Ring

From afar, a slim figure with a noteworthy fiery red hair could be seen hiding beside a blockade. Looking at the two girls entering the house, the figure takes note of the address before turning back and walk away. 

"So she had left, huh?"

"Huh? Who?"

When the two steps inside the house, Sheila suddenly muttered such words to herself, but Ria who was quite close to her overheard it and asked with a confused expression on her face. Sheila smiled in response before opening her mouth to speak. 

"Nothing, it was just a 'sneaky cat' finally run away after finish with their business, I guess?"

"Don't take me for an idiot. I heard your words precisely; there was no mentioning about a cat and the likes."

Sheila laughed as she put her shoes to the side before stepping inside with Ria right behind her. Sheila opened her mouth, but before she could utter a word, Sara appeared from the living room and saw the two walking on the hallway before inviting the two for lunch. 

"You two must be hungry, right? The food's ready, come on."

Since the two was indeed hungry, Ria holds back her curiosity and decides to fill up her empty stomach first before asking Sheila again in her room later on. Even though they have eaten ice cream on the way home, a single dessert is not enough to fill one stomach, after all. 

"So, what is it about?"

"Hmm, what are you talking about?"

After they were done eating lunch, the two went upstairs straight to Sheila's bedroom. Ria sit cross-legged on the floor beside Sheila who was putting her head on the table with a satisfied expression on her face, seeing such idiotic expression, Ria couldn't help but ask about something she had been curious about the whole time. But Sheila responded as if she didn't remember about a thing. Ria had the urge of wanting to slap Sheila on the face, but she gripped her fist hard while grinding her teeth and took a deep breath to calm down her mind.

Once her mind had cooled down, Ria glaring deadly at Sheila without saying anything. Sheila had thought to joke around for a short while but seeing the glare from Ria caused her to sweat before she shrugged it off with laughing awkwardly.

"Uh well, it's like this, because I have Presence Detection, it's obvious that I would know about it if anyone was stalking me."

"Are you saying someone is stalking us on the way home?"

"Yes, exactly that. But I wonder if your heart is ready to bear the truth~."

"Just out with it."

"Boo~ you're no fun, Ria. All right! I'll tell you, no need to look at me like that! The thing is, the one who was stalking us is...Angelica Ernest. Yes, the red-haired girl who just transferred to our class."

"What?"

"As I said, the stalker is Angelica Ernest! See, you are quite shocked too, aren't you?"

Ria took a moment of silence before shaking her head and looked up to Sheila and said.

"You know something about her, don't you?"

"Ehh~ what do you mean?"

"Again, with your terrible acting, you know it's easy for me to tell whether you're lying or not. So, what is it?"

"...was my acting really that bad? Well, I do know something about her, but I'm not so sure just yet."

Ria didn't say anything but urge her with a gesture for her to continue.

"You know I have Mana Eyes skill, right? I was simply curious, but during her introduction, I use the skill out of curiosity but didn't expect to see the same thing again."

"Again? What do you see with those special eyes of yours?"

"Just like my father, Angelica's body also leak a chunk of mana which caused people like us to feel a special aura surrounding them. You can't feel it just yet since you're still weak if that is what you're going to ask."

"But I can feel yours, though? Hmm? I can't feel it anymore?"

"That's because your power is quite close to me, or so I believe. Or it's also possible due to how you have been staying with me till now. Basically, I don't know, but I believe the two theory could also be a possibility. As for the reason why you can't feel it anymore, it's because I've covered the leakage with my skill."

"Doesn't that mean she could feel the 'aura' around me since I don't have any mean to prevent or hide it like you?"

As if Ria had said something shocking, Sheila froze up on the spot by her words. Seeing her act like that, Ria couldn't help but smile at her, but her eyes were dead serious! Sheila noticed the glare and sheepishly laugh before opening her mouth and said.

"N-No way! Yeah, there's no way that girl would know about it!"

"Are you sure? Didn't she come up and greeted us at the cafeteria? And didn't you say that she was stalking us a while ago?"

"Uhm...I'm sorry. I never know that there would be someone else—no, I should have thought about it even if it's nonexistent. Maybe because I have been too focused on trying to get stronger."

Ria went next to her before patting Sheila on the head and shook her head.

"It's okay, don't blame yourself too much. Even I never thought of that before. And now that we know, we should think of a way to somehow fix the problem; I don't know how but try to find a way to hide my aura like you?"

Sheila nodded her head at Ria's word before pulling her phone out of pocket and clicked on the leveling system to search if there's any way it could help. Sheila went over the shop and browse through all kind of category, and before long, she stopped at accessory category. 

『 Mana Ring 』

『 Grade: D

A ring made by Apprentice Craftsman. Its sole purpose is to suck out mana that's leaking from the owner and store it inside. 』

"Hahaha, How 'convenient'."

Without waiting further, Sheila immediately bought it at the cost of 500 gold as the ring materialises right in front of her. Looking at the sudden appearance of a bluish ring, Ria stares at it with curiosity. Sheila smiled before putting the ring on top of Ria's palm and told her about the ring before urging her to equip it. Ria nodded her head and equipped the ring on the mid finger of her left hand. 

When she saw Ria putting the ring on her mid finger, Sheila immediately active her Mana Eyes and could see that the mana that was leaking from Ria's body is slowly being sucked into the ring and eventually, nothing remained. 

"So, how is it?"

"It works just fine. But wouldn't Angelica be more suspicious of you when the next day we go to school, and she didn't feel any aura around you anymore?"

"Hmm, It's already too late for that. Let's just hope that Angelica thought she imagined when she feels the aura around me and shrugs it off, but no way that would happen right?"

"Haha, yeah."

As the two laughed, the serious air drifted off along, and they continue chatting until Sara knocked on the door and told the two that dinner is ready.