Volume 1 - CH 6

The top floor of the Tower of Summoning. Its layout was the same as the one inside the Tower of Sorcery, a large circular corridor giving access to each one of its four areas. And walking down that corridor without any hesitation was Mira, with her destination right ahead: the Private Room.

A red carpet was laid over the hallway and black armors, similar to the Dark Knight, decorated the way to the room. They were items awarded to Dunbalf as proof of his achievements in the wars he fought for the Kingdom. After giving a quick look at the two armors standing in front of her, Mira reached out for the imposing black door that was placed between them.

“Oops, I almost forgot it.”

She suddenly stopped her hand and, while thinking she would never really get used to doing that, brought out the Master Key out of her item box. As if it were glad for its master’s return, the moment Mira held the item close to the door, a *click* could be faintly heard near the door knob and its lock came undone. With the cool sensation from touching the metal spreading through her warm hand, the girl twisted the knob and entered her Private Room, only to be assaulted by a strange feeling of discomfort.

First of all, Mira couldn’t find a proper place to remove and leave her boots since the entranceway didn’t have a special spot for that, so she just dropped them there. When it was still a game, she never had to remove her shoes while entering a room. But now, with that vivid sense of reality there, Mira couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable while wearing those boots indoors.

Finally barefoot, the girl advanced into the room she was already familiar with and caught sight of something that covered four fifths of its entire floor: a carpet made with the pelt of a demon beast king, the Grand Caecus. Its shining gold fur was soft to the touch but extremely strong; it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that even if martial artists sparred on that carpet it would still remain intact after the battle.

That rare item was something Dunbalf asked an artisan to make with the pelt he had received as reward from an event where all Nine Elders participated, the “Demon Beast King Subjugation Tour”. Raw materials collected from monsters of that class were considered high grade components for the best kinds of equipment. So it wasn’t a surprise that, when ordered to make a mere carpet out of the fur, the first-class leatherworker complained to Dunbalf and asked him over and over again if he was really sure about doing it with that precious pelt. In a sense, it was an item that brought memories of Mira’s past.

The carpet lay there, as if bowing down to its master, sharing place with several other familiar accessories gathered by Dunbalf. However, their positions were slightly off.

“Did Mariana do this?”

She could think of only one person as being the source of that out-of-place feeling: Dunbalf’s particular assistant, a resident of the Tower of Summoning. The girl reached that conclusion simply because there could be no one else capable of entering the Private Room except for her, who held the Master Key, and her aide. Since its owner was absent for thirty years, it was clear to Mira that it was none other than Mariana that tidied up the room, just like she had always done before.

The Mariana from Mira’s memories was exactly the kind of person who would do that. There were many places for storage inside the Private Room. Whenever Dunbalf returned from farming monsters and left his loot in complete disorder around the place, the next time he logged in everything would be perfectly sorted in their respective storages. In short, every time the room got cluttered, the very next day it would appear tidied up. Because of this, since Dunbalf became an elder, he never had to do any kind of cleaning anymore. If one were to describe Mariana as a character from a rom-com, she would be the stubborn childhood friend that always took care of the main character’s needs.

Now, regarding the items’ positions that made Mira feel anxious, it was a fact that her aide had been diligently reorganizing them every month when it was still a game. Mariana was someone who seemed obsessed with the likes of fortune-telling and feng shui, so whenever Dunbalf left her to do as she pleased, the room would turn up like that. It was possible that during those thirty years, the assistant still kept doing the same thing, every single month. That sudden thought made Mira feel a bit worried about Mariana.

However, the girl decided to leave those matters for tomorrow since her body was already begging for rest and she still had to find where the bed was. Before, if Kagami felt tired while playing, he could simply log out and sleep on his own futon. But the circumstances were different now: there was no way to “log out” so Mira had to sleep there. The problem was, since she never had to use the bedroom from that room, she didn’t know where it was.

Obviously, it would be there in one of the many rooms that occupied the Private Room, so Mira had to search them, one by one.

The first room was the Collection Room. It had a lineup of rare and strange items collected all around the world.

The second one was the Refinery Room. It was full of materials and information related to the refinement techniques developed by Dunbalf.

The third was the Storeroom. Things like weapons, armors and experimentally refined items were neatly arranged there. Knowing that Dunbalf was the kind of person to leave his items scattered around, if Mariana saw that room she would make a fuss, wanting it for herself.

The next one was the Restroom. Mira instantly remembered that since arriving in this world, she had yet to relieve herself. As if on cue, the girl was afflicted with a very familiar feeling coming from her abdomen, indicating that her body needed to do a certain something.

It wasn’t that Mira had forgotten about that. She just wanted to forget about it. Even before she arrived in Silver Horn, the signs had already been there, coming and going from time to time. But no matter what, Mira didn’t want to accept it. Her entire being screamed that if she actually did that thing while in a little girl’s body, there would be no turning back anymore.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a matter that would simply disappear if the girl endured it. Rather, the more she held it in, the more it would be worse for her body. And now, after seeing a room that had all the tools she required to actually finish that deed, the things Mira tried so hard to forget resurfaced like something thrown in the Dead Sea. It was a warning that her body was nearing its limits.

With her resolve fully formed, she closed the door to the toilet room and, after a short while, a faint sound of flowing water could be heard from inside the room.

(Luminaria would have laughed like a maniac if she saw this.)

Merely imagining the kind of face her friend would make at that time was enough for Mira to smile bitterly. The girl then unconsciously held a hand to her abdomen, lost in thought on what she just had done inside the restroom.

“Well, that was simple. No matter how you look at it, what I did was something completely normal.”

That wasn’t directed at anyone but to Mira herself, a single murmur with the intent of convincing her mind that everything was fine. The hardest part was doing it for the first time and now that she cleared it, the girl felt cheerfully refreshed.

However, some dirty thoughts still passed through her mind; it couldn’t be helped, her real personality was that of a healthy man full of vigor. Indeed, without any doubt, Mira felt a little excited. Being frank about it and acting like it wasn’t a problem was a way she found to justify herself.

Afterwards, when she opened the door to the fifth room, a completely joyful Mira removed all of her clothes inside the Bathroom and, stark naked, took a bath.

(Having a long hair is a bit tough… it will take some time to finish it.)

While feeling a bit more awake after bathing in hot water, the (still naked) girl started drying her dazzling silver hair with the towel and, the moment she finished everything, properly hung it.

Immediately after, Mira sat on the leather sofa with her small and naked bottom and opened the menu for her available items, trying to find any kind of clothing she could use as a bathrobe. The girl noticed it once she came out of the bath, but her usual robe was smeared with blood and dirt. Even though she wasn’t a neat freak, Mira didn’t want to wear that dirtied robe right after taking a bath.

Looking through the item list, a certain icon caught her attention. It was an item called 『Robe of the Celestial Maiden』. Available only to a Xian Expert, that special equipment was a reward for clearing the quest 『Legend of the Celestial Maiden』 and, when equipped, would strengthen the user’s Xian-specific abilities. However, the item’s design didn’t suit Dunbalf at all, so it was shelved.

When it was still a game, she cared considerably about the appearance of all equipment Dunbalf wore. That obsession was so strong that if an item didn’t make him look like a grand wizard, it wouldn’t be equipped, no matter how good its bonuses were.

But things were different now and Mira wondered how it would look on her. The robe itself had a wavy appearance and was simply flawless. She imagined herself wearing that item and thought that it could work now, since her figure was that of a young girl. There’s no time like the present, right? With just that kind of reasoning, Mira took out the Robe of the Celestial Maiden from her Item Box and immediately wore it.

At first sight, it looked like a slightly larger babydoll. The lower hem reached around Mira’s calves and its sleeves covered at most half of her upper arms. Coupled with the robe’s slightly pink fabric that didn’t offer any kind of resistance to the touch, it was an item that lived up to its “Celestial” name. Obviously, not only Dunbalf, but anyone with a male avatar would be against equipping that.

“My, this looks quite good.”

The dark night reigned supreme outside of the room, with the only thing separating it from the inside being the window. From there, a faint light was projected and, even though it barely illuminated Mira’s figure, she could discern her appearance. While using that window as a substitute for a mirror, the young girl observed her scantily clad body, dressed in nothing but a robe. She was smiling during the entire process, as if completely charmed by that image.

That same expression still held a bit of lust in it but her entire appearance seemed closer to that of a mischievous and seductive girl holding an innocent smile.

Afterwards, Mira continued her search for the bedroom, looking through every single room there. Additionally, in order to have a good set of changing clothes ready, she took out various other robes from the Storeroom and threw them unceremoniously over the sofa. Those were the clothes that Dunbalf had been using thirty years ago; beautifully decorated and painted robes that gave off an air of grandeur. Basically, Mira chose only her favorite items to wear for later.

The girl then wondered about how she would deal with the laundry, but since Mariana was there, she could leave that matter to her along with all the clothes scattered around the place. Nothing that didn’t happen before.

———–

Mira leaned against the window and, while observing the street lights in the distance, let out a small yawn. Then, she placed her hands on her hips and lightly stretched her body, only to feel even more sleepy as her eyelids started to weigh down. Checking the current time from the menu, it was already over ten p.m.

Usually, that was the period when Kagami would be playing in full throttle but, since Mira had to walk inside the forest, her tiny body accumulated too much fatigue. The bath she took just kept her awake for a bit longer and now the girl’s drowsiness was clearly apparent; a second yawn came out from her tiny mouth while she wiped both eyes with the back of her hand.

At any rate, Mira’s purpose in being inside her personal base wasn’t just to check if everything was alright there. She also came to meet the other player who probably went through the same situation as her, Luminaria. However, since Litalia said her master would only arrive tomorrow, there was nothing else Mira could do right now. After reaching that conclusion, the little girl walked towards the bedroom, as if drawn in by an invisible force, and finally collapsed into the bed.

The softness of the mattress gently pushed back against Mira’s small and young body. She could feel Mariana’s very feelings that permeated the bed, prepared every single day by the aide who longed for her master’s return.

○○○○○

Lunatic Lake was the capital of the Kingdom of Arkite and its borders were connected to a large crescent-shaped lake. Lying near the dead centre of the city was the Arkite Castle, the king’s residence.

King Solomon let his entire body rest on the back of his leather chair, right after finishing up all his duties for the day. Then, seemingly annoyed at the pile of documents he just dealt with sitting atop the desk, he kicked it. The recoil from that made the chair’s small wheels clatter around, bringing Solomon closer to the window. There, under the light generated by Abstractionism, he used his fingertips to touch the silver bracelet attached to his left arm, all the while staring at the seemingly empty air. Visible only to its owner, the projected terminal floated in front of him and displayed a list of names, each one of them colored in either white or gray.

“Dunbalf…”

Solomon verified that terminal every day. Floating there was the name of Dunbalf, written in white letters. The king raised his face and, after turning his chair to face the window, observed the dark and silent night. On the other side of the faintly visible mountains was the Heavenly Magic City of Silver Horn, the land of all heroes who served the country. When Solomon was lost in thought, reminiscing about that city, a respectful knocking coming out from the door brought him back.

“You may enter.”

“Excuse me.”

The man who opened the door and bowed was one of the Arkite Kingdom’s heralds. With a sheet of paper in hand, he stepped forward inside the room and waited for his liege’s permission to begin. After Solomon prompted the man with a look, the herald spread out the paper and began reading its contents out loud.

“This is the scheduled report from Graia-sama of the Magic Clothed Knights. 『We have identified the group of monsters that appeared near the national borders. With the help of a young adventurer girl, the cleanup was finished. However, an unidentified monster escaped so a search party with my subordinates is under way. P.S. The adventurer’s name is Mira. She is a fine and lovely little lady with a long, silvery hair.』 ”

After receiving the report, Solomon made an unnoticeable frown. Every group of monsters that appeared until now was only composed of beings that lived in the vicinity of the Kingdom. Any knight tasked with protecting the country would be able to identify those monsters, so actually finding an unknown individual was something clearly unusual.

“Did it get mixed in with the group of monsters by accident? While they were moving it could… or, maybe… hmpf, I don’t get it.”

The king sighed and dropped that thought. Then, when he raised his face, Solomon casually made eye contact with the herald who still held the report in his hands.

“Is there anything else?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Alright, let me hear it.”

“There is a message from Silver Horn’s Tower of Sorcery. Its aide, Litalia-sama, contacted us via the magic phone to inform that ‘Mira’, a young girl claiming to be Dunbalf’s pupil, appeared there.”

“Did you just say… his pupil?”

Solomon looked at his bracelet terminal, displaying the name of Dunbalf. Since thirty years ago and until yesterday, that name had been colored in gray. Now, after the letters turned white, a young girl appeared, claiming to be the disciple of the hero of the Kingdom,his best friend. There was also the adventurer who helped the Magic Clothed Knights in exterminating the swarm of monsters. And both of them called “Mira”.

“My, this can’t be a simple coincidence.”

Until a while ago, the king’s eyes were devoid of color after the incessant and exhausting office work he had done; however, they were now lit with a strong and joyful light.

“Promptly send out an envoy to Silver Horn. They must treat that ‘Mira’ with the utmost courtesy and invite her for an audience with me. I’m leaving the personnel choice up to you.”

“Certainly, sir! At once!”

Folding his report and bowing, the herald left the room. After following his subordinate with his eyes, Solomon directed his gaze once again towards the far away city, the place known for its nine towers. On its way, the pitch-black mountains seemed to absorb all of the moonlight that reached them. In contrast to that, around the castle, the lake that gave name to the city shone brightly with the reflected light, a brilliant and fleeting spectacle seen all over its surface.

TL: Names and Info

魔獣王グランカエクス – Demon Beast King Grand Caecus

天女の羽衣 – Robe of the Celestial Maiden (‘Hagoromo’ of the Celestial Maiden)

天女伝説 – Legend of the Celestial Maiden (Similar to the Swan Maiden)

Related to the appearance of Mira – 小悪魔的 – Koakuma-teki (or just Koakuma if you want): Kind of cute girl that may seem innocent at first, but is mischievous, seductive, may hold a ruthless side, etc. They charm and instill fear in men. Well, something like that.

魔導通信 – Magic Phone (temp)