Chapter 693: Chapter 693

Mira decided to greet them herself, and they introduced themselves as well. One of them was Griss, and the other Ligner. The source of thɪs content is n͟o͟v͟e͟l͟f͟i͟r͟e͟.net

Esmeralda and Mira went through the door those two were guarding, which led to a small room with a bunch of doors, where they entered one on the right and finally arrived at their destination.

“Oh, you got here fast! I’m still getting things ready here!”

They entered a rather minimalist room. The rug on the floor had no distinctive patterns, there was a table, a kitchen on one side of the room with what resembled a fridge, and on the other side of the room was a plain bed. It was essentially a ten tatami studio apartment, where a woman was setting up the table to welcome Mira and Esmeralda.

“Ohh, I was wondering who I was going to meet here.”

Mira was quite familiar with that woman wearing a sweatshirt and shorts, who was carefully setting up the table like a waitress. Or rather, there was no one in all of Nirvana who did not know her.

The woman in front of them was none other than the ruler of Nirvana, Empress Alma.

“Esmeralda brought you all the way here, so you must be the Grandpa! It’s just as I suspected! See? I told you my instincts as empress were right!”

Once she had finished setting up the table, Alma ran over to Mira, staring at her intently before turning to Esmeralda, clearly proud of herself. It seemed like Alma was the first one to figure out the Spirit Queen was Danbulf, while Esmeralda had been skeptical about it.

While Alma gloated about being proven right, Esmeralda continued to pout about it, glancing at Mira and muttering, “Was he always into this stuff?”

“No no, that’s not it at all. It’s just that—”

Dread filled Mira’s heart as she realized that the reputation she had worked so hard to build as Danbulf was about to crumble depending on how she replied. But before she could get more than a few words out, she was cut off by Alma who loudly announced, “I knew from the start that Grandpa liked girls like that!”

If she had to be truly honest, it was true. But she could not bring herself to admit it and desperately tried to find an excuse.

“Stop! This is actually something I had to do to complete a super secret mission.”

Saying that, she explained that she altered her appearance because she would need to travel all around the world without being recognized. Danbulf was particularly famous as one of the Nine Wisemen, and she could not let that fame get in her way.

“Hmmm I see…so that’s why you did that. So, what’s that super secret mission about then?”

A mission so important that Danbulf turned himself into a young girl to complete it. Esmeralda could not help but get curious about it, but Alma quickly interjected to say, “Let’s not stand around and talk, the tea is going to get cold,” and trotted back to the table.

“Right, sounds good.”

Being a ruler herself, Alma seemed to understand that Mira’s mission was a state secret, so she spared Mira the conversation and changed topics. Mira also agreed right away and went to the table.

Once all of them were sitting, Alma began pouring the tea and brought a platter with various snacks, completing preparations for their tea party.

“Now we’re ready. Grandpa, please go on!”

Alma’s eyes were sparkling with curiosity as she urged Mira to talk. She had not been worried about making Mira leak state secrets at all. All she had wanted was to get comfortable to really get in depth about it.

(I should’ve expected this, they aren’t the type to give up easily.)

As Alma led a more common life, she was also the most curious about everything that happened outside, something that had not changed after all that time.

Mira knew that Alma could be more persistent than an oil stain.

Thinking about it some more, her search for Meilin was something she would need to reveal when requesting to see the tournament application forms. But then again, it was a state secret. It would be better to ask Solomon for permission first.

“I’d like to tell you, but my mission is a state secret, so I can’t just talk about it out of my own will…” Mira decided to plainly state why she would not talk about it, and then Alma picked up the black box on her lap and placed it on the table.

“So we should just ring up Solomon to get permission, right?”

That box contained a communications device. Mira was always told how expensive those were, but Alma was an empress, so it made sense for one to exist in her room. Alma had been even more ready than anticipated too, as Solomon’s number was already dialed.

“Well…yes, I guess so.” Mira was a bit dizzy from how fast things were moving, but she was meaning to talk about all that anyway, so she took the device.

‘Hello, this is Solomon.’ A few seconds later, the call connected and Solomon’s voice came through the device.

‘Ahh, I see. So how’s it going? Did you find any leads?’

Mira’s way of speaking was enough for Solomon to know who it was, as his voice became far more relaxed and casual.

Mira quickly summed up everything that had happened so far, then mentioned that she was calling from Alma’s room, that Esmeralda was also there, and that she needed to reveal her mission to proceed.

‘I see. Alma already knows about our situation, so I don’t mind if you tell her.’

When Mira was done explaining, Solomon did not sound too concerned about it. Even if the mission was a state secret, the two countries were on friendly terms and there was enough trust between them to share the information.

‘Is that all? I’ll leave you to talk then.’

“Thank you Solomon! I’ll call you again later!”

As soon as the call was over, Alma and Esmeralda’s eyes locked on Mira. She was really feeling the pressure from both of them, but since Solomon had given her his blessing, she began talking.

Mira began telling her about her secret mission, interrupted from time to time with snack breaks. In short, she was searching for the Nine Wisemen to bring them back to Arkite.

“Ohh, so you’re already working on that! I was getting worried for Solomon, but with Grandpa on the case, I’m sure everything will sort itself out!”

Alma had been worried for a while that Luminaria was the only Wiseman present, so she was relieved and excited when she heard that Mira was working on fixing that. A moment later, a certain expectation mixed with worry clouded Alma’s face as she

hesitantly asked something.

“So…how’s it going? Your search, I mean. Do you happen to know anything about Fumika…I mean Artesia?”

Artesia was Alma’s sister-in-law. Or to be specific, Alma was the younger sister of Artesia’s late husband. They had been very close to each other for a long time, with Alma treating her like a real older sister, so it was no surprise that Alma was worried about her.

“Actually, I do know, Artesia is…”

Artesia’s location was yet another state secret, and Mira had only received permission to talk about her mission itself, not her current progress. But knowing Alma and Artesia thought of each other as family, she decided to tell Alma everything.

Artesia had been found around two months before, and was currently leading a newly instated orphanage in Lunatic Lake. Her return was still kept secret and would only be announced to the public during the celebration of Arkite’s foundation anniversary.