Moving on!

  While there were a few books that did pick my interest, I don’t have the time for them, at least for now. Something about this place tells me that I will be visiting it quite a few times. Anyway, from here I let my curiosity take the best of me and walk up to what seems to be a kitchen. Upon closer inspection maybe I should call it a bar? There is a counter right in front of me, one that extends almost to the entirety of the wall; however, in my right not only it takes a sharp turn and towards the wall itself, in my left you can easily see an opening, allowing anyone to enter this “bar”. Next to the counter there are a few stools and that’s why it gives out that “bar” feeling, maybe a coffee shop now that I’m thinking about it. If I wanted to, I can sit down in one of them and use the counter as a table so that I can eat quite comfortably I would say. I’m going to go back on what I said but, the more I look at this area the more of a kitchen and a coffee shop it seems than a bar all thanks to the refrigerator, the oven and even the sink that are present. There are a few cabinets next to the wall, ones that are above the height of the refrigerator and since a few of them have glass on the doors, I can easily see kitchen utensils, such as plates and cups of glasses for example.

  “Seriously, I could legit use something like this in my own home.”

  I’m not joking and I meant it. The layout itself is nothing special but, it’s pleasant and even useful as you could easily have a normal table a little way from the stools, said table that would allow you to eat with your family for example. Another factor that makes me want to have something like this kitchen in my house is how expensive everything seems. The refrigerator for example, it’s for the big size not only that, in the right door there is a small opening on it, one that allows you to put a cup on it and from there, pour cold water on it, water that is inside of the refrigerator stored in a compartment. If this alone does not scream “expensive” then, what’s about to come next it will. There is a damn dishwasher to the right of the refrigerator. A dishwasher.

  What!? Why?

  The more I have a look around, the more I believe someone could be living here, it’s just missing a bed and a bathroom for me to confirm it. Anyway, while I don’t understand the necessity of such, I’m still not done yet however. As I said, there is an oven, and an electric one at that, at the top of it you also have induction hobs and those are also electric. There’s electricity in this place for crying out loud! This way to advanced and expensive looking almost as if an aristocrat owns this place. Whatever, while everything looks really nice, there is nothing here that will tell me anything about this place and why I’m here.

  Time to move on again.

  Time to tackle the biggest door in this place, the one that is right to my well, right. I walk up to the door and guess what? It’s locked, I can sense magic sealing this door. I could easily brute force through it however, there is something stopping me from doing so. It’s not common sense nor fear but more so curiosity. Yes, curiosity after all, past this door there are not only the Crystal monster but also-

  “Shadows... How are they in a place like this one?”

  “Good observation Hero.”

  Ah, the voice of death itself is once again right behind me. One that is familiar to me and brings back awful memories. I’m exaggerating of course, grabbing her resemblance to the idea that society has of how the reaper should look to the side, she’s not that bad at all. Still pretty strong and a force that I don’t want to mess with and I would love to have her by my side but I’m jabbering once again… I turn around the moment I understand that, this voice is one that I know. Once I’ve done that and not for my surprise, the individual in front of me no other is than-

  “Miranda… I won’t say that, I was expecting to see you again this soon.”

  “I agree, but it is because of my Empress, she’s the one that ordered me to come here and act as a guide for you.”

  Alright, a couple things that I got from this. The first one is that, I’m here for a reason, I still don’t know why and what for but, that’s something that I can ask Miranda. The second is that, just as she said, she will act as a guide for me meaning that, there’s something that I have to do here and once again, it’s something that I will have to ask Miranda. They all end up rounding to why am I here and what for so, no point in going with this.

  “She tasked you to be here and act as a guide for me, but why? Why is she doing this and what for? Why did she remove me from the “narrator” role?”

  Well, I just bombarded her with quite a few questions however, it more than seems like she was expecting this as she literally takes out a note from one of her pockets, ones that I didn’t even know were there. Maybe she used the Pocket Dimension skill in a way that gave out that impression? Who knows, though it is quite weird for her to have notes on her. Wait a second, I did say that she was expecting my questions but, I sure was not expecting for her to be this ready.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  I really don’t understand what goes through their mind sometimes.

  I mean it, who in their right mind would prepare for something like this? Oh well, no point in complaining to the world, let’s just hear what she has to say, I guess.

  Notes noises!

  And so, before she says a single word, she has a quick read on what’s written on the note. From there, she starts to answer all my questions one by one.

  “Ahem! Uhm, I’m here because you are unfamiliar with this place, or you sh-should be? That little at? Rat? Uhm, she was messing... aro-around?”

  What in the single tarnation is happening!? Can’t she read? What!?

  “D-Do you need help?”

  There, I blurted it out, I had to. I was a little afraid to offend her but after hearing and seeing that excuse of a spectacle I simply had to say something. Two reasons for why this is happening, the first one is that Miranda does not know how to properly read, even though she was trying her damn best to do so. She started fine and then stuttered as she was trying to say the word “should”, right after that she pauses for a second or so as she tries to fathom whatever is written on the notes. When she did this long pause, she actually brought the notes close to her pretty face… Don’t tell me that, she can’t see properly? Maybe that is the problem? Hum, now that I say that, I don’t think so. Moving on before I digress too much, she also had problems saying the word rat for some inexplicable reason after that, the “around” word was next and if I didn’t say anything she would keep on going. Or not since she once again brought the notes closer to her face right after that word.

  I didn’t say anything but this sure was a sight to be honest. I still can’t see her eyes so her facial expressions were a little limited but even then, they sure were cute to say the least. Her mouth movements were exaggerated as she was trying to say the world “should”, then, as the word “rat” missed her brain completely, once she fully understood what was the word written on it, she still said it quite slowly not only that, she also tilted her head to her right a little bit as if she still was unsure if that was the correct word to say. At the end, even though she had the notes basically embracing her face, she still stuttered to say the word “around” at the beginning then proceeds to spell out the rest of the word slowly.

  “Ye-yes I do… My Empress never actually told me anything, she just gave me these notes as she was in a hurry.”

  “Alright, let me see it then.”

  Before I say anything about the notes, let me tell just how damn adorable she sounded. Dammit! She’s breaking my simple brain with this much of a difference between her personality and how she looks. I mean, she looks really nice but the sheer pressure she emits to the world thanks to how much magic energy she has and how dense it seems, you would easily make her out to be death itself. Then you hear her voice, one that is a bit cold I will admit that, but at the same time, soft and very feminine like. To make it even worse is her body expressions and her limited facial expressions. She seemed quite defeated as she accepted my help, her shoulders were dropped down a bit as she said “yes” to my offer of help. From there, as she was saying that her Empress didn’t say anything concrete to her, she sounded and seemed sad.

  She’s way too expressive for someone of her origins.

  I don’t know if I should be fascinated, amazed or mesmerized by this feat or, straight out terrified for it. But moving on, enough of me saying something that anyone already knows, yes Miranda is cute, let’s keep moving. I walk up to her and from there I gently grab the notes from her rather tender hands. Here’s what’s written on it, although now I do understand her troubles and it will show my second reason that I never talked about.

  “The Hero will bombard you with questions but unfortunately, I won’t be able to be there since that dummy needs my help. Say this to him; You are here because he is unfamiliar to this place, or he should be. That little rat messed around with us, breaking the sequence of my plans with it. You are here to act as a guide so that he can achieve his goal, so that he can save the Magical Girl. Any other questions he might have, just tell him that, he will have the answer for them in the near future.”

  And this is it. Nothing special and nothing that can really answer any of my questions. Now, I was able to somewhat read all of this because I actually know someone who writes as bad as her. In other words, her handwriting is beyond awful. What she wrote in here is nothing more than doodles trying to form incoherent words that have no meaning whatsoever. I’m exaggerating as I was able to make out what these doodles were trying to be but, I more than understand why Miranda here was having that much trouble reading it. She sure likes to talk a bit grand and she definitely likes to seem elegant but oh boy, her handwriting is the complete and utterly opposite of it.

  Whatever, from these notes I can safely say that I will be doing something far too important, but of course, I still have no clue what. She did say that, I’m here so that I can save the Magical Girl or in other words, Kiana. From the not so quick look that I had of this place before, not only all the doors seem locked as I could actually sense a magic seal on them, the rest of the place tells me that I will be spending quite the time here.

  I have a damn kitchen near us for crying out loud!

  If that by itself won’t affirm that fact then, the fact that I can easily lay down on the sofa to sleep, that simple fact should suffice. Yep, I will be spending a lot of time here, now the problem is a simple bathroom as I don’t see any. I mean, I can have my necessities outside as a true cave man but, Miranda here, I don’t think she would do something like that. Wait, why am I even thinking about this?