At Claire's introduction, Relia smiled lightly as if she expected no less,
'As expected of my Older Sister. In the novel, she taught the main character healing magic.'
In the novel, after her assassination, her sister Claire naturally joined the war against the Lelfon kingdom.
During that time, the main character, Marianne, was taught by her.
For one, it was because of Marianne's immense talent for healing spells, and for another, it was because she reminded Claire of her late sister.
The regret that she couldn't save her sister, who was assassinated, those heavy feelings were pushed onto Marianne to make sure she also wouldn't die.
Aria smiled in wonder,
'Tower Master? Everyone here seems to respect her.'
It was clear that the tower master meant that she was the leader of the people in the tower.
But what caught Aria's attention was the way everyone acted towards her, with respect but still warm enough that they could talk and greet her without stiffness.
'A sign of a good boss, warm enough that you can communicate with them but still stern enough that your employees don't belittle or dismiss you.'
Then Aria's mind went back to the ride in the carriage,
'She checked our souls earlier.'
Aria turned to Ren; he must have noticed but didn't say much about it.
[I have nothing to hide anyway.]
Remembering his message, Aria chuckled, thinking further.
'Mana that can touch upon the soul, but her mana went deeper and analyzed it. This isn't part of the ranks, so it's probably a special ability she has, or maybe a tool.'
In any case, Aria also didn't mind that her soul was checked; she was formerly a soul mage after all.
Even if she lost all her power and the foundation that she had achieved in her past life, the knowledge was still there, so she would know if she was being attacked or not.
The conclusion Aria came to was clear.
'She's a rank 5 at least, she doesn't want to harm us, and obviously cares for her sister.'
These were relatively easy things to discern, and it wasn't from some genius Aria had or years of experience, it was plain common sense.
'To her, we are friends of her younger sister, Relia. But even with checking our souls, our origins are still unknown.'
This unknown could cause suspicion to arise in Claire, but even so…
'The best thing we can do is nothing at all.'
Even if their origins are unknown, there wasn't anything they could do to change it.
Making a fake background story would just make things more complicated.
'We already stretched it a lot with Ren's abduction story, adding more would do more harm than good.'
'More holes and lies can be found… lies? Wait a moment…'
Aria also thought back to the gate when they first entered.
'They didn't use the lie detectors like that old man Thetford did.'
Back when they first landed in the empire and were questioned, the magic tool glowed a certain color, determining if the speaker was lying or telling the truth.
The usefulness of such a tool was easily apparent; if someone did something wrong or was planning to commit a crime, couldn't they use the lie detector as Thetford did?
'Yet they didn't. It must have a limitation.'
Could it only be used a couple of times before breaking? Maybe there was a counter to it that was commonly carried? Or maybe the tool wasn't as accurate as it portrayed itself to be.
The questions appeared in her head, but Aria understood that they didn't need to be answered; what she knew for a fact was that,
'Claire Aureus has high authority and power; it would be a good connection to have, and to keep it, I just have to act like myself, but I can also bend the truth to a certain degree if I need to.'
Relia smiled, Aria overthought, and Ren… What was Ren doing?
Ren had sparkling eyes at Claire's introduction.
'Nature Tower Master? A tower master? I don't know what it means exactly, but it seems pretty cool.'
It reminded Ren of his first meeting with Hale, and when he started talking about his background,
'They keep spouting titles I don't know, it's kinda funny.'
Ren assumed that it was probably common sense to know those titles, yet as someone dropped out of nowhere with barely any information,
Whether they were the emperor or a low-class worker, Ren couldn't truly know the levels of these people.
Naturally, Ren wouldn't assume someone wearing luxurious mage attire, such as Claire, wasn't a noble or important, but he didn't exactly know the level of her nobility.
'I'll have to learn…'
As he made the promise, Claire narrowed her eyes.
'They don't seem impressed…'
Relia and Aria merely smiled respectfully.
The eyes of her younger sister seemed to say: 'Isn't it obvious?'
Claire couldn't help but feel sour at the underwhelming reaction.
Who didn't want to look good in front of their sibling?
It hurt Claire even more when she remembered the days when a younger Relia would run up to her for a hug,
[Big Sis! When I grow up, I'll be a mage just as amazing as you are!]
The clicheness of the line didn't dull the heavy impact that those words had on Claire.
As for Aria,
Wasn't she also a mage?
'Aren't I the idol of aspiring female mages?'
Rank 6 was a very rare rank across the empire; only a couple of dozen had that rank.
This may have seemed like a lot, but billions were living in the empire; compared to that, a dozen was even less than a speck.
A group of the best on the continent.
The distribution between male and female was even, but that wasn't what made Claire especially special.
It was her age.
Even if you were rank 6, you'd probably be old, most being in their triple digits!
Contrasting that average Claire was still in her thirties,
She had beauty, power, and authority; who wouldn't admire such a person?
Yet, Aria's respectful smile was the same as Relia's!
'C-Could I… not be cool anymore?!'
Finally, Claire turned and glanced at Ren, whose blue eyes were filled with admiration.
'At least he seems impressed, but...'
But Claire didn't know how to feel about the admiration!
Why?
Relia and Aria were both mages, people who were in the same field as Claire, but what about Ren?
The sheathed sword on his waist was quite telling.
He was a warrior!
It wasn't quite as heated as most told it out to be, but warriors and mages had somewhat of a rivalry.
To put it in Earth terms, it would be like fans of a rival sports team cheering for the other team!
Claire mulled over her relevance, Relia thought about the novel's contents, Aria pondered authority in this new world, and finally, Ren looked around in fascination.
…
Despite her thoughts, Claire kept her composure perfectly, showing no heightened emotions as she guided the three on a tour of her workplace.
"This is the tower's garden, except for the dangerous ones; most of the plants are grown here."
There were plants of various colors and scents,
Strikingly, most of the plants emitted mana; each was separated by small transparent dividers made of mana.
The temperature and climate changed as they walked through the garden.
Claire explained the various magic tools in place, allowing the garden to simulate all the seasons of the year.
As they walked through the tower, there were many wondrous sights, such as the labs testing spells or making magic tools, or ones similar to the glass enclosure they saw in the main hall with the large venus fly trap looking plant.
Their eyes couldn't help but look on with fascination, causing Claire to internally laugh.
'They seem to like it, now what's next… hm?'
With her supernatural senses, Claire caught a commotion at the end of the hallway they were currently in.
Rounding the corner was a running researcher with panicking eyes.
And behind him was a golem made of rock,
Claire narrowed her eyes, immediately understanding what had happened.
'They set the golem to self-defense mode, probably by accident.'
Golems were typically used for carrying heavy items. Due to their size of about 4 meters, they could carry many different things, both large and small.
Since they were made of a specially formed rock using magic, they were also very durable and didn't tire.
Just as these large helpers were useful for labor, they were also helpful for self-defense, using their heavy bodies to slam or pin down a person with their strength.
'Can he not turn it off?'
Because golems had such a function, there were many precautions set in place so they didn't attack others.
If you looked closely, although the researcher was getting chased by a golem, it wasn't destroying anything.
But even so, Claire still felt concern.
'A malfunction, I'll have to figure it out later.'
Although a single golem wasn't anything to Claire, the tower had hundreds running around the place; if the same thing happened to all of them, it would be quite the disaster.
'It seems I'll have to cut this tour short...'
As Claire raised her hand to release mana, she paused.
'Actually…'
With a smile, an idea formed in her mind.
As the researcher moved down the hall in a sprint, the golem finally rounded the corner, causing the others to see it.
The researcher screamed,
"H-help! The golem, it's broken!"
Relia stared in confusion while Aria and Ren narrowed their eyes, readying for battle.
Claire's smile deepened at their action.
'Those two are quick on their feet, as for Relia, she's still inexperienced.'
Compared to Relia, who paused, Aria was already channeling mana into her staff, taking a step back while Ren had his hand on the hilt of his sword, stepping forward.
"Relia, what are you doing?"
"Sister? Isn't that golem chasing that man?"
"It is, so why are you just standing there?"
Relia turned her gaze from the approaching golem to her sister in confusion.
Her stare seemed to ask: Aren't you going to stop it?
Claire shook her head with a sigh. It was a reasonable thought to have, especially since she was the Tower Master.
"Even if I was going to stop it, shouldn't you move behind me first?"
Throughout the tour, Claire had taken a slow pace, staying behind the group by a couple of feet as they all looked around in fascination.
It was partly so she could gauge their reactions and understand what to show next, but mainly so she could keep an eye on all of them for safety.
But now that the threat was in front, other than a warrior like Ren, mages like Aria and Relia should step back.
Yet only Aria was in the back; Relia was still standing near Ren in the front.
"And I won't be stopping it, you will… or more specifically, your friends and you will."
At the words, Relia's eyes couldn't help but widen.
'WHAT!?'