She Professed Herself The Pupil of The Wise Man Chapter 21Chapter 21 – Mira builds relations
Fish: Hey guys! If you find any awkward wording or mistakes feel free to point them out in the comments. It’ll help me later when I have to check them all over again in the future!
Real t.i.tle: Adventurers Coordination Union
It was three days since they left the capital of the Alkite Kingdom, the Lunatic Lake. Smacking her lips at the sansai cuisine, which they got in a village on the way, Mira began to get used to the carriage travel. The carriage pa.s.sed the gates of the Requiem City Caranach located next to the rank C dungeon, 『Ancient Shrine Nebulapolis』 and entered the main street.
“Have we gotten there at last?”
Mira popped her head out from the carriage and swept a glance at the lively street. It was a little past the noon and people, leaving their workplaces for a lunch, surged into restaurants.
“Yes, thanks for keeping up with me. To begin with, I am going to lead you till the inn.”
“Yea, I’m relying on thee.”
Amidst the noise of hooves, Mira returned to the carriage and sat down. This carriage at the first glance looked like a common frugal wooden carriage but with resin wheels that dampened vibration from the ground and a spring built into the axis it was specially designed for the extreme comfort.
And this quality applied to the inside arrangements too. Seats were comfortable soft. It was possible to sleep well while the carriage was running. The table here had small ditches for stability in case of sudden braking. It almost looked like a typical carriage yet it had very remarkable content. That was the incognito carriage ordered by Solomon.
After gazing a short time at the scenery, they arrived at the premises of a large 3-story building and the carriage proceeded to a wooden stable.
As the carriage came to a stop inside one of the inside sections which blocked the direct rays of sun, the degree of brightness was discretely reduced. The administrator of the stable who was an employee of this inn approached the coachman Garret.
“Welcome. Are you going to stay here?”
“Yes, we do.”
“Very well. I will contact you later about the management of the carriage and horses.”
“All right.”
The administrator gave a ticket to Garret and stepped backward with a salute.
“Then, Miss Mira, let’s check in to begin with.”
“Yea.”
After popping his head from the perch to call her, Garret promptly jumped off the carriage and opened the door.
“Pardon me.”
He moved quickly; when Mira still was stretching on the seat of the carriage, he already opened the door.
Mira with a tap got off the carriage and, following Garret, went towards the reception desk of the inn. The name ‘Summer lantern’ was engraved on a large marble next to the entrance. Garret opened the door and they entered inside. The interior was closer to a hotel rather than an inn.
At the front desk busy workers in uniform maintained their composure while bustling back and forth. Adventurers in splendid robes and armor spent their time together at chairs next to a window that appeared to be a rest spot. The western hotel interior combined with the Middle Ages fantasy engendered an indescribable atmosphere. A garden spread outside the window, neatly arranged trees and a flower bed swayed on the wind. Kids running around could be seen outside.
“This is indeed quite gorgeous.”
“Well, it’s a Caranach inn.”
“Isn’t it expensive? I don’t have that much money.”
Mira answered while placing her hand on her waist pouch. This black pouch, which fit well with her black outfit, was in the bag that the maid gave her. She tossed the reward money inside of it earlier.
“Of course you should not worry about that. Solomon covers all expenses for this trip.”
And Garret smiled slyly.
“I always wanted to try staying here once”, he merrily murmured.
“Good grief, was thou such guy?”
Lured by him, Mira carelessly returned a smile.
While Garret was busy with checking in, Mira without a particular goal wasted time gazing at furnishings and paintings near the entrance. But she had no idea that she secretly became an object of admiration as well. As it might be expected from adventurers staying at a high-cla.s.s inn, they easily could hide their attention.
Garret completed the formalities and, being lead by an employee, they proceeded together into a room. For this inn, the room had belonged to the average cla.s.s but compared to the usual ones the pair frequented it was more than enough for high cla.s.s. By the way, comparing it to apartments at the Towers is not fair.
“Then, Miss Mira, I have a mission after this so let’s meet at dinner.”
“Yea.”
“To get to the Magician Union, after leaving the inn turn left and you’ll quickly find it after going straight forward.”
“Understood.”
“Also if a stranger approaches you, you must not go with him”
“Ye…yea.”
“If you get lost, ask people in white-and-blue armor about the best inn in the city and they will tell you how to get here.”
“I’m not a kid. I’ll be fine so go away already.”
As he continued, his words became closer and closer to instructions to a child. Mira interrupted it in the middle and poked Garret, urging him to go already. Garret couldn’t help but worry, but he already heard about the Mira’s strength so he reluctantly went to his room.
Unlike Mira, Garret was staying at a regular room on the bottom floor of the inn.
Mira was glad he worried about her but wanted him to do something about treating her like a child.
On a table in the room, there was a memo. It listed tips and service-related things. It covered topics like ‘leave the key at the front desk when you’re going out’, ‘call service with a bell next to the entrance’, and the time of breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Mira briefly looked over the note, left the room, left keys at the front desk and went towards the magician union right away.
“I believe it’s at the left.”
She left the inn and strolled by on the left side. There were a lot of people on the main street, but it has calmed down since the time she came here. But it still was the main street of the city and there were a lot of people coming back and forth so Mira prowled by the edge of the street to avoid attention.
“Hmm, is it here?”
As Garret had said, after going straight forward a little she stood before two similar large stone buildings. Signboards over the doors told that the left one was the warrior union and right was the magician one.
When Mira checked the magician union signboard and reached the door with a hand, a troubled voice sounded from the neighboring warrior union.
“I beg you! I heard that everybody here is strong. Please!”
The door of the warrior union opened and a boy about 10 years age jumped out from within like he was being sent away. Following him was a muscular man in metal armor with a troubled expression who had forced the boy away.
“We’d be glad to hear you but right now the largest rank among us is D. We can’t grant your wish, lad.”
For a moment, Mira thought that the boy was being bullied, but it was clearly an adult troubled about how to deal with a selfish boy.
Adults kept coming outside to calm the desperate boy. Having no business with the warrior union for the moment, Mira opened the door of the magician union.
The interior of the union was well-organized: reception desks were lined up into one lane, and a large bulletin board and chairs for rest were placed in front of them.
Overwhelmed for a moment with the scenery that at a first glance could be mistaken with a ward office, Mira looked around. A majority of people here were magicians. Furthermore, a majority of people were in robes yet some unbelievable figures appeared around them.
“Is it.…normal?”
The attention of Mira was focused on the clothing of the girls of about 15-18 years old scattered here and there throughout the room. No matter how you look at them, they were magical girls.
At the first, when Mira wore the robe arranged in magical girl style and later her current Gothic Lolita magical girl costume made by maids, she was concerned about sneering glances. She thought that n.o.body around wore such a peculiar outfit.
But what about now? She confirmed that there were several girls in similar outfits. The fact she was not alone greatly grew in her heart. And with the proof that her clothing was not unique she received an immeasurable relief.
With an expression like she was set free from something, Mira went to a place resembling reception. Amongst all the receptions, there was a desk in front of them with a label ‘Registration of new adventurers’. Reconfirming the resemblance with ward offices because of reception desks dealing with different tasks, Mira found where was one dealing with her case and started a conversation.
“Do thou have some time now? I want to apply to the union.”
“Yes, I do. Do you want a new registration, miss?”
“Yea.”
The smiling woman that handled her had a handsome face with long blond hairs which were fastened in a ponytail with a ribbon. A name tag hanging from her neck read ‘Eureka’.
Startled for a bit at her smile, Mira nodded while regaining calmness.
“Then fill this form, please.”
After examining it, Mira recalled the recommendation letter received from Solomon and put it on top of the papers.
“I’ve got something like recommendation letter.”
“Recommendation, you say? Let me take a look at it.”
Eureka held the recommendation letter in her hands and, just as she turned it upside down to check the referee, she halted.
There aren’t many people registering with recommendations but it was not that rare. Eureka herself already got several recommendation letters from n.o.bles registering their private guards in the union to get valuable things in dungeons or from high-rank adventurers who recommended potent newcomers.
But this letter was clearly different. The girl before her, judging by the fashionable outfit, was a magician. And for magicians neither the looks of a weak girl nor height mattered. Usually, their magical power could not be judged by outward appearances.
Eureka thought so when she took the letter. Perhaps it was a recommendation from a high-rank adventurer she met somewhere or maybe she was a daughter in a n.o.ble family. She a.s.sumed the latter by the cute appearance and tried to check exactly which n.o.ble family it was. However, the name written there was neither of them.
The referee was Solomon. The king of the Alkite Kingdom, king Solomon himself.
“I.. I’m sorry, wait here a minute!”
The smile suddenly disappeared from her face and Eureka dashed into the depths of the building. She never heard about recommendation letters directly from the king, let alone seeing one. That’s why she decided she can’t judge herself and went to the chief room looking for orders from the union chief.
Left behind, Mira tried to figure out what was happening but without any ideas took a pen from the reception desk and started to fill in the required fields on the papers.
“I’m sorry for keeping you waiting.”
Mira completed filling the form and was observing the interior of the magician union when she was called from the reception side. Turning herself around, she saw the usual smile of Eureka who had just regained calmness.
“I filled it, is it enough?”
Eureka took the papers, checked for skipped fields and nodded.
“Yes. There are no issues here. And about the recommendation letter, miss, can you proceed to the union chief’s room?”
“Hmm. I don’t mind.”
Thinking that a sudden promotion to the rank C requires a verification by the union chief himself, Mira accepted it.
Eureka left the reception to a neighboring staff member, went upstairs to the third floor and lead her to the chief room. At her knock, a quiet elderly voice answered ‘Come in.’
“Excuse me.”
Eureka opened the door and went inside, Mira followed her.
Fitting the t.i.tle of the chief room, it was composed in good taste. Furnishings without excessive emphasis softly supported the coloring of the room. A large bookcase calmly stood behind the office table, the variety of books spoke of the thirst for knowledge of the owner of the room, the guild chief.
“Sorry for all the trouble to get here. I am Leoneil, the chief of this union.”
The union chief that introduced himself as Leoneil stood up from the office chair and gave a bow. The deep wrinkles carved with age around his face accented his maturity in his composed male aura.
Leoneil moved to the table for reception and, suggesting a seat to Mira, sat down.
“I’m Mira.”
Giving a brief answer to the introduction, after a short pause Mira sat down. At this time an office clerk brought tea and sweets from a room inside of the office, left it on the table and after a bow returned to the room inside of the office again.
“Mira, you say.”
Intensely looking at the girl, Leoneil with ‘Let me look at it’ accepted papers from Eureka. Looking down, he glanced at the paper. Her name, cla.s.s and country were filled there.
“Aren’t you the rumored pupil of Dunbalf by some chance?”
He asked like it was a sure fact.
Being the chief of magician union, Leoneil gathered various information from the country. And Leoneil was especially focused on the gathering of information to the point he even made a department dedicated to collecting news.
A rumor about the appearance of the pupil of the hero Dunbalf flew to him together with the information about the beautiful appearance of that silver-haired girl included.
Knowing all it, concluding that a girl who named herself Mira matched it was easy. And the papers stated the summoner cla.s.s too.
“Yea, indeed. I haven’t expected it already got along to thee.”
“I see. Then I can understand why king Solomon gave you a recommendation letter.”
Quickly managing to accept that, Leoneil with a somewhat surprised expression put the paper on the table and affixed it with a seal. He did consider a test to prove she corresponds to the rank C but with a direct recommendation of king Solomon and her being a hero’s pupil he decided it’s not necessary. On the other hand, Eureka couldn’t keep up with the conversation and, forgetting about keeping her smile, dumbfoundedly stared at Mira.
“Wait, wait, excuse me! That ‘Dunbalf’ you said is about the Dunbalf, right?”
Knowing that it’s rude to interrupt them yet unable to stay here without confirming, Eureka moved her look to Leoneil.
“Yes, the Dunbalf. The pioneer of refining skill and the hero of the country since founding times. The one who was called the war power Dunbalf.”
Leoneil spoke of it as an extremely obvious thing.
Bringing up a name of the wise man who hasn’t revealed himself since the disappearance case 30 years ago and until now together with his pupil in the conversation was a bolt out of the blue for Eureka. It lacked a sense of reality. Leoneil himself would take more time for accepting it without having the information beforehand.
As she was repeatedly reciting the answer of Leoneil in the head, her full-face smile increased its brightness.
Considering that if he leaves her alone, the city will be filled with rumors, Leoneil just in case prohibited her to speak about it and gave her the sealed papers.
“I’m leaving formalities to you.”
“Ye, yes! Leave it to me!”
Eureka answered lively with an uplifted voice. Then, carefully holding papers with both hands, after throwing a glance to Mira she left the room first to proceed with the registration.
“Well, from this place it’s a personal thing so you are free to leave now but if you have time, could you please keep me company?”
The verification of the recommendation letter was already done, but Leoneil had an interest in countless things that Mira should know about the Dunbalf who hasn’t revealed himself until now.
“Hm. Well, I don’t mind.”
With a status of chief of magician union, he had quite a lot of influence. Mira agreed to it considering that keeping company with him for a while to enhance relations could lead to various benefits in future.
The two of them sat on the reception seats.
Mira kept with the conversation, remembering the information she heard from the tower aide Mariana and Luminaria. She told she doesn’t know if Dunbalf is still in the illusion beast city or not; that she can summon the dark knight on par with the teacher and so on, lining up answers that wouldn’t cause a problem for her. In spare moments, she pecked her cake while sipping the herb tea. Leoneil, looking at that genuinely delightful eating manners offered a second helping and Mira immediately replied with a nod.
“That was a feast. See thou later.”
“The adventurer ID will be ready tomorrow, you can get it on the reception desk.”
“Yea, understood.”
Guided by a clerk from the inside of office who had brought a second helping of cake, Mira left the office. Leoneil sunk in thoughts, looking at her back.
She certainly was hiding something yet he couldn’t feel any ill intent in it. She looked like a girly girl while stuffing her cheeks with the cake with a cream stuck on the face yet her gestures and the choice of words she showed sometimes diverted from that childish image.
Roughly convincing himself that if she lived under the same roof with Dunbalf, it could be somewhat explained, he deeply sunk into the seat spreading the recommendation letter.
“Ye-ea. Without limits.”
Throwing away the recommendation letter Leoneil looked up at the sky. A nimbly landed on a corner of the table letter had asked him to a.s.sign the authority to lift all the trespa.s.sing bans.