Having finished the disposal of the corpses, both of them returned to the Armored Jeep and departed from the garden. As Mira took the chance to peek through the rear shield, all of a sudden, something came to her mind; it was the Lesser Demon’s last moments, the ominous smile it had on its face even with a body already covered in wounds.

  Because there were times when a demonic being would incite lower class monsters, the girl deduced it might have been the case this time too, with the Lesser Demon bringing the entire herd to the flower bed.

  “Huuumm…? I thought that thing was whiter…”

  Despite all that had happened around it, the towering white pillar remained unscathed. But compared to the last time she had seen it, the structure appeared a bit darker, almost as if it had absorbed the monsters’ blood.

  Chapter 13

  A herd of monsters had suddenly appeared within the Kingdom. With her mission of suppressing said group of enemies finished, Mira returned to the Arkite Castle and quickly reported what she had found; afterwards, the girl comfortably placed herself on a corner of the sofa, inside the King’s Office.

  “Hmm, I could have relaxed like this if it were not for all that shaking.”

  Once again, during her trip back to the castle, she kept being thrown around inside the Armored Jeep, so it was with a relieved expression that she now stood there, gracefully sipping on her Apple au Lait.

  “Who would’ve expected that a Lesser Demon would be involved in that matter... so then, the entire herd was killed, but it still achieved its goal, right?”

  “Yeah, without a doubt. It let out that peculiar and annoying laugh.”

  While remembering the creepy smile that had crept on the demon’s face during its last moments, Mira placed the bottle of her drink on the table, having only finished half of its contents.

  The Lesser Demon’s laugh. It was something well known among the players of Arc Earth Online; it was a sound that signaled the completion of their foe’s goal. In other words, it meant that the demon had already achieved whatever its objective was, before being killed by the Dark Knight.

  “This is bothering me. I’m usually busy with all kinds of stuff and now there’s another problem I need to worry about.”

  When they were still in a game, events that involved the Lesser Demon were always troublesome to deal with, and most would leave a really bad aftertaste even if completed on time. Obviously, Solomon had experienced those events, so it was with a disgusted expression that he finished the report.

  “So, am I also one of those problems of yours?”

  Considering that she had arrived there not as Dunbalf, but as a “disciple” of his, Mira reacted to what her friend said about getting more problems to take care of.

  “Oh no, of course not. Rather, I’ll have you in charge of it… ah, it wasn’t that long ago, but remember how I said that we couldn’t announce right away your status as a Sage?”

  “Hmm, yes, there was something like that.”

  “Then, I have a plan for you.”

  After placing the finished report on the edge of his desk, the King folded his hands and, looking almost like a commander from someplace5, leaned forward to utter those words.

  “Ohoo... and what is it?”

  In response, the girl threw a sharp glare at Solomon and fixed her posture on the sofa, placing a finger on her chin during that time. While in the game, it was a kind of pose that the friends often did together when they were about to discuss things seriously.

  “After you achieve feats deemed worthy enough by everyone, I believe that declaring you, the pupil of Dunbalf, as the successor to his title of ‘Sage’ would be completely fine.”

  What the boy wanted to say was that the girl’s position, as the disciple of a Sage, gave weight to her name. As a matter of fact, only a few people would truly believe a little girl who suddenly appeared and claimed to be Dunbalf. And even if everyone accepted it as the truth, that drastic change in appearance would inevitably destroy the majestic image the Sage had, so the King had no idea of what kind of negative influence that problem would exert.

  Additionally, if Solomon were to immediately grant the “Sage” title to Dunbalf’s disciple, another problem would arise. That position, the highest ranking an Expert could reach, held enough power to directly influence the future of the kingdom; consequently, no matter how strong was the position of being a disciple of the hero, raising a featless young girl to the “Sage” ranking would most probably be met with unneeded opposition by the hardworking Experts.

  However, what would happen if Mira appeared with a track record of great contributions done for the country?

  “It will definitely go well… is what I can’t say for sure, but I think that it’s worth a try. Or more precisely, I want to do it.”

  Although there was also the option to simply have Mira show off her true powers to everyone, Solomon had abandoned it. The details were mostly unknown by the girl herself, but the succession of Dunbalf was currently something that held way more importance than she would’ve ever thought. The King believed that, to convince the neighboring countries of Mira’s strength, she needed to provide proof worthy enough of the “Sage” title.

  “Well, I got the gist of the situation. So, what are you having me do?”

  When Mira asked her question, Solomon took a deep breath and crossed his arms. Then, while looking completely serious, a somewhat troubled expression appeared on his face.

  “Dunbalf… no, from now on I’ll be calling you ‘Mira.’ I don’t want the risk of having your real identity leaking.”

  “Alright, be my guest.”

  “Then, Mira. What I want you to do is to search for everyone else.”

  “Everyone else?”

  The young girl repeated her friend’s words while holding her chin with a hand. She had no idea who or what Solomon was talking about; or rather, she couldn’t understand what he meant for a moment, but after considering the flow of their conversation until now, Mira managed to think of something. After that sudden realization, she furrowed her eyebrows and revealed a pure, annoyed expression on her face.

  “Are you telling me that, besides Luminaria and me, there are more of the original nine Sages in this world?”

  “Yep. And I might even be right to say that you’re the last one to appear.”

  “What the...”

  “Remember how I told you about the Friend List when you first came here? Give it a try and check it.”

  Just as she had been instructed to do, Mira operated her bracelet. After activating the secret menu, she opened the Friend List and observed the names lined up there, each one of them corresponding to a friend she had made in the game. Of course, written in white letters, were both Solomon’s and Luminaria’s names. Then, while searching through the other ones, when the girl finally found the names she was looking for, it was with a completely lethargic look that she confirmed the white characters there.

  “Hmmm… everyone is online.”

  Mira checked the names of seven people. In short, they were the ones that, together with Dunbalf and Luminaria, made up the Nine Sages.

  “Exactly.”

  “So, why are they not here?”

  Because he verified that Dunbalf’s status had changed from offline to online, Solomon could realize that the young girl, who called herself “Mira”, was, in fact, his good old friend. Then, it was possible to guess that if someone’s status was online, that person’s existence in the—now real—game world could be confirmed. However, in the Kingdom of Arkite, homeland of the Nine Sages, Luminaria was the only one present.

  “No idea. That’s why I want you to search and investigate it.”

  “This is pretty bad. Where do I even begin looking for them? Except for the towers, they are the kind of people that will never stay in one place.”

  “Well, to be frank, I believe it will take some time. But if possible, I would like you to find at least half of them before the year ends.”

  Find half before the end of the year. What would be Solomon’s goal in order to set such a time limit for the task? Without the slightest idea of her friend’s reasons, Mira expressed those concerns.

  “Wanting me to do that within this year... this is quite the hurry you have there. We have absolutely no idea about their whereabouts, so the job of searching for them is not something that a single person would be able to do in one—or even two years, right?”

  Since their relationship was a long one, Mira had a considerably good understanding of her comrades. And precisely because of that, she was also pretty familiar with what she couldn’t grasp of them.

  “Yeah, I know that. But it will be really bad if we don’t find those Sages until then. Even your arrival here, in this world, was in the nick of time. I can’t help but feel that this is fate at work.”

  Naturally, the King knew that the matter was a very difficult one to solve. That was why he wanted to entrust it to the person who would most likely be able to see it to the end.

  The figure of that boy, looking completely tired as he wrinkled his eyebrows, immediately showed that something was off; from Solomon’s expression and the tone of his voice, Mira could sense that their situation was quite dire.

  “So, why do we have to hurry that much? Could you tell me the reason?”

  When asked by his friend, the King retrieved from the bookshelf a folder filled with documents, and opened it on a desk right in front of the sofa. Inside said folder were the written records of a battle that had happened ten years ago. Mira then recalled, from the back of her mind, the conversation she had with Graia. After a certain battle, the number of monster appearances had increased.

  “The Three God-doms Defensive Battle…huh?”

  The girl glanced at the documents and, after checking the cover of that file, read it in an audible murmur.

  “You know about it?”

  “Yeah. I think it was something from a decade ago. Graia said that, afterwards, the rate of monster attacks greatly increased.”

  While glaring at the folder, she remembered the story told by the knight.

  “Exactly. Without you and the other Sages, I ended up having to deploy an order of knights to take care of the problem; it happens so often that the military budget is shooting through the roof.”

  As he explained the situation, Solomon sat by Mira’s side and took the half-empty bottle of Apple au Lait on the desk, tasting it in the process.

  “This stupidly sweet taste… damn, it really takes me back.”

  “Hmpf, drinking it without even asking… I am sure that you, as a king, have a lot of first-class stuff at your own disposition.”

  “I’m not a genuine king, you know. I’ll never forget my love for junk food.”

  Together with his retort, the boy held out both of his hands towards Mira; while one was returning the empty bottle, the other demanded seconds.

  “Good grief. So, the reason why you have to be so hasty is inside here, right? After all, it was something that had happened long ago. Or are you trying to say that you just wanted to be stingy about your military expenses and have the Sages—myself included—return to help once again with the suppression of monsters?”

  Getting rid of the empty can, she took out another Apple au Lait and handed it over to Solomon.

  “Ahh, that’s right… it would be a great help to have you guys do it, but there are more pressing matters here.”

  After his reply, the boy took a sip of his drink while turning the pages of the folder, stopping at a certain point.『Limited Anti-war Treaty』 was how the matter that occupied that page was titled.

  “Hmm, and this is?”

  Mira inspected the title in a quick fashion, averting her eyes from the tiny characters that continued right below it and, immediately, asked for an explanation.

  “Since you weren’t there, of course you wouldn’t know. The Three God-doms Defensive Battle was something on a completely different scale than any other war we had ever fought. Maybe it will be easier for you to understand if I tell you that the rulers of the Beginners’ Three Kingdoms, the God Kings themselves, took command there.”

  “What did you… those Immovable Kings acted?”

  It was no wonder that Mira appeared surprised. The Beginners’ Three Kingdoms were a group of nations that every player once belonged to, at the beginning of their playing history. Before new countries started being created, those kingdoms were already in the game, serving as a safety zone for novice players.

  When the continent went through a surge of nations being founded, not a single one of them declared war against that group. And on the off chance that they actually tried doing it, no one would stand a chance against the powerful NPCs that resided there, characters so strong even top players would be easily destroyed by them. So, if the three kings of those countries went out to battle, it would be easy to comprehend the sheer dimension that the war had taken; incidentally, the “Immovable Kings” Mira talked about was a nickname given to them because of the fact that they had never moved from their places.

  “It’s called the ‘Three God-doms Defensive Battle,’ but because the Beginners’ Three Kingdoms struggled at the frontlines, it was a war that involved the whole continent. It all started with a swarm of demons that came flying from the sky. Even though they mainly assaulted the Three Kingdoms, when reinforcements arrived they flew and scattered towards other locations too. Those demons then swoop down on the neighboring nations, greatly increasing the damage they caused, even resulting in the complete destruction of some of the smaller countries. That stuff was really harsh.”

  With an expression distorted in anguish, as he talked about that cruelty, Solomon certainly showed that he carried the determination of a king who was concerned about his people. Upon seeing that figure, the girl replied with, “So that happened, huh…,” and, even though she couldn’t understand the matter completely, as a close friend she still worried about Solomon.

  “Well, that great war happened ten years ago anyway. But you can easily imagine what was the situation post-war, right?”

  “Everywhere was very busy with the reconstruction work.”

  “Correct. That’s why, to restrain the nations from attacking one another, we created the Limited Anti-war Treaty. Simply put, it was a treaty stating that, for a period of ten years, anything related to waging wars was prohibited between them.”

  In other words, because all the countries in the continent were clearly in no condition to battle, for a while they had to focus on restoring themselves; as a result, no one was allowed to try and take advantage of the situation, waging wars against weakened nations.

  “So basically, you are telling me that the time limit given by the treaty is almost over?”

  From what she had heard up until now, Mira guessed that her friend’s reason was a time limit. After the deadline given by the pact, its effectiveness would be void and, consequently, the ban on waging wars would be lifted. So, considering that the main strength of the Kingdom of Arkite, the Nine Sages, had been reduced to only one person, the other nations could take advantage of such a gap in the kingdom’s defenses and attack. With its bountiful, gifted lands, and an unrivaled progress in the area of Abilities, if anyone were to take possession of Arkite and its wisdom, it would surely bring about great fruits for the victorious party.

  “Honestly, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that we’re being protected by this treaty. Anyway, we don’t need the kind of war potential that would make others fearful of attacking us, but something that would at least help in successfully defending our country. That’s why I’m asking you, once again. Mira, would you find everyone else for me?”

  After closing the folder, the girl paused for a moment and stared back at Solomon’s sincere eyes. Deep down, she already knew her answer.

  “Sure, why not? I accept the job.”

  Upon receiving that reply, the King thanked his friend and smiled broadly.

  ◆◆◆

  “Well then, now that we’ve finished negotiating, there’s the matter of where and how you will search for them, but...”

  Having finished his Apple au Lait, Solomon kept the empty can in his hand while proceeding their conversation with a sigh. The fact was that every single one of the Nine Sages was a very eccentric individual, each with their own peculiarities.

  “Yeah, indeed. Those guys are not the kind of people that could be easily located.”

  “Exactly. The problem we have here is that the bad habits you all have are just too strong.”

  When the King affirmed that, he moved a hand and stared at Mira through the hollow bottle he held, letting out a bitter smile while saying, “Just look at what happened with one of them.” His eyes, however, shone somewhat cheerfully, for after thirty years, he was able to meet once again with his best friend.

  Suddenly, at that moment, the outside of the office became noisy. Immediately after, having ignored the pleas to stop given by Reynard, a single woman opened the door to the room with such violence that anyone would think she had wanted to break it.

  That person, who single-handedly snatched the gazes of Mira and Solomon, was clad in a blue and white robe, revealing an extremely attractive body line; furthermore, not losing to that perfect figure, her face was also finely beautiful. Indeed, that woman was so pretty she could easily captivate anyone that looked at her.

  Taking a moment to fix some of her fiery, deep crimson and long hair with a hand, the beauty glanced at Solomon with her—also blazing red—eyes, not giving any thought to the fact that her actions were causing her ample bosom to sway. Finally, the woman’s gaze moved and concentrated on the other person in the office, a young girl.

  “What is with you suddenly barging in? I thought our appointment would only be later.”