Violet Indri had a reputation she knew well, though she didn’t care for it. In her own manor, she was merely ‘tolerated’ rather than ‘loved’. For most, this distinction mattered; for Violet, it did not. Or rather, it mattered no longer.

  A few maids and manservants greeted her as she passed, their voices rigid, their bows rushed. Violet heard them quicken their pace as soon as she stepped past. Did they think she didn’t notice?

  Pathetic.

  Honestly, Violet didn’t even know why people treated her this way. It wasn’t like she picked a fight with just anyone she laid her eyes on! Sure, she fought back against people who looked down on her, but they had it coming!

  With her eyes, Violet could see that most people wouldn’t even have been worth fighting in the first place. What most people thought of as ‘Mana Sight’ was simply how Violet saw the world. No, her gaze showed her .

  Judging a person’s mana was easy. She could even somewhat make out the flow of their mana, the way they used it.

  When she’d first spotted that strange-looking girl, Violet had been excited beyond words. Most people were tiny little lamps in her gaze. Esra Veyne looked closer to the sun. Violet had wanted to fight her the first time she had come over to the Indri Manor, but then the First Sword of House Veyne had distracted her. Now that had been interesting, even if Violet had gotten thrashed.

  That was the other thing people always got wrong for some reason. The fun of a fight wasn’t winning; it was fighting itself. An interesting fight that could go either way, that’s what life was worth living for.

  When she’d seen the Veyne Ghost again, she had been ecstatic. There was no way her father would have allowed her to go to Veyne Manor herself, but then the girl had helpfully shown up here! Violet would have done damn near anything to get her to agree to a fight. The girl had accepted surprisingly easily.

  Then Esra Veyne had been terrible. No, terrible was the wrong way to put it. She’d been pathetic. The girl didn’t even know the absolute basics of using mana. She was just another noble brat who coasted on their status, nothing more. The only reinforcement the girl used was more an accident of her amount of mana rather than any skill in actually using it.

  Violet had assumed a few good punches would have sent her crying like so many other Noble Ladies. They didn’t. Somehow, they didn’t. Sure, Violet hadn’t been trying hard herself, but the list of Noble girls and boys she had given the same treatment to and who now cursed her name was long indeed.

  Their next meeting had been even stranger. With some prodding, the girl had actually figured it out. Not only that, she’d started to fix things. She was still a clumsy oaf, but the improvement was there and noticeable. How strange that someone could have a talent for things, and yet not know something basic? You’d almost thought she’d just woken up inside her own flesh.

  And now Violet Indri was stalking towards her rooms, again. The last thing Violet liked to do was what other people told her to do. Yet, she had made a deal, and Violet always kept her word. Sure, usually that ‘word’ was about beating some pompous brat black and blue, but the concept was the same.

  Even Violet couldn’t help but notice something odd about the manor today. There were even fewer maids and manservants than normal. Sure, they might scurry away from her, but they had to see her first to do that, right? Golems moved outside the manor windows. More than she'd seen in quite a while. Wasn't her father not here?

  Not only that, but there was something else. Something that was harder to notice because Violet had simply never cared before.

  Her father had only just gotten them recently. Violet hadn’t exactly approved, but her father cared a lot about this kind of artsy crap. It was odd not to see them now. Whatever. Knowing him, they’d probably show up tomorrow with a whole new coat of paint.

  A maid stood outside Esra’s door. What was her name again? Aline…something?

  “My Lady, I’m afraid Lady Veyne is sick.” Aline smiled. “Your father said she needs to recover her strength. In private.”

  Violet looked at the woman, tilted her head. “Move.”

  “My Lady, your father was rather serious-”

  Violet channeled mana. Letting it flow for no reason was a decent scare tactic. “Did you not hear what I said? Move. It's been an hour, how is she sick?” If she were, then Violet would just leave. Something about this was odd.

  Violet expected compliance at this point. She didn’t get it. Aline curtsied. Now that Violet really looked at her, was the woman…sweating? “Please, My Lady. Lord Indri was quite-”

  Violet grabbed Aline's shoulder firmly and moved her to the side, not gently. She stepped in front of the door. She could see with her sight that the door wasn’t locked like it had been yesterday. Violet raised her leg to kick it open.

  “My Lady, please-”

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  Violet kicked the door open and strode inside. Esra Veyne was nowhere to be seen. The idea that she’d suddenly gotten sick was stupid, but Violet still expected her to be here.

  “Your father wouldn’t approve!” Aline all but shouted behind her.

  Violet turned, grabbed the maid by the collar, and hauled her up. The size difference between the two of them didn’t matter in the slightest. The woman barely had enough mana to survive the air around her, let alone do anything else.

  “Hey, you said she was sick,” Violet muttered, shaking her. “You lied to me. Why? Do you know where she is?”

  “I don’t- I don’t know anything,” The woman croaked out.

  Violet shook her more. “You’re not lying to me, are you?”

  Aline’s eyes were wide and panicked, and her face was slowly but surely going red. “I don’t know…anything!”

  Violet didn’t think the woman was being particularly honest; her weak mana was fluctuating too much. Still, it wasn’t like she wanted to attack a defenseless maid. That’s the kind of thing her mother would scold her for in the afterlife. Violet clicked her tongue and let the woman fall to the floor.

  Aline coughed and caught her breath. Violet ignored her.

  She turned and surveyed the room. The obvious conclusion might have been that Esra had simply gone home, but then that didn't make any fucking sense at all. Violet didn’t see why her own maid would lie about that either.

  “God damnit. Just when I’d finally started having some fun for once.” She tried not to sigh. What had she expected anyway?

  Violet was about to turn and leave altogether when something caught her eye. She stepped towards one corner of the room, stooped down, and picked up a very familiar necklace. Hadn’t that girl been wearing the same thing?

  Esra Veyne hadn’t even taken this off when they’d been sparring, so it was very strange to think she’d leave this lying here if she’d just left.

  Violet rose. This wasn’t just any old necklace. This one…had mana circuits built into the chain itself. How odd. Violet channeled a little mana into the thing. The gemstone glowed. She stopped channeling, eyeing the thing suspiciously.

  Even as she did, the necklace glowed on its own.

  “What the hell?” Violet muttered. She could see the mana swirling in the gemstone now. This was…something like a Magical Implement, then?

  The glow faded. Came again a second later. Faded again.

  “Huh.” Violet stared at it, shook it. Was this stupid thing broken or something? Violet channeled her own mana into it, making it glow once more. With her own mana flowing inside this thing, she could feel it. A…connection to something else. More mana filled the necklace, this time not her own at all. Her mana and this alien one filled the stone. The glow brightened.

  "Huh. Well, whatever." She tossed the necklace aside, turned around, and began to leave.

  “My Lady, where are you going-”

  The maid’s cries grew quiet behind her. That girl was somewhere in this manor, Violet was sure of it. She only knew one place Esra had seemingly wanted to go, and so Violet made a straight beeline right for it.

  There were guards near her mother’s section of the manor. Violet had seen these two men a few times. They were new, she was pretty sure. She didn’t know their names.

  “Lady Violet.” The two men bowed in unison, and one of them spoke up. “What brings you here?”

  Violet didn’t answer them, merely moved to step right past them. One of the guards stepped in front of her, blocking her path.

  “I’m sorry, My Lady, but your father has this section of the manor off limits for now. Even to you.”

  This was the second time someone had blocked Violet’s path today. It was more resistance than she’d ever faced in her own home, and it was pissing her off. It had also convinced her that something was very wrong.

  The guard in front of her had a decent amount of mana, though he wasn’t channeling most of it right now. That was rather sloppy for a guard.

  Violet stepped forward and drove her fist into the man's gut. Even through his padded armor, the guard gasped and dropped. Violet spun and kicked him, slamming him against the nearest wall.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing!” The other guard screamed. Violet saw his mana roaring inside him now. A decent amount. He probably even had a Gift. “When your father finds out-”

  “Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?” Violet unslung her great hammer, which felt light in her mana-clad hands. Perhaps this wouldn't have brought out her anger another time, but right now she was pissed off.

  The man’s face twisted. He reached for the shortsword at his side, all but confirming Violet’s suspicions. Violet spun, carried that momentum into her warhammer as she struck the man. The last man had simply slammed into a wall. This one slammed into it so hard that he made a hole inside it. For his sake Violet hoped he had reinforced himself in time.

  Violet moved over to his groaning form. She reached inside the hole and dragged the man out by his hair. “Your Gift is something weapon-related, isn’t it?” She mused. “Either get better at just using mana, or always have your weapon in hand. Idiot.” She shook him. “Now, where the hell is she-”

  Violet paused. Only now noticing that the man wasn’t staring at much of anything. He was out cold. Violet clicked her tongue, letting the man go as she rose. So annoying.

  Violet stalked down the hallway. She didn’t exactly like being here much herself. She’d only ever come here a handful of times, and it had been years since her last visit. Scarlet Indri was a legend. The fact that a woman that talented was her mother should have made her happy. It did, but it also let her know from a young age that she had a mountain to climb if she ever wanted to be known as more than just the ‘daughter of Scarlet Indri’. She certainly preferred that to being known as her father's daughter.

  Violet had already decided that, one day, when she had made a name for herself, she’d come here and talk to her mother properly. She’d made one exception for that strange girl, and now she was missing.

  This section of the manor was supposed to always stay the same. Her father hardly ever let anyone in here, save for the occasional maid to clean the place. Despite the years that had passed, Violet hadn’t expected anything different and yet…there it was.

  Someone else might not have noticed at all. Violet did. A small concentration of mana just a few feet away from her mother’s own rooms. A large, rectangular concentration, in the shape of a door.

  Violet stepped towards it and stared at the wall, confused.

  “What the hell?” She couldn’t make head nor tail of it. Violet reached out and put her hands on the wall.

  It felt like a current just went through her. She hissed and pulled her hand back. A mechanism of some kind, one that had rejected her.

  Violet unslung her warhammer again. Nobody told Violet where she could go in her own damn home.

  A shadow fell over her. She paused, looked outside. It was already almost dark out, the last rays of the sun now fading away. That wasn’t what she noticed. What she noticed was the very visible blue barrier in the distance, cutting the manor off from the outside world.

  Guards and large brown golems formed a circle right outside the manor.

  "What the fuck?"