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While Mira suffered, 『There’s a lot of people who change entirely when talking to their pets,』 『Yes, Forsythia was the same,』 rang in her mind. It was the Spirit King and Martel talking. That was when Mira realized that those two had also been able to listen to everything, doubling her agony. Worthramble watched her from a distance, looking at her with pity and relating to her pain.

「Anyway, that’s that, I already finished with the Ancient Underground City, and I safely got to reunite with Soul Howl!」

Fighting to tear through her humiliation, Mira raised her voice and announced her biggest achievement. 『Ohh, you already found Soul Howl!』 came Creos’ enthusiastic response.

『That’s very impressive, but I never doubted you, Lady Mira.』

Mariana also sounded happy to hear that. Luna’s happy squeaks could also be heard through the device.

Mira also grinned smugly, happy that she had successfully diverted the conversation in her favor. Keeping her momentum, she continued talking about her encounter with Soul Howl.

Soul Howl was still busy with his quest after the Brilliant Chalice, so he would not return until he was done. That would take a few months, and after that he would come back.

「So in that regard, I completed that mission. But…」

Mira stopped for a moment there, struggling to get the next words out. Mariana had already been worried with Mira’s long absence, and now Mira was going to be away for a while again. Having to mention that was not easy.

And likely in an attempt to cover for that, Mira tried to go into as much detail as she could.

So she mentioned the orphanage that had been founded by someone oddly similar to Artesia, and was located not too far from Mira’s current location in northeastern Grimdart.

But since the precise location was not unknown, Mira would try to go after the Phantom Thief Fuzzy Dice, who had ties to multiple orphanages.

Fuzzy Dice would appear in Haxthausen in four days, or at least that was what his signature warning letter said.

If Mira wanted to catch him there, she needed to depart immediately, and could not afford to stop by the tower.

And that was the gist of Mira’s explanation.

「I’ll have to head for Haxthausen soon so umm…is that alright?」

Mira said that, almost like she was asking for permission, sounding just like a husband trying to apologize for not being able to come back home early. Mariana listened to everything silently.

Then there was silence for a bit, before she slowly replied 『Yes, of course,』 and then continued: 『I’d be lying if I said I won’t miss you. But I also…love how you’re always working so hard for this country, and everyone in it. So please focus on what you believe is more important. That’s all I ask for.』

Mariana’s voice was slow but heartfelt, filled with kindness and strength. It was true that she missed being with Mira, but she also believed Mira’s work and the adventures she lived for were more important.

『Just… You don’t have to do it all the time, only whenever you’re free, but I’d be glad if you could call again so I can at least hear your voice.』

She added that in the end, her voice lowering almost to a whisper. But she likely meant that from the bottom of her heart as well, getting slightly embarrassed.

There was no person alive who would not feel happy being told something like that. And that obviously included Mira, who firmly clasped the receiver while trying to keep her emotions in check.

「Okay! I vow to call you more often from now on! I promise!」

Mira answered almost by impulse, but her face was of pure bliss. Mariana’s voice also rang happier, as if the very short time they had been talking had been enough to completely dispel her longing for Mira’s presence.

The two continued chatting for a while after that, though Mira was doing most of the talking, detailing her adventures within the Ancient Underground City.

Mira’s tale started with her arrival at Gran Rings, which was overflowing with adventurers. She detailed every event since then, continuing all the way until she parted ways with Soul Howl.

「And it was unbelievably sweet and sour at the same time, it was insane!」
『Was it? I can hardly imagine that when I think of the Queen of Hearts.』

Mira also mentioned her attempt at eating the nameless fruit, which shocked Mariana, but also made her laugh giddily.

They continued that way, Mira telling the story, and Mariana commenting every once in a while. Eventually Mira arrived at her encounter with Martel, who gave permission to talk about her, letting Mira talk about Originator Spirits. She only mentioned that Martel was watching over many treasures though, keeping her true duty secret. After that Mira also proudly announced how she had formed a contract with Martel.

That was the one time that Creos showed a stronger reaction than Mariana.

Creos had left the room when the two started talking, but since calls were transmitted to the entire top floor of the tower, he could still hear them. So when Mira mentioned she had formed a contract with a mansion’s spirit, he rushed to the room to ask for more details. Mira then explained that similar to Armor Spirits, it was possible to form contracts with spirits that inhabited buildings, and when summoned would appear as a house, which grew in size as the bond with the spirit deepened. Hearing that satisfied Creos’ curiosity, though just the fact that such contracts could be made was already a big discovery.

He still raised the question as to why such contracts had never been formed in the past. The Spirit King decided to interject then and explain that.

Man-Made Spirits needed to recognize someone as their master to obey their orders. Accomplishing that was rather easy in the case of Armor Spirits, as one simply had to defeat them in battle.

Then what about spirits inhabiting buildings or tools then? That was actually still ambiguous, as so far no summoner had attempted that before.

The reason why Mira accomplished it so easily was extremely simple though. She had the Spirit King’s Divine Protection, which came from the entity all spirits followed and revered, so that was enough for any Man-Made Spirit to follow Mira.

That fully satiated all of Creos’ curiosity, and he left the room again.

Shortly after that Originator Spirits were mentioned, and he made a mad dash back to the room, unable to control his impulses anymore.

『What, did you just bring up Originator Spirits?! And you formed a contract with one! That’s so incredible! If anyone was going to do it I knew it was going to be you! So tell me, what kind of spell is necessary to summon an Originator Spirit?』

Talking to Mariana while imagining being her husband made Mira feel delighted, she was still one of the Nine Wisemen, making her obsessed with summoning. Creos’ interest in Mira’s discoveries also tickled that side of her, so the two quickly went into an ardent discussion about it.

They talked about the extreme Mana requirement needed to summon Martel, and the best way for spellcasters without Mira’s special combination of classes to accomplish it.

Then they speculated about other possible summons of such a high level, and if maybe forming pacts with other Originator Spirits could also be done.

And more importantly, the new Astra’s Ten Spiritual Realms Circle spell required to actually summon Martel, and how to attempt learning it.

Mira and Creos kept bouncing ideas between each other, combining their knowledge and trying to find a solution.

That was a topic above the knowledge of even the best summoner. Such a topic would intrigue not only Creos and Mira, but any summoner in the tower, who could easily spend three days and three nights with no sleep just pondering about it.

Considering all the events that led Mira to discovering the existence of that spell, there was little practical use discussing it, as almost no one would ever be able to put it into practice. But their passion for the topic lay elsewhere, they were spellcasters, obsessed with any and all spells.

That was also the biggest point Mira and Creos had in common, and tied them more tightly than anyone else in the tower. And so their discussion just kept branching out and there was no end in sight for it.