Elegant would be the best way to describe the daughter of the Ledesa family, snobbish comes a close second. Hyusi moved with the same grace of someone who has experienced the painful etiquette lessons noble children go through and decided that instead of giving up, she will perfect it out of spite.

  Rontress would even go as far as to say that the way she carried herself is almost as fluid as Ifira's fighting style, which is high praise coming from her.

  A pair of theater gloves hides her forearms and a simple, peach colored dress adorns her body, the bodice is smooth as silk, glistening with the morning sun as the light reflects off it, which rotates every time Hyusi takes a step. Her skirt is high, lowered just enough to cover her knees yet showing off a few inches of her legs, functionally, she also had knee socks to cover everything that the dress failed to hide.

  Her shoes were white and glistening with a series of red gems dotting the edges. Hyusi stopped and gave Rontress a perfectly composed smile, with a well-mannered bow, she introduced herself, "hello, you must be Rontress Owelline? Ifira's right hand woman and... Someone who's known to control pnts with "magic" as rumors cimed."

  Rontress wanted to scoff, she just stepped out of her carriage and she's already throwing her weight around. Or is this girl trying to impress her by saying that she has an extensive information network and she's smart enough to read between the lines instead of just believing them at the surface level?

  Either way, Rontress knew she had to find this girl's own set of weaknesses, otherwise she'd be a sitting duck waiting for Hyusi to tie a noose around her neck.

  "Yes, and you must be Hyusi Ledesa?" Rontress socially met the girl halfway through in acknowledgement of her attacks by calling her by her full name and offering her a hand. "The..."

  Huh.

  Rontress paused as she felt something on the back of Hyusi's hand, the bump was strange and she assumed that this was a secret the girl was hiding but feeling the line wasn't enough for her, she traced it with her index finger and as she had thought, it was a mark.

  Nobles aren't marked though, something like that is only reserved for animals and if she goes by the logic that this world is technically a game then that's intentional character design to separate one individual from everyone else, to make them stand out. Special.

  In Firelight Chronicles, there was a girl with a mark on the back of her right hand, and she wasn't pyable, she was just an npc who asked the pyer to attack certain spots in the map in exchange for rare Pricorian Artifacts.

  "Well isn't that a bit too intimate?" Hyusi pulled her hand back in a panic and rubbed her forearms while gring at Rontress. "What was that for? Don't you know it's rude to do that to another noble or are you so uneducated of our ways still? You are part of the upper echelon now so you should—"

  "I'm strong enough to attack the Lion's Grave all on my own."

  "As if!" Hyusi paused before crossing her arms. "Why would I care about a bunch of bandits? They're not even part of my family's territory."

  In the game, Lioness had blonde hair and constantly wore dark dresses as well as a mask so never in a million years could I have guessed that the brown-haired girl in front of me was her true identity.

  None of this makes sense either, even if I look at it from the perspective of a pyer and a local of this world the answer as to why she became that way still eluded me, or maybe I just forgot about it.

  But whatever reason she has for becoming Oberlon's most wanted information broker doesn't matter, feeling the mark has let me trace its actual shape and I'm pretty sure it's a roaring lion. Hyusi had the mark of Vartron's Pride and is a noble and only one character had those specific traits in Firelight Chronicles.

  "I'm sorry, I didn't know that you..."

  "That I what?" Hyusi clenched her fists and unshed tears glistened in her eyes. "This stupid mark does not bring me down, just so you know, it encourages me to be the best version of myself. Whatever I went through does not shape who I am as a person."

  Guess this means that she really is the Lioness then, the first mission she asks of the pyer is whether or not they can go to the Lion's Grave and kill Vartron. Even if she doesn't show it, Hyusi is being affected by her experience.

  Normally, Rontress would help someone because she'll get something out of it but when it comes to Hyusi? She'd go as far as to willingly lose things just to make her feel at peace, Rontress knows what bandits do to the girls they get their hands on and honestly, just the thought of what Hyusi went through while in their "care" is pissing her off.

  "I wasn't kidding when I said that by the way." With an exhale, Rontress composed herself and made a show of straightening her dress. "You probably came here ahead of the other two nobles to ask Ifira to do something simir in exchange for your loyalty but just know that you don't need her for that."

  "As if you're strong enough to beat a level 125." Hyusi let out a howling ughter. "Don't try to fool me, even if you've been standing by Ifira's side this whole time it wouldn't make sense for you to be strong, it is clear that you are the one who thinks up of ideas while she is the violent fool whose first solution to everything is murder."

  Well, she's not wrong when describing Ifira like that, Rontress felt that she was being unfairly characterized, sure she's the brain to Ifira's brawn but that doesn't mean she's weak.

  "Do you want me to prove it then?" Rontress became smug when she saw Hyusi nod in agreement. "Fine, I want you to name me the highest level spell you know."

  "Razor Cut."

  "Isn't that weak?" Around level 50 to be exact. "Whatever, here, [Razor Cut]." Rontress raised a hand to direct the spell and the direction she cast it in luckily had a rock. It was split in half. "See?"

  "That doesn't mean you're strong."

  "Oh for the love of— [Thunder Storm]." At her call, the sky darkened and rain began to fall, Rontress put up a barrier to block the rain as the droplets got bigger. "[Strike]."

  Lighting rushed from the sky and struck the ground in a violent burst of electricity, charged dirt flew from the point of impact and she had to stand in front of Hyusi in order to protect her, this leads Rontress to being unable to see the noble's expression expression so she can only guess how Hyusi is feeling right now instead of having a vague idea of it.

  "[Strike]." One more word and another bolt hits a targeted area, Rontress starts repeating it and this continues until she feels her hair standing up.

  "Do you believe me now?" She turns to Hyusi and surprisingly, the girl's hair was down? Now that's a trick she's never seen before. "How do you do that? Seriously, every time I use this particur set of spells it always ends with a bad hair day."

  "Who knows?" Hyusi waved her hair back casually, it didn't float up and just fell like it normally would. It's like the air wasn't charged right now.

  "Oh okay, keep your secrets." Rontress rolled my eyes and turned off the storm, she'll find it eventually, now that she knows who this girl was in Firelight Chronicles, she no longer has intentions of letting her go. "Ifira should be waiting for us in the mansion so should we go?"

  With a nod, Hyusi stepped aside and offered for Rontress to go first. A sign of respect. The first of many, no doubt.

  From the start, Rontress knew that the reason why Ifira wanted to stay behind was because she had to show their guest that they are just that: a visitor, they don't have any authority in this estate and the best they can ask for during their stay is Ifira's mercy.

  When the double doors opened before them and they walked inside, Ifira was nowhere to be found, it was only when they reached the center of the atrium that her dear friend showed herself.

  "Hello, Lady Ledesa." Ifira appeared on the balcony that oversaw the mansion's entrance and she looked down on the two girls while wearing a fancy red dress with dark undertones along the side, there's a beautiful pearl at the center of her chest and a silver neckce with a cracked, cylindrical crystal hangs from her neck.

  "Mistress Ifira." Unlike Rontress, who Hyusi treated as an equal earlier, the visiting noble gave Ifira a modicum of respect. "I have heard good news of your territory's development and I am rather impressed."

  "Oh that is nothing, at least nothing compared to yours."

  Rontress looked away to hide the smirk she couldn't hold back after seeing Hyusi's shocked face. Yeah, if she saw Ifira be humble and say that other people are above her without context she'd be shocked too, especially if she's interacted with Ifira as a child.

  And she has, the only difference between them is that Rontress watched Ifira grow into who she is today.

  'Hyusi must be mentally reeling right now, the arrogant Ifira of the past who only viewed herself as the superior person within a room is now gone, she's not as apathetic as she used to be as well.'

  Rontress felt someone staring at her so she turned and caught Hyusi giving her a confused yet suspicious look, 'Does she think I have something to do with Ifira's sudden change? Well, she's not wrong, but Ifira also put in a lot of effort to be a better version of herself.'

  She ignored Hyusi's stare and focused on Ifira, her friend was slowly making her way towards them, she was dedicated to pying this out so Rontress can only really wait until Ifira gets to them before everything moves on and they can start talking and pnning.

  How long did it take for Ifira to get from the top of the stairs to the bottom? Rontress would rather not think about it, so she decided to practice her flora-kinesis while waiting. She didn't know if Hyusi did something simir and she didn't care.

  'She can get bored for a while, it's not like we're going anywhere anyway.' Rontress thought as she pulled her consciousness out of the nearby pnts and went back to Ifira, who has now gone down successfully.

  "Hyusi, we can discuss our pns over tea." Ifira's voice was strained and it was clear that her attempt at superiority was just as taxing to her as it is to everyone else. "We have already asked the servants to prepare everything so all we need to do now is make our way behind the mansion."

  Ifira didn't wait for a response and just started walking, both her friend and her guest tailed her, with Rontress deliberately standing next to Hyusi in order to give an impression of her retionship with Ifira not being deep.

  Reaching the pagoda took even longer but luckily for them, the ptes were enchanted so everything was warm when they took their seats.

  "Rontress, can you please expin to Hyusi why we're here?"

  "Sorry, may I be blunt?"

  "Okay? Then do it." Rontress nodded, she had a feeling that Hyusi would be too sharp to be ignorant to her and Ifira's retionship.

  "Can we drop the formalities? I know you and Rontress are close enough to do so, and I feel uncomfortable knowing that you two are doing this due to my presence." Go figure, Hyusi would just bluntly tell them to drop the act. "If it is possible, I would love to be treated as your equals."

  "Fine." Rontress let out a sigh, and Ifira did as well, probably because she can now drop the fancy way of talking that all nobles do. "So, I'm guessing you came early because you have your own deals to make?"

  "Yes, as you have guessed, I had an experience in the past that I still could not forget, no matter how hard I try to move on, my mind simply goes back to the time I was locked in a room, starving and waiting for my death."

  Rontress had to admit, she was impressed, not for Hyusi's tenacity, but because it takes a lot of courage for someone to admit something like this, doubly so if they're a haughty noble who thinks they should be perfect at all times. A noble saying that they suffered so much that they were eager to die is almost unheard of.

  "And why would we help you?" Ifira let out a scoff, she shook her head and turned to Rontress. "Helping her out wouldn't be ideal, yes?"

  Hyusi shot her a pleading look, her gaze was so intense that it could be felt.

  "Well, we can talk about it, that's what we're here for isn't it?" The way Hyusi controlled her relief as to not let it show was a mastercss in acting. "Ifira, I can see why you wouldn't think it's beneficial." Mainly because Rontress knows that her friend is doing this out of spite.

  Ifira is always confident when it comes to doing something, so her saying no can always be interpreted as it coming from a pce of emotion rather than a ck of strength.

  'If I had to guess, I'd say it's because Ifira was treated badly by Hyusi, or maybe she was ignored? It all happened in the past, and now she's spiting the girl for it.'

  "We can talk about this ter if you want." Rontress looked her friend in the eyes. "Okay? I'll talk to you about this."

  "... Fine." Ifira relented, and that's all Rontress could ask for. "State your terms, if they do not benefit us then we will not do anything to help you."

  "Technically though, killing a bandit would make us look like heroes, and people would like us even more." Rontress got that out of the way, she didn't want Hyusi to appeal to Ifira's ego so she said it first. "It can make things easier for us coming forward, and hell, maybe we can issue it as a challenge during the gathering? Whoever brings the head of the bandit of the desert wastes first wins. We don't have to go all out then."

  "You two are pnning on showing off during the gathering?"

  "No, I wanted to but we decided that only Rontress gets to be the one to do it." Ifira was willing to answer Hyusi's question, progress. "But maybe if this challenge is put out then the two of us can..."

  "Before that, we still need to decide if we want to help you." Rontress leaned forward, fingers steepled, and stared Hyusi down. "What are your terms?"

  "I..." Their guest looked away, her eyes conflicted.

  Rontress waited for her to answer.