Chapter 3
MIRA AWAKENED in the King’s Hideout. She sat up and looked around the room in a daze.
They were underground, so there were of course no windows to see outside. The overhead light was faint, so as not to disturb one’s sleep. Mira used the bangle on her arm to check the time; it was just past early morning.
Mira turned to her left and found an empty bed, but the one beyond it was occupied by Snake’s seductive, half-naked figure.
Good, good. Wonderful.
The summoner put her hands together in prayer, grateful for this early-morning blessing. But she didn’t stop there; she stood up to approach. When she did, she noticed that her own clothes were folded up by the pillows of her bed. She didn’t remember taking them off—let alone what had happened before falling asleep—but it was then that she realized that she was herself in rather scanty attire.
One room, two half-naked girls… What a thought-provoking situation.
Perhaps thanks to the leftover haze of sleep, Mira’s fantasies were a little wilder than usual. After pulling just her dress over her head, Mira gazed at Snake for a moment again before leaving the bedroom.
“Morning, Mira!”
“Good morning, Mira.”
Scorpion and Angelique were already in the living room. The former seemed to be mixing some sort of concoction, while the latter was making breakfast. As expected of an experienced housewife, Angelique looked great in an apron. She was skilled as well, tending to multiple dishes simultaneously. It was truly a familial sight—though the stench of Scorpion’s chemicals mixing into the aromas of breakfast did spoil it somewhat.
“Mm, morning,” Mira replied. She shot a glance at Scorpion, who was hard at work on her concoction, and passed through the kitchen and into the toilet. Before long, she emerged once more, let out a big yawn, and mumbled, “Nnnh… Morning, indeed.” She then plopped down in a nearby chair and let her mouth hang open slightly as she looked around with bleary eyes.
“C’mon, go take a shower or something and wake yourself up.” Scorpion handed a towel to Mira, who was starting to act like a senile old man. She then helped the girl stand up and half forced her into the changing room, where she stripped Mira of her clothes and shoved her into the shower. They hadn’t known each other for long, but Scorpion knew how to deal with morning Mira by now.
The shower room was only two and a half meters on a side, though that was big enough for one person. This facility even came equipped with plumbing and magical tools to heat water. Mira pulled the faucet lever, and hot water rained on her from above. Wet silver hair stuck to glistening, fair skin as the sensation of heat cascaded down her body and onto the floor.
“Aah, that feels good…” She writhed in the water, enjoying the ticklish feeling of her drowsiness being washed away.
Suddenly, someone else appeared in the changing room. Curious, Mira turned the shower off just in time for the door to open.
“Good morning,” Snake greeted her, fully nude and sleepily rubbing her eyes. The tank-top-and-shorts combo Mira had once seen, the half-naked figure from earlier… While they were enticing, her nude figure was truly artistic, in a way that was explosive. Snake was as attractive as Scorpion, though in a slightly different manner; she was slender, with just enough meat on her bones to highlight her feminine curves.
Bewildered by the suddenness of this sight, Mira managed to squeak out a greeting: “M-mm, hey.” The bathroom was enough space for one person, but too cramped for two. Faced with the naked Snake, Mira found her eyes glued to her fine, attractive form.
Snake ignored her and began her shower. Mira’s brain was fully awakened by her female friend showering nearby, the water bouncing off of Snake’s skin and raining onto the young summoner.
It seemed that people of the same gender often showered together here, just as they bathed together. When later asked if she minded sharing, Mira replied with a big smile that she most certainly did not.
***
Mira exited the shower first and did her best to remain calm while she got dressed, even as she stared at Snake’s underwear on the floor. She returned to the living room with the smile of an enlightened Buddha.
“Please sit, breakfast’ll be ready soon,” Angelique said. Mira did as she said and took a place at the table, enticed by the food already there.
It was truly a warm and familial morning. While she savored this atmosphere, Mira watched Angelique and wondered…did the phrases “married woman” and “housewife” truly apply to her? To Mira, those words had a more mature impression, yet there was something about Angelique that seemed almost…childish. Why did Mira think so? She was the picture of a traditional housewife, after all.
After staring for a while, Mira hit upon the reason: Angelique lacked certain womanly curves. Of course, she didn’t mean anything by that observation, though the phrase “child bride” did come to mind.
It seemed Scorpion had finished her alchemy, and she was now cleaning up her tools. Thanks to that, the chemical smell was all but gone; only the scent of cooking meat and spices graced Mira’s nose.
Before long, Snake emerged from the changing room and sat next to Mira, clad in only her underwear. The summoner stole glances here and there; indeed, underwear was most enticing when worn as an outfit in itself.
“It’s almost ready, everyone,” Angelique announced, still skillfully preparing breakfast.
“Smells good,” Snake said, stomach growling.
Mira sipped at her juice while she watched Angelique and answered, “Doesn’t it?”
“Ack! Out in your underwear again? Go get dressed!” With her work done, Scorpion chased Snake off into the bedroom to find her clothes. Given how relaxed Snake was, this must have been a common occurrence. Even Mira had to admit it did seem very lazy of Snake.
Darn you, Scorpion! Foiled again! Mira cursed Scorpion internally as she took one last, good look at Snake’s backside as she walked away.
Just then, another bedroom door opened.
“Now that smells nostalgic…” Millene, the young apprentice of Johan, poked her head out. Her nose twitched, catching whiffs of breakfast. Upon seeing Mira, she greeted her with a bow. “Oh, uhh, Mira? Good morning!”
She must have just woken up; her clothes and hair alike were disheveled. But her mind was perfectly clear. Perhaps Millene simply didn’t care much about her appearance.
“Good morning, Millene,” Angelique called out gently from behind Mira. At the same time, Millene’s head shot up. She beheld Johan’s wife, Angelique, standing in the kitchen.
“M-Mrs. Angelique… Mrs. Angelique!” Suddenly, a huge and tearful smile appeared on Millene’s face, and she practically jumped into Angelique’s arms. With a muffled voice, she cried, “Thank goodness you’re safe!” Before long, Angelique’s cooking apron was soiled with tears and snot. Angelique apologized for making Millene worry and hugged her like her own child. This was a reunion five years in the making; there must have been a real flood of emotions.
After some time, Millene finally stopped crying and looked up. She’d been sleeping when Mira and the others had come, so she hadn’t known that Angelique was here. To her, she’d simply woken up next to a random little girl. “Wait. That girl who was in bed with me, was she…?”
When they were abducted, Anne was only three; now, she was eight years old. Realization slowly dawned on the apprentice.
“Yes. That’s Anne,” Angelique answered with a smile.
“She’s grown so much!” Millene cried, but Angelique accepted her tears with a gentle smile.
Snake appeared again, now wearing basic clothing, and grinned as she took her seat again.
Mira and Scorpion looked at each other, silently sharing their happiness at having saved Angelique and Anne. Despite how loud she was, Millene’s sobs were comforting, indeed.
***
Once Millene had calmed down, the whole group sat around the table and ate breakfast. It was a big one, but everyone there was ravenous, so they managed to finish all the food without any trouble. During breakfast, they explained to Millene that Angelique and Anne had been found in Melville Commerce’s compound, as expected.
Millene thanked Mira and Scorpion for saving the mother and daughter. Her gaze then wandered around the living room until she finally turned to the hallway and asked, “Is my teacher still sleeping?”
Angelique and Anne’s escape would be discovered sooner or later. Once Chimera Clausen found out, there would no doubt be consequences for Johan now that they’d lost their leverage over him. That was why Mira and Scorpion had gone straight to the mansion to save him. Yet he’d already disappeared, along with the records of his transactions with Chimera Clausen. Given the traces left at the scene, it was likely that Johan had been abducted, Mira explained.
“Oh, no. I hope he’s safe…”
“Johan’s techniques are vital to them, so I’m certain he is safe, if nothing else,” Mira explained. “We just don’t know what else they might—”
She was interrupted by a tearful voice calling out, “Mommy!” It seemed Anne had awoken. She was all alone in an unfamiliar place; no one could blame the child for being worried.
“We’ll call you if we have any questions,” Scorpion offered. “Go be with Anne!”
“I’m sorry. Thank you.” Angelique rushed to stand up, bowed, and ran off into the bedroom.
Millene watched as she went and then turned her eyes to the people around the table: Mira, Scorpion, and Snake. To her, they were two people who’d kidnapped her and one interrogator who used horrifying means despite her soft appearance. Indescribable terror and nervousness filled Millene, so she stood up to escape.
“Well, I’d better go check on Anne—”
“Sit,” Mira commanded. “We have more questions for you.”
“Okay…” With her excuse flatly denied, Millene slumped over again.
***
Having finished their meal, the group moved from the dining table to the sofas and sat around a metal coffee table to truly begin their discussion. This one concerned their plans from here.
They quickly agreed that saving Johan was the top priority. His techniques were necessary to Chimera’s work with the black mist ore, so Mira theorized that there was no chance of them taking his life. Furthermore, the more Johan worked, the more weapons Chimera Clausen would have—and therefore, the more harm would be done to spirits.
As such, saving Johan would greatly reduce Chimera’s power, something that would be a vital contributor to the Isuzu Alliance’s victory in the coming battle. That’s how important Johan was to both sides at this juncture.
But that wasn’t the only value that Mira’s side saw in him. On top of being a key figure to victory, he was family to Angelique, Anne, and Millene. It was only human to want to reunite him with loved ones.
Alive or not, though, the question remained: Where they’d taken him? As Johan was such a vital figure, he would not be in an easy-to-find location. One might imagine they might even take him to Chimera’s headquarters.
There was another problem as well: How had Chimera realized that he was taking action against them?
“Incidentally, Millene,” Mira turned to Millene and asked, “do you know anything about that suit of armor that was on the mansion’s second floor?”
Thanks to total concealment, Mira’s group had managed to sneak in and out of the mansion without anyone’s knowledge. Their conversation with Johan had been held under concealment as well. It should have been impossible for a third party to notice them.
But Johan had been taken away, which seemed to mean that something had been monitoring him inside the mansion. The first suspect was the suit of armor that had disappeared with him. If it was empty on the inside, Mira surmised that it could house all sorts of magical tools.
“The armor on the second floor? Uhh, well…” Millene looked surprised at first. She seemed restless, or seemingly embarrassed for some reason. Then she told them about the armor.
According to Millene, she’d made the armor herself. Her father was an armorsmith, so she’d wondered if she could match his techniques using alchemy. The armor was the result of that experiment. It was an exquisite item—equal to her father’s armor!—she added with a proud grin. The armor was made to privilege lightness and strength, and it had no magic cast on it. Despite being a full suit of armor, Millene boasted that it was actually very easy to handle.
Johan had praised her for the first time when she’d shown it to him, and a few days later, she realized he’d displayed it on the second floor. At the time, she’d rejoiced, believing that he’d recognized her as a skilled alchemist. Though, she added with a sardonic grin, he continued to be just as stern as before.
As for the contents, Millene said that it naturally should be empty given that it was a suit of armor. But she’d never looked inside after Johan put it up.
“What a mystery…” Mira mused.
“Right?” Scorpion sighed.
The only thing that was clear now was the source of the armor. Millene of course wanted to know why they’d asked her about it, but Mira just chuckled and replied that she was curious because it stood out to her.
Millene spent the next few minutes muttering to herself over and over, “Mages never get it.”
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