NOVEL WEB Chapter 285: Presentiment (2)
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But now, an even better environment to train was being created. Somehow, Meilin was really good at finding out about places like that, so there was no doubt that she would participate, going from a remote place to a tournament the whole continent was paying attention to.
It was only a matter of time until people realized she was one of the Nine Wisemen. And Solomon’s worries concerned what lay ahead of that.
Once she was recognized, news about the appearance of a Wiseman that had been gone for so long would spread like wildfire, and Meilin would become even more easily recognized.
Then, the few people who had seen her before would know she had been wandering around remote areas all over the continent, spreading rumors. Basically putting Arkite’s intentions into doubt, as one of their strongest assets had been seen in foreign territories unannounced. It even could lead to doubts being cast as to whether she had been collecting intel to plan a future invasion.
The truth was something far simpler, and Solomon would never trust her with such a delicate task. But her title as one of the Wisemen carried a lot of weight. Even if she herself claimed that she had only been trying to train, not many would believe her.
It could even lead to her being suspected of scouting out foreign countries, which would be deemed a violation of the Limited Armistice Treaty’s terms.
She would be able to get away with it if she remained so hard to see and recognize, but that would end once she took part in the tournament and stood out.
「But that’s just what could happen in the worst case scenario, I doubt things would get that bad. Still, things can get ugly, so we should plan ahead to deal with it.」
Solomon concluded, sharing his worries, and looked at Mira, his eyes full of expectation.
「Oh well…so it’s really coming down to me.」
Mira was getting a new mission, she had to travel to Nirvana to bring Meilin back, and to avoid an international issue.
「So, do you have a plan already? I’m sure you know telling her to not take part is never going to work.」
Mira had learned martial arts from Meilin, so she knew first hand how seriously Meilin took that. Her whole reason to live was to fight powerful foes, so even if Mira went and explained the perils her participation would bring, it would not do much to stop Meilin. And even if Mira managed to convince Meilin to desist, that would only push her to leave on a trip to remote locations again.
The ideal solution would be to let her fight to her heart’s content, and then bring her home once she was satisfied. But Mira was unsure of how realistic that was, and threw a questioning look to Solomon, who just smiled in response.
「I’ve been working on that since yesterday. All we have to do is make people wonder if it’s actually her.」
It was fine if people suspected it was Meilin, they just needed to make sure there was no solid proof. Starting with that, Solomon explained the simple yet effective plan he had come up with.
They would not try to stop Meilin from fulfilling her desires at the tournament, but they would explain to her the issues, and give her a certain condition.
Namely, she would have to wear a disguise. Meilin probably knew it was better to not stand out too much considering her position, but knowing her, she would not do anything effective. At most, she would just wear a pair of glasses or change her name.
So Solomon’s plan was to prepare a more extensive disguise for her.
He had started working on it the day before, consulting with Lastrada about it, who was already a master of disguise, and together, they had come up with a rough idea. They had to paint her in a completely different light to how people remembered her, cutting any connections people could draw to Meilin so she would not be recognized.
「It’ll be unavoidable for some people to suspect her identity, but it’ll just be a wild guess, and that will be enough for us to feign ignorance.」
Solomon then picked up another sheet of paper from his desk and passed it over to Mira.
「Hmm… I see.」
Written in it were the rules surrounding the equipment allowed during the tournament matches.
Participants could only use the weapons provided by the event. Things were a bit more complicated when it came to defensive items, with the rules meticulously describing what counted as such or not, but overall it was the same, with the event providing armor sets to the participants. Any form of clothing was allowed, as long as it steered clear from the defensive item rules.
「We’ve decided to turn her into a mysterious magical girl.」
Solomon began to explain the plan he was working on to disguise Meilin. First and easiest was dying her hair, since Meilin’s hair had a notorious color, and he wanted her to dye it red.
「The dye will fall off on its own within three days or if she washes her hair, so make sure to remind her of that. I doubt she’ll keep that in mind herself.」
「Right…I’ll be careful.」
Simply dying her hair red would greatly change her appearance, and in some cases, could be enough of a disguise. Thinking that, Mira asked if she could get some black hair dye as well.
「I’ve gotten pretty famous lately, being known as the Spirit Queen everywhere. It’d be nice to be able to go out without causing so much hubbub.」
Mira sounded almost proud of that, not really too bothered by it, as she actually enjoyed all the attention and preferential treatment she received. Not to mention that it was all helping summoners become more respected again.
Overall, it was a positive thing. But sometimes she did feel like everyone was looking her way, making her slightly unnerved.
「Alright, I’ll get some ready for both of you then.」
Solomon happily accepted Mira’s request, even grinning for a moment, but Mira did not notice that.
「Now, her clothes are also going to be important…」
Clothes were an essential part of a proper disguise. Everyone, from the Nine Wisemen to the former players and the general public, remembered Meilin as someone obsessed with martial arts. That was why Solomon claimed that no one would ever expect her to be wearing a magical girl style getup.
「A magical girl…hmm… That is certainly quite different from her usual appearance, so it’ll be pretty hard to recognize her. The issue is whether she’ll agree to wear that or not…」
Mira also could not remember the last time she had seen Meilin wearing something different from a gi or similar training robes, so she began to wonder whether Meilin would actually agree to wear something so cutesy and covered in frills as a magical girl style dress. But Solomon just smiled and waved off her worries.
「Ahh, don’t worry about that. I’ve consulted with Lastrada about that, and I’ve passed on his advice to the tailors.」
Lastrada had contributed with his knowledge of disguises to plan a cute dress that would transform Meilin, while also making sure that she could move freely in it as the clothes she was used to wearing. All of that advice had been passed over to the leader of the castle’s bright maids, Lily.
The maids had already proven their skill at crafting such dresses in the past, and Lily herself knew how to use a form of CQC designed for maids, so she knew better than anyone how to design clothes to fight in.
「I see… I feel like they’ll end up making something incredible again…」
Regardless of her flaws of character, Lily’s skills were certain. Mira just had to look down at her own clothes to see that, and she could only wonder what kind of dress Meilin would end up getting.
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