Doggone Academy

Chapter 57 Mirror

I wake to a ceiling that seems both familiar and strange.

Plush and soft bedding.

A comforting scent of herbs.

Startled, I kick off the covers and sit up abruptly. I’m not in my own bed.

Looking around, I realize for certain that this is Silveryn’s room. It seems I fell asleep without knowing.

Silveryn is nowhere to be seen. She must have let me sleep and left the room herself.

Scattered across my body are strands of Silveryn’s long hair.

I take a deep breath. Silveryn’s bed was an area even I dared not touch. Had I climbed in unknowingly, out of habit? Have I committed some breach of etiquette?

I inspect Silveryn’s bedding. Fortunately, it’s spotless, free of even the smallest stain. At least I didn’t drool in my sleep. That’s a relief.

I’m sweating with guilt even though I’ve committed no crime.

I hastily straighten my clothes and step out of the room.

The sky is crisply blue, the sun high above. I’ve slept unknowingly into the day. No wonder I feel so refreshed.

Descending the stairs, I cross paths with a maid.

She nods lightly at me and says,

“Have you woken up? Mistress Silveryn has a training schedule for today.”

“Ah… Yes, I understand.”

She lifts her head, looks at my face, and suddenly recoils with a start, then quickly averts her gaze.

“…?”

She scurries up the stairs as if fleeing from me.

Heading to my room to change, I encounter another maid in the hallway.

She too looks at my face and startles.

“Oh my.”

She covers her mouth with her hand and quickly exits my field of vision.

What’s going on? I run my fingers through my hair. It’s a bit disheveled from sleep, but not bizarrely unruly.

Is there something on my face?

I enter my room, shut the door firmly, and approach the mirror.

Looking at my reflection, I’m momentarily dumbfounded.

“……”

There are bright red lip stains on both my cheeks.

***

A small girl clutching a teddy bear passes through the hallway.

At a time when all the nobles had retired to their beds and there was no one around, strange occurrences would always unfold.

Windows rattling, books falling on their own, candles lighting spontaneously.

Though seen and heard clear as day, no one would believe the terror-stricken young girl’s claims.

That night, too, she fled something that tormented her and ventured into the hallway, depending on a single candlelight, hoping someone would come out and join her in the dark.

Then she heard an angry voice along the hallway, and light spilled out from where it came.

“Please… please save me.”

“Shut up and stay still… it’ll all be over soon…”

The girl, understanding nothing of what was transpiring, crept closer and cracked open the door.

She witnessed a grotesque scene unfolding inside.

A man was pinning a maid against the wall and stripping her.

And that man was a person all too familiar to the girl.

Oblivious to anyone’s presence behind him, he was focused on violating the maid.

The girl dropped the teddy bear in her shock.

“Pa… Pa?”

Luna woke bathed in a cold sweat.

“Haah, haah…”

Ever since the entrance exam, she hadn’t had a peaceful night’s sleep.

Luna quickly retrieved a jar of powdered herbs from the drawer, swallowed a spoonful, and washed it down with water.

Despite taking potent, addictive medication for its effects, Luna’s condition had not improved.

Her fingernails would snap, and her hands trembled even just holding a cup. Dark circles were forming under her eyes.

The terrible nightmares were leaving her increasingly drained, like a tree in a drought.

The mental anguish was the most severe.

The awful trauma that tainted her childhood with pain now visited her every day.

Each night, she became that young girl again, reliving the filthy memories she wished to forget.

Using the wall for support, Luna left her room.

She was frail to the point of frailty.

She couldn’t understand why this pain persisted night after night.

I need stronger medicine.

Luna stepped into the living room and began rummaging through drawers.

If Silveryn were there, she would surely resolve the issue, but Luna did not want that. She had received enough help from her, and besides, Silveryn was neither the sort who had spare time for her nor someone with whom she was close.

Meanwhile, a woman’s laughter echoed down the hallway.

Startled, Luna glanced in that direction.

But there was nothing there.

“Who’s there?”

As Luna pondered the strangeness, the mocking laughter echoed once more.

It seemed to become one with the walls and ceiling, resonating through the entire household.

Irritatedly, Luna shouted.

“Who are you? Come out, come out!”

[I’m here.]

The voice came from a corner of the living room untouched by candlelight.

There, a shadowy figure quietly stood, watching Luna.

Luna spoke with a confrontational attitude.

“You… what exactly are you? How did you get in here?”

[I have always been with you, right from your childhood.]

“Don’t make me laugh.”

[It’s pitiable. If the professor had been here, you wouldn’t have had to suffer like this.]

Since she was young, Luna had the ability to sense things that others could not. She knew how to deal with these disturbances well because she had been tormented by them since long ago.

“Shut up.”

[You hate men, don’t you? Isn’t that so?]

“What do you know to speak of it?”

[It’s men who are ruining you. It was your father who destroyed you. You were barely rescued, only for some strange man to take the place beside your savior. A worthless man who doesn’t understand magic or spirit art has forced his way beside the Archmage. It’s a spot that rightfully should be yours. You should have been that woman’s disciple. Then you wouldn’t be suffering this pain now.]

“The professor made that decision himself. Don’t speak out of turn about that matter.”

[Isn’t it unjust? There is no one more fitting to be that woman’s disciple than you in this whole world.]

“Just go away. Get lost.”

Luna’s nerves were on edge, causing her a headache. It was a grievous pain to hear such nonsense from an uninvited guest while in this state.

[Just burn it all down and start anew.]

“I know what you are. You’re nothing but a half-formed thought-entity that craves my power.”

Luna summoned a fireball into her hand. She knew full well it would be futile, but the presence of the voice alone was torture, and she felt the need to smash something to calm down.

“Where did you come from? Who sent you here?”

[Ha ha ha ha. I am you. I am your darkness and shadow; I’ve always been with you. It’s just that you’ve lived ignoring my existence. These are my thoughts as well as yours.]

And infuriatingly, the black form’s words struck precisely at Luna’s weak point.

“Be quiet… shut up, shut up!”

Luna hurled the fireball at the pitch-black shape.

Clang!

There was a loud sound of something shattering.

The dark shape was gone, and in its place lay pieces of broken mirror strewn about.

***

I was sure she said we had training, but looking at Silveryn’s fancy and light attire, it seemed more like we were leaving for a picnic.

Silveryn and I packed a lunch basket and climbed into the carriage. I brought neither my sword nor a clue where we were headed.

What exactly does she intend to do?

The carriage rolled along at a leisurely pace conducive for enjoying the scenery.

Inside, Silveryn gazed at my face and spoke.

“My student.”

“Yes.”

“Why can’t you look directly into my face?”

“Me?”

“See. Even now, you can’t.”

Silveryn narrowed her eyes, staring me down as if trying to penetrate my thoughts.

“Did I say anything strange yesterday?”

“No. Um…”

“What is it? I seem to recall mumbling something in my half-asleep state.”

“You told me to stay until you fell asleep.”

“I remember that.”

“That about the underground…”

Silveryn, feigning ignorance, prodded.

“Underground?”

“No. You just said you’d scold me severely if I left before you woke up.”

“I said that?”

“Yes…”

Silveryn paused for a moment, then abruptly turned her gaze out the window, apparently a bit embarrassed by her own words.

“Ahem, I must have been quite drunk on my own words…”

The silence lingered.

It’s the first time I’ve ever felt such awkwardness around Silveryn.

It wasn’t her words that kept me from meeting Silveryn’s gaze. It was ‘that’ on my cheek.

The same shade was painted on her lips—a clear mark of her doing, yet she hadn’t mentioned a word about it. It made her seem fox-like in her slyness.

Fortunately, the carriage hadn’t traveled far. I would have found it difficult to endure much longer in that awkwardness.

The place Silveryn chose for our training was a riverside sandbank, much like the open scenery of Lake Weisel, but with more dynamic feeling where the mountains and river intertwined.

With no sword or log in sight, I wondered what we would possibly use for training.

“Let’s go, my student.”

I grabbed the lunch basket, blanket, and a mat and got off. The sands were so white they seemed to sparkle with a silver sheen—quite a beautiful sight.

Silveryn chose a spot bathed in sun, with even ground, and gestured me over.

“Here, right here.”

I approached and spread the mat, securing its corners with pebbles. Silveryn lay down upon it straightaway.

“Good. Now you lie down too.”

She patted the space beside her with her hand.

Well, I’m fine with that. But how does this relate to training?

“Teacher, this is…”

“It’s training, so lie down.”

“…”

“This training will be different. I’ll be teaching you spirit arts.”

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