Ashrosaliera poked her head in and saw the person she expected to see: Roshia Naveria. The blonde woman in shiny jewelry sat with her back against the bedframe, crossing her arms between her chest, and staring at Ash.
"About time you came." Roshia said, "I heard you talking to my pig."
"Yeah, he's cool." Ash answered casually, not quite reading the room, "And I bought you something!"
The note said that it's best to gift a noble like Roshia something feminine, considering how she was into jewelry and self-image, she seemed to be taking great care of her skin, too, considering how smooth and colorful it is.
Ash had a tough time choosing something appropriate, but she came across something that cost most of her gift budget at 8 gold coins, but it was definitely worth it.
"Premium Dandelion Perfume!" Ashrosaliera said in excitement that this time she checked the bedside table and saw nothing, which was a good sign that she hadn't bought anything Roshia had on hand.
"Hmph? This doesn't seem like trash." Roshia said in amusement.
She received the perfume bottle with golden liquid and casually opened it. Roshia gave it a good look up and down before spraying it in the air, and gave it a good sniff.
Ashrosaliera also leaned in, because honestly, she just picked a dandelion because it was yellow, like Roshia's blonde hair, and she didn't know if it smelled like anything.
'It smelled like… flavored grass.' Ashrosaliera thought, all disappointed.
But to her surprise, Roshia seemed to like it, with her blue eyes lit up and her lips curled to one side, expressing satisfaction.
"Well, well, well, this is exquisite. It must be at least 30 gold coins. Am I right? I never heard of this brand before, and I like it." She said with great confidence.
"Something like that, yup!" Ashrosaliera lied with a bright smile, thinking it'd be better if she didn't confess that it was only 8 gold coins.
"Impressive, especially for a mere commoner from a random farmer's family living so far away from here, I'm touched." Roshia said, and after seeing the confusion mixed with suspicion in Ashrosaliera's eyes, she stood up and continued, "That's right, I know who you are, I know who your parents are, and my father could ruin your life. I have leverage now, squirrel."
Ashrosaliera instinctively took a step back, slurred on her own words, and could not form a sentence.
"Y- You still want me as your pet? You… you know I'm not into that stuff, right?" Ashrosaliera stuttered when she heard the word squirrel
Roshia didn't answer, she instead started approaching Ash, forcing the short girl to step back, but Roshia didn't let go, she continued to zone Ash until she was against the bedside table, leaning back with both hands on it.
Roshia smirked, yet her brows lowered to a sharp angle, and she frowned at Ash.
"Look at my ears." Roshia commanded.
"There's nothing there…?" Ashrosaliera said.
"Exactly!" Roshia exclaimed, "You burned my earrings! And now there are two holes on my earlobe without anything hanging off it!"
"Oopsies." Ash diverted her eyes in embarrassment.
"The old pair cost 50 gold coins total. How do you plan to pay it off as a farmer's daughter?"
"I- Um… Sorry. Maybe I'll save up enough if I stop spending on breakfast for a few months?" Ash started fidgeting while a sweat rolled down her finger, "I seriously don't wanna be your pet though…"
"And I don't want you as a pet either, your power can not mask the fact that you are a sad person. A sad, pathetic little person who got more wisdom in their armpit than their head."
Ashrosaliera bit her lips. She was being ridiculed, with the exact words that were said when Roshia was kicking her in the guts and stepping on her. Ash's nose ached when she recalled that moment.
She wanted to bitch-slap Roshia so bad, but even if Ash was not the brightest, she still know how a viscount could ruin her life. She was already lucky enough that she was not expelled, and the fact that Roshia's father didn't personally come to school and make a mountain out of this molehill.
If Roshia had her back turned, Ash would probably have been tempted to give her another wet willy.
"There's one thing you can do for me."
Roshia Naveria sat down on her bed and crossed her legs. She began to explain:
"My father spent a fortune hiring tutors and professor to aid me in both academic and magic pursuit, I couldn't even begin to count them." she continued, looking intensely at Ash to make sure she didn't run away or pull some kind of prank, "But there was two of them that I could never forget, two tutors that taught me everything I know about [Water] magic."
Roshia sighed and cleared her throat.
"The first one is the [Water Empress], the strongest Water user alive, she didn't have the title yet 8 years ago when we first met, but she was still terrifyingly strong, she taught me to unlock my advanced Water spells, like [Ocean Wave], [Controlled Whip], [Water Armor], and one that you haven't seen, [Pressured Blade]
'Geez, that's a lot of information… When can I leave?' Ashrosaliera thought, trying not to fall asleep. Yet to her dismay, Roshia wasn't finished.
"The second person is only one year older than me, he's a man with two attributes: [Wind] and [Water]. He is attending this academy as a second year and I was supposed to run errands for him, but honestly? He's… unique, to say the least, and I'm not comfortable around him."
Roshia seemed to be reminiscing about this particular person, and she had shivers running down her spine when a piece of memory came back.
"Anyways, you'll be running errands for him instead. Find someone named Luciana, and you can just ask for The Strongest Second-Year Student, everyone knows him."
"Now, shush, go, I need some sleep." Roshia waved Ashrosaliera away.
Immediately after that, the status board popped up in front of Ash's eyes.
===
New Quest Available: An Honorable One Always Pays Thy Debt
Detail: Run errands for "Luciana"
Reward: 0.10 System Points
Failure: [Low] punishment
Status: Ongoing
===
'Another one with punishment?!' She screamed internally.