Daphne POV
At the moment, Daphne was sitting in front of her mother, Yuki Frost. After ranking up to G Rank, Daphne had spent some time with her sister to consolidate her new strength, mostly on how to control the increase in output of all of her skills, so she had not saved even a bit of time to discuss her bet with her mother.
Naturally, her efforts were not negligible, and her proficiency had increased a lot.
[
Skills:
→[Aura Control(F)](5% proficiency)
→[Mana Control(F)]1% proficiency)
→[Sword Aura(G)](68% proficiency)
->[Higher Magecraft Knowledge (E)](30%profiency)
Profession Skills:
->[Holy Snow Maiden's Manifestation(S+)](30% proficiency)
-> [Holy Snow Maiden's Intent (SS+)] (10% proficiency)
->[Holy Snow Maiden's Domain (SSS+)] (No Proficiency)
]
Although she hadn't been able to even use [Holy Snow Maiden's Domain] yet, she was not in a hurry, that skill could only be used once she reached Rank A, so there was no need to feel that she was underperforming, not because of that at least.
Perhaps her progress would be faster if she stopped putting so much effort into coming up with ways to make members of the side cast grow stronger to help the members of the main cast.
People like Marcus Blade, who was without a doubt the one with the most potential.
People like herself, Daphne Frost, who never used their powers how they were intend to be used.
There were several others.
She also put a lot of effort into figuring out how to neutralize certain plots and save certain characters that would be a huge help in the future, like Andrew, the protagonist's master, and her own mother, Yuki.
But for now, this much progress was enough, she still had time.
This did not mean that she should laze around and only wait for the start of the plot to start making her moves.
And after winning her bet with her mother, she could now start stage one of her enormous plan.
To create connections with the important members of the main cast and side cast alike, by creating a grand event disguised as a normal celebration, like her birthday, to put the future members of high society in the same room with her.
It was a shame that she couldn't bring the protagonist and other characters into this due to their own status, but she will find a way to include them in the future.
"So, my daughter, you've done incredibly and won the bet we made to each other."
Her mother's voice woke her up from her thougths.
Daphne decided to stay silent.
"I previously believed that you were not going to succeed, after all, for the average B-ranked talent, you should've taken more than a year, perhaps even two. But I guess I underestimated just how much you wanted to win this bet."
She approached her child with soft steps that were almost completely silent. Soon, Daphne felt her mother's arms surrounding her from all sides in a soft embrace.
"You worked really hard, Daphne. I'm proud of you."
In this cold room, Daphne felt a sense of warmth she had only felt with one person before.
'Is this what a supporting mother is like? No wonder you always said those hugs were nothing special, Marcus. Turns out this was the common experience.'
She let herself sink into the warmth of Yuki's motherly embrace, only letting out a soft:
"Umu..."
They stayed like that for a few moments before Yuki finally decided to step back and once again sit on her seat. Daphne unconsciously followed her warmth before realizing that she was being too clingy and instead sinking into her seat once again.
Seeing her daughter acting so clingy, Yuki smiled softly.
'I should hug her more often.' She tought.
"Well, we should start talking about what you want from our bet?"
"Oh! Yes. Mother, I want to have a great ball for my birthday."
Yuki's eyebrows raised slightly.
"Just that? With so much effort, I thought you wanted something more daring. Yes, that can be arranged. I was already planning to do a big celebration for your 7th birthday, I mean, you saw your sister's, no?"
Daphne breathed in deeply, preparing to explain.
"Mother. I don't want just a celebration, I know you would do it amazingly without a bet. What I want is to make an event where all the members of my generation that belong to big families or are related in some way to great status attend."
Yuki closed her eyes in thought before a grin appeared on her face.
'She really is my daughter. She wants to put all the future leaders of this world in a single room, allowing her to create connections to all of them. Not even seven years of age and already so much like her mama. So proud!'
"I see, I think I understand what you want now, dear. So do you want to make it just a simple ball, or do you have any ideas in mind?"
'I can add things?'
Daphne thought she would be limited to simply requesting a ball. She didn't know she would be able to make special arrangements.
This changed a lot of things. After all, there were certain characters that listened more to strength than to reason, she was slightly worried how she would approach them in a ball setting, but if she could make arrangements for these people, making a meaningful connection would become much easier.
"I haven't thought of anything to add. C-can I talk to you later?"
"Fufu, take your time, meanwhile, I will take care of the ball itself. Maybe you should break the news to your sister?"
"Huh? Yes, I will!"
With that, Daphne jumped to her feet and rushed out of the room.
This went much better than she had expected, with the capability of adding certain things to the ball's arrangements. With careful planning, she would be able to arrange certain situations that would favor her goal of creating connections not only between her and the other characters, but between the characters themselves.
It didn't take long for her to reach her sister's bedroom.
She knocked on the door in a certain rithm.
"Big Sis! It's me. I have something amazing to tell you!"
Soon the door opened, revealing the impassive face of her older sister by a year, Ayza.
"Daphne, come in."
With those short words, Ayza opened the door wider to let Daphne inside her room.
Ayza's room, as one could expect, was very different from other girls her age. Instead of sporting a blinding pink radiance, it was adorned with plain colors like white and brown.
Not only that, there was no clue of any type of hobbies or special belongings, all of this, of course, was not anything new to Daphne, who was her sister.
She simply walked towards Ayza's bed and sat down, her hand patting the place beside her. Ayza looked at the spot for a moment before complying and sitting down beside Daphne.
"So, remember about the bet I made with mom?"
"Yes. You worked hard."
"Mhm. Anyway, I was talking to her about it. And can you guess what I asked?"
Ayza looked away from her sister, her impassive expression revealing a hint of thought and genuine effort to figure out the answer.
'How cute.' Daphne couldn't help but think that it was no wonder so many male characters had crushes on her besides the protagonist.
"I... I can't figure it out, Daphne."
"Hehe. Of course not, I made sure to keep it a secret so as not to spoil your surprise, Big Sis. I asked for a huge ball to be held on the day of my birthday."
"Like in a fairytale?"
"Uh... I guess? Everyone around our age who is from a family of high status will be there, which will make the experience even more amazing. It will be awesome to meet so many people!"
Ayza nodded slowly, the topic of socializing with other people of her age was not as exciting as Daphne thought it was.
"Oh come on, don't act like that, Big Sis. Those will be the biggest geniuses of our generation. I'm talking about Arthur Pendragon, Leonel and Emilia Morgana, Marcus Blade, and others."
Daphne made her best effort to not show any emotion while saying His name, even if they weren't the same person.
However, something else caught her attention. As soon as she said Marcus' name, Ayza's eyes widened a fraction, and her hand shot towards her chest, only for her to look at her own hand in confusion.
"Something wrong, Ayza?"
"No." The answer came faster and sharper than expected. "Sorry, Daphne. I feel weird, I think I need some rest."
"I... see. I will let you rest, Big Sis. I hope you are not sick."
"Umu."
Daphne left the room silently, a frown slowly revealing itself.
'Just what was that?'
*****
Ayza POV
'What was that?'
As soon as she heard that name, her heart rate jumped to unhealthy speeds, her chest felt like it was on fire, and her guts seemed to twist in an emotion that she couldn't describe.
'Who is Marcus Blade?'
Well, she knew that he was the heir of the Blade Family, but what kind of person was he that made her feel like this with just his name?
'Daphne was also controlling her expression when saying his name, is his profession related to his name?'
It could be.
She let herself fall into the softness of her bed, one hand still on her chest, feeling its palpitations, the other was reaching for her own cheeks that seemed to be slowly heating up.
'Marcus...'
*****
Author's Note: Another chapter! I bet some of you forgot that Ayza was a regressor, right? Although she doesn't have her memories of the future but there are still some feelings.
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