Chapter 121: Chapter One Hundred and Eighteen: Mirror Trick

Invigorated by her vow, Qube very carefully made sure not to lead the way into the next room. Instead she just stared at the other party members and made encouraging motions, to try and coax them into going on ahead. This seemed to mostly just confuse the others, but eventually Sewer Bard seemed to get the hint.

 

“Of course, let me lead the way,” he said, touching the brim of his hat. “I shall search for traps, and make sure the way is safe!”

 

Qube beamed at him, and immediately followed directly behind him into the next room. He strummed a few notes on his lute, and looked around the room carefully. 

 

“Everything appears safe, my fair woman of worth,” he said gallantly.

 

“Excellent!” Qube said, pleased that his foray into leadership had gone so well. She would now need to make sure that someone else would take the lead in the next room, to avoid the curse of Bosshood.

 

Managing an entire team without the Chosen One at the helm took a surprising amount of thought! It turned out that the way the Chosen One was able to order people around without any hesitation was actually a diplomatic skill, rather than a lack thereof. As everyone entered the room, they rotated and looked at the Chosen One, who ignored them all and started going through his backpack. After some rummaging, he pulled out a handful of feathers and started laying them next to each other on the floor, rearranging them occasionally.

 

“I’m paying attention,” he promised, holding up a particularly pretty feather and tickling his cheek with it, before carefully placing it in the centre of the lineup.

 

Looking around this new room, Qube noted that it looked remarkably similar to the last one. This time, however, the mirrors weren’t in free-standing brackets. Instead there were several large, clear blocks with mirrors at various angles inside of them, and grooves cutting paths across the floor. One of the blocks was already lit up, the light hitting the slightly twisted mirror at the back of it.

 

Qube reached forward and gave one of the blocks an experimental push. It easily slid along the groove in the floor, making only a mild grinding sound. Some of the blocks were fixed, with no grooves to move along. She shoved one, but it didn’t budge. Remembering the lesson from the last room, she scanned the walls until she spotted a white gem.

 

Qube instantly calculated the trajectory for the optimal light path to hit said gem. Rather than saying anything, however, she held back. She would wait a second for the others to gather themselves, before helpfully guiding them to the answer. She wasn’t sure why, exactly, the Light Temple had thought that a puzzle solved in seconds was any kind of test, but that was just one of the many, many strange things she would need to investigate.

 

Why, if she kept finding more questions that needed answers, she might have enough material to publish two, or even three books! The idea of writing up to nine pages was dizzying to contemplate. It would truly be her life’s work. After the whole saving the world thing, of course.

 

For the first time since discovering the truth about the Chosen One, and being offered the chance to ascend, Qube realised that she might not be able to continue her research into the Temples. After all, if the Devs wanted her and the others to ascend to their realm, then surely that meant they had great need of their skills? Possibly they needed them to fight against the Evil Devs, once the party had defeated their puppet here in the kingdom.

 

The thought of the Evil Devs, and the Evil Emperor, made her feel sick. It was like a tendril of fear had slid into her stomach, and made a nest there. Oh, she’d know the Evil Emperor was Evil before, but it had never felt real. He’d been Evil in an abstract kind of way, and it could all be easily fixed by putting the rightful rulers back on the throne.

 

She now knew what real Evil looked like, and it was more horrifying than any story told to her could’ve conveyed. The idea of the Evil Emperor potentially being forced into committing such acts by a Dark Prophecy made her fists clench in anger. Even worse was the idea of there being a dark version of Qube by his side, chained by said Dark Prophecy into guiding the Evil Emperor into Evil.

 

Granted, the Evil Emperor in the village had done a lot of laughing, and really seemed to enjoy his job of being Evil, but that could have just been a facade to cope with it all! Just like how Qube would teehee to cope with stress!

 

She was going to free the Evil Emperor (and hypothetical dark Qube) from the Dark Prophecy, or kill him trying! And then [Revive] him! And then defeat the Evil Devs, come back home, and get on with her research!

 

It was the perfect plan.

 

Qube was abruptly brought back from her plotting to overthrow the current ruler of their kingdom by the sound of a door sliding open. Sewer Bard was looking extremely pleased with himself.

 

“A job very well done indeed, my fellow adventurers!” he said, the most cheerful Qube had heard him since he’d found the Bardic Archive. “Come now, follow my lead!” He strutted towards the next room, head held high.

 

“Good work everyone!” Qube said, expertly covering the fact that she had no idea what they’d actually done. A quick glance showed her that each party member was taking their hands away from one of the moveable blocks. Had Sewer Bard been guiding them? That didn’t seem right. And he was still leading them! Oh no!

 

Qube hurriedly rushed to Definitely Bad Guy’s side as he walked into the third Temple room.

 

“You did really well,” she said, banking on this probably being true. “Would you like to take a turn leading in the next room? After all, we’re supposed to be working together, and that means everyone gets a chance to lead for a little bit, teehee!”

 

Qube tilted her head to the side and smiled at the dazzled Mage. Internally she was annoyed that she had once again accidentally teeheed. But the effect on Definitely Bad Guy was certainly worth it. The Mage went bright pink, then dead white.

 

“Ah,” he said, sounding surprisingly unsure of himself. He pulled out a book from his robes and rapidly flipped through it, as if searching for something. His ears were once again starting to turn red. He glanced up from his book, made eye contact with Qube, and then frantically looked around the room.

 

He stopped when he spotted Squiggles, who had been wrapped around one of the blocks, presumably to yank it into place.

 

“Does this mean that every party member will be leading us at some point?” he asked Qube. “I have no wish to insult your familiar, but I would not advise giving her control over anyone. Or anything,” he added as an afterthought. Squiggles released her block, stood on the tips of her tentacles and gave an insulted hiss at the Mage, who raised a hand in surrender.

 

“Do not misunderstand me,” he said to Squiggles. “I do not intend to slander your good nature, or intelligence. But your inability, that is, your passion, means that you will be unable to make the hard calls required of a leader. Nor do I think you would be allowed to sacrifice yourself if the situation called for it, like a true leader should.”

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Squiggles flattened herself to the ground, clearly thinking this argument over.

 

Qube wasn’t entirely sure what kind of situations the Mage was thinking they would need to make hard calls for. This was just a Temple potentially filled with unique monsters, and at least one giant Boss that would attempt to rend them limb from limb, as well as whatever traps they would stumble across, or dangerous acrobatics they would need to pull off to continue.

 

That was all perfectly normal, though. There was no need for him to be so dramatic!

 

However, she saw the way everyone turned to the Chosen One when they entered the third room, and realised that there had been times where they had needed decisions made. If they didn’t take their temporary leader seriously, they would all either end up dithering, and potentially causing problems, or defaulting to the Chosen One, thus defeating the purpose of them leading themselves.

 

Squiggles seemed to have reached a similar conclusion. She opened her mouth at Definitely Bad Guy, showing off some teeth, before slorping begrudgingly into the centre of the room, dancing around in a circle, facing Definitely Bad Guy, and then swaying expectantly, waiting for him to lead.

 

Sewer Bard grimaced, but gave a shallow bow to the Mage.

 

“The point is well made,” he said graciously. “Let this room be yours to dictate, then.”

 

Qube scanned this new room, noting that this one, at least, appeared to be laid out differently from the last two rooms. There were two obelisks on either side of a closed doorway, and a series of strange shapes on the floor. There also appeared to be several small, round holes arranged in square patterns on some of the walls. 

 

Where was the shaft of light? Sure, there was the general ambient lighting one would expect in an enclosed space with no windows, but how were they supposed to redirect beams of light if there was no beam to start with?

 

Taking on the lessons of the last two rooms, Qube tried to see the bigger puzzle.

 

“Be careful of traps,” Sewer Bard told the Chosen One. Qube shot him a reproving look, then nodded her head to Definitely Bad Guy, trying to signal who the Bard should be talking to. Sewer Bard had to break the habit of acting like the Saviour of All Human and Human-Adjacent Beings was the one in charge!

 

“[Detect Traps],” Sewer Bard cast, his fingers dancing over his lute’s strings. He looked around the room, his gaze momentarily dwelling in several places. “There appear to be a large number of traps in this room,” he said thoughtfully. “We should proceed with caution.”

 

Could the traps somehow be related to whatever puzzle this room held? Did they have to disable them all in a particular order? Or would each trap give them a mirror or beam of light?

 

The Chosen One took a careful step to the side of the entrance they’d just walked through, and propped his shoulders against the wall. Qube continued her analysis of the room, searching for the bigger puzzle.

 

Definitely Bad Guy, on the other hand, seemed more interested in the spell Sewer Bard was using.

 

“It appears,” he was saying looking intensely at the Bard, “to be similar to my [Curse Sight], just designed to look for something slightly different.”

 

Qube felt herself blushing a little at this frank discussion of spells, but forced herself to remember that, for Definitely Bad Guy at least, this was purely an intellectual discussion. Why, she might end up having to write about spells herself, if she determined that the Temples were, indeed, manipulating their own insides.

 

“Does it only work on magical traps?” the Mage continued, oblivious to Qube’s inner qualms. “Or will a mechanical trap set it off as well?”

 

“Any trap,” Sewer Bard said confidently. “If it is designed with malicious intent, then I will sense it!”

 

“Fascinating,” Definitely Bad Guy rubbed his chin. “So the intent of the trap-maker counts? What if someone were to inadvertently make a trap? Would you still be able to sense that? Or a trap that would not harm you, but may bring pain to a different species?”

 

Sewer Bard did not seem at all phazed by this barrage of questions. Instead he seemed to stand a little taller. 

 

“I would detect any trap that would bring distress to a fair creature!” he declared proudly.

 

“What about a verbal trap?” the Chosen One said, then looked slightly abashed. “Sorry. Not interfering. Continue picking apart the world. Enjoy!”

 

“Of course,” Definitely Bad Guy said seriously. He looked back to the Bard. “So what if it is something that will injure an unfair creature? Will you still detect it?”

 

The Chosen One sighed.

 

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