Yv asked me halfway if we could make a stop at Boshi town as she loved the air in the Nightmare Boshi town. I told them that Boshi town had been destroyed for quite long, but this made the idols even more curious.

  Haha Agnis, they think that you destroyed it!

  Well one look will dispel that. No need for words if the proof is apparent.

  We arrived at Boshi hole, but it looked a bit different. Light corrupted animals had made their home here and we had entered their territory.

  “Wow, sorry Deca, we were wrong…”

  “T…this is terrible! So much nature… g…gone…”

  Yv went 4t mode and drove off some monsters, but there were too many, her 4t mode seemed to do something but the plants it created started to corrupt slowly.

  Greg's [Shadow Cloak] was protecting us, but it seemed even a 4t couldn't fix it.

  It seems that a dragon needs to consume this heavy light-based miasma first. There is not much I can do to this. Or we need a large group…

  Greg was exhausted from sending the miasma into his shadow and sending it to the dimension.

  Yv returned and I grabbed her with my tail.

  “Who would do this? This place was the place to be, now everything is light a woozy, totes not as fabulous as it was before…”

  I'm happy that Yv can control her aura switch better, but I wish she would talk a bit more normal.

  Well, you've all seen ‘Boshi Hole’ now let’s go to Witchaven!

  It had been years, but this area was still familiar to me as not much and changed besides the obvious light corruption. The sneaky mountain passes were still untouched, although some had collapsed due to earthquakes, which were probably caused by a certain fox forgetting to cancel out the inertia of a falling country.

  Does every mistake I make need to come and bite me back? The obstacles weren’t an issue for my agility and my passengers were enjoying their deluxe, fluffy ride.

  “D…don’t you get tired?”

  Hmm? Oh this? Nah, I’ve been doing this for years.

  Noelle took out a strange crystal and kept staring at it while I made twists and turns. “Very impressive, it doesn’t matter what direction you’re moving, you always keep us faced in the same direction we’re moving and at the same relative distance. Your big sis is proud!”

  Well, you guys will vomit all over my tails if I turn you into a milkshake.

  Yeah… it started when Ted vomited on his tails back in Hourai… he couldn’t take rides like this that well….

  Silence fell. Nobody had told the idols yet what happened with Ted. I can’t keep being the one to tell all the lore of our group, someone else can take this one.

  Raishin started to tell them what happened. How he ended up in Event Horizon and the events that led up to Ted’s death.

  I had been busy for so long that I had no time to take a moment of silence for him. It was a bit scary, at this rate I might completely forget about him as I have so many things to keep track of and deal with. It might go well for 10-20 maybe 50 more years, but will I remember after 100 years? And what about Jeremiah and Thalia?

  Thalia’s death had hit me the hardest, but it was more to fuel my motivation, I haven’t had a moment of silence for her after I sent her remains off. Am I that terrible of a friend?

  Another familiar mountain pass. It was where I had first transformed into a Misha. We were close to Witchaven so I slowed down and made detours so that Raishin could finish his story.

  “That’s very considerate, Deca.” Giana seemed to have noticed that I was giving Raishin time to finish.

  The first thing I noticed was that Witchaven’s barrier had massively increased in size and had gained various upgrades. I activated Elgards eyes, curious of what they had cooked up.

  On first glance it seemed to have made to deal with the fairy invasion, but certain sections seemed suspicious.

  For example, it had an extreme bias in keeping 9t outside. I wonder why? It also weakens any fire magic used in the barrier. Is it arrogant to think it’s to counter my [Fireball]? But doesn’t it have more demerits than merits?

  I located a section where this didn’t apply, how inconvenient. Did they even pay attention? [Fireball] was a demonstration… I could do the same to [Lightningbolt] and they would be screwed…

  They had upped the security on redirecting teleports. Nothing unexpected, the area around Azu’s house was destroyed, but her house was fine. It’s good that I locked it spatially. They must have been frustrated, realizing that they can’t destroy Azu’s house.

  Which brings me to a concerning conclusion. They don’t intend to accept Azu or her research. How hardheaded are these, Misha? Maybe they also need their heads cracked open. Their hats protect against this, but I luckily know how to deal with it.

  The Misha flying around seemed to have some fancy new security on their hats. So many redundancies. I didn’t need my tails to crack this. All without setting a foot close to them. Are they even trying?

  Raishin finished the story, so I stopped at an open space and gave everyone time to digest it.

  I know that it was a sad and heavy event, but the upcoming event might kill us if I don’t focus on infiltrating Witchaven. I apologized to Ted in my head and started to find out what illusions to put on Greg, Raishin, Noelle and Yv.

  The ones on Noelle and Yv should be easy as they’re women, Raishin and Greg would be rough.

  Greg could work well with a raven-haired Misha with a serious face. Maybe a bit moody face, so people would naturally want to avoid him. His name as a Misha would be Gerda Blackcloak.

  A lively airhead would suit Raishin, but that’s not Misha behavior, although the Misha I studied with deviated a bit from the older boring Misha. He will become a flat and short Misha else he will get distracted by having a woman’s body. The problem is the name, he would mess up and introduce himself as Raishin…how about Rai Shin, he will have the background that he got his last name from his father as ‘Shin’ isn’t a Misha last name.

  Noelle won’t need much as she could pass for a Misha as is, although her skin tone is off, but I don’t think it should be an issue. So, she would be Melody Crystalsole.

  Yv also doesn’t need many adjustments, although… she has long legs. They either need to be covered with a robe or the illusion needs to change that. Mobility is important though… Either option might hinder her. I guess she will become the clumsy Misha, I can already envision her tripping a lot, hehe. How about Silk Rabbitfoot for her as a name.

  Giana was an issue. From some journals that I’ve read about Azu, she got treated badly because of her figure, Giana would be subjected to the same, and she doesn’t seem like she’s from this continent so she needs the most change, but she can use [Transform] so I don’t have to deal with that.

  Now for me. I can’t use the name Agnès Oures nor her appearance. Oures isn’t even a Misha last name. It just shows that I had no idea what I was doing when I infiltrated Witchaven. My new name will be Minerva Dragoncall and I will be applying Giana’s tips on [Transform]. I will have to [Transform] into Agnès Oures first and then [Transform] again to change my apearance.

  The team had recovered, and I shattered several illusion layers and used [Transform] twice.

  Let’s see, voice tuning. 123. I think this sounds fine, how did I do, Deca?

  “Oh wow! You look gorgeous, your voice is a bit off, but you did well on that [Transform]!”

  Whoa! Me too!

  Right, this might sound bad, but I need to stab you guys.

  I stabbed Raishin with an [Illusionary Dagger] and he turned into Rai Shin.

  Huh? Rai Shin? And why am I flat?!

  I’ve set the information of your disguise in the [Illusionary Dagger].

  I stabbed Noelle and she turned into Melody Crystalsole. “Oh, I like the name and... I didn’t change much. This hat is heavy though…”

  Well, you look the most like a Misha but since you’re a popular idol you needed to look a bit different else, I would have left you the same.

  Yv came at me to get stabbed and turned into Silk Rabbitfoot. Her legs got shorter and the shift in her center of balance made her fall over after setting several steps. “Y…you knew this would h…happen!”

  Sorry, Misha don’t have legs as long and strong as yours as their physical condition is shit…

  “And me Deca? What do I get?”

  I raised my eyebrow.

  You’re a master in [Transform] you can kick my ass in creating appearances and identities without even trying, you should have actually directed those choices, lazy vixen!

  “Oh, come on! I was interested what you would come up with! So, what is the name of your appearance?”

  Minerva Dragoncall, why?

  Giana spun, transformed and nearly copied my appearance. “Well, then I will be your sister, Athena Dragoncall!”

  I facepalmed.

  Is this a new trend? Harassing me to become siblings?

  “It will make it normal for us to stay together! Anyway, there is one left.” She said, gave a mischievous smile and looked at Greg who started to back off.

  Uhh, maybe this is a bad idea.

  I flung the dagger, and it hit Greg, turning him in Gerda Blackcloak.

  Why am I the moody one? And why does my voice sound so monotone?

  Someone has to be! Anyway, the reason this selfish vixen turned into my ‘sister’ is because Misha prefer to act alone unless they need to otherwise. Most of the time is spent researching. I’m sorry Raishin, but you have to pretend to be competent. The illusion will do most of the work, as long as you do something completely idiotic you should be fine.

  Is it a good idea to leave him alone?

  No, so we’re on a timer. Find information on the curses before Raishin or me mess up, and we get the whole of Witchaven on our asses.

  “So what would be the best place to look?” Noelle asked while looking at herself in a crystal’s reflection.

  Well, there was a Misha Academy but it kinda… burned down. One of my biggest regrets as it was my most important source of information theft... my clone in the elven village is still transcribing anything I had stolen there…

  You sure love stealing information, first Jarn and now Witchaven.

  Well, I stole information from Witchaven first, but information is power!

  “W…wait! That would make us c…c…criminals!”

  Haha tough luck Yvonne! We’re already criminals!

  She is Silk Rabbitfoot now, I can see why Ag… Minerva gave you the name ‘Rai Shin’…

  Well get ready and prepare your act, Athena and I need to prepare to wring information out of the council.

  Nobody reacted, luckily as they were focusing on not messing up.

  Hey Deca, I thought that you would go and find out if they have information on Remi!

  “What if one of the council members knows charm magic? They are council members for a reason, you’re just walking into a trap!”

  Charm using Misha… yeah, I’ll pass on that, sure. Just suppress your vixen behavior, I’m not prepared to have you turn into a second Azu, it makes me mad.

  “How is their population doing fine with those moral and social standards?”

  The humans seem to be crazy about them, that’s why.

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  The original plan was that I would research some magic that leans on curses and write it in a controversial manner and bring it to the council to have it approved, and then hold a debate defending it and attempting to pull information out of them.

  Now Giana will join me in that, so it needs to have some layers of added complexity. It will take longer to create, but it might also give us the opportunity to gain more out of the paper submission.

  Don’t drag me down, Athena!

  “That’s not how you talk to your sister!” She said and I got hit by a headlock. “Would this work for quarreling siblings?”

  There is no reason to believe that our impersonation will be flawed.

  “We’re not impersonating anyone, though?”

  Ha stupid sister! That’s where you’re wrong! We’re impersonating Agnis Hourai and Giana Kahlua!

  “Oh, I see that you want an upgraded headlock!”

  Oh right, the patterns on our hats need to match as we’re ‘related’ Nilah! Hat!

  Nilah came out, shot an [Icicle] at Giana and turned into a hat.

  Giana took 0 damage. She frowned as she seemed a bit disturbed by Nilah’s behavior. Nilah’s pattern changed to resemble that of Giana’s hat.

  “Why is your hat prettier than mine?”

  Because I have studied Misha hats, get rekt foolish sister!

  “How would you like to get hit by my new move? The Tackle!” Giana tackled me and took me down.

  Whoa look, they have the quarreling sisters down! 9t are scary!

  I’m unsure if they’re practicing their impersonations or if they’re really quarreling.

  Haha! 0 attack power! What a weak sister!

  “I will get you back for that someday!”

  Noelle pulled us from each other. “Although I appreciate your closeness, your hair is a mess. Silk! Fix them up!”

  Huh? Wait I don’t need that girly stuff!

  Athena puffed up her nonexistent chest. “Heh, my sister has no style.”

  We kept fighting while Yv aka Silk fixed our hair.

  Mishaspire

  The teleport got redirected to a hall where all Misha gather to enter Witchaven. The first thing that I noticed was a sign reading ‘Mishaspire.’

  Is it a new skill or an incantation?

  Whoa! There are only women!

  “Behave yourself Rai! They will blow you up if you act out of line.” Melody warned.

  Minerva, why is it so crowded? Is the academic year starting?

  Well, a lot has changed so no clue, but they don’t care about academic years if you’re just coming here to research. Maybe something happened that made researching here attractive.

  Giana and I were linked up as we needed to gather enough information to make our situation more favorable. Giana spotted a Misha ID which had so many upgrades that our current ones were inadequate. She covered me while I remade our ID’s sneakily.

  Silk looked around at all the Misha and hats standing in long lines, waiting to be accepted into the city. “T..this is quite exciting!”

  For how long do we stay together? Isn’t it better if we don’t get seen together?

  Yes yes, we will stay together for as long as we can get away with. Here I made us new ID’s we will get kicked out with the ones I gave you earlier today.

  After reading some lips I found out that Witchaven had been renamed to Mishaspire and I relayed this to my team.

  So much had changed that it would be a miracle if we get through. A miracle… it’s not quite a miracle, but I prepared 9 [Illusionary Daggers] and made 1 float next to my team. They would get used up to change the situation to favorable conditions when they would make a mistake. Raishin got 3 of them and I got 2.

  As long as the dagger can stab the Misha border police, it should be fine.

  Right, scatter!

  We split up. This was a bad idea, but the idols would rather see us trying hard to get rid of the curses than to do nothing about it. We’re truly natural disasters… it's highly likelythat we will leave this place behind in a mess. The curse on us is most likely the doing of a Misha or her disciple, though so they started it, technically.

  And with that flawed logic, I will justify putting this city in ruins again.

  It was our turn. “ID and subject of research?”

  “Here you go, my sister and I are…”

  I got a better idea, so I interrupted Giana.

  We’re here to study [Hattrick].

  This Misha had a similar expression as Greg’s disguise.

  “Another one, even our brightest minds are having difficulties cracking it. I will need to see a demonstration or qualifications.”

  Why didn’t I think of this earlier? But they still haven’t figured it out? I was quite clear to point them toward Azu’s research. Don’t tell me they keep it taboo…

  I don’t know the stricture of [Hattrick] but I came up with a magic circle that has its active parts as sequences that I suspect it might have.

  I showed the Misha a nonsense magic circle. It did have some parts that I had used in [Hattrick].

  The Misha adjusted her glasses and took a closer look. “What?! How! And without reading the research paper?! Incredible!”

  My sister here came up with the idea and I put the sequences together. It cost us a lot of effort…

  “I haven’t been excited like this since the Silver Menace had entrusted the paper to us. Please continue, I hope you manage to pass the other checks. I will send them a note though. We could use all the help we need.”

  We got past the first check.

  “Is our plan changing?”

  Possibly, these morons still haven’t figured out the skill I left behind for them after all these years. All they had to do was to read Azu’s papers, but they’re taboo… I even referenced it heavily, so either [Hattrick] should be taboo too or they need to remove the taboo on her work. What is this council doing…

  “Are you going to drop [Hattrick] into their lap?”

  Oh, hell no! But I did have plans on expanding on it. I’m not sure how I would release the paper though, it will be suspicious if a random Misha comes out of nowhere and solves the problem that has plagued them for almost 6 years. They will suspect that it was me who snuck I again under a disguise.

  “Hmm, yeah, I would suspect that if I was a Misha. Can I learn it too?”

  Dunno, you need a hat for it…

  “But you don’t have a real hat either!”

  I’m cheating with Nilah.

  “But isn’t [Nilah] even harder to learn?”

  Yeah, that’s why I don’t think you can learn it.

  “Too bad… but that doesn’t matter! I have you and you know it!”

  So bright! So, dazzling!

  I got hit by the familiar headlock.

  “Are you two Minerva and Athena Dragoncall?” 3 serious looking Misha appeared and one seemed familiar. She might have been there when I torched Witchaven.

  “We are. What do you want from us?” Giana said while still keeping me in a headlock.

  Hey Athena, easy, you’re pulling my hair!

  “Then start behaving! We’re in Mishaspire!”

  “Having a sibling quarrel, eh? Either way, we had been notified that you two have potential. Can you show us the sequences you have come up with?”

  I showed the Misha what they wanted to see while still being head locked.

  “Forgive me if I’m prying but… doesn’t that hurt?” The council member said while pointing at my ‘locked’ state.

  Oh this? Nah my sister is as weak as a paper towel.

  “Minerva!” the ‘0 damage’ headlock turned into a ‘1 damage’ headlock.

  See? If she was a beast kin, my head would be rolling on the floor right now.

  A council Misha frowned. “More and more Misha with no sense of humor have been appearing lately… we might have to put stricter regulations on what races to mate with… The skill that went into crafting this magic circle is real, though. Follow us.”

  You can let go now Athena; I can’t solve [Hattrick] without my head…

  I got freed, and we got lead into the city. It looked nothing like I remembered. Wards and barriers everywhere. It did look more modernized, though. Did they also include the sewer system in these renovations?

  We got lead to a large building that hadn’t changed. It was close to the rebuilt Misha Academy. At least, I assume it is.

  Looks quite different from the last time I was here.

  “Oh, you have been here before?”

  Yeah, I got pranked by the Silver Menace… he dropped garlic oil in the plumbing system…

  “Oh that, while he was a Menace to this city, he also had brought various merits. Or so I’ve heard.”

  “You say that because you weren’t here when he burnt the city down!” The other council, Misha said.

  So, I was right, she was here when I burnt this place down.

  “Objectively speaking, that was your fault for leaving the barrier down.”

  “He had infiltrated before with the barrier still in place, why would that have mattered?

  “With the barrier down, anyone could have entered, spirit foxes are quite peaceful unless provoked. This is why I am the headmaster now. We take mythology seriously in Mildowa.”

  “But I’m also from Mildowa!”

  “Yes, but you studied here where mythology is lacking. The normal races are no threat to Misha. We shouldn’t study on how humans use magic; we should study how the mythical and legendary creatures use magic!”

  I like this new headmaster, so far, she sounds competent. The council Misha who I recognized was quite incompetent on a Misha level. Leaving the barrier open made it indeed quite easy to get in back there.

  “We’re here. This is where the council resides and conducts research and manages the city. I, Selina Silverspoon, am the new headmaster and the head of the council.”

  I did my best to refrain from making jokes containing a ‘Silver Spoon’. Giana also seemed to be struggling to keep it in.

  It seemed as if our meeting with the council had been greatly fast-forwarded as we got lead into a hall where 27 strong Misha were sitting behind some fancy, important looking desks. Some were [Levitating] on their catalysts.

  The first thing we noticed were the judging glares.

  “Who are these youngsters? You do know what happened the last time when we let Misha this young in our city right?”

  I completely forgot; they can somehow tell how old we are. I never found out, so I couldn’t prepare for that.

  The headmaster sat down. “I know, but if one of them is the Silver Menace, then that would benefit us greatly.”

  I got shivers through my spine. I had also forgotten that they wanted me to get a research partner.

  “Either way, I’m sorry to have you fall in repetition, but can you show the council what you showed us?”

  The circle went out, and the council was visibly impressed. They started talking under each other quite enthusiastically.

  “So now we have shown this circle 3 times, it wasn’t hard for us to create this. What can you do for us?!” Athena said as she crossed her arms.

  The headmaster put up her hand, gesturing to the other council members to shut up. Is this really a council? It seems more like a dictatorship. I bet this headmaster is stupidly strong.

  “We will provide you any resources you need to study [Hattrick] and a citizenship. We want to see some of your magic first though.” The headmaster said.

  “May we have a moment? This is a big moment for us!” Athena said ‘excitedly’. She nailed the tone of her voice to convince the council.

  “Sure.” The headmaster went to talk to the council members and Athena closed in.

  “Isn’t this a problem? Didn’t you change all your magic skills to become better? Won’t your magic stick out like a sore thumb?”

  That! Ohhh you’re right. Any chance we can cook up some collaboration magic and have you be the ‘caster’ and me as ‘assist’?

  “I don’t know any though…”

  I can cook up one.

  The [Dimensional Dagger] floating around me disappeared and allowed me to briefly break my disguise, get my tails out and cook up a collaboration magic with normal runes and an inefficiency matching the rest of the population. While going unnoticed.

  “I love it when you do this!”

  Hey there vixen, keep your charm under control, else this whole stunt will fail. Now what sort of collaboration magic will I craft?

  follow if the story is interesting enough.

  Ayaru Mistflower