"Duchess? Not ex-duchess?" Esdeath thinks to herself, "It seems Mourya is planning to hand Lortell arch-duke's authority to pull her to his side indirectly."
She keeps turning it over, fitting the pieces together one by one.
"Or maybe I'm just overthinking it. He called me duchess, not arch-duchess," Esdeath sighs to herself, shaking her head lightly as if to shake the thought loose.
Meanwhile, Maruti glares down at the first guard, still bent double in his apology, the back of his neck shining with sweat.
"Well, I'm merciful," she says, her voice going cold and flat. "So how about you just give me one of those legs you used to walk up here and stop us?"
The words make his whole body shudder in pure terror. His back trembles.
"M-my lady—" he could barely get the words out, his voice cracking halfway.
"Pfftt..." Maruti chuckles all of a sudden and pats his back lightly, like she hadn't just put the fear of death into him. "Chill, I was just joking. Better remember me next time," she says, already walking on.
Esdeath follows, both of them sweeping past the two guards. Only once they were out of sight do the men let out their breath, and the first guard slowly straightens out of his bow, knees still weak under him.
Meanwhile, Esdeath and Maruti arrive outside Lilith's office. The door was already open, so they knock on it three times before stepping in.
Lilith was busy with her work as always — though the paperwork on her table sits in noticeably smaller stacks than before, Must be because of academy shutting down.
"Why do you two always go everywhere together? Were you perhaps twin siblings in past life?" she says, her pen coming to a stop.
"I would rather be a single child in every life," Esdeath adds flatly.
"Who even wants to be your sibling?" Maruti sighs. "And I didn't come here just because she's here. I have some work with you as well," she adds, her eyes on Lilith.
"With me? What is it?" Lilith raises an eyebrow.
Maruti steps forward and takes out her Rank A essence stone again, holding it out to her.
"What essence stone is it?" Maruti asks.
Lilith goes quiet for a few seconds, her eyes moving between Maruti and the stone. Then she answers.
"It is a Grant Enlightenment essence stone. It gives affinity with the light element. But—"
"But I already have it," Maruti finishes for her, lips twitching in irritation.
"Urgh... what a trash," she groans, snatching the stone back out of Lilith's hand and drawing her arm back to smash it straight into the wall.
But before she could, Lilith shoots up out of her seat, one hand outstretched. "Whoa, whoa — I was joking... just joking," she says hurriedly.
Maruti freezes at the last second, immediately turning the stone over in her fingers to check it. Once she confirms it is in good shape, she sighs in relief, her shoulders dropping.
"We are not friendly enough to be joking with each other," Maruti smiles at Lilith — but the smile has a whole storm of anger churning behind it.
"Pftt..." Esdeath can't help but chuckle slightly, covering her mouth with her fingers.
"Don't be mad, I did it because it's not any less than trash to you," Lilith adds.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Maruti tilts her head.
"Well, every essence stone has its uses. Some are offensive, some defensive, support type, etc.," Lilith says, then pauses for a second. "Its main use is refinement material."
"Huh? What?" Maruti spat, confusion cutting clean through the anger.
Almost every essence stone had a side use as refinement material — used to refine a higher or same-tier essence stone. To refine a Rank B essence stone, one would use one or more Rank C essence stones of a similar category as material.
But for that to be an essence stone's primary use? Maruti had never heard of such a thing.
"It's called Attendant of Miracles. Its main use is as refinement material to refine a Divine Rank Essence Stone — Miracle Invoker," Lilith answers.
"Why? It can't do anything? *Anything*?" Maruti asks.
"Well, it's similar to a storage type essence stone. You don't need to absorb it into your body — just refine it and you'll be able to control its aura and carry it with you, or wear it as a locket," Lilith answers.
"But from what I know, its primary use is to store wishes," she adds.
"Store wishes?" Maruti repeats.
"Well, if you'd paid a little attention in history class, you might know the deities existed because of the wishes and belief of people. In short, divinity is born from their faith, belief, and wishes. That is why continued worship makes gods stronger," Lilith says. "This essence stone works in a similar way. Think of it as harnessing divinity."
"No — think of it as a trade," she corrects herself. "You either ask, or someone else tells you about their wish, and you fulfil it. Do that, and it harnesses the divinity from the faith and emotion behind the wish, and stores it. In return, you can consume that to grant your own wish. The bigger and more desired the wish you fulfil, the greater the wish you can grant for yourself. And if you can't do that, just store enough small wishes to buy a bigger one."
"Umm... okay?" Maruti nods lightly, but her expression makes it clear there is a loading screen spinning on her forehead in pure confusion.
Esdeath sighs. "Let me explain it."
"Think of it as a job. The bigger the things you do, the bigger the pay cheque. You can use that money to buy all the food you like. But if you can't do the big-paycheck jobs, or want luxurious meals your current income can't afford — just save up and buy it once you've saved enough," she says, as simply as she can.
Maruti nods. "Okay, I kind of get it. But isn't that a good power? Actually, more than good."
"Only if it did all the things I mentioned," Lilith exhales. "It only does the storing work. Using it to grant your own wishes as 'miracles' — that only works once you've refined a Divine Rank Miracle Invoker," she adds.
"Ohh." The understanding finally lands, and with it the reason it's equal to trash.
"So does anyone have the recipe to refine a Miracle Invoker?" Maruti asks.
Lilith obviously shakes her head, so Maruti looks toward Esdeath.
"I only know that if enough wishes are stored, it increases the chances of refining it," Esdeath answers.
"So it is basically a trash," Maruti sighs. Her fingers curl tighter around the essence stone, knuckles paling, and for a second it looks like she might squeeze hard enough to shatter it — but she holds on.
"Forget it. It's still a Rank A essence stone after all," she sighs, sliding it back into her storage-type essence stone.
"Very well. Now as for you, Esdeath — come with me," Lilith says, already walking out of the office.
Esdeath and Maruti follow her down into the basement, along a corridor that narrows and dims, until she stops at a particular room permitted only to approved individuals of the academy.
Inside, essence stones, artifacts, some weapons, and even raw resources sit on shelves, half of them glowing faintly in the dark.
Lilith walks further in, stops beneath a section, and opens one more door.
The room beyond holds a huge table. On it, a large cube of ice, cold fog curling off its surface and pooling along the wood.
Inside the cube, unmistakably, is the dragon heart.
"Fresh and well," Lilith says.
"How many days will it take to finish this whole thing?" Esdeath questions lightly, more to herself than anyone.
"Days? With your appetite, it's gonna take months," Maruti replies immediately.
"Don't worry, I can eat more if I want," Esdeath fires back just as fast.
"We'll see," Maruti just rolls her eyes.
Esdeath says nothing more. She steps up to the table and stores the ice cube with heart inside her storage-type essence stone.
As they leave the academy, they find Valen waiting outside the main gate. The moment he spots them, he immediately comes forward.
"Is your work done? Where is my supposed student?" Valen asks.
"Huh, Not here yet? I did tell him to come here by now. That's why I left you here — so you could meet him," Esdeath answers, glancing back and forth along the road.
"Him? So it's a boy?" Valen sighs. For a while he'd been sure he was getting some beautiful girl as student— both Esdeath and Maruti are girls, so it was only logical their friend would be one too.
"I guess?" Esdeath answers, her tone a little unsure even to her own ears.
"Guess?" Valen mutters, getting even more confused.
"Oops, sorry, I'm late," a feminine voice rings out.
"So it is a girl," Valen murmurs, a big grin breaking across his face as he turns around.
The grin collapses the instant he sees Corin walking toward them, waving a hand.
Maruti steps back a few meters, putting distance between them in advance.
"It's Corin!" Valen almost shouts, taking a step back in fear.
Despite the girlish face, despite the feminine voice and figure, Corin is still a man. A genuine male.
Corin jogs over and stops a meter away, panting lightly, before his attention lands on the group — and as expected, the first to catch it was none other than Valen.
"Valen? What's this nerd doing here?" Corin asks.
Neither Esdeath nor Maruti says a word. They just meet his eyes, and that was more than enough for him to understand.
"No way!" Both Valen and Corin burst out at once.
"I'm not teaching this bully," Valen protests.
"I'm not getting tutored by this nerd," Corin fires back.
"Hey, what bully? When did I ever bully you?" Corin spits.
"Don't act like you wouldn't. It's just that you never got the chance because of how often difference events kept happening at academy," Valen replies.
"Oh yeah? Want me to bully you, then? Let me grant your wish," Corin's lips twitches in irritation, already raising a hand to smack Valen on the head.
Valen shuts his eyes on instinct, grabbing his head to protect himself.
But before Corin could land it, Esdeath cuts in.
"Stop it, you two. I didn't call you here to fight. The decision is made. Valen will also be staying at your house, so get used to each other," she says, leaving no room for further discussion.
Still, Corin couldn't bring himself to accept it.
"I'm not getting tutored by another student," he sighs, fist clenching.
"I'm not a fan of teaching you either," Valen sighs lightly.
Wooshhh!...
Esdeath lets her death aura spill out. It rolls over them both, and the tremble starts in their knees before it ever reaches their faces.
"Who said you can refuse? Wanna die?" she says coldly, her wide red eyes making them shudder again.
Both shake their heads at lightning speed.
Only then does Esdeath withdrew her aura. "Good," she adds
"Phew..." Both of them sigh, relief washing over them.
"You can come anytime and take your belongings," Esdeath says to Valen, then turns around. "Let's go," she says to maruti without giving those two another glance.
"Good luck," Maruti waves a hand as she follows Esdeath back toward home.