Chapter 4
“WELCOME BACK! And thanks!”
Mira dropped Rina off where she was staying. Nina came out to greet them and tightly hugged Mira. Rina looked happier than she’d ever seen her.
“It was nothing, really. I was just keeping my word. It was also quite a thrill for me to meet someone with so much potential. Your sister has a promising future ahead of her,” Mira replied, enjoying the hug as she gave Nina her honest thoughts on the training session.
Rina brimmed with delight. Her other sisters, Mina and Nana, came out, also reacting enthusiastically to what Mira had just said. They asked if the Spirit Queen thought their little sister had talent.
“Hrmm, yes, she does. She has a great memory and catches on quickly. And, most importantly, she’s an extremely hard worker. If she keeps up doing what she’s doing, then she’ll likely become a top-notch summoner.”
Truth be told, out of everyone she’d met, Rina was the quickest and most talented learner she’d come across. Once she told them as much, Nina and her sisters hugged Rina with such joy that one might’ve thought they were the ones who’d been complimented.
“You’re incredible, Rina!”
“Well done! You have been working your tail off.”
“Isn’t that great to hear?”
She’d long aspired to be an adventurer like her big sisters. And yet, she had only the aptitude to become a summoner—a profession in decline. She felt like a ship without sails. Then the eminently talented Spirit Queen had made her dazzling debut.
Perhaps because she was remembering those difficult days, tears welled in Rina’s eyes. “Yeah!” she said, a smile blooming on her face.
But that radiant smile soon dimmed. It was time for them to part.
“Until next time. Don’t let that talent go to waste. Make sure you keep working hard.”
The moment the words left Mira’s lips, Rina’s countenance darkened. She quickly looked down and answered, “I will.”
There was no way that Mira could stay and be her teacher permanently. She knew as much in her brain, but her heart didn’t seem to want to accept it.
But, perceiving how Rina must’ve felt, Mira thought of something. She’d been able to spend the day personally teaching Rina, and she’d been able to improve a lot. But what would Rina do tomorrow and in the days to come? She could simply practice what they’d covered today to start, but would it be enough for her to master new evocation spells and employ new techniques once she began picking them up?
What the field of summoning currently lacked was the teachings of past summoners. Mira knew the educational materials that one might use to make up for this were limited. Rina had the basics down pat, and yet, when it came to the practical application of summoning and advancing her skills, she had a long way to go. This was because there weren’t many textbooks or academic resources when it came to summoning.
If she had a good teacher, she would definitely be able to reach Cleos’s level.
It was a shame. Mira wondered if it was really okay to leave a girl with talent like Rina’s unnurtured. Then a brilliant idea came to her—one that would solve the problem. She knew the perfect place for Rina.
“By the way, is your group based in this city?” Mira asked.
A quizzical look passed over Nina’s face before she answered, slightly embarrassed. “Everyone’s crazy about Fuzzy Dice. We only came to get a look at him.”
She said they weren’t really based out of anywhere. They were touring the continent, looking for a country where they’d want to settle down.
“Hrmm, I see. In that case, why don’t you try going to Alcait next? Their capital has an academy with lots of talented instructors. They’ll be able to help Rina develop her abilities.”
Mira had suggested it as if it were a terrific idea, but a shadow fell over Nina and her sister’s faces.
“You mean Alcait Academy, right? We’ve considered it before, but…”
When Rina had been worried about learning to become a summoner, they’d considered sending her to the academy. Its Mage Department was the premier school for aspiring mages, and they’d wondered if there might be some way to have her enrolled. However, this was easier said than done. The more they looked into it, the more they realized it wasn’t the kind of place where an adventurer with no accomplishments under her belt could get in. And so, they’d given up.
“Hrmm… I wouldn’t worry about that. I think we’ll be able to figure something out. So how about it?”
Thanks to Mira’s exploits, the School of Evocation at Alcait Academy was now ascendant. Someone like Rina, a girl brimming with talent, shouldn’t have any trouble getting in. And if she put in a good word to Cleos, then the man in charge of the program was sure to be able to make room for one or two students. Furthermore, there was an excellent evocation professor there named Hinata. She would most definitely be able to guide Rina along the path.
Mira explained some of her reasoning to them. More than anything, it was a waste to leave someone with as much potential as Rina undeveloped.
Learning this, Nina and her sisters looked genuinely taken aback.
“Huh? You’ll…figure something out? You’re talking about the Alcait Academy, right?” Nina looked completely baffled. Mina and Nana, meanwhile, exchanged uncertain glances.
While Mira wasn’t quite sure of all the details, it did require a lot of work to enroll in the Royal Alcait Academy. This was especially true of each of the highly esteemed schools of magic which were some of the very best places to learn and attain knowledge in the so-called Nation of Mages.
They were also some of the most competitive schools. And the School of Evocation, which was in the midst of a resurgence, had seen a considerable uptick in students. Unless there was some exceptional circumstance, it wasn’t likely one would be able to enroll midsemester.
However, this wouldn’t be the case if Mira recommended her.
There wasn’t a single person at the academy who could disregard someone who’d been endorsed by the Wise Man of evocation. Cleos would be sure not to ignore such a recommendation.
“Can I go to school?” Rina said, a hopeful look appearing on her face. She must’ve known about Alcait Academy as well.
“Do you really think she can get in?” Nina and her sisters asked, changing their line of questioning.
“Hrmm. I might have a few connections. If she really wants to study seriously, then I could put in a good word for her,” Mira said, smiling confidently. She then added that she was primarily based out of the kingdom of Alcait. If she ever had time, there might be days when she could teach Rina herself.
“I wanna go!” Rina said firmly, turning to her older sisters. More than anything, she wanted the opportunity to learn from the Spirit Queen, whom she admired so much. With tears in her eyes, she added that she wouldn’t mind going alone if it would get in the way of their adventuring.
Nina and the rest of Rina’s older sisters then hugged her once more.
“We’ll go with you!”
“I’m sure everyone else will agree to go, too!”
“We’ll definitely talk them into it.”
Switching gears after this display of affection, the sisters turned toward Mira and emphatically proclaimed, “We’d like to take you up on your offer.”
Promising she would put in a good word with Alcait Academy on behalf of Rina, Mira said goodbye to the girls with a smile, quickly returned to the Baron Hotel, and leaped into her wagon. She wanted to give Rina her endorsement immediately. Nina and her sisters had gone off to have dinner with their adventuring group, during which they planned to propose going to Alcait. With Fuzzy Dice’s heist over, they had been in the process of deciding where to go next, and Nina had boasted that the proposal was guaranteed to be accepted.
“I should probably let them know about this ASAP,” Mira muttered to herself, opening the closet door in the wagon, looking for the communication device. It sure was convenient in these situations.
She dialed the number for the Tower of Evocation. If she could inform Cleos—the head of the School of Evocation—then he could take care of the rest.
The bell rang, and Mariana picked up. “Greetings, you’ve reached the Tower of Evocation, this is Mariana speaking.”
“Hey, Mariana! It’s me!”
Happy to hear Mariana’s voice for the first time in several days, Mira began recounting everything that’d happened in Haxthausen. The exchange was a bit like when a husband called his beloved wife while away on a business trip…and lasted for an hour.
Satisfied with their talk, Mira began to put down the receiver when she remembered the purpose of her call.
She hurriedly rang Cleos and asked him about enrolling Rina. With Mira’s personal recommendation, Cleos seemed to have high hopes for the girl. He replied that he’d take care of all the paperwork, sounding so elated that she could hear it in his voice.
Soon, the third morning after the events with Fuzzy Dice dawned. Having completed all her tasks, Mira was heading out of her room when she spotted a sealed envelope someone had slid under her door.
Picking it up and looking it over, she discovered that it was a letter from Lastrada, much like the one she’d received two days prior. In his first letter, he’d thanked her for her help and included a simple summary of what’d happened after their raid. But this letter only had a set of coordinates.
The first letter said that thanks to the intel they’d gotten from the masochistic guild master of Gillian Rock, the Adventurers’ Guild Union had managed to arrest all of the guild’s members. Furthermore, they uncovered even more crimes that they’d committed. They could now simply leave the rest to the guild union.
Mira looked over the coordinates.
They corresponded to a small lake that was located in a forest northeast of Haxthausen city. It was a fairly mundane place without anything nearby. But, considering that he’d gone out of his way to relay those coordinates, there was likely something there.
“Jeez, he’s always so cryptic.”
Realizing what Lastrada wanted, Mira checked out of the Baron Hotel and prepared for the journey. She made her way down the main street with her Guardian Ash pulling her wagon, stopping by noteworthy shops to pick up various supplies.
Her item box was stocked full of handy adventuring tools and plenty of food. But Mira was still on the lookout for food-related supplies.
Despite having enough food to sustain her for a month without needing to restock, Mira bought even more. There was a small difference in what she was purchasing now, though…
This time, rather than stocking up on staples, Mira was stocking up on sweets. She began by getting some pancakes she was particularly fond of, then making rounds to each and every dessert shop in the city—picking up all different sorts of cakes, chocolates, and Bavarian crèmes.
At the twelfth bakery she visited, Mira found a certain baked good that sent her down memory lane.
“Oh yeah, this stuff!”
They were the buns that Christina had been holding when Mira had recalled her with [Evacuation Order] on the day of the heist, when the city had been in the throes of celebration. They looked to be very simple, palm-sized buns filled with cream. Drawn by the eye-catching words “Crammed full of famous custard,” Mira quickly bought one and devoured it on the spot.
Her mind was blown.
“Yesss… This place is incredible.”
Two women walked into the shop and made straight for the shelf with the buns. From the looks of it, they were both after the same.
“These are the ones they were handing out, aren’t they?”
“Yup, they are.”
Now there was no doubt that the buns were the same kind as Christina had been eating. Convinced of this, Mira overheard several more interesting things from the women.
“That sword-wielding girl really was something else.”
“Yeah, the one with pigtails, right? She was incredible. How many do you think she ate?”
“At least ten.”
“Well, they are delicious. I don’t blame her.”
“But she disappeared so quickly… What kind of technique do you think that was?”
“Who knows? Maybe she was some kind of bread fairy…”
“That’s ridiculous!”
The two girls went on chatting happily and giggling. Meanwhile, Mira imagined the scene they described. She decided to casually ask the shopkeeper about whether or not they’d served a friend of hers that day before describing Christina in detail.
“Ah, that girl! She enjoyed eating our buns so much that it made me happy just watching her,” the shopkeeper replied, affirming her suspicion.
Christina said she’d only eaten one after being urged to do so. But now the cat was out of the bag.
Mira bought twenty buns, thanked the shopkeeper, and left the bakery. She then chuckled to herself about how she’d found something to tattle on Christina to Alfina about and continued preparations for her journey.
It seemed that Plenty of people were unused to seeing her Guardian Ash, which happened to look like a big, gray bear. In fact, her wagon stuck out so much that it became the center of attention along the main street.
She could hear voices around her saying, “There’s the Spirit Queen!” and “The longer you look, the more regal she gets.”
Due to the events with Fuzzy Dice and her donation to the church, her name was all over town.
Having procured her fill of sweets, Mira snickered to herself about all the attention she was getting. Then she very deliberately dismissed the guardian ash that was in the harness.
This was a perfect opportunity to show everyone what one could do with evocation. With this in mind and all eyes on her, she summoned Garuda.
A magic circle appeared, followed by a monstrous, richly plumed bird that whirled into the sky. The crowd began to buzz. Then Garuda grabbed ahold of the bar atop the wagon. The crowd’s curiosity turned into astonishment as they wondered whether it might fly off.
Garuda flapped its wings and let loose a gentle gust before the wagon slowly began to rise.
The crowd chattered about how incredible this was. If they kept talking about how summoning magic could do such incredible thing, then word would surely spread and hopefully reach other adventurers.
An accomplished summoner could travel through the air, just like her. Judging from the crowd’s reaction, she was confident that her efforts to get the word out had been a success. Relaying the coordinates of her destination to Garuda, Mira felt reinvigorated as she left the city of Haxthausen below.
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