012 – Self-Introduction

—

Jake Gillen (50)

[Kidnap] – Active

[ESPIONAGE] – Layton Isolde

—

“I intend to converse with an acquaintance. Please vacate the premises.”

“Understood, Miss.”

The coachman departed, and the woman inside the carriage gestured for me to enter.

“…”

And so, I cautiously boarded the carriage, silently regarding her.

“First, allow me to formally introduce myself. A pleasure to meet you. I am Ella Eloise, eldest daughter of the Eloise Marquess.”

Ella Eloise performed her self-introduction with graceful bearing.

“I am… Mihen.”

I couldn’t very well ignore such a statement, so I carefully completed my own introduction.

“Mihen… hmm… a name I haven’t encountered. Curious.”

She seemed lost in thought for a moment.

“You employed magic, did you not?”

She struck straight to the point without a hint of warning.

“Within the Magic Kingdom, I haven’t heard of anyone named Mihean who can wield magic. I truly apologize.”

“Ahaha… No, it’s quite alright. The truth is, I only recently became capable of using magic…”

It wasn’t a lie.

Even a week ago, I was living a normal life in a world where magic didn’t even exist.

But suddenly, I was thrust into a world where magic *does* exist, and I just happened to gain the ability to use it.

“Really?”

“..Yes.”

Ella Eloise stared right through me, like a cat observing a very interesting creature.

Her gaze made me uncomfortable, so I lowered my eyes in a feeble attempt to avoid it.

“That day, the kidnapping. Am I right?”

Finally… the topic of conversation I desperately wanted to avoid had surfaced.

“…Yes.”

Since there was no escape, I calmly acknowledged the fact.

I was even planning to use the ‘pretend you don’t know anything about the magic I used to save your life’ strategy when…

“I am truly grateful, Mihean-nim.”

“?”

“For saving me from being kidnapped by a doppelganger… I am sincerely grateful.”

The conversation was taking an unexpected turn.

She bowed deeply…

I was momentarily taken aback by the woman’s gesture.

But when she raised her head again, she wore a brazen expression, as if she had anticipated everything.

“Ahem… well, it wasn’t exactly just for that reason. Ella Eloise-nim…”

“Just Ella is fine.”

“Ella-nim then.”

“You can just call me Ella.”

“…Ella-ssi.”

“Ella…”

“…”

No, I actually prefer honorifics.

Why are you doing this to me?!

Just because I can use magic and saved your life, can your favorability really be *this* high… it can?

Aha?

Come to think of it, I’m kind of an awesome being, aren’t I?

I can use magic, something only about 500 people in the entire Magic Kingdom can do, and I saved a life to boot?!

“We’re not quite…”

That was what I *thought*, but I didn’t have the nerve to be so brazen, so I tried to politely decline her request…

But suddenly, a male figure caught my eye, and all my attention was immediately focused on him.

“…”

“Not quite?”

The coachman whose status had appeared on my stat screen the moment he stepped away was…

“…”

“Milady?”

The status window isn’t appearing on him right now.

“Hmm? I didn’t give the order to return yet, why is he already coming back?”

The coachman, without receiving a command from his master to return, is slowly making his way back here.

The information on his status window, which was visible just moments ago, has disappeared…

Could the real coachman have…

Been replaced by a doppelganger in the short time I was away?

“Why are you returning? I don’t believe I gave permission for you to come back yet.”

My mind races.

The situation from two days ago, when Ella Eloise nearly lost her life to a doppelganger, overlaps with this one.

I quickly realize that the reason this doppelganger disguised himself as a coachman… is to harm the woman before me.

“Forgive me, young miss, I believe I left something behind.”

The moment the doppelganger approached the carriage.

Without hesitation, I draw the dagger from the sheath at my hip.

*Thwack-*

“What do you think you’re—!”

I plunge the dagger into the face of the coachman who had abruptly opened the carriage door and tried to assault Ella.

*Thunk-*!

Ella, about to express her anger at the coachman’s sudden opening of the door, stared at me with a horrified expression.

“It’s a doppelganger.”

I inform her as calmly as possible that the coachman was a doppelganger, then pull the dagger from his face.

*Shiverrrr…*

The coachman’s body began to tremble… before melting into a formless, viscous mass.

“Would you mind waiting just a moment?”

After telling the woman, who was looking at me with a shocked expression, to wait a moment.

I stepped out of the carriage to check my status window.

‘There he is.’

And just like that, I located the position where Professor Layton was monitoring me and turned my head in that direction.

“!?”

I could see Professor Layton’s face, mirroring Ella’s in its bewilderment.

At my urgent gesture for him to come down, I saw the Professor start making his way down here.

‘Alright now…’

The deed is done.

All that remains is to clean up the mess.

“…Ah, a nosebleed.”

Was it because I was too tense?

As the relief of defeating the doppelganger washed over me, I felt a thick liquid trickling from my nose.

*Swipe, swipe.*

Well, a nosebleed is hardly a big deal.

After stuffing a piece of fabric against my nose, he waited for the nosebleed to stop.

*

I hadn’t given any order for him to return, and I was furious with the coachman for barreling back here.

“Why are you returning? I don’t believe I gave you permission to come back yet.”

So, I gave him a verbal warning…

“Forgive me, Miss. I simply forgot something.”

He wasn’t even remotely listening to me. I barely registered my confusion before…

*Thwack-*

“What in the world are you doing!”

The sight of the figure that had suddenly thrown open the carriage door and leapt toward me was enough to realize it.

‘A doppelganger…!’

He was no longer the servant I knew.

I had definitely confirmed he was a person this morning, inside the manor…

Just how?

‘No time to worry about that now…!’

This wasn’t the moment for such anxieties.

I immediately began to envelop myself in ether, but, caught off guard, I was forced to accept some degree of injury, when…

*Thunk-*!

As if he had already predicted this, I watched as Mihen… plunged a dagger into the doppelganger’s face.

“..!!”

Unbelievable.

No… this was impossible.

His actions indicated he knew this would happen…

‘…He can distinguish between doppelgangers and people?’

Mihen…could tell the difference between a doppelganger and a person.

*

“He went that way.”

I had already dealt with the doppelganger, so why had I called for the professor?

Simple.

‘Because I’m scared!’

Because I was frightened.

The doppelganger had replaced the coachman. What if I went alone in the direction the coachman had disappeared and was surrounded by doppelgangers?

What could be more terrifying than that?

‘Come at me, all you doppelgangers. Do you even know who this is? He’s none other than Lillian Isolde’s father and the Academy’s fencing instructor!’

With a support system more reassuring than anyone in the world, I could finally relax and walk toward the direction the coachman had disappeared.

And so, I walked directly to where the coachman had vanished.

—

Jake Gillen (50)

[Abduction] – Activated

[Surveillance] – Layton Isolde

I could see the coachman off in the distance, puffing on a cigarette.

‘…What? Why isn’t he dead?’

No… thinking about it like that is a little strange.

Anyway.

It seems the doppelganger hadn’t attacked the coachman and then impersonated him after all.

More likely…the coachman had simply been away at the right time, allowing it to assume his form to target Ella Eloise.

“…”

A little deflated, I was still staring in his direction when…

“…Miss?”

The coachman, realizing Ella Eloise was looking at him, hastily stubbed out his cigarette and started hurrying towards us.

“I’m sorry, Miss… I don’t seem to have heard you calling.”

“I didn’t call.”

“Ah… then why have you come all the way over here?”

Ella, subtly glancing at me, began to question the coachman.

“Do you remember what the password we agreed on last night was?”

“I remember it, Miss.”

“Carriage.”

“Cake.”

“You really are him.”

“…Did something happen, Miss…?”

‘…Looks like there was no need to call the Professor.’

The torture?

The corpse??

The situation of being surrounded by doppelgangers???

I had summoned the Professor in anticipation of all those scenarios, honestly.

‘…Why am I disappointed?’

Realizing I was unconsciously harboring dark thoughts, I shook my head vigorously.

“Mihan-gun.”

“Yes, Professor?”

Professor Layton addressed a fundamental question to me.

“How did you know the coachman was a doppelganger?”

‘…Ah.’

I frantically racked my brains for a plausible excuse…

But then a question arose within me about why I was even bothering to fabricate one.

After all…

‘This has nothing to do with the kidnapper, does it?’

There was no need to explain the status window that only I could see to anyone else.

And the ability to distinguish between humans and doppelgangers wasn’t a negative power at all; on the contrary, it could help me meet the Tower Lord’s expectations…

“I…”

I could declare it, back straight with conviction.

“I can distinguish a doppelganger from a real human being simply by looking.”

Ah, yes, that’s right.

I am, in fact, that ‘Mihyeon.’

I can distinguish doppelgangers from humans, no less.

Simply… by looking.

“…”

Having finished my self-promotion, I glanced around.

“…”

“…”

Ella Eloise and Professor Layton were regarding me with expressions difficult to decipher.

“…”

“…”

“…”

I was starting to wish for some kind of reaction, any reaction.

Isn’t there a saying? That no comments are scarier than hate comments…