She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man Vol. 1 Page 3

  What if this is real? The thought was ludicrous, but another thought struck her immediately. Oh, hell! I should have tried that first.

  There was one absolutely certain way to prove this was just a game. She could log out and just quit the game.

  She tried to flip to the system tab but…she couldn’t do it. The entire system menu had disappeared. Even giving the force-quit command to force the VR set to reboot wasn’t working.

  Evidence was growing that she was inside some sort of alternate reality. That just led her to question if this was the same AEO world that she knew and loved.

  “Sir, have you heard of a man by the name Danblf?” she asked with trepidation.

  “Well, of course! I reckon everyone in the kingdom knows about Master Danblf,” Graia answered with a note of pride. He looked around to his men, seeking agreement, and they all nodded as if it was the easiest question they’d ever answered.

  “I see. So he is known to you. Good.” But had this Danblf been Kagami’s character, or just some historical figure with the same name? “And what sort of person was Danblf?”

  “What sort of person?” Graia cocked his head to the side. “Well, obviously, he was known to all throughout the kingdom. Master Danblf was associated with the Age of Strife almost thirty years ago—a true hero of the nation. Known as Danblf the One-Man Army, other countries trembled before his summoning powers. He was also one of the Elders of the Linked Silver Towers.”

  He said it so matter-of-factly, and it fell perfectly in line with her memories, even down to the hokey nickname.

  “Hmm… A hero, you say.”

  “Indeed! In the war that followed our nation’s founding, he held off an entire enemy army, it’s said! The Elders formed their own unit and led a daring assault that plunged the enemy camp into confusion and chaos. I’ve also heard that he created refining techniques that few users can master even today. And he wielded the strongest of the immortal Sage arts! The tales of the Wise Men are legendary.”

  All this fit perfectly with her own history—the tales of war, her Dual Class of Sage, even the refining techniques. Folk tales of herself, or of Danblf, were clearly being passed down.

  “Hrmmm, I see. And what of Danblf’s final moments?” Her decisions from this point forward hinged on the answer to a single question.

  “Final moments? Huh. I don’t think I ever heard about him dying, actually… If I recall correctly, he ventured out to the border to take care of a monster incursion about thirty years ago and was never seen again. There was no way Master Danblf would have fallen to a rabble like that, so a manhunt was held throughout the kingdom. He was never found.”

  “I see. As I thought.”

  The missing link had been found. She was now convinced that this was somehow the same world, just thirty years in the future. She wasn’t sure how the game had become reality, but she forced herself to calm down and stop worrying.

  The pressing matter of the moment was whether or not to claim that she was Danblf. The name was famous across the land. He was known for his elegant, dignified appearance; for his battle prowess and summoning powers; and for being an Elder of the Linked Silver Towers.

  And that legendary hero was now…an adorable young lady.

  If a woman suddenly appeared claiming to be a male hero who disappeared thirty years ago, no one would take her seriously without a lengthy explanation. Even if she tried to convince people she was telling the truth they’d just ask for an explanation. And there was no way she could just admit she was fooling around with a Vanity Case to create the ideal female form. It would be certain career suicide for Danblf’s public persona to admit to something like that.

  Just imagining the looks she’d get when she regained her former form made her break into a cold sweat. This was a scandal of immeasurable proportion.

  Her only option was deception. If Graia and his fellow knights couldn’t use the Inspect function, then she had a leg up already. Decision made, and with no one else the wiser, she grinned to herself.

  “Well, then, as to the question of my name. I am…Mira.” That alias seemed as good as any—a little white lie for the sake of protecting her honor. “Naturally, you wouldn’t have heard of me yet, as I’m new around here.”

  As she spoke, her hand went to her chin to stroke Danblf’s beard, but all she felt was the uncanny smoothness of her porcelain skin.

  Chapter 3

  A GREAT PYRE was soon lit on the field beside Mierte Forest, and the knights fed the goblin corpses into the flames. The smoke belching forth was black as pitch, a hellish miasma crawling its way skyward. Graia and Mira conversed as they watched the men work. Without complaint, the knights cleaned up the mess she had created.

  “Lady Mira, eh? I’ll make sure to remember that. I never expected a summoner to be so powerful.”

  “Surely this isn’t anything out of the ordinary.”

  “Sure, they were just goblins.” Graia shook his head, gazing at the Dark Knight standing by Mira’s side. “But to have slain them so quickly…and at such a young age! You must have had an amazing teacher.”

  “Hrmmm, well, I suppose I did.” Another white lie. She hadn’t had a teacher, but it was certainly easier than coming up with a complete cover story on the spot.

  “News, sir!” said a knight rushing up to Graia. “The escaped monster has yet to be found. One of the pursuit groups has returned, but we’ll continue our search.”

  “I see. I’ve never seen such a creature before. Shame that it got away. Continue the search while the rest of us finish cleaning up.” Report received, Graia summoned another knight to deliver a message to their garrison. The runner eyed the Dark Knight with trepidation, and the captain noticed. “What do you think? This here’s a Dark Knight, a summoned armor spirit.”

  Graia beamed at the spirit almost as if he had summoned it himself.

  “A summon, sir? Those are quite rare. I’ve heard of armor spirits, but I never imagined them to be so…intimidating.”

  “Indeed! It surprised me as well.”

  Mira eavesdropped on their conversation, certain parts piquing her interest. Had summoners really become so rare? To be sure, the class was less popular than others—especially when compared to Priests, who specialized in recovery and support techniques. Those guys were indispensable when forming a party. But still, summoning hadn’t been uncommon.

  Maybe the steep learning curve had dissuaded others from pursuing summoning during the intervening years. Back then, mage classes started with minimal skills, and summoners got Contract Forging. It had no inherent offensive or defensive power and could only be used on defeated spirits, allowing a young mage to use them as summoned pets.

  Summoners were incredibly powerful in the end game, but the early days were brutal. The catch was that if a summoner wanted to bind a spirit, they had to do all the damage themselves. No asking a friend or hiring a mercenary to whittle it down first—the summoner had to deal every point of damage. Many people avoided the class entirely after reading about the difficulties on the message boards.

  But Danblf had stuck it out. After stocking up on large amounts of recovery items and explosives, Danblf spent two hours at the Ancient Yubeladius Battleground pummeling armor spirits until he finally bound a spirit in a contract. That was the Dark Knight, and since then, they’d forged a deep and lasting relationship as master and minion.

  In many ways, his success served as an advertisement for the class. Others flocked to become summoners because they admired Danblf and read about his exploits on the forums. Mira worried that without her presence over the past thirty years, the class might have taken a nosedive. It had been a long time; a lot could have happened.

  “Pardon, I was hoping you might be able to answer a few questions.” Mira took the opportunity to pump Graia for as much information as she could while the knights continued to clear the battlefield.

  ***

  “Well, thanks for the chat, and take care on your way back
.”

  “That’s normally my line. But after seeing you in battle, Lady Mira, I’m not sure it’s necessary!” Graia gave a hearty laugh and offered his right hand. “This has certainly been entertaining. I hope next time we meet, you’ll put those skills to use and give my men even more cleanup work to do!”

  “Hrmmm. I’ll see what I can do.” Mira smiled at Graia’s half-joking tone, taking the proffered hand.

  “Heh, we’ll be waiting.” And with that, Graia and his men set off toward home, the marching cadence of the knights echoing in their wake.

  ***

  Mira stood in the scorched field and tried to process the information she’d learned. Graia had been an open book, taking the time to answer each and every question she threw at him. Most had been about the current state of affairs in the Kingdom of Alcait.

  It seemed that Danblf wasn’t the only Elder who vanished thirty years prior. Eight of the Nine Wise Men were missing. One by one, they disappeared within a year of Danblf. While their deputies and scholars tried their best, they lacked the raw magic power of the tower Elders and were stretched to their limits trying to carry out their responsibilities. The kingdom was largely defenseless.

  Fortunately, at least one of their number—Master Wizard Luminaria, the Natural Disaster—reappeared inexplicably ten years after her disappearance. Before that return, the loss of the Elders had remained a secret known only to the upper echelons of the government. It was at Luminaria’s urging that a formal public announcement was made.

  Elder Luminaria. There was a name that Mira knew well. They were both mages and had maintained a friendly rivalry since the game launched.

  Luminaria’s avatar featured long, strikingly crimson hair. She was tall and busty, with stunning looks to put any model to shame—the very object of men’s desire. And since she was played by a man, their conversations were frank, dirty, and full of unfiltered guy talk.

  Honestly, remembering those talks while looking like she did now made Mira feel a little uncomfortable. But it sounded like Luminaria had disappeared thirty years previous, just like Danblf—or rather, her character did. And then she mysteriously reappeared a long time later, just like Danblf did, despite the hiccup with his appearance. But the similarities were uncanny.

  Luminaria was a friend, and as a player, she might have gone through the same thing. Perhaps she’d be able to clue Mira in on what was going on.

  Her next stop: the Sacred City of Silverhorn, home of the Nine Linked Silver Towers, where magical knowledge from across the continent was gathered.

  ***

  As Mira left the field and headed down the forest road toward Silverhorn, the sky peeking through the treetops began to darken, vermillion mixing with the blue. Checking the time in the status menu, she saw it was just past five in the evening.

  If she recalled correctly, Silverhorn was nearly an hour’s journey on foot from the field, and she hadn’t even covered half the distance yet. The reason was simple: she’d been taking too many detours. From engrossing herself in watching the butterflies draw nectar from flowers to observing earthworms dig their way through the soil, the realism and ambiance of this familiar-yet-new world stimulated her curiosity to the point of distraction.

  Mira closed the status menu and felt a pang of hunger. Remembering an apple pie that had been in her Item Box, she touched the icon, and it suddenly appeared in her hand as if by magic.

  Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the pie. It had been in her inventory for at least a week of subjective time, and she had objectively purchased it over thirty years ago, by current reckoning.

  But it looked fine.

  Hesitantly, she brought the pie closer to her face and took a sniff. The sweet scent of vanilla and spice filled her nose, and her stomach let out a gurgle. Mind made up, Mira opened wide and took a big bite. The flaky texture of the pastry and the sweet, tart flavor of the apple instantly filled her mouth, stimulating her taste buds. Mira had never even tasted an apple pie in the real world before that moment, but she was sure that it was the most delectable thing she’d ever eaten.

  Encouraged by that success, she opened her Item Box again and withdrew an apple au lait. The beverage was a perennial favorite among the mage classes. Blending milk and apple, the creamy, pale amber drink increased the mana regeneration speed.

  She brought it to her mouth. “Delicious…”

  The praise slipped from her lips. The textures and flavors of both foods were perfect, and she swallowed both down without issue.

  She sighed softly as she gazed at the sky, watching the clouds drift by and taking in the world with all her senses. The feeling of the wind teasing her hair, the living scent of the forest, the fatigue that came from physical exertion. And the taste of the pie and the apple au lait.

  The simple realness couldn’t be denied. The more information she gathered and the more she considered her situation, the more difficult it became to believe that this wasn’t reality.

  Mira decided to accept it as a fact.

  She would act on the premise that the world around her was real. If it turned out that she was wrong, then no harm done. This would just be a funny story to tell later. But if she acted as if this weren’t real, she might unwittingly do something irreversible—death might actually mean death—with no hope of revival. And hanging someone out to dry might come back to bite her later.

  But one problem at a time. She needed to find Luminaria. Her friend had been living in this world for twenty years and might know what happened. With renewed focus, Mira set off down the trail to Silverhorn.

  ***

  Something with an ashen gray body, fierce eyes, and saliva dripping from its razor-sharp fangs appeared before Mira. She recognized the beast as it made a growling approach.

  It was a Saber Dog, one of the first beasts new players encountered in AEO.

  Saber Dogs were a common predator, quite clever and vicious. This particular specimen measured over a meter from tip to tail and was a dangerous foe for even full-grown adults. And here it had found a weak little girl who had wandered too far from the village with no one around to protect her. Mira’s robe might hint that she was some form of mage, but no matter—she looked like a defenseless girl, in over her head. The hunter confidently closed the gap between itself and this easy prey.

  Even wild dogs shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

  Mira struck. Her right hand moved through the air with lightning speed, and the Saber Dog’s eyes filled with terror a moment before its body crumpled. Blood splatters bloomed on the surrounding trees like grim flowers, and tufts of burning fur burst into the air.

  The second-rank Sage skill, Immortal Arts, Heaven: Shock Wave, projected a wave of kinetic force in front of her strike. For a mage of her caliber, it was like a delete button for low-level monsters. She already knew that she could use her summoning abilities, but she had been looking for an excuse to make sure her Sage techniques were still available to her.

  “Check that one off the list.”

  Marveling at the scent of burning hair, Mira turned and continued on her way without another look back.

  Chapter 4

  THE SUN SET and countless stars shone in the evening sky. They were just as she remembered, and the sight drew a small sigh of admiration.

  Finally reaching Silverhorn, Mira waved to the gatekeeper as she passed through—only to be dumbstruck by the changes to the city since last she saw it. She had good reason. The walls surrounding the city had grown taller and larger, and the city sprawled beyond them, taking up three times as much land as she remembered. The only proof that this was the location of her in-game home were the nine spires looming over the town. The Linked Silver Towers symbolized the city and stood as a regal reminder of the magic at the settlement’s center.

  “Well, It’s been thirty years, after all,” Mira muttered with a hint of melancholy. She headed off down a main street toward the tower complex, pushing her way through a crowd of locals heading h
ome from work.

  Lit by the moonlight and the flickering flames of the streetlamps, her youthful appearance made her seem out of place in the blue-collar crowd, and she drew the attention of the people around her. Some worried about the young lady walking alone so late at night, while others were dazzled by her mysterious beauty. Mira passed by, unaware of the reactions caused by her accidental avatar.

  Whether she knew it or not, the knights she’d met on the battlefield deserved commendations for being able to endure such beauty without being enthralled by her charms.

  ***

  As she reached the end of the street, Mira found her path blocked by a tall wall and a heavy gate. Within stood the majestic shapes of the Linked Silver Towers, bathed in the moonlight. She craned her neck to look up at them.

  To get to the Tower of Evocation, she would have to pass through the gate. But to prevent outsiders from entering, special certification was required—one either needed a pass, issued by a Linked Silver Tower administrator and only valid for a limited number of uses; a Silver Key, issued to tower researchers; or a Master Key, of which there were only nine and which were solely possessed by the tower Elders.

  No guards stood watch over the automated gate, and the grounds beyond the entrance were largely deserted. For an Elder like Mira, the gate shouldn’t pose any problem… But as she moved toward the gate, she noticed something awry.

  Instead of swinging open like an automatic door, it stood motionless and resolute to prevent her entrance. She nearly walked into it face-first before hurriedly taking a step back and staring in disbelief.

  “What is the meaning of this?!”

  Mira stared up at the gate as she paced back and forth before it, jumped up and down a few times, and tried moving closer and further away to see if she could get it to activate. The gate remained steadfast, staring down at her impassively like an unimpressed child watching an unfunny clown.