Chapter 86
12. Do you want to be first place?
Vifera swallowed hard.
She wiped her sweat-drenched palms on her skirt hem while taking deep breaths.
Then, she focused intensely on the doorknob she had been glaring at.
‘I can go out, I can go out…….’
Since Vifera had been holed up in her room without going outside for years, if she wanted to go out even once, she had to prepare mentally for several hours. Even now, she had been deep breathing for three hours.
‘I can go out. It’s okay. No one will say anything to me. It’s okay.’
Consoling herself like that and taking several deep breaths, Vifera cautiously grasped the doorknob.
‘I can go out……!’
Just as Vifera was about to open the door.
“Sis! Are you awake?!”
“Kyaa!”
The door opened first, and Arius came in.
Due to the recoil, Vifera let out a scream and fell forward as is.
“Uh, what do I do. Are you okay? Sorry. I didn’t know you were in front of the door.”
“Ah…… No, it’s not. It’s my, my fault…… I, I was needlessly standing in front of the do, door…….”
Vifera mumbled while rubbing her bumped forehead. Then, she looked at Arius.
“Wh, wh, what brings you here?”
“There’s someone I want to introduce to you, sis!”
“In, in, in, introduce?”
Vifera’s eyes widened as if they were about to pop out.
Introduce? Who? Why? Just thinking about it made her body tremble.
“Hello, Vifera? I’m Brysa Finch.”
But Arius was truly a bad kid who didn’t consider introverted people.
Bringing the person to introduce right away without any mental preparation.
Vifera barely held back the tears welling up and rolled her eyesVifera around.
“I forgot to mention what Daphne said before she left.”
“Da, Daphne sa, said something? Wh, what?”
“She told me to introduce Brysa to you, sis. That you two would get along well.”
“Me, with me……?”
Vifera covered her mouth and stared at Brysa.
Brysa, with her sparkling eyes and fluffy pink hair standing out, looked just like cotton candy. Fluffy cotton candy…….
In comparison, Vifera herself felt like discarded food that couldn’t even make it onto the stall, let alone cotton candy.
Vifera tightly gripped her dull greenish hair and crossed it to cover her mouth.
“Me, with me, we’re to, totally not matching pe, people.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“That person is from the heavenly realm, but I, I’m not…….”
“You sometimes say weird things, sis. Can we come in?”
If I say no here, those two will be disappointed, right? And they’ll think I’m a weird person, right?
Vifera didn’t want to make a bad impression on the kid Daphne was introducing.
“Co, come in…… It’s no, not organized, so it’s di, dirty…….”
“Excuse me!”
Brysa replied in a sweet voice like cotton candy. Vifera shrank even more and guided them into the room.
“Wow. It’s really dirty. Should I organize the books for you?”
“Do, don’t!”
Vifera stopped Arius who was about to touch the books scattered on the floor.
“Th, that’s all, all organized by me. I pu, put them where I can reco, recognize.”
“Ah. I see. Sorry!”
Arius answered cheerfully as always and sat down on an empty spot on the sofa.
Unlike him who looked comfortable, Vifera was restless.
Since she was introduced to a new person, she felt like she had to do something, but she had no idea how to behave in such situations.
Wh, what should I prepare? Or should I bring up a conversation topic? Vifera was utterly confused.
That’s when it happened.
“Oh my! You’re studying alchemy?!”
Brysa, who had been closely looking at the books on the floor, exclaimed. Vifera answered in surprise.
“Huh? Ye, yes……. I’m no, not that good at it. Ju, just because I don’t know how to do anything else…….”
“How can you say that! The one who doesn’t know how to do anything is this side, not you, Vifera!”
“……Me?”
Arius, who had been quietly hit, made a slightly wronged expression, but Brysa ignored it. Then, seeing the stacked bundles of paper, she opened her eyes wide.
“Wow. You’re already making alchemical arrays?”
Alchemy is the flower of alchemists and their dream. Even old alchemists can’t properly make alchemical arrays, yet drawing such precise ones! Brysa’s eyes sparkled.
“Ah, th, that’s re, really nothing special. I ju, just followed the bo, book.”
“Does just following make it work? I can’t even draw summoning arrays like this. You’re really amazing, Vifera.”
“Su……mmmoning arrays?”
Vifera tilted her head, and Arius answered instead.
“Sis, she’s a spirit summoner. Hard to believe, right.”
“What’s hard to believe!”
Spirit arts……?
It was at that moment that light seeped into Vifera’s hazy eyes.
“Me, me!”
Vifera grabbed Brysa’s hand tightly and started pouring out words rapidly.
“There was so, something I wanted to experiment with? With spirits! Spirits have blessings, so they recover quickly even if injured, and as they go up to higher ranks, damage itself can be nullified, right? So I thought I wanted to properly study those blessings. If I research blessings, I think I can improve potion quality! Not just potions. It can branch out into numerous other areas!”
“……Yes?”
“So I really wanted to meet a spirit. But my spirit sensitivity was lower than I thought, so I couldn’t even summon a low-rank spirit. How many can you summon? Low-rank? Mid-rank? High-rank? Can you summon them? Ah, what about elemental types? Since the texture of blessings differs by spirit element, I’d prefer all four major elements if possible, what do you think?”
“…….”
No answer.
Silence continued. The arriving quiet filled the room.
“You speak really well, sis.”
“Ah……!”
Only then did Vifera realize she had gone overboard. Vifera blushed bright red and bowed her head deeply.
“So, sorry. Whe, when a topic I li, like comes up, I ca, can’t hold back…… You were surprised, right? So, sorry, really……. I’ll ju, just go die…….”
“Eek! No! Stop!”
Brysa pulled Vifera who was heading toward the window and said.
“I was surprised because I was thinking the exact same thing.”
“……The exact same?”
“Yes. I was also curious about spirits’ blessings. I was wondering how to extract it but no proper method came to mind, so I had half given up!”
“Uh, uh……?”
“Right now, I can summon up to mid-rank. For now, I can only use wind and water elements, but I’m gradually learning others, so I’ll soon be able to summon low-rank ones.”
Vifera’s mouth fell half open. She was so happy that words didn’t come out properly. Her heart started thumping loudly.
“So happy…….”
At Vifera’s honest murmur, Arius burst into laughter.
“As expected, I knew you two would get along well. Daphne has a good eye. Right?”
“Uh, hm……. Seems li, like it.”
Vifera giggled and slyly stood next to Brysa. Brysa naturally linked arms with her and leaned her head. It really felt like friends, so Vifera was happy again.
“Come to think of it.”
Brysa said with an “ah” sound.
“Is Daphne doing well?”
Vifera and Arius answered almost simultaneously.
“That kid would do well wherever she goes.”
“Eve, even in the de, desert, she’d su, survive.”
“Only the kids living with her are pitiful.”
“Uh, hm…… The kids…….”
***
At that moment, Daphne was.
“This is really fucking hell…….”
For the first time, feeling frustrated.
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