Before the star courtesan joined the staff, Aurora had been the Golden Kumquat Tavern's brightest name.
She had a face that radiated cool, otherworldly elegance — and yet she was, without question, the most beloved of all the sisters.
Aurora had little interest in adorning herself. At most, she'd spend a little time each day brushing out her soft blue hair, occasionally pulling it up into a high ponytail. Her rosy lips had never once been touched by any dazzling lip color — and yet the warm, quiet smile that lived at the corners of her mouth was a poison even straight women couldn't help but drink down. She always favored clean, simple dresses, thin straps resting against her fair, luminous shoulders. Li Fei's favorite game was to hook a fingertip beneath one of those straps and flick it off — whereupon Aurora would pull the star courtesan into her arms, press forehead to forehead, and knead her cheeks with just enough force to scold without hurting, murmuring her reproaches in the gentlest possible voice.
What a wonderful girl. Like a ray of sunlight falling on a glacier. Like the girl next door who, every time she saw you as a child, pressed a piece of White Rabbit candy into your palm. Her ice-blue eyes held nothing but infinite warmth and patience.
What a shame she was utterly terrible.
"Aurora-jie, are you a student at the Magic Academy too?"
Li Fei asked, genuinely curious.
"Guess."
Aurora smiled and said nothing.
"People who speak in riddles don't have any friends."
Li Fei puffed out her cheeks. With practiced ease, she hooked one little finger — and a strap slid right off a smooth, luminous shoulder. Aurora let out a startled cry and clapped her hand down, barely containing the situation in the northern hemisphere.
"You're blocking me! I want to see!"
The star courtesan planted both fists on her hips, the very picture of self-righteous indignation.
Aurora bit her lower lip, wrapped her arms around Li Fei, and made to deliver some proper retribution — but the star courtesan fought back with full commitment. Before long, both of them were flushed and breathless, ending up side by side on the soft, long sofa, fingers loosely laced.
Li Fei tilted her head and let it drop against Aurora's shoulder. A moment later, a vampire girl sauntered over with languid grace, stretched out sideways across the sofa without ceremony, and made herself perfectly comfortable using the star courtesan's thighs as a pillow.
The Golden Kumquat Tavern had a cohesion far beyond that of any ordinary establishment. After all, the sisters here were all, to put it bluntly, obscenely well-off — each one a self-made little millionaire in her own right, with very little reason to compete. They got along extraordinarily well.
Beyond that, most of the women here shared one common affliction: many lovers, almost no friends. Striking looks and considerable income gave them a glamorous life — but theirs was also a profession that invited whispers and pointed fingers, and that knowledge lodged in the chest like a thorn that never quite came loose. The women of the Golden Kumquat were proud and insecure in equal measure, living in gilded excess by day and lying sleepless in the dark of night — and only a sister who had fallen into the same waters could ever truly understand that contradiction.
Over time, the women here had grown prone to a kind of morbid, clinging attachment to one another — like strange flowers blooming in a graveyard, drinking deep from rich and rotting soil, twining their stems together for warmth.
That atmosphere had long since seeped into every corner of the Golden Kumquat Tavern. Whether you were a proud rose or a pure lotus, once planted in this particular patch of mud, you found yourself enveloped and overwhelmed by layer upon layer of strange blooms — sinking together into a boundless, formless chaos, with no way out. Not even the star courtesan was exempt.
The clearest proof of this was that the vast majority of the sisters didn't go straight home after their shifts. Instead, they lingered in the break room — laughing and playing, confiding secrets to faces familiar and unfamiliar alike — each one wearing a smile far more genuine than anything they'd shown their guests that evening. Silk stockings of every color brushed and tangled together in intimate, indolent warmth. It was heady and decadent, and beautiful in its own reckless way.
For Li Fei — whose Morality score was in steady, comfortable decline — this was the single most captivating sight Loxibrook had to offer.
She gently stroked the silver-white strands of hair fanned across the vampire girl's cheek, her voice soft:
"Tired?"
"Tonight's client only cared about her own pleasure. I only like drinking blood… I wanted to say no, but then she ordered two more bottles of 'Silver Radiance.'"
The vampire girl rolled onto her side, pressed her face into Li Fei's stomach, and wrapped her arms around her waist. Her voice carried a wronged, pitiable quality that made the chest ache.
Li Fei didn't even know the vampire girl's name. The girl almost certainly knew they'd exchanged fewer than five words with each other before tonight. And yet here she was, pouring out her most humiliating, most wretched grievances in a single breath — like an infant whimpering and nestling against its mother.
But in the Golden Kumquat's break room, this was entirely natural. Cry when you needed to cry. Laugh when you needed to laugh. Women who had been through the same thing extended to each other the fullest possible measure of understanding and care. No matter how terrible a sister might be elsewhere, here she could always serve as the most reliable, trustworthy ear — a confessor without judgment.
The vampire girl talked and talked until her voice broke into quiet sobs. The star courtesan soothed her with genuine tenderness:
"Poor thing. Just grit your teeth through it — every now and then you get a client who isn't quite so refined."
So a vampire's tears are warm too, Li Fei thought.
Once the vampire girl had cried herself to sleep, Li Fei carefully cradled her head, slipped free, and quietly waved another sister over to take her place as a human pillow.
"Goodnight, everyone."
Li Fei waved her farewells to the assembled sisters and eased the door open with careful, soundless steps.
"Hold on — I have a question."
Aurora followed her to the doorway and caught her wrist.
"Mm?"
"Yesterday… did you order a 'delivery'?"
Aurora ran her tongue over her lips.
"What?"
Li Fei looked thoroughly baffled.
"You know — that girl who knocked on your door yesterday evening. You cracked it open and yanked her inside like you were doing something top secret."
Aurora gave her a reproachful look. "I happened to walk past and see it happen… She looked absolutely shy and adorable. Any chance you could introduce us?"
You mean Bai Mengtian, who came to visit me…?
That's the abyss! An actual abyss!
Li Fei rubbed her temples and managed a pained, helpless smile. "She's a friend of mine. Not a paid delivery service… Also — didn't you have a girlfriend?"
"Mm, our one-month anniversary is in a couple of days."
Aurora's smile was all warmth and tenderness. "I was thinking of preparing a romantic surprise gift. Looks like I'll need to change my plans."
…I often feel hopelessly out of step with my sisters here, and I suspect it's because my Morality score hasn't dropped quite far enough.
Li Fei covered her face. The memory of Aurora's unfailing, patient care over this past month was still vivid — always there with a word of encouragement, always ready to help, generously sharing every sales technique she'd ever mastered.
What an incredibly warm and approachable senior colleague! The kind you could search the world for and never find!
I nearly started thinking of her as an older sister. And then she pulls something like this.
In the moment she embraced Aurora goodbye, Li Fei found herself desperately missing the warmth of Lady Annie's arms.
...
Candlelight caught Li Fei's face as she pushed the window open, not the least bit tired, and lit a cigarette in the mild night breeze. In the quiet, she turned over the day's string of battles in her mind.
"The value of an eighth-tier spell is even greater than I imagined. I never expected that low-Sequence Transcendents wouldn't even get the chance to fight back… but my sample pool is too small. Moonlight Wolves are Sequence 9 creatures with limited intelligence — of course they'd be scared witless by the aura of a high-tier spell without a second thought. Whether the same effect holds against Sequence 8, Sequence 7 — or against something like fairies, Sequence 9 combatants with intelligence close to a human's — that's still an open question."
"The wolf dens have maybe one more clear left in them. I need to find time to visit the Mercenary Guild — there might be a few jobs that pay in both money and EXP… My mercenary badge rank is too low, so my options are limited. But Miss Kaname Madoka has a 'Silver-grade' badge."
"And Dragon's Might has too many restrictions… The noise, the casting time — in an ambush situation, there's simply no opportunity to use it."
The first two problems would take time to solve. The third one called for spending money.
So Li Fei pulled up the System Panel, gazed at the Wealth counter — now surged to 1,573 points — and hesitated.
The roving Sara and her accomplice had, it had to be said, yielded an exceptionally generous haul of spoils. Both of them carried everything they owned on their persons — no fixed assets, all liquid wealth. Despite being the same Sequence 9 as Eddy and his four companions, the Wealth Li Fei had stripped from the two of them exceeded what she'd taken from that entire group by more than double.
She fixed her gaze on one particular item in the Shop Panel, wrestled with herself for a long moment, and didn't make up her mind until the flame of the cigarette burned down and nipped her fingers.
"Sys. Buy."
At the murmured word, her Wealth dropped like a retreating tide — all the way down to 73. In her hand appeared a pair of earrings: a fine silver chain, and dangling from it, a stone of deep, flat black.
[Silencing Earrings]
Equipment Rating: New Moon
Attributes: Mana Regeneration Speed +15%, Casting Prelude Time -15%
Enchantment Effect: Silence (Lv5)
Silence (Lv5): Conceals the sounds and mana fluctuations produced during spellcasting.
Li Fei turned the black onyx earring over between her fingers, then slowly raised her hand. She aligned the sharp curved hook with her earlobe and pressed down, hard.
The girl who once couldn't bring herself to pierce her ears because she was afraid of the pain — she didn't hesitate for even a second now.
"Hss…"
Li Fei's brow knitted. Her fingers closed tight around the windowsill. She endured the pain. Let herself feel it.
With these earrings, if she faced a particularly long-winded opponent, she could put on a veil to hide her lips — and perhaps slip Dragon's Might out into the world while they were still busy monologuing. Then swing her staff and let them experience, firsthand, the full force of a mage-girl's wrath.
"Hm?"
The torn earlobe, still throbbing with pain, suddenly felt something warm and soft and wet against it. Li Fei glanced sideways — and found Ram had crept up at some point without her noticing, eyes closed, gently licking the wound.
"Mm…"
The relief was immediate. Li Fei closed her eyes, the tension draining from her body one degree at a time, a long, quiet sound escaping her.
Daughters really are the most thoughtful. The little cotton-padded jacket every mother could ever want…
Must have more of them.
"Mama doesn't hurt anymore."
Before long, Li Fei had adjusted to the lingering ache. She turned and gathered Ram into her arms, pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek — and tasted, faintly, the ghost of something sweet and metallic on her lips. Wait. Why does it taste sweet?
Damn system — does Charisma get high enough that it doesn't just neutralize body odor, but turns sweat, blood, and everything else into something palatable?
"Sleep now, Ram."
Cuddling her soft, sweetly-scented fairy like a living pillow, Li Fei slept more soundly that night than she had in a long time.
...
The sun rose. Warm light washed over the ancient city, coaxing it awake.
In the Dean's office, a cup of red tea still held its warmth. Nicole sat at her desk, unhurried, dabbing at the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief. Sunlight spilled across the silver braid at her shoulder, painting the picture of a woman in serene and scholarly repose.
She folded the handkerchief neatly, turned the pink gemstone in her fingers, and offered a composed smile of thanks to the new student seated across the desk:
"Thank you for the hospitality."
The new female student — who had just completed a certain unspeakable transaction with the Dean — flushed scarlet, said nothing, and pulled her silver-grey mage's robe back on.
The door was suddenly flung open. A woman with golden curls cascading past her shoulders swept in with the energy of a small gale — her long, impeccably shaped legs sheathed in glass-clear stockings, each stride flipping the hem of her mage's robe, her doeskin boots ringing sharp and crisp against the polished floor.
"Dean, have you prepared your remarks for the opening ceremony yet, or— hm?"
Melodia's footsteps faltered. In the emerald mirrors of her pupils, the reflection of an extraordinarily beautiful young woman came into view.
"Even the succubi I've arrested weren't this pretty…"
Melodia murmured under her breath, then turned to greet the dark-haired girl: "Good morning, Miss Li Fei."
"You… know who I am?"
The star courtesan — who had been wearing the drowsy, pleasantly boneless expression of someone who'd just soaked in a long bath — straightened the instant she caught sight of the golden-haired woman, quietly pulling herself into a poised, graceful sitting posture.
This kind of woman — blazing figure, vivid and mature presence, golden hair and green eyes — was precisely the star courtesan's ideal type. One's manners had to be impeccable on a first meeting.
"Hm, there are only two Special Enrollment students in this year's intake. A teacher who couldn't recognize you would be rather derelict, don't you think?"
Melodia crossed her arms. "Not to mention — you're also the Dean's adopted daughter… Oh, right. I'm Melodia."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Teacher Melodia."
Li Fei summoned the effort to rise on somewhat unsteady legs and extended a pale, slender hand. "I'm in your care."
"I'm looking forward to it as well. I'm curious what the Dean's personally recruited Special Enrollment student can do."
Melodia reached out in kind. "I refuse to believe every one of her daughters has talent as monstrous as Irena's…"
Their palms met — and the warmth of it, nearly feverish in its softness, made Li Fei's breath catch.
The star courtesan ran warm herself — the kind of warm that made most women seem slightly cool by comparison whenever they pressed close. True comfort, for her, required a person with genuine softness of heart. Part of why she'd taken such a particular liking to her very first client, Shannina Windsor, came down to exactly that: Shannina ran a touch warmer than Li Fei did, and the star courtesan was helplessly greedy for that heat.
Melodia ran warmer still — a full degree above Shannina. If Li Fei hadn't seen how vital and clear-eyed she was, she would have assumed the woman was running a fever.
Their palms stayed together for a few seconds before parting. Li Fei tucked her hand behind her back with obvious reluctance, fingers pressed together, as if trying to hold onto the warmth Melodia had left behind.
A handshake that comfortable — imagine if it were a…that would be… that would absolutely be…
The daydreaming star courtesan had not yet noticed how thoroughly she'd been shaped by her Morality's steady downward drift and the Golden Kumquat's chaotic atmosphere — she was becoming more and more like one of those low-tier villains who couldn't walk past a beautiful woman without losing the plot entirely.
"What are you two chatting about so early in the morning?"
Melodia walked over to Nicole, curious.
"Enrollment matters."
Nicole smiled and returned the pink gemstone to Li Fei. "My dear daughter also prepared a rather special breakfast for me."
Li Fei accepted the [Bai Mengtian's Deception Gem — Pink], face red, and tucked it away into her robe.
Every Magic Academy student received a small allocation of resources upon enrollment. The greedy and perpetually overstretched star courtesan had arranged an early meeting with the Dean and tactfully raised a modest little request: could a spot possibly be reserved for her friend Kaname Madoka — the kind of friend who might skip class for thirty days out of a month and never pay tuition? After all, she didn't think the Deception Gem would slip past Mama Nicole's discerning eye inside the Academy.
She had also asked her best friend beforehand. Bai Mengtian's reply had been: "You can trust Nicole."
Nicole graciously agreed to her adopted daughter's request — but in exchange, Li Fei was to provide breakfast, as a gesture of filial devotion.
After a moment of token hesitation, the star courtesan accepted with pleasure.
The breakfast itself was not complicated — but it was utterly singular. It went by the name of "Star Courtesan's Tea Infusion," prepared in the same spirit as an Oreo dipped in milk: open the packaging, twist, dip… Consuming it required a preliminary cast of Miniaturization, and it could hardly be called filling — but it was a feast for all five senses, a taste that no delicacy in the world could rival.
And so, in an atmosphere of warm teacher-student and mother-daughter sentiment, the star courtesan walked away with both enrollment spots secured for herself.
"Truly a model of filial devotion… Li Fei seems far less trouble than Irena."
Melodia shrugged, picked up the teacup sitting in front of Nicole, and drained it in one swallow — then looked up with an expression of genuine surprise. "Dean — this tea is extraordinary. It smells amazing, far better than usual. Is there any more… why are you both staring at me?"
Li Fei covered her face and looked away with a guilty conscience.
"That is the tea my daughter brewed for me."
Nicole narrowed her eyes, her smile perfectly serene. "Not something one gets to drink every day."
____
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