79 Midnight Maiden, Part Ten

Just to avoid the unnecessary awkwardness, Rin was getting dressed in the girls' bathroom, near her and Elisa's room. There was an almost tense silence in the air, as she put her black heels on and checked herself out in the mirror. What looked back at her was a nervous woman with raven hair and a pair of slightly anxious amber eyes, wearing a slim, short black dress. She inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself down as she heard a knock on the bathroom door.

With the tapping of her heels echoing, she walked over to it. As Rin opened the door, she found Elisa standing on the other side.

She smiled a little as she saw Rin. Her eyes briefly went down, before flickering back up to meet the adventurer's eyes.

"You alright?" She asked.

"How long have I been in here?"

A little over twenty minutes. Everything okay?" Elisa asked. That weird look from before had faded, and the usual charming smile on her face had returned.

'Yeah, yeah, I'm just... Nervous," Rin chuckled awkwardly. "I haven't really done anything like this."

"What, you've never gone to a party?"

"Uh, no, not that, I mean, I've never surrounded myself with nobles the way we're going to be doing in a bit."

"Well," Elisa shrugged, "I would say that barely matters. At the end of the day, it's just a party like any other. Just... a snobbier one."

"Hmph," Rin nodded, smiling as she looked away. "So, uh, do I look good?"

"Downright stunning," Elisa replied easily. "I'm sure at least a few people are going to be jealous of me when we show up."

"Nah, I think they'd be more jealous of me, personally," Rin replied absent-mindedly. Elisa raised an elegant brow at her but didn't press on that.

"... By the way," she said, suddenly, looking away. "I should probably tell you that, while you were gone, I-"

A honk coming from outside the academy interrupted her. Elisa paused, looking over her shoulder to where the sound came from, before turning back toward Rin with a sigh.

"Looks like our ride is here," Elisa let her know.

"Okay," Rin paused. "Uh, so, what were you saying?"

At that, Elisa looked back at her, before shaking her head.

"Nothing. If you're ready, then, let's get going."

"Right."

With that, the two of them stepped out into the Academy's halls and walked down the stairs to exit the building. They ran into a couple of students on the way, Alea and Dylan, but outside of a pair of curious glances, they didn't interact with them on their way to the car parked outside.

Rin continued to take steady breaths, trying to calm her nerves as she and Elisa got in the vehicle.

Without a word, as soon as they were inside, the driver, an old man dressed in a brown uniform, started the car up and got it moving.

"This is Marley," Elisa let Rin know, introducing him. "If you get tired, or sleepy, or whatever, and you want to leave early, just ask him and he'll take you back to the Academy."

"Okay," Rin nodded. "Thanks. Uh, nice to meet you, Marley."

"Mhm." He gave her a small nod through the rearview mirror.

It didn't take long for the car to arrive at their party's destination. Just a five-minute drive later, the pair were arriving at a spot in the northwest part of Libera, a few streets north of the train station. Here, there was a massive, brown building with intricately carved walls outside and lush windows, where several men and women in suits, skirts, and dresses were entering.

[Okay, moment of truth. I just hope I learn a little.]

The two of them exited the car and, a moment later, attracting the eyes of many people whose clothes probably cost more money than the amount Rin had in total, they entered the luxurious space.

It was bigger inside than it had looked from the outside. Gaudy decorations, massive paintings, and complex carpets were all over the wide space. Upbeat music made its way to Rin's ears from a radio she couldn't see. At the corners of the room, there were people who looked like butlers standing, ready to work at a moment's notice. Rin noticed a couple of them had animal-like ears, one girl had the ears of a bunny, while a boy had wolf ears like Varyn did.

She even saw a couple of fairies flying in elegant clothes seemingly made of vines and leaves. It was a first impression that made Rin pause.

"So," Elisa whispered in Rin's ear, sending shivers up her spine as she flinched. "Wanna walk around a little?"

"Sure," Rin quickly answered. "This is... Wow. Eh!?"

Rin flinched as Elisa put a gentle, but firm hand on her lower back.

As Rin looked up at her, though, she found that there was no real wonder in Elisa's eyes when she looked out into the rest of this place. Mostly just apathy.

"Yeah, it's... It's something, alright. I'll be honest," Elisa muttered. "Being out there in the woods, fighting random monsters, seeing broken-down roads and cars, you know, all those memories from the Old World, it almost made me forget places like these exist."

"Uh, I get what you mean," Rin told her. "This feels like a dream."

"Well, it's a dream that comes with alcohol and good music, at least. Come on, let's get to know the place."

On that note, Elisa practically escorted Rin throughout the area. As she'd guessed, every now and then she'd see the eyes of the nobles, mostly the men but a few women here and there, hover on them, as they looked with a clear appreciation for the view they were beholding.

[Makes sense,] Rin thought. [Elisa is kind of gorgeous, so, yeah.]

She couldn't deny that being next to the woman did give her a small bit of pride. One that quickly went away, however, as a woman dressed in something far more lush than anything Rin had ever owned suddenly jogged up to Elisa and wrapped her arms around the woman.

"Oof-" Elisa let out, clearly a little surprised, but she returned the embrace once that faded.

"Elisa! I haven't seen you in forever, how have you been?"

"Priscilla? Holy shit," Elisa chuckled. "I've been good. It's nice to see you again."

Priscilla's eyes then fell on Rin, and the adventurer gave her an awkward wave of her hand.

"Oh? Who's this?" She asked.

"Uh, this is Rin," Elisa introduced her. "A friend of mine. From the Academy."

"Ohhhh, that would explain the shoulders, mhm."

[What's that supposed to mean?] Rin asked in her thoughts as she raised a brow.

"Anyway," Priscilla completely disregarded Rin as she turned back toward Elisa. "What have you been doing?"

"Uh, nothing much, just..." As the two of them began to catch up, Rin's eyes went elsewhere.

She began looking around, trying to see if she could find anything else of interest, outside of the beautiful decorations. A few couples were dancing to the music in the air. There was one man, all alone, drinking straight from a bottle at the back of the room, sitting at the first steps of a staircase. To his right, there were two women, both sitting on, presumably, their boyfriends' laps as they spoke.

However, as they did, Rin saw their hands interlocking and a pair of mischievous smiles looking back at each other, which made her wonder if all they were doing was talking.

Finally, the last interesting thing she saw made her freeze. Behind her, the front door opened and she turned to see who had come in.

[Oh... Shit.]

Iris Ta'lin. The woman she'd managed to seduce a week ago, was walking into the building with a younger-looking boy by her side.

[Well,] Rin praised her, [she looks damn good tonight.]

The boy beside her, a guy with bright blonde hair, blue eyes, and a smirk stuck to his portrait, looked at everything in the building as if he owned it all.

His eyes stopped, however, when they landed in Rin's direction, and the adventurer worried she'd been caught staring.

However, as he made his way over to them, followed by Iris behind him, she realized it wasn't Rin he was looking at, but Elisa.

Immediately as he arrived, the first thing he did was smack Elisa's ass.

Rin's eyes widened.

Priscilla smirked and walked away. The sunlight-haired woman turned around and, when she saw who had done this, she let out a sigh that seemed like she was already exhausted.

"Good evening, my love," the boy said, as he kept his hand right where he'd planted it. "How has the night been for you?"

"Just fine, dear," Elisa said, with a voice so different from the one Rin usually heard her speak with, that immediately, she connected the dots in her head.

[Oh...] She thought, looking back at the boy. [So, this is the guy?]

"Ah, and who is this lovely woman? I am sorry to have interrupted you," he stated, taking his hand off of Elisa briefly as to bow to her.

Elisa spoke before Rin could introduce herself.

"This is Rin," she said, as Rin had opened her mouth to answer. "A friend."

"Ah, I see," he nodded. "My name is Marvain Ta'lin. A pleasure."

"... Yeah, you too," Rin replied.

[Wait, Ta'lin? They're related?] Rin was surprised to find out.

And, everyone looked at her awkwardly.

[Hm?] She asked in her mind, as there was a strange pause in the air.

Then, she saw Elisa mouthing one word:

"Bow."

When Rin did so, everything flowed normally again.

"Rin, was it?" Iris said, approaching her. Seeing the woman like this, with a more refined and haughty air to her as she walked up to Rin and stretched out a hand, was honestly a little charming. Though, maybe that was because Rin found her to be cute in her own way when they'd spoken earlier. She wondered if she'd still think it was charming, and not intimidating if this was their first time meeting.

"Yes, are you his sister?" Rin asked.

She genuinely meant the question, as although the boy looked way younger, Iris looked just a year or two over thirty. However, her question made the woman blush a little, and her refined composure briefly left her as she replied:

"No, no, but thank you for flattering me so," she said, before adding, "my name is Iris. I am his mother."

"..." Rin blinked.

[Oh.]

She blinked again.

[Oh shit.]