106 News and invitation

After the two girls agreed to learn to know each other better, the group spent the whole evening together. There were quite a few awkward moments but also a lot of good ones.

Mable started by trying to engage in a conversation about cakes with Calla as it was her usual opening subject but the other girl had never eaten a cake before. She felt like an idiot because it should have been obvious. Mable did her best to find something to talk about after that but it was really hard.

The two girls had lived in opposite worlds up to now so they could hardly find any experience that both of them shared. It seemed that the only points they had in common where that they both had siblings and both of them liked Emp.

Those two things didn't make for a long conversation so they ended up having to share stories about themselves in turn instead. Mable would share something she found interesting and explain why and Calla would nod in understanding. When she was done, Calla would share a story of her own that could somewhat relate to hers and Mable would listen with mild interest.

The truth was, from Mable's point of view, Calla lived a pretty boring life. Emp had to agree that a story about finding an unexpected patch of mushrooms wasn't as interesting as a story about a group of knights arresting a criminal on the main road of the capital.

This made Calla rather dispirited. Her own ordinary life couldn't compare to the experiences of a noble after all. Mable felt bad about it too, she didn't want to appear uninterested but Calla's stories lacked excitement. Most of them where either about a meal she made or a moment she wanted to hide in embarrassment or shyness.

Calla apologized again for another story about how she tried to make someone feel better with a meal but Mable had enough.

"We'll never work out anything like this! If we can't find common ground like this we should make our own! We'll make brand new memories with the two of us and this way, we'll know if we can get along."

"What do you have in mind?" Emp asked her.

"You didn't help her buy any good clothes yet did you? I say we should go in town, get some cake, new clothes and go wherever we fancy for the fun of it."

"You want us to go buy clothes again?"

"No, I'm saying I want to help her look like the wife of a noble and use the occasion to spend time with her. You're not allowed to be there."

"I'm not allowed to be there?"

"No, I want to know her and I'll never get to if you keep holding her hand all the time and answering for her."

Calla got rather nervous thinking she'd be separated from him. Even worse, they were talking about moving around in this huge city.

"But, should I not go along as your lord protector?"

"We don't need to, we'll bring Brenia, Aglaya, Nessa and your two servants too. It'll be a girls only day."

"That's a great idea." Aglaya approved. "This is going to be fun, I'm already looking forward to it. Maybe we could go to the theater while we're there."

"Oh yeah! I heard they had a new play. We'll get a meal in town, have Calla look like one of us and end the day with the play, it'll be great! Only the seven of us, will you come? Please, I promise it will be fun."

Emp expected Calla to be hard to convince but she surprisingly agreed to come right away. She was scared of the town and nervous to go out with people she didn't know at all but at the same time, she understood as well that it was the best way to make some bonds with them.

Seeing this, Emp could only agree to it. They'd have Brenia and Nessa anyway in case something happened and inside a city, guards were never that far off.

"Why aren't you bringing Gytha too?" He asked instead. "I thought you were friends again."

"You didn't hear about it?" Aglaya asked.

"About what?"

"Gytha's gone, she disappeared while the ancient was away with you."

"What do you mean disappeared? She left the school?"

"We don't know for sure because the teachers won't tell us but we believe that Ninoslav came back while the old man was gone and used the opportunity to get her." Aglaya answered.

"It's an abduction! Plain and simple!" Mable Complained loudly.

Emp was rather surprised by the news and worried about Mable. Calla didn't know any of the persons they were talking about but she still found that someone they knew getting abducted was incredibly scary. What if it happened again? She'd never be able to sleep now.

"He didn't go after you again?"

"No, Heinrich placed a bunch of spells and traps around my room after that time. Ninoslav isn't close to his level so there's no way he'd be able to get in again without the whole school going after him."

"But then, how did he get Gytha? Did he not do the same with hers?"

"No, she didn't want any. She said it was a waste and bothersome too. I think he still placed some traps but he certainly didn't spend as much time and efforts on them as he did for mine. I guess she was sort of hoping he would come back for her. I don't know."

What an unsavory story.

"So he managed to get away again? Did he only take her or did he do something else while he was here?"

"Like I said, the teachers won't tell us, I think a girl from another group went missing as well but we never really paid any attention to the other groups so it might just be a coincidence."

Emp was bothered by that story. He hated being left in the dark, hated not being able to do anything and hated to know that a friend of his was missing.

"I hope they'll find her." Was all he could say about it.

Because of that topic, a strange mood took hold of the place. They didn't know what else to talk about with Gytha floating in their minds but didn't want to end things on that either.

Calla decided it was time to prepare some food and Emp invited the two to stay for the meal. Hopefully, the mood would have lightened by the time they left after supper.

Emp invited Celtine to sit down with them while Harriett assisted Calla in her work. He had to entertain the two visitors with stories about what they saw and did on their trip while his wife was cooking. He'd have liked to include her more since she was just there but Calla really felt more at home listening to things going on behind her rather than participating herself.

The mood went back up slowly but surely with Harriett on one side asking questions and receiving cooking advises from Calla while Mable got in an animated retelling of everything that happened while he was away including how they saw a girl slap Noirantel hard.

"That guy from group B, Noirantel, the one with the weird sword move you fought. He was arguing with that girl on the other side of the field. We didn't get what he was saying because he was so far off but he was clearly yelling, he was moving his arms like an ape, it was really funny."

She mimicked his arms movements, raising them in the air as if she was really frustrated and shaking them up and down.

"Then, the girl swung her arm and gave him a loud slap like Pang!"

She mimicked that too, throwing a backhand in the air over the table, making all the cups shake.

"Wow Mable! Careful." Aglaya intervened.

"Sorry, it was just too funny, we heard it from across the whole field. We all gasped and the girl left him standing there in shock."

"What did he do to deserve that?"

"I don't know and I don't really care. I'm sure he deserved it and it was a truly impressive slap."

"Mable... that's not really kind of you."

"I know but the guys from group B are so bad. They're the worst." She turned towards Emp to complain some more. "Aglaya feels that when I mock those guys it makes me look bad too but/"

"It's unbecoming of a lady, Blackbull told you this too."

"But it's entirely their fault! I wouldn't laugh at the misery of some random person I don't know. Those guys came looking for trouble, insulted Emp and me and now you want me to not laugh when one of them gets slapped?"

"Mable, the point is to be better than them. Some people will do way worse things than that in the future and you can't disdain them all so openly, it will bring you trouble."

"That's not openly, we're in private!"

"Maybe now but when it happened, you laughed so loudly he heard you across the field and turned towards us."

"Well I can't help it, it was just too much. I'd have laughed even if it was Emp."

"Why would I get slapped?"

"You keep doing infuriating things and also, you should be more concerned about her laughing at it than you getting slapped." Aglaya pointed out.

"Why?" Both Emp and Mable asked, puzzled.

Neither understood how this was problematic at all.

"Great benevolent Mercy, save me. Why is there no one in this room with any social skills at all."

They rolled from this subject to another and another until Harriett told them that Calla was done with the meal. Emp learned a lot of what happened while he was gone this way but nothing stuck out as particularly special. All of it was more of the same usual nonsense that went on with their group.

Some of those from the last cycle were starting to talk about leaving, Odilon said more nonsensical things until Brenia glared at him and he stopped, Ivar got in an argument with Kenneth about the army, Zoran made huge progress in magic and Oran defeated Brenia in a spar by taking hold of her and dragging her out of the sparring area.

"She was pretty upset about losing this way." Mable retold while Harriett was placing plates in front of everyone. "She kept saying that this didn't count as a loss because there was no real fight involved but the teacher disagreed."

"Yeah, Winfred said that she had plenty of time to undo his grip and fight back but she didn't so it's really her loss. She's weak against grapples, he said, she should work on that." Aglaya added.

"She couldn't get away from Oran? How did she get caught in the first place?" Emp asked, curious.

"They ran at each other right away but when their weapons clashed into each other, Oran didn't stop and bumped into her. He used his arm to take hold of her waist and didn't let her go even though she screamed, kicked, punched and slammed the handle of her axe on him."

Emp could hardly believe Oran could withstand all that, he must be as tough as a boulder. He might be easy to beat in a spar ending with a single hit but in an actual fight, those that were there since the previous cycle might be way stronger than they seemed.

"Then, she challenged the teacher and got beat up instantly. Thank you for the food, this seems delicious Calla." Aglaya told the next part as she was served the meal by Harriett.

"Yeah, I can't wait! I'm starving, thank you!" Mable said as well. "It wasn't even a spar, she didn't land a single hit! The teacher turned her axe over, had her bend forward with a hit in her stomach and sent her flying back! It was crazy! Even though she drank that potion of yours, she didn't come close to lasting more than a minute, even less winning! How come the teacher is so strong?"

"I guess there's a reason why he is the teacher and not us." Emp nodded.

He was in great need of his help too, it might be worthwhile to fight him even if he was defeated instantly like Brenia.

After everyone was sat and the meal was served, they all ate it together. Calla hadn't done anything complicated, merely a steak cooked along with fruits but it was nonetheless delicious. Everyone praised her talent in cooking again and thanked her for the food.

The two visitors liked it a lot, so much that Aglaya didn't understand how such a simple steak could be that good. From what Emp understood, it was all about seasonings and the time it cooked with the different ingredients separately. Enough to taste them but not enough to be too much. Emp wasn't entirely sure though and he didn't wish to know. He liked to think it was all some special "Calla" magic that made all food she touched taste spectacular.

Like usual, she ate just a tiny bit of her own food but felt really happy that both Emp and Mable asked for more after they had emptied their plates.

Once everyone had their fill, they spoke just a bit more before Mable and Aglaya left. It was getting late and everyone would still be there the next day to continue where they left.

"I'll talk to the other girls about our plans but in the meantime, don't bring Calla to class. I'd like her to look as good as her food tastes before the others see her."

"Does it really matter?"

"It does! Even if the others might not necessarily look down on her from her appearance, they will certainly not see her in a good eye either. First impressions are important. We'll skip a moral class soon to take care of that, I'm sure Blackbull will understand."

"Fine then, I will refrain from bringing her along."

After a round a good nights, the other two left, Emp dragged the tub in Harriett and Celtine's room and he went to bed with Calla. It had been a long time already since he last slept in a bed this comfortable, his wife was very impressed too by how soft it was. Emp reminded himself to buy a great bed for their new home too. He wished to buy something fancy like a mattress filled with feathers.

For now though, he turned towards Calla and asked her about the day. Now that there were only the two of them left, it was easier for her to talk and express what was on her mind.

"So, what do you think of everyone?"

"I feel like I need a few weeks of rest now, I'm exhausted. Your mother loves you a lot and seems to like me but it was still tiring because... You know, she's a god. I like her even though she's intimidating. I wouldn't want to be alone with her because it's too scary but she's really helpful and sort of caring?"

Emp nodded, he didn't quite understand what she meant exactly but did understand her general train of thoughts.

"What about Mable?"

"Well... At first, I was really scared because she didn't seem to like me at all. She was angry right away. But then, I understood it was only because she liked you that she disliked me. Once we were clear that we wanted to make friends with each other, I started to see what you told me the first time you spoke about her.

She's very lively like my younger sisters even though she's much older. She seems mischievous but not in a bad way. It must be tiring to spend a lot of time with her though. She's very active when I'd rather spend my time in peace and quiet.

At first, I thought you liked her so much just because of how pretty she is but then, while I was cooking, I changed my mind. She thinks in the same way you do, not exactly but close. She doesn't seem to care about anything but gets really upset when her friends get in trouble. She laughed at that man getting slapped but I'm pretty sure she would be more upset than anyone if it was someone she knew well instead."

"You're right, she really does that."

Calla nodded in understanding.

"Those she doesn't know don't matter to her at all unless they did something against someone she does know. In that case, I'm sure she turns really angry against them like my younger sisters would throw a tantrum if something doesn't go the way they want."

"Is it that bad?"

"Maybe not, we just met so I don't know, it's just my first impression. It might not be such a bad thing either, you get angry too sometimes, like with Sophus. Because of how she is, I'm pretty sure we can get along and she might even get just as angry as you if someone somehow slight me but I'm not sure we'll ever get that close. she's too lively and sociable for me to follow and I'm too boring to keep her attention."

"Don't say that, you're not boring, you're calm and gentle."

"I don't think that's how she sees it. The good thing is, I don't think we'd get in each other's way if she did become a sister. I think she'd be more suited than me to take care of the noble part of things related to your family. It would be easy for her while I'm sure I'd struggle. I'd be more comfortable with Harriett doing housework, even though she's a bit zealous."

"So up to now, you aren't really against Mable, Harriett or Celtine become your sisters, are you?"

"I'm not." She shook her head. "I'd like for Celtine to be my sister more than the other two I think but as long as none of them take all your time, I'd be fine with them."

"Do you like Celtine more because she is silent?"

Calla turned a bit red of embarrassment.

"No, more because she seems a bit gentler than the other two, more calm. I wish I could speak with her properly though. Will you teach me how to read?"

"Sure, of course, why not."

"Thank you."

She gave him a little kiss to go with her words.

"Don't thank me yet, I haven't even started."

"But since you said you'd do it than you definitely will so it's the same as having done it already."

Emp smiled but went back to the previous subject.

"Say, you aren't telling me that you find them alright just to please me, right?"

"I'm not, you worry too much. I do want to get along with them mostly because of you but I genuinely think they are good persons. I just need some more time to get used to them."

That was a rather strange answer but if she said so, he had no reason to doubt her. He felt a lot better now that he knew Calla and Mable didn't dislike each other. It was a weight that was removed from his chest. Falling asleep was very easy after that. Calla was very tired as well so in no time at all, both of them were deeply asleep.

The next day was yet again another strange one. He left Calla with Harriett while he went to class, apparently it was magic class, and was swarmed right away by the others wanting to know more about his new wife.

With the help of Mable, he convinced everyone they would meet her soon, explaining to everyone that they wanted to go shopping for some things first and that Calla was tired from the weeks long trip.

"That sounds reasonable. Then that means that the girls will be out on their own this afternoon, right? Let's take the opportunity to do something with just us while they're all away." Kenneth told them.

Apparently, there was a moral class in the afternoon and Mable was already going around inviting the girls she wanted to come along for the afternoon. That was fine by Emp since clothes took a certain time to make after all. The sooner they were started, the sooner they'd be delivered.

As for Kenneth's suggestion, he wasn't against it but, what would they do? Would they just go train or would they try to drag him out for a drink he didn't really want to have.

"Like what?" Ivar asked, following in Emp's thought.

"I don't know, let's grab Odilon, Nereus, Cyril, Norval, Oran and... Zoran? I'm sure we can find something fun to do. We have to do some stuff with Emp, I feel like he spends more time with those girls than us."

"Of course he's spending more time with them. That's because he's getting paid for that and Mable promised him a bigger reward for later. I'd do the same in his position."

There were a few laughter from the guys around but they all stopped abruptly when both Mable and Brenia glared their way.

"Maybe we should wait for this afternoon to talk about that..."

Emp decided to accept their invitation for now and excused himself to focus on his studies and ask Heinrich about self magic.

The explanation on how to make his own self-magic turned really complicated really quickly so instead, he had to just take notes on how to use the most simple of speed enhancement self magic there was.

Apparently, to make a useful self-magic, one had to, at the very least, be able to fully understand and control the magu inhabiting his own body. Only then could they start to experiment with it and come up with something useful. Emp had never really used his own magu before so he was far from that. To rectify this gap in his knowledge, the best way was to learn a self magic and focus his thoughts on himself while he was using it. Hence, he needed to start with a simple self-magic and between all the common one, the speed enhancement was the most useful for him.

He kept those instructions for later and spend the rest of the class focusing on practicing casting spells and memorizing formulas and instructions. There were so many of those damn things and he wasn't even in the hard ones yet. It was no wonder so many mages limited themselves to a single subject. He was pretty sure that the only reason he was able to keep all of those things in mind was because Sage had made him smarter than just "slightly more than ordinary" like he had said the day he was created.

How could a normal person remember any of that? He was about certain that if he asked Calla to remember five of them, she'd forget something important for at least two. Maybe Penny was right, if she tried to learn about fighting too, it would scatter her focus for magic and it might lead to a disaster. She was impressive enough to be able to keep so many spells in mind, she even learned them faster than him.

For Emp, it wasn't that hard, it was just tedious. Most of the time, he didn't really understand what he was reading, he was just making sure it was written properly in his own head so that he'd be able to remember everything if he needed it.

He knew it was important for him to learn all of it but it really felt like he was missing an important piece to really understand what he was learning. He believed that the day he'd be able to understand the magic languages would be the day he would truly start to understand magic.

After the class was over, he went back to his room followed by a contingent of girls. They were all there to pick up Calla and Harriett for their afternoon trip.

Everyone Mable had invited decided to come and surprisingly, Rica asked if she could join as well. Mable had been a bit surprised but in the end, she had no reason to refuse her so she accepted.

On their way to his room, they shared an animated discussion. The subject, obviously, was on what Mable thought of Calla and how the girl was. Emp listened with interest, curious to know what Mable felt about his wife.

"She's like a mix between Rica and Zoran. She looks fragile and shy and she dangerously softhearted."

"Dangerously softhearted? What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure how to explain it. She seems to be the sort to pity even the worst criminals on their way to the gallows. I'm afraid she's going to be tricked easily by bad guys as long they they act hurt or pitiable in some way. I don't even think she'd be able to hurt a fly to defend herself."

"So you're saying she's a weak point for Emp?" Brenia asked.

"In a way, yes, but not really?"

"I feel the same as well, it's a bit complicated." Aglaya intervened. "She's too softhearted to walk around scheming nobles, I feel she'll collapse if she has to be around nobles too much. This shouldn't be a big problem though. She might make a few mistakes but I don't think she intends to interact with high society all that much so she isn't that much of a weak point, at least not in a normal situation. Emp is like a big mama bear with her, as long as he's close, I don't think anything could go wrong."

The other girls gave a few nods as if they understood exactly what she meant but Emp didn't get it at all. How was he a big mama bear? He wasn't roaring at anyone getting close and he was definitely not that hairy.

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"Aside from that, what else do you think about her?" Nessa asked.

"I'm not really sure yet. She's like a picture, you can talk to her all you want but she almost never answers. From what I've seen, she seems to only like cooking and has no other hobbies. She's not very lively either."

"She's like a calm lake." Aglaya said after Mable was done. "Whenever someone talks to her, it's like someone is throwing a rock in the lake and disturbs her peace. She'd rather be left alone I think."

Rica jumped in the discussion at this point

"But Emp said she was a commoner from a small village, right? I feel like that reaction is reasonable for her, everyone else would be like divine giants compared to her."

Usually, Rica didn't speak much and didn't really involve herself with the other girls but today, she seemed really interested.

"I would think the same but Emp said she was like that all the time, even with those from her own village."

"Right, she doesn't like speaking in general. She likes to listen to other people talking though, she just doesn't like having the attention of others on her because it makes her nervous." Emp told them.

"She might really like the theater than! We might finally find a common interest!"

"I think its great that you look so enthusiastic about this." Rica told her. "I thought you would be more upset that Emp married a commoner before you."

Aglaya tskd.

"That sentence was a blunder on many levels Rica. Good thing there were only us here."

"What did I say wrong?" Rica asked in a saddened manner.

"Yeah, I was rather curious about Mable's reaction to his wife being at the very bottom of the chain, she asked it much better than I would have. Mable doesn't seem to be annoyed by the question either. You shouldn't scold her for this." Pointed out Brenia.

"I'm not scolding her, I'm pointing it out so she doesn't do it again with someone who isn't as clueless as Mable on this sort of thing." Aglaya defended her critique.

Nessa explained everything to the rest of the group for Aglaya.

"There were indeed many things wrong with the way she said it but we all know she didn't have any malicious intent under her words so it's fine. The problems are that the way she said it implies that Mable should be upset at the lower status of Emp's wife. It gives the impression that she is looking down on both of them, one for being a commoner and the other for assuming she would be petty. Then, she also said he married her before Mable, both implying that the order of the weddings mattered despite the traditions saying otherwise and also assuming that she would marry Emp without a doubt, even though she never confirmed it herself."

Rica's brows sunk as she heard the explanation and she swiftly apologized.

"My apologies, I didn't mean any of that. I was just curious about Mable's enthusiastic reaction, I have nothing against Emp's wife or Mable. It's just that I feel like most nobles would be less accepting than this small group."

"It's fine, don't worry about it." Mable and Emp answered at the same time.

"I'm not even a Noble in the first place so of course I'm not going to look down on her." Pointed out Brenia. "Though I had Aglaya pinned for someone that would."

"First of all, that's rude. Second of all, you are wrong, I don't care at all. What I care about is the motivations of people and it just so happen that more often than not, when an ordinary person gets close to someone like us, it's to get some benefit from us, either simply wealth or just a way to use us like a ladder to elevate themselves. I'm not an idiot who will see everything in pink just because a girl pretends to love someone way above her own status in order to live in luxury."

Rica seemed put off by that answer but Brenia still threw out her next question without feeling embarrassed in the least.

"Isn't that the same? How can you know for sure that the girl really liked Emp instead of his money or status?"

"It's simple, Emp didn't tell her he was a noble before he gave her the confirmation."

"What?" Everyone else asked in surprise.

"There's no way she can wed herself to him for his status if she doesn't know about it in the first place. She might still have done it for his money but from what I observed, it seems more reasonable to thing that she just thought that Emp was a reliable guy, he's probably much stronger than an ordinary hunter too so for a normal girl, he must be a really good choice."

Brenia started laughing out loud.

"You tricked her! Hahaha! I can't believe it. Poor girl, I hope she doesn't regret it later."

"Unless you embarrass her too much today, she shouldn't."

"Yeah yeah, I'll have you make it up to her later. You better not treat her wrong."

"Of course not."

Why did Brenia want him to make it up to Calla later? He didn't really wrong her in any way and the girls didn't even know each other.

"At least we know she doesn't have nay ulterior motives." Sighed Nessa.

"How would you all react if another guy from the class married a lowborn girl then? I feel like the present situation isn't likely to happen often." Rica asked with great curiosity.

"I guess it depends on who it was. I think I wouldn't bother to look into it for most of the guys, it's not my job to check if they get fooled or not. If it really bothered me, I'd spend a lot of time observing her to know for sure what she was planing." Aglaya supposed.

"Me I don't care at all. It's none of my business, I probably won't ever meet their wives anyway." Mable said carefreely.

Nessa shrugged as well.

"I think it doesn't matter as long as the guy likes her. I mean, it's her problem if she wants to stick to a guy she doesn't like. If the guy wants to keep her because she's pretty or whatever then it's fine."

"I see..."

"What about you then Rica? How do you feel about a common girl getting to the heart of one of the boys in our group?"

"Me? I think it's fine if they love each other..."

"You don't seem convinced by your own words."

"It's just that... I don't know, you all seem so cynical about this. Don't you think that a girl can just truly fall in love with a noble?"

"Like you you mean?"

Hearing Aglaya's words, Rica stopped dead in her tracks. The others slowed down with raised brows and turned around to look her way. Slowly, Emp's brain worked out what he had just heard and he had the same reaction as the others. Rica wasn't a noble? He had not noticed at all.

"How did you find out?" She stammered.

"Wait Rica wasn't a noble?" Mable butted in with a face of deep surprise.

"She isn't, I did guess right. It took me two years to get the truth. That is why you didn't speak much with anybody isn't it?"

Rica crossed her arms and took a worried stance. She hesitated for a moment but seeing that the secret was obviously out, she let out a big sigh and reluctantly told them about it.

"I was really afraid I'd say something I shouldn't or something that would make trouble for Frits so I did my best to stay away from everyone until I had at least a good grasp of everything. I was also scared that no one would talk to me if they knew I was just the daughter of a hunter."

"You didn't want everyone to treat you differently because you weren't a noble." Emp summarized.

She nodded and tensely awaited their reactions. Emp really felt she made things to be bigger than they really were. It didn't matter at all to him and he could see that the others thought the same. Brenia in particular seemed to find her worry ridiculous, she wasn't a noble herself after all.

Mable was the first to voice her reaction and sounded very impressed.

"That's crazy! I would never have guessed it!"

"It's not surprising that Mable wouldn't guess it but I didn't expect it either. I just thought you liked it in your little world with Frits and didn't want to hang out with us."

"As you can see, none of us care, we aren't Heida. I just like to know everything."

Aglaya extended her hand towards Rica to invite her back with them.

"Are you sure?"

"You're just being wishy-washy, come on, you're making us all wait." Said Brenia with a bit of annoyance.

"Seriously, we're all friends here, we know you're not some leech stuck on Frits, you love him way too much for that. You're the only one making this weird." Nessa added.

Rica gave them a huge smile in relief and took the hand that was given to her, catching up to the rest of the group as everyone started walking again.

Now that he knew she wasn't born a noble, he wondered if it was the reason why she was so interested in calla.

"Is that why you wanted to accompany Calla in town as well?"

"Yes, I figured she was living the same thing as I was so I wanted to offer her my support. I've had two years to learn after all so I thought I might be able to help her get along with the others."

"We'll all help, I want her to impress everyone." Mable declared seriously.

Emp held back a fit of laughter with a snort and thanked them with a warm smile.

"I'm glad that you're all here to help her. Even if she has a hard time saying it, I'm sure she will be grateful so on her behalf, and mine; Thank you."

Brenia slapped his back casually.

"You welcome hero."

"Don't misunderstand though, it's not really Calla I'm helping, it's Mable." Aglaya pointed out. "Everything that is wrong with her, either in appearance or in behavior will reflect badly on Mable whether she gives you an offering or not in the end. If she does, then it will reflect badly on her as a sister and if she doesn't, people will mock her for being defeated by someone with this or that flaw."

"Thank you anyway." Emp told her. "I do want to receive an offering from Mable one day but even if she didn't, I wouldn't let anyone mock Mable."

"Wa! Don't say thing like that, everyone will laugh again!"