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 such a moment was enough for Mira to smile bitterly. The girl then unconsciously held a hand to her abdomen, lost in thought about what she had just 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 of her problem was actually doing it for the first time, and now that she had 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. When she finally finished it, Mira hung the cloth on an appropriate place and then immediately sat on the leather sofa, her small and naked bottom directly touching the furniture.

  As she relaxed there, Mira opened the menu for her available items, trying to find any kind of clothing she could use as a bathrobe. The girl had 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 had been shelved.

  When it was still a game, she had 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 near 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, merely 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 for her, 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 aide, along with all the clothes scattered around the place. Not like it hadn’t happened 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 10 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 a lot of fatigue. The bath she took just kept her awake for a bit longer and now the girl’s drowsiness was clearly apparent; as she wiped both eyes with the back of her hand, a second yawn came out from her tiny mouth.

  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 had said that 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 onto 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.

  ○○○

  Connected through its borders to a large, crescent-shaped lake, Lunatic Lake was the capital of the Kingdom of Arkite. And 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 had just dealt with, he kicked the desk where those very documents had been sitting on. 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 the heroes who served the country. When Solomon was lost in thought, reminiscing about that city, a reserved knocking coming out from the door brought him back.

  “You may enter.”

  “Excuse me, Your Majesty.”

  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 had 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. Until now, every group of monsters that had appeared 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 herd of monsters by accident? While they were moving it could… or, maybe… hmmpf, I don’t get it.”

  The King sighed and dropped that thought. Then, when he raised his face, he casually made eye contact with the messenger 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, had 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 had 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 were 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, Your Majesty! 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 that could be seen all over its surface.

  Chapter 7

  It was still early in the morning. While the birds’ increasingly chirping announced the beginning of daybreak, a carriage rushed through the traffic in Silver Horn, its horses loudly striking the ground with their hooves. That vehicle waved the national emblem of the Kingdom of Arkite and went straight for the Silver Linked Towers; puzzled by such an occurrence at the first light of the day, many citizens stood still while observing its movements.

  ◆◆◆

  Through closed eyelids, the young girl’s pupils were stimulated by the dim sunlight, and she was slowly brought back from her drifting consciousness.

  After a while, Mira sat on the canopy bed and started tidying up her thin—and now out of shape—clothing. At the same time, she opened her small lips and took a deep breath, trying to keep her drowsy self awake. That, however, was in vain. Succumbing to the vestiges of sleepiness that still affected her, the girl’s eyes closed as her back made contact with the bed, her mind once again drifting away to the land of dreams.

  Then, the moment she had fallen asleep, Mira’s slumber was disturbed anew by something else. Inside that quiet room, at the highest floor of the tower where not even the birds’ cries could reach, a muffled and rhythmical sound could be heard, over and over again. Against her own will, the girl ended up half-woken by that terrible noise. While staring blankly around her with unfocused eyes, she got up and, surprised, found herself in an unfamiliar and very luxurious room.

  “Where am I…?”

  Triggered by the high-pitched voice that escaped from her lips, all the events that had happened yesterday suddenly gushed forth like a geyser and filled Mira’s mid. At the same time, similar to dizziness, she was affected by a slight sense of loss as the girl became aware of her current state. “Ohh, I see…” was the only thing she could mutter in response, resigned to her fate.

  Still not used to her petite body, Mira let herself slide to the edge of the bed and sat there, taking a breather. But all of a sudden, from that position, she caught sight of her young and charming legs, now revealed by the flipped over end of her robe. The sunlight shining in from the gap in the curtains worked almost like a spotlight, somehow emphasizing even more the pure whiteness of her skin; Mira was simply at a loss for words.

  Even though she was blushing like a teenage boy, the young girl observed her legs and used her fingertips to quietly feel and verify their skin: it had just the proper degree of flexibility and softness, as ascertained by Mira’s sense of touch. As those signals reached her brain, she was made perfectly aware of everything that had happened yesterday, and her consciousness lost every last drop of sleepiness.

  “...But wait a moment, just what is this noise so early in the morning?”

  With her mind now completely awake, the girl finally noticed the incomprehensible and rhythmic sound that had started while she was still asleep; consequently, she strained her ears to try and identify it.

  (*knock knock knock*)

  First came the sound of something hard being hit; next was the faint and unclear voice of a person. In the end, what Mira managed to grasp was that at least two people were talking, so she left the bedroom to check if anything had happened. As she got closer to the main door of the Private Room, the voices and their intention were made clearer, the chaotic noise from before now forming recognizable words in Mira’s ears.

  “Mira-sama, are you there? Mira-sama.”

  “Litalia-sama, are you really sure that the disciple of Dunbalf-sama is here?”

  The first voice seemed to belong to an elegant woman while the second one came from an unknown man.

  “Without a doubt. She held the Master Key of the Tower of Summoning and, after asking around, I found out that a young girl with silver hair was seen entering this tower yesterday night. That means she most probably slept here.”

  “But later in the night, couldn’t she have left the tower and gone for an inn?”

  “She has the Master Key, why would she bother staying in an inn, of all places? The Private Room has everything she would ever need. Moreover, I made sure to clean and tidy it up every day, the entire room should still be in perfect shape.”

  This time, a different voice could be heard from behind the door and, rather than an adult woman, it sounded like a young girl was talking. All together, there were three people outside the room: one man and two women; Mira felt that the younger girl’s voice was strangely familiar, but couldn’t clearly remember to whom it belonged; thus, she chose to open the door and verify it with her own eyes.

  “My, so it was you, Litalia and Mariana.”

  After quickly looking up to confirm who the visitors were, Mira glanced at her acquaintances while rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, removing the last traces of drowsiness from them. At that moment, she made eye contact with the third person; a man dressed in a military uniform standing in wait, one step behind the two women. It was possible to see on his right shoulder an armband of the Kingdom of Arkite.

  “And you are…?”

  “Mira-sama! Why are you dressed like that!?”

  “You! Please look the other way!”

  For an instant, Litalia stood there, dazed at the sudden appearance of Mira’s figure. The next moment, she rushed to the girl’s side and covered that nearly naked body with her own, trying to block it from the man’s line of sight.

  A girl who was dressed in maid’s clothing acted simultaneously, her sapphire, twin-tailed hair fluttering and sparkling while she moved. The maid’s intention was to force the military man to do a right about-face; before that, he couldn’t take his eyes off from the parts of Mira’s body that were visible through her thin robe. That was then followed by a dull sound as he faced the wall and nearly hugged it with his entire figure. Behind him, Litalia already had Mira on her arms and was bringing the young girl back to the room.

  “Just what are you doing!?”

  With the door finally closed, Mira was let off on the side of the leather sofa. She didn’t understand why she was forced to return inside; so, while feeling completely baffled, the girl looked up at Litalia and demanded an answer.

  “I should be the one asking that. This may be the Sage’s Room, but you can’t simply come out dressed like that! There’s a possibility that people will come here for a visit!”

  While feeling a bit angered, Litalia scolded Mira’s choice of attire; as a result, the girl brought her gaze down to look at her clothes, wondering what could be wrong with them. Instantly, she noticed that indeed, the “Robe of the Celestial Maiden” was too transparent to be used as underwear, let alone as everyday clothing.

  More often than not, she spent her time inside the Private Room while casually dressed. And right now, all the robes Mira had prepared before going to sleep were only tailored for combat. Even the Sage’s Robe she had been wearing yesterday was, in the end, something oriented for battle.

  If compared to what she was using now, though, Mira would feel more comfortable in any of those combat clothes. The problem was that she didn’t have any intention of wearing outdoor clothing while inside her own room.