Sorcerer’s Handbook

Chapter 231: The Mirror

“Others?” Lise blinked, looking around suspiciously. “But it’s only us here…”

“Although I don’t find it something to boast about, I am the second place holder in the ‘Two Wings Mind Ranking Azura Sub-Ranking’.”

“My nose smells emotions, my eyes see thoughts, my ears hear desires.”

Igor walked over to the phonograph, picked out a record from the cabinet below that looked like it depicted the end of the world—a memory of a dream he had a few days ago—placed it into the machine and played it. As expected, it was very noisy, but surprisingly quite pleasant.

He took a serious look at the cover, oh, it turned out to be an Angel destroying the world, no wonder it sounded so good.

“Though this music might be before your time, it’s enough to mask our voices,” Igor said as he sat down. “Let’s have an honest conversation, Lise.”

Lise sat down nervously at the spot farthest from him, close to the mirror, “But I don’t want to talk to you…”

“Is it the mirror?”

The little girl blinked, and the expression on her face was no longer the deliberately feigned tension, but genuine astonishment. The Con Artist was very pleased with this reaction—since that damned Cult Leader, he hadn’t had a successful swindle, and Igor was beginning to doubt his eloquence had dropped to the level of a drunken councilor.

“I’ve been watching you, Lise. Not just during the game just now, but last night, when you played ‘Sorcerer Duel 14’ with Ashe, you showed a different side of yourself: competitive, impolite, direct, almost childlike…”

“I am a child!” Lise protested loudly.

“If last night I had some doubts, then during the game just now, you completely revealed your secret.” Igor stepped closer, positioning himself to be in the mirror with Lise. “Your ‘switching’ medium is the mirror. Every time you look into it, it means that something inside may have already changed.”

“A clever bondage, very clever indeed. Others might think of it as a weakness, but I have seen patients tormented by multiple personalities to the point of wishing for death or craving life—with no doubt, those with multiple personalities are valuable research subjects for Mind Sorcerers. And fortunately, mental illness is practically a specialty product of the Blood Moon Kingdom. Mind Sorcerers have a locational advantage there.”

“Workers in the entertainment industry, Sin Hunters, Psychotherapists—these professions continuously produce the psychological samples I favor—especially Psychotherapists. Those peers who stare into the Abyss for too long will inevitably go mad, eventually finding themselves metaphorically ‘dropping their trousers’ for the Abyss.”

“Those with multiple personalities are severely affected in their lives due to different personas taking over the body, entangling and tormenting each other because they cannot break free. In the end, they either become Sugar Addicts, living a life of oblivion, or they are reborn, washing away all emotional memories to become a blank slate.”

“But you won’t have this worry. The mirror, this bondage, minimizes the impact of multiple personalities. Even if other personas cause trouble, you can keep them ‘in the mirror’, at least they won’t affect reality—”

“My sisters are not locked in the mirror!” Lise said angrily.

“Do the personalities refer to each other as sisters?” Igor asked with interest. “A very common example, but in the cases I’ve seen, there’s a high probability that female patients will develop male personas, or rather, male personas based on a woman’s impression of men. Similarly, male patients almost always develop female personas—the longing for and closeness to the opposite sex seems to be an instinct etched into our biology. Do you have any brothers?”

Lise seemed about to say something more but stopped as if she heard something, reluctantly looking toward the mirror.

When she turned her gaze back, her cute visage was overlaid with a calmness that did not match her appearance. It was less like she was tearing off a Mask and more like she was putting on another one, a mask beneath a mask.

Igor raised an eyebrow. “How should I address you?”

“Just call me Lise,” ‘Lise’ said calmly. “It’s only among ourselves that we’re different. When facing others, we are all Lise.”

Igor thought to himself that this was a very rare case of multiple personalities acting in unison, making collective decisions. Generally, multiple personalities differ greatly, with dominant personalities often looking down upon the weaker ones. Therefore, the stable organization of multiple personalities usually takes the form of a “monarchical dictatorship,” where the monarch personality leads the other subject personalities, which are further divided into noble and commoner personalities, each with a clear hierarchy. This is akin to creating a feudal society within the confines of a snail shell, establishing feudalism within a single human body.

Lise’s type of multiple personalities, which mutually respect each other in a “democratic republic” manner, is practically the ideal template for multiple personalities. Even after Igor had perused the psychological patient database, he had not seen such a perfect specimen. Moreover, the fact that she had voluntarily added the mirror bondage made him vaguely speculate.

“Lise, in the first question earlier, ‘Would you murder the other five present here to obtain the Divine Master’s Wish,’ you voted ‘yes,’ didn’t you?” Igor asked, his tone quite certain.

‘Lise’ admitted frankly: “Yes, that’s right. How did you figure it out?”

“I noticed it when Ashe interacted with you,” Igor said coolly. “The way you looked at Ashe was like looking at a piece of wriggling rotten flesh. I’m quite familiar with that look—it’s the same way Harvey looks at others.”

“I apologize, in order to control the voting outcome, we had to let a more aggressive sister cast the vote,” ‘Lise’ nodded slightly. “That sister has that attitude towards everyone; we had no intention of harming Ashe.”

“For the second and third votes, you cast votes that didn’t fit your persona, right?” Igor continued. “I originally thought you wouldn’t sacrifice everything for a loved one, yet you voted ‘yes’; I thought you couldn’t possibly trust others, yet you still voted ‘yes’… Why did you want to control the voting results?”

“Mr. Bukin, if you already know the answer, why bother asking?” ‘Lise’ said, shaking her Bracelet. “Firstly, naturally for the reward; secondly, to turn the tables and go along with Annan’s arrangement.”

“Annan…” Igor savored this name as if tasting a barely ripe Lala Fatty.

“A very beautiful open conspiracy, isn’t it?” ‘Lise’ said, spreading her hands. “She restricted our ability to lie and granted us the right to ask questions anonymously… It’s as if she has locked us in an arena and thrown down swords. She doesn’t need to use verbal enticement because we will voluntarily pick up weapons and harm each other.”

“She wants to undermine the foundation of our cooperation, and coincidentally, I have the same intention.”

‘Lise’ placed her hands on the table and sat upright with no small movements, a serious demeanor that prevented Igor from taking her lightly: “Compared to the hardships you have shared, my relationship with Ashe is much too weak. But Ashe is the ally I’m most likely to draw to my side. If I can’t even bring Ashe over, it’s even less likely that others will cooperate with me.”

“That’s why I need to tear apart the foundation of your trust first, and only then can I form a true alliance with Ashe. A mere contract is not enough to make Ashe stand with me… On this point, my interests align with Annan’s.”

“So you helped Annan ‘touch fish’ in muddy waters, deepening our suspicions through your votes?” Igor sighed. “You almost succeeded. The two ‘yes’ answers to the first question nearly destroyed all my trust in Harvey and Ashe.”

“Yes, I was close to succeeding,” ‘Lise’ admitted, somewhat reluctantly. “If it weren’t for the third question.”

Igor was puzzled: “But in the third question, why did you choose ‘yes’… Ah, you wanted to take the opportunity to improve your standing in the others’ eyes!”