“IIIriisss?” A groan-out cry arose from the ancient who stretched her arms in front of her, demanding that her favourite answer her summon.

 

Unfortunately for the undead mage, the risen was nowhere near her or she would have already answered the call.

 

“Loud.” With a frown, the girl pulled the heavy cover over herself as the echoes of the first bell reached the serene chamber.

 

With sleep clouding her mind, the necromancer nuzzled against the pillow she had victoriously taken from the risen, conveniently forgetting about the small mountain of pillows around her that the elf used to appease her. The frostbitten dragon lazed around on her soft hoard until an odd automotive force made the happily napping horror open her eyes.

 

Kia's chin dropped a little as she was met with an empty room. Her round ears focused on searching for the whisper of Iris's feet rubbing against the wooden floor finding only the unwelcomed silence she had grown to forget.

 

"Stupid hue-man, Iris could have stayed with me if she wasn't annoying and kneeled in front of me," The ancient's slender body shook from the anger aimed at the metal-clad human and the colours around her seemed to darken. "Huh?" 

 

The vibrant colours returned to the splendid room as the necromancer's eyes widened as they darted from one corner of the room to the other before closing. The ancient quickly opened her system menu, and a massive ice-locked library materialised around her. Shelves upon shelves were stacked upon each other like towers with tops curved over each other as if someone was trying to cram all of the world's knowledge into a single hall. With a practised motion of her hand, the ancient was brought to the edge of the strange library, with a podium right in front of her. The thick book written in small cursive writing was left open on the first page for a seemingly very long time.

 

Kia's eyes quickly studied the page finding that she had leveled up or rather regained a level which meant that her favourite became a little bit stronger.

 

"Iris..." The ancient opened up her eyes, returning to the real world. She felt a strange mix of emotions of both pride and regret toward her favourite. On the one hand, this is what she wanted, Iris to become stronger but on the other hand, she really enjoyed the process of gaining levels. The colourful spray glimmering in the light as an enemy was struck, the rush of emotions as her mind rushed to optimise each spell she casted. She felt like each encounter was a different puzzle in need of solving with the additional clause she had never played with, the possibility of losing.

 

The ancient fell silent for a long time as she lay on her horde before the same force which had pulled her out of her slumber made her leave her hoard and begin to dress for the equally exciting prospect of acquiring knowledge.

 

The ancient sat down on the edge of the bed waiting... she waited for something to happen with blank eyes before finally realising that Iris wasn't going to materialise in front of her and help her.

 

"Ehhhhh..." Kia could see her clothes nicely folded on the desk in front of her. She as the owner of everything in front of her was familiar with everything and had seen it put on her hundreds of times. This meant she should have learned everything Iris had shown her but the ancient stayed seated unable to collect her thoughts.

 

The necromancer being a magical should have meant that her memory was far superior than the weak flesh beings and it was, she had already learned to copy many things she had seen on her adventure like the art of tying a piece of rope. The weak inhabitants of Iris's world were incapable of easily fusing and unfusing materials together making them reliant on the friction between materials to hold clothes on their bodies.

 

Yet even with her memory, the ancient picked a piece of garment, her head feeling like an empty barrel to what she was supposed to do.

 

Had she never paid attention to Iris? The undead asked herself while recalling the warmth she felt as her favourite's hands caressed her with a gentle touch. "Of course I was... that would be shameful if I didn't." She said aloud trying to sound more convincing to the invisible crowd judging her.

 

While the undead was coming up with excuses a knock arose over the silince causing her to jump up and scramble, with a fury of a fireball the girl had reduced the neat pile of garments into a carpet littering the floor as she rushed to put everything she knew on herself.

 

---

 

POV Change

 

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

 

Sofia knocked on the door to the Blackworm's residence once again before waiting for an answer as she heard someone doing something inside. After a period long enough to justify a scolding at the maid taking care of Lady Blackworm, the circular doorknob began to twist.

 

"H-hello?" A shy voice whispered from behind the small crack. The noble levelled her gaze and saw Lady Siri's golden eye watching her.

 

"Greetings Lady Siri, is there an issue? You seem rather shaken by something."

 

"I..." The high noble's voice trailed off.

 

"Can I come in, Lady Siri?"

 

"I'm not sure." The girl replied but Sofia felt the force holding the door lessen significantly enough to push it open.

 

"Lady-" Sofia's sea-green eyes paused on the Firmusian noble. The way clothes rested on her body could be only described as chaotic, with nothing aligning with each other. If she didn't know better Sofia would assume that the girl standing in front of her was a whore freshly done with a client. "Lady Siri, is your maid awake?"

 

"Yes, she had gone outside."

 

That's not the way a maid should behave, she should have stayed here until her Mistress wakes up. Sofia thought before looking back at the girl and realising something possibly more horrific than the current appearance of her noble ward. Lady Siri appeared to be wearing the same long black dress tightened around her neck as she did yesterday. If she had learned one thing during her stay in Oriripol was that wearing the same clothes day after day was akin to political suicide.

 

"Lady Siri, would you be alright with my maid helping you dress?" 

 

The girl's eyes watched Sofia's face closely before dropping in thought. The blonde noble could hear the girl whispering to herself and from the way Lady Siri looked she was debating with herself. 'What would Iris do?' was the only sentence Sofia could understand from the quiet whisper.

 

"I-I think so." The pale girl replied appearing more like a forest animal rather than a noble as a pinkish hue appeared on her cheeks from the embarrassment.

 

"I will be back in a moment... I promise that after this is done I and my maid will forget about this whole ordeal." The frontier noble rested her hand on her fellow noble's shoulder and like a concerned sibling helped Siri sit down on the couch, making sure she wasn't in need of something before leaving.