She Professed Herself The Pupil Of The Wiseman

Chapter 49 - 48: Swordsman

After parting with Solomon, Mira checked the distance to her next destination on the map again. Meanwhile, one maid was spying on her from behind a column. It was Lily. She had wanted to hear Mira's thoughts on the Magic Robe Set, so she finished her duties twice as fast as usual to get more free time and had since been waiting there for Mira to finish talking with Solomon.

(Ahh, the way her coat moves is just as we imagined. Her thighs peeking out every now and then look perfect as well. The skirt isn't too long nor too short, and it moves easily with the hem swaying at a nice rhythm. It's all just as we planned.)1

Lily observed every little detail of the Robe Set's movements as Mira walked. But that did not go on for too much longer, the strange aura surrounding her had been noticed by the other people at the castle, who were all staring at her, and Mira had followed those gazes to find Lily as well.

「What are you doing?」

「…Err… observing the passage of time… would be accurate enough, I guess?」

As Mira shot her a doubtful stare, Lily walked out from behind the pillar and gave an enigmatic reply while striking an enigmatic pose.

「What does that even mean?」

「Let's put that aside! It's almost time for lunch so would you want to eat with me? I'd love to hear your thoughts on your clothes as well.」

「Oh right, I had told you we could talk. Alright, let's go then.」

Mira closed the map and checked the time. It was barely a few minutes past noon. When Mira nodded in agreement, Lily quickly led her to the maids' quarters, almost rushing her to get there.

「Why are there so many of them..?」

Mira was currently surrounded by more than a dozen maids in the dining hall.

「Do you have any problems moving around?」

「Did you notice any wrongly sized parts?」

「We tried to make the interior cloth as nice to the touch as possible, but how does it feel?」

Bombarded by the ever-increasing questions, rather than having lunch, Mira was currently being stalled from trying out the fruit-topped french toast laid in front of her, which scent kept teasing her nose. Unable to refuse to answer them, she replied one question after another, taking a bit more than an hour since she arrived at the dining room for her to finally be able to eat.

To end her meal, Mira cleared her throat with some milk coffee and exhaled a sigh. Almost all the maids had returned to their work locations, leaving only Lily there who had already finished her duties.

That became a chance for Lily to speak a bit more about herself, mentioning how she had a younger sister that attended Arkite Academy, while her father had passed away during the Defense of the Three Gods' Countries.

「That reminds me, I met this vice-elder called Amaratte. She seemed oddly interested in my attire.」

「Oh, Lady Amaratte you say?!」

As Mira placed her milk coffee cup on the table, she recalled the incident with Amaratte and mentioned her. While Mira looked completely disinterested, Lily was the opposite, looking surprised but happier than anything as she leaned forward towards Mira.

「Yes… also, she mentioned that she would like to order a set for herself as well. Would that be possible?」

「But of course. We've been eyeing Lady Amaratte since… err. Tell her that if she's fine with us handling it that we'll gladly take her order!」

Lily's eyes were set ablaze, but only for a short instant. She quickly looked more composed again as she accepted the order with a triumphant tone. Since Amaratte always had an uninterest expression, they were always hesitant to ask if she would be interested in their clothes.

But now that Mira had relayed her wishes to them, giving them permission to proceed, there was nothing that could stop Lily and the other maids.

「I see, I'll tell her you said that then.」

「Is it really okay to ask that from you? Then please tell her to come by whenever she has time so we can measure every nook and… err, we can get her accurate measurements. 」

「Alright.」

With that, Mira stood up, thanked her for the food, and left the dining room. Meanwhile Lily ran off to tell everyone who would be involved to form a meeting to discuss Amaratte's clothes.

(This doesn't feel quite right after having experienced being in that wagon…)

Mira was inside the small forest that separated the castle walls from the high class district, slightly further away from the castle's main gate. She was taking out her fur coat while looking at the azure sky above, reminiscing about her aerial trip inside the wagon carried by Garuda.

「I'll have to bear with this until mine is finished.」

She muttered to herself as she assigned a summoning spot in front of her.

The magic circle in front of her floated up towards the sky, letting thunder and lightning fall down, and then after a bright flash, the white figure made its appearance. Lastly, the magic circle shattered, the fragments taking the form of winds and completing the appearance of the winged horse Pegasus, the carrier of thunder.

Pegasus folded his wings and neighed slightly, and the moment his eyes spotted Mira he turned his face away.

「Hm…?」

Albeit some exceptions, any summon that generally did not require a Rosario Summoning Circle was unable to speak. And even if they did possess speech, if there was something they wanted to convey they would show it through their attitude first.

「It's been a while, have you been in good health?」

Mira walked closer to him, trying to look at his face as she spoke to him, but Pegasus would avert his eyes and then turn his face the other way. Even without words, Mira could guess what Pegasus' attitude meant. It reminded her of the times when her little sister would get mad.

「Are you mad at me?」

Mira asked, trying to confirm her hunch. In response, Pegasus turned to look at her, though his face still showed he was in an ill mood. His eyes showed the loneliness from not seeing her after so long, as well as irritation at being left aside for so many years. Even if she was unable to comprehend all of his feelings, it was clear enough that he was angered.

(I've always spoiled him after all… this much should be expected after not meeting for thirty years…)

「I'm sorry. It might sound like I'm making excuses, but I wasn't here in this world during those thirty years. I only came back recently, so I'm really sorry I couldn't contact you earlier.」

Mira apologized earnestly like that. A moment later she felt something strike her small frame. Pegasus had butted his head at her. Mira simply fell back, while Pegasus let out another guttural neigh like a cry and rubbed his head on her chest.

He closed his eyes filled with sorrow, letting out large tears fall.2 Mira was slightly taken by surprise with the suddenness of it all, but she resisted the ticklish feeling knowing Pegasus had missed her and wrapped her arms around his neck, dearly caressing his mane.

After a while Mira felt like enough time had passed like that and stood up, looking straight at Pegasus.

「There's a favor I want to ask of you. Can you let me ride you while you fly?」

As soon as Mira asked that, Pegasus' eyes opened wide and shone brightly, moving closer to her again before pushing his snout between her legs trying to urge her to mount quickly.

「Ohh, you'll let me mount you? Good boy.」

Mira patted his head gently before she put the coat on and mounted on Pegasus' back. When he felt her firmly straddling his back, her warmth passed onto him, he spread his wings wide. He was ready to take off, so he turned his head back as a way to ask where they would go.

「Well Pegasus, fly towards this direction.」

Mira gently stroked his mane as she pointed west-southwest, towards the Forest of Praying Children. Pegasus neighed loudly in acknowledgment and began flapping his wings up and down, gradually speeding up.

When the sound of the wind being fanned away by the wings got to its loudest, there was the slight sound of hooves striking the ground and Mira's body felt affected by increased gravity as they shot up towards the sky. Since this time there was nothing obstructing her view below, like with Isenfald, she could clearly see the castle's main gate and the open space behind it.

「Good, good. This seems like it'll be rather comfortable as well.」

Thanks to the fur coat, the cold that bothered her so much before was negated as well. But being able to see the scenery below her was also something she was happy about, since Isenfald's body was so large it made it hard to look below the other time.

Pegasus was in a very good mood as he ran through the sky as well, leaving a trail of electrified particles behind them as a manifestation of that, which looked like a river of light even with the sun overhead.

Mira wrapped her arms around Pegasus' neck and looked back at Lunatic Lake, turning smaller into the distance with every passing second. She could also see the academy and the Five Pillar Institution, which made her start to think which she should visit first the next time she was there.

They flew for a few hours, during which Mira would sometimes check her map and make minute adjustments to their course. They had already crossed over a large mountain range, but since Mira was not used to riding yet her legs began hurting, so they landed at a small village they spotted from above where she went to a small diner to enjoy the feeling of solid ground.

(Hmm. At this pace I might arrive at my destination tonight, with the help of Pegasus.)

As Mira joined the scarce other customers there, her attire made her stand out more than anyone else. But since she had a bracelet that showed she was a high-ranking adventurer, no men were courageous enough to approach her.

This village was rather isolated from major cities, and there were no hunting grounds or famous dungeons nearby, so it was rare for a high-level adventurer to visit, so everyone just limited themselves to observe her from a distance.

Meanwhile, Mira was focused on her map, seeing how far she had traveled and making simple calculations to know how much longer it would take her to arrive there.

The results she arrived at were that she would get there at around ten in the evening. Being in a forest at night meant that one's sight was almost completely dark, so it would be easy for her to go past the ruins. But more importantly, Mira was in no mood to work until so late.

She slowly sipped on some mixed berry ale while

As soon as Mira said that, the Dark knight threw the sword in its hand high up into the air, pulling another sword from a small floating magic circle and pointing it towards Alfeil.

When the first sword reached its peak it began descending while turning in the air, creating a whooshing sound.

A moment later the sword appeared out of the darkness of the night.

Illuminated by the magic ware's light, it left a black trail before it stabbed the ground.

With that as a signal, Alfeil lowered his body and darted ahead. He held his sword to the side, the silver blade shining like a flash of light as the distance between the two decreased in the blink of an eye, and then the ice sword was swung aiming towards the Dark Knight's torso.

He went on the offensive as soon as the match started. His speed was certainly first-class, and as a result, the Dark Knight was pushed onto a defensive position, stopping Alfeil's sword with its black blade so his sword could not reach its body.

(He is plenty strong as well… maybe even more than Emera. But his speed is more striking, he might even be faster than my Dark Knights.)

Mira objectively measured Alfeil's strength from far away, trying to figure out how much of the Dark Knight's power she should show.

Still resisting Alfeil's sword, the Dark Knight forcefully swung his blade. That was done with so much force that Alfeil was unable to resist and was blown into the air.

「It's strong, this one is strong!」

Alfeil exclaimed, unable to contain his excitement. After a quick dance with his feet he killed the momentum, his face glimmering with a devilish smile.

There was a clang of two swords again, the moment Alfeil had regained his posture the Dark Knight had swung its sword on him. That impact was stronger than anything he had felt before, which led to a grunt of agony escaping his mouth. But even then, he was still smiling.

Their blades were locked only for a few seconds, sliding the tip of his sword a moment before he absorbed all the momentum from the Dark Knight's blade and slashing at the now defenseless side of its body.

His movements were certain, the blade drawing an arc in a flash and piercing through the Dark Knight, the force brought by his two hands greatly increasing his power as he sliced the Dark Knight's body in half.

「I'm sure you can do much better than this. Please, come at me seriously!」

As the dust raised by the fight was still in the air, Alfeil spoke to Mira without turning around. Like he had said, that Dark Knight was still not using all its power. Now that this was reality for Mira, her actions could determine the life or death of someone else, so Mira would not allow herself to carelessly go all out against someone whose abilities were still not fully determined for her.

「Have you fought with all your strength and still lost recently?」

Mira asked that to finish her assessment. In response, Alfeil shook his head.

「Not really recently. The last time was around five years ago.」

Watching his back as he replied, Mira realized something. Alfeil was in a quest to find strong opponents. From his attitude, she could guess he had challenged multiple other people in the past, and won every time. But he was still not satisfied with his strength, so he kept looking for other strong people. Mira could relate with that restless desire.

He was simply looking upwards, stretching his hand in an attempt to reach even higher places.

「Sorry for not taking this seriously. In return, I'll let you taste something from five years ago.」

「That's… exactly what I want!」

The corner of Alfeil's lips twitched upwards while an icy fog began covering his blade like a breath.