Chapter 3:
Mira Santage
MIRA INSISTED THAT I TELL HER where she could get something to eat. Unfortunately, all the restaurants were packed, and she didn’t want to wait in line, so we bought some beef skewers at a street stall. One of them was more than enough to fill you up, but Mira bought ten. She used her own money, so I couldn’t exactly complain, but why did she need so many?
“You saw my skills, didn’t you? Don’t worry so much.”
“Oh, your Pocket Dimension.”
She nodded proudly. She had the S-Grade variant of the skill. That had to be able to hold an immense quantity of items. It also prevented them from deteriorating and even maintained their temperature—if you put hot food in it right away, you could pull it out any time and it’d still be fresh and delicious.
I bought myself a skewer, and then we headed for a park and found a bench.
“Did you come here from another country?” I asked.
Mira’s clothes were refined, which made me think that her family had to be well-off. They also weren’t the kind of clothes you saw around here.
“You can tell? I’m from the slopes of the Nakhod Empire.”
“Are you an exchange student? Or are you here because of your parents?”
“My family runs a weapons shop, and they want to expand their business into your kingdom. I’m here with my dad, looking for a good location.”
“Have you found a home yet?”
“I’m not planning on staying long. I have my own business here, so I tagged along. Once it’s done, I’m going home.”
I wonder if sightseeing was part of those plans. Also, this girl sure had an appetite. By the time I’d finished one skewer, she’d downed three—pulling them out of her Pocket Dimension, one after another, and gleefully popping them in her mouth. If this was the only side of her I’d seen, I would have thought that she was just a regular teen girl.
“You a noble, Noir?”
“How’d you know? Although I bet people would laugh to hear me call myself that. I’m just a baronet’s son.”
“Do I look like someone who’d laugh at you, buddy? A noble’s a noble as far as I’m concerned; call yourself what you like.”
What did I do to deserve that lecture?
“By the way, you wouldn’t happen to know a good real estate agent, would you, Noir?” she asked.
“Actually, my best friend introduced me to one recently.”
“Ooh, you have a bestie?! Lucky you.”
That’s the part she jumped on? What about the real estate agent she was just asking about?
Mira’s eyes glimmered as she bombarded me with questions about Emma. It seemed like she wanted someone like that in her own life. I supposed that wasn’t unusual. A lot of people were envious of my relationship with Emma. Other boys usually mentioned how cute Emma was and how jealous they were, but we’d been together since we were kids. I’d always taken our relationship for granted. Moments like this made me appreciate her more.
“Right,” Mira said, once she was satisfied. “So you mentioned you knew a good agent?”
“Wasn’t that the original point of this conversation?” I asked.
“Aha! That’s a bit of a bad habit of mine. When something catches my attention, I just can’t help myself.” Mira grabbed me by my shoulders and smiled an ethereal smile. “I want you to introduce me. We’re friends now, aren’t we, buddy?”
“Can’t help but feel like this is a friendship of convenience…”
“Of course it’s not! All right, how ’bout this? If you introduce me…” Mira tugged at her shirt and looked bashful.
N-no way, was she going to let me touch her chest? Or let me look?
“I’ll let you touch my pigtails.”
I almost fell out of my seat.
“What kinda reaction is that?” she asked. “My pigtails aren’t your average hairstyle, I’ll have you know. Come on, get behind me and grab them.”
I didn’t really understand what was going on, but I got up from the bench, walked behind her, and wrapped my hands around her pigtails.
“I’ll let you in on a little secret: These are my core. They’re the secret source of my strength. So right now…you could do anything to me. Why don’t you try pulling on the right one?”
“Okay…”
I played along with her nonsense and tugged gently on her right pigtail.
“Oh, my god, Master Noooooir, you’re amazing, and hot, and dashing! The most powerful man in the world. Your kindness conceals great strength!”
“Wh-what the…”
“It makes me speak my mind,” Mira said, looking impish. “Why don’t you try the left one?”
I knew she was messing with me, but I was curious. I gave her left pigtail a little tug too.
“Aaah! Not there! I’ll completely lose my mind! Noir, you pervert!”
“Wh-what?!”
“Ah ha ha ha ha! If anyone’s lost their mind, it’s you, Noir. Isn’t that funny?”
I glared at Mira. It seemed she saw me as no more than an amusing toy.
“Well, I need to get home,” I said. “Good luck finding an agent.”
“Oh, come on. I’m sorry. I could really use that introduction.”
“Fine. But I have a request of my own: If you have any enchanted items that you don’t need, will you sell them to me for cheap?”
Her family ran a weapons shop, after all, so she probably knew more about enchanted items than normal people. I could even convert normal items and weapons. So long as there were enough of them, and they were cheap, it would be worthwhile.
“Sure thing, buddy. I bet you can guess why my dad wanted to bring me along.”
I didn’t know her father, but it seemed obvious, now that I thought about it.
“Oh, right, your Pocket Dimension.”
“Bingo! I help out with transport. And I am, of course, very well compensated.”
I supposed that was why she could buy all those skewers without a second thought.
Mira pointed at an inn just outside the park. “That’s where I’m staying. Swing by once you’ve talked to that agent for me, okay?”
“I’ll be by in the next few days.”
“You’re a lifesaver! See ya later, Noir!”
Mira gave me a cute wave and left. I had mixed feelings about the encounter. On the one hand, I was happy to have made a new friend, but on the other, something felt off. But what was it…?
Strangely, I had earned another 100 LP too. Why was that? Maybe it had happened when I tugged on her left pigtail?