Editing Sorcery Hacker:Volume4 Phase03 (section)

===Part 8===

Ayato entered Room 0109, the room adjacent to their target room.

The room contained some religious-looking people and he spoke with some important people in there.

Mamilis, a dark elf who feared humans, watched from a distance.

But this meant she finally had some idle time.

“Hm.”

When the silver-haired girl stepped up onto a hallway table with a vase on it and stretched her hands up toward the ceiling, Teleria frantically called out to her.

“Whoa, um, Mamilis, what are you doing?”

“Practicing.”

Whether that was an answer or just talking to herself, Mamilis immediately crawled up above the ceiling. The consul guest quarters were fully sealed off without even a duct. In an emergency, they apparently broke down water to secure air.

However…

(I don’t know what coach is planning, but I should mark any sorcery devices he can probably use for sorcery hacking.)

Whatever he actually wanted to hack, Ayato would also need to stab his linkage plugs into other items to build up his level.

And after journeying with him this long, Mamilis was starting to learn what kinds of things he preferred to use.

She had been up here before. In the area above the ceiling, there were no divisions between rooms and hallways, so it was one large horizontal space with a ceiling so low she could easily bump her head. Of course, moving above the consul guest quarters wouldn’t reveal any kind of entrance they could use to get in.

“Oh. Emergency lights, an air purifier, and is this a bug repellent potpourri sprayer? A lot of options up here.”

She heard a quiet sound of movement.

Something was lurking back in the shadows.

“?”

It didn’t seem to be a mouse.

She squinted her eyes to see what it was. It was a cube of about 0.1 esoule<ref>Approximately 12 centimeters.</ref> per side. Each face was a door that opened and closed to push against the floor and roll it along.

Curious, Mamilis reached out toward it.

Someone placed their hand on hers.

“(Quiet.)”

“Whoa.”

Someone else was there.

She had silver hair, brown skin, a blue leather tight miniskirt outfit, and intellectual glasses. But most importantly, long pointy ears.

She was the Philosommelier Personal Empire’s aide.

However, she wasn’t actually hidden in the shadows. Mamilis could see her clearly, but despite their proximity, she couldn’t hear her breathing or the rustle of her clothing.

“I-is this just an image?”

“We have locked ourselves in, so we cannot leave the room. Now, defeating the humans is no challenge with Wall Staff Ablatia, but we cannot put the emperor in further danger.”

“Abla-what?”

“Wall Staff Ablatia. The emperor has granted me one of our continent’s Five Staves. The barrier it produces alters its own microscopic structure to divert and neutralize any and all attacks. Your shotgun appears to be full-auto, but not even it could break through the barrier.”

So was it like an alternate version of the special swords wielded by this continent’s princes and princesses? With only five of them, it sounded a lot rarer than the swords carried by the royals here. Mamilis could easily believe that a mass-produced sorcery gun would be useless against one.

Yet Mamilis surprised herself with her own calm.

She was holding an ordinary conversation.

“(Your Mimic Option cannot hide that you are one of us. I have no intention of attacking you here.)”

“And you are…?”

“Hemylina Luxshine. Joint Staff Chancellor of the Philosommelier Personal Empire.”

Mamilis wasn’t certain how important a position that was. Not that she was interested in official power of that sort.

Was Philosommelier the name of that other continent?

Hemylina had was down on all fours with her right hand holding the cube. The image couldn’t actually grab Mamilis’s hand, so she may have been demonstrating that Mamilis should hold her hand out to the cube.

“My heart aches for what you have had to endure. I could tell right away you are hiding your ears with one of those Mimic Option things.”

Mamilis reflexively reached up to touch her ears and the bespectacled dark elf watched the action with pitying eyes. She could tell Mamilis had been abused constantly and repeatedly enough for her to develop that reflex.

“You need not help the humans.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The humans of the Static Continent discriminate against demons. Species who look close enough to human must hide their unique traits with Mimic Options and the species too different for that are hunted down. Staying in this savage land will only bring you a life of humiliation and tragedy.”

“…”

“But our continent is different. The Philosommelier Personal Empire has brought an end to a long history of war and used military might to eliminate our more shameful ideas. There is no more discrimination among the species on our continent. More than that, our emperor is caring and generous. He is willing to listen to the words of we who were once known as demons.”

Through the image, Dark Elf Hemylina looked Mamilis in the eye.

She was the emperor’s aide.

She was a talented woman who never hid her long ears and who held great power and the trust of an empire.

“Join us,” she pleaded. “I can bring you into the consul guest quarters. You can seek asylum with us.”

This wasn’t just about what Hemylina might gain from the deal. She had the tone of someone desperately trying to prevent a friend from making a terrible decision.

“We only ask one thing: the medical supplies necessary to save our emperor’s life. With your help, we can treat his injury. We can remain in the consul guest quarters for as long as necessary, so we only have to wait for our troops to arrive over the sea and we can win the war. The entire Collaborative Continent will welcome you as a saint.”