Nora

"Where do I get out from?" Vincent complained loudly as he banged his hand against the mirror. An hour had already passed since Robert's escape but he just couldn't find a way out of the place.

To make things worse, his stomach was growling constantly, reminding him of how hungry he was. He did have some candy with him but he chose to endure the hunger since he couldn't find a way out.

He slapped himself lightly to chase away the drowsiness taking over him and sat on the chair where the girl and Robert were previously seated. Thinking that there must be a mechanism that controlled the mirror somewhere, he began looking around.

Vincent had done this several times already. In the end, he gave up just like the previous times. No matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find a single sign of the exiting mechanism.

A little worried that he might be stuck inside till he starved to death, he picked up his spoils of war: the creepy doll with a stitch running across its face and the corpse of the little girl. He dismantled the doll in hopes that the key to leaving this place lay somewhere inside it. Unfortunately, it was nothing more than an ordinary doll that had been housing an evil spirit.

Confirming that the doll was nothing special, he turned to the severed head and picked it up reluctantly. If possible, he didn't want to dissect the head. First of all, he did not have the necessary tools at his disposal, and he also did not want to do it because of how pitiful the girl had been.

To have been tormented by an evil spirit while she was still a child and then kept in a state that was neither dead or alive for years, just thinking about it saddened him. He did not want to inflict further harm on her, even if she was already dead. Suppressing the feelings of pity that was taking root in his heart, he gently closed her eyes that looked to be filled with pain.

He shut his own eyes and took a deep breath to resolve himself. He had scoured every corner and the only thing that could possibly lead him outside was inside the corpse.

Having prepared himself to dissect the corpse, he opened his eyes. Though he had steeled his heart, he was still shocked by what he saw. The ghost of the girl was floating in front of him and looking at him with curious eyes.

"Are you the one who freed me?" The girl's ghost asked in a childish manner as she moved closer to him.

"Yes." Vincent replied as he moved back a little. He wasn't prepared for such a development and was caught off guard. Straightening his thoughts, he nodded once and continued. "Tell me little girl, what's your name?"

"Me? I am Nora." The girl pointed at herself and answered excitedly. Her voice was filled with joy for finally being able to talk with someone. She stuck her face a little closer to him and asked, "What about you mister? What's your name?"

"I am Vincent. Can you tell me how to exit this place?"

"Robert can freely control the mirror's door. Aside from that, you can leave if you break the mirror. But if you do that, the space inside the mirror will be destroyed until Robert builds it again."

"Who is this Robert?"

The girl's eyes filled up with fear upon hearing the question and she moved behind his back to hide herself. Glancing around nervously, she whispered softly. "I can't tell you. If he finds out, then he will hurt both you and me."

Looking at the girl's timid actions, Vincent felt sorry for her. For such a little child to be subjected to such inhumane treatment, just thinking about it filled him with rage. He slapped his chest aggressively and assured her. "Don't worry. I am super strong. I already chased away that stupid Robert earlier. I won't let him hurt you. If he comes near you, I will make sure to put him through a world of pain."

Her eyes brightened at his words but she admonished him immediately after. "You shouldn't hurt others. Only bad people do that. Mommy said if you hurt others, you will go to hell."

Vincent felt awkward at the girl's innocent words. She had been through so much but still didn't have any thoughts of getting back at the one who made her suffer so much. Just listening to her made his heart melt a little.

"Don't worry. It's okay to hurt bad people. In fact, even angels will approve of your actions if you stand up against bad people."

"Is that so? But mommy didn't say anything about it."

"What I said is true. If you ask your mommy about it, I am sure she will tell you I am right." Vincent replied in an effort to teach her a little but regretted it immediately.

"Waaahhhh....." The girl began crying . "Mommy.... daddy... everyone's gone. Robert made them all disappear. Waaaaahh...."

Vincent tried to calm Nora but his efforts only made things worse. As her cries grew louder, he began panicking a little. Hurriedly retrieving some candy from his pocket, he offered it to her. "Here, if you stop crying. You can have these."

Nora looked at the candy and muffled her cries. She took a strong short breath and wiped her tears away. "But I can't eat it. I don't have a body."

"You can possess me. That way you can live the experience of eating the candy."

The girl nodded repeatedly and possessed him. He actively helped her with the process and it was done after a few moments. If it wasn't for him allowing her to do so, a weak ghost like her would never be able to possess a silver ranked wizard. Still, while she was inside his body, she didn't have any control over his actions.

Vincent gulped a mouthful of saliva and popped the candy inside his mouth.

"Ahhhhh, it's so sweet. I haven't eaten any food in so long. This is so good." Vincent could hear her talking inside his head. It was a weird sensation and he even felt ticklish behind his neck because of it.

Once he was done with the candy, Nora came out of his body and looked at him with bright eyes. "Did you really chase Robert away?"

"That's right. He won't hurt you anymore."

"But what if he comes back?" The girl asked fearfully. "He gets really angry at me sometimes and does a lot of bad things. I am afraid he will hurt me again."

"You can come with me. This mister here will protect you."

"Really?"

Looking at her excited eyes, he nodded gently and left for the mirror. He mustered the last of his mana and shattered the mirror. Along with the sound of the shards hitting the cold floor, a portal opened up where the mirror once was.

"Let's go." Vincent spoke to the girl while smiling. She nodded happily and the two stepped outside.

The two found Simon and the servants sleeping on the floor once they walked out. Looking back, the mirror was destroyed completely. Vincent felt the two sticks he had looted from Bell in his pocket and checked the sleeping people's conditions.

Confirming that they were just in a deep sleep because of some kind of drugs, he dragged them to a couch. Finally done with it after several minutes of work, he took a deep breath and looked at the moons. "They sure look pretty tonight don't they?"

"Mmm." The girl nodded as she looked at the sky she hadn't seen in years.

Feeling a strange connection to Nora, Vincent headed for his home with his ghost companion in tow.