Vivi had promised not to take too long obliging the Gale of Blades’ demand for a duel, but thankfully, that hadn’t meant she needed to rush too much. With every individual present having been Titled, the reaction and attack speeds of each combatant meant that quite a lot of fighting could happen in a very short time. Vivi’s encounter against the maids and butlers at the White Glove Academy had likely lasted less than two minutes total, after all, and she’d wrung out more than enough bliss from that whole embarrassment.

  And viewed in that light, Vivi had definitely enjoyed sparring against the old archmage with his two martial teammates—since apparently the Archbishop had only come to watch, the same as Lysander—but she would admit it hadn’t scratched quite the same itch as the battle at her estate. She had a glaring weak point when it came to those sharply dressed, prim-and-proper servants.

  The Gale of Blades was undoubtedly a better fighter than Constance though, to say nothing of Aeris’s obvious skill and even the Silver Squire’s, so the ensuing one-versus-three duel had definitely been fun.

  When she had finished, the section of tundra she’d chosen several miles to the north of the Ashen Hierophant’s lair had been torn to shreds. Naturally, she could have ended the encounter with little to no damage to either environment or participants, but while she’d promised to make the fight quick to be respectful of people’s time, she couldn’t help but indulge somewhat, not when the opportunity had presented itself so readily. She would always want to see what other high-level people in this world were capable of and experience it firsthand. She would have fought Aeris sooner if she could have come up with a reasonable excuse for it.

  She could even twist logic around to come up with an explanation for why testing various Titled was eminently practical. She and they might not be in opposition, but it was always better to have more information than not, right? Rafael might even agree. But probably not without knowing she was making excuses.

  Looking at the woman lying half a mile down inside a crater the size of a city block, Vivi hesitated and wondered if she’d gathered a little too much information. The Gale of Blades had all but demanded Vivi ‘stop pulling her punches,’ though. After enough goading, Vivi had eventually obliged. The woman was rather direct with her words, and Vivi couldn’t decide whether she liked the bluntness or not. There seemed to be a certain good-naturedness to the Gale, in a similar but different way to Lysander, but that didn’t excuse troublesome personalities.

  With an obviously herculean effort, the swordswoman dragged herself to her feet, struggling to mentally lift her thirteen chromatic blades alongside her exhausted body. The sheer exertion it took her made Vivi’s mind up; it was time to end the fight. They’d reached that point a bit ago, actually. She’d gotten carried away.

  “That’s enough,” she said as she floated down. “We’ve spent too long already.”

  The Gale almost seemed like she would disagree, but she looked down at herself and grimaced.

  “We’ll… call it a draw, then,” the woman laugh-slurred.

  Vivi raised her staff to cast a healing spell, but the Gale immediately shook her head. “No. I will keep these injuries.” A smirk pulled onto her lips. “Thank you, Sorceress, for the guidance you’ve provided me. I accept your proof of identity.” She flashed her teeth, and there was red in the smile; Vivi internally grimaced. She really hadn’t meant to hit the Gale that hard, no matter how insistent the woman had been to ‘take the fight more seriously.’ “It may take me longer to catch up than I thought.”

  Vivi considered her for a moment. “I’m not sure it sends the best message, to return with you obviously hurt.”

  The Gale snorted. “And you care what those pencil pushers think?”

  “One of them is a friend,” Vivi said dryly. “And I think highly of several others. So yes.”

  The Gale pursed her lips. She didn’t apologize for what she’d said, though she did shift uncomfortably, maybe recognizing that she should. She let her thirteen floating blades melt into nothingness as she sheathed her sword.

  “Where’d you leave the boy?”

  “A mile or so that direction.” Vivi gestured vaguely to the east. “I’ll go find him.”

  A [Farsight] and [Blink] later, she found the young half-elven man who barely looked out of his teenage years—though he had to be older than her, Vivi reminded herself—straining underneath the weight of a gigantic earth golem’s foot. He’d managed to lift the leg nearly off himself, but when he felt Vivi arrive, his red-faced concentration broke and the crushing weight slammed back down on him with an impact that shook the ground. He only seemed slightly dazed by the blow. Vivi had layered several impressive stat bonuses into him at the start so that he could participate meaningfully in the fight.

  “Lady Vivisari,” the boy said, a bit of a wheeze in his voice. Probably thanks to the pressure smashing down on him that could flatten mithril bars into wafers. “Thank you for the… instruction you’ve given me this day. I will strive to become worthy of the privilege.”

  Vivi almost coughed into a fist with embarrassment. She wouldn’t say she’d tried to instruct anyone so much as she’d evenly met their efforts out of curiosity, allowing them to showcase their skills. Which she supposed was a learning experience, and one Titled couldn’t find in many places. But still.

  “You fought well.”

  “Like my namesake among true knights,” the Squire disagreed in as polite a tone as he could manage. “I have far to go, my lady, I know this. But thank you for the kind words.”

  Vivi dismissed the summoned golem, held a hand out to the boy—whose limb flopped up to accept the offer—then teleported him next to the Gale. Without sparking another conversation with the two, she [Blinked] over to where she’d left Aeris.

  “It is a rather shameful way to be defeated in battle,” the old man commented, floating in the air while frowning at a shimmering barrier surrounding him. An ongoing… drill… of dense mana was trying to pierce the shield containing the archmage, grinding against the spherical pane with enormous speed and power—and failing to break through. “I do believe I’ve used similar methods to separate unruly students when they fail to hold their tempers.”

  Despite his words, the archmage didn’t seem offended, only amused. Vivi herself felt immediate embarrassment. She supposed it was a disrespectful way to set an opponent aside; she hadn’t given it much thought. For the Silver Squire, she’d produced an enemy to face down and lose against, even if it was just a summoned golem, and thus the action had been effectively the same as what she’d used against Aeris—a means of disabling him while she focused on the Gale.

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  “You should be able to break it,” Vivi said. It had been meant to occupy him for a time, not indefinitely. “Try something like this.” She summoned her grimoire, tore out a page, and presented a tier-sixteen diagram to him. “That’s an interesting shield breaker,” she said, nodding at the drill construct, “and it might get through eventually, but it’s not nearly as effective as some other approaches.”

  Aeris stared at the grimoire in her hand, the torn-out page presenting [Aegis Sunder] next, then finally at Vivi herself. He raised an eyebrow. “I deeply appreciate the opportunity to learn from the Sorceress’s own grimoire, my lady, but if you mean for me to try it now, I would need several hours to even understand the architecture of that spell.” His eyes scanned the paper a second time. “Likely days,” he added, amused.

  He… would? Vivi internally blushed, dispelling the shield surrounding Aeris and handing him the paper anyway. After taking him to the Gale and the Squire, she teleported to Lysander and the Archbishop, both of whom had observed from a distance. Vivi had felt Lysander using analysis abilities and carefully scrutinizing every spell she had cast. The Archbishop had watched with an inscrutable gaze, doing similarly. Vivi was glad she hadn’t needed to fight him; it might have complicated the already tenuous situation.

  “You didn’t swat the buzzing gnat like you should have,” Lysander said flatly. “I suspect she still doesn’t realize how completely she’s outclassed.”

  Vivi disagreed. Even from the start she had gotten the impression that the Gale of Blades knew she had zero chance of winning but that she’d desperately wanted to fight anyway. Clearly the swordswoman had struck a nerve with the Headmaster of the Institute, resulting in the man making uncharitable appraisals of her. They had both said rude things to each other, and arguably Lysander had begun the conflict… though presumably in defense of Vivi’s reputation, or for the sake of not interrupting an important meeting.

  Vivi obviously didn’t know how to mediate that kind of situation, and she didn’t try.

  She faced the Archbishop next, and the man said, “Thank you for the demonstration, Lady Vivisari. It is clear what you claim is true. Your strength is undeniable. Not that I ever held any doubt.”

  She nodded. “We’re returning,” she said, holding a hand out.

  The two men accepted, and she [Blinked] them down to the other Titled. Gathering them up in a [Greater Warp], she returned them to their previous places in the Burial Room—with her standing atop the dais and the others down in the crowd as if they had never left.

  A ripple went through the gathering at their sudden appearance, and Rafael cut off mid-sentence with whatever he’d been saying. He bowed respectfully. “A moment, please,” he told the audience. He stepped aside to speak with Vivi, who threw up a silencing barrier.

  Vivi knew Rafael couldn’t have been pleased with the development. It had been very gratifying indulging in a spar with other high-level individuals, and without her having been the one to instigate it, but Rafael had explicitly asked her to present herself as levelheaded as possible—to project a stable personality that leaders of the world could work with and around. This probably hadn’t helped that goal.

  It’s really not my fault this time, though, she thought. The Gale was the one who pushed the issue.

  She knew it was a flimsy defense. But if nothing else, she could consider the extra headache she’d created for Rafael as payback for the mortifying way he’d introduced her. Really… by the end of that string of titles, he was lucky she’d teleported in front of the crowd at all.

  “The Gale of Blades is looking worse for wear,” he commented.

  “She insisted that I not heal her,” Vivi said. “I know I should have, but if she refuses, then she refuses.”

  “Hm.” He obviously had opinions on that, but chose not to voice them.

  “She reminds me of Naia,” Vivi added.

  Rafael paused. “A horror story in five words,” the steward said. “I have clearly miscalculated the danger she represents.”

  Vivi hadn’t known Naia, but she had known Nadia, and putting that personality in the most powerful rogue this world had ever seen would probably be a bit stressful for their guild’s steward.

  Though that was true of Alex too.

  …and Vivi herself was throwing stones in a glass house.

  “I believe the Gale of Blades is satisfied now,” Vivi said. “Shouldn’t cause any more issues. What happened here?”

  A shrug. “I’ve been answering questions and making assurances, as I expected to from the beginning. There’s little left for you to say, though I did reserve one topic, as the effect would be greatly diminished should it come from my mouth and not yours.”

  “The Caldimores?”

  “Indeed. Were there any complications with the Archbishop?”

  “No. He just watched, actually. I can’t tell what he’s thinking.”

  “Neither can I, and that’s worthy of consternation. But that is for me to worry about; you have other priorities.” He gestured at the front center of the dais.

  Vivi dropped the silencing spell and stepped up, with Rafael and Adrian taking their previous places at her side. The muttering crowd grew silent, and Vivi’s gaze washed out across them. She fought away the urge to crawl out of her skin. She hated public speaking even more than she was bad at it.

  “Rafael says he caught everyone up,” she began ineloquently, but at least she could take solace in the fact that she wasn’t fidgeting and that her voice remained as unperturbed as always. She’d also more or less written a script for herself in advance—one she, with some embarrassment, summoned and kept visible only to herself. From what Rafael had told her, this particular speech wasn’t going to earn any favors from the crown, but he had decided it was the best way to handle the situation nevertheless. She wouldn’t pretend to understand the politics of it, the social dynamics at play, but she trusted that Rafael did. “There’s one last matter I wish to discuss before I return to my duties. The Caldimore family. I trust that the Duke will see justice for the inexcusable actions he took and the lives spent to contain his greed and ambition. I also understand that punishment for his family is in order, but I hope it will be measured and just, no matter the heinous behavior of their patriarch.”

  She didn’t actually agree that his family should be punished at all—even if Barnaby Caldimore hadn’t endeared himself to her either—since sins shouldn’t pass on through blood like that, but she had to operate within the social norms of this world, not force everybody else to think like her and do what she said. Even this was being overbearing with her influence.

  “In particular,” Vivi continued, “Isabella Caldimore was fundamental in allowing my quick response to the breach, and many more would have died in Meridian’s defense if not for her actions. She has shown considerable strength of character despite her age and despite suffering under her father for many years. I am sure the crown will show an honorable victim the grace she deserves.” She nodded at Adrian, who smiled with seemingly perfect warmth, though Rafael had told her the High Prince would not be particularly happy about this surprise, and especially how blunt she was being about implying that Isabella had the Sorceress’s protection. But Isabella coming out with total immunity to the actions her father had taken was nonnegotiable. That events for the girl might have ended in some other manner if not for Vivi’s intervention disgusted her considerably. “In fact, though Isabella Caldimore has not yet returned to the Institute—as she is recuperating at my estate—when she decides how she wishes to move forward, I would consider it a personal favor if all present were willing to show her their support in the coming months.” She inclined her head to indicate she was finished. “Thank you. That is all.”

  She stepped aside.

  Rafael and High Prince Adrian each had a few quick closing statements to give. Afterward, Vivi teleported everyone back to the Palace Courtyard, then [Blinked] her and Rafael to his office inside Vanguard.

  “That was heavy-handed, my lady,” he said when they were alone.

  She paused. “You mean with Isabella?”

  “Yes.”

  She’d known she’d been direct, but that much so?

  “A personal favor from the Sorceress is effectively a genie’s wish,” he explained dryly. He waved a hand. “In any case, you have secured Isabella Caldimore’s future. You’ve also made it clear to many of the most powerful individuals in the world that she matters to you. That she can be used as leverage.”

  “I… see.” She’d understood that in the abstract, but having Rafael emphasize the point made her think about it more seriously. Maybe a mild endorsement would have sold the point by itself; people were already eager to please the Sorceress. Rafael had said as much. “I’ll make her some protective artifacts, just in case.”

  “That would be wise.” After a moment, he smirked. “Regardless, by the standards of the Sorceress, I would say that the event went swimmingly—well beyond my expectations. Nobody so much as threatened war. Excellently done, my lady.”

  “I don’t appreciate the sarcasm, Rafael.”