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The waiting room of the Fifty Bells’ branch in Ratnatraya was quite simple, only having a table and chairs.

“First of all, welcome to the Fifty Bells’ branch in Ratnatraya, I’m Claus, the branch director.”

The director sat in front of Mira, and his voice seemed somewhat excited as he introduced himself.

“I’m Mira, just another adventurer.”

She was rapidly growing in popularity as the Spirit Queen, but decided to act humble instead, believing it was best to keep that information in her backpocket.

“Nice to meet you… Well then, let’s get straight into it. What is this secret matter you wanted to discuss with me?”

Claus’ attitude changed slightly after they introduced each other, but it was hard to tell whether that was because he realized who Mira was or not. His voice just seemed to be filled with a certain expectation.

But his eyes remained sharp, making it hard to read his thoughts.

“Right so…woods in…spirits…hnghh? So in the woods…”

That did not change what she was there to do, and to get straight to the point, she tried to repeat the password. But she quickly realized she had forgotten how the password went, so she said “Wait a moment,” and opened her notebook.

“Did something happen to the spirits in the woods?”

Claus had heard Mira’s attempts and replied with excitement, which went unnoticed to Mira who continued to leaf through her notebook, saying, “Just a minute more…”

“The woods and spirits… Was there some incident there? Or could it be that…”

He just kept thinking of various other possibilities, which only raised his expectations.
It had been a long time since he last did any work for the Fifty Bells, and he had been itching to get something to do.

It had been around fifteen years since the Fifty Bells established a branch in Ratnatraya, and nine years since they opened shop as Everforest Garden, as a way to raise goodwill with the people, gather information, and overall improve the image of the Fifty Bells.

The shop soon began to flourish, thanks to their wealth of knowledge about the plants and the forest, and the help of spirits. By now everyone in Ratnatraya’s eastern district knew about them.

On the other hand, the more the shop prospered, the more managerial tasks increased, so in the end, Claus became busier as the shop’s manager.

All of the work related to the Fifty Bells was now quickly taken care of by the vice-director, who initially came as his assistant.

That led to Claus becoming somewhat dissatisfied. He had risen to the position of branch director, only to be relegated to a mere shop manager, distancing him from directly helping spirits, which was the main reason why he joined the Fifty Bells in the first place.

Then came Mira, seeking him not as the manager of Everforest Garden, but as the branch director of the Fifty Bells. While she only said she wanted to discuss something in secret, it was enough for Claus to rekindle his initial passion, reminding him of the reason why he was there.

“Maybe you found a young spirit that needs protection…or a sanctuary that has been sullied…”

Claus kept thinking of the possibilities, almost like he wanted to manifest them into reality, wanting to be of use again, but Mira just waved it off with little thought saying, “No no, it’s not that…”

Still, that did not put an end to his thoughts.

“Ah, here it is, I found it!”

Mira had finally found the page in her notebook where she had written down the password in the past, so she looked up defiantly and proudly raised her voice.

“It’s light in the woods, peace to spirits!”

That was the password Sasori of the Hidden had taught her before, which was code for requesting access to the communications device tied to the headquarters. It had already served her in the past, so she looked at Claus fully expecting him to lead the way right away.

But his reaction was completely different.

He had already been wishing for something important he could do as the Fifty Bells’ branch director, and when he heard those words, he quickly fell silent.

“…Umm, what does that mean? Is that some sort of coded message?”

After a moment of silence, he finally replied. He did not even know that ‘Light in the woods, peace to spirits’ was a password.

“Hm? No, like I said…Light in the woods, peace to spirits…”

Thinking she had misread something, she looked at her notebook again and read it aloud. Claus’ reaction remained the same, having no idea what Mira was trying to say.

In the end, the two just stared at each other in confusion. One growing impatient because the password was not working, and the other having no idea what was happening.

“Really? You don’t get it?! It’s a password, a password! And I know it works because it went so smoothly in Sentopolly!”

In the end, Mira ran out of patience and shouted loudly. Mattie, the branch director in Sentopolly had helped her right away when she uttered the password, but Claus was just standing there.

And then…

“Ah, ahh! Now I see what’s happening!”

Claus’ confusion instantly cleared up as everything clicked into place in his mind.

“Ohh, you finally got it!”

Mira assumed that meant that he finally would answer her request, only to be mercilessly shot down by Claus’ next words.

“So… The passwords we use differ by region. Sentopolly is really far away from here, so I’m sorry, but I haven’t heard that password before…”
“What…what did you say…”

The revelation that passwords changed in different places left Mira stunned, as she had not even considered that could be a possibility.

(Then…what am I supposed to do now?!)

She had gone to the branch all proud of knowing the password to contact the headquarters, only to hit a wall almost instantly.

Maybe it was time to request the empress’ authority to break through after all, despite how staunchly she reprimanded Alma about it before. Just thinking of that made Mira discard the idea, and instead think of another way to solve the issue herself.

She had been present in the largely publicized last fight against Chimera Clauzen, which was where she gained her nickname as the Spirit Queen, so she figured that Claus would also be a bit more lenient with her.

“Let me get this straight. You don’t appear to be one of our members, so where did you hear that password?”

While Mira was deep in thought, Claus continued staring straight at her, voicing her doubts.

That put Mira in an even more difficult position. A proper member of the Fifty Bells would know that the passwords were different, which opened the question as to how she had come to know of one. While that cast suspicion on her, she soon realized that it also gave the perfect opening.