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「Ah… I see… I’ll keep that in mind.」

Like before, Mira felt nothing in particular for having her underwear seen. In the first place, there was nothing femenine about her behavior at all, so that only made her indifference increase all the more. So even though Heinrich was so serious about it, Mira did not think it was such an important thing.

「I’m sorry, Miss Mira. Henry can sometimes be really stubborn.」

Gilbert walked closer to them together with those words. His complexion looked clearly refreshed, apparently enjoying Heinrich’s awkward behaviour around women.

「How do I say it better then… If there’s someone as beautiful as you, then there will be just as many people with lowly desires. And if that causes a problem, it’ll already be too late to take action.」
「But I’m sure you saw it as well, how Miss Mira’s strength is top notch. And she’s an adventurer on top of that, she should be entirely capable of protecting herself.」
「Hnng… You have a point.」

Starting from the first floor on, Mira had demonstrated she was strong enough as a summoner. Just the Dark Knight alone had enough of a presence to shock Heinrich, so it was hard to imagine someone would be able to escape unscathed if they tried to cause Mira some sort of trouble.

「In either case, it’s dinner time. The meat should be nicely roasted by now.」

Saying that, Gilbert pointed to the obelisk and the small makeshift kitchen he had set up, with a stove made of a pipe with fire in the center and lumps of meat with metal skewers through them grilling on it, drops of fat falling to the fire below and rising as flickering specks of crimson light.

Just seeing that made it obvious they were ready to be eaten.

「Hoh, this looks actually good to eat.」

Under the orange light, the pieces of meat took a clearly grilled color. Mira could almost smell that color and she quickly stood up with a grin on her face.

Since the hem of her skirt was getting closer to his view, Heinrich also hurried to stand up and sighed as his already strict face turned more stiff.

The meat of that large monster was different than its origin would suggest, and while it was somewhat tough, it had a pretty striking flavor and went well together with the vegetable soup Gilbert made.

They ate while chatting merrily, and once they were done eating Gilbert’s cooking, they had some of Mira’s Apple au Lait for dessert. Most of their conversation was about Gilbert and Heinrich’s past adventures, but at some point they also began talking about Mira’s summoning skills.

「But still, it’s somewhat weird. The way our society works, I would’ve heard at least something about a summoner with skills like yours, Mira. But I don’t remember hearing anything apart from that story about Danbulf having a pupil.」

As Gilbert said that, his eyes turned to Mira as if prying for an answer. Most of it was out of curiosity though, but the remaining reason was to test if his deduction as a scholar had been right.

「Wasn’t Danbulf one of the Nine Wisemen though? I’m sure whoever was claiming that was just another impostor.」
「That’s the thing, there are rumors about that rumor, saying that this one is real. And they also say that his pupil is a really cute young girl.」

There had been countless mages in the past who claimed to be pupils of one of the Nine Wisemen. But none of them had the skills to back their claims, and all of them disappeared as if they were a bubble that was popped. Heinrich also knew of that, so he had dismissed those latest rumors as just another fake, but Gilbert had gone a bit deeper and heard sides who claimed it was actually true.

The rumors also stated that many well known personages supported the story, including people from the well known guild Écarlate Carillon, king Solomon of Arkite, and the attendants of the wisemen Creos and Amarette.

「So it was true huh… But still, what does that have…」

Before he could finish his sentence, Heinrich also realized what Gilbert was thinking and trained his eyes on Mira.

「Stories like that truly spread too fast. But indeed, that is me.」

Mira puffed her chest slightly as she replied with a hint of pride. Heinrich opened his eyes wide in surprise, instinctively examining her body from top to bottom, but as soon as his eyes reached her thigh peeking from under her skirt he deviated his gaze.

On the other hand, Gilbert did not show much of a reaction knowing that his deduction had been correct, though a smile did sprout on his lips seeing Heinrich’s flustered actions.

「Now I’m just curious what the person everyone has been talking about is doing here, but I don’t want to pry too much so I’ll leave it at that. In either case, you being here made our path much easier, so I should try to be careful to not bother you.」

Saying that, Gilbert began cleaning the wooden utensils they had used to eat.

「I don’t know about being a pupil or not, but at least that Knight you summoned was much stronger than any of the fakes that showed up before.」

With his eyes glued to Mira’s upper body, Heinrich spoke while recalling the Dark Knight she sent to fight earlier. Apparently all the people who had claimed to be pupils before had only average skills as far as being a mage went.

But after fighting together with her, Heinrich felt like there was a whole new world to summoners he had never heard about. That had probably been the reason why Gilbert had also guessed she might be the pupil everyone was talking about.

While he was still talking, Mira felt an uncontainable urge filling her lower body as she twisted her legs.

「I suppose it was expected, but there really is no restroom around here. There is no choice but a corner around here after all…」

She turned her head looking around for a good place. And while Heinrich obviously remained completely silent, Gilbert pointed to a certain corner of the floor.

「There’s a stream of water running around there, so that place should be good.」

After saying that, he turned around and looked away from the direction he had pointed towards.

「I see. I’ll be on my way then… Do not dare to peek though.」
「Th-there’s no way I’d do that!」

Heinrich immediately replied while raising his voice a tad bit too much, before he strained his face, covered his eyes and turned to face the same direction as Gilbert.

(He’s really easy to tease, huh.)

His overly innocent reaction was comical for others, as Mira and Gilbert laughed softly.

After Mira finished her business in the river, the two males went for similar reasons, after which Gilbert went to a place upstream to wash the cooking utensils.

Heinrich returned to Mira’s place first, and after glancing at her lying with her legs sprawled out, he began preparing his own bed. Though that only meant pushing away some of the small rocks on a patch of the ground.

When Gilbert returned from washing dishes, the two began discussing something.

「I took the first turn last night. Is it okay to just skip over hers though?」
「Yes, we’ll handle things like we planned at first, so we’ll take turns just the two of us. After all, you’d be unable to sleep if she was awake, right?」

Gilbert replied as he took out a can with grounded coffee beans and a cup, while waiting for water to boil.

「That’s true. In that case, we’ll do like you said.」
「Hmm? What are you blabbering about there?」

As Heinrich nodded violently, Mira asked what was going on after she heard her name mentioned in their conversation.

「We’re talking about our turns taking the night watch. It’s nothing you should be concerned about.」
「Exactly, we’ll be the ones keeping watch.」

Night watch basically meant one person staying awake keeping watch for any dangers while the others slept.

(I see, I guess something like that does appear necessary.)

Mira decided to keep that one more piece of advice about her current reality in mind, considering she expected to camp out at night many more times in the future. Though she did not know who would be keeping watch if she was alone.

As that newfound problem rose in her mind, Mira arrived at one conclusion.

「Shall we let see if he can take up a turn as well then?」

As she spoke that, a magic circle began floating besides her, an armor reflecting the orange lighting materializing from it. It was a Holy Knight. Standing besides her, the Holy Knight without a will of its own raised its huge shield that stood like a tower in front of it, as if that was all it existed for.

Contrary to summoned creatures like a pegasus, a trait of summoned armed spirits like the Holy Knight was that there was a time limit for how long they could remain active. The mana used to summon one, was then transferred as the mana pool the armed spirit could use, which also decreased every time it was harmed or resurrected, and when it eventually reached zero, the spirit would vanish. There were other reasons why a spirit could vanish, namely the summoner sending it back, or it running out of its staying time.

Its staying time was something that could be regulated at will though,

「I extended his staying time, so he should remain with us until tomorrow morning.」
「Hmm, I see. He gives off a pretty different aura than the black one from before, but I’m assuming this knight is fairly strong as well?」

Since the Holy Knight’s main purpose was to defend, the way Heinrich saw it, it looked somewhat lacking in strength. As far as Gilbert went, his gaze was focused on its shield, a while after which he nodded satisfied. He had heard about them before, and that the large shield a summoned Holy Knight wielded concealed its true strength.

「Well, wanna try squaring off with it then?」
「Hmm, go ahead. That sounds entertaining.」

Hearing Gilbert’s suggestions, Heinrich’s face lit up with fighting spirit as he walked to a place separated from the center of the floor in a good mood, unsheathing his sword there.

「Well, I can’t turn down a match! This is a duel now!」

The two parties got ready to face each other and waited for Gilbert to give the signal to start.