She Professed Herself The Pupil Of The Wiseman (LN) - Volume 7 - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

“IT’S MOOORNING! Wake uuup!”

The voice was faint, as if traveling through the water’s depths. But it gradually grew louder and closer until it reached Mira’s consciousness.

“Nngh… What now?” Still tired from her late night, she opened her eyes a crack before sleepily cocooning herself in her futon.

Unlike the groggy Mira, Scorpion was as energetic as ever this morning. She jostled the small summoner. “Jeez, c’mon! The sun’s up! We gotta get going!”

“Why are you so loud?!”

Mira sat up lazily, annoyed that she couldn’t enjoy her peaceful rest. The clock on the wagon wall read just a bit past six, and morning light was streaming through the windows. The surface of the lake reflected dazzling sunlight. Mira narrowed her eyes at the brightness, then frowned as she rubbed her eyes with the backs of her hands.

“…Too early,” Mira muttered and flopped back down.

“Wake uuup! We gotta gooo!” Scorpion cried again, pleading as she shook the summoner. They couldn’t travel until Mira summoned Garuda.

“Fine, fine.”

They still had a long way to go. There was no time for a leisurely rest now, but Mira knew she could sleep once they were in the air. She groggily stood up as Aaron peeked inside.

“Did you get the young lady up? Ah… My bad.” He realized his mistake at once and looked up and away from Mira’s fair skin and pretty underwear. Scorpion threw a cushion directly at his face as he ducked his head back out of the wagon.

Now that Mira had been rousted from her bed, the four finished their morning preparations and resumed their journey to the Illusory Corridor. Thanks to Garuda, the trip continued smoothly, and Mira was able to get back to sleep.

Yet after a few hours of flying, Garuda suddenly sounded an alarm.

“Hrmm? What’s the matter?” A newly awakened Mira stood up and pushed past the rest of the group to open the door to the driver’s seat. Though they were high in the sky, Garuda’s power made the air around them calm, granting her a clear view of what lay ahead.

And ahead was an enormous tornado that pierced the clouds.

“Oh, what now?” Mira muttered.

Despite the warm sunlight streaming down everywhere else, that spot alone raged like a miniature apocalypse. It was clearly no natural phenomenon.

“What’s wrong?” Aaron peeked out over her head. “What the heck is that?”

“Whuzzat?”

“Incomprehensible.”

Scorpion and Snake seemed just as baffled when they managed to get a look. The sight was so overwhelming that they could offer few other words.

Aaron pulled out the map to check their location and looked to the base of the whirlwind. Verdant greenery spread in all directions below, cut in two by a sparkling stream that flowed from the base of a white mountain range stretching into the distance. 

“Hey, wait a second. Isn’t that the Illusory Corridor?” he asked.

Mira compared the positions of the mountain range and tornado, and agreed, “Hrmm… You know, you’re right. That does look familiar.”

The tornado enveloped not just the entrance to the dungeon, but the whole area around it as well. The storm was of such scale and force that the Illusory Corridor was entirely sealed to them.

“Is that bad, or…?” Scorpion’s face clouded over. 

If Chimera Clausen were in there now and they could not pursue, then this was an emergency. It was possible that the tornado was a measure by Chimera to keep outsiders from entering the dungeon. And if an organization moving in the shadows had done something so flagrant, that meant they didn’t care if people saw what they were doing anymore.

The gang needed to hurry.

“You said Garuda can control wind. Can it do anything about that?” Aaron looked up at Garuda, leisurely flapping its wings as usual.

Garuda certainly could control the wind; that was why the wagon remained calm and stable in flight. It could potentially deal with smaller-scale, natural tornados—but as Mira gauged the scale of the storm, she shook her head.

“Even Garuda has limits. It cannot suppress something of that size.”

“Ah! Mira, bring us down at that bend in the river!” Scorpion said, apparently having seen something the others hadn’t. She pointed at the riverside.

“Hrmm, very well.” Mira glanced at the spot and ordered Garuda to descend. The flapping of its great wings sent waves rippling through the water and grassland as the wagon landed.

Scorpion jumped out of the wagon and stabbed her dagger directly into the soil. After wrapping the hilt in yellow cloth, she held both hands out toward the forest, then brought her right hand down.

Mira dismissed Garuda and furrowed her brow at Scorpion’s incomprehensible actions.

“What sort of ritual is this?” she asked Snake.

“A signal to allies. There is no danger here, and she wishes to talk directly.” It seemed to be code used between Hidden. Then Snake sent a signal of her own into the forest. Mira asked what she’d said, and Snake replied, “It means there are two of us.”

“Does that mean other Hidden are in the forest?”

There must have been…otherwise, who would see the signal? But Mira spied nobody in the lush forest, and it was outside the range of her Biometric Scan.

“Given the location, the ones dispatched to the Illusory Corridor should be here.”

“Hrmm…”

Perhaps the Hidden stationed here would have a clue regarding the situation, then.

A babbling brook behind, the rustling of leaves in the wind ahead, and the chirping of birds above. Amid the peaceful scene, Mira gazed at the raging whirlwind up ahead.

Suddenly, the forest’s shade wavered. It wasn’t the wind’s doing—several people had leapt out while Mira was focused on the storm. They sauntered toward Mira and the others and came to a stop in front of Scorpion.

“You make a hell of an entrance, Scorpion,” a man said, gazing at the wagon. His face was fatigued.

“I knew it was you, Spider!”

It seemed this man was a member of the Hidden. He had short hair and a toned figure, and wore a camouflage coat that enhanced his military look.

“And Snake is here, too? Who are the others?” Spider looked back and forth between Aaron and Mira: one man, clearly a warrior, and one girl, a mage who had summoned the monstrous Garuda.

“They’re here to help. The big one is Aaron, the tiny one is Mira.” Scorpion twirled around and introduced them…confidently, if imprecisely.

“Nice to meetcha.” Aaron gave Spider a sharp, searching look and grinned proudly.

“I’m Mira.” Mira puffed out her chest with a similarly bold, fearless smirk.

Aaron had the air of a ferocious warrior with years of experience, and Mira oozed magic far beyond her small stature.

“Real strong crew this time, huh?” Scorpion said with a chuckle.

After committing their names to memory, Spider suddenly realized something. “Hey, Mira… That’s the same name as the girl who got Capture Number 1… Is this the lady herself?”

Chimera Clausen would abandon their prey to prioritize escape. But thanks to Mira, Isuzu had finally managed to capture one of them: Capture Number 1, the first Chimera Clausen member they’d ever apprehended. It was the very reason that the Isuzu Alliance had finally been able to take the offensive.

It seemed all of Isuzu had heard her name by now.

“Yep, that’s her!” Scorpion answered.

Spider gazed at Mira in admiration and muttered, “I see…”

Even someone so adorable, with such perfect, delicate features, could summon beasts such as Garuda. With her on their side, maybe things were finally going to go their way.

“But the report from HQ said you’d gone to the Citadel of Scales… Why are you here? Don’t tell me you got lost.”

“About that. The situation has changed…” 

Scorpion launched into an explanation of what happened at the Citadel of Scales.

***

“Huh. And that brought you here?” Spider surveyed the four again, even more impressed than before.

“Yep. Now, I’ve got a question for you.” Scorpion pointed at the giant tornado deep in the forest. “What is that?!”

“Yeah. That…” Spider looked at the tornado with eyes filled with exhaustion, sighed, and waved a hand toward the forest. A few seconds later, a woman dressed in ascetic clothing emerged soundlessly from between the trees.

“You want me to explain, right?” She spoke in the same tired voice as she filled the gang in on what she knew.

The whirling tornado had already been there when the team had arrived at their post. And as Mira and the others had surmised, it was artificially created, rather than any natural occurrence. But their search for the source had proven fruitless. Spider’s team had tried every means of entry they could, but all had failed. When Scorpion probed, it was clear that they had really tried everything.

All they could do was wait and watch for Chimera Clausen to enter or exit. But they couldn’t get near the storm, and the team had ultimately ended up at a loss.

“Hrmm… Well, there’s no use waiting here. Why don’t we get a closer look?” Mira suggested to the befuddled group and began walking without waiting for an answer.

Perhaps their combined forces could find a way…but they’d need to get close and take the full measure of the situation first.

“Sure. Let’s do that,” Scorpion agreed, falling into step behind her. 

 “Yeah, guess so,” Aaron grumbled as he joined them.

Snake tagged along diagonally behind Mira without a word.

Spider and the woman now had a good idea of who was in charge, and they silently followed the four toward the storm.