We headed back to the guild hall. Lola seemed relieved when I told her I’d removed the sword. From there, I said goodbye to Emma and went looking for Luna. It was already dark.
“Hell yeah! Let’s get hammered!”
People were shouting and the main street was crammed full of people heading home from work. It felt kind of lonesome to walk through their midst. It was a strange sensation—feeling lonely in a crowd. Maybe loneliness was just more pronounced around other people.
As I looked up at the beautiful crescent moon, I decided to ask the Great Sage where Luna was. But before I got a chance, I saw a group of three young men accosting a girl.
“What the hell?!” one of them shouted. “You just elbowed me! That hurt!”
“It’s your fault for taking up the whole street,” said the girl. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
She was brave, and you didn’t see red hair like hers often. She had it tied up in pigtails with cute ribbons. It looked very stylish. She had a stunning face and a body to match. No one could argue that she was beautiful. She certainly left an impression.
The girl went to walk away, but the men tried to block her path.
“Stop right there! What kind of apology is that?!”
The girl sighed with annoyance and glared at them. “I’m just giving you what you deserve. Besides, you’re all way bigger than me. It’s on you to watch where you’re walking. Maybe you need to go back to elementary school, ’cause I don’t think you learned anything there. Besides how to be an overconfident jerk to people younger than you.”
She smirked, pleased that she’d gotten a rise out of them, and set off again. In my opinion, they could have resolved this if one of them apologized, but things had spiraled out of control.
The men exchanged a few short grunts. It was obvious to anyone watching what they meant. They wanted to teach this girl a lesson.
The three of them went after her, and I followed behind them. I wasn’t involved, but the possibility of them doing something awful meant that I couldn’t just dip out.
The girl left the main street and crossed a bridge into a more “adult” part of town. The area was frequented mostly by horny men and sex workers—it wasn’t exactly what I’d call a good area. The girl had a unique accent too. Perhaps she wasn’t from around here.
She pressed on into a less populated district. The men glanced at each other and smirked—this was the perfect place to attack. Especially when the girl left the red-light district and pushed on into the slums. It was a depressing place. The streets were dotted with people in ragged clothes, and no one paid any mind to what was going on there. When the men were confident no one was going to interfere, they started shouting.
“Hey, little girl, look who’s here!”
The girl stopped and turned around. She had a mischievous smile on her face. I wasn’t the only one who was surprised by that.
“What are you smilin’ at?!”
“Because this is my lucky day,” she said. “Some spineless scumbags finally got the balls to fight me.”
“Oh, I get it. You’re one of those… Tryin’ to bait us into attacking.”
He’d completely snapped. I used my Discerning Eye on the men and discovered that they were treasure hunters.
Some treasure hunters belonged to guilds, but plenty didn’t. Since they were so focused on finding treasure, they were a little different from your typical adventurer; some were so strong that a regular adventurer was no match for them, and these three were tough. They didn’t have any notable skills, but a normal person wouldn’t have stood a chance against one of them, let alone three. But then…why would any normal person pick a fight with these three guys?
“She must be really confide—wh-whoa?!” I gasped.
Turned out there was a reason for her confidence.
Name: Mira Santage
Age: 16
Species: Human
Level: 256
Occupation: Student; Treasure Hunter
Skills: Pocket Dimension (Grade S); Enchanted Item Mastery
Sh-she was unstoppable!
I was surprised to discover that she was a treasure hunter too, but she was even more impressive than the others. Her Pocket Dimension was massive. This was not good. I had to stop her.
“Um, why don’t you stop while you’re ahead?” I asked the men as I approached. “This is still a public street, and even seasoned fighters can get hurt in a spat.”
“Don’t try to stop us, kid. We don’t want to bully this little girl, but she’s too uppity. Someone needs to teach her how to behave.”
If anyone’s going to be learning a lesson, I’m pretty sure it’s you.
“You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, huh?” the girl, Mira, called out cheerfully. “But you should stay out of this. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna kill ’em.”
“You heard her, kid. We aren’t gonna kill her either, so keep your nose out of our business.”
Maybe the men were stronger when together or something? If that was the case, then I could understand their confidence. But if they were fooled by her looks, well…
I couldn’t tell which it was, so I decided to watch from the sidelines. The man with the strongest aura stepped forward, swinging one arm.
“Three men against a little girl would be embarrassing. I’ll make you revisit your lunch with a single punch.”
Ah… They have no idea how powerful she is, do they?
“Sorry, but I’d sooner die than let you lay a finger on me.”
Huh? That was when I noticed Mira was gripping a black ball in one hand. She hadn’t had it earlier, so she must’ve pulled it out of her Pocket Dimension. She took the peculiar item and threw it at the ground.
“Gah?!”
The ball bounced and hit the man in the stomach. It was obvious from his reaction that it had hit hard. Even more surprisingly, the ball mysteriously returned to Mira’s hand. It almost looked as though it violated the laws of physics. I took the opportunity to use my Discerning Eye on it.
Magic Ball
Grade C
Skills: +10lbs; Elasticity; Automatic Return
It wasn’t a very high-grade enchanted item, but it wasn’t a normal ball either. Not only was it heavier than it looked, it could automatically return to its wielder. And it threw well too. Suddenly, its strange movements made sense.
“Wh-what the…”
“I really don’t need to hear comments from the peanut gallery,” Mira said.
“Hnngh?!”
She threw the ball again, bouncing it off the ground and smashing the man under his chin. He crumpled to the floor, out cold, and the ball zipped back to her hand.
“Get her!”
The other two men abandoned their pride and charged in, but it was over soon enough. They both fell prey to the ball. Mira left them just conscious enough to drag their fallen comrade away. They really were trash for picking a fight with a girl, but they did earn some points for not abandoning one of their own. They probably weren’t rotten to the core.
Now Mira turned her interest to me. “You knew, didn’t you? That I would wipe the floor with them.”
“I wasn’t that confident, but I could tell there was a huge gap in ability.”
“You got a Discerning Eye, I take it? You better share some of your own secrets,” she said menacingly, gripping the ball. “It’s not fair that I’m the only one exposed here.”
I gave her my name, age, and that I was a student and part-time adventurer, but I kept my abilities to myself.
“We’re the same age, huh? Don’t gotta worry about being polite then.”
“You know, you’re a little scary.”
“Ah ha! I mean, I am strong! But don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. Let’s just talk. Ask me anything!”
“All right, then. How did you get so strong, Ms. Mira?”
“Good question. I guess it’s more like strength chose me.”
I wasn’t going to get anywhere like this. Mira’s eyes glimmered as she brought her face close to mine.
“Also, Ms. Mira?” she asked. “Oh, buddy, why so formal? I mean, we’re friends now, aren’t we?” Her pigtails swayed furiously, as if expressing her innermost feelings.
Friends…? When did that happen?
“You’re the first friend I’ve made in this town.” She flashed me a big toothy grin.