Chapter 9
AFTER PREPARING for bed, Mira slipped into her sleeping bag in only her underwear. As if trying to prove that she hadn’t forgotten her real goal, she murmured, “First things first. I’ll have to get my hands on Soul Howl.”
A few seconds later, she opened her eyes again.
I can’t sleep with all this light pouring in.
She hadn’t paid it much mind until now, but the spirit mansion was as bright as daytime due to the fourth level’s innate lighting. Mira was the sort who turned all of her lights off when she went to bed. She stood up and looked at the window, wondering what she could do about this.
“I need curtains.”
When it came to blocking light, curtains were the obvious first choice. But they were a part of interior design, so the spirit mansion—a mere vessel—was not equipped with them.
Hrmm. How do I block off the window? Hang up a towel or something, perhaps? Just as it occurred to Mira, things moved, seemingly in response to her thoughts.
“Ooh, it’s pitch-black now!”
The window was equipped with shutters. Since they covered the window itself, they cut off light even better than curtains would, making the room so dark that the previous brightness seemed unreal. Mira couldn’t even see her own feet.
So, I can give the mansion spirit orders, just as I can dark knights? This is magnificent.
Mira then hit upon an idea. She opened the shutters, slipped into her sleeping bag now that she had a little light, and then closed them again. This blocked the light streaming in the windows and created the ideal sleeping environment.
Now that I think about it, this is an unusual situation. It would usually be too dark to see; I’d want to make it brighter.
It was normal for one to sleep in darkness. The Ancient Underground City was a special situation; when staying in the spirit mansion anywhere else, Mira would need lighting until bedtime. She could use her [Ethereal Arts: Illumination], but Mira was unsatisfied with that answer.
“I’d like a light fixture that fits the mansion,” she mused.
A calming space needed a certain vibe. Instead of a dazzling orb of light, she thought a stylish, subdued light fixture would be much more relaxing. Remembering her room in the Linked Silver Towers, she muttered, “Other furniture and design features would be nice too.”
At this point in time, the mansion was just a building—a minimalist room. However, the word “mansion” brought to mind a certain lifestyle, level of interior design, and furniture. Perhaps I should buy a table, chairs, and the like, Mira thought.
The Spirit King’s voice echoed through her mind once more. He claimed that she could search for and contract artificial spirits of furniture and interior design elements.
“Artificial spirits are born through human emotion. There are sure to be items of furniture that were beloved and given life in this vast world. Find them, make contracts, and join them using my blessing. You may find your mansion becoming complete in no time.”
His words were music to Mira’s ears.
“Goodness… Artificial spirits of furniture? That is a marvelous idea!”
If she wanted illumination, she could contract with a light fixture’s spirit. If she wanted tables, she could contract with a table’s spirit. Doing this over time meant her now-empty mansion could be upgraded into a proper one.
Excited by the thought of searching for furniture-related artificial spirits, Mira fell asleep, fantasizing about finding a big grandfather clock spirit and dreaming of what her final mansion might look like.
***
After spending the night in the fourth level of the Ancient Underground City, Mira woke up and sleepily checked the time. It was past nine in the morning. She’d slept quite soundly, so she was in great shape.
While looking around the pitch-black room, she recalled the previous night and ordered the mansion spirit to open the shutters. Light flowed in, brightening the room again. She didn’t know if this was ancient super-technology or some sort of magic, but the artificial light had the sun’s warmth. Mira waited for her eyes to get used to the light, finally got out of bed, and began preparing for the day.
“Mm. What a lovely morning.”
First things first: the bathroom. Then, she took off her single pair of undies and went to the shower room. After taking a hot shower to wake herself up, she set about preparing breakfast. Perhaps thanks to the spirit mansion’s home-like comforts, Mira didn’t bother dressing properly. Once again, she lounged around in her underwear.
“I’m in a mansion, so I might as well have a fancy breakfast.”
It was only fitting that the meal should match the setting. Mira had a commoner’s dinner last night, but she’d thought of a few things since then. She set her ingredients out in the kitchen and picked some things out: white bread, bacon, fried eggs, fruit, black tea.
As a result of Mira’s biases and emphasis on appearances, it was a commoner’s breakfast that resembled that of a noble’s. However, she ate it while sitting on the floor in nothing but her underwear, like some sort of slovenly layabout. Details aside, Mira finished breakfast and quickly cleaned up. Then, she got ready to resume her adventure. After putting on her bra, which she still struggled with, she finally donned proper clothes. Then, while she adjusted her hem and collar, she thought to herself, I wonder if there are mirror spirits out there too,
One of Mira’s aspirational idols had once said that a gentleman must know the importance of his personal appearance. That meant she would need a mirror. These days, she’d have to carry herself like a lady, rather than a gentleman. Not that Mira cared—her aspirations never changed, and she aspired to be tasteful and dandy.
***
With her preparations complete, Mira left the mansion and turned around. It was still just a sturdy-looking little hut, but as it grew, it would someday attain a size rivaling a true mansion. The Spirit King claimed that the best way to make these artificial spirits grow was to use them according to their purpose. In other words, to make the mansion grow, she needed to make it her home. Mira wanted to see the completed mansion as soon as possible, so she planned to sleep in it every night from now on. She said as much to the mansion spirit before thanking and dismissing it.
The mansion disappeared, and her field of vision expanded. It was then that Mira remembered something and muttered, “Oh, right.” She had spotted the dark and holy knights she’d stationed as guards the night before—along with the mess of magic stones littering the ruined courtyard. “This is even more than I’d expected.”
She stared at the magic stones, of which there were far too many to bother counting, and smiled in surprise. This would fetch a pretty penny.
“Have no fear, for Supernyan is here!”
As planned, Mira summoned First Pupil Cat Sith to pick them all up. This time, he appeared wearing full-body, red-and-blue tights and a cape. The sign he bore read, “Faster than a speeding kitty, more powerful than a lion! He runs in to save the day without thanks or reward! It’s the heroic Supernyan!”
This was his most elaborate sign yet. Mira ignored it entirely and ordered him to start picking up stones.
“The world is in peril! But here comes Supernyan!”
Her energetic First Pupil calmly flipped his cape, ran, and jumped into the air. He was brought back down by gravity, naturally, but he pretended nothing had happened and started snatching up magic stones. Cat Sith was fastidious in the oddest ways; even though he couldn’t fly, he still had to act out the full action scene. Where had he even learned about superheroes? She was curious, but Mira helped him collect magic stones instead of asking.
***
“This is huge, meow! You got 233 in all!”
They’d picked up every single stone and arranged them all in a pile. First Pupil Cat Sith had counted them as if odd jobs were his passion and danced around with a sign in hand. Mira couldn’t read it easily due to how much he was spinning it, but it had notes left on it, probably from when he’d been counting. It read, “A lot + a lot + a little = ?”
Was that number right? Mira was dubious, but it did look like more than two hundred.
Mira deposited the magic stones in her Item Box. “Indeed, I didn’t expect such a bounty.”
“Tonight’s gonna be a real feast!” First Pupil piped up, his job done. Mira quickly dismissed him. As he faded away, basking in light he shouted valiantly, yet sadly, “A true superhero disappears when the job is done!”
“Now… I believe market price back then was 500 ducats at minimum.”
Back then. In other words, the smallest magic stones had fetched 500 ducats back when this world had been a game. Magical tools, elixirs, potions, powering equipment—magic stones were a necessity in various production processes, making them a high-demand item. Furthermore, goods for adventurers with “technomancy-powered” in the name used magic cells as their main power source. These magic cells were made from processed magic stones, which meant that demand for the stones was even higher now.
I should have checked market prices ahead of time.
Mira had looked into prices of weapons and drugs, but she’d overlooked this. There was no way that they’d sell for cheap these days, though. Certain of that, Mira decided to calculate the total using the minimum price, regardless of actual size.
Two hundred at 500 ducats apiece would be 100,000 ducats. A nice bounty, indeed.
This resulted in a nasty grin that Mira just couldn’t wipe off her face. One couldn’t blame her, though. She’d earned 100,000 ducats literally in her sleep. Wise Man or not, her sense of monetary value was as pedestrian as could be. She was naturally drawn to such an efficient money-making method.
The lower levels provided bigger stones, as I recall. Perhaps it’s not unreasonable to think that I might make 300,000, no, 400,000 ducats in one night of sleep!
With such materialistic hopes and dreams on her mind, Mira decided to sleep in a place where monsters spawned more frequently. She then excitedly summoned Pegasus.
“I’ll be counting on you!”
Mira seemed to be in unusually high spirits. As someone who loved her, Pegasus was happy to see it. It neighed joyfully. She jumped elegantly onto Pegasus’s back. Once it was sure she was secure, Pegasus spread its powerful wings. They flapped proudly, as if to express joy, and Pegasus took flight.
***
Mira’s first destination was the Great Temple, which housed the staircase to the fifth level. It was close enough that Pegasus could reach it in under an hour.
In the ruined cityscape below, Mira spotted adventurer parties fighting skeletons here and there. There were quite a lot of adventurers in the Ancient Underground City, just as she’d been told.
“I suppose it’s no surprise that this place is bustling.”
On closer inspection, each group fought neither too close nor too far from one another. She would later learn that this was their way of both ensuring crowd control and staying close enough to help each other if needed. Simple alliances and secure, safe ways to earn money were first popularized a few years ago.
“Now, I wonder how much these folk earn in a given day.” Mira wallowed in a sense of superiority, remembering her accomplishment from this morning. Just then, she noticed a clearing teeming with skeletons. “Oh. That was near the Crematorium, I believe.”
The Crematorium was a name used among former players. It wasn’t big; it was a simple plaza laid with large, white stones. But for some reason, it attracted an unusual number of skeletons.
Undead monsters, including skeletons, were naturally attracted to the living. They were even more drawn to people who were struggling the most to live—that is, people near death. Players who enjoyed reading the world’s lore had claimed that the undead didn’t resent the living; they admired them. As such, something incredible and relating to life must lay dormant in the plaza. In the end, it had remained a mystery. The players found the white stone the most suspicious, but no matter how much they looked into it, they always came back empty-handed. The riddle went unsolved. If they’d exhausted every means they had, then that must mean there was nothing there. Maybe the skeletons simply had a habit of gathering in the plaza. Research-loving players came to this conclusion and dispersed in search of more fruitful mysteries to unravel.
Eventually, the plaza became a popular place to farm materials by using area-of-effect magic to burn down all of the skeletons at once. Thus, it was called the Crematorium.
Now Mira knew of the existence of angel’s barriers, which could make places imperceptible to humans. Maybe it’ll turn out there’s actually an angel’s barrier here! she joked to herself. If that were the truth, then it would be best to let sleeping dogs lie—after all, if an angel went out of their way to hide something, then it should remain hidden.
“Still, that is an impressive crowd…”
Skeletons continued to gather at the Crematorium, one by one. There were already more than fifty. With Mira’s strength, she could kill them all in ten seconds flat. Fifty magic stones in ten seconds—that was a lot of money for so little effort. But Mira passed by the Crematorium without a second thought.
Money had been falling into her hands with minimal effort. The best money was the kind that one received and spent with ease. Her perceptions of value and wealth might have become a little skewed.
“Ooh, it seems someone’s already on the case.” Mira spotted a party heading straight to the Crematorium from the Great Temple. There was a single warrior—probably a tank. The rest of the party were all mages.
Burning Soul, Flame Wand, Evil Blaze… That’s all fire-bolstering equipment.
The Crematorium had just the right number of skeletons. It seemed like its reputation was still thriving to this day. Mira recalled how Luminaria had made her join her in a farming run there before. She saw off the procession while she recalled the good old days, happy that some things hadn’t changed.
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