IEGM 03

Chapter 3

Brilliant platinum-blonde hair and pale green eyes like fresh sprouts.

Even her unfocused gaze, as if she had lost her mind.

She looked emotionless, like a perfectly crafted doll.

She was my favorite character, Ansharie Serentia.

Looks like the brainwashing has progressed much further than it did with Tiamia.

While I was examining Ansharie’s condition, Cain grabbed her hand and pulled her forward.

“Lady Ansharie, tell us what you felt while staying in the recuperation room.”

“I am a good daughter who faithfully obeys Father’s commands. Father’s words are absolute and must never be disobeyed.”

A flat, mechanical voice flowed from her lips without the slightest rise or fall.

Seeing it in person… this place is even more insane than I thought.

Through Tiamia’s memories, I had vaguely understood what was happening, though parts of it were blurred by the mental magic itself, so I hadn’t known exactly how the brainwashing worked.

But the reality was far more horrifying.

“Well done.”

I tightened my arms around the raccoon, struggling to keep my expression from twisting with disgust, while Cain looked down at Ansharie with a satisfied smile.

It was the gaze of someone admiring a perfectly completed work of art.

Does this bastard not even see us as human beings?

I bit my lower lip hard to suppress the surge of anger, and while I struggled to calm myself, he shoved my back.

“Lady Tiamia, go inside.”

Without replying, I slowly stepped into the room.

At the same time, the heavy iron door slammed shut behind me.

From here on, it’s completely unknown territory.

Whenever this iron door closed, Tiamia always lost consciousness.

Which meant even I had no idea what happened inside this room.

I stayed on guard, tense in the darkness, expecting something to leap out at me at any moment.

But unexpectedly, the room remained silent.

Blink. Blink.

As my eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, I slowly surveyed the room.

Then something strange caught my attention.

A purple flame?

The fire flickering atop the candlestick was an eerie, dark violet.

It looked almost as if it were burning the darkness itself.

Maybe that was why it didn’t seem suitable for lighting the room.

Why would they light something like this? Does it serve another purpose?

As curiosity drew me closer to the candle, I noticed a strange scent.

It smelled floral, sweet, and somehow intoxicating…

“Kyaa!”

For the first time, the raccoon let out a sharp cry.

Startled by the sudden sound, I jumped—and in the next instant, something even more shocking happened.

A strange smoke began flowing out from the purple flame, gathering together before being absorbed into the raccoon.

At the same time, the bizarre flickering flame went out, and the strange scent vanished.

Since my eyes had already adjusted somewhat to the darkness, I saw it clearly.

“What did you just do?”

“Kiiing! Kiing. Kiing!”

“You ate it?”

“Nng.”

“What did you eat?”

“Kiiing, kiing.”

Because of the familiar bond between us, I had been able to hold simple conversations with the raccoon up until now, but this time his meaning was too vague for me to understand.

Did he just say something too advanced for me to comprehend?

Since I couldn’t make sense of it at all, I quickly gave up.

“Sorry, I don’t understand.”

“Kiiing.”

“But you helped me, right?”

“Nng!”

“Ah, does this have something to do with the mental magic in this room?”

“Nng! Kiing. Nng.”

The raccoon continued trying to explain something, but once again, all I could do was nod along vaguely.

“Hmm… anyway, I understand that you helped me by destroying something connected to the mental magic.”

“Kiiing…”

The raccoon let out an uncertain cry.

Like he was saying, Yeah, close enough.

After that strange guessing-game conversation, some of my tension faded.

Looks like I didn’t get affected by the mental magic either.

I let out a relieved sigh and began feeling along the wall.

Earlier, when the corridor light briefly illuminated the room, I had noticed magical lamps attached to the walls.

Which meant there had to be some sort of switch somewhere.

So I carefully felt around the wall near the door, searching for it, but couldn’t find anything.

Don’t tell me the switch is outside?

That would be the worst-case scenario.

Even if my eyes had adjusted to the darkness, it would still be easier to search the room with proper lighting.

Then I suddenly remembered that the button Cain had pressed in the hallway had been placed at his height, not lower down.

Instead of searching beside me, I stretched my arm upward.

My fingers brushed against something.

Click.

At the sound of something being pressed, the room instantly brightened.

The sudden light made me flinch and frown, but once I recovered, I slowly looked around the room.

White wallpaper. Red carpet. A massive bed.

It didn’t resemble a torture chamber at all.

This is my first time properly seeing the inside.

I carefully inspected the room again.

Maybe there was something related to the mental magic hidden somewhere.

But my guess was wrong.

Aside from the candle with the purple flame, everything else looked completely ordinary.

“So this really was the source.”

I picked up the candle lying on the floor.

It’s strange that there isn’t a single trace of melted wax even though it must’ve burned for a long time.

It looked like an ordinary candle you could find anywhere, but when I turned it upside down, a dark red magic circle was drawn on the bottom.

As expected, the mental magic used to brainwash Tiamia and Ansharie must have come from this candle.

Now that the flame was extinguished, there was probably no danger of being brainwashed anymore.

Only then did I finally relax completely and sit down on the edge of the bed.

If the raccoon hadn’t been here, I might’ve ended up brainwashed just like the original Tiamia… Wait. Then what exactly is this raccoon?

It wasn’t hard to guess that the raccoon had somehow neutralized the mental magic for my sake.

But I had no idea what kind of ability he had used.

To begin with, familiars were beings that formed master-servant contracts with mages—summoned creatures, tamed monsters, animals, or even members of other races.

Because familiars were connected to their masters through mana, they became stronger than ordinary animals or monsters and could communicate with their masters.

But they weren’t supposed to suddenly gain entirely new powers.

Which meant the destruction of the mental magic was this raccoon’s own unique ability.

Most of my magical knowledge came from Tiamia’s memories, but I was certain of this much.

Besides, he’s not even a familiar that existed in Tiamia’s memories. He was suspicious from the beginning.

I was convinced he wasn’t an ordinary raccoon, but no matter how much I stared at him, he didn’t look like a monster or another race either, so my questions remained unanswered.

Looking down at the fluffy brown creature, I finally asked outright,

“You’re not a normal raccoon, are you?”

The raccoon, who had understood everything I’d said up until now, tilted his head and looked up at me innocently.

For a moment I almost fell for it because of his pure eyes.

But this was definitely an act.

Through the faint emotional connection between us, I could strongly sense he was lying.

At the very least, he’s definitely smarter than a normal animal!

Judging by the way he pretended not to understand an inconvenient question.

“So what exactly are you?”

I stretched his cheeks as I questioned him.

“Grrr.”

His voice was lower than usual, filled only with displeasure and no actual answer.

“Our mana really is connected.”

Since entering Tiamia’s body, I had done nothing but magical training for the past week, so I’d become somewhat capable of sensing the strange mana that hadn’t existed in my previous life.

That was why I could feel the mana from my mana circle flowing through the raccoon as well.

Which probably explained why we could communicate.

“Tell me honestly.”

“Kkyuuung. Kkyu. Kkiu. Nng. Kiiing.”

“What?”

“Kkyu. Kkyu. Nng. Kiiing.”

“Are you deliberately making it complicated so I can’t understand?”

“Kkyuu…”

The raccoon quietly avoided my gaze.

That expression says I hit the mark.

I almost pressed him further, but stopped myself.

I had no idea why he was hiding it, but at least I was certain he had no intention of harming me.

So instead, I buried my hands in his soft brown fur and said,

“You’re my familiar, right?”

“Kiiing!”

“You’re my ally. You’d never betray me, right?”

“Nng!”

There wasn’t even the slightest hesitation in his affirmation.

“Good. Then that’s enough.”

Because our communication mostly felt like our thoughts were linked together, I could roughly distinguish truth from lies.

That was why I could trust his answer when he said he would never betray me.

Though separately from that, I still need to figure out exactly what abilities he has.

But that could wait until after I safely escaped this cursed family.

I let out a deep sigh and gave up trying to uncover my familiar’s true identity.

Then another issue occurred to me.

I still hadn’t given this little guy a name.

If we were going to keep living together, I couldn’t keep casually calling him “Raccoon” forever.

Watching him stretch lazily like a cat, I cautiously spoke.

“Do you already have a name?”

Since he obviously wasn’t an ordinary raccoon, I thought there was a chance he might already have one.

“Kii.”

The suspicious aura he’d been giving off vanished instantly, and he immediately shook his head.

“Then should I give you one?”

“Nng!”

The raccoon’s dark eyes sparkled with anticipation at the suggestion.

Suddenly this feels like a lot of pressure.

I began blurting out whatever names came to mind.

“How about Brownie?”

“Kiii!”

He vigorously shook his head in dissatisfaction and let out a grumpy cry.

“Tree? Choco? Or maybe Mocha?”

“Kiii! Kiii! Kiii!”

“Then what about Walnut?”

“Kii!”

“No to that too, huh.”

I rattled off every name I could think of that would suit a brown puppy, but every single one was rejected.

After failing for so long, I started getting a little annoyed.

Whenever I looked at this guy, all that came to mind were raccoon mascots, amusement parks, and ramen.

Crossing my arms, I fell into deep thought.

Small raccoon. Smallcoon. Raccy. Or maybe Little Raccoon in English? He’d probably hate those too.

Possessing naming sense from another world entirely, I finally picked the least terrible combination I could think of.

“Lira.”

It was short for Little Raccoon.

“Nng?”

Oh, he reacted to that one.

If I explained the meaning behind it, he’d probably reject it immediately, so I deliberately kept quiet.