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Mira took out the letter again and read its content. It only mentioned the abandoned garden, there was no word as to where in it to wait. The garden was large enough that walking from one side to the other could take around twenty minutes.

She tried to take another look around, but the weeds under her and the trees interrupted her view. However, through the gaps in the trees she still caught sight of a small hill built of stone that could be used as a vantage point. Even from this distance it had made its presence be clearly felt.

「Alright Pegasus. Let’s head to that little mount.」

Mira climbed back on Pegasus saying that. Pegasus neighed happily as its body elevated over the treetops.

That place was built differently than the other paved places, given that it was not overrun by greenery yet, though there were stone bricks scattered around it. Once upon a time, it would have been the perfect place to spend a good time looking at all the beauty around it, but now it gave off the impression of being stranded alone in the corner of an unknown world.

(Well, if I stand here they should be able to see me. I was invited here so that’s the least they should do for me.)

As far as she could see, there was no one else there. After sending Pegasus off, Mira sat down at a fallen down stone pillar lying close there. It was not pleasant to sit on, but it was the best substitute she had for a chair. Other than that, there was only the mount of rubble scattered about.

With sweet berry ale on her hand, she thought how long it had been since the last time she spent leisurely like that, watching the blue sky, listening to a random bird chirp or just the greenery that seemed to be wafting around.

When the calmness began making her feel sleepy, her surroundings suddenly got bathed in an ephemeral rainbow like an aurora.

「What… a barrier?」

Given how suddenly it happened, Mira jumped on her feet and looked around. After a better look at it, there was something like a bubble around the entire mount.

Mira’s eyes stared doubtfully at it as a metallic clatter rang moving closer to her.

The noise came from behind her, so she turned around to see what it was. There she saw a full set of armor with a sword and a shield. Using Life Sensing she was able to ascertain there was a living being inside it, as to who it was, she only knew it was not an armed spirit.

The sections of the armor had a silvery glint, accentuating its presence even more, though there was not even a hint of the wearer’s gaze behind the face plate. Its appearance, polished and ready for battle, looked eerily out of place in the garden covered in nature, like an apparition that crawled out of the depths.

Facing the armor, Mira took out the letter and showed it to it.

「Am I right to assume it was you who sent me this?」

After she asked, the armor stopped walking in reply.

「That is correct.」

A heavy male voice replied from the depths of the helmet. There was no tonality in that uninterested reply, completely opposite to the impression given off by the letter. His attitude was enough to convince Mira of a hunch she had.

「You mentioned you were a wiseman’s pupil, but your getup doesn’t suggest you’re a spell caster at all.」

Saying that, Mira glared at the armor covering his body. Even if the excuse that he did not want to show his appearance remained true, there were way more comfortable options available. But the armor made it clear he had the intention to fight her at least. By then it was dubious whether he was a spellcaster at all.

「Yeah, that was just an excuse to lure you here.」

He pointed his sword filled with enmity at her, his attitude showing he had no intention to hide things anymore. Even though his face was covered, his voice made it clear he had a twisted smirk of satisfaction at that moment.

「You’re quite the schemer, I see.」
「I’ll do anything to return the shame you inflicted on me!」

Mira looked around bored, a languid sigh mixed into her words.

When the man saw how Mira showed no unrest at having a sword pointed at her, then even reprimanding him as if he was a mischievous child, the man raised his voice in anger.

(Hmm, shame? Something must have happened to him…)

Mira had been in that world for only a few days, so she had no recollection of being tricked into going somewhere like that out of a personal grudge. Still completely clueless about the situation, Mira investigated the armored man a bit more…but all she found out was that the man’s stats were closer to that of a spellcaster, though there were no leads as to his name.

「Who are you? What did I do to you? There must be a reason why you targeted me like this, yes?」

There was a chance he had the wrong person, or that his resentment was unjustified. Thinking that, Mira asked him with a dark tone, glaring at the sword before shifting her gaze to the helmet.

「Ahh, that’s true. You can’t really see my face like this. I’ll show you then! And you better remember what you did to me! And curse the day you did it!」

His voice trembled in anger as he screamed, he clearly loathed Mira to an extreme extent. Then, with the hand holding his shield he opened his face guard.

Inside the helmet, his sunken blue eyes were filled with hatred, oblivious to his surroundings and only focused on Mira. His lips were crooked into a sharp intoxicated smile.

Mira stared at his face contorted in madness as she scoured through her memories.

「Are you sure you haven’t mistaken me for someone else? I don’t remember seeing you before.」

Mira scratched her chin while furrowing her brow, she really had no recollection at all of seeing him before, so she figured he was mistaken. But when the armored man heard that, his entire body jolted and he slammed his sword into the ground, screaming in indignation.

「Don’t screw with me! You can’t pretend you just forgot about how you humiliated me during the academy’s examination event!」
「Hm? The academy… you said?」

When the armored man mentioned that, Mira tried to recall her memories of the time.

The examination event, that was an event where the students of the Arkite Academy put their skills on display. When Mira remembered that much, the rest of her memories of that event flowed into her mind.

「Ohh, I remember now, I know. So you are that spell caster kid from that time.」

The man was the representative of the spell caster faculty, Kairos. They had met in the past, but she could not remember his face at all. But that was to be expected from Mira given that she never committed the faces of worthless opponents into her memory. And Kairos had been as worthless as could get, so she had forgotten his face as well as his name. All she really remembered was that there was an idiot from the nobility who rushed everything.

That was something that happened more than two weeks earlier. Kairos had always gotten first place in the examination, but Mira, the representative of the summoner faculty that usually ended dead last, had smashed through his achievements and pride in an instant.

Now he was back, his devious plan in effect.