Chapter 96: Fists and Roses, Part Nine

{Rin}

"What? Why?" Rin asked in return.

"I've been training you to fight mindless beasts, Rin. Fighting other people is a different matter entirely."

"I know that, but, with how much I've been training, shouldn't I be strong enough to put up a fight?"

"Not necessarily," Maria replied. "A lot of these people, Rin, have been doing this for years. Along with that, of course, comes training. Some people grow up wanting to fight in these sorts of places, and start limit-breaking as soon as they can in order to get there. Your advantage comes in the form of the cafeteria's healing food. With that, you've been able to do many months', maybe even one year's worth of progress in just your time here. However, unless the person you fight is a complete beginner, your opponent will still likely be stronger than you."

"W-Well," Rin said, "they did say they were going to match me up against a rookie."

"Then, in that case, you have a slightly better chance. Good," Maria nodded. "Still, it won't be anywhere near as easy as you seem to believe it will be."

As Rin internalized that information, she obviously felt disappointed, but she tried to keep her head up.

"Can you help me?" Rin asked. "Get ready for it, I mean."

At that, Maria blinked.

"Rin, if I gave you the impression that I wasn't going to help, I apologize," Maria said, with a kind smile. "Of course, I will. I am just letting you know how difficult you can expect this to be. Understand?"

"Yeah, totally!" Rin replied as some of her energy returned upon hearing Maria's reassurance.

"Good. Then, well, we're going to have to add this in with our regular stuff, as I will not allow you to skimp out on your monster training. That side of things will still be our main focus, but, maybe, at the end of every session we can throw in a few human-specific tips and tactics to use. Let's get to it."

---

[Elisa]

"Of course, I'd love to know how high her scores were," Elisa told her future father-in-law as she sat down with Marvain's family, at a pristine restaurant downtown. Sitting next to her was Carliah, holding the same smile on her own face as she heard Elisa respond.

Elisa was lying, but she tried to sound interested as Marvain's dad went on.

"Little Suzy's scores were the highest in her class!" He proudly declared as he sliced off a piece of pork and stabbed a fork into it. "That girl's a genius. Maybe, almost as smart as my son himself."

"Wow, that's impressive!" Elisa replied, and to her own ears, her voice sounded almost like she was mocking them. She hoped it sounded different to everyone else.

"Last time, during her elementary school class, they had the students prepare these fake, ehm, what are they called? Volcanoes? Right, fake volcanoes, and..."

As he went on, Elisa snuck a glance around the table. Carliah kept her eyes aimed at Marvain's father, while Marvain himself only looked down at the food in front of him. The only person here who seemed to be as bored as Elisa was, and was showcasing it openly, was Iris, Elisa's future mother-in-law.

With a hand under her chin, her eyes were nearly closed as she had finished eating a while ago and looked like she was waiting for the first chance she could get to leave.

Curiously, Elisa had noticed that her attitude had changed recently. She looked a little more bored in general, and there was always a subtle pout on her face. This was the only thing in this restaurant that Elisa was actually interested in asking about, and yet, she couldn't, due to the risk of coming across as rude.

The meal dragged on for what felt like an eternity before everyone was finally finished and someone was picking their dirty plates up.

[Finally!] Elisa thought. [What time is it? Maybe if I can get back to the Academy soon enough, I can actually do a little bit of training.]

Unfortunately, she felt like she'd been getting a little softer lately. At the same time, she was just tired. These little family excursions had been taking a toll on her, after all.

As everyone got up and began to get ready to depart, Marvain's father spoke up.

"Oh, excuse me, I need to go to the restroom."

"We will wait for you to return before we leave," Carliah replied.

"Eh, you don't have to," he said, before leaving. However, everyone, of course, stayed.

At that moment, others entered the building and a couple of voices came to Elisa's ears, one of which was familiar.

"Mhm, mhm! The cushions were so soft I almost fell asleep!" One pale girl, with short black hair and a dimpled grin on her face, the other, a dark-skinned woman who was listening to her as she spoke excitedly. "I would do anything to go back there!"

"Just as long as you don't embarrass yourself," the woman replied, shrugging.

[Who were these two, again?] Elisa tried to remember. [Wait, that's Gwen, right?] She remembered.

The girl with the pretty smile was a friend of one of her cousins. She'd spoken to her a handful of times, but not enough to call her a friend herself.

[Maybe I need to change that,] Elisa thought, with a smirk. [She's kinda cute.]

After checking in, the two of them sat down at the table next to Elisa's. While they all waited for Marvain's father, she overheard their conversation.

"So..." Gwen said, after a pause. "Do you want to see her again?"

"... Maybe," the other woman replied, in a hushed tone, although Elisa could hear both of them clearly. "I... Isn't it risky to do it two weekends in a row?"

"I know, but... it was so exciting! I'm already saving up a bit just so I can give her something extra."

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[Ah...] Elisa smirked, as she heard that. [Wait, Gwen. Isn't she the one the rumor was about?]

It was the "weekends" part that had tipped her off. The rumor in question was one that had started just a short while back. The talk amongst the nobles was that this same Gwen had discovered some sort of lesbian prostitute hiding in the middle of Libera. Considering the fact that she was talking so loudly about this right now, she'd probably started that "rumor" herself. Elisa hadn't known whether it was true or not, and really she hadn't cared. It was interesting, sure, but Elisa had never been someone who had much trouble finding a companion to share the night with.

Though, maybe with her being engaged, that would soon change. In that case, it wouldn't hurt to know a little more about this.

[... You know what,] Elisa smiled to herself, [why not?]

Standing up, she walked over to Gwen.

"Excuse me, hi," Elisa said, with a friendly tone.

"O-Oh, hello," Gwen paused as she looked up at her. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, sorry, I just wanted to ask you about something. Can you come outside with me, for a moment?"

"Oh. Sure."

Just like that, the two of them exited the building, and Elisa looked around to make sure not too many people were around.

"Hey, so, I just wanted to ask you about this thing I heard... It's a little embarrassing, but, I... I wanted to know if you actually met that strange woman everyone keeps talking about. You know, *that* one?"

Elisa really stepped up her acting for this matter, trying her hardest to put on a meek tone.

At that, Gwen looked to her left, and then to her right, and whispered:

"Yes!" As a big smile bloomed on her face. "That actually happened!"

"By the Divine!" Elisa replied, putting a hand up to her lips. "Who was it? H-How!?"

"Okay, okay, let me give you the rundown..."

"Please," Elisa smiled. "I am dying to know."

Then, Gwen recounted her experience to Elisa, and it was odd, to say the least. Apparently, this white-haired woman had just shown up a couple of weeks ago, having come in from Cradle, with the singular purpose of selling her body to random local noblewomen. Stranger still was the fact that, apparently, Gwen had met her at that Rose Party that had happened previously, but Elisa hadn't seen her.

[Maybe I was too busy with Marvain,] she lamented. [Damn shame, I would have liked to have gotten a look at someone like that.]

"So, what does she look like? Aside from the white hair, I mean."

"Okay, so, she's got a bit of muscle on her, actually," Gwen said, looking away as though she was imagining her right then and there. "And, her boobs are ginormous! I mean, seriously, super squishy and, like, just a big pair of balloons!" She said as Elisa chuckled.

"Nice, nice."

"Yeah, and," Gwen continued, "she's got these big, warm yellow eyes! I didn't even know that was a color people could have!"

That made Elisa pause.

"... What?" She tilted her head.

"Yeah! And, her voice was super sultry. Every syllable that came out of her mouth had my toes curling!"

Gwen kept going, her voice getting progressively louder, but Elisa's mind remained on one aspect.

[Yellow eyes?] She thought. [Well... It can't be... It can't be Rin, right?] Elisa thought, as she recalled that night. [I mean, she...]

When she remembered the fact that she had taken Rin to the Rose Party, Elisa took a deep breath. Nearby, a door opened and closed, and familiar voices spoke up, but she couldn't hear them. She was distracted.

[But... How? I mean, her hair for sure isn't white. And, Rin's no mage, so...]

"Elisa," a voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Y-Yeah?" The stammer that came out of her this time was genuine.

"We're leaving," Carliah told her.

"Oh," Elisa replied, looking back at everyone, who had come out of the restaurant and were all standing just a few feet away. "Uh, bye."

Soon, she and her aunt left the area.

"That was good," Carliah said. "Hopefully, we can continue to make a good impression on them."

"Yeah," Elisa replied, but she was barely listening.

Even now, as they entered the waiting taxi nearby, her roommate took up all of the space in her mind.

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