When Arianna felt like a few hours had passed, she picked up a notebook, a pencil, and decided it was time to see if her potential savior had thought of anything.
When Arianna first met that girl, she'd been too shocked by the fact that she could see through her illusion to really do anything. Upon seeing her the previous night, however, she understood that maybe Alkoth or Lumina had given her a chance, and she wasn't about to hesitate in taking advantage of it.
Thus, she quickly mouthed the words to the Illusion spell she'd been using. With the image of a simple maid in her mind, Arianna's clothes and body changed, visually, to that of what she had thought of. When she confirmed that, she took a deep breath and walked out.
Now, it was a matter of making her way to the garden, while making as little noise as possible. On the way, she ran into many slightly confused workers, all of which she had to resist the desire to scowl at.
When she'd first been placed under this arrest of hers, as she had been left unrestrained due to her level being so low, she'd banged on the door for hours, until her hand hurt too much to continue, and no one ever responded. She could only guess that everyone she was passing by right now had simply tried their hardest to ignore her.
Much like the half-demon had, only, as she remained persistent, in her case, she managed to break through to her.
Don't get your hopes up, she told herself. Things could still turn badly.
And, if they did, she still had that one plan in the back of her mind. If this half-demon left her alone like everyone else did, she decided she would rather go to the garden and jump from the railing rather than take any more Dark magic like that.
That had been what she intended to do, just last night. With every memory of her and her recently assassinated parents, when life was normal, making her head spin, and with the pain that she'd been made to endure, she simply couldn't take it anymore. But, then, she ran into the half-demon, and now, a glimmer of hope was right in front of her.
In her disguise, she went down the halls until she eventually exited the building, emerging at the garden. She moved as fast as she could, knowing that some of the people here like the half-demon had, would be able to see through her illusion. She wasn't entirely sure who could and who couldn't, but she didn't intend on finding out.
Night hadn't quite fallen yet, as she could tell by the way the sun clung onto the horizon, but the twin moons were already in the sky.
Hearing weapons clanging, Arianna looked ahead and breathed a small sigh of relief when she found the woman she was looking for, training with someone else from her group. She walked forward then, approaching her, and the half-demon stopped, seeing her out of the corner of her eyes.
---
Ash
Just a Couple of Minutes Earlier
"Try again," Ash told Kasumi, standing across from her.
"Fuck, this feels weird," the crimson-haired woman replied, holding a bow as most of the group watched them. Yumi and Sinneah, however, were busy sparring just a few meters away. Ash raised up a small shield that had a bullseye painted onto it.
"That's the whole point, isn't it?"
Before long, the woman pulled back an arrow and let it fly. Seeing it coming, with the help of the Dex she was training as well, Ash blocked the shot, and quickly pulled the arrow out.
This way, both of them were training their Dexterity simultaneously.
As for Ash's Dex, in the past few hours she'd raised it up a handful of points, to where her status looked like this:
Level 75
MP: 330/330
EXP: 300/750
---
STR: 50
DEX: 34
CON: 34
INT: 28
WIS: 33
L: 100
Of course, thanks to the much-needed night she'd shared with Keiko, and the quick masturbation session she had afterward, her Lust was currently sitting at a 1, which meant she was getting no bonus stats.
Her current goal, was to get that Dex to around 50 by the end of the month, though she had no idea how realistic that was.
"Agh, my arms are tired," Kasumi complained.
"How's your Dex looking?" Ash asked from afar.
"Eh, here, check it out."
Level 38
MP: 340/340
EXP: 0/380
---
STR: 9
DEX: 20
CON: 22
INT: 40
WIS: 34
L: 100
"Damn," Ash said. "You're making progress fast."
"I'm guessing that as soon as I hit 30, it'll slow down dramatically. Even with the buff," Kasumi shrugged. "Anyway, I'm gonna take a quick break. My arms can't handle this shit."
Eh, alright, cool, Ash thought, throwing the shield away.
As warmed up as she was, however, she was still in the mood to keep going. So, she walked over to Keiko and extended a hand toward the girl.
"Wanna trade blows for a bit?"
"It would be my pleasure," Keiko replied, taking her hand and standing up. "I must warn you, however, I can feel that I'm starting to get comfortable with my sword again. Might just be too much for you to handle," she winked.
"Yeah? Show me," Ash smirked a bit as she reached for her Lust. Transforming it into a naginata, she decided she'd take this time to practice with that weapon. "Go."
Just like that, the two of them began swinging their weapons at each other. It produced a certain nostalgic feeling inside of Ash, as she remembered their first sessions together at the farm. Now, though, they were both so much stronger.
She wondered what life would have been like if she'd been at this level of power throughout at least a portion of her time at Jade. If, maybe, a level 100 monster had flown down in front of her, kneeled and asked her to end its life, and she gained all that EXP from it.
She guessed there was a very large number of people who would have ended up with their heads cracked open if that was somehow the case.
A few collisions here, a clash there, and the two of them danced along the gardens until Ash saw someone to her right that made her pause.
Keiko held her sword when she saw Ash's reaction.
When Ash turned to look, she sighed.
"Already?" She muttered as she saw the Arcane's daughter exiting the Manor.
In her hands, she was holding a notebook, and in her eyes, Ash saw some determination.
Guess this is what I'm doing now, Ash thought, reverting her Savior's Weapon, as Keiko sheathed her sword. Upon doing that, the Arcane's daughter jogged over to her. The shorter girl all but disregarded everyone else in the area, as she ran over and held up her notebook, writing hastily on it.
"Have you thought of something?" She wrote.
"Yeah, come over here, and I'll explain," Ash told her as she went to the nearby bench. She sat down, the girl did the same to her right, and Keiko sat to her left. "So, we talked to this guy and he said he might be able to come up with a plan to get you out of there by tomorrow evening. You'll have to wait another day," Ash shrugged, "but, it's possible."
Upon hearing that, the girl's eyes glimmered. Satsuhiro, Metsumi, and Kasumi all leaned closer, and Ash heard the man's voice come out slightly above a whisper.
"The Arcane's daughter..."
"Yeah, don't go announcing it to the whole Manor though," Ash replied quietly. "Anyway," she turned back toward her, "how does that sound?"
"..." She paused, wiping away a couple of tears that had been building up in her eyes before writing something else in the notebook.
"Thank you."
"Yeah, no problem."
She had expected the girl to get up and walk away then. However, she remained sitting for just another moment, as she wrote down more words.
"Could you give me somewhere to stay?" She asked. "I do not know if I can bear another day of this treatment."
"Sorry," Ash replied quickly. "Even if I had an answer, I don't think that's a good idea. Putting Zafir on edge by having you go missing right before you actually plan to go missing is the last thing we need. It sucks, but I think you need to tough it out for one more day."
"..." She paused and nodded.
Then, she stood up, and just as quickly as she'd arrived, she was gone, as she jogged back into the building.
"That was her, then?" Kasumi asked. "Shit, she looked so young. Poor thing."
"As long as Bin comes through, and we do our jobs well, whatever's happening with her shouldn't be happening for much longer. So, yeah," Ash shrugged. "It is what it is. We just have to wait another day. Anyway, Keiko, wanna get back to practice?"
"Sure," the Zayama nodded, and both of them stood up, pulling out their weapons again.
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