Mimic Awakening

Chapter 41: Claire’s Return

Inside Claire’s villa, in the dining room, Azrael is having a seat in front of a meal on the dining table. Azrael is staring at the bowl of something like a stew. Alina has prepared it with the remaining ingredients in the storage, so that is the best she can do for now.

Azrael grabs the silver spoon and dips it into the steaming stew. He stirs the content a few times before he scoops a spoonful of the meal.

The spoon contains a piece of meat with a slice of an unfamiliar vegetable soaked in an orangey broth. After analyzing it for a few seconds, Azrael opens his mouth before he gets a bite of his first meal in this world.

"Mmm... !!"

The moment the food touches his tongue, Azrael’s eyes suddenly go wide. After a long time in the dungeon, he is taken aback by how tasteful real food can be.

Even though it is a simple meal, Azrael treats it as if it were a fine dining dish. He genuinely misses the feeling of tasting food, and a tear runs down his cheek as he closes his eyes, savoring the food.

"Master, is it not to your liking?" Anita, who is standing beside him, notices his reaction. She is afraid that he dislikes her cooking.

"Hm? Ah, no. I really like it. In fact, this is the best food I have eaten for a while. I would love it if you make more dishes for me in the future."

"I am very grateful for your words, master!" Moved by his positive opinion on her cooking, Alina deeply lowers her upper body. "I will make sure to do my best to satisfy your palate!"

"I am expecting you."

After that, Azrael continues digging in the food until he finishes the bowl. He really loves the stew, so he asks for seconds and more. Once he finishes, Claire finally speaks out her thoughts.

(I never thought that you were moved by food this much even though this meal is usually served in inns. It has been more than a week since I was gone, so I was not able to stack materials and ingredients.)

(It doesn’t matter to me right now. What’s more important is that I was able to eat homemade food again. If Alina makes more delicious dishes, then I would be happy to consume them.)

With the table filled with empty ceramic bowls, Azrael stands up from his seat before he turns to Alina.

"Take me to the storage room, where Claire keeps her things through Portal Gate."

"The storage room? Right away, master."

◆◇◆

After a few turns in the house, Azrael and Alina are already in front of the door to the basement of the villa. Alina then opens the door before they both descend through a flight of stairs. Azrael finds himself in a cellar with shelves partially filled with bottled alcoholic drinks and crates and sacks of food ingredients.

Alina walks across the room and approaches a metal door at the other side of the room. Looking at how secured the door is, Azrael assumes it is where Claire stores his frozen loot.

"Master, this door leads to the mistress’s storage room. Though, only she can open this door, as it was locked through inscription magic, so I cannot open it."

"I see. Open it, Claire."

(I understand. Please press your hand on the door.)

Following her instructions, Azrael places his right palm on the cold metal door. Soon after, the door shines as Claire starts to unlock the door. A magic circle appears on the surface of the door, filled with intricate scriptures. But for some reasons, she could not unlock it.

(It won’t open? I can open the encrypted contract, but it fails to recognize me. Perhaps because I am not my body.)

(Why do I feel like it’s logging in to an account? Can’t you do something about it, like opening a Portal Gate to transfer the things here?

(That won’t work. I set the barriers around the room to only accept incoming transfers. It needs to open this door before taking things outside.)

(Is that so? So how do we open it?)

(Maybe holding my magic core would work?)

When Claire comes up with that suggestion, Azrael hesitates to do it. He thinks that she might snatch the magic core from his hand. After thinking about it for a while, he decides to go with her suggestion. In case she does something, Azrael can just blow up this place.

Azrael raises his left palm to his chest level, and his arms begin to contort grotesquely, which Alina finds weird. A purple gem then emerges from his palm. Claire’s magic core has manifested on his hand.

(I appreciate your cooperation.)

When Claire is able to see her magic core, she focuses her mind into it and tries to draw out mana from it. In just a nick of time, the door suddenly makes a clicking sound before it opens slightly, releasing cold air outside.

"Alright, it’s now open," Azrael says as he absorbs the magic core into his body. "Let’s see what you got."

Creak.

The metal door creates screech noises as he slowly pushes it inward. As if it was magically programmed, the dark room suddenly lit up, a lamp-like magic device is hanging on the ceiling. Azrael compares it to opening a refrigerator.

Azrael and Alina walk in, and the first thing they find are several large chunks of ice. After scanning the ice chunks one by one, Azrael approaches one of them and stands in front of it.

(Is this what you want, right?)

(Yes, it is.)

Inside that specific chunk of ice, through the ice’s translucent structure, is the frozen body of one of the members of the hero’s party, the mage named Agatha Reigam.

Out of the two choices, Claire chooses Agatha over Shirley for the reason that her body has a lot of latent potential despite the fact that Shirley has more mana reserve than Agatha at that time. If they were still around, Agatha would have surpassed Shirley in the future.

(Now, shall we break it or let it thaw?)

(There’s no need to break it since there’s a spell for quickly thawing thick ice. Would you like me to do it?)

(You may proceed.)

(Fast Thaw.)

Upon Claire casting an advanced level of magic, the room temperature immediately rises up to the peak desert heat. Alina breaks a sweat or two from the heat. After that, the heat accumulates around the chosen ice, which it quickly absorbs.

"Generating ambient heat and using it to melt the ice through thermal conduction, huh?" Azrael quietly mumbles.

As the ice begins to absorb the heat, the ice starts to melt fast layer by layer. The absorbed heat quickly breaks the ice structure and turns into liquid. The room cools down as the ice absorbs more heat, putting relief on Alina.

A few minutes later, the ice fully melts, and the dead body of Agatha lies on the wet floor. Azrael then carries the body and gently places it on the table nearby, following Claire’s instructions. The body still has the hole in the chest Azrael inflicted.

(Let me dry her out. Advanced Evaporate.)

Claire cast an intermediate-tier magic spell to get rid of the wetness of the body’s clothes. She would not like it if she got revived wet. Next, she instructs Azrael to place his hand on the body. Not sure where to put his hand, he just grabs the body’s arm.

(Does a dead body have a soul?) Curious, Azrael asks.

(Though weakened, souls stay in the body for some time after death so that they can be revived later on. If the body is in pristine condition, the soul will stay a few days at best.)

(I see.)

(Alright. I will begin. Astral Invasion.)

When Claire cast the ultimate magic spell, Azrael feels like Claire’s presence suddenly disappears from his body. He concludes that she has transferred her soul into the body. Later on, Claire’s magic core inside him suddenly disintegrates and ultimately disappears as well.

"The body...!" Alina’s voice reaches his ears. "It’s regaining life!"

Just as she points out, the dead woman’s pale skin gradually turns vibrant and gains colors. Azrael’s thermal radar senses the rise of temperature within, indicating that the body is about to have life again.

Things just get started, and there are more to come. Out of nowhere, the magic core inside the dead body suddenly becomes more powerful, and its mana capacity increases by several times.

After regaining body heat, the brain becomes active and the heart starts pumping, delivering blood throughout the body. Her chest expands and then contracts and repeats. She just begins to breath.

The massive hole in her upper body begins to close up, regenerating bones and flesh. Afterwards, the body suddenly undergoes visible changes. Her hips get bigger and more fat accumulates in the chest.

The light-cyan hair slowly changes its shade to lavender, and so does the hairstyle. The facial features change as well. In just a few seconds, Agatha’s face transforms into a face both of them remember.

"It’s her! The mistress’s face!" Overjoyed, Alina covers her mouth with her hands.

The changes in the body have stopped. Some of her fingers twitch before her eyes slowly pry open. Claire has successfully returned to the physical world.