Ch.207Fake? (2)

After arriving at the scene, which I suspected would have been quite chaotic at first glance.

I immediately ordered the people around me to organize the situation before attempting to solve it.

The first thing I did, naturally, was to command my subordinates and servants to disperse the crowd that had gathered.

Gretel was already under considerable stress about ‘that thing’ that had transformed into her… and if on top of that, the shy girl were exposed to such a large crowd… I fear even I cannot predict how she might react under such extreme stress.

No matter how much I want to protect my beloved, the mental instability of magicians and magic users who have come into contact with the Mystic is a variable that cannot be ignored.

Even relatively stable wizards have been known to kill someone with magic just for bumping shoulders with them, so what might happen if Gretel, a witch who is less stable than such wizards, were to lose control?

Though her innate shyness keeps her restrained, considering that a witch’s Mystic inherently causes changes that make one honest to their desires… she could genuinely snap and commit a massacre without it being strange.

Therefore, after dispersing the crowd based on these reasons—which I know better than anyone due to my relationship with this person—

“Would someone care to explain the situation?”

“…Yes. I will explain, sir.”

At my request, as I had arrived late and didn’t know how the situation had unfolded, Lucius Wolfblood, who had apparently been at the scene from quite early on, looked me straight in the eye and began his explanation.

He told me how an assistant had discovered that Gretel had somehow doubled, and how afterward, that assistant had called many people who conducted various investigations.

But judging by the fact that nothing had been resolved by the time I arrived, the reality was nothing short of miserable.

No method could distinguish between them, and the fact that no one could tell them apart had long since cast a pessimistic shadow over the situation.

Height, weight, body hair, body scent—these simple physical components, along with the condition of consumables and equipment, magical abilities, and even spiritual examinations, all failed to reveal any differences.

Even attempts to dispel the magic had failed, so a certain degree of pessimism was unavoidable, but…

Even considering that, the current atmosphere was clearly off somehow.

To be frank, how should I describe the atmosphere here…? If I had to say, it had an extremely bizarre feeling, likely painted over by the mastermind behind this incident.

“…Haah.”

So while I inwardly lamented this development that seemed deliberately designed to mess with someone, this pointless malice directed at me—

At the same time, realizing roughly why this had happened, I quietly muttered with a face like I’d bitten into something foul.

‘…This is a doppelgänger, isn’t it?’

Because I already knew the entity most likely responsible for this phenomenon.

※ ※ ※

Doppelgänger. This creature, sharing its name with an urban legend from Central Europe in my previous life, is simply put, a shape-shifter race similar to werewolves.

However, it would be unreasonable to equate them directly with werewolves, because… doppelgängers are a unique race that goes far beyond merely possessing shape-shifting characteristics.

In short, doppelgängers are “shape-shifters” seemingly designed solely for the purpose of transformation.

They are basically classified as a mid-tier race by birth, but their actual combat power is not only too weak to be considered mid-tier, but also quite low in level.

They might look threatening, like a human-shaped alien in the style of E.T. grown to over two meters tall, but their actual combat ability is so poor it can hardly be called mid-tier.

Their physical abilities are at a miserable level, barely surpassing the upper ranks of low-tier races, and they weren’t born with powerful innate magic that could blow people’s heads off with a few words either.

Despite these characteristics, there’s a reason they’re classified as mid-tier. The biggest reason this doppelgänger race is designated as mid-tier despite their terrible combat power is…

…Their transformation ability. It’s so absurdly powerful—to the point where I wondered if such a thing could even exist when I first encountered it—that it seems to justify the doppelgänger’s otherwise pathetic combat capabilities.

The effect is, as the name suggests, the ability to mimic the form of other living beings. Doppelgängers are particularly specialized in mimicking humanoid life forms, but…

The uniqueness of a doppelgänger’s transformation manifests after the transformation occurs.

First, doppelgängers don’t just copy and mimic external appearances; they also replicate the special abilities and combat power of their transformation target at once.

For targets below a certain level (low-tier), they can wield virtually the same power without any loss, and even for targets above that level, they can mimic all their powers, albeit somewhat degraded.

If the target is a warrior, they copy the ability and skill to handle aura; if a magic user, the ability to manifest magic by manipulating the Mystic. Since they mimic the physical body, they can easily copy special abilities as well if there are no particular issues.

Of course, there are limits to this mimicry, especially when the target is stronger.

To put it bluntly, the limit of a doppelgänger’s transformation ability is that they can copy about 60-80% of the power of a decent mid-tier target.

Despite these characteristics, the danger level of a doppelgänger’s transformation ability is extremely high. Particularly in the central regions of the Holy Empire, where doppelgänger appearances are notably frequent, they’ve even developed “doppelgänger transformation dispelling magic.”

This is because the doppelgänger’s transformation ability is fundamentally specialized not for combat, but for espionage and deception.

For example, doppelgängers have the bizarre characteristic of being able to mimic not only the target’s body but also their memories and mind, and even partially copy the external structure of their soul.

They preserve memories (skills), objectively mimic the target’s mental characteristics, and even imitate the appearance of the soul, making it impossible to distinguish them through magical methods.

Moreover, when doppelgängers in their transformed state meet acquaintances of their target, they can read those people’s memories and use that information to deliver an even more convincing performance. Aren’t they a race of natural spies?

Because of this, the only countermeasure is to bring someone who isn’t very close to the target, have them converse, and have acquaintances watch for inconsistencies to somehow identify the impostor.

But now, since dozens of people have already interacted with the doppelgänger and leaked their memories to it, that method is on hold. Practically speaking, the only option available is “doppelgänger transformation dispelling magic,” which no one here can cast immediately.

‘…Truly, this is a situation that would drive anyone mad under normal circumstances.’

And hearing this far, one might wonder:

What is this doppelgänger that even priests, or even the former head of the Metal School, don’t know about?

Especially since the head of a magic school of considerable size is actually an incredibly high-ranking authority figure, it seems all the more strange that such a person would be completely unaware of it.

Frankly speaking, it seems impossible that they wouldn’t know, but…

In fact, there are reasons for this as well.

First, the social repercussions that would occur if these characteristics of doppelgängers became known—similar to McCarthyism, a “doppelgänger witch hunt” might emerge, so the information is being controlled.

Particularly since doppelgängers’ special abilities are most effective in times of social chaos, it’s actually more efficient to tightly wrap up information about doppelgänger issues and not disclose it to the public.

While the existence of “doppelgängers” itself might be known, because they’re such a rare species and information about them is often controlled, many don’t know the details.

To be honest, if it weren’t for the evil knowledge that “Gluttony” forced upon me, I probably wouldn’t have known about their existence either.

And another reason, though somewhat secondary but still important, is…

The doppelgänger race itself has already fallen into corruption, often serving as vanguards for outer gods—particularly as vanguards for the “Crawling Chaos.”

‘…Phew.’

So while inwardly lamenting that such a creature had managed to crawl all the way to the village, I clenched my fist firmly, let out a deep sigh, and opened my mouth…

“—Did you think I wouldn’t know?”

No sooner had the words left my mouth than I activated the power of my magical eye, enhanced through “Trait Amplification,” and used “Hyper Intuition” to identify and freeze the impostor I was certain of.