Lexi realizes how terrifying maids can be when she comes back from a six-day field training excursion with a scratch on her face.
Eric has to promise not to take her out of the manor until after the ball, has to promise to be gentle with her in training, and Lexi can definitely understand why even the most feared knight in the country cowers in front of the army of apron-wearing servants.
They’re watched by maids who happen to be passing by constantly after that, whenever they’re in the training grounds. Lexi always finds it hilarious when Eric glances warily around before he swings his practice sword at her.
After she’s successfully pulled off her very first back flip without his help - though she bungles the landing and has to endure Eric’s obnoxious laughter - Lexi decides to check her menu.
It’s been long enough, and I haven’t been slacking off during that time. Please please please unlock the last active skill.
Lexi Level 10 full bio [https://i.imgur.com/LgPITa4.png]
Foresight Grants user ability to see the future. Length and duration at current level: up to 25 minutes in the future for 30 seconds. MP required: 40 Level 10 bonus: one MP-free use of skill [https://i.imgur.com/g1YRQP0.png]
Hindsight Grants user ability to see the past. Length and duration at current level: up to 25 minutes in the past for 25 seconds, can only be activated upon touching the specific object or person whose past the user wishes to see. MP required: 39 Level 10 bonus: one MP-free use of skill [https://i.imgur.com/4IoAOMy.png]
Flow Allows user to see effect of flow of time on object, person, or surroundings with different variables by level. Current level allows user to see up to 5 variables’ impact on three items or persons, up to 1.5 days in future MP required: 29 Note: types of variables that may be used differ according to Intelligence points [https://i.imgur.com/RULueSe.png]
Bend Allows user to force FLOW on an object or objects depending on level. Current level allows force FLOW on one object MP required: 30 Note: probability of success is dependent on combination of Intelligence, Charisma, Luck, and M-ATK points [https://i.imgur.com/8UDUbqU.png]
Guide Indicates items and people of important to player’s journey. Level 10 unlock: Guide leads user towards items and people of importance from up to 200 feet away. Level up to unlock additional abilities. [https://i.imgur.com/l3aDshI.png]
Sight Allows user to see information about others. User can view levels of people and items - both those that have been shared and those that have not been shared. Level up to unlock additional abilities. [https://i.imgur.com/gTSKqiq.png]
Clarity Allows user to see past illusions in accordance with user’s level. Current level: 10 Illusions that are level 10 and below do not work on user. [https://i.imgur.com/xrnsAVU.png]
Intuition Allows user to see warning signs over people, objects, monsters, and locations. Synchronizes with Guide. Current level: user can see simple warning sign in color starting from yellow (some danger) up to red (danger imminent). No warning sign will be displayed if no threat is detected. User can see one target of threat. Note: danger may not be directed at user [https://i.imgur.com/6eNvQda.png]
“YES!!!!”
Eric glares at her when she suddenly starts screaming with joy, but after she explains even he looks pleased.
“Finally.”
Would it kill you to congratulate me properly?
Though, yes, FINALLY. My last active skill is unlocked, AND it can actually be useful in a fight!
Bend, in combination with Flow, is almost a watered down version of Elise’s Advance ultimate skill, since Flow allows her to observe the impact of different variables with time, and Bend makes her chosen scenario happen.
Which means I can do things like making the ground ice over or crumble, burn by removing moisture from a target and then factoring in heat and wind, maybe even cause lightning to strike. The possibilities!
Oh! I can probably use Bend to craft an inventory pouch too. I might not even need Brienne’s help.
This isn’t just a great skill for alchemists and sages, this is PERFECT for someone like me who plays with spreadsheets and simulations before launching projects and campaigns.
Eric of course rushes her to assign her stat points, snarking about her low Strength and P-ATK, so she rolls her eyes and starts distributing the points while ignoring him.
Strength: 23 + 5 Speed: 32 + 7 Dexterity: 24 + 6 Agility: 31 + 6 Intelligence: 34 + 7 Vitality: 34 + 7 Charisma: 26 + 6 Luck: 28 + 6 [https://i.imgur.com/kJEjj1c.png]
HP, M-ATK, P-DEF, and M-DEF all rise after she confirms the distribution, and then Eric is making Lexi practice using Flow and Bend in a fight while nitpicking everything.
Ugh. I JUST got this skill, come ON.
Though, he doesn’t ask her what she chose to boost and why anymore.
Baby steps.
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Jordan comes to the impromptu party with three carriages full of gifts, and Eric facepalms dramatically before starting an argument full of childish insults with his best friend.
No one pays them any mind, the prince’s attendants and the duke’s staff so used to such displays that secretaries, knights, and maids carrying expensive items step around the quibbling duo with practiced ease. For her part, Lexi is dragged enthusiastically along by Elise - who’d brought a book handwritten by Sage Icarian as her gift, the only one in the world, bless her - to look at the presents from Ray and the crown prince.
The gifts the green-eyed knight brings her have obviously been carefully chosen with her needs - now and in the future - in mind, and Lexi thanks him with an attempted hug (it’s attempted because her arms can’t reach around him at all). She gets to see him blush again, only this time it’s accompanied by a proud and shy smile, and that makes her vision a little blurry while she grins more broadly.
You’re a sweetheart, Ray.
He’d given her three magic items, each no doubt enough to sustain a large commoner family for years: a flame stone so she can start a fire easily since Lexi can’t directly use fire magic (only manipulate the element itself with her skills), a sound barrier so she can keep conversations private, and a signal stone to call for help and indicate her location when she’s in trouble.
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The closer it gets to the ball, the worse Lexi feels.
Yes, it’s clear she’s lost some weight - even gained muscle to the extent her chicken wing arms no longer jiggle so obviously with every wave - but whenever she looks at the seamstresses working on her dress or checking her measurements once more, she’s reminded of every party she’s ever attended where she felt like a bulging sack of potatoes barely held together by too many constricting ropes.
Of course Elise tells her she looks lovely just as she is, Mia and the maids too. But try as she might she can’t shake off the feeling that she’s just an ugly duckling trying to be a swan.
Her foul mood gets so bad that even Eric calls her out on it, pausing training and glaring down at her one cold winter morning.
“Why can’t you focus?”
She has no idea how to tell him, knows someone like him - perfect since birth - wouldn’t understand.
Hey. Stop it. You got plenty pissed with characters in stories refusing to communicate while relying on assumptions, so communicate and stop assuming.
Lady Luck steps in again, Lexi thinks, because Eric is neither derisive nor condescending when she finally forces out what’s plaguing her.
Though he’s still an asshole.
“Is that it?”
Lexi has never wished to be a better fighter more than then.
Sighing, the redhaired commander comes closer before abruptly sitting lotus-style right in front of her.
“I don’t know what it was like in your world, and yes even in Terra we have a standard of beauty, but with all the players coming and going and leaving little pieces of themselves behind, we’re pretty open-minded here in the empire.”
It’s nice that he isn’t trying to tell her everything’s alright, that it’s all in her head. She appreciates his honesty and the fact that he’s trying to reason it out with her, because that means he at least has respect for her intelligence.
“But...” Eric waits patiently, watching her intently. “But you know that me being under your family’s care, with you and Ray protecting me, and Jordan and Elise always taking care of me...”
Insults towards those she actually cares about have always hurt her more than barbs directed her way. With the latter she’s only failed herself, with the former she’s failed others.
Maybe that’s why I could never be like the other girls.
She’d never admit it aloud, but ever since she was little she’d felt the gulf between her and others widen no matter her attempts to bridge it. By the time she’d realized her temper and arrogance weren’t helping matters, it’d been too late, if there’d even been any hope in the first place. Only two people in Lexi’s life before Terra hadn’t taken pleasure in tearing others down, and she’s not one of them.
“Do we look that weak to you?”
Startled, she comes back to the present and focuses on a serious brown gaze with light golden highlights thanks to the morning sun.
“Lexi. My family has stood by the side of the imperial family since the founding emperor went to the Crater. Do you have any idea how many people have tried to bring us down since Emperor Luxendia named my ancestor a duke?”
That’s true. This is a House as old as the empire.
“Jord’s not a weakling, and neither is Sage Elise. There’s a reason they’ve made it this far and you know it.”
That’s true as well.
“So tell me the real reason why you’re so distracted you’ve been gripping your practice sword from the wrong end all morning.”
WHAT?!
Looking down at her gloved hands, Lexi wants to dig a hole and hide in there forever.
You ass! You could’ve mentioned it earlier!
It takes her awhile to dredge up the courage to structure her answer, takes her awhile to run it through scenarios in her head before she painfully squeezes it out in a shamed, harsh whisper from the depths of her soul. All the while, no one rushes or interrupts her.
“What if no one likes me?”
Eric has never looked at her like that - as though his own heart is breaking - and it makes her wonder if she should have said anything when she sees herself reflected in those brown eyes.
The training grounds are quiet for a while, before the asshole-who’s-not-that-bad-now-and-then answers her.
“I won’t lie to you. There are many people in this world who hate you and want to kill you, just because of who you are.” Stunned, all Lexi can do is stare at him. “But you’re surprisingly intelligent -” Couldn’t resist, could you? “- so I’ll tell you the facts and let you draw your own conclusions.”
Oh.
“Fact one: you’re not the only person in the world with enemies.”
That’s true.
“Fact two: many of us, including you, have already survived multiple assassination attempts. We’ve survived because we prepared for it, watched out for it, or just got lucky.” At that last word, he gives her a meaningful look.
Yes, yes, I get it.
“Fact three: when they’re not trying to kill us, they’re assassinating our character instead. But that can be dealt with the same way as with attempts on our lives: prepare for it, watch out for it, keep your composure and wits about you when it happens, and find a way out of the situation.”
Also true.
“Fact four: you’re still relatively new to this world, and yet the Guild has already initiated thirteen new players - at least two of them being replacements for the assassins who came after you - which means players are as busy dying as always.”
You’re definitely not trying to make me feel better. And you could’ve just told me to look at the big picture.
“Last but not least, fact five: there’s a reason why knights usually work in teams, and why players prefer to have parties. You can’t have an army with a single soldier, and you can’t have an empire with a single citizen.”
What...
There’s a light tinge of pink on those high cheekbones, and they both know it’s not due to the cold or exertion since Eric seems impervious to the elements, and hadn’t budged from his spot at all until he’d gotten fed up and questioned her.
Oh.
Lexi really wants to hug him.
Thank you.
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One week before the ball, her dress and a backup are glittering proudly in her enormous walk-in closet, and Lexi wonders if the theme of the party is disco.
Elise smiles before assuring her that her gowns only look this way because the maids are trying to get them to sparkle in order to make her feel better.
I guess they heard me that day.
She’s more embarrassed than she's ever been - and that's saying something - because it’d been a confession straight from the heart. But at the same time it’s incredibly sweet of them so Lexi makes the effort to smile more, though Eric tells her not to waste her energy and focus on training instead.
The servants of the duchy are ridiculously good at their jobs, and in their drive to make Lexi feel better they’re pulling out all the stops, including proudly giving her the final list of confirmed attendees (fresh off the emperor’s table) last week. She hadn't questioned how they’d obtained the names, just grinned and thanked Deidre - the blonde maid who’d first led her to the lily pavilion all those months ago - who'd straightened slightly with pride and promised to bring her more information within the hour.
And Deidre had absolutely delivered.
From portraits arranged in chronological order to illustrate key milestones, to the most sordid information about an individual’s lifestyle preferences, Lexi has had her hands full memorizing more than a thousand names and faces, as well as up to hundreds of bullet points of details per person.
She’s grateful though, since she can’t rely on Guide, Sight, or Intuition at the event. With so many players attending, the nobles had thrown a fit and petitioned the emperor to install ridiculously expensive blocking devices all around the Starlight Palace, where the ball is being held.
Ray has been helping her practice dancing, Eric lounging on the sidelines going over Hawk Legion paperwork because Jordan had unceremoniously dumped it all on the redhead despite being the acting commander now. The moves themselves aren’t complicated, especially now that Lexi is able to make her body listen to her better than before, but she still worries she’s not proficient enough to be graceful.
Eric just glares at her now and then, and that’s enough for Lexi to straighten her back - she’s gotten used to what good posture feels like thanks to the commander’s nagging - and raise her chin each time.
Deidre, Mia, and the rest of the house have also gone all out preparing additional dossiers for Lexi - filled with information on the latest cultural trends, verbal landmines to avoid in the current environment, policies being discussed so she doesn’t come across as an ignorant fool - and Lexi is so grateful she just holds Deidre’s and Mia’s hands and thanks them.
Even the duke seems to try to cheer her up - commenting one day at dinner that players usually require extensive etiquette lessons to prepare for imperial balls, but Lexi had only needed some verbal pointers from Eric.
On the first day of spring, she’s woken up at the crack of dawn and spends all day being prepared by maids with fire in their eyes, and by late afternoon Lexi would gladly eat a raw potato because she’s so hungry.
“My lady, this is what every noblewoman goes through to prepare for imperial balls.” Deidre had called in reinforcements after enduring three hours of whining, and now the head maid herself is standing in Lexi’s room shutting down her request for just a little bite to eat.
“But...”
Head Maid Helen is unmoved, though amber eyes twinkle. “Young master Eric has been spending the last hour trying to fix his hair, my lady.”
He’s been what?
“Young master Eric’s hair is famous in the empire for having a life and mind of its own.” Lexi isn’t imagining the lift of thin lips, not when the wrinkles and smile lines move. “I believe this time three magic setting tools have been purchased, since the young master’s hair grows more rebellious with age.”
He needs three magic tools to style his hair?
It’s hilarious, and Lexi can’t stop laughing at the realization that Eric’s devil-may-care, come-hither look is partly the result of a bedhead so stubborn he needs to rely on more than one piece of expensive magical equipment to get it to behave for a few hours.
Helen smirks in satisfaction, job done, and curtsies deeply before departing to inspect the carriage once more.
Is this what Cinderella felt like?
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CHAPTER 18 END