Stars were shining in the calm sky after the sun had sunk below the horizon, leaving behind an afterglow. As night slowly crept into the forest, the sounds of formless insects could be heard from within the darkness.
「It has become quite late, is the talk over yet? Should we go back soon?」
As the voices of Mira and Fricca trail off, Emera spoke out at a seemingly good time.
「Is that so? Then let’s go back.」
「Ehhh, that’s right. It should be fine since Miss Wind Spirit has Nyanmaru.」
Listening to Emera, the two glanced at their surroundings which had become pitch black, then finally towards the Wind Spirit.
「Take care.」
「Miss Wind Spirit, please be careful」
「Yes, thank you! All of you, please be careful on your way back as well.」
Mira waved goodbye while Fricca bowed with both of her hands. The wind spirit took Nyanmaru’s hand and went back with a flutter.
On the way, Mira gazed at Nyanmaru.
It was safe to think that this shikigami was guarding the Wind Spirit. Although in a situation where the assailants were completely unknown, it was hard to think it would be over after chasing them away just once.
Nyanmaru’s owner either left the autonomous shikigami to protect the Wind Spirit or possibly using it as a bait to lure out the assailants. It was just a speculation, and there was no way for Mira to tell now which one was it.
Although Mira was worried, they wouldn’t fall so easily if the Wind Spirit and Nyanmaru were to combine their powers.
However, it’s best to always be prudent as the magician’s true intentions were unknown. At the very least, Nyanmaru’s master shouldn’t be too far away. There may be some information at the Union. Averting her eyes away from Nyanmaru, Mira organized the information she obtained.
(I’ll be quite lucky if I could even get a hold of a small clue.)
Takuto, who was listening from behind, had begun walking towards Caranach alongside Mira and Fricca.
「Based on the talk from earlier, could Takuto have the aptitude of a spellcaster?」
「Now that you mentioned it, I wonder.」
From Fricca’s words, Mira remembered something and gently gazed back at Takuto with a smile full of expectations.
Looking closely, the various status of Takuto appeared. As expected from a child, many ones were lined up but his magic was at six. Considering that the average of the general public was four, six meant that he had a very promising future.
However, Mira sighed after confirming his status. Only the affiliation with the Arkite Kingdom appeared under the class section.
(Even when I inspected it, it would still be unknown…… that is to say, some trigger is needed for one to become a respective class.)
Mira stroked Takuto’s head, just knowing he had talent was good enough.
All magicians possessed a characteristic that allowed them to see spirits. Takuto’s current spellcaster class had yet to be known. After all, if it was a player, they would be able to choose a class first, but what about the residents of this world? Mira pondered.
「How are the aptitudes of spellcasters determined?」
Having just come to this world, Mira asked Fricca who seemed to know more about it.
「Well…… There are various methods, but the fastest one is to get checked by the Union.」
「Hoh… that place also does such a thing? I have some business there, so do you also want to go and get them checked?」
「I want to go!」
When Mira asked, Takuto answered with a big nod.
By the time they reached the Requiem City of Caranach, the sky was already covered by pitch-black darkness, with only a few spots of lights shining through it. The surroundings were decorated with the smiles of people parading in a bar after their workday had ended.
「That was tiresome, I’ll return after taking Takuto to the Union.」
After arriving at the big square, Mira held Takuto’s hand and led him to the Union.
「Waiiiit, Little Mira wait! Come back soon or I’ll get lonely!」
Emera grabbed Mira’s hand almost as if in a panic. Behind them, the other three had different facial expressions which indicated that it couldn’t be helped.
「That’s right, Little Mira. We haven’t distributed the items, nor celebrate yet.」
「Ah, yes. We should definitely throw a party after this grand adventure. The MVP this time is that young lady after all.」
「That’s right. I want to talk to Little Mira a lot more.」
There weren’t any problems with the cost, but Mira was much more concerned about the fuss it will cause. Trying to refuse would likely make them chase her to the ends of the world until she accepts it, at least for Emera.
「Hmm…… well, that should be fine. Unexpectedly, it’s quite fun to be with you guys.」
While remembering all of the idle conversations they exchanged along the journey, Mira replied with a smile.
「That smile is like one million volts!」1
Raising a strange voice, Fricca, as if struck by lightning, collapsed with an ecstasy filled expression.
That commotion attracted the bypassers’ attention, so they hurriedly left the place, leaving only Fricca behind.
After a while, the people in the plaza finally took notice of Fricca of Écarlate Carillon, Emera and the others.
「We’ll head over to the Spring Snow Inn that’s on the left side of the main street. Be sure to come over after your business with the Union is done. You absolutely must come.」
Emera and the other members were swallowed up by the crowds of people while saying so.
Mira, accompanied by Takuto, opened the door to the Spellcaster’s Union. Completely opposite from the darkness of the night, the bustling Union was illuminated by brightly shining lights. Adventurers were rushing to the reception desk to settle their requests and to get more requests for tomorrow. In the meanwhile, Union members were also running around.
「It looks quite busy.」
「Yeah……」
After seeing this hustling and bustling scenery, Mira and Takuto looked into each others’ faces.2
For the time being, Mira retrieved her used permit and threw it in the recycling box in the corner of the Union.
『Thank you. You’re very kind.』
The voice of a cute girl resounded from the recycling box, and while it was unknown how did it work, a hand-sized girl appeared on top of the box, then smiled before disappearing as if nothing happened.
「What was that……」
While Takuto happily looked at the recycling box with interest from various angles, Mira only muttered with a wry smile.
「Ah, Miss Mira!」
Turning around towards the excited voice of a woman, standing there was the figure of Eureka that was holding onto some documents.
「O-oh, Eureka?」
「Could it be, have you already gone to the Ancient Temple?」
「Uh-huh. I’ve already done that, so I’m just recycling.」
「Is that so? Thank you very much. By the way, that child?」
Eureka asked while referring to Takuto who clung to the recycling box.
「We met from various circumstances, but anyhow he is likely to have the aptitude of a spellcaster. I heard that it could be checked here.」
After Mira explained so, Takuto, who was listening to the conversation, took a bow in front of Eureka.
「Nice to meet you. I’m Takuto. I want to become a spellcaster like Big Sis Mira.」
Saying so with an expression filled with eagerness but also expectations.
「Takuto, I’m Big Sis Eureka. Nice to meet you」
While saying so, Eureka returned a gentle smile.
「Since you’re Mira’s acquaintance, let’s start the examination at once. Also, the thing we spoke of the other day has been prepared, will you receive it today?」
For just a moment, Mira wondered what was this about. But after a moment, she recalled that when she was registering as an adventurer, they said they have something Solomon-related to pass to her.3
(Come to think of it, something like that did happen.)
「Mm-hm, I guess I will take it.」
「Alright. Then come this way.」
While holding the documents, Eureka walked ahead to lead them. Mira took Takuto’s hand and followed after Eureka.
「Miss Mira has arrived.」
Knocking on the Union chief’s door, Eureka’s voice resounded.
「Oh! Enter, enter.」
From inside the room, an excited voice could be heard.
「Well then, Little Takuto, come here. While Big sis Mira is talking, we should go test your aptitude.」
Eureka leaned forward to match Takuto’s height and extended her hand to him. Takuto quickly glanced at Mira.
「I might take some time, go on.」
Mira let go of his hand and lightly stroked Takuto’s head.
「Okay!」
Takuto nodded energetically and was taken by Eureka to the spellcasters’ aptitude examination room.
「Please excuse me.」
Mira opened the door after calling out. Entering the Union chief’s room, Leoneil welcomed her while cheerfully tipping a glass towards the young lady.
「Hmm, you seem to be in a good mood.」
While saying so, Mira sat in the chair opposite of Leoneil. A bit later, the secretary laid some tea and cake on the table in front of Mira while barely making any sound.
When Mira came the other day, the two chatted and hit it off well. As such, they learned that both of them were bad with formalities and had decided not to care about such things. Also, Mira shrewdly requested the secretary to serve some cake and tea whenever she comes.
「Well, take this for now.」
While putting some cake into her mouth, Mira glanced at Leoneil who was looking at two things placed on the table. One was a black card and the other was an envelope.
「Is this the thing you said was related to Solomon?」
Mira asked while placing her fork beside her plate and taking the card. The surface of the card was black and smooth like glass, and engraved on the back there were complicated symbols and magic circles.
「That is a pass for restricted areas.」
「Restricted areas, you say?」
Mira directed her gaze from the card to Leoneil who had unfolded a map onto the table. On it was the scenery of Ark Earth Online’s Schmägfen region and its surrounding islands.
「Do you know of the Tenma Labyrinth dungeons?」
「Tenma Labyrinth? I am aware of it」
Tenma Labyrinth. That was the nickname of multiple dungeons existing in this continent which had a very peculiar nature. Mira has visited them countless times, so she naturally nodded.
「Then this talk will be quick. That place was shrouded in mystery for a long time now, but recently the number of mysteries has increased. And now, it has been designated as a special restricted area.」
「Mysteries? What’s going on?」
Unlike normal dungeons, all monsters that appeared inside were subspecies and they were stronger than their basic counterparts. In addition to that, from the treasure boxes or the boss in the deepest part of the labyrinth, sometimes one could receive items that had “Tenma” in the name. That was the reason why these labyrinths had been collectively called the Tenma Labyrinth, but Mira instead showed interest in the mysteries that were mentioned by Leoneil.
「Apparently, it seems that the treasure of this dungeon would reappear after some time has passed.」
「Hooh…… so……」
So what? Is what Mira was about to say, but resisted from it. As a game, it was natural for dungeon treasures and items to respawn. If that was not the case, the unique items that could be acquired in that dungeon would be limited to a single one, and a fight over such an item would break out. However, Leoneil said that it was mysterious. In other words, it was common sense that a treasure box in this world was a one-time thing.
As a result, one could infer that Tenma Labyrinths were abnormal.
「In short…… something has happened due to the ever-respawning treasure?」
「As expected of Lord Danbulf’s pupil, it is exactly so. Because of the rivalry to compete for the treasure, under the pretext of avoiding any incidents, it was sealed as a restricted area. Well, there was a fairly strong backlash to this, of course.」
Leoneil smiled wryly after he said his piece, then pointed to a single area on the map, which was the center of the forest spreading southwest of the Arkite Kingdom.
「That pass is for the Tenma Labyrinth that’s inside the 『Primal Forest』. I’m not sure of the reason why King Solomon requested me to give it to you and because of that, I had a really hard time issuing it.」
Leoneil said so with a frown, but he seemed to be in a really good mood.
「From the look of things, you must have charged him well for this.」
「Well, I just requested some financing, that’s all.」
As their gaze crossed, Mira said 「He’s already got plenty of troubles on his head, don’t bully him too much.」 She was genuinely worried about her friend and brought this topic to an end. After taking the card in one hand, her other hand went towards the sealed letter.
「What is this?」
There was no way she could see through it, but Mira raised it up as if trying to peer into it.
「That letter was delivered this morning by a wyvern, it’s addressed to you. It was sent by someone named Lily, do you remember anyone like that?」
When Mira retraced her memories, she arrived at the thought of one woman: The maid who came to wake Mira up in the morning in Arkite Castle. At the same time, a chill ran down Mira’s spine.
「Ye-… yeah… I know them.」
「Somehow, you don’t seem happy. A woman Lord Danbulf’s disciple is bad with, huh, this makes me curious.」
While saying so, Leoneil’s mouth turned into a grin. Although Mira had no idea why Lily went out of her way to send the letter, she had a hunch it was nothing good and decided not to read it here, so she instead threw it inside the item box.
「Changing the subject, could I ask you something?」
Mira washed down the cream with her tea while saying so.
「Ah, I don’t mind. If it’s something I can answer, then go ahead.」
Leoneil nodded lightly and Mira promptly opened her mouth to speak.
「Do you know the people are targeting the spirits?」4
One of his eyebrows twitched as Leoneil breathed out a sigh.
「That is a painful question to answer.」
「You seem to know then.」
「Ahh, about ten years have passed since the matter has come to light. I don’t know where you’ve learned of it, but it’s rather troublesome. I’ll tell you what I know, however, don’t reveal too much.」
「Yes, of course.」
When Mira looked straight ahead after answering, Leoneil began talking about everything he knew.
First of all, the number of assailants were quite significant. There had been lots of damage inflicted in many parts of the continent. However, it was still unknown why they were attacking the spirits and in addition to that, one of the assailants identified themself as 『Chimera Clauzen』.
「Chimera Clauzen, huh…… I wonder what their true intentions are.」
Mira said so while her back sank into the sofa and looked up towards the ceiling.
「Well, they certainly aren’t a good person.」
The spirits would occasionally help other people, so why would they attack spirits who were on good relations with humans? In any case, they shall not be forgiven.
The opinions of the two people were in line with each other.
「There’s one more thing I want to know about, may I?」
「The location of the attacks?」
After Leoneil replied, Mira returned with 「That’s right.」 and nodded.
From the very beginning, Mira spoke about the general events that took place. The wind spirit was helped by Nyanmaru after getting attacked. The assailant, who was powerful enough to win against the spirits, was probably repelled by the shikigami controlled by an Onmyoji Master hiding in the shadows.
「Was there such a thing?」
「I would like to get information about the Onmyoji Master, do you know anyone who’d be familiar with them? That person should be someone influential and as such, it should be easy to figure it out.」
「An onmyojutsu comparable to a spirit. The Silver Towers comes to mind right away, but I’ve heard that the spellcasters rarely come out. When it comes to an Onmyoji, there must currently be an influential one somewhere nearby. Though, it would be different if they came to the Union secretly.」
The Silver Towers was the biggest existing spellcasters organization on the continent, with all of the spellcasters being top-class. Therefore, the towers’ spellcasters were all influential people that were comparable to the spirits. Also, it could be said that the towers have accumulated all knowledge regarding magic.
In other words, as a place that refines magic, the spellcasters who pursue research there rarely go outside. At best, they could carry out an experiment in the vicinity of the open space.
「Hmm, I see.」
「Well, either way, if you can help us with this matter, I’ll give you the information as soon as it arrives. If Lord Danbulf’s pupil helps us, it’s likely that we’ll finally make some progress after ten long years. I hate to say it, but I’ll be expecting much from you.」
With a smiling face that didn’t suit him, Leoneil glanced towards Mira. His eyes shone as if a powerful card was obtained.
「Well, it’s not something I can overlook. I will help you, but I still have some business to attend to, so rather than rumors, I’d rather get some solid evidence.」
Noticing the troubled look on Leoneil, Mira gave a light warning. Good verified information was needed to head in the right direction.
「That’s too bad. Well, that should be fine. I’ll work with the intelligence personnels like a horse. But before that, we will look into the Onmyoji. Is that good enough?」
Leoneil made a remorseful expression as he looked up towards the sky. With that, the investigation of the Onmyoji would proceed with no questions asked.
Whether it was by chance or by fate, Nyanmaru’s master was present during the attack on the spirits and prevented it under wraps. Although the possibility was low, the information that Mira brought might shed some light on the assailants.
「Hmm, that should be fine. Right now, it may be better to investigate from a different approach.」
If Nyanmaru’s master was an adventurer, they would be caught by Leoneil’s search network sooner or later. However, Mira had one other purpose. There’s a possibility that it could be connected to one of the nine wisemen.
If it was related, both the spirit kidnapping and Solomon’s request could be completed at the same time.
Mira secretly sent some encouraging words to Leoneil’s secret agents in her mind.
