“Ah, she opened her eyes a bit. That’s got to be a good sign!” Briar said, relieved. Clare frowned a bit in concentration.

“What happened?” She asked, confused that she had been sleeping in an unfamiliar room on a couch.

“You fainted after Madam Rothema returned.” Briar stated.

Clare’s eyes widened, and she quickly sat up, patting her hair to make sure it wasn’t too out of sorts for a noble.

“Ahem!” She cleared her throat, pretending she hadn’t just been lying down on Madam Rothema’s couch. “You are Magician Briar’s magic instructor, yes?”

Madam Rothema nodded. “I am.”

“Then, I hope you’ll excuse me while I confirm something.” Clare turned to Briar and asked. “Did you...did you tell her what I said to you earlier?” Her face took on a slight tinge of pink and her voice grew a bit fainter towards the end of her sentence.

Briar nodded. “Of course. I spoke to her regarding your petition to visit Marchand kingdom.”

Clare nodded and turned back to Madam Rothema. “In that case, do forgive me for not speaking with you first about this. You’ve heard of my kingdom’s circumstances, I take it?”

Madam Rothema nodded. “Yes. I’ve heard.”

“And, would it-would it be possible to ask you for permi-permission to invite your student, Magician Briar, to come to our kingdom?” Clare asked, feeling so overwhelmed being in the presence of a legend, that her tongue stumbled over itself.

“Well, I would first like to ask you something.” Madam Rothema took a sip of tea. “If you really are the Princess of Marchand Kingdom, then where are your guards?”

Clare tilted her head. “Well…embarrassingly enough, most of our most competent guards are making sure that the borders are protected in case of a sneak attack.” She raised her arm, displaying an enchanted bracelet. “Our country might be small, but our research into enchanted protection tools are the best in the world.”

“If that’s so, then why didn’t it turn on when you were defeated by Briar?” Helen asked.

Clare coughed, her face turning a bit red. “That was because enchanted tools aren’t allowed in the magic duels, otherwise I could just stand there until my opponent’s mana was exhausted.”

“Oh.” Helen said, her curiosity now sated.

Madam Rothema smiled. “Well, I see no problem with it.” She said, taking a sip of her tea. “But you’ll have to ask her about it first. As long as my student has no problem with it, then I don’t see why not.”

“Ah, if it’s my sister, you might find her around the food stalls.” Briar said, chipping in her two cents.

Clare’s expression brightened immensely. “Thank you! I’ll go look for her right now!” She exclaimed as she bowed her head, bidding Madam Rothema goodbye in royal style, before she left, hurrying out the door.

Madam Rothema chuckled as Clare left the room, then she turned to Briar and raised an eyebrow. “‘Sister’ is it? Since when did Briar the Martial Artist gain a sister?” She asked, her eyes beginning to sparkle with a dangerous gleam.

“Erm…well…” Briar felt cold sweat begin to condense on her back.

------------------

At the food stalls, Rien and Karu were happily eating a pheasant that had been barbecued with fruit puree marinades, It was especially sweet-which made it one of the most expensive dishes among the food stalls. Rien and Karu were also wearing new clothes, tailor made for them. While personal tailoring was quite costly, the clothes now fit them perfectly.

But that little bit of money was nothing to their Grandpa Thur, who had-in the course of the past few days-won every wager he’d placed. Now he had a tidy sum of money that wouldn’t lose out to that of a kingdom’s size, all packed away in a personal storage pendant artifact that he had won from a rather unlucky magician.

Their Grandpa Thur’s blue eyes sparkled as he laughed heartily over his recent ‘good fortunes’. Both Briar-lad and Briar-girl had won him a small tidy sum compared to his ventures in his youth.

“Hah hah hah! If this keeps up, then I’ll amass a treasure equal to that of my glory days! Maybe I should stop winning so much, it’s too addicting!”

Briar pulled her cloak tighter about her face and made sure they could not see her. She had not expected Rien and Karu and that Corrupted Old Gramps to be eating in the food courts at this time. If that old geezer were to get a good look at her, then he might be able to figure everything out-and then he’d be a colossal headache.

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But still…She glanced at the wooden table where they were seated. Rien and Karu are so cute! If I had a phone I’d want to take instant photos! She held herself back from a growing desire to spoil them with sweets. Jerking, she turned away. That was close! I almost blew my cover.

Rien and Karu were familiar with Briar in her male disguise, but they had never met the female Briar before. It would simply be too suspicious if Briar were to suddenly walk up to them and talked to them.

I’d also be hearing it later from Madam Rothema if my cover were to be blown. Briar shuddered. She had just gotten out of a long scolding about her reckless actions.

“Miss?” The street vender asked, handing her the food she had ordered.

“Ah! Oh thank you! Here’s the money-” She winced as her sprained arm twinged with pain again, and she dropped the money. It rolled along the ground, away from her.

“Oh.” She looked at the coin, which by a certain coincidence, had rolled over to Rien and Karu’s table. Glaring at the coin, and pondering whether it was worth it, she turned back to the vendor.

“I’m terribly sorry. My hands must have been coated in oil, everything seems to be slipping out of them today.” She laughed as she fished another coin out of her bag, and handed it to the vendor.

Then she felt a tug on her cloak. She turned to witness Rien and Karu standing right behind her.

“Miss! You dropped this!” Rien said, holding up the shiny piece of silver. Briar smiled, while inwardly panicking. She chuckled an octave higher than she usually used.

“My, what good-behaved little children!” Briar said, patting Rien on the head. “Thank you, little one!”

Rien stared up at Briar, eyes wide. Briar felt cold sweat start to form on her back. Had she been discovered.

Rien tugged on Karu’s sleeve, and whispered to him. “Karu! It’s Briar!” Briar’s heart skipped a beat as Karu looked at Rien with a somewhat unbelieving expression.

“You know, the magician one!” Rien explained. The light went on in Karu’s head.

“Oh-OH! You’re right! Nice to meet you, Briar! I’m Karu, and this is Rien. Our Grandpa Thur is one of your biggest fans!” Karu said.

“Well, what a coincidence! He is?” Briar chuckled, inwardly glad that the disguise wasn’t seen through.

“Yep! He says that half of his winning are from betting on you, and the other half is from betting on Briar-nii!” Rien said, happily.

Briar glanced off to the side, making a face at Grandpa Thur. “He did, did he?” Briar said, in a rather unenthusiastic tone.

“Ah, that’s what he says, but me-I really like your magic!” Rien said, waving her arms excitedly. “And your familiar was really cute!” She looked around. “Speaking of which…where is your familiar?”

Briar placed a hand up to her mouth, giggling a bit. “Rien, right? A familiar is a wonderful partner, but in order to make sure that no one hurts my very good friend, I had to leave him with a trusted guard.”

—In the special viewing platform, Madam Rothema instantly raised a handkerchief as she sneezed. “Ugh! Is there some sort of pollen floating on the breeze?” She wondered to herself. –

“That’s why I need you to keep it a secret that you met me, okay? I don’t want to run into any bad people on my way back, after all.” Briar said, warning them.

Rien and Karu nodded firmly, expressing their strong determination not to tell anyone. Rien went even further and pantomimed locking her mouth with a key.

“Now, it looks like you’re Grandpa is getting a bit nervous, why don’t you go back and reassure him, huh?” Briar said, coaxingly, as she glanced at Grandpa Thur, who was sitting as stiff as a brick by now.

“Okay!” Rien agreed and ran back to the table, followed by Karu, who bowed a farewell before he left.

Now I just need to bump into Clare, quickly, so I can get this over with. Briar thought to herself as she looked around, searching for Clare in the crowds.

But, before she could find her, one of the passerbys recognized her.

“Hey, isn’t that Briar!?” He pointed at her.

“Oh, you’re right! It is! Shall we go ask for a mana signature?” The girl next to him asked excitedly.

“What!?”

“Briar?!”

“Where! Where is she!?”

“Over there!”

Briar knew the gig was up, and promptly cast a chant-less [Invisibility] on herself, quickly jumping on top of a nearby tree, hiding herself under the leafy canopy.

“That won’t work this time! [Area Detection]!” One of the young magicians cast immediately.

Crap. I should have known that there would be magicians around. Briar inwardly groaned. It was a good thing that she had also hidden in the tree.

“Marry me, Briar!”

“Where did she go!?”

Briar’s crowd of admirers pushed through towards where she had last been seen.

“What? Did it fail?” Someone asked the magician who had cast the spell.

“No, it should have worked.” He replied, confused.

“Ah! She ran away again! She really is quick! Were all magicians as quick as her?” A martial practitioner asked.

“No, no. It’s quite clear that she did a double cast!” A nearby magician argued. “First she enchanted herself with a [Speed], then she followed it up with [Invisibility]. That’s got to be it!”

“But, for someone to double cast both spells at the no-chant level, doesn’t she need to be at least an Archmage rank first?” A companion wizard asked.

“Then, perhaps she used a magic scroll for the enchant. If it’s Rothema’s Student, then anything’s possible.” The nearby wizard retorted.

“She’ll have to return to the arena sometime, right? Why don’t we go back and try to catch her then?” Someone suggested.

“““THAT’S IT!””” The whole crowd exclaimed.

“Quick! Before she hides in Rothema’s booth again! Stake out every hallway!” Someone ordered. Then, most of the people in the square quickly rushed back towards the arena, leaving the food court much less crowded.

Well, as long as they’re not searching in this area, I’m fine for now. Briar sighed with relief as she picked a skewer of meat from the assortment of food she had bought. Ripping into it, Briar glanced around one more time for Clare’s figure.

Ah, there she is! Briar picked her out at once, sitting on a nearby bench, frowning.

Briar once more used [Invisibility] and quickly approached the bench.

When she was about three feet away, Clare let out a huge sigh. “As soon as I hear the news, she goes and disappears! Should I just go back like the others? It isn’t likely for her to stick around anymore.”

Briar began to put her plan, ‘Operation Meeting’, into motion.