“That’s right. Me.”

The room stayed silent after Lucille had said that. They all took in Marellen’s reaction with amusement. The navy-haired mage was wide-eyed with gold glasses askew, looking utterly flabbergasted.

Then Marellen hesitated. “Uh… what was your name again?”

Lucy blinked as Efratel ran a hand down his face and the others let out wry sighs. Trisroa watched Lucy with curiosity but didn’t look like she wanted to talk yet.

Lucille shook her head with a smirk and held up her pocket watch. “My name is Lucille Adrienne Goldcroft, the new Head of the Aurelian Commission. Also, the individual you met before your trip to the Permafrost Glacial Abode Region.” She placed the watch on her desk and leaned on her cane as her smirk grew wider. “Your cousin has been informing me of all your interesting worries about who has been sponsoring you and your group.”

“B-But- no, wait- uh…” Marellen placed two fingers to his temples and closed his eyes as he frowned. “So… you sent Efratel that letter, you were the one who arranged for me to have an unlimited budget in the Athenaeum… and the one who sent me that skill book?”

Lucy grinned and leaned against her desk. “Yes. And just so you know, the only reason why I know what happened between you and Archmage Merkenia was because I was suspicious of why you two were in such a backwater region of the Beast Realm. Out of curiosity, I ended up using Ravimoux’s forces to discover your ordeal, and, well…” She shrugged. “The rest is history.”

Marellen gazed dully at her for a couple of seconds and then slumped while letting out a long sigh. “I feel like the months I’ve spent worrying about this have all been wasted.”

“They have,” Lucy calmly replied. She spread her arms and gestured to them all. “But now that we have finally reached this point, I suggest we sit down to discuss all of our past ventures.” She nodded to Trisroa. “And I want to talk more with the one member of your party I’m unfamiliar with.”

“Yet I hear you’re well informed about my affinities and family,” Roa replied, marginally raising an eyebrow at Lucille. It seemed she was searching for something.

Lucy tilted her head. “Shouldn’t I be well informed about those I intend to sponsor? If you wish to ask something I will oblige, but for now…” She turned back to the others and grinned. “Let’s head to one of my sitting rooms.”

…

“-and that was how I ended up deciding to sponsor Efratel and Marellen,” Lucille finished, looking at her gloves. She had just told them her side of the story after she became Commission Head and met with Efratel.

Larena raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms as she sat next to her brother, who was enjoying a muffin that had been brought out as a snack. “That’s a high amount of coincidences leading up to this point.”

“It is what it is.” Lucy shrugged. “Becoming the Aurelian Commission Head suited my purposes, so that’s the path I chose.”

Marellen gained a confused look on his face. “Purposes?”

“That is…” Lucy placed a gloved finger on her lips. “A secret.”

“So, around a quarter to zero per cent of all that made sense to me,” Garthe interjected, licking his fingers free of muffin crumbs. “But you’re now Rank-1, right? You were only Rank-0 when we met. And that…” He pointed at the sheath sticking out from under her suit jacket. “Is a weapon.”

“Ah, yes. Another two little things I picked up during the Inheritance Trials.” Lucille took out the disguised snake-swords, letting her visitors watch curiously as the daggers levitated. “Twin spirit and demonic weapons. The black one is Apophis and the white one is Ouroboros.”

Garthe squinted at the blades and Larena let out a hum. “So… you’re not a mage?”

Lucy opened her mouth to reply but Marellen looked at Larena. “She has to be though, right? Efratel told me she made quite a few suggestions about how I could improve my understanding of the elements. It was because of her we went to an Old Era plane.”

“No, no, no, at the very start when we first met her she was able to avoid the pursuit of an entire city’s guards for five minutes,” Garthe argued. “No mage I know could do that.”

Lucy cocked an eyebrow. “I-”

“I was considering the possibility of her being a unique variant of the sorcerer class,” Roa mused. “Granted, I’ve never seen a sorcerer capable of contracting both a spirit and a demon due to the two races being so oppositional in nature, but it would explain the high quantity of spiritual energy you described her as having. Perhaps weapon souls operate on different mechanisms. Ah, perhaps she’s a summoner?”

“The person you’re theorising about the abilities of is sitting right before you,” Lucille interrupted, feeling slightly amused. “To a certain extent, all of you are right. As of right now, I’m a spellblade. I know magic but have no runic model and my combat abilities consist of a mixture of spell casting and physical combat. And I don’t have any contracts with either of my two weapon souls, only ‘bonds’, so no, I’m not a sorcerer or summoner.” She looked down at Apophis, who appeared to be trying to sever one of Garthe’s bootlaces. “My high spiritual energy is what enables me to bond to both weapons, however.”

“I remember now,” Larena smirked and gestured to Roa. “We found out you lied to us about your spiritual energy. That’s a bit mean of you.”

Lucy blinked. “Lied? In what way?”

Roa spoke up, “I only informed Larena after the tale of their meeting with you had been shared that the number of SPRT points you suggested to be able to manipulate that quantity of objects was false. To manipulate so many objects, your SPRT power must have been far higher.”

“Ah.” Lucille nodded and raised a finger. “Technically speaking, I never intended to lie. You all know I had spiritual energy manipulation before Rank-1, let alone Rank-3, which is when I’m supposed to access it. You could say I obtained a benefit regarding my spiritual energy density due to my innate talent, so one point of my SPRT equates to more than a point of one of yours.”

“I’m… somewhat curious as to why you ever chose a path of increased spiritual energy,” Roa replied. “It isn’t standard for anyone except possibly sorcerers outside of cultivators.”

“Well, perfect memory is always a boon,” Lucy said with a grin. “But I’m excellent at multitasking.”

“Hmm…”

“Oh, Lucille. Now that our first meeting has been mentioned…” Efratel gestured to her, looking curious. “I recall you said you were in the Violet Luminosity Jungle Region to meet an acquaintance?”

Lucille gained a wide smile. “Right. I did say that. Well, if you’re curious, he’s-”

“Why do I smell food? Aha! Lucy! You’re eating without m- oh.” Scytale blinked when he saw the gazes of the others on him and turned to leave the room. “Never mind, do your thing.”

“I can’t tell if your moments of entrance are opportune or disadvantageous.” With a flick of her finger, a gust of wind mana shut the door in front of him and pushed him over to her couch. He fell onto it with a grunt and ran a hand through his ruffled hair, looking disgruntled.

“This here…” Lucille gestured to him for the others. “…is my bond, Scytale. He’s also a descendant of the Supreme Enclave of the Violet Luminosity Jungle Region.”

Scytale immediately grinned when he realised he was receiving attention. He raised a hand. “Yo.” He turned to Lucy. “Who are these guys?”

Lucille frowned at the humanoid snake. “Do you have the memory of a goldfish? I told you before breakfast that I’d be meeting with the group I met before I bonded you.”

“Huh.” Scytale waved to them again. “Yeah, anyway, I’m her bond. I’m a winged snake. You guys got names?”

Efratel placed a hand on his chin. “I vaguely recall the rumours about the Aurelian Commission Head’s bond… regardless, I am Efratel Vadel.” He placed a hand on Marellen’s shoulder and pointed to the snow elf beside the mage. “My younger cousin, Marellen Vadel, and Roa Winteridge. And these two…”

“I’m Larena,” the woman with dark hair replied with a smile. Garthe grinned and pointed at himself. “Garthe here. The old crone’s brother.”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Larena turned to stare at her brother. “Excuse me?!”

He whistled and pretended to ignore her as the others shot him mildly amused looks. Scytale nodded and kicked his feet up on the small table in the middle of them all. “Cool. Anyway, if you couldn’t tell, I’m the real brains behind this whole operation. Telling nobles what to do, organising events, making more money than I can use, all that sort of thing? Lucy did none of it.”

Lucy gazed silently at her bond for one second and slapped the back of his head. He let out a pained shout when his forehead slammed into the table and he glared at her.

“Ignore him,” she continued dryly. “He’s irrelevant. What we should be discussing is what you plan to do while staying here.”

The others exchanged glances. “Is it something important?” Marellen asked.

“On the contrary, it’s nothing important. I never made any specific plans for what you’ll be doing in the first place.” Lucille spread her palms. “I wanted to discuss your visit to the Sundown Continent plane shard, yes, and inspect the artifacts, but besides that, I can’t say I ever intended for there to be much. The Aurelian Commission Headquarters is just the safest place for you to consolidate what you received from your trip out of the gaze of other Commission nobility, including Archmage Merkenia.”

Lucille gestured to the door. “Feel free to use what we have here, however. Getting custom equipment might be a worthwhile endeavour, and there’s a training facility in this building. I’m sure my… other guests will keep you entertained at least.”

“You have others here?” Larena said with curiosity.

“My private crafter, another singular individual I’m sponsoring, and…” She hesitated for a second. “A group of three with strong connections to the Citadel. A girl and her brother, with their guard. They’re harmless for the most part. She’ll only be here for five days, starting tomorrow.”

“I’m sure we’ll all enjoy having some time to relax,” Efratel replied with a smile. “We’ll introduce ourselves to your other guests. We’re the newcomers here.”

“You can do that, but don’t feel too pressured. My crafter and my other sponsored individual like to keep to themselves,” Lucy explained. “They’ll just be surprised to see you all.”

“Uh…” They all looked at Marellen as he raised a hand. “Do you possibly have stuff like… books on magic, and… alchemical supplies?”

Lucy leaned her chin on her hand and smiled. “You have free access to every book in the Commission’s Library. Just make sure to return them before Ashale’viaf – the Headquarters’ guardian spirit – becomes annoyed. And all you have to do is show one of these-” She held up her black access card embedded with an amethyst. “-to buy whatever you wish in Gilded Seat.”

They stared at her as she pulled out four of the cards and threw them across the room to each of them. She narrowed her eyes and smirked as she pointed at the two mercenaries. “Also, Larena and Garthe – you need to return your cards when you leave my employ.”

“But why?!” Garthe exclaimed, making Larena shoot him a dirty look.

Lucy smiled brightly. “Because you will only have access to all my finances during the duration of your exclusive employment under me. Just like Marellen, Efratel and Tris- I mean, Roa will have access to these cards as long as I sponsor them.”

Garthe clicked his tongue, looking annoyed, but cheered up when he studied the gemstone sparkling in the card. “So… we can buy whatever we want here? Hmm….”

Lucille narrowed her eyes at him again. “The more you spend, the harder I’ll make you work for it, Garthe Barbosas. I’ll ignore anything you spend this week as additional payment for your aid when exploring the Sundown Continent plane shard, but after this week I’ll be requiring you to do tasks if I consider the amount excessive.”

He flinched and pocketed the card. “I’ll be on my best behaviour, oh honourable Count Goldcroft! You have nothing to worry about!”

Larena stretched her arms above her head and looked at Lucy. “I don’t want to be rude, but could we check out our rooms soon? I’d like to put my stuff away before we do anything else.”

Lucille nodded and checked the time on her pocket watch. “Not a problem. I have work to do as well, so I won’t keep you five any longer. Scytale, do you want to show them where they’ll be staying?”

“I guess. I want to know about this ‘Old Era’ plane they visited too.” He jumped up and pointed over his shoulder. “Alright, folks! Follow me to your new suites, where you can feast your eyes on the most luxury you’d have ever seen in your entire lives!”

“…that’s probably true,” Marellen muttered as he stood up. The others did the same, and Lucy walked over to a side door.

“I’ll see you all for dinner. I don’t think my other two guests will be eating with us, but you can at least meet my aide.” Lucille waved goodbye to them and walked out.

Her attention, however, was on Trisroa Vel-Winteridge and her deathly pale look as she left the room. Lucille smirked and placed her hands behind her back.

I never intended to hide my soul age from her, because I can’t. A prodigy in both spiritual energy manipulation and magic, she would easily be able to tell my soul is distinctly different from anyone else’s. However, I hope that my soul will pique her curiosity enough that she’ll want to stay beside me just to know who I am.

We’re both researchers of magic, after all. I know how she thinks.

Trisroa continued staring at the place where Lucy had been and then turned to face Efratel. “How old is Lucille Goldcroft supposed to be?”

“Hm? Oh.” Efratel blinked and looked at her. “Late teens I think? I know her demeanour isn’t that of a normal young adult, but it’s not entirely impossible for a member of the nobility.”

“…late teens.” Roa took a deep breath and shook her head as she walked past the blonde-haired man. “It seems I’ll have to observe our enigmatic sponsor a bit longer, then. She is certainly… not what she appears.”

…

“Hmm…” Lucille looked up at the roof as she absent-mindedly held her hands behind her head, with her black boots kicked up onto her lacquered desk. “Vincent.”

“I’ve been waiting for you to talk to me.” Vincent pushed aside his pages and looked at his superior as she sat behind her desk. “You’re acting like something is on your mind. What is it?”

“Well…” Lucy dropped a hand from behind her head to pick up a pen and spin it between her fingertips. “It occurred to me that today, the 2nd of July, is the day I turn nineteen. Additionally, my soul is turning two-hundred-and-fifty years old.”

“Oh…” Vincent blinked, slightly taken aback by her nonchalant attitude. He adjusted his glasses and crossed his arms. “I suppose your own birthdays aren’t as important when you’ve lived through over two centuries of them.”

“Correct. But what has actually been on my mind is that it’s been exactly 365 days since I was teleported into the Tutorial.” The pen abruptly stopped spinning and she dropped it back on her desk. Lucille clicked her tongue, feeling slightly irritated. “Why did I have to die only fifteen months away from my 250th? Now I’ll forever be annoyed at dying at such a stupid age. If I was going to be killed, the other person should at least show common decency and give me a meaningful date to die on.”

“…I’m not sure I understand why that is a priority, but I feel like not dying at all should be preferred,” Vincent commented in a dry tone. He raised a silver eyebrow at her. “You tend to speak of yourself dying very lightly, Lucille. I understand as an Ascendant you would’ve died a few times before, but… even when you knew your last death would be ‘permanent’, regardless of you returning to the past afterwards?”

She considered it and gained a slight smirk. “To a certain extent, when you have people trying to kill you, it becomes a game of who can cause the most damage to the other person and their goals before one of you dies. I had long accepted that I would eventually die in the past, with the path I was treading. The fact I’m in my young body again just means I’ve resolved myself to die less stupidly.”

Vincent gave her a strange look. “Why do you think your death was ‘stupid’?”

“Maybe ‘pathetic’ would be the more correct term.” Lucille tapped her fingers against her desk in a rhythmic pattern. “The person who killed me couldn’t even manage to give me a clean and quick end because of my accelerated thoughts and own strength, so I took matters into my own hands. It was a bonus that I was able to kill him at the same time.” Before Vincent could register what she actually meant, she clapped her hands and stood up from her desk. “But Vincent, discussing my death is a rather morbid topic to speak of when it’s my birthday, isn’t it?”

“…right, Sorr- no, wait.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “You brought it up first.”

“No I didn’t, and if I did, you can’t prove it.” Lucille pulled on her violet suit jacket and grabbed her cane as she walked towards the door of the study. “Anyway, I’m going to see why all my guests on the fortieth floor seem to have assembled in my living room. In fact, I don’t recall ever showing my five new guests where my living room is.”

“Wait, Sedric and Hargrave are with Efratel Vadel’s group?” Vincent asked as he stood up and followed her out of the study. “Why?”

“Scytale is there as well. He’d likely be the culprit,” she replied in a dull voice. Then she paused for a second and sighed as three new presences were felt in her perception field as they arrived on the fortieth floor. “Oh great. The Prophetess and her company are now here too.”

…

Two men were standing side-by-side with their arms crossed. One was shorter than the other, with dark hair tied in a ponytail at the back of his neck, and the other with blood-red uneven hair with sections of deep royal blue spread throughout.

Sedric and Hargrave exchanged bewildered looks.

“Hargrave, was it?” Larena asked as she observed the man. “Is it possible you were a mercenary? Your movements belong to someone who’s been trained. But… no, I feel a draconic presence from you… a draconic magical beast? Who wields a weapon?”

“…that’s right,” Hargrave replied slowly, looking like he wanted to step back from the overly interested woman.

Meanwhile, Sedric was having his own issues.

“Are you sure you’re not cursed?” Marellen asked seriously as he walked around the crafter, studying him.

Sedric placed his hands on his head and groaned. “I’m telling you that no, I’m not cursed! Why do you think I’m cursed in the first place?!”

“I’ve never seen someone who causes this type of response in my skill before,” Marellen replied, watching the elements on his palm disintegrate and disperse with interest. “It’s like cause and effect has been rewritten to ensure only the unlucky outcomes occur. But this trait needs to recharge so it’s not constant. Have you had more accidents lately? Like tripping over objects more often or making mistakes with your crafting?”

“Now that I think about it…” Sedric frowned but quickly shook his head. “I- no, this is ridiculous. Next, you’ll be like one of those blighted members of Prosperity, telling me I have to pay a fee of seven hundred rose crowns just to temporarily revert my bad luck.”

Marellen blinked. “What? No, it’s nothing like that-”

“Did you say Sedric has been… ‘cursed’ to have bad luck?”

Everyone else in the room looked back to see Lucille walking in with Vincent. Lucy came up to Sedric and Marellen and tilted her head curiously as she saw the elemental mana shifting about on the navy-haired mage’s palm. “Somehow he occasionally faces periods of bad luck?”

“Yes, that’s what I’m saying!” Marellen nodded enthusiastically when he realised he found someone else who was accepting of the idea. “Using the skill book you gave me- ah, do you know how the skill works?”

Lucille nodded. “I’m familiar with the principles. It tracks pathways of cause and effect by analysing changes in the elements. These changes are being influenced while around Sedric, I presume?”

Marellen seemed to become excited as he moved his hand to let her have a closer look. “Yes, see here: I’ve worked out the standard for elemental abnormalities around people can be anywhere from 0.0007-0.0091% depending on their connection to the Citadel of Fate, but it’s the first time I’ve ever seen someone who faces so many detrimental elemental abnormalities in a short time. It was only this morning that your crafter seemed to be fine, but two hours later his bad luck had activated. And then only five minutes later his luck was completely normal again. The cycle has repeated multiple times today.”

“You’ve been spying on me?!” Sedric asked with incredulity.

Marellen didn’t hear him at all and continued explaining to Lucy, “If this is how the elements are acting around him, then I can only guess how badly affected by mundane forces he is. The only explanation I have for this is that someone can do this, but if so, who, and how? It’s unlike any ability I’ve ever seen before. This can’t belong to the Sages.”

Lucille briefly inserted mana into the Shard of Totality to see the spiritual realm and analyse the concepts and spiritual energies near Sedric, and then she gained a slight smirk as her suspicions were proven correct. “You’re in luck then. You’ll get to meet the culprit very, very soon.” Scytale, having interest in her thoughts for a rare moment, seemed to start internally laughing to himself after he saw her thoughts.

“You know who did this to your crafter?” Marellen asked with surprise.

“Stop discussing me like I’m not here!” Sedric angrily exclaimed.

Any response was delayed by the opening of the living room door by a certain blonde-haired boisterous Prophetess who dashed into the room, to both her brother and her guard’s frustration. “Lucy! The Sages are so mean! I was stuck granting Fate essence to hundreds of stinking old nobles for weeks and- who are you guys?”

Annaliese stopped on the spot as she realised five individuals unfamiliar to her were in the room. Sir Jasten Albrecht and Raegan walked in, eyeing the five figures with suspicion.

“Let me introduce you to Marellen and Efratel Vadel, Larena and Garthe Barbosas, and Roa Vel-Winteridge,” Lucy said with a smile, walking forward. “They’re a party of talented people I’ve been sponsoring and have recently returned from a trip to an Old Era plane. They’ll be staying here for a couple of weeks.”

“Oh!” Annaliese smiled and came forward to curtsey, showing off the new etiquette skills she had learnt. “It’s nice to meet you all. I’m Annaliese Verdon, and this is my brother Raegan and guard, Jasten Albrecht-”

“Huh?” Marellen looked down at his disassembling elemental spell, then between Sedric and Raegan. His eyes widened. “Wait a second…”

Raegan squinted at the mage when Marellen pointed at him and then Sedric. “Is it possible that… you put the bad luck curse on him?”

Raegan glanced at Sedric and then smirked as he crossed his arms. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bad luck curse?” Annaliese and Sir Albrecht turned to look at the boy, but Sedric, his mind was ticking away and connecting the dots.

“Wait… I tripped over a lot when you visited for the first time… and I’ve been having this problem ever since I met you…” He paused as he recalled something. “Didn’t Scytale say you had some weird ‘anti-Fate’ thing going on? Something like… bad luck?”

The room went silent as most of them exchanged confused looks, while Sir Albrecht clued on and gave Raegan a dull look. Sedric’s eyes widened with anger. “Hey! Raegan! Did you curse me?!?”

Scytale walked up to Lucy as Raegan and Sedric began to bicker and nudged her with his elbow. “Looks like the next five days will be pretty exciting, huh?”

“It seems so,” she said with amusement. She thought back to the most recent letter she received from Efratel.

And I’m very curious to know more about this ‘stalker artifact’ Efratel claims can consume stats…