35 Rivals

The party had pretty much finished the moment the princess left the hall. Not long after, everyone started excusing themselves, some wishing me once more. I got quite a few polite "cat calls" from over a dozen or so girls. I only gave them a polite but vague response. I couldn't downright reject them, but I could still not accept them. Fancy tongue and Etiquette 101.

I excused myself from my family's reunion. And so did Emma.

I saw Emma walking towards a blond girl who was with a few others of her age group.

"Rachael, I see you came as well."

Emma spoke in a smug tone, seemingly trying to annoy the girl in front of her.

Rachael was a fair-skinned blonde girl with medium-length hair. She had her hair tied in a way that made the upper and front hair flow to her left side in two layers and the hair on her right was held tightly by a red ribbon. She wore a two-piece dress with a loose white top and a straight maroon frock that had thick black borders on top and bottom and two rows of golden buttons in front parallel to each other. Her legs were covered by thin black transparent stockings, showing her slender legs. She had a maroon blazer on top—without her hands inside the sleeves—that seemed to match the design of her red frock.

(Image)

"Emma Maximus. What is that supposed to mean? We just met during my family greeting yours."

Rachael questioned with a frown. Emma had already seen Rachael when she and her family were wishing me and greeting my mother. And Emma too knew that, but she still acted ignorant, which in turn annoyed Rachael.

"Huh. Did we? I must have missed you. My apologies, your presence is just too weak."

Emma punched through her words.

"Perhaps you should get your vision checked. As well as your brain."

Rachael punched back, with her words, further adding insults.

Emma scoffed at her.

"My eyes and brain are perfectly normal, thank you very much. I can't say anything about yours, however."

The two glared at each other, eye to eye; phantom electricity seemed to spark and collide.

I wondered why Emma went to pick a fight with that blond girl. After thinking about possible reasons, I remembered an incident that happened at Emma's birthday party where Rachael clearly insulted her. That time Emma couldn't respond to her. And now she was going for revenge. After 2 whole years. Damn, girls and their fights.

I decided to stay out of it and observe while taking a beverage that one of the maids was serving. I had plans myself, but for that, I needed someone alone, and she was still not alone. But I could tell she was about to leave after making an excuse to stay away from the crowd that had gathered around her.

'Being popular must be annoying.'

[You're quite popular now yourself.]

'I hope not 'that' popular. That kind of fame is annoying. I don't want a bunch of boot-lickers and polite cat callers constantly around me.'

[Even though you want to make a harem?]

'I do want to love multiple girls, but I'll only love the ones I find attractive. I'm not going to go on pokemon hunting here just because pretty much all girls in this world are lookers and above average compared to Earth.'

"By the way…"

Emma broke the silent war and finally spoke.

"What's your current Tier?"

Rachael raised an eyebrow at first hearing her question but then smirked.

"Tier 3. What's yours? Don't tell me you still haven't been able to raise yours from Tier 1. That Gold foundation would be wasted on you otherwise."

Emma was mildly surprised to hear that she had already been in the third foundation tier, especially considering that her grade was lesser than hers at Silver. It was indeed quite a decent feat to achieve Tier 3 in just 2 years of gaining the foundation.

Both Emma and Rachael got their Tier 1 at age 15 with a fairly short time gap since their birthday happened to be just 1 month apart. They were both 17, currently.

"Hmph. Not bad. I'm at Tier 4 though. Too bad. I have improved more than you, even though you got your Tier 1 month before I did."

Emma's smugness increased two-folds as she watched Rachael grit her teeth in anger and frustration. Emma had practiced daily and rigorously to achieve that feat. No one in our family was given any Tier boosting potions because while Nobles had them, their usage was frowned upon since it often damaged one's later potential.

There were a few rare safer ones, but in general, more than half of the nobility didn't like—or at least pretended to not like such means. They, however, didn't mind artifacts that did the same when worn. Bunch of hypocrites.

"Humph. That's thanks to your Gold foundation. You were lucky to have been born with it."

"Stop being a sore loser, Kimberly. I gained those tiers with training, on my own. If you don't believe me, go ask my mother. She won't lie about something like this."

"Don't call me that! And I don't care enough to bother. I'll surpass you in that soon anyway. Besides, unlike you, I have been gaining proper training from the academy, the one that you couldn't be admitted to due to your 'lack of education.' So, just you wait. When you'll enter the academy in two years, you'll understand the true difference between us. Who said having a higher tier is the only indication of being more powerful?"

Emma was about to fight back, but the girls around them, who were so far silently observing their quarrel finally decided to intervene.

"Lady Rachael, Lady Emma, please don't quarrel."

"Yes, we mustn't fight among ourselves. That's bad manners."

The two hot-headed girls stopped and with a humph, separated from each other.

'Hmm, I think Emma lost the argument. She managed to get one over with her higher Tier, but after that Rachael got the last words and she spoke a fair bit.'

[Indeed. Emma can't be called the winner of this argument. If I had to judge, Rachael was more of a winner.]

It was a pity, since she was the one who went to pick a fight in the first place and looked quite confident.

'Poor girl. I'll comfort her later.'

Emma and Rachael were fated rivals and frienemies in the game. They didn't truly abhor each other but were always quarreling. Both helped each other grow stronger initially, that is until the protagonist showed up with his uber bullshit cheat grade talent and higher tier than her. So, Emma changed her focus and started competing with the main character, which eventually got them closer. Bleh. Not gonna happen this time, however. Since I was here now!

'Still, though, that Rachael girl is pretty good. Emma got all the attention as the best swordswoman in the game, but Rachael was a close second. It won't hurt to have a favorable relationship with her. She is a nobility after all.'.

Though doing so might make Emma annoyed, I could deal with that.

'Welp, not right now though. I have a girl to sed— I mean, I have to give a tasty candy to someone.'

And fortunately, Ember did excuse herself from the crowd and left the room.

Looking around, while many people had left, there were quite a few who remained and had a chit-chat. It's not often you got to have such a large gathering of nobles after all.

I finished my drink and left to have an "accidental" meeting with Ember Crestflow. But before leaving, I went to Laura and asked her if the princess would be served some snacks.

"While the royalty doesn't normally eat the food not cooked by their own chefs, we would still offer it as a formality. So, yes. Rest assured, young master."

***

[Ember's POV]

Ember walked down the hallway, watching the occasional maids roaming around to do their work. They bowed whenever they noticed who she was.

We wandered aimlessly, trying to look for a place of solitude until her mother was done mingling with other nobles, and then they could finally leave.

The party was quite decent, not too over the top, but it was still a gathering of people and she didn't find such a place very comforting.

'Hmm.'

She hummed as she found the gate leading to the garden.

Asking one of the guards stationed if the garden was accessible, she was immediately allowed as she bore the well-known insignia of the Crestflow Ducal family, she walked towards the lovely garden of the Maximus mansion.

She didn't really need to ask a mere guard since as a ducal princess she was allowed to do pretty much anything, but she wasn't one to care for such things and was generally courteous to most people.

It was quiet and she found some solace here.

'This is nice.'

The pleasant garden filled with well-trimmed bushes and lovely flowers and the green glass was something she couldn't find herself to dislike. But even then, it didn't compare to the comfort of her room.

She walked idly, looking around the garden.

After a while, she got tired and looked for a place to take a rest.

And while in search, she found a good place, but it was already occupied.

The person, a boy, sitting on a wooden bench turned around to look at her.

'What is he doing here?'

She wondered as she walked closer to him, not trying to investigate or even converse, but solely because she couldn't find a good seat anywhere close by.

[End of Ember's POV.]

***