Wearing only her underwear, Mira returned the towel to the basket before storing it and running into the forest without hesitation.
From what she had seen, the man appeared to be versed in scouting skills, so she blended into the forest hiding herself entirely and pursuing him with Life Sensing alone and not with her eyes. As she ran, she took out the Robe Set from her Item Box and put it on. She also had the Wiseman’s Robe in there, but she had taken quite a liking to the Robe Set already.
Life Sensing kept showing reactions from the multiple animals living in the forest. There were large spots at the edge of her range, really far away. Sometimes she would sense something high in the sky, which would fly past her while cutting through the air. There was also a human presence, which moved into the distance as if running away.
Out of those countless spots, she only focused on a single one, that of the man she pursued that was nearing the border of the area she could sense.
As she remained hidden, she took a look around her, her view invaded by all the plants and animals that she could not see when she passed above there flying. There were herbs with handy medicinal properties, beautiful fruits that were actually an ingredient to make venom for arrows, trees with resilient trunks that could be used to make defensive gear. That fantastical forest offered a trove of material for all sorts of things, and amidst all that Mira concealed her steps among the noises of the other small animals as she deftly passed between the trees.
After a considerable time pursuing him, her surroundings became unnaturally silent as she arrived at a lake. It was smaller than the one next to the entrance of Primal Forest, with countless purple flowers floating on its surface. There was a solemn appearance to that whole place.
Mira watched from between the trees as the man approached the lake, only her face peeking out.
(That’s a…spirit.)
There was a spirit near the center of the lake. It had rather childish features, which made it clear that it was still a young spirit. Its hair was long, covering its body in a translucent blue, and it wore a thin dress with a slight glow. It almost looked like it was wearing nothing, not too far off from how Mira looked earlier.
That spirit girl was jumping around over the purple flowers, happily playing around. There were many butterflies flying around her as well, to which she would reach out and smile.
The man leaned down, keeping a low profile, just a step away from coming out of the forest and bushes.
(What is… he attempting to do?!)
That movement felt really out of place, which filled Mira with a hard to describe feeling of discomfort, so she attempted to call out to him, but she was too late. Since he was still at the very limit of Life Sensing’s reach, her voice would not reach him, and while she tried to get closer the man had started already. He reached for the dagger on his hip with one hand and held it with a backhand grip as he darted towards the spirit.
「Keh…I won’t make it!」
Even with Ground Shrink Mira was unable to get to the lake in time, the man’s dagger already in a downwards path to the spirit’s back.
Then a high-pitched noise broke through the lake.
Mira frowned and looked away instinctively, but when she hesitantly looked up, she did not see the spirit convulsing in agony as she expected.
Amidst the fluttering butterflies, the dagger with weird glowing inscriptions moved erratically. A long naginata was struck between the man and the spirit, which had deflected the dagger, and after trembling a little it swung at an incredible speed like lightning.
The man somehow managed to parry that swing with the black dagger, but the momentum inherited from it made him tumble over the lake’s shore until he was still. However, he had not fully evaded the naginata as his mask fell down to the grass below.
Taken by surprise by the sudden noises behind her, the spirit hurried to go further into the lake.
(Who’s that…?)
Seeing the spirit was safe, Mira retreated back to the trees’ shadows and observed from there.
The person who had intervened was a man wearing a similar outfit to a Shinto priest. He had black hair, red and purple traditional robes, and the naginata he held had a pentagram etched into it. There were yellow braids woven into his forelocks, which swayed in front of his eyes as he stood on top of the lake.
「I see you’re from Chimera Clauzen. I want to ask you a couple of questions.」
「And I guess you’re from the Fifty Bells…good job getting to this place.」
Their voices were loud enough for Mira to hear as well. The man standing on the lake, the man holding the dagger, they glared at each other while maintaining a set distance, and judging from the tense air between the two it was easy to tell they both were considerably powerful.
(So this really was related to Chimera Clauzen. Still, who is that? The man called him Nifty Bells or something like that. I guess they’re something like their opponents.)
As Mira tried to process everything she heard, the two men jumped at each other at the same time. As the traditionally robed man ran, he leaned forward and touched the surface in front of his feet.
[Charm Skill: Water Dragon]
There was a charm in the man’s hand, which made the lake’s water rise up at an alarming rate, towering into a whirlpool in the shape of a snake letting a spray of water fly everywhere. The man in traditional robes’ path drew an arc to the right, while the water snake arched to the left, ready to attack from both sides.
The man with the dagger looked at both of them, taking out a small bottle from his pocket and holding it ready.
As the naginata was swung down, its path was blocked by the dagger, sparks flying from their contact. At the same time, the man with the dagger threw the bottle he concealed in his hand behind him. The moment the bottle touched the Water Dragon coming from his blind spot, an explosion of sand happened together with a thunderous noise.
「And earth element bottle?!」
That alone was enough to entirely neutralize the dragon, which turned back into a paper charm and fluttered down. The traditionally robed man looked frustrated at that, guessing the identity of that item.
Behind the man with the dagger, a mount of sand filled with water was formed, with the charm on top of it. He jumped back to it, and without looking at it stuffed the charm into his pocket before lunging forward to settle the matter then and there.
「We know there’s a lot of onmyoji masters in the Fifty Bells, so we’ll obviously be ready to counter them!」
A sharp and numbing pain spread from the dagger, which pierced all through the robed man’s left arm until it stopped. But he did not even show that pain on his face as he activated the charm in his hand.
[Cosmic Skill: Third Nature Collection – Eight Soul Trigrams]
The magic power spewing forth from the charm upon activation coiled up the dagger man’s left arm. He glared at the robed man in annoyance, leaping backwards a long distance. When he landed, the magic power covering his arm faded.
「What a bothersome fool…」
The Eight Soul Trigrams of onmyoji masters. A skill that allowed the user to replicate the pain they felt onto their opponent. Its effect was strongest the closest one was to the target, so it was possible to evade it by running away like the man of the dagger did. His actions clearly showed he was knowledgeable when it came to onmyoji masters.
Even though he had jumped back so quickly, the skill had already caused a strong effect on him, cold sweat forming on his body from the intense pain while he held his arm against himself. But that was only for a short while, that had only been a reflexive action against the sudden pain that assaulted him.
Still, that moment was all the man in robes needed.
[Cosmic Skill: Third Water Collection – Water Mirror]
The robed man quickly formed the signs for the skill, while his opponent merely glared at him. The charm that pointed at the target of the skill was not affixed to the man with the dagger’s body. Still, a cold chill ran through his back all of a sudden, he could feel an unknown entity wriggling very close to him, so he focused his attention on that.
It was clear the skill had been activated, and the man with the dagger leaped back even more in a fluster.
「Is this… the Water Dragon charm?!」
A clone of the robed man appeared behind him, restraining him, leaving him no option but to glare at the other robed man in front of him.
He remained looking like that at the robed man, who showed no change in his poker face.
(So he managed to restrain him somehow…)
Chimera Clauzen’s members had to be strong enough to overpower spirits, since capturing them was their objective. Judging from the man’s concealing get-up, it was easy to imagine he was part of a secret corps unit. His strength was also fitting for such a role.
On the other hand, the robed man had been prioritizing restrain and capture, using the Water Dragon as a distraction to get him uninterested in the charm, then activating Water Mirror, a skill that created a clone made of water, which obviously possessed a considerable mass which made it hard to escape once restrained.
The robed man was prepared for all of that, but Chimera Clauzen was still shrouded in mystery, it did not matter how dangerous things got, obtaining any form of information from them was necessary.
In the end, the strategy was a success, the charm hidden close to the man with the dagger was activated creating a water clone, which then restrained him.
Even though the robed man had a deep wound on his arm, he had succeeded in capturing his opponent. Or at least he thought so.
He first looked back to the lake, confirming that the spirit had escaped and was not close to them anymore. But then he realized his naginata had fallen to the ground.
「Did you… use paralyzing drugs…?」
「Precisely.」
His whole body began feeling numb, falling to his knees as he forced his voice out. His face was cramped from the paralysis while his eyes stared vacantly, until finally his concentration was weakened and all his activated skills were dispelled.
The now released man with the dagger smirked with a malicious glint in his eyes, passing his dagger from one hand to another as he approached the downed robed man.
「I’ll end your suffering shortly.」
Saying that, he swung the dagger down with a swift movement he was clearly accustomed to. The blade, so dark it appeared to swallow the light surrounding it, swung down, but its path was interrupted by a pure white shield that appeared out of the blue, raising a high-pitched clang.
「What was… that?!」
His eyes round in shock, the man with the dagger felt someone behind him, but when he tried to turn around it was already too late. Before he could see anything, his body was sent flying high into the air by what felt like a strong shockwave.
「It seems you’ve been paralyzed. Wait a moment.」
The white shield covering the robed man disappeared, and instead he saw a girl with silver hair wearing a dress and coat with primarily dark colors. Her clothes were pushed back from the shockwave, but she did not seem to mind that as she checked the man’s status.
When the fight seemed entirely lost, Mira stepped in to help the robed man.
She did not know if he was part of the Fifty Bells’ Union, or even what that was, but Chimera Clauzen was an organization that Mira clearly thought of as an enemy. So it was easy for her to decide which side to help.
「You’re-」
Before he could finish his sentence, Mira was gone. A moment later, he heard a pained moan together with some sort of explosion outside of his field of view.
The black dagger fell and thrust itself into the ground, next its owner also appeared, his wrists restrained by Mira while his hands had burn marks.
「Dammit… I thought you said you were just a summoner. What are you even doing?」
He scowled at the girl he had seen in the other lake surrounded by flowers, provoking her through his teeth.
「I’m the one wondering what you’re doing here. I thought you told me you’d go back to a village.」
「I just got lost for a bit!」
Mira had an expression of having seen through everything already, so the man looked even more flustered as he forced himself off Mira’s grip, barely bearing the pain from the burns on his hands, and putting some distance between the two. He leaned forward so his tool bag was out of Mira’s view and took out a small bottle that served as his trump card, hiding it in his palm.
「You really like making things more complicated than needed, huh. I just want to talk with you for a bit.」
「I have nothing to tell you. I have no reason to, anyway.」
His eyes were dark and sharp as he focused on Mira. He clearly had an intent to kill her, but Mira returned the gaze without care, closing the distance between the two in an instant with Ground Shrink.
Seeing his opponent vanish, the man immediately focused his senses all around him. That was the best method of dealing with Sages who could appear anywhere around him during a fight, even in the most unexpected places.
From the limited skills he had seen her use, the man assumed Mira was a sage, and a rather powerful one at that. He grimaced at himself, feeling like he had fallen right in the palm of her hand since the moment they met, with her making him believe she was a summoner, the worst class. He also believed now that she was part of the Fifty Bells, so he was thinking of a plan to get rid of her.
The bottle he had taken out earlier was an electricity element paralyzing bottle. If it was broken, it would attack the movement nerves of all living things within a certain radius, rendering them unable to move. He would obviously also be inside that area of effect, but he was already prepared against it, his clothes being resistant to lightning and paralysis. Thus, the effect on him would be minimal and he would be able to move much faster than anyone else.
He grasped the bottle with just a little less strength than needed to break the bottle, and before he could finish, Mira appeared right in front of him, her outstretched palm clad in whirlwinds that mercilessly cut anything she targeted.
But the man bore with it, holding back the pain from all his limbs that appeared about to be torn off him. He almost loosened his grip and let the bottle fall off, but then he steeled himself and managed to shatter it in his hand.
「I… win…!」
Certain of his victory, bolts of lightning running wild around him, a wicked smile overtook his face, his raised cheek obstructing the flow of blood coming down from his head. Then his body felt the effect from the shattered bottle, his muscles contracting like cramps and he fell on his back.
But that was only for a very short moment, his extremities regaining their control short seconds after. He had specialized himself in recovering like that, regaining control of his body faster than anybody else. That was his trump card to win any confrontation.
But before the numbness was entirely gone from his body, it all changed into intense pain.
「Guh… ah..AHHH!」
Unable to stand the pain, he screamed as loud as he could. Then a white and slender foot pried his hands open. The fragments from the bottle were still in his right hand, the glass shards embedded into his skin and stained with blood.
「I knew you were hiding something.」
Mira stood imposingly on him, firmly stepping on his arms as if pinning him down to the ground. Her eyes observing the vestiges left on his hand had a golden shine to them.
Those were Magic Eyes. Together with [Eye Sage Art: Evil Paralyzing Gaze], she had him completely under her control, being able to even dictate if he should remain alive or perish.
「Why… why can you move…」
The man was looking at Mira almost from directly below her as he asked that.
The paralyzing bottle’s effect should have reached her as well. But she was not wearing any specialized gear like he was, so it was strange for her to stay unaffected.
The man glared at her in disdain, but she did not seem to be bothered in the least as she lifted her right hand showing him the back of it. Given their positions, the back of her hand was in shadows and hard to see, but when the man looked at it, he seemed satisfied while also somewhat hopeless as he laughed vacantly.
「Hahah…! A divine protection… are you serious…」
The man had seen the shape of a feather softly glowing in the shadow. It was Mira’s bond with Mariana, the proof she had a fairy’s divine protection.
Fairy’s Divine Protections had many different effects, depending on the fairy that granted them. The power of those effects would also vary depending on the strength of the bond.
Mariana’s Divine Protection offered resistance against status ailments. And the effect granted to Mira gave her complete resistance to any type of unnatural status. A paralysis bottle was considered a rather high level source of paralysis, but even it would be thwarted by the Divine Protection. So all in all, he really could not take that lightly given he relied on those bottles as his trump card.
And because of that Divine Protection, Mira felt confident in charging head-on even without knowing what he was hiding in his hand.
「I don’t know who you are, but you really saved me there. Thank you.」
The robed man’s paralysis had finally started fading out, so he walked over to Mira with wobbly feet.
「No need to worry about it. I heard you called him part of Chimera Clauzen, so as a fellow spellcaster I couldn’t stand aside and not do anything.」
Replying so, Mira looked away from the man under her and to the robed man. Her eyes had already returned to her usual translucent blue ones after using Magic Eyes.
「Anyway… who is she? I heard him call you something bells, is she also part of your comrades?」
Alongside the robed man, there was another person there, a woman wearing a white mountain priestess’ attire. She had long blonde hair and blue eyes, which somehow gave her a more noble-like appearance, as opposed to her clothes.
「Yeah, she’s a friend. Like you heard, we’re part of the Fifty Bells Union. I’m Blue.」
「I’m White.」
「I’m really sorry we can only give you code names after how much you’ve helped, but I hope you can understand the situation we’re in.」
The man called himself Blue, while the woman was White. Mira surmised those were their assigned code names when dealing with outsiders, not like she cared either way.
「I’m Mira.」
Introducing herself, she looked to her feet again. There lay the man, whose paralysis-resistant gear had been greatly overpowered by Mira’s Magic Eyes and now vacantly stared up Mira’s skirt.
「So, what shall be done with him?」
She lightly kicked his head as she turned back to Blue and White.
「If you don’t mind, would you let us take him captive? We’d like to take him to our headquarters and interrogate him about a lot of things.」
That was Blue’s reply. Mira appeared to think about it for a short moment before giving her answer.
「Your headquarters you say? Would it be alright if I go along with you then?」
The Fifty Bells’ Union, an organization that was made to fight Chimera Clauzen. Then there was Nyanmaru, the shikigami Mira encountered protecting a spirit on her way back from the Ancient Temple Nevrapolis. Mira thought there might be some sort of relation between them.
「The headquarters… Well, you pretty much saved my life so I’d love doing that, but I’m nothing but an underling, so I can’t promise anything. However, I’ll pass through a relay camp before returning to the headquarters, so I’ll tell the higher-ups there as much as I can about you. Would that be enough?」
He did owe her a lot, but since they had barely met, it was impossible for him to take her to such an important place like their headquarters. Blue had a slight dispirited frown as he replied, promising to do as much as he could.
「That would be very appreciated.」
Mira knew that’s how things would go with any organization, so she accepted the offer and handed them the man she was standing on.
The two Fifty Bells’ members worked very efficiently, wrapping the man in a cloth envelope covered with symbols in less than a minute, tying that to a pole and carrying him on their backs. The symbols on the cloth were known as sealing charms, and if someone was enveloped by them their general abilities would be reduced to a tenth. They were commonly used to capture and transport people.
They all left the lake and headed to the relay camp, going through the forest and bushes. After a while of walking, Mira finally recalled something she had noticed.
「Oh right, White. It felt like you appeared out of nowhere earlier, where were you before?」
When Mira asked, the two smiled at each other before talking about the earlier events.
「We normally operate in groups of two in the Fifty Bells Union. We have been following this man for a few days already, always tailing him. Then today, we saw you talking with him. We had been observing from far away to not be noticed, so we couldn’t hear what you spoke about, but we thought you might be one of his comrades so we separated to watch you two.」
「Blue followed him, and I stayed back to watch you. But for some reason when I followed you, every time I was a certain distance away from you, you’d turn around towards my location. At first, I thought you were just really perceptive, but now I know you’re also a sage, so you probably were simply noticing my presence with Life Sensing. When I had a rough idea of the area you could sense, I followed from outside that radius. But because of that, I was also late to notice something was happening with Blue.」
Blue hung his shoulders in dismay after the hardships he went through, while White pouted. Meanwhile, the captured man let his already vacant eyes stare even more emptily into the distance, hearing he had been followed for so many days.
「By the way, I already noticed from the range of your Life Sensing, but you seem to be quite the sage.」
White turned around to look at Mira with a deeply curious look. Mira’s clothes were entirely based on the trendy Magical Girl style and fit her well, which made White pout even more at her own plain clothes that made her look like she belonged in an isolated shrine.
「Actually no, I’m a summoner!」
Feeling a sense of deja vu, Mira stated that again. White replied with a 「Huh?」 while tilting her head, while Blue laughed thinking it was some sort of joke. After using so many sage skills, it was hard to blame them for thinking that way.
Tired of having to go through this all over again, Mira summoned a Dark Knight in front of them. But since she said nothing beforehand, to Blue and White it looked like a black humanoid monster had spawned, getting into position to fight it so swiftly it showed just how much they trained for that sort of situation.
「Ah… That’s Dark Knight, my summon.」
As soon as she had summoned it, she wanted to say that was proof she was a summoner, but the two reacted so quickly she could not get a word between them, so only now she mentioned it. The Dark Knight responded as well, meekly walking to Mira’s side and standing there proving her words.
「Seriously… you almost gave me a heart attack.」
「You should warn us beforehand if you want to do something like this.」
The two took a few steps away from the overwhelming Dark Knight and loosened their stances.
「Mm… I’m sorry…」
Mira pouted as she apologized, wanting to say 「But I told you I was a summoner first」 but swallowing the sentence.
But the true victim there had been Chimera Clauzen’s member. He had been dropped on the spot when the Dark Knight appeared, by chance landing on top of a bug nest, so he was forced to watch bugs crawling all over his helpless body without being able to wipe them off.
