She Professed Herself The Pupil Of The Wiseman (LN) - Volume 12 - Chapter 13

Chapter 13

ENJOYING A MEAL WHILE GAZING upon the world from on high was a luxury only a flying wagon could provide. But having a picnic surrounded by nature beneath the clear blue sky would be fun as well.

Able to choose whichever option she pleased, Mira opted for the latter and partook of an elegant lunch by a large lake in the middle of a beautiful grassland.

“How nice to have peace and quiet.”

Clouds drifted in the distance, and the sun burned bright in the sky. Grass stretched all around, interrupted only by the clear blue lake. In this picturesque setting, she devoured a hot and steamy breaded katsudon meal smothered in sauce.

Not far away, Garuda had skillfully caught a lake fish with its beak. It was now chowing down and relaxing. Still, it remained wary, shooting glances at its surroundings. And of course, the beast never forgot to direct a cool breeze toward its master.

***

“Well, I think it’s high time.”

After a peaceful lunch, Mira stood and looked around. There was no sign of human life in this grassland far from civilization, making it the perfect place to do something flashy without being noticed.

What did she intend to do in such a location? She wanted to follow through on her idea yesterday and greet all the summons she hadn’t yet summoned in this world.

“First off…”

Which should she summon first? After a moment’s thought, she decided with surprising ease. A spirit who’d been quite helpful lately—not just in the Ancient Underground City but as recently as last night.

[Evocation: Undine]

As Mira cast the spell, a magic circle like rippling water appeared, and a beautiful woman emerged. She had timid-looking eyes and hair as blue as the deep sea, and she wore rather revealing white garments. A fish-shaped pendant hung from her neck.

This was the water spirit Undine.

The spirit looked down sadly, so Mira spoke softly, searchingly: “Long time no see, dear Undine.”

Undine’s timidity probably worsened the surprise of being summoned after so long—or so Mira thought. The spirit quickly pulled her into a bear hug, however. Mira remained calm. She’d raised the spirit from birth, after all; Undine was like a daughter to her.

“Oh, yes, of course. I’m sorry. I’m happy to see you again too.” She patted Undine’s back, as if soothing a child, before finally letting go.

Undine looked as happy as could be. She still couldn’t talk, but Mira intuitively knew what she wanted to say. Mira’s bond with Undine allowed a single look into her eyes to say all she needed to hear.

Undine couldn’t speak—not because she lacked intelligence but because she was still inexperienced in human communication methods. Learning those would take her decades. 

However, the bottom line was that spirits and humans communicated in different ways. And spirits could communicate with each other from a young age. With a spirit like Wasranvel—who could speak human language—as an intermediary, Mira could converse with Undine. 

However, summoning such an intermediary spirit wasn’t necessary. Mira had a much simpler way to communicate, and it wasn’t anything as vague as emotional intelligence.

“She says, ‘Daddy is Mommy now. Very surprising. But you’re cute. And warm. I wanna hug you again. Can I? Please?’”

The Spirit King himself would be Undine’s voice. Via their bond, he could easily hear the voice of any spirit Mira had contracted; as a result, he could also be their interpreter.

“I…I see. How very…loving.”

Undine was timid, but affectionate, and the Spirit King repeated her words exactly as she’d said them. As a king, his voice retained a firm dignity, despite how casual he’d been lately. Such a deep, powerful voice naturally made one want to kneel—but now it was repeating such childish words. Mira chuckled reluctantly at the incongruence, deciding not to declare that she’d rather hear Martel translate for Undine.

At any rate, Undine’s feelings were clear. Mira hugged her gently and thanked her for all her help with the showers and baths.

“‘I’m happy I can help you, Mommy. I’ll do my best, so keep on relying on me,’” the Spirit King interpreted once more. “You are truly loved, Miss Mira. I knew I had the right idea about you.” 

Martel butted in. “Yeah! I knew it the moment I saw her. Everyone loves you, and you love them in turn!”

The pair recounted other spirits’ words about Mira, along with their hopes that the relationship between mankind and spirits could continue to grow.

“Um…well, I’m honored.” Mira left her reply at that, shut off the conversation in her brain for a bit, and focused on Undine again. “Thank you for all your help to come,” she said gently, patting the spirit on the head. Undine beamed, continuing to hug her.

After dismissing Undine, Mira regretted putting this off for so long. “I knew this was a good idea.”

She began greeting each of her contracted summons individually. She summoned the serpent Umgarna; the ever-growing spirit beast Jingulara, an icy haze tiger; and more. Many had changed in the past thirty years. Others hadn’t. But all were overjoyed to see her again after so long.

“Everyone’s being too kind. I’m truly blessed.”

None of her friends were angry with her due to the three decades of neglect; instead, they rejoiced over their reunion. A tear came to Mira’s eye, her heart warmed by the summons’ kindness as she felt the real bonds between them.

***

“Mother, I see a big city!” Eizenfald squealed from inside the wagon. Having shape-shifted into a young man, he gleefully peered out the window at the city they were approaching.

“Ooh! You certainly do. Seems we’re almost there.”

On the way to Haxthausen, Mira had decided to take a small detour to a city called Ligret. It was in a location near Grimdart territory where a number of trade routes intersected. As such, it prospered as a hub of commerce in the northern half of the continent.

As for why Mira chose to detour there and why a humanoid Eizenfald was present, that could be explained by what had happened after she finished greeting her summons.

Mira and her summoned companions alike had all rejoiced over their mass reunion. Then Eizenfald brought up one of her promises: that she’d do him any favor he asked. He’d wondered if he could redeem that promise now.

Unfortunately, Mira was in a hurry to find Fuzzy Dice and ask him where that orphanage was. But how could she say no to Eizenfald’s puppy dog…er, puppy dragon eyes?

As a result of his request, Mira detoured to the closest big city to grant his wish: a day of walking around town with his mother.

***

After they landed in Ligret, Mira left her wagon in a rented parking spot and went sightseeing with Eizenfald.

The shops here had gathered items from all over the continent, each unique in its own way. Just window shopping felt like touring the continent. Obviously, many people congregated in large cities; merchants and adventurers were joined by tourists stopping through en route to Grimdart. The busy downtown even had street performers filling the place with laughter. 

As they walked, Eizenfald saw a performer breathing fire. “I can do that too!” he shouted, trying to shoot off his dragon breath.

The duo jumped at a limited-time sale on sweets at a nearby shop, coming out with a huge haul. At a souvenir store, Mira bought a devious juice to give Solomon upon her return. She was having just as much fun as her dear son.

Time flew when you were having fun, and today was no exception. The clock ticked past five in the blink of an eye, and the sun began to set. As smaller shops prepared to close, the pair finally started to wind down after the entertaining day.

Suddenly, Eizenfald declared, “Mother, I smell something…nostalgic!” Then he ran off happily.

“Eizenfald, please! Running’s dangerous!” It was more dangerous for passersby than for Eizenfald himself, of course. 

Worried, Mira pursued the dragon as he darted off. He rushed from downtown Ligret to the restaurant district, then into a back alley. How far was he planning to go? Mira followed him into the alley and stopped in her tracks. The alley was full of food stalls; it was just as crowded as the main street.

“Ugh…where’d that boy go?”

Finding Eizenfald in this commotion would be impossible, so Mira used the link of their contract to search for him. Then she heard a woman scream directly above her—from the same direction she sensed Eizenfald in.

“Huh?” the voice cried. “Wha—?! Who are you?! What the—?!”

“What’s going on?” Mira muttered to herself. The screeching sounded like it came from the roof of the restaurant next to her. What in the world was happening there? 

Anxious, Mira hopped up to the rooftop with ease. When she looked, Eizenfald was indeed there—hugging a woman, for some odd reason.

“It’s been so long,” he exclaimed, delighted. “I’m overjoyed to see you again!”

“What’s going on? Who are you?!” The woman was utterly confused and flustered.

The little girl next to her was gobsmacked too. “Huh? Bwah? Wha—?”

The woman’s voice was familiar, Mira realized—and she was someone the summoner would expect Eizenfald to be this fond of. She approached the trio and greeted them. “Aha! It really is you, Kagura!”

Eizenfald had indeed run all this way to hug Mira’s fellow Wise Man.

“Huh? Gr-Gramps? Why’re you here?!” After a short look of genuine surprise at the unexpected reunion, Kagura began pleading for aid: “Also, help!”

“Come now, Eizenfald, that’s enough. Let her go.” He’d offered Kagura adequate affection for the occasion.

“All right!” Upon Mira’s order, Eizenfald obediently released Kagura. Still, he couldn’t contain his joy. He fixed her with a broad, innocent smile.

As for Kagura, she obviously had questions. “Who is this? One of your friends? What’s the deal?” Mira and a handsome young man were an unusual combination, to be sure.

“This is Eizenfald. He’s got magic that lets him shapeshift into human form now.”

Following Mira’s introduction, Eizenfald greeted the pair more formally, grinning. “It’s been years, Miss Kagura! And it’s nice to meet you, miss.”

“Huh? Oh, wow! It’s really Eizen… How in the world did you create a spell like that?”

Kagura’s first impression had been of a pretty, but random, boy coming up and accosting her out of nowhere. Now that she knew he was an old friend, her impression of him softened greatly. He’d gone from a suspicious stranger to an object of curiosity. As a Wise Man of the Linked Silver Towers, she was naturally interested in magic she’d never seen.

Observing Eizenfald carefully, she muttered, “Yeah, I don’t have a clue,” then looked expectantly at Mira.

Mira replied that she didn’t understand the spell either. The pair promised to research it together once things settled down.

Kagura’s companion also introduced herself. “My name’s Tyriel. Pleased to meet you.” 

She seemed relieved that this stranger was Mira’s friend; calm had replaced her earlier confusion. She now came off as much more composed than Kagura.

“So what brings you here?” Mira asked. “Something related to Chimera? Or demons?”

Kagura was supposed to be working with Wallenstein to investigate the sealed oni coffins and affairs related to Chimera Clausen and demon activity. If she was up on some random restaurant’s rooftop, surely there was a reason.

“Um…we were staking out that joint there.” Kagura pointed at the restaurant across the alley. 

This wasn’t connected to either Chimera or demons, she revealed. It turned out that dozens of children had gone missing from this area lately. Kagura had visited this place on her usual Chimera-and-demon business several times, and during one visit, she’d caught wind of that problem.

“I heard a lot of things. It sounds like four children disappeared in this city alone. I can’t ignore that,” she declared matter-of-factly. She was investigating the apparent abductions.

“I see. And the fact that you chose this spot to stake out must mean you came across a relevant clue?”

“Yep, that’s right,” Kagura replied confidently.

She told Mira about the lead she was pursuing. Apparently, liberal use of the Isuzu Alliance’s information network had yielded information on a suspicious group that had appeared in town recently. Despite that group’s emergence, though, Ligret was a key commerce city. It was very possibly already a hotbed of crime that could lead to such abductions, unconnected to other circumstances in the area. On top of that, a particular group being suspicious didn’t necessarily mean they were involved in the disappearances.

Still, Kagura seemed convinced that this group was the cause. “Do you know about Fuzzy Dice, Gramps?”

“Well…yes,” Mira nodded. “What about him?” What did the famous thief have to do with missing children?

The fact that Mira was familiar with Fuzzy Dice made things easier for Kagura to explain. “The thing is…” 

She shared the revelations from Isuzu’s investigation. According to her, this had all begun a year earlier when the Creek Company—a large company in this city—had their shady dealings exposed by Fuzzy Dice.

Their evildoing revealed, the Creek Company was forced to dissolve. Executives were arrested, and criminals were punished. But investigation had uncovered that some employees escaped the eyes of the law. Those remnants seemed to be involved with the disappearances.

“Now we’re here watching a guy we heard is linked to them.” 

Peering through her binoculars, Kagura boasted about the Isuzu Alliance’s investigative abilities. Why, surveilling just one man seemed like almost a waste of their prowess—except for one thing.

“Huh?” Kagura shrieked. “He’s gone!”

Tyriel likewise panicked. “He is!”

Apparently, during their conversation, the target had finished his meal and left.

“Ugh! Good going, Gramps!” Kagura groaned, annoyed. 

She summoned Tweetsuke, Growlta, and Kushellge, assigning them to search for their target. But where had he gone, and how? Had he entered another building?

In the end, they were too clueless to find him again.