Mira held two magic crystals in her hands, a magic book on her lap, and glanced at the contents of Rhode's bag, saying helplessly:
"Rhode, the things you've prepared are enough to blow up a small village... we're only going to a celebration."
"When I borrowed these things, the President said the same thing." Rhode thought for a moment and said,
"I just felt this way it's safer. I originally wanted to ask the President to help draw a few defense magic arrays on me, but he said such things don't exist and kicked me out of the warehouse, sigh..."
"Well, well... I can kind of understand the President's feelings."
Mira wanted to return all the things in her hands, but after thinking, she put a small magic crystal in the bag,
"Thank you for preparing so diligently, this is the most secure I've felt recently when going out."
Rhode regretfully put away the crystal ball Mira returned: "It's just out of necessity... when I'm as strong as Natsu or Erza, I won't need these things."
"Wait, you didn't prepare anything else, did you?"
"Nothing special, just two swift crabs." Rhode lowered his voice, leaned closer to her ear,
"One is scouting ahead, and one is hidden at the bottom of the ship. In case of any trouble, I'll carry you and jump off the ship."
"Tha... Thank you?" Mira was a little worried about what would happen if Rhode really took on an escort mission in the future.
But if there was an attack... Mira looked at Rhode's backpack, hmm, hopefully, the assailants would be okay.
"Oh, besides the material preparations, there's also some mystical preparation."
"..." Mira maintained a smile, quietly listening to him.
"Because everyone says Kana's divination is accurate, so I asked her for a reading yesterday." Rhode was not superstitious before, except when drawing cards in games.
But now, in a world of magic, prophecy and divination magic exist too—since it's free, might as well believe a little.
Speaking of Kana's divination, Mira was a bit interested: "So what's the result?"
"It's 'War Chariot', the king's chariot that overcomes obstacles and achieves victory," Rhode said,
"Kana said, the War Chariot represents 'never giving up', overcoming difficulties through effort to achieve success. If asking about travel, then it's extremely favorable.
If asking about work, then your confidence and rationality will inspire more confidence in the clients."
"Isn't that great?" Mira said, "Since it's extremely favorable, why prepare so many... self-defense weapons?"
"Because you need to overcome obstacles, and be rational to succeed." Rhode pointed at his backpack, "Am I rational enough like this?"
"Too rational." Mira sighed softly, "As the 'client' this time, I'm very confident you'll succeed."
"That's good, I'll just remain a little vigilant." Rhode connected to the vision of the two river crabs, his mind like a 'split screen'.
He carefully watched the surrounding passing ships and every pedestrian on the shore.
Mira looked at Rhode's state and remembered the President's advice, the purpose of this outing was to let Rhode relax a bit, but...
Bringing some consumable magic tools for self-defense is one thing, but does anyone continuously use magic to scout on a trip?
He even thought of divination for fortune-telling ahead of time!
But actually, it's good this way too.
If back then, I had half of Rhode's caution, maybe Lisana wouldn't have...
Compared to my once powerful yet arrogant and reckless self, maybe teaming up with Rhode is safer?
Lisana's face appeared in her mind, Mira wrapped her arms around herself, it's all my fault...
"Mira, Mira?"
Mira was startled by Rhode's voice: "...I'm sorry, I got distracted, did you find anything?"
"Nothing suspicious, is it cold in the cabin?" Rhode noted Mira's arm-clutching action, pulled out a coat from his bag, "Luckily I prepared this too."
It was Rhode's only coat. Actually, if Rhode wanted, he could fit all his clothes into the bag, as he didn't have many.
"Thank you." Mira didn't refuse, draping the coat over herself, the scent of sunlight made her feel warm.
In sadness, feeling care from a companion is the best comfort.
"It's not noon yet, so the cabin might be a bit humid, do you want me to make a fire for you?"
Rhode's fingers moved through the air, each letter formed large magic text "FIRE", then shrank to fist size, transforming into flames.
Mira was amused by this contrast, laughing. This was Rhode's first time showing her three-dimensional text magic, she hadn't expected him to master it this way.
The boatman behind finally couldn't stand it anymore: "Don't play with fire inside the canopy!"
What's with this guy, bringing a big pack of explosives and playing with fire in the cabin? Is he not afraid of triggering an explosion?
"Sorry, sorry!" Rhode waved and the flames disappeared.
...
The small boat drifted downstream, as the sun slowly rose, even with the canopy blocking the sunlight, the air became stuffy.
This is why they opted for a boat rather than riding a river crab.
It would take some time to reach the flower city, Mira opened her suitcase and took out a food box:
"I made some simple sandwiches this morning, if you don't mind, let's eat together. Though the taste doesn't compare to Mr. Cook's."
"You can cook..."
That's only natural, Rhode recalled the last time Mira substituted for Mr. Cook in buying ingredients, it's likely not that Mr. Cook lowered his standards, but Mira was indeed skilled at this.
"Don't judge by appearances, I raised Elfman on my own." Mira handed a sandwich to Rhode, "But actually Elfman's also quite skilled in cooking."
Rhode accepted the sandwich, he had brought some bread, but...
At times like this, even a fool knows what to choose, later toss the bread to Warm to eat.
"Elfman, skilled at cooking?"
Rhode tried imagining Elfman in an apron... couldn't picture it at all.
"Is it so unbelievable?" Mira laughed, "Didn't I tell you, Elfman is a very gentle child."
She did say, but Rhode thought it was just a sister defending her brother's image.
He grinned awkwardly and took a bite of the sandwich: "Huh?"
"What is it, is the taste not good?" Mira checked the food box, "The preservation magic should still be effective."
"Setting aside the preservation magic, this taste is familiar." Rhode tasted more carefully, "It's delicious, different from what I usually have at the guild."
Mira smiled, "As long as you like it, I thought you might dislike my cooking since you're used to Mr. Cook's."
So that's it!
It turns out that day's sandwich was also her doing.
Rhode thought back to the day he just woke up, the taste was the same on his tongue and the smile the same before his eyes.
He took another big bite and chewed quickly, incidentally criticizing himself internally:
Such a clichéd romance plot!