The young woman similar to Val, Alissa, laid back on the chair with her face lifted up towards the ceiling. She’s been like that for about a solid minute.
The adults explained in detail about their circumstances, apparently the attendant not knowing the fact that literal aliens have come into her home. At first, Zeke and Mikella hesitated on revealing this info, but figuring that she would be their supposed attendant throughout their entire stay, it made sense that she should know about their origins.
Plus, despite everything, seeing her face almost exactly like Valorie gave them a strange sense of trust for her, however wrong it felt since it was a different woman entirely.
Still, the least they could do is tell her, considering that she was under the same thumb of Cronus, and she looked like she got experience from dealing with him. However, when the truth came out in its entirety, much like how they explained to Cronus and Isabelle about their origins, the mood quickly soured for the woman.
Then, when they finally reached the conclusion, she stayed like that for about a solid minute. A minute and a half, by now.
“Okay…” Alissa let out an exhale that came directly from her soul along with her answer. She really sounded like an overworked office lady after being told to do another shift. “I thought perhaps my stupid sister of mine finally did something that ticked Lord Cronus off, and so figuring I was related to her, he handed me her problems… but this was far beyond my expectations.”
“Umm,” Mikella hummed. “Miss… Alissa?”
“Just Alissa is fine,” The woman waved it off, her face still looking upwards. “What is it?”
“So, uhh… I know you’re not entirely into this, but we gotta know. What’s the deal between you and Val? You’re twin sisters, right?”
That was definitely at the forefront of Zeke’s mind, but considering her attitude and the ‘I really don’t wanna be here’ expression that was as plain as day, it was really hard to ask. However, they felt that since they gave away their secrets, it was good enough of a trade for her own, however huge that gap was.
“Hah, I’m guessing she hadn’t told you crap about her old life and family back here, right?” Alissa finally showed her face to the two, her hand waving about beside her head. “And about how much of a mess she made with that jackass of a husband of hers before getting exiled?”
“That’s… well,” Mikella tilted her head slightly. “It was mentioned… just not a lot.”
“No shit,” Alissa cursed, crossing her chest with her arms again. “To sum it up, she was considered a disgrace to our family. I’m not sure if you knew, but she is not able to use magic.”
“We know,” Zeke said. “But… is that really a way to treat her? She’s an incredible fighter, and even fought against a Master-rank monster nearly on her own. That’s gotta be impressive, right?”
“Oh, I’m certain it is, but that’s not the point. For a child of a noble family, especially a woman in this country, to be born without being able to use magic was a detriment at best, and a burden at worst.”
That certainly caught their attention. Valorie, a lovely wife, mother, and captain of the militia force, was a daughter of a noble family?
Honestly, Zeke can sort of see that. She had the kind of grace that was hard to describe. Perhaps it wasn’t nobility, but something akin to refined poise. Other than that, it was still a surprise.
“Even for someone like her, there were no other men who would dare marry her and take her genes in, fearing that her lack of magic might spread across the next generation.”
“That’s horrible,” Mikella said, clear contempt for the people that made that assumption. “Was there really no other reason other than for magic? She’s gotta be worth something.”
“That didn’t matter. As you can see, mana is the main resource for everything around here. If you can’t even create mana, then what good are you?”
The two stayed quiet after that. It was hard to try and not defend Val’s honor, but the truth was there, plain as the scowling look on Alissa’s face.
“That’s besides the point. What really matters is that she’s done a lot of crazy things to get over her weaknesses. Getting a synthesized attunement, which was considered taboo in this country, was the final push our family needed to disown her. She then sought chaos and destruction wherever she went, ignoring all kinds of laws to hunt as many monsters to gain more levels. That goes double for that sly bastard of a husband who joined her in her antics.”
Hearing all that from the seemingly lovely woman put a lot of strain on that image, but when Zeke and Mikella considered just how crazy she was when they fought against that Master-Rank monster at the tower, somehow, that fit her pretty well.
Eventually, Alissa let out a deep breath as though she had finally torn her frustration out of herself, her eyes becoming more composed and prim like before.
“But to think she was keeping something like this under her belt. Knowing her, she just decided to take you in without really thinking, right?”
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“It’s more like she took us in because we had Clara… and Zoan on our side.”
Mikella hesitated, still trying to keep up the guise of Zoan being the twin sister of Clara. They still hadn’t explained the angel business, figuring that it wasn’t something they needed to tell. Besides, how can they? It was hard to show the angel when she was stuck as a little girl.
“Alright, alright, so I understand why your family hates Valorie. But why do you?” Mikella asked, pointing at her. Alissa raised a single brow, forcing her to continue. “I mean, it doesn’t feel like you agree with how this stupid society works either, but why do you sound like you hate her guts?”
“That’s private.”
Her words were cold and cutthroat, finishing the conversation right there. Figuring she was a sister herself, Mikella raised her hands to display no animosity and crossed her arms. Zeke can make a whole ton of guesses, but really, he has no clue. Whatever personal history they had between each other is better left with themselves alone.
Sure, they could probably pry some more information… but Zeke felt that it was in poor taste to do that.
“And you,” Alissa stared at Zeke, catching him off guard. “You somehow got his customized skill through a skill book? And you have no idea who gave it to you?”
“It was dropped by the monster we fought back in the tower,” Zeke explained again. “I literally had no idea it belonged to someone else, especially to someone like Cronus who created it himself.”
“Well, that’s really unfortunate,” Alissa said, shaking her head. “You just got really shitty luck to have that guy’s attention. Still, hearing about how you two can do something about those towers was nice. I have to admit they have been a pain in the ass for me lately.”
“Did you do something to the towers?” Mikella asked, but Alissa shook her head.
“If I could have, I would’ve done something by now. Unfortunately, those things are nearly impenetrable according to our research. They just popped up out of nowhere and are messing up the ecosystem. Making the monsters either stronger or more ravenous than before, increasing their population through gods know how, and it’s even causing the nearby biodomes to react negatively.”
“Biodomes, as in plural?” Zeke widened his eyes. “Seriously?”
“It’s not really surprising considering the amount of magical energy contained in this pocket dimension,” Alissa said, shrugging her shoulders as if it was obvious. “A biodome can exist for many different reasons, but they can be born when a lot of natural energy mixed with each in their natural habitats. Depending on the strongest aspect that exists there, a biodome can exist, though they are harder to enter considering that they also exist in their own pockets within this plane of existence.”
“Well shit…” Zeke said in wonderment. “We just took down only one biodome. I can’t imagine taking down so many more.”
“They’re already been captured a long time ago,” Alissa said, lifting her hands up in wonder. “It’s a shock that my sister got lucky enough to have a town that’s so close to a biodome, but here, it’s been taken care of for decades. However, it’s been difficult to take care of its resources thanks to the tower’s rising out of nowhere.”
“And you approached these towers yourself?” Mikella asked. “How many have you seen?”
“So far, only two,” Alissa explained, suddenly summoning a parchment out of nowhere, probably from her bag, and rolling it across the table for the two to see. “These are likely to be your next destinations. However, despite knowing about their existence and their numbers, we can’t point out their locations. We believe their mana signature detailing that they are around these areas.”
After reading it for a closer look, Zeke’s eyes widened as he pulled out his own map. It was the same one that Diaga gave them, and when he rolled it out, it was exactly the same as the one Alissa brought out, except rather than two large circles on her map, there were two precise X’s on their map.
Alissa’s eyes widened, a hint of a studious glint in her eyes unlike Val’s but more like Cloud’s. “Where did you get this? I’m certain I was told you were just brought here today.”
“We actually got this from a friend of ours, a Seer, actually,” Zeke said, pointing at the two clear precise spots. “Would this help you out in any way?”
“It certainly would. It’s great that their precise locations are found,” Alissa said, rolling up her own parchment after she marked down the written locations. “Normally we have our own Seers, but unfortunately they can’t seem to find them, at least not physically. Only around the general area. So, here’s what we’ll do.”
The two adults listened, finally getting into the swing of the matter.
“For now, the two of you will sign up as adventurers, and sign up on a team that I will place you in personally myself. We can’t get licenses for you as that needs to have a form of contribution added to it. Such as your performances and records of your living here. Since you only just arrived, and there is no history of the Arcan family ever existing here, you’ll have to rely on an already known team to use their party license.”
“So parties have their own license?” Zeke asked, tilting his head. “Not just individually?”
“Adventurers who have party licenses, which are different compared to solo licenses, have better opportunities to enter into dangerous areas that are strictly known to have higher leveled monsters than the average party itself. It’s much more expensive, and the reason why I chose these people in particular to support you in your endeavor.”
“And these people… shouldn’t we know them?” Mikella asked, raising a brow.
“They’re currently on a quest right now, but they are already notified. They won’t be coming back in a few days. In the meantime, you can use this chance to get acquainted with the city, find out more about the country, and more importantly study the information relating to the towers. Right now, our main goal is to take out as many of those towers as possible. If we don’t, then it’s off with all of our heads. Who knows? Perhaps the entire country might evaporate if we don’t do this.”
“...What a way to pep us up,” Mikella added dryly, grimacing at the thought.
“It’s life. Deal with it,” Alissa said firmly.
Zeke reluctantly agreed, turning to Mikella who also shared his sense of dread. That means more people are going to find out about their identity. Thankfully, Alissa turned out to be… well, at least suited for the job, but that didn’t mean they were in the clear just yet.
There are still a lot of unknowns that could happen, and right now they haven’t even consolidated their newform powers just yet. The only way to do that is one thing:
Getting some upgrades suitable for their new advancement, and probably a new spear for Mikella. It’s been a long time since she found something suitable to replace the old one she chucked into Roderick a year ago.