Invitation! Tch... So It Was a Mission

Early the next morning, Ed opened his eyes. "Ah~ Sleeping in my own room is still the most comfortable~"

After stretching and washing up, Ed headed straight to Townsmith's shop.

"Boss, I'm back~ I need you to make those darts again this time~"

"Leave it to me! I'm the best blacksmith in town!" As if some passive ability had triggered, Townsmith replied without even looking up.

Townsmith looked up and saw Ed. "Oh~ It's you, kid. So, how did that last batch feel? Anything that needs improving?"

"They were great, nothing needs changing. But I need more this time. Let's start with a simple three hundred."

"Hmph, I'm the best in town... Wait? How many?" Townsmith was just about to trigger his passive again when he heard the quantity Ed wanted. "Three hundred? Are you planning to eat them? Carrying all of those on you would weigh nearly two hundred pounds!"

"I was born with superhuman strength, okay!?" Townsmith had hit Ed's blind spot, leaving him a little embarrassed and angry. "Anyway, don't worry about that. Can you make them? How long will it take, and how much?"

"Hmm... If I get a few apprentices to help... three days. Come pick them up on the morning of the third day. Since you're a regular, I won't charge a deposit. Cash on delivery, and the price is the same as before: one thousand J each, three hundred thousand J total." After saying that, Townsmith immediately gathered his apprentices and began preparing.

"Fine, I'll come back in three days~ Bye, then." Ed waved, then decided to stop by the guild first.

Back at the guild, Ed had just reached the request board when a hand grabbed and pulled him away. "Found you!" He turned and saw Mira looking at him with an excited expression.

"What is it, Mira? Are you finally going to accept my pursuit?" Ed smiled at her. "Quit fooling around! I need to talk to you about something important!" Mira shot him an irritated look.

"Hm? I'm listening." Ed motioned for Mira to continue.

"I want to invite you to..." Before Mira could finish, Ed excitedly interrupted, "A date! I'm free! Today? I'm ready!"

"I seriously don't understand what goes on in your head... It's a mission, a mission!" Mira looked utterly speechless.

"Tch... I only just got back. I wanted to rest for a while..." Ed looked somewhat disappointed.

"We barely know each other, right? Inviting you on a date would be the weird thing here. What the hell are you disappointed about?" Mira delivered the perfect retort. Then she continued, "This is a mission I was planning to accept. I originally intended to do it alone, but Lisanna and Elfman want to come too. I was hesitating because an S-Class Mission might still be a little dangerous for them."

"And inviting me makes it not dangerous? Get this straight, it's an S-Class Mission." Ed replied weakly.

"Oh, come on~ Your magic lets you teleport, doesn't it? Once the fighting starts, just teleport the two of them somewhere safe. After I finish, you can come back. It's an S-Class Mission, you know~ The reward is huge~ A full six million J. I can give you a third of it. So? Will you consider it?" To recruit Ed, Mira even acted a little coquettish.

"That's cheating, Mira!" Ed could barely withstand it.

"Please~" Mira stared fixedly at Ed with sparkling eyes.

"..." Ed took critical damage. It was super effective! "Before I agree, shouldn't you at least give me a brief introduction to the mission...? If possible, please explain it in under thirty words." Ed had absolutely no resistance to Mira like this and could only agree to her invitation.

"A noble has been targeted by the Assassins' Guild. We need to protect him for a while." Mira succinctly explained the mission.

"Fine, but I need to prepare some tools. I'll need three days. How about we leave three days from now?" Ed thought about how his custom kunai would not be ready until the day after tomorrow, and having too few kunai just made him feel uneasy.

"That works. Then shall we meet at the station at ten in the morning three days from now?" Mira considered it and agreed.

"Then..." Ed checked the time. It was nearly noon, so he directly invited Mira. "Since I agreed to do this mission with you, would you honor me by having a meal with me?"

"Sigh... You really know how to push your luck. Fine, fine, but it's only a meal." Mira seemed somewhat wary. After all, Ed was a dangerous man who had dared to confess in public the first time they met.

"Just a meal, and we can discuss the mission details while we're at it." Ed looked completely righteous.

"It had better be!" Mira's expression was complicated.

...Just Eating...

"So, to put it simply, that noble angered a duke from a neighboring country. The duke put a bounty on him, but to preserve relations between the two countries, he said he would only issue the bounty once, and it would only last for one week. Is that right?" Ed confirmed the details of the mission with Mira.

"Mm-hmm, that's right. You're really talented at summarizing!" Mira nodded, confirming that Ed had it right.

"Fine, then that's it for now. We'll meet at the station at ten in the morning the day after tomorrow." Ed stood up. "By the way, Mira, do you know where I can buy storage-type magic tools?"

"Storage-type magic tools? What do you need one for? Those things are expensive, you know~" Mira looked puzzled.

Ed directly pulled out a Flying Thunder God Kunai and handed it to Mira. "Look, my magic is a spatial magic called Flying Thunder God. Simply put, I can teleport to wherever this mark is." Ed pointed at the Flying Thunder God Mark on the kunai's handle.

"Mm... And?" Mira did not quite understand what he meant. "The thing is, if I don't have enough of them, my teleportation landing points are easy to predict. But if I have too many, carrying them becomes a problem," Ed explained.

"Mm... I know a shop. They should have what you need. I don't have anything to do this afternoon, so I'll take you there." Mira thought for a moment, remembered where the shop was, and prepared to lead Ed there.

"Does this count as a date?" Ed suddenly became interested.

"Get lost!" Mira felt that this man was truly annoying.

The two set off toward the magic tool shop. The afternoon sun was bright, and as Ed and Mira walked down the street together, the handsome man and beautiful woman drew quite a few looks.

"Hm? Is that... Mira?" Lisanna had gone out to look for her sister after Mira had not returned home at noon. She suddenly discovered that her sister was actually shopping with a man. Finding it hard to believe, she hurriedly hid to one side and secretly followed them.