Aria's POV:
Was our house always so big? … And lonely?
I mean, I know my house is big from an ordinary viewpoint, but with Mom and Dad on vacation, and Sophia and Carolina gone, all of a sudden, the size of the mansion feels ridiculous.
To kill some time, I got the impulse to just walk around. So I decided to check every room in the house.
As I was goofing around, I heard a knock and Letty's voice from outside.
"Come on in", I replied.
"Here you are. I was looking all over for you. At least tell me before you disappear", she complained.
"Oops, sorry. I didn't mean to stroll off for so long, it just somehow ended up this way". Seeing her slightly annoyed expression, I decided to change the topic. "Say, did you know about this room? There's like an entire clothing store in this room. There are so many clothes, does Mom even wear any of them?"
"Yes, Teacher likes to shop. Every now and then, she calls up any seamstress who catches her eye and buys all of their stock. She had told me to take and use any of the clothes that I like". She scratched her cheek and continued, "But I try to avoid being caught by her around this area, as she'll use it as an excuse to call more seamstresses and play dress-up. Well, now that she isn't here, I might try out some new clothes".
Ah, the trauma.
"Anyway, don't change the subject. As for today's training, we'll run at least five laps around the yard. I am not letting you off the hook this time", she said, folding her hands.
"My sweet Letty, don't be angry. I wasn't running away, in fact, I was just about to come find you for today's training session", I tried to please her.
"It's the same thing every time, I'm not falling for your sweet words. Let's go", she said.
That evening, as I was reading some new research papers, hoping to come up with some easy-to-implement kind of ideas to finish the quest. Letty came up to me and said, "I've completed my chores, and I'll be heading out for a while".
"What? But there is only one shadow guard here. It's dangerous to leave alone", I said. As Mom and Dad are on vacation, we've only got one shadow guard, Betty, for our protection.
"Don't worry about it. I'll disguise myself and take some other guards with me. And before you ask, I'm heading to the bookstore, and no, you can't come..", she said.
"Why can't we go together?" I cried.
"It's a little personal", she said, looking down.
I jokingly pouted, "Hmph, and here I thought we had no secrets…"
"Sorry…", she said with a guilty look.
"I was just kidding. Of course, you can go out. Just wait a second", I said, getting up and searching the drawers for my most prized possession.
"Here, from now on, keep this with you whenever you are heading out. Do you remember how to use it, or should I show you again?", I asked, handing her the taser gun.
"It's really not necessary. I'll be back before dinner", she said.
"It's either this or take me with you. The choice is yours. And don't forget these extra 'batteries', and lastly, keep the dial on green", I said.
She instantly replied, "Alright, I'll take it".
This is the only problem with the taser gun, it eats up a lot of mana. The battery is just a specially enchanted, medium-grade mana stone. Each battery can yield five non-lethal zaps. I've added a dial to control the lethality. At green, it would hurt the other party, but not enough to injure them. Similarly, one can easily guess what the yellow and red dials would do.
"I'll be heading out now", she said, as she got up and walked up to me.
She placed her hand behind my head, just below my left ear. Then she pulled me closer to match our heights and fiercely kissed my lips.
"Mnnh", I couldn't help but let out an embarrassing moan under her surprise attack.
Satisfied by my reaction, she pulled apart and lightly chuckled. Her hand still holding my head, she whispered, "Thank you for worrying. I love you".
Feeling her breath so close to my cheek, my face was heating up.
Then she suddenly let go of her hand and backed up a step. "I'm heading out for real now".
Feeling disappointed, I almost blurted, "You can't just leave me like this..", but I couldn't get myself to bring out the words due to embarrassment.
'Hah, I need to calm my heart'
Seeing her teasing expression as she closed the door, I realized how she had toyed with me. Hmph! Where did my shy girl go?
With Letty, nine out of ten times, I'm the one who leads. At least this was the case before Letty's popularity boomed. Ever since then, she has gained some confidence in herself, which by all means is a good thing, and I love that she has become a little more decisive. But… such surprise attacks are just unfair!
I know how to get back at her and reclaim my honor. How come I didn't think of this before? Since I hold the most power in this mansion, I could do whatever I want. Which means I can finally get drunk! And get Letty drunk! And Mom wouldn't be able to stop me! Hahaha, my sober streak of around thirty or something years can finally end!
This way, Letty would see my strong spirit and think twice before toying with me in the future.
That's it! Let's do this!
I called a maid and said, "Bring the best alcoholic drinks available in our house tonight. And don't dare to tell my mom".
I can't wait for tonight!
***
Letty's POV:
Making my way through the sea of civilians, I turned towards a less-crowded alley to take a shortcut. My destination was a small bookstore on the other side of this block.
This shop's products usually cater towards all kinds of romance and, ehmm… Let's just say, mature novels. I've known the owner of this bookstore for a while, and he has a good relationship with me.
He called me this morning to let me know that one of my favorite authors of a novel series called 'Evelyn's Adventures' wants to personally meet me today. Their pen name is 'Bel'. And he almost begged me to come visit her if I was free.
Also, I asked him to keep my identity a secret for obvious reasons.
And so, here I am. And by the way, Evelyn's Adventure is a story about an adventurer girl named Evelyn and her partner, Princess Mika. It also contains some 'mature' content… But I read it for the amazing plot, I swear! Bel is a great author.
I quickly made my way to the store and called the owner. "Come on inside, Miss L-". As he was about to call me by my name, I interjected, "Call me 'Lia', as we agreed. Someone might hear you".
Lia is the alias I use to write letters to my favorite authors or to send them gifts.
"I'm sorry, err- Welcome, Miss Lia. 'Bel's waiting for you inside", he said, pointing at the door to a cabin.
I gently knocked on the door and heard a loud noise from the inside.
I opened the door to see what had caused the noise. I saw a mature-looking lady with brown hair similar to mine lying head first on the ground.
Not exactly the image I had in mind…
She hastily got up and walked up to me, saying, "Hello, you must be 'Ms. Lia'. I can't thank you enough for all the letters, gifts, and lending all that money in my time of need. I am eternally grateful. I'll pay you back as soon as I can", vigorously shaking my hands.
"Sorry for the shameful display.. I didn't want to keep you waiting, so I tried to get the door fast, but ended up falling instead…".
Her clothes and hair were somewhat disheveled due to the fall. Hehe, she's so clumsy and sweet.
About the money, There was a period when she talked about quitting writing to work as a full-time adventurer, due to needing money for her little sister's sickness. Back then, I had sent her 1,000 gold coins from my savings in the hopes of helping her as well as keeping the novel alive.
And looking at her now, the investment was all worth it. She's such a sweet lady.
"Ms. Bel, please don't say that. I don't want the money back. Just treat it as a token of my gratitude for writing such a wonderful piece of art. And I hope your sister's all better now".
"She is! In fact, she's here too. If you don't mind, she asked me if she could see you as well. After all, you are one of her saviors. And call me Bella, that's my name", she said.
Thank God she forgot about the money. Let's keep talking about different topics.
"Of course, but first, let's talk about the reason I came here…"
For the next hour or so, we talked about the characters and the future books. She also gave me an exclusive pre-release copy of the next volume. Today can't get any better!
After a while, as the sun began setting, we concluded our discussion. She's such a pure and sweet person, truly worthy of being my favorite author. We even discussed her new project, which will be just as exciting but without the mature scenes, so that I can talk about my hobbies with Aria. I can't wait!
"Time passes so quickly when you don't want it to, doesn't it? I promised to get back before dinner, so I'll have to take my leave", I said.
"What? Already… I wanted all of us to have dinner together. Speaking of which, it seems they are here!", she said, remarking the noises coming from outside.
As we walked outside the cabin and made our way towards the store's entrance, I was greeted with a few familiar faces.
They were the same adventurers who had discovered Aria's storage ring and blocked my way a month ago. Damn, what are the odds?
Although I was taken aback, I maintained my expression so as to preserve my identity. There is no way that some random people would be able to see through my disguise. So I played my part as Lia.
"Hello, I'm Lia. Miss Bella's biggest fan", I greeted them.
"Ah, you are Miss Lia. Thank you so much for lending my sister money for my treatment. I wouldn't have made it without your help! I'll work hard to repay you the earliest!", the same timid girl from back then bowed.
Well, I say timid, but she looks pretty normal now. Should I be offended that she was so scared of my original appearance? Ah, whatever.
Come to think of it, the guy also said that he spent 6,000 gold coins on her treatment, and Miss Bella spent another 1,000 coins. What sort of disease requires such expensive treatment?
"No need for that. It was my gift to your big sister. She's an incredible author, she deserves no less. You must be proud… If I may, can I ask about your illness? What happened to you?", I said.
"I was cursed by an evil witch. The curse kept feeding on my HP, so I had to keep enduring it with the help of potions and elixirs", she replied.
"Ah, you poor soul. I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that", I consoled her.
"It's alright. I'm all better now!", she said.
After exchanging pleasantries with the rest of the party, I headed out. Back towards the mansion. As soon as I left the shop, I heard a shout from behind. It was the guy from the party.
"Miss, please wait", he said.
"This might sound weird, but you are Miss Letica, right? Your disguise and makeup can't conceal your inner beauty", he said.
"What are you talking about? I'm Lia", I said.
"So it's true… It must be fate, seeing that we are meeting again after such a short time", he said.
What is with this guy? Why is Miss Bella associated with such troublesome people?
He lightly touched the side of my arm and said, "Miss, listen to me just once. I have this skill called 'Appraisal', it allows me to see the status board of anyone I touch".
What? Status? Does that mean he can see my class and talent too?
"Argh, fine. But why are you being so annoying? Stay where you are", I said, ready to pull out the taser gun if he dares to take a single step forward. Well, even if he does try something, the guards in civilian clothing would probably react before him or me. So there's nothing to worry about. But just in case, I should stay vigilant.
"It wasn't my intention to annoy you. It's just that… Here, I'll write my words on this note. I don't want anyone to overhear us", he said, taking out a memo pad from his storage ring.
He passed me the note, which said, "Your status is locked. Which might mean that you have a special skill or… that someone has put a slave crest on you".
What kind of skill is that? I've never heard of it before… Isn't status supposed to be a secret? This skill is so dangerous! I don't have a good feeling about this guy.
"Yes, I have a skill that blocks such skills. And you used your skill on me without my permission, do you want me to report you?"
I can't really report him for that, but it's a threat nonetheless.
He quickly scribbled something more and passed it, "I also happened to have a lie detector skill. I really hoped that this wasn't the case… Please don't be so wary of me, I know a way to remove the slave crest. My name is Ethan, and just know that I can save you. Please trust me".
What does this guy want? Is there really such a skill that can detect lies, or is he bluffing? Does he have a savior complex or something? All I know is that he's dangerous.
"If you don't back off now, I won't hesitate to get you arrested. This is your last warning, don't come looking for me again", I threatened him.
"Alright, I'll back off". He took a step back with his arms raised. "But if you ever change your mind, please let me know. I'd be happy to help".
Just go away, you weirdo!