Chapter 47: Interlude: Past Chapter 1 – A Few Reasons Why Mira Broke

Mira Cattleas.

Only daughter of Emma, the Guild Master, helping her mother by serving as receptionist at the frontier guild in town.

At first glance, she seemed like nothing more than a sweet, ordinary girl. But even a girl like her had a past.

This is the story of a past like any ordinary girl’s… and a past unlike anything ordinary at all.

Emma Cattleas’s only daughter—that was Mira’s role in this frontier town. Thirteen years old, still very much at an age where “girl” was the most fitting word, yet she was already helping with her mother’s work, spending her days behind the guild’s reception counter.

And to an outsider, Mira played the part of the guild’s charming poster girl. Her pretty face, her occasional childlike gestures—those little flourishes could melt even the roughest adventurer’s expression.

Yet sometimes, as she watched them, her eyes would hold a cool, distant gleam—a wisdom far beyond her years.

It was only natural.

Every bit of it was calculated.

She had learned exactly how a certain smile or a certain way of speaking could make troublesome adventurers easier to deal with. By thirteen, she had already mastered this kind of social arithmetic.

Maybe it was because she’d been seeing “reality” from a very young age.

One day, not long after her thirteenth birthday, the guild’s weathered doors creaked open and a newcomer stepped inside.

A man.

It was hardly unusual for strangers to arrive at the guild in this town. Mira, who had practically grown up here thanks to her mother’s work, understood exactly why.

This town sat at the kingdom’s edge. Beyond it stretched nothing but dense, endless forest—a place that felt like the very end of the world.

And ironically, that same geography made it the perfect cradle for rookie adventurers.

Deep within the forest lay areas so perilous they were called sacred domains—havens to mythical beasts of incredible power. Weaker monsters, desperate to survive, were driven toward the forest’s edges.

The result was a natural hierarchy, like a massive pyramid: strongest on top, weakest pushed down to the bottom. And here, at the far bottom—around this frontier town—were monsters so feeble that even first-time adventurers could manage them.

That was why newcomers—dreamers, or just people with nowhere else to go—ended up here in droves.

Yes… “washed up” was exactly the right phrase, Mira always thought.

…Truly, no one worth the trouble ever comes through here.

Resting her elbows on the counter, Mira gave the man a measuring glance.

He wore a flimsy, overly polite smile, posture far too humble. Mid-to-late thirties, maybe even past forty. His clothes barely qualified for the word—patched, grimy rags more suited to a vagrant than an adventurer.

If they weren’t inside the guild, anyone could have mistaken him for one.

So old, starting out only now as an adventurer…

I’ll bet his past isn’t worth hearing.

Maybe a criminal thrown out of his hometown, or a failed schemer who fled in the night.

Her mind kept returning to such thoughts.

Emma had told her countless times—until her ears practically had calluses—not to judge people solely by appearances.

But a thirteen-year-old girl feeling an instinctive distaste toward a shabby middle-aged man standing right in front of her—that was probably unavoidable.

Besides, she already had firm experience to back her instincts.

Adventurers, more often than not, were hopeless human beings.

There were exceptions—like her mother Emma, the strongest, most dignified, most beautiful person she knew. But people like that were rare gems among countless stones.

The heroic tales sung by bards in taverns were only fairy tales. Mira had seen too much reality to cling to the dreams and admiration most her age still held.

“Um… I’d like to register as an adventurer, please…”

His politeness made Mira pause, just for a moment, impressed despite herself. Still, she handled the process with her usual efficiency.

She had him fill out the required items on parchment, gave a rapid rundown of the guild rules, and collected the fee.

Her poise and swiftness would have been impressive for someone much older, let alone a thirteen-year-old girl.

When the paperwork was complete, Mira glanced over the name written on the form.

Mikami Shuzou.

Likely a foreigner. The name didn’t sound familiar at all.

“All right, that’s everything. You’re registered.”

She put the document away, then looked up.

The man was still standing there, wearing that same nervous, goofy smile.

Mira slipped on her perfect receptionist’s mask, lifted a carefully crafted sweet smile, and spoke the standard line.

“Well then, I look forward to working with you, Mikami Shuzou-san.”

She had no way of knowing that this moment—this meeting—would twist her life, and perhaps the fate of the world itself, beyond recognition.

For now, it was simply another routine exchange with another newcomer.