Saintess Summons Skeletons-Chapter 836 - Elsep

As Pestle approached the mirror, trying to knock on its surface that no longer reflected anything, she was pulled in with a yelp before anyone could react, and the mirror instantly shattered, two identical Pestles uncontrollably tumbling out of the other side.

“Oh fuck,” Sonia reacted with a wary expression, her hands already on her bow.

Sofia, in immediate crisis management mode, practically threw herself at the two fairy skeletons on the floor, grabbing one in each hand and fully paralyzing them with her aura.

After a glance, she looked at the fairy in her left hand, lifting her control over her bones.

“Are you fine, Pestle?” Sofia asked worriedly. She still had her link to this one while the other fairy, although identical looking, was not connected to herself or Bookie in the slightest. Bookie said nothing but seemed to have come to the same conclusion. Despite that, she remained cautious, not letting go of either.

The fairy in Sofia’s left hand did not struggle when the aura let her go, only curiously looking at the other fairy in Sofia’s grasp, who was currently unable to even twitch. “Fine, Pesle think? Mirror is leg Pesle then am not die. Very surprise. Not know what other Pesle be. Maybe is mimimic?”

Sofia closely observed the two fairies. “The other one is actually a mirrored Pestle,” Sofia noticed after giving them both a good look, “Pestle’s left horn is a bit shorter, but that fake one has it reversed.”

“I’ve never heard of a mimic taking someone’s appearance like that,” Sonia pointed out, “that would be more of a specter thing.”

“Well, why not ask the copycat in question,” Sofia decided, looking at the fairy in her right hand, who had been silent until now. “If you copied Pestle well you should not need me to release my aura to speak. Or do you not understand the common language?”

After a moment of silence, a voice fully identical to Pestle came from the immobile fairy in Sofia’s right hand.

“I– My apologies, this is all a bit abrupt…”

Wait, it actually understands the common language?!

“Who and what are you?” Sofia asked, “Why did you take Pestle’s appearance?”

“It- I again must apologise, lady Anenorfeth, I do not have an answer to your questions. I seem to have been someone else once, but I cannot seem to recall anything beyond being imprisoned in a black mist.”

Sofia’s demon face made an ugly expression beneath her helmet.

Pestle looked up at Sofia, “Sofia, can Pesle is ask mimimic question?”

“You don’t need my permission.”

Pestle nodded, turning to the fake fairy, “Do you is want leg?”

“Thank you for your attention, lady Pestle, however I do not feel particularly peckish at the moment…” the identical voice answered right away.

“Hmmhmm. Pesle is understand. Can you is tell name of everyone in room?”

“Hum… C-certainly. Although my current situation it seems is not currying in favor in your eyes, I am still honored to be in the presence of Lady Sonia, Young sirs bookie and Crowie, Master Pareth, Lady Pestle, and her excellency Sodia Anenorfeth.”

In a rare sight, Pestle burst out laughing.

“Pesle understand, you is be Elsep! Very not Pesle, ahahah!”

Sofia was at a loss looking at the ‘Elsep’ still in her grasp.

“I say we kill it to be safe,” Sonia decisively said, “Whatever the case it’s a monster that stole Pestle’s memory and appearance. Letting it live is a gigantic liability.”

“I- P- Please give me a chance! I fully understand how problematic my existence is but I truly bear you all no ill will! I will do anything you say! Please!” the fake pleaded, her voice suddenly filled with obvious terror.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

Sofia stayed silent. She was pretty conflicted. It was true that if that ‘Elsep’ had copied all of Pestle’s memories, then it knew too many secrets to be left unchecked, especially now that the group had acquired the level 550 ascension coins. On the other hand, if what it said was true, and it had no memory of a previous life, then killing this fairy amounted to killing an innocent person with Pestle’s memories. Wasn’t that almost the same as killing Pestle herself?

Sofia had always seen people’s clones in the toyboxes as fakes, but she would be lying if she said that after the events between Lilith and Jin’s fakes in the previous trial, she hadn’t started to see them a bit differently. Now with a person in the real world becoming someone’s fake, this was becoming a more tangible dilemma. At this point she almost hoped that this fairy in her right hand was actually an evil entity waiting for a chance to kill everyone in this room and escape, so that she could justify getting rid of her.

Pareth seemed to be similarly conflicted, and Bookie, hiding behind Sofia hugging her leg, added in a weak voice, “I don’t like this…”

As Sofia’s thoughts whirred, she noticed the color of the remaining cracked but still standing frame of the mirror in front of her slightly shifting to a light blue.

Pestle. Sofia called out in her thoughts, do you think you could escape me right now if you really wanted to and I couldn’t unsummon you? Nod if you think there’s a high chance you could.

Pestle nodded strongly without even trying to hide it. Sonia observed without saying one more word, she had already given her opinion.

Bookie. Play dead.

Bookie confusedly looked up at Sofia for an instant, before obeying her order, letting the magic holding his bones together fade, and his skeleton falling to the floor like a bunch of inanimate bones. Sonia was immediately alerted, drawing her bow in the fake fairy’s direction, mithrium arrow on the bowstring, but since it would inevitably hit Sofia too, she had a moment of hesitation. At the same time, Sofia feigned shock, looking down at the crumbling Bookie, and letting the aura suppressing the fake go, her grip on her loosening slightly.

Pareth raised a hand to stop Sonia.

A tense second elapsed.

Nothing happened.

Sofia sighed, although she herself did not know if it was disappointment or relief. Her grip closed back up, but she no longer restrained the fairy with her aura. Escaping from the grip of Sofia’s left hand and her right’s with the dragon scale armguard were vastly different tasks.

“You can get back up, Bookie.”

“Hmm!” At Sofia’s command, the short skeleton reassembled itself and started to fix his messy clothes.

Only then did Sonia understand what had just happened, also sighing and lowering her bow. “What a messy fucking situation, what now?”

“I am at a loss too,” Sofia answered, “this is not something I ever prepared for…”

“I- If I may! I will do whatever you want. I can even be your prisoner, please just let me live, I beg of you…”

“Alright… Let us resolve this with a civilised discussion…” Sofia said after another few seconds of tense silence, sitting down on the floor. “Why did you not try to escape just now?” Sofia asked directly.

“This… I must admit the thought has crossed my mind, but not only would that make things difficult for all of you present, and I must reiterate that I bear no ill will to any of you, but also… I do not really have anywhere to go even if I do escape… That is if I even manage to leave the forbidden layer alive…”

“You’re already not alive,” Sofia deadpanned, “Do you really not remember anything about who or what you were before? What about Pestle’s memories, did you copy it all?”

“As I already explained, I indeed do not remember anything other than a vague feeling that I was once someone else. As for my current situation, I… Inherited… Lady Pestle’s memories and magic, I suppose. Although I must say that I am keenly aware that my identity is that of a mere mirror, in this situation… As for said memories’ completeness, it naturally would be hard to know if some happened to be missing, but I believe it should be rather complete, unfortunately for me…”

Sofia had let go of the real Pestle, the fingers of her left hand rhythmically tapping on the floor as she scrutinized every word of the fake Pestle.

Sonia decided to chime in, “Since you inherited all of those memories, how do you feel about everyone here?”

“Humm… Well. Although I indeed have inherited those memories, because I know deep down that these memories are not my own, I imagine, I do not feel much closeness or fondness for any of you… I hope you can forgive me… Were I given the choice, I would simply want to be given the opportunity to build a life and memories for myself…”

“Alright,” Sofia said, “We will give you a chance.”

“Is that true?! I- I do not know how to thank you!”

“Are you sure?” Sonia asked, “Having empathy is nice and all, but this is a gigantic risk you’re asking me to take. I need to think about it…”

“Don’t worry. I’m not saying we should just let her go. We’ll have to keep her prisoner until we leave the forbidden layer, though. After that, I have a way to make sure whether she is as harmless as she pretends to be.”

Sonia frowned lightly, “Make sure? Short of a permanent mind control I don’t know how you would…”

“Oh, it’s very simple,” Sofia said, “All we need is an Emperor and a bell.”