HNSW - Chapter 7 - What's, like, Sociability?

Lady Atreis and Lady Baillairgé were once again sipping tea as they reviewed Lilussees’ progress. Lady Atreis raised her eyebrow.

“A friend, you say?”

Lady Baillairgé nodded.

“It is important that we get Lady Lilussees socializing as soon as possible.”

Lady Atreis tilted her head and rested her chin on her palm.

“That is true but…she will be conducting the normal social visits soon, will she not?”

Lady Baillairgé shook her head.

“Lady Lilussees needs to develop socialization at a more fundamental level. I have full confidence in her capability to handle a formal social setting when the time comes, though her willingness will be another matter. But if Lady Lilussees is to develop properly, she must learn to form attachments and empathy. That must be done through more casual and informal means.”

Lady Atreis frowned slightly.

“Attachments? I can understand empathy to an extent, we would not want her to come off as overly cold, but is it wise to let her form unmeasured attachments?”

Lady Baillairgé made a smirk.

“You need not be coy, Lady Atreis. I am fully aware that sometimes being a lady in high society requires doing what must be done, and that trust must be given only with the utmost care. For a regular child at this stage, it would be wise to begin preparing them for these inevitabilities.”

Her smile then dropped.

“However, Lady Lilussees is displaying little empathy or bonding at all, at a point in her life when such things should be natural. I fear that if we do not heavily encourage such things, Lady Lilussees may come to undervalue relationships altogether. Additionally, we need to encourage her to consider assassination as a last resort, not a first.”

Lady Atreis paused and frowned deeply.

“…I see your point. Yes, I suppose it could be a problem if she has no attachments whatsoever.”

Lady Baillairgé nodded.

“Besides, even the most proper and diligent of individuals requires moments of recovery. Having someone she does not need to put on airs around would be helpful moving forward.”

Lady Atreis’s face softened ever so slightly as she nodded.

“I suppose that may be true. Very well, I will determine suitable candidates and make the arrangements.”

***

Lilussees found herself sitting on a couch next to her mother. Another mother-daughter pair was sitting across from them, with a young girl maybe a year or two older than Lilussees facing her directly.

“How do you do, Lady Lilussees? My name is Adelisees Bourcier, daughter of Baron Bourcier.”

Lilussees was about to sigh but her mother was watching out of the corner of her eye. She had been thoroughly instructed before this that her mother considered this meeting absolutely necessary. Failure to cooperate would have…consequences.

“…how do you do. My name is li…Lilussees…Camille de Atreis. Daught of li…Marquis Atreis or…”

Her mother kept a smile on her face.

“Lady Adelisees will be studying with you from now on, Lilussees. Why don’t you take her and show her around?”

Lilussees frowned.

“Do I li…have to?”

Her mother’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

“Yes. Once you have done so, however, you two may do whatever you both decide.”

Lilussees sighed.

“Li…fine. Come on.”

Adelisees inclined her head.

“Yes, Lady Lilussees.”

Her mother gave her one more quick look before returning to her conversation with Adelisees’s mother.

***

From then came the shortest walk around the manor Lilussees could claim as a thorough showing around, and then the two returned to Lilussees room. Adelisees was glancing around when Lilussees suddenly spoke.

“Ok, like, that’s over, or something. I’m going to, like, take a nap then.”

Adelisees tilted her head.

“Ok? What should I do, Lady Lilussees?”

Lilussees yawned.

“Like, I don’t know. Whatever you want, or something.”

With that, Lilussees dove into her bed and curled up under her blankets. She quickly activated the Rest skill before anyone could say anything. Adelisees was left glancing around, between the bed and various other parts of the room. She frowned a bit when she saw the spider in its enclosure by Lilussees’s bed.

One of the maids on standby shook her head and stepped towards the little girl.

“I apologize, Lady Adelisees, Lady Lilussees is of…delicate persuasion and requires a great deal of rest. Would you perhaps like a storybook to pass the time with?”

Adelisees glanced around a bit and her face scrunched up, but then she nodded.

“Ah, yes please. Ah, that is, if you don’t mind!”

Lady Atreis was…not so pleased when the report on the playdate came through. But Lady Baillairgé convinced her not to say anything. And so, Lilussees gained a regular naptime while Adelisees made her way through the Atreis household’s children’s library.

***

Lilussees was surprised the next day to see the young girl again when she reported to the demon.

“Oh it’s li…you.”

The girl inclined her head.

“How do you do, Lady Lilussees?”

Lady Baillairgé nodded.

“Lady Adelisees will be joining us from now on, Lady Lilussees. Please give her your greeting.”

Lilussees glanced at the demon.

“Fine. How do you do, Lady…”

The girl frowned a bit.

“Adelisees.”

Lilussees held back a yawn. It was far too early in the morning for torture.

“Right. How do you do, Lady…Adelisees.”

Lady Baillairgé nodded.

“Good, let’s begin. I intend to get you started on arcane magic today, Lady Lilussees. I believe Lady Adelisees is around that stage as well, so hopefully it will be informative for the both of you.”

Lilussees took a deep breath. E-word was unthinkable this early in the morning…but learning magic and growing stronger was her key to escaping the demon’s grasp. She had no choice but to endure the unthinkable.

Which, unbeknownst to her, is exactly why the demon started with magic lessons every morning.

“Now, what can you tell me about arcane magic from our previous lesson, Lady Lilussees?”

Lilussees glared at her. She should, like, already know that Lilussees would remember something like that. But the demon simply smiled at her. She knew from experience that the demon would just wait until she answered. Delaying any further only reduced her time to sleep.

“It’s, li…the school regarding the manipulation of base, unattributed mana, or some…”

Lilussees sighed as the demon raised an eyebrow at her every time she tried to speak. This was, li…so annoying!

“It’s also weak, so I don’t know why you’re teaching it.”

The demon smiled and shook her head.

“Weak does not capture the whole picture, Lady Lilussees. Arcane magic is inefficient in mana cost per the effect produced when compared to more specialized schools of magic. It is, however, supremely flexible. Fire may be put out by water. Illusion often fails against non-sapient targets. Arcane, however? Arcane will always work against anything that can be affected by magic at all. It is an excellent back up to have in your pocket.”

She then looked at Lilussees and the girl both.

“However, that is not the reason I am teaching it to you. Perhaps one of you could offer a guess as to what the true reason is?”

Lilussees glared at her again.

“Because you want to keep me weak and helpless.”

The demon had the audacity to gently shake her head.

“That is not at all true, Lady Lilussees. Lady Adelisees, why don’t you have a guess?”

The girl gulped.

“…is it because arcane magic is foundational?”

The demon smiled at her.

“That is correct. Could you expand upon what that means?”

The girl slowly nodded.

“Um, I think it was that since arcane magic teaches basic mana manipulation, it can be applied to other schools?”

The demon nodded.

“Precisely. Mastering arcane magic will provide you a solid foundation with which you can leap into any other school you may need to learn. It will prevent you from associating magic with the peculiarities of any particular element and overly tailoring your technique to a specialty. It is a must for any serious student of the mystic arts.”

Lilussees narrowed her eyes. The demon was clearly toying with her, somehow. But Lilussees couldn’t be bothered to figure out how and if the other girl could offer answers that pacified the demon…well that was just less e-word Lilussees had to put in herself.

And as much as she hated to admit it, the demon had a point. Broadening her available toolset would, in fact, grow her power. Like, for example, if she had someone she needed to kill who had proved resistant to her solely available skill of poison magic. And if putting in a smaller amount of e-word into arcane magic now would result in less e-word later…than it might be worth wasting a bit of time on a weaker school of magic.

Most of all, Lilussees didn’t actually have any choice of what the demon taught her. The demon nodded.

“Let us begin with something practical then.”

She handed them both a sheet of paper. Lilussees looked down on it and found a magic circle.

“This is the magic circle for the Mana Barrier spell. The most basic of protective spells and the first spell any aspiring student of the mystic arts should learn. Please practice copying this spell into your own notebooks until you can do it purely by memory.”

Lilussees wanted to groan at the sheer amount of e-word that would require. But she said nothing, and got started instead. She focused her mind on the idea of casting the demon low with powerful magic and then sleeping upon her corpse, and let that image move her hand…

And so Lady Adelisees joined Lilussees as the demon introduced them to the world of magic…

Author’s Note:

Oh look, there’s another person. Well, Lilussees isn’t going to turn down free naptime, whether or not it comes with a person!

…Lady Baillairgé’s plan is totally working, right?

Anyways!

Will Lilussees learn sociability? Can she master the ways of magic? What was that girl’s name again? Tune in next time, to find out!