A single shadow spirit arm was rare, but that merchant had sold an entire set. The worst possibility flashed in Mira’s mind. All of the spirit arms classified as shadows were said to be the death agony of spirits.
That merchant alone had amassed so many of those rare items. Mira could tell there was something fishy going on, and there was one more adventure she could talk to Solomon about. Muttering to herself about those things, Mira began thinking how to deal with Kairos.
As rotten as he was, he was still nobility. If she did as she pleased, there was a high chance it could bring her many problems which Mira did not want to deal with. That left her with only one option, bring up the issue with the appropriate people and let them handle the rest.
Realizing the first thing she needed to do was return to Lunatic Lake, Mira looked at the other two men in black aside from Kairos. Her attack had been so powerful that they were still on the ground. The two were obviously important witnesses, so she could not leave them there.
There was only one way to accomplish that, so Mira stepped away from Kairos and summoned Garuda in front of her.
「—!」
Kairos let out a shrill shriek seeing that ominous bird, while Garuda merely glanced at him with an annoyed look. Kairos’ breathing paused when he noticed its giant beak, large enough to swallow an entire person.
He thought she was planning on feeding him to that beast, but his fear was unfounded. Yet, he had plenty of time to taste that feeling.
「Garuda, I’d like to ride you again, together with this person here and those two lying there.」
Mira tapped at Kairos’ armor with the tip of her shoes before pointing at the other two men with her gaze. Garuda nodded silently and lowered its neck in front of Mira. She climbed on it, her view becoming higher as she felt the scent of greenery and a warm spring breeze around her.
Afterwards, it carelessly grabbed Kairos and the two men in black like an eagle carrying its prey, just like that other day, and it spread its wings, taking towards the sky.
Flooded by the feeling of being dropped in mid-air and not having solid ground under his feet, Kairos’ conscience slowly faded away.
A few hours after Garuda began flying, well past noon and entering the time for snacks, they arrived at the capital city of Lunatic Lake.
Garuda gave off a wholly different presence than Pegasus, but the Wiseman aide Creos would often arrive boarding a wagon together with it so the guards were used to seeing one. But this Garuda had a particular air to it, and there were people trapped between its claws which raised suspicion.
The gatekeeper was guarding the entrance like usual and noticed that there was something slightly off with this Garuda that landed in front of the castle.
Garuda leaned down to the ground, a silver-haired girl jumping down from its neck. That was enough for the gatekeeper to understand what was going on. She was the pupil of Danbulf, one of the Nine Wisemen. Those in the castle who knew of her, knew exactly what to expect from her. She had already left a strong impression after arriving mounted on a Pegasus, but it felt obvious she would do the same with a Garuda.
「Welcome back, Lady Mira. Are you planning to meet His Majesty Solomon?」
「Yes, that’s correct.」
The people in the castle considered Mira to be a prime candidate to be a future Wiseman, and also knew she was a good friend and confidant of the king. Solomon had made that clear so Mira could move around without restrictions.
「By the way, what happened with those three people?」
The gatekeeper asked as he looked at the three people Garuda had thrown on the ground, one in full armor and two in tattered black clothes.
「The one in armor is a noble or something called Kairos. The other two are his underlings I believe. There was some confusion and he started holding a grudge against me, so he lured me out to attack me, but it didn’t really go his way.」
Mira knocked on the armor with her fingertips as she bluntly explained the situation. As the guards listened to her story, they turned looks of scorn to the three men, before changing into the same look of disgust as seeing garbage. Kairos had already built a bad reputation in the past, his father held a high position as one of the magicians of Arkite, and he himself boasted of his magic skill, so he abused his influence using it against anyone he did not like. Now the fact he attacked a lone girl as a group of three had been added to that.
「Since he’s nobility I figured things would get tricky if I took matters into my own hands, so I brought them along for now. Could you bring someone who has a better idea of what to do with them?」
「Certainly. I’ll go find someone so just wait a moment.」
「Sure, and thanks.」
After a military salute, the gatekeeper ran inside the castle. Another guard turned to look at the three men clutched in Garuda’s claws.
「There’s no end to the rumors about him, but I guess his time to pay his tab finally came.」
The guard did not seem to feel a shred of pity for him as he said that, he actually sounded rather relieved.
「Hohh, so he’s that well-known already?」
「Well, his skills are quite something, and he uses all the power at his disposal against anyone who goes against him. Thanks to his father’s influence, he also inherited some power so not many people talk about it publicly. My son attends the academy as well… but as you see, I’m just a measly guard and I can’t compare with the influence I have.」
「I see. But well, hopefully this will be the end of that. Tell your son to relax and fully focus on his studies.」
「Yes, I’ll tell him it was all thanks to you!」
The guard smiled brightly as he replied. She had not seen that coming, but Mira had also restored some peace to the academy. Her name was mostly unknown at that moment, but it would slowly pass from mouth to mouth as time passed.
「Sorry for the wait.」
As they kept talking, the other gatekeeper returned bringing with him a trustworthy person.
「Thank you.」
Mira turned around as she said that and saw Solomon’s aide Suleyman, wiseman Luminaria wearing an eye catching red, and multiple guards.
「I heard you were attacked or something like that? Can you tell us more details?」
Suleyman glanced at the three men brought by Garuda, then bowed to Mira and said that. Mira nodded back and shortly related what happened.
「I had heard about you participating in the examination, and to think that would cause this… there’s a limit to how much of a grudge someone can hold. There’s a case to be made on whether using your full power on the examination could be considered foul play, and I know there are things that are hard to grasp for you. But resorting to a personal attack because of that is clearly taking things too far.」
After hearing everything, Suleyman let out a deep sigh like it was the most tiresome thing he had ever gone through. The examination was an event where people displayed the potential of a given class, so technically Mira’s participation was allowed, but given to the scoring system of the event, she would obviously come out on top. Strictly speaking there were no problems and the regulations did not prohibit such a situation, but it did get really close to crossing the line into cheating territory.
And for Kairos, she had crossed that tacit line.
「By the way, do you still have that letter you say he used to lure you?」
「I should have it stored in my pouch… here, found it.」
After fishing through her waist pouch, Mira took out the letter and gave it to Suleyman. It was one more item that could be used as evidence.
「Next, we’ll listen to the account from these three. Let’s go to the interrogation room.」
「Okay, let’s go.」
Saying so, Mira let Garuda go, releasing the three men. Kairos remained sprawled in the ground, carelessly dropped from the claws, but the two men in black had woken up. However, seeing Luminaria in front of them, they lost any will to escape and remained silent, pretending to still be asleep.
Suleyman took the lead entering the castle, while the guards picked up the three men and carried them. Mira and Luminaria followed last.
「By the way, do you have so much spare time that you decided to come oversee this yourself?」
