Volume 6 Chapter 11 Who Thought Of This Troublesome Thing... It Was Me.
There was a scene where Randy and Ellie apologized profusely to Lucius, who returned with the Shadow Moon Mirror...
"Wow. So this is the Shadow Moon Mirror..."
Randy received the mirror from Lucius and began to examine it.
It was a black, round mirror that looked just like a bronze mirror... or rather, metal, but it seemed to absorb light, and aside from its circular shape, he couldn't discern much else.
"Oh, the back is all bumpy."
Randy traced his fingers over the back, trying to feel out the shape of the relief.
(What is this... so many small circles. Are they forming a circle?)
As Randy traced the nearly outer edge of the mirror with his fingers, the circular mural he had seen below came to mind.
"I see. The phases of the moon, huh?"
The small circles lined up, with slight elevations on their surfaces.
From the fact that they moved slightly in succession, Randy suspected that the relief depicted the phases of the moon.
It was similar to the outer edge of the circle in the mural.
"Feels like a bingo."
Randy then peered into the mirror, but there was still nothing reflected.
Despite being called a mirror, it reflected nothing.
Feeling a bit anxious about this phenomenon, Randy gripped the Shadow Moon Mirror tightly and turned to the others.
"Then, let's prove if my hypothesis is correct."
With Randy leading the way holding the mirror, everyone descended the stairs again.
The underground remained unchanged as always.
The sealed door.
The mural as magic.
An incomprehensible coffin.
The subtle sense of discomfort they all felt began to connect within Randy.
"So, what did you figure out?"
Randy crossed his arms in front of the mural as Cecilia tilted her head.
"For now, should we check if the hypothesis is correct?"
Everyone nodded reluctantly at Randy, who pointed at the mural.
With everyone watching, Randy held the Shadow Moon Mirror up to the mural.
Suddenly... light overflowed from the mural and was drawn into the Shadow Moon Mirror.
"Oh, wow!"
When Randy let out a sigh of amazement, the Shadow Moon Mirror shone brightly, illuminating the surroundings with a dazzling light.
"What is it?"
"Guh."
"My eyes, my eyes!"
Blinded by the light, everyone covered their eyes, and when the pure white light settled... parts of the mural that had been there before began to change.
A man seated upon something like a throne looked at the woman lying down,
while the massive circular image behind them remained as is.
The swirling black flames dissipated, replaced by flames shining in the heavens.
Golden and silver trails fell from the heavenly flames,
with the last massive black moon and church remaining unchanged.
And then...
"Just as I thought. The cryptic text."
Just as Randy said, of course, the newly transformed mural featured a series of runes, ancient characters, and an array of mysterious languages, just the same.
"Ellie, principal. Please only decipher the runes."
Ancient Japanese... rather, kanji is no problem, but the runes are unreadable for Randy.
So, he asked the two of them just for that and decided to tackle the deciphering of the remaining mysterious language.
"Hey, Miss Catherine──"
"My eyes!"
"How long are you going to keep this up? You could heal with Holy Magic."
With a sigh from Randy, Catherine pouted, saying, "You're so uptight."
"Shut up! That thing could *very well collapse* here!"
With a grimace, Randy said, "That's true," and Catherine nodded... then, she smirked.
"By the way, big guy. My knowledge is proving useful after all."
With a triumphant look, Catherine leaned back, causing Randy to frown again.
"Are you an idiot? I could manage just fine alone, but I'm trying to let you shine a bit. You haven't done anything today."
As Randy laughed dismissively, Catherine furrowed her brows widely, but... as Randy began to list everyone's efforts, her expression twisted with unease.
Annabelle and Cory developed hypotheses about the coffin's purpose.
Luke and Cecilia noticed the oddities of the upper ruins.
Ellie and the principal were fine without words,
and additionally, Leon noticed the changes in the mural's periphery.
"Got it. Today, you're just a *Terracotta Warrior*."
Indeed, as Randy said, for now, Catherine's contribution is only as a 'Terracotta Warrior.'
"It's about time you acted as the knowledge holder."
With a provoking expression, Randy twisted Catherine's face in irritation.
"Muu. You always ask others for favors──"
As Catherine swung her fists around, Leon restrained her again.
"Come on, come on. I'll give you Saintly Lady. After this, we'll go eat sweets together."
Leon, soothing Catherine, turned to Randy while still holding her back, saying, "Sir Randolph too..."
"Please don't tease Saintly Lady too much."
At the unexpected remark, all eyes gathered on Leon.
Leon, caught off guard by the attention, blushed slightly and averted his gaze while saying, "Well..."
"It would lessen *my chances of teasing*."
Laughing with his shoulders shrugged, Leon made Catherine, still held back, exclaim, "Huh?"
"Whose side are you on?!"
"Of course, it's Saintly Lady."
"Then why do you need to tease me?!"
"Because it's entertaining."
With a carefree laugh, Leon provoked Catherine, causing her shoulders to shake in anger.
"'Interesting woman' to a lady──"
Though he blurted it out, this was a famous line well-known even to Randy.
──Oh. An interesting woman.
Responding to the line often seen in shoujo manga, Catherine blushed and stammered, "W-what an interesting woman..."
"Yes, what's that?"
As Leon tilted his head, Catherine pushed him away, saying, "N-no, it's nothing!" as she turned to the mural.
"I don't get it."
With Leon tilting his head again, Randy smirked and shrugged, "Leon."
"She wants you to *compliment her more directly*."
Smirking, Randy was met with a fierce glare from Catherine as she snapped, "Big guy! Don't put strange ideas in his head!"
"Anyway, this is going too far, even for a joke," Randy said as he turned to face the mural on the opposite wall from Catherine.
They were each deciphering from their respective ends.
That said, it was a code they had successfully deciphered once before.
The process was clear: transcribe the romaji, convert it to hiragana, then match the runes and ancient meanings, shifting the hiragana... With this knowledge, Catherine and Randy made rapid progress together.
"Alright. We did it..."
What they ended up with was a poem entirely different from the original.
'The sacred maiden sleeping in eternal time
Only to be revealed to the chosen one
The key born of golden and silver flames shows the true coordinates
When sunlight is lost, stand in the shadow of the moon and offer the light of heaven
Then the closed door shall be opened'
"So, I was sleeping in eternal time."
"Saintly Lady, that's a bit much."
Leon immediately retorted to Catherine, prompting the two to start playfully bickering again, while Randy and the others focused on the deciphered poem.
"It's definitely about Ellie."
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