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The stone hammer had quite a lot of mass, so as Gnomid spun it around, it made Mira’s whole body sway from side to side. Gnomid was small enough that one would think she was easy to hold, but her hammer was so heavy that Mira could only carry her thanks to her Armor Spirit Frame.

「Good job.」

With those last words of praise for Gnomid, Mira sent her away. Mira was pleased with both Gnomid’s work, and how well the strength of the Black Knight was being transferred to her.

「They’ve really cleaned out this place.」

The proprietor was not the best person, but the servants were excellent workers. In the time that Mira had been in the pipeways, they had already cleaned all the wine stains and broken glass in the hallway, leaving not a single trace left. Instead, the hallway was lined with exhausted servants who no longer had energy to move.

Their exhausted faces turned into horror when they saw Mira, and once they recovered from the shock, they tried to tell her to stop, but by then she was already gone.

Mira ran through the mansion until she got close to the entrance. Her plan was to get out and summon Pegasus to fly over to the outlet as soon as possible. But she still needed to think of exactly what to do once she was there.

「Yes, they did pass by here, but they already left.」
「You must be joking again. I’ve asked around, and there’s plenty of people who saw them enter, but not a single person saw them leave.」

Before going out, Mira heard two people arguing on the other side of the door.

(That voice…that’s the proprietor I think..? But who’s the other one?)

Mira’s curiosity instantly peaked, so she stopped behind the door and listened carefully. The two men’s argument continued, and Mira slowly grasped the situation. The argument was between the proprietor and Commander Guise, who was Desmond’s superior. They were discussing what had happened not too long ago.

Guise had arrived to lend his support to Desmond’s unit as they searched the mansion. But the proprietor claimed that they had already finished their search without finding anything to note, and had left.

But Guise was not gullible enough, not to mention that there were a multitude of witnesses among Fuzzy Dice’s fans, who all confirmed that Desmond had never left the mansion.

Still, the proprietor would not budge and insisted that they were no longer in the mansion, and he was willing to undergo a Trial by Sword if needed.

(I can’t believe he’s saying that so carelessly.)

Mira was baffled by what she was hearing.

Grimdart was a country that mostly revered the God of Justice out of the Three Gods, and they possessed a divine sword filled by that God’s power, whose light could tear through any falsehood.

A Trial by Sword consisted of using that sword’s power to determine if one’s words were true or not. The results were considered absolute, but that also meant that they needed to be conducted with much care.

That was why Mira felt some disgust for the proprietor’s way of speaking. It was true that Desmond and the rest were no longer in the mansion, as they had all gone down to the pipeways.

「Then how about this? If you still don’t trust me, then I’ll let you search as much as you want. If the people you’re looking for are inside, then I’ll accept whatever punishment you want. But, if you don’t find anything…well, I hope you’re ready then.」

Their argument had been locked to a stalemate for a while, until the proprietor started to act like he was starting to cooperate a bit.

He spoke as if that was the only way to really prove that Desmond’s unit was not there, but the last part seemed almost like a threat, luring Commander Guise into a trap.

In his mind, no matter how much they searched, they would never find anything. But he did not know that Mira had heard everything, and that Mira was right behind the door.

「…I’ll take you up on that offer then.」

After thinking it through, Guise decided to trust his instincts and what the fans had told him. A moment later, the door opened.

「Wha… You? How?!」

The proprietor exclaimed in shock. He had been smirking when he opened the door, but when he saw Mira, his expression changed instantly. That was a natural response, as Mira was the person he least wanted to see after everything he had said.

(I knew it, he was scheming something.)

The room leading to the underground pipeways had been sealed completely, and the proprietor had absolute confidence in the mechanism remaining secret, with no one being able to determine that there was a hidden basement.

But Mira was standing in front of him now, someone who he believed was trapped down there.

Seeing the proprietor’s reaction, Mira began to grin menacingly.

「Everything he said is correct, technically speaking. But he didn’t tell you everything.」 After Mira glared at the proprietor, empowered by a feeling of superiority over him, she turned to look at the commander.

「Is that so? But who exactly are you?」 Guise was a man slightly past his middle years, some signs of aging showing on his face.

When he turned to look at Mira, she briefly introduced herself as the summoner Mira, putting special emphasis on the summoner part.

「I see, you must be the Spirit Queen they told me about earlier.」
「Some have taken to calling me that as of late, yes.」

Fuzzy Dice’s fans had also told Guise that the Spirit Queen had been there, accompanying Desmond’s unit into the mansion.

That knowledge made it easier for Mira to explain everything that happened, including how the servants had been trying to clean the trail Fuzzy Dice had left behind, the hidden passage at the end of the trail, and the change she found when she came back.

「I see… So that’s why he spoke like that.」

When Guise heard everything, he figured out what the proprietor had been planning too. By now, the proprietor was trembling and could not think of anything more to say, and could only stare at his butler hoping for a helping hand, but the butler could only shake his head and raise his hands in defeat.

「Let’s hurry to those pipeways you mentioned to help Desmond then.」 Saying that, Guise and his men rushed inside, while Mira went outside.

「The trail inside should be easy to follow. You’ll know it when you see it.」 Mira said that when they passed by, which prompted Guise to turn around puzzled.

「You didn’t come to guide us in?」 Guise was under the impression that Desmond had sent Mira to bring in reinforcements.

「No, I’m leaving so I can set up an ambush. I wasn’t told anything about bringing in reinforcements.」

That response left Guise baffled for a moment, before he muttered, 「He never changes, does he?」 Apparently Desmond had a known tendency of not relying on other units and simply charging blindly ahead. But his instincts were usually spot on.

「Anyway, thank you for everything.」 After complaining about Desmond’s habits, Guise thanked Mira again, grabbed a random servant to guide him inside, and continued running into the mansion.

「And you, don’t go trying anything funny again, got it?」 Mira summoned a Dark Knight to intimidate the proprietor as she said that. There was a silent and quick nod from him and the butler in return, not wanting to tempt fate.

「I have to hurry now.」

Fuzzy Dice was still moving through the pipeways as all of that was happening. According to Anlutine’s estimation, he was going to be outside in seven minutes. So Mira quickly summoned Pegasus and took to the skies, flying away from the mansion.