Camelot, the capital of Britania. The country of old magic, a place that studied and embraced magic faster than anyone else. Second in their use of magic only to Izanami, but they use other types of magic.

Britania focuses on what we know as traditional magic, while Izanami follows what we know as ritual magic. As such this place has a deep meaning to magic from a [Magical Girl] if you want to study the true depths of magic and can't afford schooling in one of the schools. You tend to travel to Britania and settle around to try and get a glimpse of the origin of Magical Girls.

Before Advent, everyone knew that [The Stardust Explorer] landed here in Camelot, where she started spreading the credo of [Magical Girls] around, she did move out when the [Twelve] got started after [The American Crusader] got appointed.

After Advent... Well, they took the history as if [Odyssey] had blessed Camelot as a holy city for magic or something, she wasn't quite sure of what was the actual history at the moment. She would bet that at least one cathedral of magic was in Camelot. Probably at some spot of relevance to her Mother.

She just hoped they didn't pick one of those spots she harassed [Magical Girls]... They wouldn't...right?

Oh god, she feared the moment she found out if there were [Saintsess of Odyssey] or something, surely no one had a job like that...Right? Surely no one was mad enough to have an [Apostle of Odyssey] job or something...

She wouldn't use [Appraisal] in anyone she was aware was in any kind of relationship with that church or with her Mother. Lest she see something she didn't want.

Why was all of this important? Well, because one needed to know everything about the stage you were about to fight on. Her Papa always said that information was key and that she should always prioritize getting all the information she could before going to combat.

It was quite a funny contrast, her papa who was known as a muscle head was the one who always got all the information possible before every single fight. And her Mother who was acknowledged as the developer of magic was the one that always brute-forced any situation as much as possible.

"And this is our Mansion here in Camelot," Rossie said at her side as they stood in front of a palace, she had seen mansions before, and her Mother took a few photo shots in the mayor's mansion at Avalon.

This wasn't what she was standing in front of, this was at least twice as big as the mayor's house. This was a palace. So now that she was standing here she couldn't help but remember the joke Rossie used to tell her at the MPI.

That she was the daughter of a Queen.

Then looking at the mansion in front of her, and looked back at her home in the suburbs of Avalon. Yeah, she felt more like a pauper at the moment, actually. Wasn't she one? All her money was in her inventory right now, and most of her possessions were doubtful if she could get them back, she wouldn't know till they went to her house at Avalon.

If the cozy house still existed and hadn't been replaced by a random cathedral...Or had turned into a crater...

"Is something the matter Elizabeth?" Rena asked at her side, she was holding a duffel bag in her right while making sure the backpack stayed in place with her left hand.

The girl had been too nervous when they walked around with empty hands, so Elizabeth gave her the dummy luggage to calm her down.

"No, everything is okay...Let's go." Elizabeth said mostly to herself, motioning Rossie towards the way too-scary door at the side of the fence.

They even had guards manning the entry. What kind of family was Rossie part of?

She hadn't taken too much notice of it.

"Welcome back Lady Rossaline." One of them even saluted at Rossie!

I mean, it was normal to salute Rossie, some students also did it...Mostly those pink-haired students/maids she seemed to have. But it was weird seeing a grown-ass muscle man dressed in body armor do the same!

"Are my parents at home?" Rossie asked the man while motioning with her hand for her to stand at the side.

"You know we aren't supposed to give that information with...Civilians around Lady Rossaline." The guard said while eyeing Elizabeth and Rena critically.

He seemed to examine more Rena than her. Was he evaluating them? Rude!

Granted Rena had more assets than her, but still, Rude!

"She is my girlfriend Elizabeth Starbright, and you will treat her with respect." Rossie said while glaring at the man, then with a dismissive tone she also added, "Also our...Friend who will stay with us, introduce yourself."

Rena took a step forward and said, "Watanabe Rena. While I won't mind the disrespect, I would advise you to take consideration of how you speak about Elizabeth, lest you find your head removed from your body." And as if nothing Rena took a step back and stood at the side, one step to the right and one back.

From her.

...RENA!?!?!? I mean, it was kinda cute how she defended her honor and all of that, but still!

The man had an assault rifle strapped to his back! Not that it would work against Rena...Or Elizabeth...Or Rossie...Actually, if he pointed that thing to Rossie, then Elizabeth would cut him in very small pieces and burn his [Soul] in the flames of her [Shadow Haven] for a thousand years.

"Noted." The guardsmen said then turned towards Elizabeth, "Apologies Lady Starbright."

...What?

"As per your previous question, Lord and Lady Singh are waiting for your return, but we had been informed that there were problems with the teleportation station and your arrival would be delayed by at least a week." The guardsman turned to the other who nodded and went to the guard station, and after a few minutes, he returned with an official form from the MPI, "Yes, here it is. Teleportation was Delayed because of internal security reasons. Did they solve it before expected?"

...The bastards didn't intend for them to leave?

"As if, we got help from...An old friend." Rossie answered as such, aww... Her Rossie was growing so much, she thought of Michael as an old friend!

"Noted, do we need to check in about your friend?" The guardsman asked back, so he was nice?

No wait...

"Yes, I will pass the information to the head butler later on. But if you see a blue-haired mage take notice." Rossie added while passing the rough description of Michael, the guardsmen nodding and passing that information through his radio to...god knows where.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

...Was Rossie placing a notice for them to check on Michael? Or was she setting up a search party to monitor Michael? She...didn't want to think too much about it, but it was probably a way to keep in check Michael.

...She missed being a bimbo at times like these, she had felt happy for the character development of Rossie, only for reality to crash as she noticed that neither seemed to be thinking of the wellbeing of the blue-haired mage.

"Let's go Eli-Eli. The nice guardsmen need to continue working." Rossie said as she smiled and grabbed her hand to pull her towards the door that opened on its own.

Yeah...they needed to return to work, probably doing a sweep around the place to make sure Michael wasn't stalking or something. Rena didn't seem too bothered by this, and walked behind them, not even acknowledging either guard.

They got scanned by some magic embedded in the arc, and at the same time, they walked by a metal detector.

"[Mistress, there are very RUDE people trying to sneak past into your mana circuits to take a sample. Shall we make an example of them?]" Beatrice spoke into her mind.

"Are they attempting the same with Rossie or Rena?" Elizabeth asked back.

"[Lady Rossaline isn't being scanned above superficial levels, Miss Rena's defenses are pitiful and she has no actual control over her Mana so they didn't even need to send a probe for her mana.]" Aura answered back her question.

So only she was being probed for a mana sample?

"Refute the probes, if they attempt an active one then retaliate at the same level as what they do," Elizabeth answered to her [Minions].

The effect was immediate as she felt her shadow ripple, she also felt one of the [Assassin] type minions under her command dart from her shadow. No one reacted to that, so she ignored it too, and continued walking.

At least till one maid with green hair walked from the side and whispered something to Rossie, her girlfriend's eyes narrowed then turned towards Elizabeth, "Eli-Eli, is something bothering you?" She asked her.

Was something bothering her?

"No...? Is something the matter?" Elizabeth asked back, was something happening?

Rossie narrowed her eyes then turned them towards her shadow, and she felt a pulse of mana from the [Lock] within her [Soulscape], and another pulse came from her shadow, this time towards Rossie. Was she speaking with someone inside her [Shadow Haven]?

"I see, please tell my Father that if he doesn't want his [Toys] to be broken, he needs to act his age. And leave my [Girlfriend] alone." Rossie said to the maid, she nodded at them and walked back towards one of the side paths. "Let's go, my Father is waiting for us at the audience chamber."

The what now?

Couldn't they wait for them at the...Living room? Guest rooms? Recreation room? Whatever kind of fancy rooms could a palace have?

"Sure Rossie, let's go to the audience chamber..." Elizabeth said as they continued walking, the way there was nice. The garden was very nice, it had an incredible amount of flowers and bushes in interesting forms.

Hell, there was even a statue of what looked to be a small girl with a face similar to Rossie with water flowing from her hands even...

"Yeah, they made that one as my birthday present for my sixth birthday, to reassure me that they did love me," Rossie said as she stood at the base of the statue, where a plaque was.

"To my Daughter, proof that even if you weren't born in this house you will always have a place in our hearts." Elizabeth read the plaque, it was a nice touch and proof of love.

Rena stood at her side while Rossie only eyed the thing with a calculating glint in her eyes, "Have they decided where they will place my sister's statue yet?" She asked to the air.

A woman walked out from a ripple in the air a few seconds after, another Maid, this one with silver hair, "There was a discussion about it as they need to schedule the artist, but they decided to wait for your input Lady Rossaline. They don't want you to feel left aside."

...That was good, right? It meant that Rossie's parents still loved her even if they would get a biological daughter...

"...Sure they do," Rossie answered, the maid took that as a dismissal as she walked once more away disappearing as she walked some type of threshold as the air ripped apart.

What was with this place's maids?!?!

"[Mistress, the Assassin reported that he dealt with the interloper as appropriate.]" Aura reported in her mind with a muffled laugh, "[That one will have a harsh time sleeping for a month...Or sitting down.]"

...She didn't want to know.

"Rossie? How did you know there was someone there?" Elizabeth decided to direct her train of thought elsewhere, like to the phantom maids that popped from nowhere. Was this how people felt when she summoned random shadow dragons from the shadows?

Rossie turned to her as if looking at something weird, "Eli-Eli...Don't you have [Minions] spread everywhere? No wait, where are your [Scouts]?" Rossie said as she started looking around the shadows.

Just at that moment, her [Assassin] was on the way back when it suddenly stood very still as a deer being eyed by a predator. "Only one? And the rest?" Rossie asked as her eyes narrowed at her.

So she even noticed the one that was supposed to be very stealthy? "They are searching for clues...About Akira." Elizabeth answered, that she hadn't recalled her scouts, if anything she expanded her operations and sent them through the teleportation station to expand around the world.

She had feared about them being that far away from her, but it proved to be a pointless fear. Her [Minions] worked independently from her, and only required her input when they ran out of mana from wounds, and even then, if she allowed them to dissipate they returned to her [Shadow Haven]. So long they weren't hit by [Soul Magic] there wouldn't be a problem.

"..." Rossie however had a more interesting reaction to that revelation than she expected, as the pink-haired girl turned her attention towards Rena who was looking around as if at a tourist spot, "Any opinion on that?"

"Nothing much, if they do find him I just ask for a chance to duel against him. But I understand if either you or Elizabeth want to have a go first at dismembering him. I only ask for a chance to castrate him with a spoon." Rena answered while smelling one of the roses nearby.

How could someone say something like that and look like an adorable puppy?!?!?

This was cheating!

"Fair enough." Rossie answered Rena, then turned to Elizabeth, "As for how...You only need to expand your mana sense and feel the disruption their skills do in [The World]. They interact with the ambient mana and distort your ability to perceive them, like Silvia. She is using wind mana to distort the light around her and pretend to be invisible, your shadow minions do something similar, even if they are cheeky little things that also distort not only the five senses but also the mana sense."

Her minions did what?

Then could she do the same too?

More interesting things to check on later, but for now! Focus!

"So I start by feeling the mana around...?" Elizabeth said as she tried to feel said mana, lately she was painfully aware of how her mana moved around within her body, and in her shadows. She knew where Rossie or Rena were too at all times and how they were doing. But the ambient mana?

Not so much, so first she cast her mana outwards as if it were a net, trying to get a feeling about how it was.

"Stop." Rena suddenly said making her open her eyes, "Don't use the [Shadows] even if that makes it easier on you."

That made Elizabeth look around and sure enough, the shadows had started moving as if following her instructions, "Follow your [Instincts] cast only the mana without altering it into something else, not your [Shadows]. Not here, in this place we have too much light and greenery, a shadow moving around will be noticed."

...Right, the correct element for the correct environment. Hadn't she wanted to be an elemental-type magical girl? She knew that.

"Thank you, Rena," Elizabeth said as she closed her eyes. Not seeing the red-haired girl lightly blush at the compliment, nor see how Rossie glared at Rena for that.

Elizabeth was too busy focusing, Rena had the right to it. Using [Shadows] too much could end up becoming a crutch, she had access to many more things besides Shadows, even if they were what came easier to her.

But what to use?

As of now she had an innate [Affinity] to three things.

-Shadows

-Lightning

-Fire

The first was too showy and what most would expect from her to use, then the second? But sending lightning bolts around wasn't particularly sneaky was it now? Not like burning everything on her way would make it more sneaky either...

Unless...

What is [Lightning]? The thunder? Chloe and Alexanders both used [Lightning] but they didn't fight lobbing thunder at people, did they? They pretended to do such a thing though.

She didn't check on the fights of Chloe as [The Thunder Queen], but she had seen one of her attacks, the [Railgun]. That wasn't a [Lightning] attack, not entirely. The weapon from where the attack came was a magnetic gun, it polarized the muzzle of the gun and shot a projectile at Mach-level speeds. It was smokeless and hard to detect since it was basically throwing a piece of metal at your enemies very fast.

But it wasn't [Lightning], it was made out of magnetism...

So why couldn't she do the same? Not the [Throw things very fast at your problem], but using the [Magnetism].

She tapped deep within her [Lightning], seeing the marvel of the live current that was her mana when it attuned to the element, she felt shivers run through her body as the [Lightning] coursed her body.

"[Expand]," Elizabeth said as she opened her eyes and her mana attuned to the [Lightning] element, a wave of magnetic waves shot outwards from her and sure enough her mind suddenly was aware of who was where within the mansion.

"...Eli-Eli, that is a couple steps above of what I was thinking," Rossie said as she brought her phone from within their [Inventory] and took a picture of her. "But I should have expected this, you have always been smarter than you give yourself credit for."

Her girlfriend seemed proud for some reason as she pocketed the cell phone, that seemed like a weird reaction to have.

"I assume you aren't using [Shadows] for this, but what element is this? It doesn't look like [Fire],[Wind],[Earth] or [Water]." Rena said as she also seemed to hide something behind her back.

A Cell phone if her new senses were to be believed, "The golden eyes seem to imply either [Divine], [Holy] or [Light]. But my [Instincts] says you aren't using those elements." Rena continued while thinking hard about it.

Elizabeth for her part took her cell phone out and took a selfie (Pose included) to check herself. Her eyes were shining with golden light, the same one Alexanders seemed to have on his eyes when he was going full throttle with his mana.

Her hair seemed to be moving as if the wind was more strong than it should, she looked positively [Divine]... NO, BAD ELIZABETH, DON'T LET THE DRACONIC EGO WIN!

Even if it is right...

Then she [Felt] the silver-haired maid sigh hidden from sight (Or from her normal sight anyway) and walk towards them, as she weaved the mana into a rift in the air and she walked from a ripple in the air. "Lady Starbright, the lord asks if you wish to join him for Tea or if you rather join him in the audience chamber. He asks because he-" Was saying the maid before being interrupted by Rossie.

"He got annoyed because one of his employees implied that Eli-Eli found all his precious hidden assets with her [Skill]. And since they can't identify the element they aren't sure how to guard against it." Rossie said smirking at the side, "Tell him we will join him at the audience chamber, it's better for him too since he has all those fancy detection artifacts too."

'...Rossie? Please don't antagonize Father-in-law before he accepts me?' Was one of the thoughts that were going in Elizabeth's head, followed by 'Pretty please?'

And while she liked the look... "[Mistress, we have assimilated and automatized the new sensory input, you can dial down the output for a passive more stealthy approach.]" Beatrice reported from within the [Shadow Haven].

So Elizabeth did as asked and reduced the output of [Lightning Mana], she felt her eyes return from their golden color to her usual blue one, followed by her hair settling down.

At least her hair didn't end up with frilled hair or anything similar from the high charge of [Lightning Mana] that had coursed through her body, she would need to check on what other things she could do with those other [Affinities] she had earned herself.

[Lightning] and [Fire] surely had more uses... And while she hadn't checked too often, she did have [Eyes] that could examine [Origins], maybe it was time to check into her own [Origin]?

She also needed to check the gains from the fight against Akira...

Was she looking for things to do instead of thinking about the meeting with Rossie's parents that was about to happen? Yes, yes she was.

What? A girl couldn't get cold feet before meeting her In-Laws? This was something she could die doing! (Not really)