Chapter 1083 – No, It’s the Same!!

000

It is said that there are three people in this world who strangely look alike.

The phenomenon, which is named after the ‘doppelganger’, a monster that imitates the appearance of another person, is generally due to a coincidence of appearance resemblance or-

A kind of illusion through maximized visual similarity.

In other words, although only some of the characteristic parts of the face are similar, the similarity of those parts is so great that it is summarized as a story to the extent that it appears to be the ‘same face’ as a whole.

Yes, it might not be a very interesting story, but-

What should you do if, for some reason, a being with the same face from top to bottom appears in front of you?

So, should we really make a fuss about a shape-shifter or a monster doppelganger appearing in front of us?

Lila Flame Watch was a genius wizard who had encountered various monsters throughout her life as an adventurer, but she had to worry a bit about how to react when she saw her appearance in front of her.

Long, red hair.

Eyes shining sapphire color.

A sharp nose, soft-looking lips.

Cheeks that look healthy and slightly red.

“Why… There’s another one of me…!?”

Lila glared at her for a while, then ended up giving her most obvious reaction.

It might be a little bland, but as a general reaction, that would be the correct answer.

Yes, Lila couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat as she was now faced with a woman whose face looked exactly like hers.

─But.

“”No, no no.””

A group of voices could be heard coming from behind, as if their voices were coming together.

“Mr. Laila… Anyway, I don’t think that person and Mr. Laila are the same person.”

“Yes. Her hair and eyes are the same color…”

The first to deny are Sasha and Schrödinger.

“What are you talking about!? It’s me everywhere you look!”

If Laila raises her voice and protests against those two people’s words.

“… I’m sorry, Laila. I also don’t think that guardian looks anything like Laila.”

“First, the outfit… It’s not something Lila would wear. Yeah.”

At Amelia and Kuon’s words, Lila once again turned to look at her with her kind smile.

She said nothing and what she wore was a black gothic dress.

A short skirt, a white shirt, a red jacket and long leather boots.

It was the exact opposite of Laila’s outfit, which had an active outfit that could even be considered practical for an adventurer.

“Well, the clothes you’re wearing are different…!”

“If the clothes caught your eye, you would have no choice but to accept it.”

Melusine speaks to Lila as if to calm down a bit.

Well, it wasn’t just the clothes that were different, it was also the body that the clothes were hiding.

Because of her height, even for a woman, Lila had to raise her head slightly to look up, and the first thing that was located in the position of Lila’s eyes was a ‘maternal sac’ that was overflowing to the point of being similar to Kuon’s. 〉

And as you go down from the waist of her narrow dress, the direction of the flowing fabric spreads again, revealing the voluptuousness hidden underneath.

A garter belt was fastened to her slightly visible thighs, tightening the movement of her plump thighs as she walked.

“Layla, do you have no conscience?”

And the finishing touch is Artis’ fastball.

Compared to Lila, who had a somewhat tall, childlike body, she was a very feminine and glamorous being.

“──.”

Lila closed her mouth for a moment after hearing Attis’ words.

She turned to the group with a crooked smile and asked.

“No, it looks the same again… Huh?”

“Layla…”

As Kuon looked at her with something pitiful, Lila lowered her shoulders and head as if she was shocked.

“Hey – is it okay if I talk now?”

And, only after the party’s reaction had ended, the guardian of Gwiryong Mountain, who appeared in front of the party, spoke out.

“Wow, your voice is kind. Soft!”

Schrödinger says so.

“For someone with the same face as Lila to speak in that tone… It’s definitely a bit strange.”

Even the quartz would make that assessment, and Lyla would stumble and rest her head on Kuon’s chest.

The time was just a few minutes after leaving the Wyvern Canyon.

The party was making first contact as they faced the guardian who suddenly appeared.

001

Turn back time a little.

It was about 20 minutes ago that Ruben obtained the cooperation of the Wyverns through some kind of contract with Arctus.

After that, rather than escaping the canyon by land, with the help of Wyverns under Arctus, he was able to fly over the canyon and quickly move to the place adjacent to Mt. Guirong.

On the way, there was an incident where Fleur almost fainted due to seasickness in the sky, but it was much faster than walking down the gloomy canyon and saved energy.

And if possible, I wanted to get their help and go straight to the returnees’ mansion on Mt. Guirong.

Arctus said that he and other wyverns could not enter the mountain guarded by the guardian.

They made that kind of deal.

Originally, he should have cooperated with the evil dragons to wage war against the dragons, and when he was defeated, he was captured by the dragons and extinguished from existence.

They held on using the little bit of human faith that was still left, and escaped all the way to the Sarong Mountains.

Because the guardians knew that even dragons were reluctant to deal with them.

And, because I felt that ‘something’ in these mountains was keeping the dragons away.

The guardians did not want the wyverns to enter the mountain they guard, but-

They were flexible enough to allow them to build nests in the canyons between mountains.

One of the reasons may have been that the guardian of Inryong Mountain had a particularly strong tendency to do so.

However, the guardian of Chukryongsan Mountain warns that if even one step – no, even the tip of the wing – enters the mountain, at that point the deal will be considered broken, and the wyvern will be hunted.

It would be a little humiliating to say that Arctus was ‘scared’ by that, but now that he had lost a significant amount of his power, he had no choice but to follow his words.

That’s why the expedition team decided to part ways with the Wyverns.

The female wyvern that Melusine controlled through necromancy – ‘Sephirna’, Arctus’s wife and apostle, also decided to leave it there for now.

Retrieving her brain from Laplace was a condition of the deal between Ruben and Arctus, so it could be said that he received payment first.

Before parting ways, Arctus and Ruben had another conversation, but the conversation was in a language that no one but Sasha could understand.

Sasha, who heard the story, could not tell it to anyone because she had received a silence order from Ruben.

Although there was some anxiety, the work proceeded smoothly under Lila and Kuon’s belief that Ruben would not do anything harmful to the expedition.

As a result, the party was able to reach Guirong Mountain with minimal expenditure.

It went well, it went well.

“But if that’s the case, there’s no need to abandon the pot at Naryongsan Mountain!”

Among Attis’ disciples, there were some who expressed dissatisfaction with something, but it seemed like they handled it well.

“… We finally arrived at Guirongsan Mountain. The returnees’ mansion is here, right?”

And Attis asks Laila.

Uncharacteristically, she looked a little nervous.

Having come this far, did you feel that you were finally going to have to face the returnees and fight them?

“Ah. Yes.”

Then, Lila will answer quite half-heartedly compared to Artis.

“What is that attitude?”

Naturally, when Artis asked Lila, Lila sighed and looked at her Artis instead.

“What are you, that tension? I guess you’re not planning on following me to the Returner’s Mansion, are you?”

“What are you talking about? That’s one of the goals of this expedition.”

Artis would be furious and answer Lila’s question.

“Don’t be silly, Mr. Non-combatant. We will leave an escort here and only those who can fight will go to the Returner’s Mansion.”

“─I refuse with the authority of the expedition leader!”

“You really…”

It seemed like Laila had no choice but to say something, telling her not to act like a child.

Even though there was an age difference of almost 10 years between her and Artis.

“Uh, Mr. Laila?”

At that time.

Just as Layla and Artis were about to start arguing, Sasha, who was standing guard in front of her, raised her voice and called out to Layla.

“What’s wrong?”

At the sound of Sasha’s voice, where she could sense her confusion, Lila turned her head in her direction, as if she thought something out of the ordinary had happened.

There, at the entrance to the road leading into the forest of Mt. Kiryu, there was a woman standing waving her hand in this direction.

Okay. She was her red-haired guardian – a woman that even Cleon thought resembled Lila.

002

“So. I spent the night with him and gave him a lot of advice… Oh?”

When the Guardian had almost finished speaking, he felt the sound of something burning and looked back at the members of the expedition team who had come to Gwiryong Mountain.

Then, was it an illusion that most of the women – most of them, except for Artis’ disciples, Quartz, and Melusine – looked angry at something?

Most of her faces were smiling or slightly shocked, but everyone was showing signs of jealousy.

Looking at the expedition team, the guardian blinked two or three times as if he was a little surprised and then-

“Oh my. Did I do something wrong?”

“What could I do wrong? Having a one-night stand with Cleon!”

When Schrödinger, who was about to spit out something blunt, was blocked by Kuon, who was nearby, with a tight hug, Lila nodded her head as if she had done well and looked at the guardian.

“As expected, he’s a treacherous person, perhaps because he resembles me.”

‘Even if I die, this person will say that I look like him.’

At Laila’s words, Sasha looked at Layla with cold eyes, but said

“In other words, Cleon is currently on Mt. Gwiryong… And went to the returnees’ mansion one step ahead of us, right?”

“I guess so.”

“Okay, that’s all you need to know.”

Lila nods at her answer.

And with all my might-

Phew…

He sighed.

It’s been a long time since I felt so relieved that my legs trembled slightly.

“But… Why are you telling us this? I heard that guardians are basically the enemies of invaders… And that they are not supposed to fight returnees.”

Amelia asked her as if she didn’t know her guardian’s true intentions, and the guardian answered by shaking her head.

“The entrance to the ruins you are trying to enter will not be the entrance to Mt. Guirong.”

“… How did you do that?”

When Attis asked again, she smiled, closed one eye, and brought her index finger to her mouth.

“I am a guardian and a wizard at the same time. Precognition… If not prophecy, is one of my specialties. I can at least predict where you will go from here.”

“That’s convenient…”

Lila muttered as if she wanted that kind of magic too.

“Ah. That’s right. The returnees are probably looking for your whereabouts by now. As soon as I entered this mountain, I blocked your presence.”

“Is there a reason you go that far…?”

Let Amelia ask politely once again.

“Yes. I’m tired of watching the returnees. I think it would be a good idea to gradually get rid of toys that can no longer create new joy.”

Just for that reason…? The words almost came out by themselves, but the expedition team held back.

It had already been experienced several times that they – the guardians – had different standards of values ​​than humans in this world.

“So, you’re saying they want to use us as the ones in charge of sorting things out…”

Artis nodded as if she had finally understood the Guardian’s intentions, and the Guardian smiled at Artis.

“So? Where is the returnees’ mansion?”

When Lila asked, the Guardian shook her head.

“I can’t tell you that far… Well, you’ll find it out right away. You probably already have a route to the returnees’ mansion in your head, right?”

“If the information Laplace had is ‘true’… Well, okay. Saying that much means you can move on like this. We’ll organize your toys as you wish.”

Laila said that to the guardian.

This will be the end of her story.

She thought she had shown up to meet Cleon politely, but she was surprisingly able to obtain useful information.

Giving a signal to Artis, Lyla left her guardian behind and headed into the forest, following the route that had remained in Laplace’s memory.

Right then.

“Ah. That’s right.”

The guardian talks as if holding on to Laila.

“In order for you to proceed to the next step – everyone needs to go to the mansion.”

“…?”

For a moment, Laila did not understand the meaning of those words.

If you place a question mark above your head-

“!? What? Wait! All these guys who don’t know how to fight-“

“Okay then~”

Before Lila’s words had yet to be finished, she disappeared before her eyes through some unknown method, whether it was a transfer spell or a dispelling of an illusion.

Lila panicked and tried to chase after her, but found herself staring blankly at where her guardian had already disappeared without a trace.

When you turn towards her, you feel her hand resting on your chin and shoulder.

“LOL”

Artis, who really looked like he was smiling, was looking this way.

“Kaaaaa!!”

As Layla felt her stomach hurting from the stress, she had no choice but to scream.