The ambient got somewhat awkward after their latest heart-to-heart.

 

Mostly because Rossie wasn't fully convinced about her self-proclaimed status as a [Villainess], wasn't sending an [Assassin] to her parents-in-law's house enough to qualify as one?

 

It seemed that the pink-haired girl only thought about her actions as something light in question of how much one would go beyond what was normal. That brought some questions to Elizabeth about what kind of life was Rossie used to.

 

"So you got the extra levels, and have found out about my unborn sister and why my adoptive parents will have no problem with us." Rossie said as she stood up and stretched from being sitting for too long.

 

They had been sitting at this dining table for far too long, but even so, Elizabeth didn't feel cramped at all, was this some side effect from her level-ups? Or was this from her [Inheritance] too?

 

She wasn't quite sure.

 

"Well, it seems that our only problem now is dealing with Akira." Answered Elizabeth, so far it was the only problem she could think about.

 

Granted she had more things to deal with. From her current status as an orphan, to people that had memories from her being around. She needed to confirm that no one remembered her before deciding what to do.

 

If anyone else had memories of her, she needed to bait them out to the open. And how could she do that?

 

Easy, she just needed to make herself a tasty target to look for. So the exhibition match was a good way to bait them into the open, she only needed to look impressive, and maybe follow her parent's example?

 

Mother was very good at being flamboyant and Papa was very good at making his points come across.

 

"After dealing with Akira, I need to make sure how many people remember about me and my parent's true identities. I find it annoying that my birthday is wrong, so maybe fix that too?" Elizabeth added it to her list.

 

"Oh right, you spoke about that. What is your birthdate? If it isn't April 6?" Asked Rossie suddenly bringing a notepad from, god knows where.

 

Well, this was interesting, she could get a one on Rossie if she gave a different date, couldn't she?

 

She didn't like the fact that Rossie was older...

 

But then, she felt the tug on the tether that joined them, eager. Waiting... She knew that whatever date she gave would be engraved there...So while sighing she couldn't help it.

 

"Yours was on May 4 right?" Elizabeth asked for confirmation, after Rossie nodded she made sure one of her Royal Mages saved that information and put a memo on it. "My birthday is on September 14, it will be in three months actually, after the exhibition matches."

 

Rossie dropped the pen and stared at her in horror.

 

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME WITH MORE TIME?!?!?" Rossie grabbed her by the shoulders and then started shaking her with all her strength.

 

Well, that was something to think about all right.

 

"I mean...It's a normal day for me, at best...At worst is another reminder that no one comes to my birthday parties besides my parents and some of their friends...Who I think were coworkers more than friends." Elizabeth smiled sadly at that.

 

She was half sure none of the [Twelve] had come to her birthday parties, but she couldn't be sure, not with how no one seemed to show any skill or magic. But then again, she hadn't paid too much attention to them, nor had a way of knowing if someone had powers or not.

 

"...We will prepare a party, and anyone that does not come will regret it," Rossie said nodding her head and Elizabeth could see a dangerous glint in her eyes.

 

"Rossie no. People are miserable when you force them to a birthday party." Elizabeth said shaking her head, she knew this of course. Since the first two birthdays after she started elementary school were like that.

 

She almost didn't notice, but when the kids started leaving when the cake was served she noticed the trend. Any party she went to ended early, and her parties always ran out of kids in one hour or so.

 

The only people that stayed were her parent's friends, and among them only one girl stayed to play with her. She missed that girl...

 

"Can you...No, I guess not." Elizabeth started saying after remembering that girl.

 

"What is it?" Asked Rossie as she grabbed her pen and rewrote something on her notepad, a notepad that disappeared in the air. She felt it materialize in their shared [Garage]. So Rossie also used that as a safe.

 

Not like she could poke too close to her side of things, it seemed that some privacy was expected.

 

"...There was this girl that stayed till I got tired on my birthdays...I was wondering if we could invite her." Elizabeth wasn't even sure if that girl was around. Or where she went.

 

She stopped coming to her birthdays when she got tired of her

school classmates being angry at her for the short parties they went to, most kids wanted to stay but couldn't since their parents didn't allow them.

 

It wasn't her problem of course, but small Elizabeth only knew the other kids hated her after they went to her parties, so she stopped doing them.

 

"I can check on it, but we need a name for it." Rossie, her always lovely Rossie said that.

 

"She is called Jenna Lewis. She was around two years younger than me I think. Last time I saw her was on my seventh birthday...And she was a head shorter than me, so she should have been around five to six years." Elizabeth didn't remember much about that girl, not who her parents were, nor what school she went to.

 

She was sure it wasn't one of her classmates nor part of her school, since she only saw her from time to time, and mostly only at her birthday parties...Or at her parties.

 

So she was probably part of her parent's circle of friends...Or a daughter of one of her parent's friends to be precise.

 

"I will check on it...Someone must know of her, she is probably starting school next year, so if she has some degree of power or skills she will join one of the [Schools]. We will find her more easily using that as a base." Rossie quickly went to the job at hand.

 

She even brought her cell phone to send a few short messages, so diligent!

 

"There, if she is part of any of the schools or wants to join one we will..." Rossie started speaking only for her cell phone to ring a few times.

 

Then short-circuit it and explode.

 

"...That...is a first." Rossie said as she examined the cell phone, her hand wasn't hurt from what Elizabeth could see, not that Rossie would allow herself to look hurt in her presence.

 

The pink-haired girl had [Healing Mana] coursing her body at all times and ready to [Heal], as expected of a [Saintess]. But she was more interested in the event that just occurred.

 

But unlike Rossie, Elizabeth had seen something like that happen before, she hadn't searched anything nor sent any message that time, but something like that had happened to her just after she woke up.

 

"Rossie, don't send more messages. If I had to guess your message didn't arrive either." But first, she needed to warn her girlfriend, "When I woke up, the first thing I did was bring my cellphone out, the one my parents gave me."

 

She still remembered that, she had wanted to call them to ask what the hell had they thought or why they hadn't come to rescue her faster, but instead, "My cellphone teleported away after giving a warning about unauthorized technology of the [Nine Stars]."

 

"...So you think this Jenna girl is related to [The Nine Stars]?" Rossie wondered aloud. "What are the chances of that?"

 

What were the chances? Very high.

 

"She may be a daughter of one of them, or family. Jenna wasn't a schoolmate, and I only saw her around when my parent's friends were invited to a party...Sometimes she came alone and others she came with an adult. But never with the same one, and a few times she came with Papa." Elizabeth hadn't thought much about that before of course.

 

She was still a bimbo, but thinking back on it...Wasn't it weird?

 

A little girl coming to her parties, but never with the same people? She didn't remember her asking her parents anything, most of the time she went to bother one of the adults around... But she never seemed to need anything.

 

...Who was Jenna Lewis?

 

" I may need to check on that..." Elizabeth said aloud and felt her shadow stir, maybe she could send another [Assassin]? "Rossie, do you think someone on the [Nine Stars] would be able to detect my [Minions]?"

 

If they could detect her minions then it would be dangerous, she didn't think they would be as easy to fool as Akira had been, well not all of them. For one she wasn't sure how they fared compared against her parents.

 

She was half sure that Papa had known about [Nyx] when he came to visit her, her [Memories] of the event at least seemed to imply that, as for her Mother...

 

Well, she was, if nothing else. The top [Magical Girl], if she couldn't detect a [Familiar] then she wasn't doing something right.

 

"Probably, those that are [Magic] inclined may be able to detect them... [The Tinkerer] for one should be able to." Was the answer Rossie gave her, "As will [Echidna]."

 

Right...[Echidna] was a member of the [Nine Stars], so any shadow near the [Nine Stars] would be under her domain, and since she wasn't limited by the [Taint] anymore...

 

She didn't want to even imagine what kind of monstrosity would [The Mother of Monsters] release upon this world. So how to broach the [Nine Stars] to deal with this?

 

..."No wait, we are looking at this the wrong way!" Elizabeth realized when she started to think about it.

 

"How so?" Asked Rossie surprised by the sudden scream Elizabeth had done.

 

"We don't really need to know what relationship Jenna has with [The Nine Stars], nor do we need to investigate them!" Elizabeth was once more, thankful for not being a bimbo anymore, " Who cares what relationship they have with Jenna. There is no reason to put ourselves in more danger at the moment while poking our heads where they don't belong!"

 

Rossie stared at her as realization hit her, and then she started laughing.

 

"Hahahahaha, Eli-Eli...This...You are right, we don't need to deal with this at the moment." And so the pink-haired girl ripped a page from her notebook and threw it into the air where it burst into flames, "At least for now, then we will need to find people that want to go to your birthday, if this Jenna girl is out...You still have your social networks running?"

 

Elizabeth wasn't sure, she hadn't checked on her social network pages, so she summoned her phone and started opening the multiple apps she used, from the ones for selfies to those where she liked to post inane updates about her daily life.

 

"They seem to be okay, half my information is deleted or wrong though." Said Elizabeth going through the feed, most of her followers had stayed, and some had liked old photos that survived the purge, mostly of places that were open in multiple parts of the world.

 

But the important ones were gone, such as his parent's accounts. The dummy ones they used as civilians still stood though, but neither had many followers or followers, nor activity for that matter.

 

"Good enough." Rossie said while taking her phone and playing with it for a few seconds, "There done."

 

She had a few updates on her profile, first was her birthday was fixed. That was nice, but she could have done that.

 

The second was that a new post asking about if someone would like to go to her birthday party, but the most important extra new thing was she had a new friend request.

 

From username [The Healer you don't want to mess with], and the profile [Rossie Singh].

 

She of course accepted the invite and added Rossie to her profile as [Love partner], she didn't even wait for confirmation on the other end. "So you think someone will come?" Asked Elizabeth as she looked at the post Rossie made for her.

 

"The post is region-limited, so only people at the MPI will be able to see it..." Rossie said and then added, "At the time of the party Akira shouldn't be a problem, so we don't need to mind it if he comments or not. Not that he uses this stuff, his account had the bare minimum on it. I don't think he uses it, to be honest."

 

Huh, she hadn't even thought about Akira being a nuisance on her birthday to be honest. Even though she should worry about him, even though he was the main cause of trouble for her right now.

 

But...somehow...the idea of spending her birthday with Rossie and some of their classmates was...fun?

 

The idea that it may be her first birthday without people complaining about her, or talking behind her back...The first party where people would actually go for her, and not for her parents...

 

"Yeah...It may be fun...Also, it will be just after the exhibition matches, so we could celebrate that too." Elizabeth was warming up at that idea, "Yeah, let's do a double party."

 

It would be a special party indeed, a party to celebrate her new life... And with some luck, a party to say goodbye to the problems that Akira caused, or could cause in the future.

 

...Was she callous for celebrating that?

 

"Am I in the wrong Rossie?" Elizabeth wasn't sure, "Even after everything that he has done...Is it okay to celebrate it?"

 

"My lovely Eli-Eli, of course, it is something to celebrate." Rossie smiled as she said that, "You only need to think of every woman that has fallen into his hands, all the girls that didn't have a way to defend themselves from his slimy mana."

 

Right...

 

"And if that isn't enough for you, think of Rena!" Rossie brought the red-haired girl into the conversation, "She is a tangible victim near us, most of the girls that got tangled with him got sent away after their parents asked for a relocation. But Rena is still with us since they joined together and share an apartment."

 

...Right...That was a thing that the MPI allowed...For some reason.

 

"Right..." So Elizabeth focused on that, "So, we gotta prepare for that, we gotta focus on the future both for the fight and the party after the fight."

 

"That's my girl," Rossie said while giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Now what is our immediate plan of action to deal with that?"

 

What was their plan to deal with that?

 

"We train for the remaining time till the fight," Elizabeth said as she thought about it, "Maybe squish a few extra levels in these three months? Maybe aim to get to level 30 too...Then party up..."

 

What more?

 

Oh right...Rena.

 

"Think about what to do with Rena. Either search for someone that can untangle her [Soul]...Or [Heal] her, if worst comes to worst..." Elizabeth didn't want to think about the worst.

 

She had a few backup plans about what to do of course, but she wasn't looking forward to them.

 

"I'm with you Eli-Eli," Rossie of course would have her back, "No matter how that ends up...I'm willing to [Tolerate] Rena if it makes you happy."

 

Truly, she didn't deserve her.

 

"We will do our best to not end up in the worst-case scenario, but if we do end up with it... I will try my best to make sure everything goes as well as possible." Elizabeth said to her girlfriend.

 

Now, however, was time for other things.

 

And as her Mother would say "Time for a [Training montage]." She would train as hard as possible in the remaining time she had.