Two days had passed. Since Alicia was still underage, we opted to give her a room in the mansion. She could live by herself in that shack, but I pleaded for her to stay in my room. Of course, my family refused. However, due to my incessant begging, they finally agreed to give her a room inside the mansion. It was an empty room usually used for storage. We did have guest rooms, but my parents refused to lend them out.

I was frustrated but relented when they didn't budge. Well, at least it was better than her shack. She bowed to me once again gratefully. During our days, she treated herself like a maid and helped around the mansion. That was weird. Why were the maids so ready to give her tasks when they vehemently refused my offer to help around the mansion?

"Let's play. Look at what I can do with a shadow tentacle!" I said as dark shadows started to rise from the ground and tickled her hands. I could create up to ten if I focused really hard. However, we only needed four for the shadow dancing. Two for each of our steps and another two for hand stabilization.

She nervously grabbed one, and I moved it as if we were dancing. The tentacle moved around, and soon enough, we were lifted from the ground.

"Ah! It's scary!"

"Don't worry. I'm just lifting you ten centimeters from the ground," I said as my tentacle grabbed her feet to lift her. I did the same to myself but even higher. I could reach the ceiling if I wanted to. Seeing that she was almost crying, I dropped her and retracted the shadows. After I put her down, she sat on the floor, frightened.

"Sorry, you didn't enjoy it? Then how about I show you my knife collection?" I said to her. I only had three at the moment: a karambit, a utility knife, and a paring knife. They were all adorned with some silver craftsmanship on their handles, except for my karambit, so they all felt luxurious. However, what interested me was their blades. They were made of Mythril. When Mythril was forged, they glittered, which made for beautiful tableware. Too bad they were a rare metal and thus expensive. Unlike the usual fantasy setting, Mythril was not used to make legendary armor or swords in this world. They only had a bit more strength and hardness than silver. So, Mythril was treated like precious metals like silver and gold and was often used for decorations.

But Mythril was still a metal. It could cut or stab just as well as brass did. They still fell a bit short of hardened steel, though. However, none of them were a match for my karambit. The blade glowed with a blueish shimmer. I wondered how the southern countries made this. I had never seen these metals that formed the karambit.

"Ugh... hah..." Alicia grew more restless as the days passed. It had been almost a week, and we had not heard from her father. When I mentioned this at our dining table, Zach dismissed it.

"Hmm... he's taking too much time. Do you think he came back in a carriage? Or, worse, did he travel on foot?" my father asked. It should have taken at most two days if someone had traveled on horseback.

"Maybe he got held back by the justiciars. He needed to answer some questions from them, after all."

Days turned into a month, and still no word from John, Alicia's father. I always followed Alicia whenever she went outside, like baby ducklings. She grew more irritated, but I paid it no mind. After all, I also had business in the barracks and at the gates. We still had woodcutting jobs and traps to install there. The traps proved to be fabulous. My brother praised me endlessly when he heard that there had been zero injuries from monster attacks this month.

The woodcutting, however, didn't fare as well. Brother Zach chose a time in the late afternoon for soldiers to cut down the trees. At first, it went well. However, some soldiers who ventured just a bit deeper into the forest were ambushed by wolves, and two soldiers were killed. After that incident, father forbade anyone from venturing deep into the woods, and all woodcutting had to be done on the border of the forest with knights guarding the front. I was impressed that he didn't outright abandon the venture.

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"Lady Eli, why are you following me? I'm just buying groceries," Alicia scowled. Her tone grew less polite, but I was happy. We finally could get rid of the annoying etiquette.

"Do you want me to help you carry the bags? You might not know this, but I'm strong!" I said while showing off my nonexistent biceps. Well, in this world, magic was more important, but muscle had its uses, too, although it was meaningless against a skilled opponent.

Brother Zach told me that a skill was treated like magic. However, due to the unpredictable nature of a skill, no one actually taught anything about it. Because of the scarcity of specific skills, they were not used or acknowledged by the government.

"No, it would be unbefitting of you, Lady Eli," Alicia denied me. She no longer faked a smile but frowned fully. She was so cute when she pouted like that. I smiled back at her pouting face.

"Hmm? This isn't the way to the mansion, right?" I asked her when she made a left turn from the main street.

"I want to check my house," Alicia said. She looked sad as her father seemed to never come home.

I see! That's why she volunteered to do shopping tasks. She wanted to visit her house on the way. I wondered why, though. Brother Zach had told us that John hadn't come back. Why bother checking that small shack? It's not like there was anything there to begin with. Alicia and her father didn't have any personal effects.

Alicia's home was located near the slums. I looked around in excitement. I wondered if those hooligan look-alikes were still around. Their faces were ugly, but they were nice. They answered my questions politely. As I looked around the slums, I saw kids playing in their ragged clothes. Many bearded, scary men were looking at us, wondering why we were there.

"I'm done. Father didn't come here. I already left a letter saying that I was at the count's mansion. Let's go home, Lady Elidranthia," she covered her sadness with a fake smile.

"Alright!" I skipped my steps as I walked beside her. "Do you have any tasks today? Do you need help? Want to play some games? I have a chess set in father's study!"

"Shut up! Why do you keep pestering me!" Alicia finally snapped. Then she realized she had messed up. But I didn't mind her attitude in the least. If she wanted me to be silent, then so be it.

"Okay. I'll be silent on the way."

"Sorry... I just didn't know how to act around you," she said as she kept avoiding eye contact.

"That's fine! Just be yourself. As long as we can be together, I'm happy with it!" I said while smiling. Friends sometimes get mad at each other, right? She was probably worried about her father. I needed to be there with her.

"That's the problem! I don't enjoy being together with you! Why do you keep smiling when my father has gone who knows where? I'm just a commoner while you're a noble! I hate knives! Pointed objects scare me, and I look like a friend of a psycho when you adore them. I also hate your dark binding. That black tentacle feels terrible when it touches you! I don't want to be your friend! Just stay away from me. Don't worry, I won't go anywhere. You also don't actually like me, right? You just want to secure me as a talented fire mage for Count Shadowstep. All my friends told me so!" She snapped with such a fury that I didn't know how to reply.

"I really do like you. I-I-I wanted to be your friend," I said, denying her accusation. However, I couldn't deny her when she said I liked knives.

"Why did I like knives anyway? Oh my god! Do I look like a psycho to other people? I messed up! Eli is a villainess who loved knives and later killed the heroine Claire using daggers! Why do I collect knives instead of jewelry? Was I hypnotized to like knives? I was never allowed to touch knives on Earth before. Why do I like knives here? No, I didn't actually like knives! I was merely fascinated by their shining blades. Yeah! It was just like how boys love swords. In fact, I like swords and axes too. They were simply too heavy for me to lift, and they were more expensive, so I didn't buy them." Thoughts of her accusations ran wild in my mind. I just wanted her to befriend me, liking the same thing I did. I never thought she would be so creeped out by me.

"Sorry. I won't do it again," I nodded as regret swallowed me. I never thought about how she felt about me. I just selfishly introduced her to my hobbies.

Is this the end of our friendship? I thought I was doing well! Laura, my maid, never chided me for this. This sucked. Am I the only one having fun in this friendship? Is it impossible for me to have friends after all?

"May I ask who you are?" Laura raised her voice and interrupted us as four gentlemen came to us. Not gentlemen, actually. If the people from before were skinny hooligans because they were poor, these guys were muscular. If there were auditions for pirates or bandits, these guys would surely get the role.

"Boss, she is Alicia, right?" one of the bandit look-alikes approached.

"Wait, she's with a soldier and a noble girl."

"So, what does it matter with noble girls in the boonies anyway? We've been waiting for weeks scouting these countryside nobles. If we wait, we won't get another chance. It's clear they're protecting these commoners. Moreover, I heard that girl with red eyes is also a mage. We could get double the profit."

Bob, our sole guard, and Laura were on guard as several men hiding in the shadows approached us.