“Dorothy, do you think there’s a type of illusion magic that can completely brainwash someone?”
“Dorothy?”
“Ah? Oh, I’m here.”
After being called several times, Dorothy finally came back to her senses, responding to Lucia, who was tilting her head in slight irritation.
“Sorry, I was thinking about something else. What did you just say, Lucia?”
“Ugh, Dorothy, you’ve changed. A normal person like me doesn’t even register in your ears anymore.”
Lucia shrugged, sighing in exasperation while teasing Dorothy in a joking tone.
“What’s wrong, what’s wrong? Is Miss Lu in a bad mood again today?”
Dorothy leaned closer and clung to Lucia’s left arm, playfully acting spoiled.
She tilted her head to look up into Lucia’s eyes with a pitiful expression.
As one of the few students in their year capable of taking Advanced Magic courses, Dorothy often chose to walk with Lucia to class.
At this moment, the two girls were making their way to the Magus Institute, ready to attend the afternoon’s Advanced Illusion class.
“Alright, alright, I’m done joking.”
Lucia chuckled softly.
She didn’t shake off Dorothy, and instead continued speaking.
“I was just curious—what exactly is the difference between advanced illusion magic and the stuff we’re learning now?”
“The difference? Maybe the way it’s triggered, how long it lasts, how it’s used, and who it targets?”
“So… basically just a stronger version of what we already use? Doesn’t sound all that advanced.”
“Well, we haven’t seen it yet, so we’re just guessing. But you’re right—it’s hard to picture what makes it advanced illusion magic.”
“That’s why I was wondering today—are there illusion spells out there that can rewrite memories or even swap out someone’s personality?”
“Something that dangerous probably only exists in the Grand Archive of the Magus Institute.”
“You’re probably right.”
Lucia lowered her head in boredom, tilting it as she gazed absentmindedly at Dorothy, who seemed lost in thought beside her.
What was Dorothy thinking about right now?
As for Lucia, she was imagining using an illusion spell to wipe Sheffil and Jianle from Dorothy’s memory, replacing them entirely with herself.
Then they’d run away to a place no one could find and live a quiet married life.
But if that happened, wouldn’t Sheffil and Jianle hunt her down with everything they had?
Today, Dorothy had uncharacteristically not mentioned either of them.
She was simply chatting with her, with Lucia.
And somehow, that made Lucia uncomfortable—like she didn’t deserve this pure friendship.
Dorothy was treating her so sincerely, yet all Lucia could think about was how to use low, despicable means to take her for herself.
The guilt tugged at her.
With a soft sigh, Lucia quietly slipped her arm out of Dorothy’s grasp.
“But now that you mention it,” Dorothy said suddenly, snapping out of her thoughts, “I just remembered a special kind of illusion magic that a senior in our class once told us about.”
“Hmm? What kind of illusion?”
Lucia frowned.
Again with the senior?
Had every decent man in the world died, leaving no one from a fantasy novel to sweep Dorothy, this beautiful girl, off her feet?
Ah—wrong focus, Lucia.
Dorothy ignored Lucia’s shifting expression.
She was trying hard to recall the words spoken by the older girl who also wore a witch’s hat.
Her voice became a soft murmur, half speaking to Lucia, half talking to herself.
“Seventh-tier magic—Siren’s Song. It gradually erases the target’s presence from the world. Bit by bit, they fade from photos, from everyday life, from the memories of people they know. People start forgetting them.”
“The world’s perception of the target and the target’s perception of the world both weaken until they vanish completely, as if they were never here. That’s the effect, I think.”
“There’s magic like that?!”
Lucia’s eyes lit up.
“Mhm. But since it’s a seventh-tier illusion, it places harsh demands on both the caster and the target. If the target holds any social status or has lots of connections, the spell becomes almost impossible to succeed.”
Dorothy explained the spell to Lucia casually, as if just passing the time.
“The caster also has to feed the magic circle with a continuous supply of mana until the target disappears completely. If the flow is interrupted even once, the entire spell fails. It’s kind of a useless spell, honestly.”
“I see…”
Lucia’s tone noticeably dimmed.
“Come on, it’s not like a spell that powerful would work that easily anyway. That level of difficulty is to be expected.”
Dorothy tugged down the brim of her witch’s hat with a sigh.
“Illusions are still most useful for trickery in battle, anyway. Ah—Lucia.”
Lucia turned back, puzzled as she looked at Dorothy, who had come to a stop.
“We’ve arrived at the Magus Institute.”
***
Inside the Blazing Sword Dojo, just after dismissing the students, Van Gaul stood staring at the broken shards of an iron sword at his feet.
“How strange… how did this sword break again?”
..What? So it did get used?