Athena and I left in the late afternoon in our Misha disguises. Athena was tasked with harassing the Misha during her hair treatment as she knew the best on how to mess with her, while the sauna would be my task.

  Hey, Deca, just a question… we’re sneaking up to a woman in a sauna. Shouldn’t you be against me peeping on other women?

  “Silly Deca, my body is way more seductive, and I’m way hotter than she could ever be, there is 0 risk of me losing to her, moreover, only charm users are a threat. This is a non-issue.”

  Wow that’s toxic, you’re not wrong though…

  The soap Misha was already inside the hair salon, confirming that Athena’s prediction was correct.

  “Look at her enjoying the hair salon instead of making better products…” Athena flicked her hand in frustration and cast an illusion that slowly turned the hair of the soap Misha frizzy and into some strange kind of afro.

  It looked hilarious, and the Misha screamed as if her life was ending. I noticed something concerning during this hilarious moment. Her hat and catalyst were too far from her. She is in a city that is deemed safe but…

  Memories flashed by of Remi and all the other semi competent to competent Misha I have met, and they always had their hats and catalyst within arm’s length.

  Sure, her hair can’t be done with the hat on her head but… 10 meters… over the average effective range of a Misha hat. If she were to be attacked now, she would just be like a human. When did the Misha become so careless? They never caught the Misha killer did they?

  The hairdresser tried to help the hysterical soap Misha and my empathy for her reached rock bottom. Careless and creates shitty products, she only misses arrogance and incompetence.

  Athena turned the hair color of the soap Misha to the ugliest color I’ve ever seen. Not the type of prank I would do, but it seems to be very effective.

  “This hairdresser is impressive, look she has already salvaged the situations.” Athena pointed at the hairdresser that had made the soap Misha presentable, despite the pranks. “I might consider giving her a visit and you…” She lifted my hat and inspected my hair. “You need to visit her too…”

  Huh? Why? I will just tie it up in a bun.

  “We’re disguised as sisters, right? I don’t want you to look like a cave woman next to me.”

  Its fine right?

  Athena shook her head in disapproval and started another prank. The soap Misha had her hair turn into long disgusting earthworms.

  How upset is Giana with this Misha? Maybe I’m greatly underestimating how important her appearance and smell is to her. Maybe I should try this hair stuff to not stress her out…

  I started to brush my hair while observing the pranks.

  Ouch… it feels like brushing your tails.

  “So you finally noticed, treat your hair like you treat your tail.” She said with a pleasant smile.

  What a hypocrite, she treats her tails like I treat my hair…

  The soap Misha flipped out on the nice hairdresser, which pissed us off, the hairdresser was also careless and had her catalyst far away. There was no way the hairdresser could have caused this.

  Will she even go to the sauna now? She seems pissed, I would go home if I was the Soap Misha.

  “Don’t worry, she will have more reason to go to the sauna now. We don’t benefit from saunas because of our heat resistance, but it is relaxing.”

  The soap Misha went to the sauna as Athena predicted. “You’re up Deca, make her suffer!”

  The [Illusionary Daggers] floating around me came into action and flew off. One stabbed her and another one changed the scene.

  “How do those work actually?”

  Uhh, besides casting normal illusions, they put an importance on mimicking or creating events that I’ve experienced. It’s not their full capability, but it needs imagination. I’m not lacking imagination, but it’s easier to create something that rivals reality if I’ve experienced it.

  “Then this Misha is toast!”

  The area around the soap Misha turned into a swamp. I gestured to Athena, and we put bubbles on our heads. The scent of Raishin’s biohazard got activated and the Misha started to scream.

  That is what I thought, as the bubble blocked stink and sound.

  Her hat was nowhere to be seen, but her catalyst was near. It turned into her body soap. She didn’t hesitate to use it, but as expected, it didn’t work.

  Very good soap is needed to get rid of the stink of Raishin’s biohazard. Greg and I don’t bother, as Greg banishes them in shadows and eliminates the shadow to destroy them, or I incinerate them. It's cheaper for us to buy new socks and underwear for him than use liters of soap to get rid of the smell. Noelle has a rough life in front of her.

  The Misha started acting weird and was gasping for air, after which she passed out. I lifted the illusion to find out what was going on.

  “What happened? Why isn’t she moving?”

  We were still concealed by illusions, so we entered her cabin and Athena poked her.

  “Deca… I think she’s dead…”

  Don’t be silly, nothing about my illusion was lethal…besides the smell… you don’t think…

  “Noelle is in danger…” Athena grabbed me and dragged me away.

  Wait! Shouldn’t we deal with this? My assassin background doesn’t allow for me to leave a body behind!

  “It will be worse if a Misha suddenly disappears! What if they will suspect the nice hairdresser? Let’s leave her here. It’s unfortunate what happened to her, but I currently care more for Noelle!”

  Athena grabbed me and successfully dragged me home.

  Greg and I always made jokes about the stink of Raishin’s socks and underwear being deadly, but I would have never expected that to be true. Did she die to asphyxiation, or did she get poisoned?

  She could have prevented it if she had kept her hat close… Are we in the wrong? Yes. Do we care? Not really. I suppose this is the ‘hate’ in the love-hate relationship the Misha have with 9t.

  The biggest problem is the aftermath…

  “Deca, I’ve found Noelle’s house. Let’s pay her a visit.”

  It wasn’t too far from our house. A building looking like a large chunk of polygonal crystal ore made it quite clear who lived there.

  A tired Melody Crystalsole opened the door after we rang the doorbell. “Oh, it’s you guys. Come in.”

  Melody’s house looked like a mix of a stonemason’s workshop and a music studio. Quite unique. She had various strange crystals floating around her.

  Crystallized mana… no wonder you look so tired, when is the last time you rested?

  “They disappear when I fall asleep… I need to figure out how to stabilize them so they remain after I fall unconscious.”

  I nodded at Athena who started refreshing Melody.

  Noelle, we’re here to confess a crime and to warn you… Deca and I just pulled a prank on the soap Misha.

  “Good! Her products are terrible! I don’t feel clean at all after using her products! Prank her again on my behalf!”

  “Noelle… that’s not possible, our prank kind of… killed her…”

  Melody stared at us. “You… I suppose it was unintentional?”

  We nodded and Melody sighed. “So what is the warning? That we need to get out of here immediately?”

  Oh… that would actually make sense.

  Athena put her hands to her mouth. “Oh! I haven’t thought about that!”

  Melody shook her head and facepalmed. “Classic 9t behavior, so? What is the warning?”

  So ehh, the soap Misha went to the sauna, and we made an illusion to create a swamp, a stinky swamp and all she had to work with was her own soap. But… I used the stink of Raishin’s biohazard, and the stink killed her… Which made us worry about you…

  “I knew it was bad, but it’s deadly? Thanks for the heads-up. So what is going to happen, now?”

  “We rely on Deca’s luck!”

  That’s a terrible idea! My luck stinks worse than Raishin’s biohazard!

  “Well, let's deliver the tips to the headmaster, ask her to lift your curses in exchange and escape!”

  Athena’s plan seems solid. That is assuming the headmaster was proficient in curses, which I doubt she is, but she might be able to steer us toward someone who could.

  Let’s go with that and Noelle, go sleep, I will encase those crystals in frost magic so they will survive the night.

  “Thank you.”

  I froze the crystals while Athena put Melody to bed. What a beautiful friendship. I would never put Raishin or Greg to bed, I would knock them out. Maybe if they were deadly ill, I would.

  The next morning started in an uproar.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Ugh, what’s this noise? Did someone die or something?

  I said as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.

  Giana was still sleeping so I got up, woke her and made breakfast.

  “Deca… why are you making breakfast in the cauldron…”

  It’s fast and easy!

  “We have a kitchen! It will taste different if you make it in that cauldron!”

  Different how?

  “Like a disgusting Misha potion!”

  So like your food?

  Giana moved faster than ever, and I got hit by a headlock. “I’m still learning! Give me a break!”

  Ok ok sorry! I will use the kitchen!

  I cleaned up Giana’s attempts of cooking. It did look like she was preparing a Misha potion… my insensitive comment had a basis in reality. I might have to ‘tutor’ her on cooking too. She had abandoned the basics of cooking for some reason. I get that she wants to impress me, but… I can’t be impressed if I’m dead…

  Some fast and easy egg dishes, and we transformed and went outside to see what the uproar was all about.

  “Oh no! The Misha killer is back!” Someone screamed.

  “Why is the Misha killer still at large?! I don’t want to die!”

  Were the common things being said. It seems they think that the Misha killer has returned.

  How uninformed are these Misha… the modus operandi of the Misha killer is way different…

  “It works out for us though… let’s go hand in this paper to the headmaster before they catch on. You also have to tell me about this Misha killer. I can’t believe how you’re somewhat involved with most of the major events going on in this continent…”

  I’m just a very unlucky person and also a bit of a troublemaker..

  I explained to Athena how the Misha killer had targeted the magic other Misha possess. She would extract the hearts and hats of the Misha she killed. Azu was somehow tasked on apprehending the Misha killer, but I was unsure on the finer details of that. The Misha killer had targeted me for [Hattrick] and that’s how I knew about the Misha killer, as a random Misha had informed and warned me.

  “But you’re not a Misha, so how would she steal [Hattrick] from you?”

  Dunno, but she might have found a way to steal skills of other races, that would make the most sense. Stealing skills from a Misha sounds like starting on ‘hard mode’ stealing skills from humans and most other races should be easier, theoretically.

  “Because they don’t possess something as complex as a Misha hat? What about our tails?”

  Uhh, yeah stealing skills from us might be harder than stealing skills from a Misha. Hablena actually tried it once, the first thing she stole was foxfire which burnt and killed her before she could steal it completely.

  “So, theoretically, you could let yourself get caught by the Misha killer and kill her with foxfire by letting her attempt to steal [Hattrick]?”

  With the current information we have, yeah. I doubt that would happen, though.

  We arrived at the academy, which was also in an uproar. The professors were failing to keep the panicking students under control which we just ignored.

  What a clownfiesta.

  Athena created barriers around us while we calmly strolled through the chaos. We were calm because half of their problems were caused by us.

  “Excuse me, this area is not meant for students. Please leave.” A stern Misha barred our way.

  I hate these situations, as telling you that we’re not students sounds like an excuse. Athena show her!

  Athena held the paper she wrote in front of her, and the professor approached and glanced over it.

  “Athena and Minerva Dragoncall… I apologize. I have heard about you two, but you are indeed young… maybe there is still hope for us. Are you looking for the headmaster?”

  We nodded.

  “She’s not in her office, but in the library looking through the forbidden section. You can wait on level 3 near the large grimier hologram till she returns from there.” the stern yet kind Misha let us through without any problems.

  I wonder if they should casually mention the forbidden section like that.

  We sat down in level 3 of the library and waited.

  Do you think that the headmaster is looking for Azu’s research?

  “I don’t know, but it did seem to bother her that she couldn’t understand your paper. I’m just wondering if she would understand Azu’s paper…”

  Me too… it’s not that the headmaster is stupid, but everyone has their own specialties. This might not be in her specialty. It’s nice that she does her best, but maybe they need the right person for the right thing.

  “But she seems to be the only one in power that wants the Misha to change, who could she rely on?”

  Hmm, that’s a fair point. I assume that she just needs more allies.

  We waited for an hour before an exhausted headmaster appeared. “Oh, it’s you two, did you wait for long? I don’t have much time, sorry. I have to deal with this uproar…”

  I felt sorry for her.

  I don’t think this situation was caused by the Misha killer.

  “I know…tell that to the rest of Mishaspire… oh wait, that’s my job…” The headmaster’s energy dropped as she [Levitated] herself to the exit.

  “Wait! We finished!”

  The headmaster turned around with a sparkle in her eyes, which died shortly after. “I’m sure I won’t be able to understand it… becoming the headmaster might be a mistake…” She came over and accepted the paper and looked through it.

  “Oh, this is well written. I might be able to understand this! I will deal with this mess first, do you mind talking afterward?”

  We nodded, and the headmaster teleported away.

  “I guess she needed that. The Misha as a race…will they be fine when she burns out?” Athena said, filled with pity.

  I don’t know, but that’s not actually our problem or concern… our race is doing far worse than theirs…

  “It feels strange… helping other races when we’re one step away from extinction… Who is helping us?”

  That was a good question. There were certainly more forces working against us than helping us.

  We spent some hours reading literature and research papers about various topics, as it might come in useful one day. I seem to have turned Giana into a nerd. My plan to turn her into the most overpowered being this continent has ever seen is coming along quite well.

  “What are you thinking about?”

  Pizza!

  “Liar!”

  The headmaster appeared when we were about to go home. “Oh, you were still here, great!”

  Wait, you calmed that clown fiesta outside in just 3 hours?

  “I am the headmaster for a reason, I only show my vulnerable side to Misha that I trust and who align to my vision.”

  What a weirdo.

  “Really sister? You’re the biggest weirdo here! Tell her about how you wanted to make breakfast in a cauldron!”

  It seems that Giana is slowly starting to mimic Noelle as her words started to sting more.

  “The more I interact with you two, the more I feel that I should go out in the world, interactions like these are just too rare under the Misha. I had taken some glances through your paper and I understand the topic better.”

  Athena stepped forward. “We would like to ask a favor or… compensation. We would like to know if you or anyone could dispel the deadly sin curse series.”

  The headmaster sat down and cast some soundproof barriers around us. “That’s an expensive favor you’re asking. I’m not sure if anyone could dispel those.”

  The headmaster tilted her head upwards and closed her eyes. “I don’t think I can dispel them, as I don’t know the intent. They are also quite complicated, but you two might have the skill to break the complexity.”

  She opened her eyes and looked at us. “I’m sorry, I can’t grant this as a favor as I will need your help with it. If you could write a paper like this...” She waved our paper. “…on those curses, I might be able to understand them better and have a better shot at dispelling them. That’s all I can do, sorry.”

  Hmm I think that’s fair. There is no point if you can’t understand the magical sequence. But don’t you need to know the intent? Without knowing what it is, a large part of the curse will still linger right?

  “Well that’s what gets taught about curses, yeah. I wouldn’t claim to be an expert, but I know a lot about it. Certain parts in the sequence are used as an anchor for the intent so while the intent might be unclear, the sequence is required to have sections that are compatible with the intent, so it could serve as a hint.”

  So this is why Misha are masters in magic! I never knew that! Come, Athena, we need to get to work. Thank you headmaster!

  “No need to thank me, and you can call me Selina.”

  I sometimes forget that other people also have names. The headmaster had certainly impressed me enough for me to put in effort to remember her name.

  Thank you Selina!

  I was about to drag Giana away when I saw something familiar.

  Hey, Selina. A strange question. Do you have a skill that could be deemed as quite unique?

  “Hmm sort of. I have a passive skill that more or less gets me what I want.”

  Charm magic?

  “No, but I had studied charm magic to get a good idea on how to enhance the effect of this passive skill. It’s not as powerful as charm magic, as I still need to put in a lot of work.”

  So you wanted to get to get [Hattrick] solved and then suddenly, we appeared?

  “Pretty much yeah.”

  “Is that why you were so accommodating toward us even though we were nobodies, fresh out of our diapers?” Athena butted in.

  “I can’t control how the effects manifest, so yeah, the headmaster position allows me to have more control over the city so that I can more easily discern what might and might not be the effect of my passive. Very impressive you two, how did you find out?”

  Athena looked at me.

  Well, you’re currently being targeted b an attack that I recognize. I never knew what it was before, but I might now know.

  I swapped Selina with a book. The Blur that had appeared sucked up the book in a portal and disappeared.

  Giana and Selina only saw a glimpse of what happened. “Huh? What happened?”

  I hope that I’m wrong but… the real Misha killer might have just failed to kidnap you.