After Mathis and Fawk finished talking, Kotori had a satisfied expression on her face

[I made a friend!]

Fawks on the other hand was frowning.

[Eh? It seemed like he and Mathias were good friends what happened?] Kotori thought. Based on the contents of their talk it seemed fairly light-hearted.

“Something wrong?” Kotori asked innocently.

In response, Fawks flicked her head.

“Ow!” Kotori shouted holding her hand to the spot Fawks flicked

“What was that for?”

“You’re still too loose, not only did you offer to help another candidate you’ve also tied us to them”

“Huh?” Kotori said suddenly confused

“Weren’t you two getting along great? You even talked about running away together” She asked

Fawks gave another one of his trademarked sighs.

“You are really clueless, are you? After meeting the queen you still believe first impressions mean anything? Think harder.”

Kotori did not follow Fawk's line of logic.

“I still don’t understand,” she said

“Mathias may be the nicest person among my brothers, but he is no less dangerous, he’s better at hiding his emotions than that damn woman,” Fawks said gritting his teeth.

[Damn woman? His mother?] Kotori now realized what Fawks meant when he said the first impressions didn't mean anything. Mathias was one of those people who held their emotions close and didn’t show their true colors. He only seemed nice because he was strategically nice to everybody.

“Then why were you so friendly with him, if you know it’s all charade,” Kotori asked.

“Because it’s better to feign friendliness than get on his bad side,” Fawks explained.

He then switched his tone to the lecturing tone he used when scolding Kotori.

“You, on the other hand, are too friendly! Offering to make clothing for Yenoba? Are you daft? That’s basically the same as saying we want to ally with them… Man, you are a handful” Fawks said rubbing his temples.

“Ah, sorry” Kotori apologize. It seems like she still needed to consider the implication of her action. It didn’t seem like her Karma dropped though, which led her to conclude that maybe offering to design clothes for Yenoba was not the worst idea…

Kotori took the lull in the conversation to leave Fawks and her group and walk towards the banquet table which was mostly untouched.

[Their loss] She thought. Most of the people here seemed interested in buttering up to the candidates instead of eating. Kotori on the other hand was more than willing to eat the entire spread of the food if needed. She grabbed a plate and piled it high with assorted roast meats, and various fresh-baked bread.

As she was walking back, she was blocked by a tall woman. The woman was tanned-skinned, and her face reminded Kotori of a cat. Her eyes had a piercing quality that made Kotori feel like she was being seen through. She had long purple hair that tumbled down her brown shoulders. The woman had a relaxed posture, but Kotori felt anything but relaxed in her presence.

Sensing something was wrong Kotori instantly used [Status]

 

Ryla Ghet

Race: Human

Age: 27

HP: 27

Mana: 89

Agility: 15

Strength: 12

Defense: 21

Karma: -3,275

Skills: [Status], [Charm], [Mime]

Traits: [Conductor], [Connoisseur]

 

[She can see me!] Kotori thought. Although being able to sense the mana of the average person and gauge their strength was a simple thing to do. But this was the first time Kotori had seen anybody with the same [Status] skill as her.

This meant that Ryla could instantly see all of Kotori’s skills. To be honest, it felt like being naked in front of a stranger.

The fact that this woman was named Ryla let Kotori know that this was Fawk’s dreaded sister.

In contrast to her appearance, the women seemed interested in Kotori.

“My what a high mana stat, Oh you have “Status” too? What’s this “Gourmet” are you a cook? And you have “Charm” as well, you little vixen…” One by one Ryla went through all of Kotori’s skills. Until she got to Kotori’s traits

“Monte cristo? And what’s this skill it’s in a foreign language I can’t read it.” She was referring to the mysterious skill that Kotori had that was greyed out.

Compared to Ryla’s lazy attitude, Kotori stood there paralyzed. She wanted to move but at this point, it was too late. She stood her ground.

“Can you not do that?” She said indignantly

Ryla looked offended

“What? Why not? You do the same to everybody else I assume, I bet you’ve seen my skills already” She said while grinning

[Well, she’s right about that] Kotori internally concede.

“Ah, Fawks did pick a cute one,” Ryla said, instantly pinching one of Kotori’s cheeks. The action reminded Kotori of a certain queen...

Kotori instantly swatted her hand away.

Ryla didn’t seem upset over Kotori’s gestured and only seemed to smile more

“Oh a feisty one, didn’t know Fawks was into those”

“Stop it,” Kotori said.

“The little princess is angry at me, I’m terrified, What are you going to do, have me executed?” Ryla said feigning fear. Her expression switched again.

“I’ll tell you what little princess, let's play a game”

“A game?” Kotori said confused.

“it’s call two truths and a lie, I’ll tell you three statements and you need to figure out which one is the lie.” Ryla said, she then spoke again not even pausing to let Kotori agree.

“Statement one, I will win this contest. Statement two, Once I win, I plan to have your corpse adorn my throne room, Statement three, I’ll also be taking your beautiful handmaidens for myself.”

[What?] Kotori thought.

“Think hard little princess,” Ryla said smiling.

Suddenly a figure stood between Kotori and Ryla.

It was a familiar back.

[Shu!] Kotori thought.

“I would like to ask you to leave my master alone” Shu said his voice in a low growl.