Chapter 13: Please! Books… So It Was a Mission
Early the next morning, Ren opened his eyes. "Ah… sleeping in my own room is still the best."
After stretching and washing up, Ren headed straight to the best blacksmith's shop in town.
"Boss, I'm back~ I need you to forge those throwing knives again."
"Leave it to me! I'm the best blacksmith in town!" The blacksmith replied without even looking up, like a passive skill had triggered.
When he finally raised his head and saw Ren, he grinned. "Oh, it's you. How was the last batch? Any improvements needed?"
"They're great, no changes needed. But this time I need more. Start with three hundred."
"Hmph, I'm the best… Wait, how many?" The blacksmith froze mid-brag. "Three hundred? Are you eating them? Carrying all that would be almost two hundred jin!"
"I'm naturally strong, okay?!" Ren got called out on the weak point and became embarrassed and angry. "Stop asking. Can you do it, how long, and how much!"
"Hm… If I bring a few apprentices in… three days. Come pick it up in the morning three days from now. Since you're a regular, no deposit. Same price as before, 1,000 J each. Total 300,000 J." After speaking, the blacksmith immediately called his apprentices and started preparing.
"Alright. See you in three days. Bye~" Ren waved, then decided to stop by the guild.
The moment Ren reached the request board, before he could even see it clearly, a hand yanked him away.
"Found you!"
Ren turned his head. Mirajane was staring at him with an excited look.
"What is it, Mira? Are you going to accept my pursuit?" Ren smiled.
"Stop clowning around. This is serious." Mira rolled her eyes.
"Hm? I'm listening." Ren gestured for her to continue.
"I want to invite you to…" Mira hadn't finished when Ren cut in excitedly.
"A date? I'm free! Today? I'm ready!"
"I seriously don't know what's inside your head… It's a mission. A mission." Mira looked exhausted.
"Tch… I just got back. I wanted to rest a bit…" Ren looked disappointed.
"We're not even close. Inviting you on a date would be what's abnormal. What are you disappointed about?" Mira nailed him with a perfect roast, then continued. "This is the mission I plan to take. I was going to do it myself, but Lisanna and Elfman want to come too. I've been hesitating because an S-Class mission might still be dangerous for them."
"And inviting me makes it not dangerous? Get it straight. That's an S-Class mission," Ren replied weakly.
"Come on, your magic lets you teleport, right? Once the fight starts, just teleport them to a safe place. After I'm done, you can bring them back. It's S-Class, the reward is huge, 6,000,000 J. I can give you one third. How about it? Think about it?" Mira even softened her voice a little to pull Ren in.
"That's unfair, Mira." Ren couldn't take it.
"Please." Mira stared at him with sparkling eyes.
Ren took critical damage. It was super effective.
"Before I agree, shouldn't you at least explain the mission a little… If possible, summarize it in under thirty words." Ren had zero resistance to Mira like this and could only accept.
"A noble has been targeted by an assassination guild. We need to protect the noble for a period of time." Mira delivered the mission in one clean line.
"Alright. But I need to prepare some tools. I need three days. How about we leave in three days?" Ren thought about the fact that his custom kunai would only be ready the day after tomorrow, and having too few always made him uneasy.
"Okay. Then in three days, meet at the station at 10 a.m.?" Mira thought for a moment and agreed.
"Then…" Ren checked the time. It was almost noon. He immediately invited her. "Since I agreed to do the mission with you, will you honor me by having a meal with me?"
"Sigh… you really know how to climb once you've got a foothold. Fine, fine, but it's only a meal." Mira stayed cautious, since Ren was the kind of guy who would confess in public the first time they met.
"Just a meal, and we can talk about the mission details," Ren said righteously.
"You better mean it." Mira looked complicated.
Eating, purely eating
"So basically, the noble angered a duke from a neighboring country. That duke put a bounty on him, and to maintain relations between the two countries, he said it's only a single bounty, and it only lasts one week. That's right?" Ren confirmed.
"Yeah, that's it. You're actually good at summarizing." Mira nodded.
"Alright then. See you the morning after tomorrow at 10 at the station." Ren stood up. "By the way, do you know where to buy storage-type magical tools?"
"Storage-type magical tools? What do you need that for? They're expensive." Mira was confused.
Ren pulled out a Flying Thunder God kunai and handed it to her. "Look. My magic is spatial magic, Flying Thunder God. In simple terms, I can teleport to wherever this mark is."
He pointed to the mark on the handle.
"Okay… and?" Mira still didn't get it.
"If the number is too small, my teleport landing points become easy to predict. But if the number is too big, the problem becomes carrying them." Ren explained.
"Hm… I know a shop. They should have what you want. I'm free this afternoon, I'll take you there." Mira recalled the location and got ready to lead the way.
"Is this a date?" Ren suddenly got interested.
"Go to hell." Mira decided this man was seriously annoying.
They headed for the magical tool shop. It was a bright, sunny afternoon, and the two of them walked down the street together, handsome guy and beautiful girl, drawing plenty of attention.
"Hm? That's… Mira?" Lisanna, who hadn't seen Mira come home at noon and had come out looking for her, suddenly spotted her sister shopping with a man. She found it unbelievable and quickly hid to the side, secretly following them.