking, we are worried about your treatment.”
Sid corrected his posture, fixing his gaze back towards me. “According to the counselor, there is a high possibility you may have witnessed a murder. Therefore, it’s about settled. How would you like to solve a puzzle for me?”
“What?”
“Why did Gray release you?”
Why?
Unable to see through Sid’s intentions, I tilted my head.
“There would be a lot of risks involved in letting you go free, considering that you witnessed the scene of a crime. The fact that you lost your memory is most likely a coincidence. If you remembered, it could become a clue to Gray’s whereabouts, but why?”
“…Even though I escaped, it became a hindrance?”
Thinking as I spoke, Sid snorted in tedium.
“No. I’m asking why you weren’t killed.”
“Th-“
“That would have been the safest option.”
“Chief.”
Matilda opened her mouth. “Surely Gray would have hesitated to destroy his own body?”
Yes, that’s true.
I made small, rapid nods in agreement.
“You think so? I wouldn’t expect Gray to carry human-like hesitance towards that sort of thing. I guess he wouldn’t even neglect a body that couldn’t use magic, expected to only become an impediment.”
“That’s for sure.”
Matilda muttered. “…you spoke of him being liked, didn’t you?”
“Huh?”
Sid stared at Matilda, both his eyebrows perking up.
“Um… I mean, by his master.”
Matilda continued, biting down on her jaw. Probably, she knew the name of the master. However, she was aware of my presence and avoided saying the name.
“I see.”
Sid nodded s.p.a.ciously. “That’s a reason we can think about too. Gray is awfully valued for his looks.”
His looks.
I ran my hand over my-well, Gray’s- facial features.
Then I raised my voice.
“Wait, so does that mean Gray was in one of those boys love relationships that I’ve only read about in books?!”
“A woman! She’s a woman!”
Sid bellowed back at me.
I smiled.
“Oh, so his master is a woman…”
“…seriously…”
Sid looked at me in anguish. Matilda snickered.
“Chief.”
“I get it, now that apology needs to be written.”
Exasperated, the chief placed a hand on his forehead. He then turned his eyes toward me.
“You… you seem to have a keen sense of awareness. I’m worried you’re going to find some unnecessary information, or start taking action on your own.”
“But I want to get my body back. It’s for that reason alone.”
“You don’t care the means?”
I nodded.
After thinking a bit, Sid let out a puff of air.
“Fine, I’ll simplify it then. Do whatever you want.”
–What was that supposed to mean?
I stared at him with a puzzled look as he spoke.
“We can’t be certain that Gray won’t try to shut you up on his own. If you leave the Department like this—“
“You mean like if he lures me.”
“However, there’s also the same level of possibility that coming in contact with you would be dangerous for Gray. It would be too easy for us to arrest him.”
“That is true.”
He noticed Matilda’s sharp gaze and slightly lifted a hand. “I don’t take responsibility for this, but I believe you do know the easiest method. There’s one person from the central department higher ups that would be able to get in contact with that woman. Besides, even if you were able to meet her there’s no way she would cooperate with your needs. Even if she was able to use personality transfer magic, surely… she would not use it the way we would need her to.”
“The way we would need her to?”
I frowned.
“That woman is like an ogre. She has no human emotions. She feels no compa.s.sion, no joy. Out of boredom she would take a young soul, similarly to Gray, and toy with them. Humans are her playthings.”
It seemed that not only would meeting her be out of the question, there didn’t seem to be much of a possibility to hear what she had to say either.
“I’m just making sure, but-“
I asked to confirm. “She is actually human, right?”
Sid guffawed.
“I don’t know. What I do know is that though she looks young, she’s been living for a few hundred years.”
Then, what should I do?
I pondered the options.
Though it wasn’t completely clear, meeting that woman seemed out of the question. If so, then the only way seemed to be to capture Gray and have him switch our bodies back.
But if I were to stay inside the Department’s borders, surely he wouldn’t dare to try and make contact.
It would be safe for me.
Though, for how long?
Would I be trapped there for the rest of my life?
Probably, that wouldn’t do for the Department.
Plus, it was bad for me.
There seemed to be only one way out.
“If I were to bait him, I would be able to receive protection, right?”
I looked up and asked Sid. He only looked a smidge startled.
“Of course, we are currently under intense supervision.”
“Currently…”
If I were to go out every day, until Gray arrived, it wouldn’t cut it. The Magic Supervision police had a lot on their plates.
“Ultimately, the only one who can protect yourself is you.”
That was something I should’ve be saying to myself.
There was nothing I could do.
Until then, I had lived in danger’s blind eye.
If Gray did decide to try and kill me, there would be no way to resist.
The same way I would have been easily kidnapped at the open house, surely I would reach my demise.
“What I need to protect myself is…”
I let the thoughts rush through me. “Magic, wouldn’t you think? Gray can use magic right now. Therefore, in order to equal him.”
“For sure.”
Sid narrowed his eyes into slits. “However, you are in Gray’s body. His magic license has been permanently evoked.”
“There’s a seal right here.”
I brought my hand to my chest. “So even if I tried to learn magic-”
“It would not be permitted.”
“So you’re saying the only option I have is death.”
Sid became silent.
Both Matilda and Elizabeth also kept their mouths shut.
“But, I guess it can’t be helped. The fact that I’m even alive and in this place is a miracle, isn’t it?”
I laughed.
It had become a matter of when I was going to die, not if.
“Gray most likely will not come into contact with me again. So it’s either get killed, or live the rest of my life with this body…”
A dead end.
Ah, what should I do?
My heart suddenly thumped with a tightening pain.
I had hoped that my determination would be the deciding factor in whether we caught Gray and got my body back.
If that memory came back to me, would I know where Gray was?
a.s.suming that was the case, it was probably best to ask Howard to force it back.
There seemed to be no other option.
Keeping my cool?
That had gone out the window already.
I pierced a gaze through Sid once again, trying to find the right words.
“Can you at least give me a bit of time? If you yourself can’t give me special permission to use magic, couldn’t you try to negotiate with the higher-ups?”
“Um”
Sid’s face solidified into a look of deep concern.
“The seal on your chest can’t be erased. However, the circ.u.mstances are what they are. You are working with this investigation and putting your life on the line. It would be permissible to grant you some power for that purpose.”
“But I… magic…”
He spoke so abruptly my brain stopped working.
“Right now you can’t use magic, but you’ll have time to learn, won’t you?”
It seemed to be the very first time Sid looked at me with kindness.
His expression made me realize even someone like him could smile like that.
“Even if not right away, you should ease into learning how to fight. If you’re interested, that is.”
Of course!
Of course I’m interested!
I came back to my senses and let out a small laugh. I also could have cried.