The messenger entered from the open door while raising his voice.
「Excuse my impolitiness」
「......Illusion」
Astarte muttered while looking towards the door covering her voice under the Messenger's voice.
「Mirage-Sama, Astarte-Sama, please allow me to give the message from the Demon Castle. 」
The Messenger saluted towards an empty space and took out a letter from his pocket.
Mirage and Astarte are still on the bed, but he is talking in a completely different direction as if they are invisible.
「Yes, certainly, this is the content. 」
Then he handed out the letter he held in his right hand, and let go of it.
Naturally, the letter flutters down and reaches the floor with a rustling sound.
However, the messenger doesn't seem to be aware of the situation at all and he just again saluted in the space.
「Then I will excuse myself. 」
Whether he was talking to a transparent person, or acting alone, or seeing some sort of hallucination, the Messenger left the room as if he had finished his work.
There was a moment of silence in the room with the closing of the door.
「Just now...... was that you Tart-Chan? 」
Mirage asked Tart in an impressed tone.
「Yes, thanks to you, it worked out pretty well. I won't know until I try it out with a large number of people, but it seems to be practical. 」
Astarte responded with a straight face, then she got up from the bed and went to pick up the letter on the floor.
Her attitude was as if nothing special had happened, but the way in which the Messenger had been sent away was clearly not an ordinary one.
「It's frightening …...in such a short time....... Tart-Chan is indeed a genius. 」
It is unusual for Mirage to be trembling as well as admiring at the same time.
The strange appearance of the messenger was due to Astarte, who cast Illusion Magic as soon as he entered the room.
What he saw was the figure of Astarte and Mirage standing in the room, the two people on the bed were completely invisible to him.
He saluted towards the illusion of Astarte and Mirage and handed the letter to the same, up to now Astarte's Illusion Magic made the subject feel a sense of dissonance after a little time has passed.
Like when the messenger hands the letter to them, he touches the fingertips of Mirage's illusion, at that time he should be able to tell the oddness, as he will not feel his body temperature.
So, Astarte had created an illusion by acting upon the 3 of the 5 senses of the Messenger, that is the sense of sight, the sense of hearing and the sense of touch.
「I've been touching Mirage-Sama's body for quite a long time now. And because we were alone, I was able to concentrate. 」
A few hours after Mirage's return to the Shadow Castle, Astarte had confined him in his room and has been continuously touching this body.
This made his image vivid and misled the messenger, but as Mirage mentioned earlier this has already reached the level of a genius.
Even if it just affects ordinary people, the Illusion Magic has a very high difficulty level and it was not just influencing the sense of sight but the sense of hearing as well as the sense of touch, that is on three senses.
Moreover, as far as the sense of touch is concerned, it took only a few hours or so to create a perfect image.
Mirage was deeply impressed by the fact that none of the Imperial Court Mages could do this.
「still.....this, am I being excessively careless?」
The thing is that Mirage has never allowed anyone to catch up with him in terms of magical use.
Of course, since he concealed his real abilities, they are not recognized by others -- yet he is still considered to be a magical prodigy-- but he has never seen anyone who has magical powers equalling himself with his true power.
It includes the hero Julia, the saint Palmina, the Demon King and the other Heavenly Kings.
Naturally, it is not only Magic when it comes to actual battles and victory or defeat is known only after the battle, but Mirage realized just now that someone is catching up with him in terms of magical skills.
It is difficult to sublimate the Illusion Magic, and it is the result of Astarte's tireless efforts and overflowing talent.
In response to such an Astarte, Mirage, whose expression is not visible due to the mask, is shaking with joy.
His natural character was lazy, but Mirage---Falsa--- turned worse as he learned about the powers of common mages, after he joined the Demon King's Army and became an Imperial Court Mage.
He always stood at the top without any effort ….... which also resulted in his current situation.
You might think that kind of environment might have aided in him losing interest in his work......no, laziness, cumbersomeness, procrastination was originally Mirage's thing, it is not the same.
「You're joking. I am aware that I am still not strong enough. It's no use trying to fan it up and skip work.」
Mirage has used various ways to push his work on Astarte such as flattering, coaxing and so on.
For Astarte, it's no wonder to think in response that he was trying to do the same again.
「No--, I don't mean to leave when I say so, but anyways.... when did you train up to that point? Although it's because of me, I think that I have been very busy.」
「Nothing...... I just thought of making time for it and I somehow managed to do so. That and I made the illusion like Mirage-Sama every day and thought to not lack in training. 」
Among the Shadow soldiers, Astarte is the only one who knows about Mirage's absence.
In other words, it was a daily practice to create Illusions of Mirage.
Under these circumstances, it is no wonder that Astarte is often harsh on Mirage.
Since he has put his subordinate through such hardships, that it will not be strange for her if he changes his mind before long...
「But with that much ability, you can replace me as the part of the 4 Heavenly Kings right away. How do you like it? Why don't you tell the Demon King? This isn't flattery, and I think Tart-Chan's Illusion magic will be recognized. I think it's probably the best ability in the Demon King's Army. 」
In other words, Mirage has a lazy personality regardless of his surroundings.
But his evaluation of Astarte's magic seemed genuine and his voice was serious.
She looked at Mirage, who was unusually serious, for a moment, and then regained her composure and said.
「Don't be ridiculous. If I were to become the Four Kings... Yes, I will when I cut off Mirage's dirty neck. Please wash your neck and wait until then. Rather, what was written in the letter was a summon from the Demon King to both of us. I'm going to prepare a little, so I'm going ahead. Please wear your clothes and wait for me in the office. 」
She swiftly left the room with Mirage staring at her back.
But Mirage was not aware that, Astarte whose back was turned towards him was smiling which was quite unusual and rare.
Astarte had an innocent smile, like the smile of a child who was praised by her parents.
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