Chapter 682: Chapter 682

After a quick ride on a carriage with Cecilia, Mira arrived at Nirvana’s imperial palace. And as they were on a top secret mission, they entered through the back gate. Then Mira was guided straight to the drawing room.

“Please sit back and relax while I go to announce your arrival.”

After telling Mira to wait a bit, Cecilia dashed out of the room. It was clear she did not want to keep Mira waiting, or maybe it was more accurate to say she did not want to keep Esmeralda waiting.

“That smile of hers was always terrifying…” The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the noᴠelfire.net

Mira had plenty of friends in Nirvana, including Esmeralda, and even after all those years, it did not seem like she had changed. Esmeralda was the type of woman who would never make her anger evident, but that only made her scarier, as sometimes things left unsaid could weigh a lot more.

Various memories from the past floated in Mira’s mind as she reclined on the sofa and reached out for the cookies left on the table in front of her, which she was told she was free to snack on while she waited.

Around five minutes later, there was a knock on the door and Esmeralda the Divine Herald made her entrance.

“I’m sorry for keeping you waiting.”

Esmeralda said that as she entered, and then smiled a bit when she saw Mira sprawled over the sofa.

She approached Mira with inquisitive eyes, who washed down the cookies she was eating with tea and then replied, “Yes, I’m Mira.”

“Alright then… I guess that means we don’t need to introduce ourselves since this isn’t the first time we’re meeting?”

Esmeralda asked that with a grin, essentially prodding to see if Mira would confirm that she really was Danbulf. This was the first time ‘Mira’ was there, but they had long been friends with ‘Danbulf’ after all.

“You could say that. For me it’s just been a few months since we saw each other, but for you it must’ve been years…decades even, right Emeko?”

Mira nodded affirmatively, and then also broke into a grin by the end of her response. In a way, that was also confirming that she was Danbulf.

That made Esmeralda break into a delighted smile, which quickly turned into a pout as she grumbled, “How many times have I told you to stop calling me that.”

Back in the day, Danbulf kept complaining that Esmeralda was a long and complicated name, and decided to just call her Emeko. Mentioning that nickname was Mira’s way of proving her identity.

“Hmm…it’s not fair. I can’t even call you Danjiro anymore.”

After staring at Mira for a considerable time, Esmeralda said that with a sulky voice. Back in the day, she used to refer to Danbulf as Danjiro in protest to her nickname. But now Mira looked completely different, and that nickname made very little sense, making Esmeralda increasingly upset as the frown on her forehead deepened.

“Heheh, too bad. Be a good girl and just call me Mira now.”

Mira had started getting more comfortable in her current appearance as well, so she gave a cutesy smile while saying that, as if trying to get on Esmeralda’s nerves.

Lately, Mira had been thinking up various ways of exploiting her appearance to get her way with things. All because one time when she visited a cafe, they gave her a bunch of free sweets simply because she was cute.

“Ughh…you little rascal…”

There was no denying Mira’s success at acting cute, motivating Esmeralda to figure out a way to fight back. Eventually, she began saying, “Mirako…yes, I’ll start calling you Mirako too then!”

That had only lengthened Mira’s name, but it was all Esmeralda was able to do.

“Anyway, Mirako, I’m sorry to cut this conversation short, but we should find a more private place to continue talking. Come with me.”

They had their fun celebrating their meeting after such a long time, so it was about time they moved to discuss more important things, like Jorg and those assassins, and the organizations they were part of.

Cecillia had mentioned that Esmeralda wanted to talk with Mira directly about those things, and it seemed to be a really important but secret topic.

Mira stood up right away and followed Esmeralda further into the palace.

Nirvana was the second largest country built by players, and the imperial palace governed over the entire empire, so it was a far bigger building than Arkite Castle.

All of the corridors were illuminated with magic wares, making them as bright as during the day, and highlighting the sheen of the white walls and exquisite carpet. The corridors were also ample, dotted about with furniture that seemed like pieces of art, and even the equipment of the guards was impressive.

“Ohh… This place is overflowing with elegance…”

But what impressed Mira the most were the maids serving there. They moved around and performed their duties with grace, dazzling anyone who looked at them. As Mira and Esmeralda passed by, the maids also turned around to politely bow at them.

There was an enormous rift between them and the maids in Arkite Castle, who would nearly kidnap Mira whenever they saw her and make a big fuss about new outfits.

It was like a heavy weight was lifted off Mira’s shoulders as she realized that she could finally move around a place like that without having to watch every corner.

In reality, the maids of Arkite Castle were all trained and educated to essentially the same level, except when they were around Mira, who would likely never see them in that way.

Mira continued thinking about maids and other things for around five minutes, when she realized they had made their way quite deep into the palace.

The environment felt quite different there compared to the drawing room, being more quiet and solemn.

Fewer people and furnishings were visible on the corridors, but the few ones that existed looked even more impressive than before.

(Security is way tighter here too…)

Mira assumed that meant they were in a place with restricted access, nearly at the deepest parts of the palace.

She began to wonder if that organization really warranted so much vigilance, and as she thought about that, she followed Esmeralda into a room. It was a room at the end of a long hallway, so narrow that it almost seemed like an extension of the hallway.

At the other end of the room was a door, with two knights standing guard, who gave off an imposing presence just by standing there, showing just how powerful they were.

Whoever they were protecting past that door was clearly someone very important.

“We’re at your service, Lady Esmeralda.”

When they saw Esmeralda, they knelt to greet her. Then they looked at Mira and asked, “Is she the guest we were anticipating?” Those two had also been informed about Mira’s arrival, but as she was in disguise, they wanted to make sure they really were in front of the Spirit Queen.

“Yes, she’s the same Mirako everyone’s been talking about. She’s just wearing a disguise at the moment.”

They looked at each other with excitement hearing that response, willfully ignoring that Esmeralda had referred to her as Mirako.

“I’m Mira, nice to meet you.”