Masha was royally ignored...as usual. Lydia didn't bother looking sideways cause this was her chance to prove her worth to the clan. she was actually 19 years old but preferred it if people treated her as a full-grown adult. despite her small physique similar to a little girl, nobody in the clan dared to touch her. the reason wasn't that she was Paru's younger sister. if it was then denying them the chance to touch her would go against customs placed since their forefathers thus becoming enemies of the whole clan.
the reason is because of how terrible her fashion sense was.
yes, such a reason may sound petty but to the lightning wolf clan, it was similar to carrying the plague if one had terrible fashion sense. Lydia would walk around in earrings with strange shapes, leather jackets with metal spikes on the shoulder pads. it didn't matter what colour she wore it would always be a leather jacket with metal spikes. she put on green coloured lipsticks and always dyed her hair in different colours. although it may sound petty to judge someone based on their clothing the lightning wolves didn't respect such ways of thinking. they ultimately believed if you wanna be honest with someone at least wear clothes that don't scream 'rebellious'.
yes, Lydia was hugely disliked in the clan however at the same time everybody in the clan wanted to protect her. she may be trouble and have terrible fashion sense but she was still a member of the clan, and that comes first over disliking each other.
Lydia made a cute pouting face that made some of the lightning wolves wince because it was such a cute face...just on the wrong person.
Patricia was the clan historian back at the clan village. although it was a village they were actually a powerful community with their own beliefs and religions carved. they needed a historian to keep records of battles and events. for easier tracking but the issue was. she preferred to see young girls in cute skirts than actually doing her job.
"Lady Lydia...not everybody likes your sense of style and according to the records...this is the sixty-seventh time you dropped everybody's mood to rock bottom."
Patricia pushed her glasses up her nose and readjusted them. she did it so casually with no emotions on her face anymore but this was what Lydia strongly disliked about her.
"huh?!? Patricia....why do you keep records of such petty things? you know that all I'm trying to do is show you guys the importance of true style! hmmph!"
with that Lydia turned her gaze away from Patricia and floated over to Rodrique and Masha.
"you like my fashion style...right Masha?"
although Lydia sounded sincere she was depressed. this always happened whenever she showed out the clothes she liked. nobody in the clan would like it and it would always have a negative impact on her self-esteem. although nobody in the clan flat out told her how bad her fashion sense was Patricia wouldn't hold back and would just hit the nail on the head.
"Nope."
Masha had a calm face as she let her thoughts be known. this crushed Lydia because of how fast it took Masha to give her an answer...0.87 seconds to be precise.
with this Lydia slowly hid in the encirclement and disappeared from Masha's view. this was the norm for Masha but that didn't mean she liked it in any way. with that, the clan decided to head back to the village but Masha declined their offer and asked Rodrique to return her to the ground. he nodded and slowly descended from the storm clouds.
on the way down through the cold air, they came upon Paru who was holding the lightning sickle in his hands and was staring at the ground. he asked Masha if anything was wrong and did a thorough checkup on her, after confirming that she was fine he handed her a pink and white crisscrossed panty. upon seeing her panty Masha blushed furiously and grabbed them from Paru. with this action, Paru chuckled slightly before nodding his head and followed the rest of the clan returning to the village.
Rodrique had reached the ground and let Masha down. she was still wearing the clothes that Lydia had dressed her in and gained a few odd stares from surrounding people. but they all eventually returned to their business. it wasn't odd for a powerful adventurer to fly around and some would occasionally pick up girls so this wasn't new to them.
Masha sighed and decided to head to the town hall to see if Marv was still there. she had her memories of the high orcs and venue dimension wiped by Paru for the sake of preventing mental trauma. he used a bit of shock to switch her brain off temporarily forgetting all events in the past hour.
with the storm clouds dispersing the moon could be seen high in the sky.
{around twenty minutes or so from midnight I guess...}
Masha walked down the street and passed people who were drunk from drinking at the inns and people closing their shops. this was normal for her and she enjoyed her job as a knight of Arcane city because these people entrusted their lives with her and she liked to be relied on.
as she walked down the city street a sudden pain enveloped her head and she crouched in pain. she lacked the ability to scream as the pain came so suddenly and disappeared after 6 seconds.
she looked up to see what could have possibly caused that much pain. she had a wild guess but it couldn't be possible...right? with this thought, she stood up and looked around her surroundings and her eyesight landed on a blonde-haired woman. she was casually talking with a tall muscular man with shaggy black hair.
she knew both of them...the man was a buffoon she never bothered to make friends with while the woman was...
she gulped and slowly approached the duo who were casually talking right outside a cafe that hadn't closed yet and had two cups of tea before them. while Masha approached them she had a snowstorm going through her head. she was asking several questions at once and was still in utter disbelief that the woman would be at a place like this.
she soon reached their table and stood before them with her head lowered.
"he..hello Lady Alyssa. Masha Kerian has come to see her lady and hopes to be allowed to sit at your table."