Not planning on overworking them until uselessness, Kartal called back the drawings, finishing the simulation.

He would pressure them a bit more, but, since they barely had time until the start of the Arena, those three hours had to be enough.

“You will sleep here tonight. The spare rooms are ready, but you’re free to go out to buy whatever you need for tomorrow. Just make sure to be back before dinner.”

Velvet agreed with Kartal. She had already been targeted once, so nothing implied Skugol or Drifa wouldn’t also be attacked. Staying together was the safest option.

She still wanted to go buy stuff, though.

Especially a new container for the fire salamander. It couldn’t stay the whole night alone in the hut, not unless Velvet wanted to go back to a charred home. So, after laying on the floor, resting for a while, she got up, informed Kartal of her parting and left the Riverside Villa.

…

Marking the Selection’s end, all the official shops had left the marketplace, and now were inside the Mergifari. Velvet felt the lack of temporary shops, where the more strange and varied items were sold.

Well, nothing she could do about that, apart from waiting three years, or exiting the Mergifari.

Out of curiosity, she checked the stalls where magic artifacts were sold. Her only artifact was Sinoe’s Baslard, which not only didn’t compliment her Paradigm at all, but could only be used a few days each ten.

Artifacts based on formations were useful, but broke easily and had limited uses. Now, the actual high quality ones needed one extra ingredient to be made. A mage body part.

Both Sinoe’s Baslard and the whip used by Cornelius, Carni’s Spine, were made with mage parts.

Remembering the knowledge mage brain sold by 15000 auris, Velvet kinda expected the artifact shop’s prices to be through the roof.

And she was right, but, something worth noting was that, from all artifact shops, only three high tier artifacts were sold. The rest were normal, formation based artifacts.

The three artifacts were: a 27000 auris monocle made from a Gluttony Paradigm mage, which allowed the owner to steal anything they looked at, with the downside that anything stolen would appear on the owner’s stomach.

A choker with a bell for 20000 auris, from Lust Paradigm. The noise caused anyone to see the owner as the object of their desires. The downsides were, once worn, it had to stay worn for two days.

And, lastly, scissors from the Gambling Paradigm for 10000 auris. It allowed the owner to cut good luck, or bad luck streaks, either cursing or blessing someone.

Velvet, as someone who had dealt with enough gambling mages for a lifetime, knew the power luck had. The scissors’ downsides, and the reason for its unusual low price, were that it had ‘consciousness’, and sometimes cut the wrong luck thread, which included the owner’s. In fact, its use accuracy was 40%, 60% if used by someone from the Gambling Paradigm.

None of those were useful for Velvet, nor affordable.

I wonder if Gertine would sell me Iren Doyle’s remains to make my own… ah, but his brain was stabbed to hell and back. It's probably useless now.

In the end, she simply bought an empty, amphibian container and paper, walking back to the hut to pick up the salamander.

And, someone triggered the formation when she was halfway.

“You should buy the scissors, and bet on the 40% chance of cutting your bad luck streak.” Hyde said.

“Haha, and miss on the culprit going back to the crime scene?”

She hoped the intruder was Agorn. After fighting the drawing the previous hours, she wanted to compare.

It was a way of testing if Kartal’s copies resembled the real thing.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

…

Agorn’s orders were simple. Try to hurt Kartal’s knowledge mage as much as possible. Since the wraith failed, his Selector gave him another curse. This time, a full body mirror which, upon being reflected at, allowed the curse to possess the person on the other side, trapping their conscience inside the mirror world.

The mage’s friends wouldn’t notice anything, not until the Arena day, where fixing the curse would be impossible.

Arriving at Velvet's hut, he didn’t check for her. There was no need, since he was already informed that she was in Kartal's Villa.

Agorn’s activated his Esca, his surroundings becoming blurry, almost fake.

With a step, he crossed the door, not needing to open or unlock it. Taking the container from his clothes, he pulled out a long mirror covered with a black cloth, setting it in front of the locked door.

Swish!

Agorn removed the black cloth, and let the glass reflect the door, before sighing and exiting through the wall.

Doing the same thing two times was such a drag… even more for a sloth mage.

Stretching, he went back the way he came. Walking between the trees, his steps didn’t make a sound.

Crack.

A branch broke close to him. He teleported away from it, planning on running away.

The rabbit which caused the noise thought so too, sprinting away after being spooked. Agorn sighed, feeling stupid after being spooked by a rabbit.

Bang!

A powerful hit slammed his head from behind, smashing him on the ground. As he grabbed his head to protect it, a knee dug into his back, the full body weight behind.

“Fuck!” He groaned in pain.

“Well well well,” Velvet said in a cheerful tone, making sure to announce each ‘well’ as annoyingly as possible. “If it's the culprit going back to the crime scene. Or, coming back from the crime scene.”

Agorn flinched. He activated his magic, planning to teleport away from her, to-

Snap.

His arm broke. After using several strengthening charms to knock him, Velvet had enough strength to do so.

“Ah! You fucking bitch!” Agorn screamed in pain, cursing at Velvet, his spell interrupted.

She laughed, not bothered by the insults. “Now, I don’t appreciate the name calling, but I understand it is a consequence of the situation, and you’re usually more… you.”

“Buuuut!” Agorn felt a paper figurine press against his mouth. “If the next words coming from your lips aren’t answers to my questions, I’ll blow your face up. And you have such a pretty face! It would be a national loss!”

Of fucking course the fucking mage fucking Kartal picked is fucking insane. Part because of the awful pain he was in, and part the ‘cute’ tone Velvet’s threats were issued with, Agorn felt even more endangered.

“Are you listening? Is not nice to ignore a girl when she is on top of you.” She pressed on the broken arm, feeling no pity for Agorn.

He had tried to kill her two times now, and Velvet wasn’t one that forgave such transgressions. But, killing on the Mergifari meant paying a fine, so she had to leave Agorn alive.

“Stop! I’m listening dammit!”

“Great! Ssssooo…” She dragged the word, searching in Agorn’s pockets. “What beautiful, gorgeous present did you leave for me?”

“A cursed mirror… is that my wallet? Ugh!” Velvet pressed his arm again, making clear that she wanted to know about the mirror, not about what she obviously was doing.

“Looking at it will take your consciousness inside-”

“You only carry 3345 auris? Oof.” Velvet interrupted, pocketing all the money, before starting to remove Agorn’s bracelet container.

Thanks to you, now it’s zero. He grit his teeth, preferring his face and wellbeing over material properties. “And a doppelganger will take your plac-”

“Oh, what is this fluffy thing?! It’s sooo cute!” Ignoring Agorn’s hateful glare, she pocketed a stash of dream charms, delighted. “Oh, I was running out of these, thank you!”

Velvet also picked the black cloth used to cover the mirror. After not finding anything else, she sighed. “It's so sad I don’t have any sloth mages as friends… I want to eat your demon…”

The first sentence sent a chill down Agorn’s spine, but it was the next one which truly terrified him.

“Oh, but the saddest thing is that I cannot use you to make artifacts… Why are some mages so lucky?”

Velvet sighed deeply, before recovering her cheerful tone. “Anyway! I just have to make sure you cannot participate in tomorrow's Arena! So, Udulluay, please tell me when I should stop before breaking a rule!”

The flutter sound of wings startled Agorn. “You can’t do anything that cannot be healed with time.”

“Okay!”

…

Once back to the Riverside Villa, Velvet went to the dining room, where the others were waiting.

“I was going to look for you.” Kartal said, looking at Velvet.

“Well, you should be glad. Agorn Krischa won’t be joining the Arena tomorrow. And…”

“And?” Skugol asked.

“Do you wanna see a cursed mirror?”