The cool breeze of the morning air flowed throughout the city of Acetia, it was a Sunday morning, but the hustle and bustle of the city would not rest from that one reason. In fact, the streets were actually quite packed with people.

Today, four members of the de Leon family would arrive at the TelePort, but that event was not the focus of today’s newspaper. Oh wait, nevermind, the Acetia Daily News actually featured that on their front page.

In another side of the city, in a quieter and less crowded area, was the quaint little café that Llamiryl often visited. 

The food wasn’t amazing, and the ambiance wasn’t necessarily the best even for cafes with the same budget. There was nothing particularly beautiful about it, not even in its simplicity.

Yet Llamiryl came here every morning for her breakfast without fail ever since she had arrived at the capital. Currently, she was eating outside at the balcony thanks to the lack of rain. A wide parasol covered the area of the seat and table.

On her table were the usual, some cookies and a morning beverage. At this time, her cup of coffee was instead one filled with hot tea.

Sometimes, the shipment of coffee beans would be delayed for whatever reason, in that case she would order a fragrant cup of tea instead.

She brought the cup to her mouth, a sweet and herbaceous smell entered her nostrils. Pausing for a moment to take in the delightfully relaxing smell, she took a sip.

‘The Chamomile¹Chamomile is the national flower of Russia, so I thought it would be good for Llamiryl (her past life name is Russian) to drink it despite it not exactly being a breakfast beverage. Also, the reason Cale ‘made’ Chamomile tea for Louis is because he knows jack shit about tea and just conjured up the tea he saw Llamiryl drink once. tea here tastes the same as it did in my previous life…’

She took a glance around, Aubrey was not present on Sundays, hence the small amount of customers. Most were just citizens who come and go or regulars who had friends in the staff.

‘…and yet, where are those that cherish the moment.’ Llamiryl mused; there was always an empty seat in front of her.

The taste was the reason she ate here.

In the past, she would drink Chamomile tea to calm down after a long day of work; the tea worked better than any drug that she could take. Now, she did not need the tea anymore, nothing in this world or the last could shatter her mental fortitude.

The cup was placed back on the table, letting out a soft clang as it met the wood.

It did however, bring out a sense of nostalgia, so much that one could not help but shed a tear.

Llamiryl’s face remained unchanged, with only a slight smile plastered onto it. She was unsure if she even had any tears left to shed.

“Is it to your liking, Lady Urikalyn?” The kindly old man who was the owner of the restaurant personally came to serve her. She did not know if his caring smile was fake or not, but it was not due to ignorance; she simply chose to be unaware of something inconsequential.

“Mhm, it’s exactly how I like it.” She responded.

“That’s good, that’s good. It’s good to know I haven’t lost my skill.” The old man spoke, followed by a laugh.

He nodded and left, going back to whatever he was doing in the kitchen.

Llamiryl slightly frowned; there was nothing wrong with her breakfast, not even the rude interruption. It was just that she wished the one who was interrupting would be more direct with her approach.

She took a small dish from her purse and put a pinch of clay within, she sprinkled some silver powder on top of the clay. She raised the dish to her chin and gently blowed on it, scattering everything into the air before her.

“See Invisibility.” Llamiryl muttered, the Great Leyline providing the necessary mana for the magic to work.

There was a silver shine.

In front of her was a certain daughter of a duke wearing a conspicuous baggy robe.

“Elyssa, while invisibility may obscure you from the eye, it doesn’t work on the ears~” Llamiryl pointed at her sharp, elven ears.

Elyssa sighed.

“Sorry, I don’t want to be seen going in here by the commoners, I have a reputation to keep you know, despite how it looks.”

She hesitantly glanced around, before bringing her face close to Llamiryl.

“Is it alright for you to be talking to thin air here? You’ll look suspicious.”

Llamiryl shook her head and chuckled.

“Not at all! I meet suspicious individuals here on an almost weekly basis; a mere invisibility spell won’t be much.” She gestured around her, and indeed, everyone was treating the conversation as a mundane occurrence.

Elyssa relaxed, and then rolled her eyes.

“If you say so.”

 Llamiryl took another sip of her refreshments, her smile creeping up very slightly.

“Well, why are you here? I mean, I don’t mind if you’re just here to see a friend.”

Elyssa’s eyes widened a little.

“You mean it?”

Llamiryl let out a small chuckle, before pushing the plate of cookies towards Elyssa’s direction.

“Take some, I always order enough for two, if no one eats the rest I just feed It to the employees.” Llamiryl stated.

With a bit of reluctance, Elyssa took a cookie and gave it a small bite.

“Well, we are roommates… isn’t it best if we had a friendly relationship?”

Elyssa’s eyes darted around, judging every movement of Llamiryl, to the point where it looked as if she was ogling her.

“Aw, I thought it was already established that I wasn’t going to stab you in the back.” Llamiryl spoke, acting hurt.

A flush of embarrassment appeared on Elyssa’s face.

“Well, I’ve heard such statements before and they are often untrue. I believe in you, though. Anyways… what I’m here for is…”

Llamiryl finished her tea, gulping it down in an instant.

“Let’s talk about this at the dorm, I know the Invisibility spell requires an effort of concentration on the user’s part. Even though we aren’t in the Great Leyline, you wouldn’t want to slip up now and end up on the rumor mill, don’t you?”

Elyssa nodded.

“You’re right.”

She looked down at the plate in front of her.

“Let’s finish these cookies first though, doesn’t take much mental effort to eat sweets.”

--

They were now back at the school dorms, there was now a clear divider between both sides of the room, the alchemical and… biological materials were far more organized.

Elyssa and Llamiryl both had a Biology class, albeit with different teachers. Bringing study materials to one’s room was certainly not a part of the curriculum, though.

“I need you to come with me to pick up some goods at a tailor’s shop.” Elyssa stated, she had stopped concentrating on her invisibility spell, dispelling its effects.

Llamiryl put a finger on her chin, thinking a bit before saying:

“Okay!”

“Really? Not even going to ask why I need you to come with me?” Elyssa sarcastically voiced.

“It’s good to take a break every now and then.” Llamiryl stated, walking towards the door.

“You call running an errand taking a break?” Elyssa tilted her head.

“Compared to what I usually do, I would confidently say it is.” Llamiryl opened the door, revealing the empty hallway.

Elyssa stepped forward, and paced herself ahead of Llamiryl.

“I won’t ask whatever criminal operation you’re running, but anyways, I’ll call a metal carriage to take us to the district.”

She walked forward, casually taking each step without the elegance of a noble she usually carried. Her pacing seemed clumsy and slow, as if she was forcing herself to walk that way.

“Not going to cast another Mind spell?” Llamiryl asked, following behind her.

“Oh please, it’s not like I’m walking into a commoner’s restaurant.” Elyssa spoke with a bit of sass.

Llamiryl clutched her chest, her face showing an exaggerated expression of pain.

“Oh please, you hurt my soul!”

Elyssa turned back,

“Oh, sorry! I didn’t mean to- wait a minute.”

Llamiryl laughed.

“Ahahaha! I didn’t know you were so soft.”

Elyssa crossed her arms and scoffed.

They took a ride in a metal carriage near the academy arranged for nobles; there was a sort of lift system that allowed students to get around even without calling an escort. Though most nobles still had to since they were heavily restricted on what they could do by their parents.

The trip was uneventful and hardly lengthy; they arrived at a building made of marble, home to a tailoring service provided to rich merchants and nobles. And while they did not openly discriminate against commoners, nobles had priority in their orders.

Something about the place made Llamiryl chuckle inwardly.

‘The owner is an elven spy, huh?’

Elven spies were not elves at all, as elves would be highly restricted in their actions in Invicta, instead, they were humans paid and backed by Elvus Dominica to collect information on Invicta’s high society.

Currency transcended races and boundaries, after all. Even an orc who hated the elves would consider an offer if given enough gold.

“The good thing about this place is that people tend to keep your secrets when you hold theirs.”

It appeared Elyssa knew about it too.

They walked up to the reception hall, and they were greeted by a young woman.

“Ah, Lady Enriquez and… Her Imperial Highness?”

“Good enough translation.” Llamiryl stated.

“I’m glad that it is appropriate. Lady Enriquez, your order is ready. We made sure to strike it off the records. We just happened to give you these fabrics, and you just happened to give us a generous sum of gold.” The young woman bowed.

“Good.” Elyssa nodded.

The young woman went through the door at the back of the desk, after a few minutes of waiting, she came out and handed her two brocade bags.

“Consider the bags a bonus; the clothes are inside of them.”

“Thank you.” Elyssa nodded, having no more dealings with the woman, she walked out of the building with Llamiryl.

The sun was already high in the air.

Elyssa sighed.

“It’s already lunch; I suppose we should eat out.”

Llamiryl shook her head, taking a brocade bag from Elyssa.

“That’s no good, let’s eat at the dorms; it would make it easier for us to change into the new clothes.”

“How do you know the other one is for you?” Elyssa asked.

“I don’t see you hanging around anyone else aside from the crown prince. It’s certainly not for him I assume.” Llamiryl struck a heavy blow to Elyssa’s ego.

She silently took slow and heavy steps towards the metal carriage.

--

“Wow, your cooking was really good, I thought elves were vegan though?” Elyssa asked, relishing the full-course meal in front of her. The preparation didn’t even take that long, either.

What she did not know that they were leftovers stored in frozen space.

“That’s a misconception, I mean we do have a lot of different plant-based cuisine to spite the original elves, but we totally eat meat too.”

“Ah, I see, that’s good then.” Elyssa nodded.

The two cleaned up the table and dishes, before finally opening the brocade bags. Inside were colorful gowns with woven fabric, it was practically something a commoner would wear to a special occasion. Llamiryl checked the insides of the outfits, and saw that the inside was made of high-quality silk.

“So… are we going to sneak into somewhere disguised as commoners and assassinate someone?”

“Yes!” Elyssa exclaimed.

“Wait no! Of course not, I’d hire someone else to do that dirty work! What I got them for was…”

She paused, her face showed a hint of hesitation on what to say next.

“For?” Llamiryl pressed her further for information.

“Well… I want to go to the opening of the autumn festival in the afternoon, so I thought to get a disguise, while bringing someone along with me of course.” Elyssa spoke with confidence.

“And you thought I was a good option?” Llamiryl asked, genuinely surprised.

“You are my only option, for dragon’s sake.” Elyssa sighed.

Llamiryl looked at the garb that was very much her size, she held it in her hands an examined the color.

“You know my wardrobe only contains the color black?”

Elyssa firmly grasped her hand.

“We are not going out as Elyssa and Llamiryl, we are going out as a commoner girl and her friend, so spare me the edginess, please.”

“Pfft, you’re the one being edgy here.”

Llamiryl and Elyssa donned the disguises; it didn’t really feel different from normal-high class dresses one would wear at a ball, aside from the absurd amount of ornaments that usually came with it. It sure looked different though.

If not for their hair and eye colors, they could definitely be called ‘mob’ characters.

Elyssa took a finger-sized mana crystal from the cupboard, along with a petal of an orange mock²a flower that symbolizes deceit.

Holding the petal against her head, she chanted:

“Alter Perspective.”

It was a medium-level mind spell that altered the way other people saw someone, the red irises of her eyes turned into a brown color, she kept the auburn hair but her face slightly altered into a more oval shape. It was a slight change, but enough to change one’s identity.

She also casted the spell on Llamiryl, who’s ears turned into a round, more human shape. Her hair and eyes also changes into a shade of black.

“Good, so uhh, how do we get out?” Llamiryl asked.

“I had a mage set up a teleportation circle in the bathroom in my free time. It leads to an alleyway near the venue; it is a one-time use though.” Elyssa raised her hand in a thumbs-up.

“In the academy, with maximum security and heavy restrictions on all permanent spells?” 

“I have my ways. Besides, that’s why it’s one time use.” Elyssa responded.

Llamiryl shrugged, she didn’t really care about whom it was, besides, she even had an inkling on the identity of the hired mage.

They headed to the bathroom, which indeed had a teleportation circle written in magical ink.

“I just have to trace the sigil I think…” Elyssa crouched down, placing her finger on the magical sigils.

Llamiryl slapped her hand away, and did the job herself.

‘I don’t want any mishaps. Spatial manipulation can get funky.’ She thought.

The scene changed to an empty alleyway surrounded by a couple of wards, the teleportation circle under their feet was no longer present. Elyssa glanced at Llamiryl for a second, but decided that it was best that she got interrupted. She was too hasty in her plans, this behavior was not like her.

“Well, let’s go, I don’t wanna stay until night.” She gestured at Llamiryl to follow her.

Llamiryl chuckled.

“Huh, what’s wrong?” Elyssa asked.

“You even changed your way of speech.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to change yours, it’s already disrespectful enough!” Elyssa retorted.

The two stepped into the streets, there were numerous stalls for things such as entertainment and food, and the cheering of families could be heard throughout the venue. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the festivity.

“So, what do commoners do at festivals?” Elyssa asked, overwhelmed.

“Usually, they would be at home taking care of livestock and gardening at this time, but we can’t exactly do that…”

Llamiryl sighed.

“Let’s just do some archery, everyone can do archery.”

Elyssa nodded in agreement.

She cannot, in fact, do archery.

“Out of 6 shots, 1 hit…” The man at the archery range muttered in shock.

“Bullseye?” A passerby asked.

“The target, lad.”

“Oh, that’s pretty bad.” The passerby continued to his part of the range.

‘Relax, a noblewoman doesn’t lower herself to the level of commoners.’ Elyssa convinced herself that her lack of marksmanship was due to her upbringing.

Which would be the case if her soul weapon did not shoot projectiles.

“Haah…” She dropped to the floor in defeat.

“Haha, today’s just not your day isn't it, lass? it’s okay, not like there’s any prize for hitting all the shots except for bragging rights. Does your friend wanna give it a shot?” The man laughed at his pun.

“Yep.” Llamiryl took the bow, assuming proper posture and casually hitting all 5 targets right at the center.

The man clapped his hands.

“Ya have a good aim. Interested in signing up for the tournament? Only a fee of 10 gold and the prize could be 500 or more if we get enough people.”

Llamiryl waved her hand.

“No thanks, I just got a couple of lucky shots.” She didn’t need the money, after all.

Elyssa stood up and dusted her clothes, she looked up at the clear sky to check the time.

“Let’s go to the arena!”

Llamiryl raised an eyebrow.

“Do you really want to?”

“Of course, I heard it was a good entertainment for the commoners.” Elyssa spoke.

Llamiryl shrugged, walking in the direction of the arena.

“Okay then, entrance fee is free for today, so we best hurry if we want a good seat.”

The two managed to grab a seat in the middle of the arena, despite being almost an hour early the place was already crowded with people. It made Elyssa further curious about why the arena was so popular.

She imagined the duels that played out amongst the knights of her household; perhaps it was more exciting if it was a large scale war?

Her stomach rumbled, which was noticed by the man beside her.

“Hey girl, want some roasted fish?” The man presented her a fresh stick of roasted fish, which gained him some stern glances from the surrounding onlookers.

He threw his arms up in the air.

“What? I’m just trying to be nice here?”

“I will- uhh, thanks for the food.” Elyssa grabbed the stick, almost making a slip of the tongue which earned her a laugh from Llamiryl.

She took a bite of the roasted fish and found it disappointing, it had salt, but that was it. The food she regularly ate had better tastes.

“What, were you expecting it to be like those romance novels where the commoner food actually tastes pretty good?” Llamiryl whispered in her ear.

“Well, uhh.”

“It actually does, you’re just at the wrong place for good food. Maybe we can get some good street food outside.” Llamiryl told her.

As she was about to respond, a loud cheer was heard from the crowd, drowning out the announcer’s amplified voice, today’s show had started.

Sadly, it was disappointing to Elyssa. There was no choreography, and not even a proper portrayal of a battle, just men swinging blunt swords at each other and occasionally slinging harmless spells.

Yet, the crowd cheered. She did not get it.

“It’s not what you expected? Right? Well, people enjoy chaos and disorder like this, it’s not supposed to be realistic, it’s supposed to look fun. The guys in the arena are just messing around; they want the crowd to throw money at them. That’s where most of the pay comes from.” Llamiryl spoke with a tone of schadenfruede.

Elyssa sighed, it was not like they could get out, the crowd was far too thick at that point, her spell might even shatter if they braved the sea of people.

“Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask.” She called out to Llamiryl, they could somewhat here each other despite the crowd drowning out their voices.

Llamiryl looked at her, showing that she was prepared to listen.

“How come you know so much? About all of this?” She stretched her arms, gesturing at the place in front of them, and the city that surrounded it.

It was odd for an elven princess to know so much about a commoner’s lifestyle.

“A dear friend of mine, from a place far away.” She looked at the sky, the clouds that invited her, where she was tempted to go to, in hopes that people would be there waiting for her. Whether that was true or not, she did not wish to know.

“Forget I asked.” Elyssa spoke, clearly knowing what Llamiryl meant.

“I wish I could.” Llamiryl spoke in a soft tone that was drowned out by the crowd.

The battle in the arena soon ended, and the voice of the crowd died down, everyone was going back home for the celebration.

The sun was setting on the horizon.

“Well, time sure went by quickly.” Elyssa spoke.

“You spent quite a while just gawking around. In any case, do you want a souvenir for the day?” Llamiryl asked.

Elyssa shook her head.

“No, I decided to go here because of the crown prince, I just wanted to have something to say to the topics he’s been talking about recently.”

She looked at a stall where a man was cooking fried foods with the help of magic.

“Maybe we should get some of that food you were talking about.”

Elyssa checked her pocket, and realized that she did not bring money. Commoner money, to be exact. The gold pieces that commoners used weren’t of pure gold, just an alloy made with other metals with a little gold to allow it to conduct mana.

“Shit.”

Llamiryl laughed.

“Ahaha, how clumsy of you to not bring… money.”

She also did not bring money.

Ironically, the two were probably richer than anyone on the streets, and at the same time poorer.

Llamiryl noticed a familiar old man on the streets dressed in servant’s attire, he was buying a lot of flags.

The man turned around after purchasing the flags, then noticed the two on the streets. He took a bag of currency from his pocket and tossed it at Llamiryl.

“A gift for milord’s friend.” Leonor spoke, walking away with the flags cradled in his hands.

“”How do you know??”” The two girls asked, with different meaning behind their questions.

Alas, they received no answer.

“Well nice, we have money now, hey mister!” Llamiryl called out to the man at the food stall.

“Heya, we have fried foods here, I recommend the mushroom skewer or the fish and chips!” The man shouted back.

Llamiryl and Elyssa walked to the stall.

“2 plates of fish and chips.” She spoke, taking out the exact amount of money written on the board.

“Alright, coming right up!” The man headed to his outdoor kitchen.

“Fish and chips?” Elyssa tilted her head.

“It’s strips of fried potato with crispy fish fillet.” Llamiryl answered.

The man finished cooking the food, he handed two wooden plates over to Llamiryl and Elyssa.

“Here ya go, make sure to hand back the plates when you’re done or I’ll come looking for ya.” The man winked.

Llamiryl took the plates handing one to Elyssa.

Elyssa checked the ‘chips’, she took a piece of the junk food and dipped it in the sauce, it tasted of oil, ketchup and mayonnaise.

She did not like it very much, as she was a woman of finer tastes, but she could understand why commoners would like it.

“I understand a bit more now, I think this day was ‘kinda good’ as one would say in slang.” Elyssa nodded in satisfaction.

“Back to being a noble now?” Llamiryl asked.

“I think I’ll wait until we get home.” Elyssa took another bite of her food.

The two silently ate, the passerby’s in the streets ignoring them. Elyssa felt strange, it was as if time was slowing down for her and the world was shrinking.

‘Oh wait, I’m just tired from all the walking.’ She concluded.

There was something else.

They finished their food, the two took the wooden plates back to the man at the food stall, and so, they headed back home.

“Hey, Llamiryl.” Elyssa called out, making sure no one in the crowd heard her.

“What is it?”

“You know, I’ve always wanted a friend.”

“Mhm.”

“But whenever our eyes meet, I get butterflies in my stomach…” Elyssa paused, her eyes widening.

“This is just an innocent little crush, right?” She muttered.

Llamiryl stopped walking, and turned around. She looked at Elyssa directly in her eyes, who was blushing slightly.

“Are you sure that’s not just fear or nervousness?” She asked.

Elyssa smiled.

“I would have never invited you today if that was the case.”

Trickles of water started falling from the sky, there looked to be a downpour in the evening.

“Very well, I will let you indulge a bit.”

Llamiryl took out a black umbrella from her bag; she quickly opened it, bringing the umbrella above her head. She took Elyssa by the arm and brought her under the umbrella, their bodies close to each other.

“You shouldn’t just stand there though, you’ll catch a cold.”

“You were too slow, I’m already wet.” Elyssa responded.

“Better take a quick shower when we get to the dorms then. Just to be sure, you do have a plan to get back to the dorms?” Llamiryl asked, casting a stern glance towards Elyssa.

Elyssa laughed lightly.

“I’m not that clumsy. Of course I did.”

They walked forward, bathed in the light of the festivities and the obscured night sky.

Dear sister,

The stars are still shining brilliantly in the night sky; they haven’t fallen down to this world yet. Lately, I have doubted their credibility. I know I swore to never help living beings indulge in their desires ever again. Yet, here I am leaving a little girl to her fantasies. The people of this world… I don’t consider all too similar to ours, but they are the same at their very core. I heard from Quin that this girl was the 'villainess' of the game, a genius of mind magic with a tragic backstory. The perfect antagonist for a story book. She usually had a 'bad' end in the 'storyline' and those where she survived ended up turning the country into a perfect dystopia. I of course know the clear answer as to why: Emotion. And if there is one thing that can create and destroy entire worlds, that would be love. I think… I’m really not cut out for my job, you know? I haven’t complained for thousands of years, but now I think I reserve the right to complain again, now that the job is done, hehe~. It’s the 278^th time I’ve written a letter similar to this.

 

Your dearest sibling,

Anzhelina Novikova