She Professed Herself The Pupil Of The Wiseman (WN)-Chapter 294: Bruce’s Request (1)

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Mira was taken to a restaurant that screamed luxury just by looking at it. It was furnished not too dissimilar from a royal palace, and all the customers also looked like they were really well off.

After some quick introductions, they went to the second floor and sat down at a table with a nice view of the city outside. While Mira stuffed her cheeks with food there, Bruce began to explain his situation, and what he was trying to accomplish.

「So as I was saying, just a few days ago I used the shard and showed my power by defeating the Fallen Heroes. Now I just need help to get to Valhalla, and that’s what I’ve been struggling with.」

He had been asking people to assist him for a while by now, but was constantly turned down, and just when he was one step away from his goal.

「I see… That’s why you asked me for a high level spell.」

Now that she had the full picture, she nodded with understanding, but did not stop eating.

Bruce’s goal was to acquire Valkyries as summons, and needed some help with that. The process to accomplish that was rather convoluted, and Bruce had just detailed how he went through each step.

First, he had obtained a Divine Mirror Shard, required to call forth the Fallen Heroes of Twilight in the Ancient Vigris Battlefield, which were a type of undead monsters, foes powerful enough that even high level adventurers would struggle with. Once defeated, the Valkyries would recognize one’s power.

「It’s a slightly distant place, but there’s no monsters on the way there, and the roundtrip would take less than a day if we go flying on a Hippogriff. That sounded easy enough so I was sure I’d find someone really quickly, but for some reason, no one wants to take up my request. Not a single person!」

Everything had been going smoothly, until he was stumped by the lack of help. Bruce lamented that reality, and tried to drown his frustration with a whole glass of cider.

(Hmm… That reminds me, I didn’t go alone either, I asked Luminaria back then…)

Since Mira had already formed a Contract with the Valkyrie Sisters, she was well aware of the whole process.

Bruce had already completed the hard part, and all he needed was a path into the home of Valkyries, Valhalla. Once he got there, he would be allowed to form a Contract with Valkyries, matching the amount of power he had showcased in his previous fight. He really was just one step away from that.

The only hurdle in his way seemed rather insignificant, and yet it had become an insurmountable mountain for Bruce.

Valhalla was a different realm far above in the skies, and in a slightly shifted dimension, so getting there required a special process.

There were certain places scattered all over the continent called Astral Bridge Havens, with a lake inhabited by a water and a light spirit. Once both of them combined their power, they would give form to the Rainbow Staircase, the way to reach Valhalla.

But once again, accomplishing that was not very simple, and it required two excellent spellcasters, as Valhalla was a divine realm that only the powerful could set foot on. The way to be recognized as such: high level spells.

The spirits would accept whoever could use such a spell. But opening the Rainbow Staircase took yet another step, two different people had to assist the spirits, one with the light spirit, the other with the water spirit.

And therein lay the problem. Both participants needed to be acknowledged by the spirits, and they had to be spellcasters, as their stronger connection to the spirits allowed them to properly follow the spirits’ guidance in opening the way.

That was why Bruce had been looking for help from a spellcaster.

In Mira’s case, she had received the help of Luminaria, who agreed to help for the simple reason that she wanted to see the paradise where Valkyries lived.

(But then she proudly admitted it… and got thrown out at the entrance.)

When traveling to Valhalla, one would first arrive at a small floating island, where they would be questioned about the purpose of their visit and then guided to other islands accordingly. In Luminaria’s case, she honestly said that she had heard Valhalla was full of pretty girls and wanted to see them. That was deemed a frivolous reason, and she was promptly kicked out before even making it past the entrance.

Memories from back then circled in Mira’s mind as she tried to calm down Bruce, and refilled his glass.

「I even prepared the ultimate reward, so I don’t understand what’s happening.」

He once again downed the whole glass of cider in one go, sighing at his continuous failure.

There was no fighting involved when showing one’s power to the spirits, one just had to use a high level spell, and then follow their instructions. It really was a simple request, but Bruce was rejected over and over again at the Union.

(That really is odd. It sounds like a really good deal to me.)

Since Mira also knew the whole process, she felt like Bruce’s request was easier than going to pick up herbs for a high level spellcaster. And he even mentioned a good reward.

She was also puzzled by the fact that no one had been willing to help him. But either way, Bruce was a fellow summoner, and a member of the Tower of Summoning, so she was more than willing to help him.

「I feel for you, truly.」

She replied with a compassionate smile, and then just in case, decided to ask, 「So exactly how much is this reward you’ve planned?」

「Ohh, the reward? Here, it’s this!」

Bruce sounded really confident about the reward, as he eagerly opened his bag and put something from it on the table. And it was…a large bundle of papers.

「…Huh?」

Mira had been picturing a pile of gold coins, so seeing paper instead confused her.

「What…is this?」

Eventually, she decided she could not figure it out on her own and asked about it, and Bruce seemed like he had been waiting just for that question, as he smiled proudly while detailing at length what it was.

It was a collection of the research results he had come across over many years, including a trove of information that had been designated as confidential by the Tower, and all of his own discoveries.

The Silver Linked Towers were seen as the pinnacle of all things related to spellcasters, so all spellcasters of a certain level would fawn over the opportunity to gain some knowledge from there.

On top of that, confidential information was even harder to come by, truly making it the ultimate reward. Or at least it was for spellcasters with interest in research.

The topic he had followed and worked on the most was a study to learn whether Armor Spirits actually had their own personality.

(Now that’s quite something…)

The spellcasters in the Silver Linked Towers could be categorized into two groups.

Some were obsessed with how far spellcasters could go, striving to find and evolve spells into more powerful variants. The other group had boundless curiosity, and did not care about anything as long as they were researching something.

That latter group would sometimes stumble upon revolutionary discoveries by pure coincidence, but in ninety nine percent of cases, they would only satisfy their personal interests with nothing productive to show for it. And Bruce was part of that latter group. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

Luckily, Mira was also a summoner, and she placed a lot of value on her ties with summons, so she was extremely curious about Bruce’s research. But she did not have the same blind obsession as him, so it was obvious to her why everyone else kept rejecting the offer.

「Hmmm… I’m a summoner as well, so I’m deeply interested in that research. But most spellcasters barely come in contact with Armor Spirits, so this is essentially worthless as a reward for them.」

Mira made sure to commend him for his research before revealing the harsh truth. Such esoteric research topics meant nothing for regular spellcasters.

「Wait, really..?!」