A quiet whisper of a page being turned accompanied Sofia's thoughts as she was resting her head on her hand. Stacks of books surrounded her like the tall city walls keeping monsters and unwanted visitors away from the sacred hearth. Although surrounded by this wall she wasn't the centre of this mighty scholarly defence but her proximity to its mason made the paper walls too also shroud her away from the curious eyes prowling through the great library like opportunistic carrion.

 

The blonde woman contented herself with watching the Firmusian flick through the pages of the most scholarly works. The girl didn't have a notebook beside her to decipher the archaic pages covered with hand drawn examples of magic arrays like others who spent their time seeking answers among the old tomes. Rather the high noble resembled a courtesan lazily flipping through a work of some unknown bard with something akin to an amused smile touching her lips partially breaking the steel emotionless mask.

 

"Lady Siri, the tea is ready." Sofia's sea-green eyes traveled back toward the pale doll after noticing Annette aimlessly searching for her from over the defensive line.

 

"Deliciousness?" The cryomancer squealed happily as she rested her hand on a stack of a dozen or so books next to her. As her hand push down the books into the thick wooden table the stack of books began to disappear one layer at a time. 

 

Sofia stared perplexed at the empty space where the watchtower stood mere seconds before, being vanished from existence by Lady Siri's cold touch. She didn't think that watching things disappear and reappear by the noble's whim would ever become normal to her as the questions of how large the girl's inventory was entered her mind, like unwanted flies ruining the child-like innocence her Ladyship radiated.

 

"Lady Siri, you should conserve your mana and ask me to carry your books." 

 

"Inventory doesn't cost any mana. You know that?" The mage replied causing the already bewitched Junker to space out for a moment as her mind was wracked by another casual mention of a powerful boon the girl possessed. Ordinarily, the already rare gift of having a personal inventory was split between two versions, a spell Inventory and an ability. The spell needed mana to operate but was magnitudes larger than its other variant which was free to use. Seeing the girl use the ability, Sofia had presumed that she had access to the spell version seeing how many things appear to fit inside her inventory.

 

"I did, I just thought... never mind. Let us quickly tidy up and join Annette." 

 

With the help of her maid, the disassembly of the northern bastion of knowledge quickly concluded and began to make their way toward Sofia's room once more. No one from the many people they passed took notice of their casual stroll, there were simply far too many things to do for anyone to bother straying their limited attention onto them. Even if someone from the Academy noticed and managed to deduct that they were students skipping class Sofia expected them to not bother shrugging their shoulders as the responsibility to study squarely fell onto the shoulders of students.

 

"After you Lady." The jingle of keys filled the empty hall lined with residential quarters as Annette opened the door for the two nobles.

 

"Wow." A heart-soothing trill came out of the room before Sofia could look inside.

 

Peeking into the room she found the living room transformed from its ordinary everyday self. The scion of Junker knew that her maid could be considered a veteran in this sort of matter. After all Annette's family came from the ever-sunny coast of the Swan Kingdom where the nobles indulged themselves more often than her mind allowed her to think about at that moment.

 

"I don't know what to do, Annette." The host tilted her body slightly toward her maid as the two stood on the threshold.

 

"Her Ladyship seemed to be as unaware of proper technique as much if not more than you, my Lady. I don't think there is anything to worry about." Annette's youthful albeit older voice quietly comforted her worried Misstress. "I suspect that trying to be too formal with her Ladyship might be detrimental to your relationship with her."

 

"By the Dove Thrones, I hope I don't jinx it." The heroic descendant straightened her shoulders as if marching into battle causing the lowborn to struggle keeping her composure as she sized up the terrible monster her Lady walked toward. This pale horror loomed over the many treats Annette quickly organised for the tea ceremony. "I hope everything is to your liking." 

 

"Yeshh." The high noble tried to reply but both of her cheeks were already stuffed, only pinkish crumbs left on the plate to indicate anything was there in the first place.

 

"How about we sit and enjoy the tea." Sofia pointed to a large couch behind the Blackworm and as if called upon by magic, Annette appeared from the side with two cups of brownish-red liquid.

 

The Junker couldn't hold by her joy as on the girl's face a bright smile returned although it remained somewhat stiff compared to the range of expression the girl made in the mornings. In an effort to not scare Lady Siri with a dumb smile, Sofia brought the cup of tea to her lips. The herbal aroma filled her lungs before blowing the steamy surface. The tea had a taste which the noble could only describe as relaxing. Its harsh taste complemented the spice flavour like a spell of spruce in the early spring. Looking from her cup, Sofia saw Lady Siri staring at her before quickly returning to her own cup.

 

A serene silence took over the living room, healing her still-aching body. She couldn't completely allow herself into the sweet embrace of sleep so the frontier woman quietly watched Lady Siri from where she was. The girl sipped the steaming tea while nibbling on a pastry she held in another hand. With a splash the treat she held fell into the dirty crimson mirror. With a frightened speed, the girl managed to catch the sweet thing before it sank too deep. Even with her face unwilling to show much emotion, her eyes still entertained the onlookers as a clear sign of panic set on Lady Siri's face as she searched for a place to put down the soggy cookie.

 

"Oh-" In the corner of her eyes Sofia watched as Annette jolted forward as the cookie began to sag to one side, a deep rift appearing before a clear tear threatened to sink the rescued sweet. "HmMmHmm!" A delighted yet muffled squeal stopped the maid from moving as the pale girl ate the watered-down desert with a bright smile overtaking her eyes.

 

The girl look so smug about herself.

 

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

 

"My Lady?" Annette's mud colour forehead wrinkled slightly as her eyes went from the door to her Liege.

 

"I'm going to check." Sofia although not happy about the need to stand up needed to answer the door seeing that this was not an ordinary time for the Academy to deliver any pre-agreed correspondence to arrive.

 

"Greetings, I'm Lady Noseria Rosescale." A woman with long braided hair of the colour of late autumn forest courteously dipped her head and lifted the hem of her long dress with a grace far beyond what the frontier woman could do.

 

"And I'm Regina Klothide, it's a pleasure to meet you," Another woman wearing a fashionable dress with feathers hiding the stitching on her dress's chest piece mirrored the other woman but after quickly catching herself with trying to greet Sofia with a handshake. "You had sent me a letter inviting me for tea, I'm very excited to have a chance to talk to you, Lady Junker."

 

"Your letter also found a way to me, Lady Junker."

 

Sofia examined the two women and the pair of servants behind them. She did recall writing invitations to many people and the names Klothide and Rosescale did feel familiar. If she recalled correctly, the House of Rosescale was a noble house from Catalina that specialised in wine making in the southern floodplains of river Súlizon, the de facto border between the Swan and the Lion Kingdoms. Compared to the other house the wine House could be considered a member of upper nobility, only held back by their small size. The Klothides were a minor noble family from Rogburg, a fellow Kingdom in the Pass to Athedale. The merchant house had climbed its way to its noble status through its wealth which didn't garner them many friends among their new fellows but it certainly helped. It was better to be a rich freshly minted noble rather than a new noble with anything else really. Great feats and shows of valour although impressive for a commoner suffered a sort of inflation in circles where generations of soldiers had fought and died for Humanity. The pre-established houses struggle to see their new piers as truly equals but money certainly allowed for quick friendships to form, and cause the minor stigma to disappear rather quickly.

 

A desire to shut the door in front of the two almost won over Sofia's rational mind. She had sent letters to these two a week ago and in the Academy, there were no real excuses to be so conveniently late to answer an invitation. In the end, she stepped to the side allowing the four to funnel into her quarters. This might have not been her homeland but she was still bound by the rules of hospitality.

 

This Junker will teach you the meaning of frontier hospitality.

 

A burning zeal to show the two nobles her homeland's superiority overtook any hesitation Sofia might have had and she followed the two with an energised step. Lady Siri remained seated while the two newcomers greeted her, leaning comfortably against the armrest while curling her legs under herself and a shadow of her smug smile still etched into her lips. The high noble although appearing rather rude, kept Annette's wrath away by leaving her tall leather boots with a truly unnecessary amount of buckles on the floor which kept Sofia from saying anything.

 

The Junker had little problem going back to her seat at the head of the tea table but Regina and Noseria struggled to find a seat. This was not because the living room lacked seats, the couch on which Lady Siri was seated could easily fit her and the two newcomers but of course, none of the two innocent and trustful nobles dared to sit on the same seat as the high noble.

 

The way the pair carefully trotted around Lady Siri not only showed their true intentions but also disgusted the blonde-haired enchantress. She always imagined the spoiled inner territory nobles to be at least competent in scheming, the one thing they seemed to care more about than making excuses on why they couldn't invest more resources into reclaiming the wilderness. But the two didn't even hide anything as they settled on squeezing themselves onto one person's chair to Lady Siri's right.

 

The one saving grace that kept their host from completely forsaking them was the fact that their servants seemed to have already organised with Annette taking charge as the servant of the host. Her maid had quickly ordered the older maid wearing Rosescale colours to leave, most likely because Lady Siri had almost eaten every single piece of food left on the table.

 

"So, when did your Ladyship arrive in Oriripol?" Noseria spoke up before taking a sip of her tea, disguising her dislike for the way Lady Siri ate.

 

"..." Lady Siri blinked at the newcomer as if making sure she was real.

 

"Does Mistress dar Blackworm speak?" Both of the women turned to look at the Junker's scion after the pale beauty turned her head, judging that the two minor nobles didn't exist.

 

"She does," Feeling like a cock among hens the frontier noble replied with a courtly smile. "If she wishes to." She added.

 

"Oh."

 

Seeing the two visibly get smaller after having their initial hopes tempered by the Firmusian girl, Sofia prepared to have an entertaining noon.

 

Maybe Lady Siri isn't as hopeless as she seems. The enchantress swirled her mug in the air right after noticing the pair of glowing eyes watching her and the two other women carefully, almost like a predator watching its prey bicker before the end.