She Professed Herself The Pupil Of The Wiseman (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 29

Chapter 29

AFTER SETTLING THINGS with the elite of Chimera Clausen,

Mira, Kagura, and Cyril left the rest to the conquering army who’d just arrived in the final room. The trio decamped to the surface, coming out at the peak of a great rocky mountain. As expected of Chimera, a thorough investigation of the final chamber had revealed a hidden exit. That seemed natural given their methods, as they would be cornered rats if attacked without an escape hatch.

Kagura contacted each unit. After hearing the last one’s report, she answered, “Okay, got it. Thanks. Get some good rest.” With that, she hung up.

“How were things? No issues anywhere?”

“Nope. Lots of wounded, but no deaths. It’s a flawless victory for us!”

Worry had found its way onto Kagura’s face many times throughout the reports, but now, she smiled wider than ever. The trio had fought a very localized fight, but when one looked at the full scale of today’s battle, it was akin to a small war. Yet despite it all, they had miraculously suffered no losses.

However, that casualty figure didn’t include the Chimera forces. Kagura didn’t mention it, but Chimera had many deaths. One might say that they were necessary losses to attain this victory; after all, that was the common view of war in this world. It was almost dawn now, and the starry sky was beginning to lighten. Whether intentional or not, Kagura didn’t touch on this last point much as she summarized each unit’s report.

First, after Emella’s group and the First Company had successfully seized the control center, they took over a hundred spirits captured below into protective custody. Emella had apparently been quite excited to destroy the black mist ore-forged prison with her Alabaster Oni-Slayer sword.

The spirits were badly weakened, but they were alive. The spirits who’d helped Isuzu in tonight’s battle would share some of their spiritual power with their brethren and take them into their care.

Indeed, spirits had helped in this battle. Humans had protected them from Chimera’s anti-spirit weapons, while the spirits used all of their power to support their human allies. Arrows could be deflected by spirits’ wind, and magic could do nothing in the face of spirits’ power. If the enemy took up black mist ore to fight them, human soldiers would block their way. They had come out with no losses in no small part because of the spirits’ aid.

Isuzu’s main goal had been to eliminate the evil known as Chimera Clausen, but they’d managed to rescue some spirits before they were sacrificed as well. That was good news.

“So we’ve managed to save a few? Well, now my effort feels worthwhile.” Mira grinned proudly.

“Agreed. I feel like I’ve contributed to society today.” Cyril touched the red bell embroidered onto the hem of his coat and closed his eyes in prayer.

The next report Kagura shared was the one from Mira’s friends. “Oh, yeah! Scorpion and Snake did just fine too.”

Defeating Chimera wasn’t the only midnight mission in play. Isuzu’s other goal had been to set Melville Commerce’s downfall in motion.

Scorpion and Snake had taken the Trinity Church’s inter­national legal affairs official and knights to a Melville Commerce storage facility and forced their way in to investigate the place in the name of the law. They succeeded in arresting Melville’s people, who were flustered over the sudden nighttime appearance of the official, and confirmed that black mist ore weapons were being stored there.

After confiscating the evidence, Scorpion and Snake’s team encircled Melville Commerce. Elvis Melville himself was in such a sleepy daze that he had no idea what was going on. Sleepy or not, he was arrested for conspiring with Chimera Clausen. The firm’s assets were seized as well.

Those with ties to the company were to appear in court and forbidden from leaving, and all Melville facilities were shut down. They would be investigated in the coming days. On top of the firm evidence of the weapons, the testimony yielded by witness Johan would certainly lead to the dissolution of Melville Commerce. Their assets would be forfeited to the state—which meant that they would belong to Ebatess Commerce, now next in line for the throne, before long.

“Satisfying, right?” Kagura mused. It was almost a guarantee that Melville Commerce was done for. She then coldly murmured, “Serves them right.”

Regardless of their success, it had been revealed that the leading firm of Roslein was conspiring with the world’s greatest criminals. This would no doubt throw the country into chaos; even the most innocent citizen might be affected. This worried Mira. “Still, after such a major upheaval, this country’s sure to be in turmoil for a while. Will they be okay?” she asked.

“Our guild plans to dispatch some personnel, but all we can really do is hope they do their best,” Cyril said. “If we’d let Chimera get their roots even deeper, things would’ve been even more of a mess. Let’s call it…ripping the bandage off. If we’re too hesitant to make the hard choices, then we’ll never get anywhere. We don’t have to act like heroes; we’re more like doctors. It’ll hurt, but it’s a healing hurt.” He spoke sadly, perhaps because he’d seen and experienced things like this many times by now, yet he remained dignified. In the end, he smiled. They weren’t here to force justice on people; they were simply following their own convictions. If that helped people in the process, then they couldn’t ask for anything more. Cyril had arrived at this principle after many years of struggle.

“Mm, fair. All we can do is pray that they find a better future,” Mira agreed.

“Yeah. It’s up to them now,” Kagura said.

The three narrowed their eyes and smiled at the day’s first light stretching through the mountains. This morning’s sun seemed to shine differently than any other, making them truly feel the coming of this new day.

“…Crap, I left them all asleep!” Kagura shouted out of nowhere, ruining the mood. When asked what she meant, she revealed that she’d left all of the government workers from their initial infiltration asleep.

“Ah… Right, you put those talismans on their heads,” Mira recalled.

The door to the hidden tunnel leading to Chimera HQ was in a particular government facility. It had security, along with a few graveyard shift employees.

Mira, Kagura, and Cyril alone had entered without being detected, but the larger force entered after them in order to fully conquer the base. Because they had prioritized stealth, Kagura had put everyone in the facility to sleep. Even worse, it was a spell cast by a Wise Man. None but her could undo it. Employees coming in for the morning shift would find the midnight shift all in a sleep from which they couldn’t be roused… They might end up panicking.

“So, uh, I gotta run. Now. You two go meet up with the detached force, all right? I’ve already told them our next steps, so go wild!” Kagura climbed onto Tweetsuke and called out, “Oh, and thanks for all the help!” Then, she flew off toward Sentopoli.

“No sense of decorum…” Mira grumbled.

“Nope. Maybe that’s exactly what we need, though,” Cyril joked.

They’d just accomplished a historical feat in defeating the spirit-hunting Chimera Clausen, but these final moments felt almost silly.

“Things always turn out like this when she’s involved,” Mira muttered with a wry grin.

“I happen to like it,” Cyril replied with a smile. As Kagura disappeared into the distance, he suddenly spoke up, “By the way, Mira?”

“Hm? What?” Mira turned around, smiling from a tinge of nostalgia.

Cyril smiled back and warned her, “You make it sound as if you and Wise Man Kagura are old friends, you know.”

What was that supposed to mean? After a moment’s silence, Mira finally realized her mistake and froze for a second. She then slowly, fearfully looked up at Cyril. There was yet another silence until she finally said, “You…seem like…you already knew that…” Then, she slumped over from despair.

“Given your strength, it’s not too hard to narrow down candidates. If you mean to hide your identity, then you might want to be a little more careful. Only former players would see through it, so you’ll be fine as long as you keep that in mind.”

Former players could discern whether others were former players by examining them, and naturally, they knew of the existence of Vanity Cases. Not to mention, the Nine Wise Men were extremely famous among players. Given all these pieces of information, it wasn’t exactly impossible to trace the facts and deduce Mira’s identity. Vanity Cases could change not just appearance but sex as well. It was like a perfect disguise—but it was only half as effective when people knew of its existence, especially when one’s original identity was famous. Now that he mentioned it, it all made sense to Mira.

“Hrmm… Thank you for the warning. But how long have you known…?” she asked unhappily.

Cyril looked guilty for a moment and replied, “Well, I’d thought it might be possible since the day we first met.”

“Goodness… You’re saying you already had an inkling? That was fast… You could’ve said something, you know.” Mira recalled their first meeting. She remembered Cyril had said something along the lines of, You aren’t Danblf, are you? The thought of it made her chuckle to herself.

“I didn’t have any proof, after all. Besides, you seemed to be hiding it, so I opted to earn your trust and ask you directly later on.” Cyril didn’t want to expose her secrets, but to be an ally with which she could share them.

“You are quite difficult to deal with, you know,” Mira said with a grin. She turned to face Cyril once more, and cleared her throat once. She then proudly puffed out her chest and declared, “Mira, pupil of a Wise Man, is but a fake identity. For I am Wise Man Danblf himself!” Mira punctuated this statement with a desperate pose.

“Sure. Thank you for telling me that. I promise that I’ll share this information with no one. Though, I feel like you could’ve said it a little more normally…”

“It’s just too embarrassing if I don’t do this…” Danblf had used a Vanity Case to create the beauty known as Mira. Which would wound her less: to say that with a serious look or to try and push through it with pizzazz? Unfortunately, the world might never know.

“Anyway, let’s meet up with the others as Kagura directed,” Mira suggested. She surveyed the rocky terrain around them. After a moment, she pulled up her map and checked their current location and their destination. “That way. Shall we?” After summoning Pegasus and climbing onto its back, Mira pointed behind her and offered, “You may sit here.”

“…Sure. Thanks for the ride,” Cyril said. After looking around and shuddering slightly, he put a hand on Pegasus and hopped up behind Mira.

On Mira’s signal, the horse flapped its wings and ascended. Cyril wrapped his arms tightly around Mira.

“Is someone afraid of heights?” Mira asked, feeling his arms trembling.

“Well, I’m not exactly a fan…” He grinned mirthlessly and decided to keep his eyes fixed straight ahead.

“I see, I see…”

An unexpected weakness. Mira smirked at how tightly Cyril clung to her as Pegasus galloped through the air. They were like a prince and princess riding the holy beast through the sky, though the trembling prince and unconcerned princess were not exactly according to script.

They soared over the rocky mountains for some time, the morning wind blowing against them cool and comforting. Before long, their destination would come into view. It was then that Mira realized something was off. “The thought just occurred to me. Why did Kagura ride Tweetsuke? It wouldn’t be able to go at maximum speed due to wind resistance if she rode it. If she’s in such a hurry, she should’ve sent Tweetsuke first and then switched places with it, no?”

If Kagura needed to get back as quickly as possible, then Mira’s proposed method would probably be fastest. Tweetsuke’s maximum speed allowed it to go from the westernmost city in the continent to the center in only six hours, making it over 200 kilometers per hour. It would take less than ten minutes to get from here to Sentopoli.

However, Kagura had opted to ride Tweetsuke there. Kagura wasn’t someone who would overlook the difference in efficiency, so Mira found herself confused. But Cyril seemed to understand. He gazed off into the distance and said, “I think she wanted to be alone for just a little while.”

***

In the skies above the rocky mountain range, Sentopoli was just a dark smudge in the distance. Kagura rode Tweetsuke and contacted Mizar, who had led the siege on the control center.

“Say, Mizar. Was Lecia there?” Kagura asked. Lecia was the wind spirit who had extended a helping hand to Kagura when she’d arrived, confused, in this world. She was also the reason that Kagura had established the Isuzu Alliance. Kagura’s ultimate goal had always been to save Lecia from Chimera’s clutches.

Mizar’s team had found a prison holding the abducted spirits under the control center. Kagura had hoped that Lecia was there.

“She wasn’t,” Mizar said bitterly. “I asked the spirits we saved, but…unfortunately, they didn’t know.” He knew Kagura’s wish, so the moment they’d discovered the spirits, he had asked around about Lecia. That was when Mizar learned the unfortunate truth.

“Oh… Well, is there anywhere else? Do they have spirits locked up in any other places?”

“No… We interrogated every single Chimera member in the base, but they all said there weren’t any others. A prison to contain spirits takes some unusual construction, and it supposedly won’t function unless it’s close to ley lines like this place was.”

A prison made to contain beings who controlled the power of nature had to be special, which made it difficult to set up multiple. Thus, all captured spirits had been sent to the prison below the control center. If a spirit wasn’t here, then there was only one other option.

“But, you know… Maybe she escaped along the way there or something. Maybe…she’s hiding somewhere far away…” Mizar tried desperately to console Kagura, but his voice began to falter, fading into quiet as he did his best to smile. In the end, he felt bad trying to make her believe something that even he couldn’t.

They knew from years of fighting Chimera that they weren’t the kind to let their captives get away that easily. Their methods up to this point had been watertight. That was why Isuzu had failed to so much as grab their tail all this time, and why Mizar’s words incited more despair than hope.

“Yeah… You’re right. Thanks, Mizar. Anyway, Mira and Cyril should be on their way there, so good luck with your next mission.” Kagura’s voice sounded cheerful once more. Anyone could tell that she was putting on a strong front, but Mizar did his best to respond firmly, “Heh. We’ll make our entrance a grand one.”

After cutting the connection, Kagura gazed at the city of Sentopoli, lit by the rising sun in the distance, and murmured to herself, “Sorry, I was too late…”

Finally, tears began to flow uncontrollably down her cheeks.

Was it regret or guilt? Kagura cried as she thought of her friends Lecia and Multicolor, who she’d spent only one night with. Her cheeks turned red, and she wailed like a child.

Her sorrowful voice echoed through the empty sky, distant and alone.