Kefira smiled as she descended the steps, spotting Reivyn once again waiting for her. It was the middle of the week, and while they hadn't been able to spend all day together the previous days, they had walked to and from the Academy. Things were a bit slower-paced, and they had squeezed in a couple of Mana practice sessions as well.
Kefira was in a great mood as she bounded down the steps and hugged Reiyvn.
"Are you going to walk me to the Academy again today?" Kefira asked.
"I'm afraid not," Reivyn said. "I made an appointment to meet with your uncle today, and besides, we'll have all day for the next four days together. I really need to squeeze in the time to visit with your uncle while I have the time."
"Hmm, I figured that was the case," Kefira said. She was a little disappointed, but she didn't let it show. "You did tell him you would meet with him sometime, and one needs to be a man of his word."
"My thoughts exactly. Maybe I'll make my way over to the Academy in the afternoon to walk you home."
The faltering smile on Kefira's face perked up.
"Great! I'll see you, then."
Kefira made her way to the Magic Academy with Serilla in tow. Reivyn only followed her as far as the main palace, and he broke off to go to an office where Uncle Bellefrent conducted business. The walk to the Academy wasn't sad and dreary because she wasn't walking with Reivyn. When he wasn't around, Serilla stepped up and kept in conversation with her.
The two happily chatted as they entered the Academy, and they made their way to Magus Farril's office. Kefira knocked on the door and entered before anyone could say anything, but she came to an abrupt stop. An additional person was sitting in a chair across from her mentor.
Kefira froze for a moment before she smiled brightly.
"Congratulations, Senior Oryin!" Kefira said enthusiastically. "I'm surprised I didn't hear any rumors of your return."
Kefira had always had a good relationship with her senior apprentice. While Kefira was just in a mentor relationship with the Court Magus, Oryin was a true disciple. He was a few years older than her, and he had helped her out a lot when she had first started taking lessons with the Magus.
Kefira had always been a prodigy with her Mana Skills and Affinities, but she hadn't been used to her soul being suppressed when she had started her education. Only the upper echelons of the Academy knew the full situation, Farril and Oryin included, but she had still been praised as a genius with the handicap.
"How could you have known?" Oryin replied with a grin. "The only people you talk to on campus are Master Farril and Serilla."
"Hmph! I have friends!" Kefira pouted.
Oryin just chuckled.
"I never said you didn't. I just said you don't talk to the other students while at the Academy."
"I talk to you!" Kefira pointed out.
Oryin rolled his eyes.
"And how, exactly, am I supposed to tell you the rumors of my return?"
Kefira just stuck her tongue out at her senior. Kefira had long since treated him as an older brother.
"Kefira, I'm afraid that I won't have time to teach you today," Magus Farril spoke up.
"What?!" Kefira raised her brows at her mentor, a spark in the look she directed at him. "You couldn't have told me that yesterday?!"
"I'm sorry," Farril said, spreading his hands in helplessness. "I told Oryin to take the week off, but you know him. He showed up unannounced and demanded to get to work right away. You know I can't say no to my disciple when it comes to studying Magic."
"Sorry for the abrupt notice," Oryin said. "But hey, that means I'll get my progress report out of the way, and we can get crackin' on practicing that little trick you learned with Space Mana. Master told me about it just now."
"Well, too bad for you, I have plans," Kefira said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "You'll just have to wait until next week to get a chance to see what I learned on my expedition."
A hint of a frown passed over Oryin's face, but Kefira wasn't looking to catch it. He quickly smoothed out his facial expression, though, and adopted a genial smile.
"Yeah, too bad, and now your last day of instruction has been interrupted by me," he said. "I'll have to make it up to you sometime."
"That won't be necessary," Kefira denied. "I'll just take today as a free day and go shopping with Serilla or something. Magus." Kefira nodded her head to Magus Farril, he nodded back with a sheepish look on his face. Kefira lifted her chin as she glanced at Oryin. "Senior."
She turned on her heels and exited the room, dragging Serilla behind her. She looked calm on the surface, but underneath she was incredibly frustrated.
Of all the times! She thought. If I had known, I would have told Reivyn to meet with my uncle yesterday! We could have had a five-day weekend.
"Come on, Serilla," Kefira said, linking her arm with Serilla's. "Let's go shopping."
"You were serious about that?" Serilla quirked an eyebrow at her. "I would have guessed you would go to the training ground and demolish a couple of training dummies."
"They're not my opponent," Kefira declared.
"Well, obviously," Serilla snarked.
Kefira pulled away from her friend and looked her up and down, tapping her lip in thought.
"A pink dress," she finally said. Serilla frowned in confusion. "With a flower crown." Kefira clapped her hands and nodded her head. "Yes! We'll buy you a pink dress with a flower crown, and that's all you'll be allowed to wear for the next week."
"Excuse me?!" Serilla was shocked. "You do know I still like girlie things, right?"
"Even when you're sparring with Reivyn?" Kefira raised an eyebrow at her friend.
"Surely you can't be serious."
"I am serious," Kefira answered. "I think it's high time you learned how to fight in a dress. Nothing immodest, of course. Half-way above the knee I think, should suffice."
"But how am I going to maneuver in such a short dress?"
"Very carefully. I don't think either one of us would like for Reivyn to get an eyeful," Kefira said pointedly.
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"Oooh, look at this one," Kailey grabbed a bouquet of flowers. "Look at the arrangement."
"The colors really blend well together," Riley agreed. "I also sense a hint of Mana in them."
"Even regular flowers in a Tier 4 Region can be Mana infused," Kailey said. "But I agree. These have a sort of 'flavor' to them."
"We haven't experienced enough Affinities, I don't think," Riley said. "We'll have to ask mom what it is."
The two girls had spent the previous two days, after getting settled, exploring the different workshops along the roads. They didn't just explore the ones easily found on the main road in the Inner City, either. One good thing about being an experienced Adventurer, Refix knew the questions to ask to find the true masters. Not all of them were open to the public, but for the ones that were, Kailey and Riley made sure to visit.
They didn't have their Tier 2 Classes yet, but their inherent Tier 1 Epic Class seemed to be geared towards crafting. It wasn't anything specific, either. Whatever they put their minds to creating, they picked it up quite easily.
They absorbed a lot of knowledge about different ways to craft various types of items, and with their mother's help, they had even begun to delve into examining the flow of Mana within other people's crafted Magic Items. Ameliyn didn't want to hold their hands forever, which was one reason she was constantly trying to push them with little tests, and she let the girls explore the workshops on their own with only minimal supervision.
Minimal supervision meant either she or Refix was nearby and/or a couple of the followers. They didn't have any trouble convincing the females recruited to follow their parents to accompany them for protection, and that was the situation in the flower boutique. Kailey and Riley were feeling a little sorry for their parents for not getting to spend any quality alone time together for several months, so they left them back at the inn.
Their escorts weren't experts in any type of crafting, nor were they Casters. There wasn't anything for them to do other than to look out for them, but Kailey and Riley took their orders for little things they wanted to be crafted to try and push that last little bit toward their Tier 2 Classes. Kailey and Riley had pretty much determined that there was no reason they couldn't just enter the same Magic Academy as their brother under a special admission, but to do that, they would need their next Classes.
Just like with combat, crafting granted Experience immediately upon completion. Unlike combat, crafters got a bit of experience at the end of each step, and the quality of the material, as well as the finished product, could contribute bonus Experience. They weren't nearly capable enough to handle Tier 4 materials yet, but if they did, a high-quality finished product could net them anywhere from five hundred to several thousand Experience.
They didn't dare to waste any expensive materials, so they were shopping in the flower boutique to return to their roots of crafting. Even though they weren't getting anything major for their materials, they were still in a Tier 4 Region, and even the mundane flowers had as much Mana in them as a medium treasure from a Tier 2 Region.
Kailey walked up to the counter and got the attention of the attendant.
"Miss, we would like to purchase a couple of these flower bouquets," she said.
The attendant looked at the twins and gave them a charming smile.
"Of course," she responded. "Why don't you point out the ones you would like?"
Kailey pointed to a couple of bouquets, and Riley added a couple of her own. The attendant quickly and efficiently gathered up the bouquets. The prices were attached to tags on the baskets, and she added them together before turning to the girls.
"That will be seven gold and thirty-two silver," the attendant announced. She had a smile on her face, and she acted like she never doubted whether or not the two girls could pay the price.
Kailey pulled out her pouch and counted out four gold coins. She stopped and looked at her sister, and Riley was already holding four gold coins of her own. Together they turned and placed the money on the counter. The attendant scooped the coins up, counted out the change, and handed it over to Kailey.
"Thank you for your patronage, young misses."
"No. Thank you," the two girls responded together.
Kailey walked to the door and signaled for a couple of the female bodyguards to come inside to get the bouquets. When they noticed the price tags attached to the baskets, they froze in place.
"You two paid gold for these flowers?" One of them asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "How can they charge gold for some measly flowers?"
"Shhh," Kailey quickly covered the woman's lips with her finger. "That's incredibly rude."
"We didn't pay gold for some measly flowers," Riley said. "Not only do these flowers have a lot of Mana in them, but some of them are even attuned to specific Affinities."
"And the arrangements are done in such a way that there are no clashes between any of the different Affinities, and they compliment each other and make the whole more than the sum of its parts."
"We're not just paying for some common flowers. These are works of art, and they can be used as inspiration for our own crafts."
"There's always something to learn from an expert, whether they're teaching you or not."
The two girls nodded their heads, and they turned to look at the attendant, worried that they might have offended the staff of the shop. They got a sweet smile and an encouraging nod in return.
"Stop stomping!" A voice entered their ears as a pair of girls entered the shop. "You're a graceful, battle-hardened lady. You should act the part."
"Who's stomping?!" The stomping girl in a pink dress asked. She glared at her shorter companion. "And wouldn't 'battle-hardened' typically lend someone to assume a stomping action?"
"Not from graceful ladies! We use our elegance as a sharp dagger." The shorter girl with the ruby eyes mimed lunging forward with a weapon, though her hands were empty.
Kailey and Riley were immediately drawn to the display, sensing a new form of Mana twirling about the ruby-eyed girl. They had just encountered it for the first time moments ago, and they looked back and forth between the girl and one of the bouquets being held by Kailey.
"She has the same Mana," Kailey whispered to her sister.
"It seems to be coming from these purple-cream-colored flowers," Riley whispered back.
The girl in the pink dress immediately locked her amber eyes on Kailey upon hearing the whispers, and she felt a twinge of cold shoot down her spine. The other girl smacked her on the shoulder.
"Hey, knock it off," she reprimanded her companion. "They're just children." She walked over with a graceful step while her friend clomped her feet behind her. They took in the female bodyguards nearby and immediately dismissed them.
Kailey and Riley shared a look.
"I'm sorry if my friend scared you," the girl said. "My name is Fira, and this is my sister Sera."
"Why would you say that?" Kailey asked, tilting her head to the side.
"You're obviously not sisters," Riley added, identically tilting her head, though in the opposite direction.
"We're sisters," Kailey gestured between her and Riley.
"I would guess that the two of you are cousins, at best," Riley said, nodding her head sagely.
Fira and Sera were taken aback at the statement, sharing a look. Fira opened her mouth to say something else, but her eyes got snagged on one of the bouquets dominated by blue held in Riley's hands. She let out a little gasp and pointed at it.
"Sera, those would make a perfect arrangement for your flower crown," she exclaimed. "The blue is light enough that it won't clash with your pink dress, and I'm sure we can get someone to arrange it perfectly with a mix of complimentary colors.
"Little ladies, would you be willing to sell your bouquet to us?"
Kailey and Riley shared a look once again.
"Nope," Kailey flat-out refused.
Fira frowned at the refusal, but before she could try to persuade them, Riley opened her mouth.
"But we could make the flower crown that you want and sell you that," she said.
Fira and Sera eyed them skeptically. Kailey nodded her head to one of the female bodyguards, and she dutifully pulled out a flower crown that they had made for her from some lesser Mana-infused flowers from the Tier 3 Region they had traveled through a month ago. There was an unmistakable aura of Mana surrounding the flower crown. It was one beyond that of simply having high-end materials.
Fira and Sera's eyes opened wide as Fira accepted the crown.
"This is fascinating," she said. "Did the two of you make this?" Fira looked up at the two young girls.
"Yeah, we made them," Kailey nodded her head. "Well, one of us made it."
"We don't have to work together on a single item," Riley added. "We just don't really keep up with who made what unless it's more important."
"We've made hundreds of flower crowns at this point," Kailey concluded.
"I can see that this is expertly made," Fira said, handing the item in question off to Sera for her inspection. "Do you have any other designs available for us to see?"
Kailey and Riley shared another look.
"Not any ready-made," Kailey said.
"We just had some ideas on a new way to do it," Riley said.
"If you give us just a moment-"
"We'll have one made right now."
"Up to you, Sera," Fira addressed her friend. "You're the one that's going to be wearing it."
"I quite like the way this looks," Sera said with satisfaction. "There might be more ornate ones worn by other ladies, but the simplicity of this one has an elegance all to itself. I dare say my crown will be unique."
"Not so fast," Fira held up her hand. "If I'm not mistaken, I believe I've spotted some void flowers in that purple-cream bouquet; am I right?"
"We don't know what it is," Kailey said.
"But it matches one of your Mana signatures," Riley said.
"If you don't mind, I would like to buy two flower crowns from you," Fira said, nodding her head. "One from the ice-thorn roses and one from the void flowers." Kefira winked at Sera. "We will have a unique pair of flower crowns."
"I can't promise that the underlying enchantment will be of satisfactory quality for the void flowers," Kailey warned.
"We've never worked with such high-quality materials before," Riley added.
"In fact, we've never worked with anything as high-quality as the ice-thorn roses, as you called them."
"And we just extrapolated the new method for weaving the flowers together."
"That's fine," Fira said. "We're more interested in the aesthetics coupled with the fact that they're Magic Items at all. It doesn't matter the quality of the items right now. I can always commission more from you in the future after your Skill increases."
"That's acceptable," Kailey replied.
"If you give us a minute, we'll have them made for you right away," Riley said.
"Right here?" Fira asked in surprise.
"Sure," Kailey said.
"Why not?" Riley asked.
"I'm looking forward to it."
Fira and Sera stood aside and watched intently as Kailey and Riley plucked the flowers out of their respective bouquets to make the flower crowns. The twin girls mimicked the way the flowers were woven together in the bouquets.
They weren't perfect, and it was a new method they had just seen without any instruction; however, their efficiency in using the newly derived method noticeably increased as they continued to work. By the time they were finished - it only took a couple of minutes - the final portion of the flower crowns was visibly higher quality.
Kailey and Riley held the two crowns in their hands, inspecting them with frowns on their faces.
"We should have practiced," Kailey said.
"We were too arrogant," Riley agreed.
"It's fine," Fira stepped forward and took the purplish flower crown from Kailey. "We can hide the imperfections in our hair. We just orient the best-looking part toward the front, and nobody would know any different."
"I'm very satisfied," Sera said, accepting her bluish flower crown.
"These crowns aren't our highest quality work," Kailey admitted.
"Though the new method we used seems to have affected their base stats," Riley said.
"They're lovely," Fira said with a smile. "How do I go about contacting you for new ones in the future?"
Kailey and Riley once more shared a look before turning back to Fira and smiling.
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"Is this a good idea?" Serilla leaned forward and whispered into Kefira's ear. "We don't know anything about them, and I've spotted some non-uniformed militia watching their group."
"That's standard procedure for high-Level Parties entering the city," Kefira retorted. "Based on their crafting and Mana Skills, I imagine their parents are quite impressive. I doubt they're some random bait to draw me into a plot. It would require some ridiculous levels of planning and strategizing for something like that."
"I'll trust your judgment, but I must remind you to be cautious."
"Thank you. It'll be fine."
Kefira and Serilla walked beside the twin girls. They had said that the best method was to simply take them to meet their parents. They would decide if it was appropriate to establish a more than transient relationship. Kefira approved of the girls' decision.
They walked with the girls, chatting about the capital and the different Magical weaves found in different Magic Items. Kefira wasn't an expert, but neither were the two girls. They were quite young, and even though they seemed to know about a lot of different methods, they only had some superficial knowledge.
They're perfect candidates for further education at the Magic Academy, Kefira mused. But why would I send them there? Heh heh. She chuckled to herself.
The twin girls and their female guards - clearly a band of Adventurers, not a professional outfit - lead them to the highest quality inn at the central square located near the teleport circle. Kefira spotted several other people who were clearly allies of the female troupe, and she spotted several that were clearly at the Level of the Imperial Guards.
She and Serilla shared a look, and Serilla's hand twitched at a phantom sword at her hip. She was already wearing her pretty pink dress, so she had put her sword away into her storage pouch. It was still readily available. It just wasn't carried on her person directly.
The female guards broke off from escorting the twins to loiter around the outside of the inn with some of their comrades, and the two girls continued to lead Kefira and Serilla to their room. They only climbed to the second floor of the establishment. They weren't staying in the best rooms of the inn, but even the cheapest room in this inn was leagues ahead of the suites of many of the others found in the city.
The twins led them into a room located closest to the stairwell, and Kefira and Serilla followed them inside. A young woman was sitting at a table sipping some tea. Kefira froze when she first laid eyes on her. She had the illusion that she was looking at her own mother. They didn't look alike physically, but their mannerisms were very similar.
She might be as cunning and dangerous as my mother, Kefira thought. She's obviously a high-ranked noblewoman from somewhere.
She shot a glance to Serilla, but she was looking further into the room. Kefira followed her gaze, and a man walked into view. At first glance, he looked a little familiar to Kefira, but the sudden chill of danger the man exuded distracted her. She was unable to continue looking at his face.
She noticed movement out of the corner of her eye, and she realized that Serilla had retrieved her sheathed sword from her storage pouch and was in the process of baring its blade. Kefira quickly grabbed her forearm to stop her. She turned to the sitting lady with a sheepish look on her face. These two people weren't purposely pressuring them with their auras, and Kefira didn't want Serilla's instinctual reaction to offending them.
The presence of the woman washed over her, and she struggled to stay standing upright, gritting her teeth. She succeeded after a moment, but it wasn't easy.
The lady in question observed Kefira for a moment. Kefira felt like all of her secrets had been laid bare before her, but mercifully she turned her gaze to the twins.
"And who are these two young ladies that you have brought to our room?" She inquired.
I was wrong, Kefira thought. This lady is much more dangerous than my mother.