Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Coolest of them All?

"My name is Phantom, the one who dances under the Moonlight, hidden away from the Sun."

It's been about a month since the day I threw Ethan and Emma the spellbook that I stole—I mean, borrowed from my father's Treasury.

I'll return it eventually, maybe.

By the way, I'm currently experimenting with a bunch of cool poses that I could do in front of my enemy when introducing myself.

"Like this? Or maybe this?"

After trying one pose after another, I finally decided on the one that I liked the most.

The coolest pose is to not pose at all!

Yes. When doing the introduction, I would just stand nonchalantly indifferent in front of my enemy and then say my line!

That would have the most intimidating effect!

"You're not worthy of my attention, peasant."

It will create that kind of persona for my character! After all, the true Mighty cannot be bothered with poses, its existence alone should be enough to give the last boss vibes.

I agreed that this is the best outcome possible for this important experiment.

Even for someone of my capabilities, coming to this conclusion needs a lot of effort, but my hard work finally pays off.

After hundreds of poses I've tried for hours, I finally became closer to the shadow that I pursue.

Feeling delighted by this, I keep rehearsing my line over and over again so I do not stutter when the time comes.

I stared at the mirror with a blank expression.

"Damn, I look cool as f right now."

◆

2 Hours Later.

"Good work, you two."

"Huft... Huft..."

"W-we still cannot touch Lord Phantom though, huft..."

And before you ask,

No, I didn't tell them to call me Lord, they somehow decided it on their own. Really, I'm not lying—stop looking at me like that!

Long story short, I decided to train Ethan and Emma under my watch.

With my guidance, they've had tremendous growth over the month.

Yes, this is good. When they get strong enough to fight against the cult, I will take them into forced labor under me, willingly or not!

All fine and all.

"You both did incredibly well at this moment of your lives. Though the Cult will not wait, we must become even stronger faster than ever."

"Yes, Lord Phantom."

"I will work hard!"

Ethan has a sharp mind in close-quarters combat, he's decisive and deadly when you get in his range.

He fights the same way as me, using Shadow Blade as his main weapon. Well, copying me was the best course of action for him, since he could learn from the master himself.

But... that reduces my uniqueness. As their leader, I have to become something my subordinates could not achieve, so I'm currently training to wield dual swords in secret.

Of course, I will not show this fighting style of mine when I still can get away with my ordinary style, I'll save it as my hidden trump card!

Emma, on the other hand, while I understand her anticipation of learning magic, I feel like she's pushing herself too hard.

It can be seen in her eyes, which become like panda eyes... she has a problem sleeping.

At first, I thought it was because she doesn't have time to sleep, we train at midnight after all, so I decided to advance our training schedule two hours earlier and finish it quicker. I even gave her a lot of stamina potions.

But now I'm sure, It was definitely because of the trauma of the demonic cult. I have considered just letting her go with the flow, and it might disappear over time, but looking at her condition, it's about time that she will fall.

To be honest, if it were another girl, I wouldn't give a single fuck. But, since I agreed to protect Emma from now on, I might as well help out a little.

Emma needs to understand that the Demonic Cult is not something she needs to fear.

For that, she will need to confront those fears before they grow even bigger in her heart.

It's quite a terrible thing to do, but to be a part of this group, you must be thoroughly prepared.

Now, I will not just send her out alone to destroy some cult hideout. But I do plan to build her confidence little by little and let her become stronger. She needs to realize that she's not the weak kid she was before.

Emma likes to be praised, so building her confidence using words will not be hard.

But the true struggle will be with action.

"You both have shown promising talent, so I think it is time to give you two the first mission."

"... Are you sure we're both ready? We only started training for a month."

"You already started for a month, now it is time for the real thing."

"... I see. What's the mission then?"

"We're visiting the Black Market Auction."

"The Black Market Auction?"

"Yeah, I've found new information that one of the cult members will move there."

"... What is the black market auction, though?"

"Hm? Oh, right. You both are new to this, so of course you don't know. Well, to put it simply, it's a market that sells a bunch of illegal things via auction outside the Kingdom's watch, so the participant could avoid detection and even taxes."

The black market. This will be the first time I visit one in this world.

A lot of people will gather in one place. From Spies, Assassins, Cultists, and Corrupt Nobles, those who make their moves in the shadows. I can't wait to make them my acquaintances!

"Sounds like a terrible place, how did they even manage to hide out of the King's eyes anyway?"

"Well, it's quite simple."

"Moles... huh?"

"That's what it is."

"This kingdom sucks."

Excuse me? Thanks to those incompetent individuals I'm able to realize my shadow dream, don't you dare insult them!

"They've already done what they could. Besides, with the help of foreign spies, demonic cults, etc. You can't expect the Kingdom to have a chance to spot them."

"A market whose patron was multiple powerful figures, is the kingdom not even aware of its existence?"

"They do know, but finding it is a different problem. It's because the market itself is invisible to unknown eyes, they changed location every month, and when the Kingdom finally got a clue, the corrupt nobles immediately made their move to slow them down."

I'm not joking when I say they're really hard to find. The only reason I know where it is was because the market appearance has a pattern. In each month, they will move from one location to another. Out of 12 months, this month is the only time I will be able to visit it since they will appear near my dad's territory.

Reading the novel gave me a huge lead, don't mind me taking advantage of it.

"Should've expected. Who is the target?"

"You'll know pretty soon."

One thing I did not tell Ethan was that there was no target... I just want to check if there's any Illusion book in store. But, you know, going there just to shop sounds kind of lame, so I have to spice things up a little bit.

It's the Black Market after all, you can't go there without expecting some action, no?

Well, I could just attack some random group and lie about them being cultists, and everything should be fine.

"Let's go, we don't have much time."

As I walk off, I see Emma forcing herself to move. I could tell she was hella scared, but once she defeats this 'Cultist' aka some random I choose to attack, I'm sure she'll get better.

Sacrifice is necessary for the greater good.

◆

We arrived in a deep forest. If I remember correctly from the novel, it should be around here...

As I was worried that I would not find it and end up embarrassing myself, one of my feet passed through the illusion barrier.

"There you are."

"I just remembered about this, but... aren't we going to catch a lot of attention there? I mean, I'm pretty sure there aren't other kids around except us."

The one who asked was Ethan.

Ethan and Emma are currently wearing a shadow cloak that I cast. Though Ethan already knows how to cast it, I don't want him to waste mana before combat even begins.

"Don't worry about it, most of the customers here were wearing illusionary tools to hide their true identities. Others would think that we're just some weirdos who like to disguise themselves in the form of a kid."

"I see, that's good then."

Are you really okay with being thought as a weirdo, Ethan?

We proceed to walk through the barrier, with Emma silently following us. She hasn't said anything since we made our trip, I'm actually becoming worried.

I need to find that victim to attack soon. Hold on a little longer, Emma! You'll be kicking ass in no time!

The moment we step through the barrier, we're greeted by a massive five-floor tower covered in black and purple. I must say I am enamored by the color choice, and I declare this place is worthy of my presence!

The Tower Entrance is guarded by a couple of robed assassins, which means they're my seniors! Senpai, I aspire to be like you someday! How many people have you killed?

From my experience, both of these guys are pretty strong. Though I think I won't lose against one, if two of them move then I'm dead.

"What's the meal tonight?"

One of the assassins asked me.

Let's see, tonight is the 7th of the month, so...

"Eggs and Salad."

"Enter."

Their Password is not really to my taste, but I guess they do have their own authentic nature.

Entering the door, what we see is an enormous hall painted black and gold, with hundreds of seats filling the room.

The seats are surprisingly ordinary, but you can't expect much from the first floor, I guess.

To reach the higher floor, you'll need some kind of special ticket that you can get in various ways: either by spending a lot of money, making connections here and there, or even being given by the Tower Master themselves.

The tickets have their tier too, starting from;

Second-Floor, Gold

Third-Floor, Platinum

Fourth-Floor, Diamond

And the fifth floor is where the Tower Master resides. I bet they have a lot of gold stored there. I found a new attractive location to rob in the future.

We take a seat at the very back to avoid attention and wait for the auction to begin.

At long last, the curtain is open.

"Ladies and gentlemen, my deepest apologies for keeping you waiting."

The one who spoke was a man wearing a full black suit and a white rabbit mask.

The other person who stands next to him is a woman wearing a bunny suit like in a casino; she's also wearing a rabbit mask.

"Without any more interference, we shall begin the auction now."

And so the auction begins.

30 minutes later, after the two figures introduced one item after another, I got to say those are pretty good, but that was not my intention.

Huft... at a time like this, I kind of hope I will encounter some lucky item that everyone else thought useless but actually has god-like power.

You know, the usual trope to make the protagonist op and stuff.

"And for the next item, we introduce you to a 3rd-tier illusion spellbook, starting at 3 Million Gold."

'There you are, come to Papa now.'

I immediately raised my hand and offered my price.

"3.5 Million."

"3.5 Million. Anyone else?"

Pls no.

"4 Million."

The one who dared to challenge me was a foolish, middle-aged man with a fat belly. He looks like one of those typical bad guys in the manga stories where he will force one of the Mc Harems to become his fiancee or something, only to be face-slapped and ridiculed.

And even though he's wearing a cool mask, I could tell that he's ugly.

"4.5 Million."

Back off, old man. This book is mine.

"5 Million."

"5.5 Million."

Okay, that's it. That's my entire budget right there. I swear, if you raise the price again, I will fight you myself.

"6 Million."

...

And that's how my first innocent victim was chosen.

Well, maybe he's not so innocent. I mean, he looks like a bad guy and all, who knows?

I don't really care tbh.