Chapter 226.1: The Phantom Thief, Fans, and Rivals (Part 1)
「Thank you so much!」
「Thank you.」
Sara and Leyla thanked Mira, and the rest of their group also looked grateful behind them. In response Mira simply said that it was a pleasure to help a fellow summoner. After that she gave Leyla some general directions on how to use the Dark Knight, as well as advice on making it stronger.
「Listen carefully now, a Dark Knight's true worth comes from its versatility and room for growth...」
While Leyla succeeding at summoning a Dark Knight had seemed like the climax of their encounter, Mira's lesson on summons was barely getting started.
Since Armor Spirits had the ability to learn, it was possible to teach them how to use a sword, or general fighting tactics, so they would be able to make independent decisions while fighting. But more importantly, as long as a summoner had mana, they could summon as many of them as they wanted.
Mira could never get herself to shut up when talking about spells, especially if it was a branch she was familiar with.
Meanwhile Leyla seemed conflicted, as she had thought the lesson would end now that she had successfully summoned a Dark Knight, but Mira kept going on. But once she paid attention to what Mira was saying, and considering the wealth of knowledge she possessed, Leyla quickly realized that Mira was saying something important, so she became more attentive and took out a notepad to scribble some notes.
「Now the trick for simultaneous summoning is to designate multiple summoning spots while thinking of them as the same. Or well, I say that but you shouldn't focus on just one spot, but more like an army in formation...」
It had been a while since Mira had met a sounding board, or rather a student, so her lesson quickly went into more advanced topics, like Mira's favorite simultaneous summoning.
She also made demonstrations as she spoke, summoning one, then three, and then four, showing how one could scale up the number of simultaneous summons with practice.
Leyla tried to keep up summoning her own Dark Knights, but she was too inexperienced to really get more than one out.
Then again, it was nothing to be worried about, as it was a difficult skill to master and being able to perform it would be enough for a summoner to be admitted into the Silver Linked Towers. It was not something one could master in a single day, even if they were taught by the best summoner in the world.
「Augh...I feel dizzy...」
It had been Leyla's first time summoning a Dark Knight, and no matter how hard she tried to do more, in the end all she accomplished was draining herself of mana.
「Leyla, are you okay?」
Sara gently supported Leyla's body as she began to sway unsteadily.
「Yeah...I think I just used a bit too much mana.」
She was showing clear signs of mana deficiency, losing her balance and with vacant eyes.
(Oh, I think I heard something like that before. That happens when someone runs out of mana.)
In the game when someone's HP went down, their vital signs would become weaker, and a lack of MP would impede one's senses. That effect seemed to have gotten stronger now that this world was reality.
Given Mira's enormous mana pool she had never really burned through all of it. She had used a considerable amount when fighting Machina Guardian, but it had not been so much as to have a negative effect on her senses. HP had a limit of 30% before the negative effects became critical, but it seemed to be far more lenient with MP.
Seeing Leyla stumble about made Mira want to test her own limits eventually. But those thoughts were soon interrupted by Sara.
「Thank you for everything you've done for my sister, but I don't think she can handle more for now so we'll have to leave. I promise we'll repay this favor one day.」
Sara thanked Mira for her lengthy lesson, then carried Leyla together with the rest of their group and they went into the city.
「Mhm, it feels nice to do good deeds early in the morning.」
Mira watched the group walk away, patting her own shoulder for helping out a fellow summoner, and then sent away all the Dark Knights she had summoned as demonstration. With that done, she could finally head into the city herself.
「Well, I guess that's a rank A adventurer alright. And she's quite knowledgeable, this might work out.」
A certain voice rang behind her.
Most of the adventurers who had gathered that morning had left after hearing that Mira was unrelated to Fuzzy Dice and her water spirit propaganda. But when she turned around she saw there were still various soldiers left there.
「Oh, wait, you were still there?」
Mira had gotten so entranced in talking about summoning that she had completely stopped paying attention to her surroundings, so she was genuinely surprised to see there were still people left.
「Yeah, we're still here. There's someone here who would like to talk to you about Fuzzy Dice for a bit.」
The soldier leader grimaced a little, realizing Mira had completely forgotten about him for a while, but he moved along and introduced a man wearing a black trenchcoat. Apparently that man was quite knowledgeable when it came to Fuzzy Dice.
Being mentioned like that, the man stepped forward. He has slightly disheveled gray hair, but his face had an intelligent air to it, giving him the appearance of some sort of scholar.
「Nice to meet you, I'm Julius.」
The man bowed politely and introduced himself as Julius, before staring curiously at Mira, carefully examining her features. There was no lust or carnal intentions in his gaze though, but a more inquisitive look.
「By the way, I couldn't help but notice your proficiency as a summoner, it was a sight to behold. Summoners of your caliber were already rare decades ago, not to mention now. Though I seem to recall hearing rumors of a powerful summoner around the Union lately.」
When Julius pointed that out, the soldier leader also recalled something similar, mumbling 「Hm? Silver hair...a summoner...」 while staring at Mira. But Julius paid little attention to that, his eyes still examining Mira.
「Long silver hair, blue eyes, attire of the popular magical girl line, and more importantly, impressive skill as a summoner.」
While the soldiers began to discuss with each other, Julius went through the description of that person, comparing it to Mira, until eventually his eyes gleamed triumphantly and he voiced his conclusion.
「You must be that summoner they mentioned in the far western regions-」
「You're the Spirit Queen!」
Before Julius could finish, the soldier leader's loud shocked voice interrupted him, leaving Julius stunned like his face had frozen in place and unable to finish his sentence.
「Yes, it appears that's what people call me nowadays.」
Mira had gained the nickname of the Spirit Queen after the fight against Chimera Clauzen, and she did not deny it. She felt that using her popularity could benefit her when trying to gather information about Fuzzy Dice, so it was best to embrace that name.
「Ohh! So it is you! I didn't even think about that until Julius mentioned it. The rumors did say you were a bit more...nevermind. It's really reassuring to know we have an adventurer like you on our side though!」
The rumors that had reached these areas also likely portrayed the Spirit Queen as some gorgeous woman, as twisting reality was common for rumors. The soldier leader was about to point out that Mira was far younger than the rumors made her seem, but he bit his tongue, and instead focused on the fact that Mira was likely even more powerful than a regular rank A adventurer.
The other soldiers were also just as excited as their leader, realizing they had met the Spirit Queen they kept hearing so much about.
Some of them had imagined the Spirit Queen as a woman of fascinating proportions, so they seemed slightly disappointed. But most of them recovered quickly though, even if Mira was not the woman they dreamed of, she was still breathtakingly beautiful. Some of the soldiers even commented how she was more their type as well.
「...It's an honor meeting you, Spirit Queen.」
While the soldiers all seemed excited about everything, Julius looked rather downcast. He had successfully analyzed the rumors, determined what could be trusted, and smartly identified Mira, but just as he was about to make the big revelation his thunder was stolen by the soldier leader, making his pride deflate.
「Ah, um...erhm... I mean, it was you who noticed first anyway, right? So it's alright. Also, you said something about Fuzzy Dice I think?」
Mira had never met Julius before, but she could somehow tell why he looked so disappointed, so she tried to change topics to cheer him up a little.
Hearing that, Julius raised his face and said 「Right, let's do that,」 forcing a smile to regain his composure, and after a deep breath he looked straight at Mira.
「Alright, let's do this again. I'm Julius, and I'm actually an assistant for the Wolf Detective Bureau, even if I may not look the part.」