"What’s in it?" Evelyne asked, already anticipating whatever ridiculous answer her cute bestie would come up with.
"Stinky Boom."
There was a brief silence.
Evelyne slowly turned her head toward her friend, putting on the most convincingly confused expression she could manage.
"I’m sorry. What’s that?"
"Stinky Boom," Mira repeated helpfully. "I bought it from one of the shops outside the academy."
Evelyne blinked at her.
"Stinky Boom? You mean that stuff that smells absolutely horrible?"
Mira nodded solemnly. "The very same."
"Oh, how dreadful." Evelyne pressed a hand to her chest, pretending to be deeply concerned. "And here I thought you were carrying something useful."
Mira narrowed her eyes.
"You know perfectly well what Stinky Boom is."
"Do I?" Evelyne asked innocently. "How terrible of me to forget."
"You’re doing that thing again."
"What thing?"
"That thing where you pretend to be clueless just to annoy me."
Evelyne smiled sweetly. "I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about."
Mira stared at her for a moment before sighing dramatically.
"Fine. Keep pretending. See if I care."
"Oh, I wouldn’t dream of stopping now." Evelyne’s gaze drifted toward the massive bag strapped to Mira’s back. "But that does raise an important question."
Mira immediately grew suspicious. "What question?"
"Why, in the name of common sense, are you carrying an entire bag of Stinky Boom on your back instead of putting it in your spatial ring?"
Mira looked at her as though the answer should have been obvious.
"Because I wanted to?"
Evelyne opened her mouth, then closed it again.
For a moment, she simply stared at Mira.
Then she burst out laughing.
It wasn’t a particularly dignified laugh, either. She tried to suppress it, pressing her lips together and turning her face away, but the sight of Mira standing there with an enormous bag of Stinky Boom strapped to her back proved too much for her.
Mira frowned.
"What’s so funny?"
"Nothing." Evelyne took a breath, still grinning. "Absolutely nothing. I just find it reassuring that, even in the middle of a mysterious investigation that might involve the headmaster, you still have time to make questionable purchasing decisions."
"They weren’t questionable! They were useful!"
"For what? Attacking someone’s nose?"
"You never know when you might need them."
"That’s precisely what frightens me."
Mira huffed and adjusted the bag on her shoulders.
Evelyne watched her struggle with it for a moment before shaking her head.
"I told you to put them in my spatial ring."
"I remember."
"And you refused."
"I remember that, too."
"Wonderful. At least your memory works."
Mira stuck out her tongue at her.
Evelyne responded with a perfectly composed smile that somehow managed to be more irritating than any insult.
Mira rolled her eyes and turned away, muttering something under her breath about ungrateful best friends.
Evelyne’s smile widened.
She knew perfectly well what Stinky Boom was. She had simply decided that pretending to be unfamiliar with it would be far more entertaining than admitting she already knew.
And judging by Mira’s expression, the performance had been entirely worth it.
For all her teasing, however, Evelyne was genuinely concerned.
She had suggested that Mira store the Stinky Boom in her spatial ring not merely because the bag looked ridiculous, but because she wanted Mira to travel as lightly as possible. If the letter turned out to be dangerous, carrying unnecessary weight would hardly help.
Besides, the whole trip had felt strange from the beginning.
Evelyne had only learned about the letter yesterday, when Mira had finally admitted that she did not know what else to do.
By then, the decision to investigate had practically been made.
Evelyne had immediately suggested informing one of their teachers. If the matter was serious enough to warrant a journey beyond the academy’s grounds, then surely an instructor should know about it.
Mira had refused.
At first, Evelyne had assumed it was because Mira was afraid of being laughed at or reprimanded for acting on a mysterious letter.
But that was not the case.
Mira had actually tried to tell a teacher.
She had gone intending to explain everything, only to find herself unable to bring herself to say the words. Something deep inside her had warned her against revealing the matter.
It was not the first time such an intuition had occurred.
Since childhood, Mira had occasionally experienced these strange feelings. Sometimes, she would suddenly know that she should avoid a particular road or refrain from saying something. At other times, she would feel an inexplicable certainty that a particular decision was the right one.
More often than not, those instincts had proved correct.
That did not mean she understood them.
She had no idea where they came from or why they appeared when they did. She simply knew that ignoring them had rarely ended well.
And this time, the feeling had been stronger than usual.
She could not explain why, but every time she considered telling a teacher about the letter, something inside her resisted.
So she had kept quiet.
Evelyne did not particularly like it.
As an academy student, she could no longer simply call upon her family’s influence whenever she encountered a problem. Aethryndian Academy had its own rules, and she had no intention of dragging her family into every uncertain situation.
Besides, she was not about to abandon Mira merely because the matter was inconvenient.
Still, she could not shake the feeling that they were walking into something they did not fully understand.
For now, all she could do was keep her eyes open and hope that Mira’s mysterious intuition was leading them somewhere sensible.
Preferably somewhere that did not involve explosions.
Or Stinky Boom.
Unfortunately, she had a feeling that hoping for the latter was rather optimistic.
"Come on," Evelyne said at last, adjusting her sleeves. "We should get going."
Mira looked up.
"Where?"
"The Awakener Guild, of course."
"Oh, right!"
Mira’s expression brightened again, though Evelyne noticed that the worry had not entirely disappeared from her eyes.
"We need to hire a few skilled Awakeners before heading to Kragdeep Dungeon," Evelyne continued. "Unless you’ve secretly become powerful enough to clear an entire dungeon by yourself, in which case, I would appreciate it if you told me before we arrive."
Mira shook her head quickly.
"I’m not that strong!"
"Excellent. At least one of us has realistic expectations."
"Evelyne!"
"What? I’m being supportive."
"You’re being annoying."
"I can do both."
Mira let out a small laugh despite herself.
Evelyne smiled, satisfied that she had at least managed to ease her friend’s worries a little.
The Awakener Guild was only a short distance away. If they were lucky, they would find a reliable group willing to accompany them to the dungeon without asking too many unnecessary questions.
If they were unlucky, they would end up paying a ridiculous amount of money to people who looked as though they had learned everything they knew about dungeon exploration from drinking contests.
Evelyne sincerely hoped it would be the former.