-'`•°Help°•`'-

Aradia stood outside of Clara's dorm room with Rae

She had finished training with Lir and came here right away but Rae saw her and came with her, the red head wanted to disagree but found her too intimidating and agreed

Lir didn't come with her as Clara would probably be able to sense him but he was still curious so he was staying outside of the room close to the window

Aradia took a deep breath and knocked on the door, she heard some shuffling and thud noises before hearing a 'who is it?'

"It's me, Aradia... Sister"

The red didn't want to add the sister at the end but for some reason her mouth just worked before she could think

There was a thud then a short silence before Rae and Aradia heard a 'come in'

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Shea stood beside Clara who was sitting in front of Aradia on the couch

'Shea..'

Yeon Haa thought of the character Shae, she wasn't an important character, she only appeared once or twice in the original novel; usually to give Clara enlightenment

She was Clara's personal maid, she has medium length silver hair which was usually up in a bun, and yellow eyes

Unlike Rae who would eventually be more expressive, Shae was always cold and had a blank face no matter what

Yeon Haa remembers the time she made her friend read "The Survival" who was a big fan of hentai and harem, she had said at that time that Shae would be one of the love interests for the protagonist as Shae was the cold beauty type

But of course that never happened because the novel didn't have any romance whatsoever

"So what do you need?"

Clara spoke bringing Aradia back to reality

"What's with the rush? Let's have some tea first"

The red head replied, she wanted to talk to Clara alone but with the two maids here it was impossible and they would not go away so the only way to be alone with Clara was this

Clara was wary of what Aradia wanted but agreed to the red head's request regardless

Shae went to make tea for the both of them, Aradia looked at Rae who was standing behind her

"Why don't you go help Shae?"

Rae gave her an irritated look in return but went to the kitchen anyway

Aradia saw Lir outside the window, even smaller than before from the corner of her eye

"I'll get straight to the point, I need your help"

The red head said in a serious voice, this made Clara frown but she didn't say anything signalling Aradia to continue

"You have probably already noticed I don't have a lot of mana and with a friends help we found out I have a gate-way within my system"

"What..?"

Clara said worried and annoyed at the same time

"Yes, luckily the gate-way is still small so I want your help to close it"

There, the cat was out of the bag now

The pink haired girl stayed quiet for a while, contemplating on what she should do before speaking

"But you do know I don't have enough mana to help you, right?"

'just as I thought'

Aradia thought to herself trying not to smile, what Clara said basically meant that she would help but she doesn't have what it takes to help but that was exactly what the red head wanted

She had actually known from the very beginning that Clara wouldn't be able to help at least not now as she was still learning but even so she would be of great help if she agreed of course

"You can't but someone you know can"

Clara's eyes went wide in shock, she was a quick witted person and understood what the red head meant in no time, she frowned again and spoke

"He won't help"

"But you can convince him"

"Who told you that?"

Clara leaned back against the couch and spoke raising her brow

"Let's be honest, he has taken a liking towards you, hasn't he? If it weren't for his pride he would have already asked you to be his apprentice"

That was the truth, it was said in the original novel that even before the bomb incident Ellen was interested in taking in Clara as his apprentice

The pink haired girl in question stayed quiet, seeing how hesitant she was Aradia spoke again

"If you help me out I can help you become a grand mage"

"What..?"

'bingo'

A small smirk made its way onto the red head's face, she had gotten Clara right where she wanted now all that was left was to strike the deal

"I know someone who can do exactly that"

Lir who was outside glared at her, he knew the red head was talking about him and striking this deal without his consent! He didn't agree to another student!

"Is there really someone like that..? Who is it..?"

Aradia let out a dramatic sigh and continued

"I can't tell you all that, just know you won't be able to meet this person but they will give you instructions that will make you become a grand mage"

Yeon Haa knows there are a few loop holes here but she can't afford to let anyone know she meet a spirit, one of the royal family at that

Aradia knew Clara would rack up her head and try to think of a person like that but she wouldn't find anything

"I know you're sceptical but they are the same person who found out the gate-way in my system"

Clara stayed quiet for a while before asking

"Where did you meet them?"

"That was by coincidence"

Clara frowned but the red head continued

"We had a deal"

"What deal?"

"I can't tell you, they're embarrassed about it"

Clara let out a sigh and said

"I... I'll try to convince him"

Aradia knew this would work and while this may look like an impulsive decision on Clara's side it really isn't

Clara is a caring big sister and was willing to help Aradia, even if the red head didn't make any sort of deal, Clara would have still tried to find a way to help

And this deal doesn't hurt anyone, if anything it's a win-win situation, Clara will get better at magic something she absolutely loves and gets to help her sister as well

Even though the duke, Valentino is very supportive of his childrens dreams, he doesn't give them what they want, instead they are the ones that have to work for their dreams like every one else and he will help from the shadows, he doesn't give them any special help because they are nobel

And recently Clara was depressed so this would definitely cheer her up

It was said in the novel, prior to the meeting with Astolfo, Clara was going through a unstable mindset so the thought of being a grand mage something she earns for from a young age will help her unstable mindset

"But-"

Clara added making Aradia raise her brows in question

"If that person is not of help? Then what?"

The red head knew this was too good to be true, THE Clara agreed without any questions? As if

Aradia hummed in acknowledgement before speaking

"Your worries are valid and because of that, you can decide what happens if they can't help you"

It won't happen, Lir would absolutely be able to help but it was only natural to have a second option if something does go wrong

Clara thought for a bit before answering

"If this person cannot help, you will help me convince father about.. something.."

"And what is this 'something'?"

"That I cannot tell you at the moment"

Aradia frowned, she didn't like this, if she agreed to this Clara could ask her to convince the Duke about anything that could be something good or something bad

Seeing how deeply Aradia had frowned Clara spoke again

"But I can tell you this much, it's related to magic"

The red head looked at her still not wanting to agree but that moment she heard a voice in her mind, it was Lir's

<Agree and strike the deal>

'wha-'

<Shut up and do as I say>

Aradia stayed quiet for a few seconds

"Alright, so we have a deal, correct?"

"Yes"

"Oh and-"

Clara continued while Aradia frowned

"What now?"

The red head asked

"If things go south you will also me buy the highest grade mana crystals out there"

"What?!"

"Yup"

Clara said with a smug look

The red head grit her teeth before saying

"Oh and you have to convince Ellen it a week, if you can't by then the deal is cancelled"

Now it the red head's turn to be smug but in all seriousness they had a time limit, Lir would only help for one month and since they couldn't even start before the gate-way is blocked, she needs things to go quickly

Clara frowned upon hearing that

"Only a week?"

"Can't be helped we are on a time limit, a tight one at that"

Clara let out a sigh, she was about to speak but the maids came back with the tea so she just nodded instead

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"Alright I'll get going then"

Aradia said whilst she stood up to leave

"Oh and stay back after physical fitness class, I need some help with the magic assignments"

The red head added which basically meant, we have more to discuss stay back for a little bit today

"Alright"

Clara agreed and Shae walked them out

After coming back to her room the red head plopped down onto her bed while Rae went to ready her bath

Bounas:

*Modern day setting*

Besties things:

     Chat

              10:00 p.m., Friday, 2 days ago

Clara: delete my number (seen)

          1:00 a.m., Sunday, today

Issac: who's this?? (seen)

                                          To be continued....

Yo, so first, sorry for not updating yesterday, second I kinda rushed this chapter so I'm sorry if you can't understand anything happening here

I wanted to add more but as you can see I have already taken +1 day(s) to post so that isn't happening

Anyway we'll finally get some Ellen action, been waiting forever (lol)

Have a good day, afternoon, evening or night, hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I liked (dreaded) writing it

Once again please forgive this lowly author for any grammatical mistakes and I'll see you all in the next chapter

Byeee

Words: 1,797