Chapter 108, Dressing for the Royal Gathering

Unfortunately, neither War Freya nor Shawn knew where Tusked Boar Mask had gone.

There was nothing they could do about that now.

He would have to look after himself.

After parting ways with Shawn, War Freya found an empty corner and was immediately recalled into the system storage by Freya’s main body.

Her perspective vanished.

Back at Euphemia’s rented apartment, Freya was sitting across from Euphemia over dinner.

Euphemia looked up.

“So? How did it go? Did you get the Law Path potion?”

Freya shook her head.

“No. The guy who was supposed to sell it to me died.”

“And the practitioner gathering itself got attacked by an organization called the Consecration Society.”

Euphemia tilted her head slightly.

She had never heard of them.

⸻

The next day, Freya did not report the matter the way she had during her earliest simulations, by wrapping a rock in paper and throwing it through the police station.

This time, she simply had Life Freya send an Earth Church member over to make the report officially.

Soon afterward, both Special Affairs and the Earth Church began investigating the Consecration Society.

But days passed.

Nothing.

It was almost as though the entire organization had suddenly left Auxerre City.

Which made absolutely no sense.

They had come into the city, sent people to attack an independent practitioner gathering, failed, and then simply ran away?

Was that really all there was to it?

And yet Special Affairs and the Earth Church genuinely found nothing.

Even Life Freya began wandering through the city with [Mind Sense] pushed to its maximum range.

She spotted a few ordinary independent practitioners along the way.

But nothing connected to the Consecration Society.

One week passed.

Then two.

Then three.

As more and more time went by without results, Special Affairs inevitably began lowering the priority of the investigation.

The Earth Church was the only side still pursuing it seriously.

And even then, Life Freya had already stopped spending every day walking all over the city with [Mind Sense] constantly active.

Then, one day, Euphemia appeared in front of Freya holding two beautifully decorated invitations.

“Get ready.”

“It’s time for us to leave.”

“We’re heading to the capital for that noble gathering.”

With the underground practitioner gathering suspended, the royal gathering had become Freya’s only realistic chance to see Law Path potions.

As for why she did not simply enter a simulation and rob Special Affairs directly...

She had genuinely considered it.

Then she gave up on the idea.

Whenever Freya entered a simulation, she could only bring one saved copy into it.

If Life Freya, War Freya, and Mind Freya could all act together, they might actually have a chance of breaking into Special Affairs and stealing the potions.

But with only one of them?

That was far too difficult.

This was an official government institution.

Its potions obviously were not sitting around in some random cabinet.

They were under extremely strict control, with dedicated personnel guarding them around the clock.

At Freya’s current level, trying to storm an official facility head-on was still unrealistic.

But that created another problem.

At the noble gathering, she would be able to see the potions.

Actually taking them was another matter.

Freya needed to physically obtain a potion and then exit the simulation if she wanted to bring it back with her.

She thought for a moment.

“What if I use Mind Freya for [Future Simulation], activate [Psychological Invisibility] right in front of everyone, and just steal all the potions?”

Euphemia gave her a look that clearly said, Are you serious?

“Don’t forget what this exhibition is for.”

“The royal family is putting those potions on display in front of the entire nobility specifically to prove that they control the Law Path.”

“If you managed to steal all of them right in front of everyone, the royal family would be humiliated.”

“So there’s no way those potions won’t be guarded by powerful practitioners.”

She paused, then added, “But because the whole point is to demonstrate that the royal family controls the Law Path, guests are actually allowed to pick the potions up and examine them closely.”

“If necessary, you could just enter the future several times.”

“Take a different potion each time, then bring it back.”

“In theory, you should eventually be able to collect all of them.”

Freya considered it.

“That could work.”

As long as a simulation lasted less than one day, the cooldown before the next [Future Simulation] was only one hour.

The royal gathering would display twelve potions in total.

One potion each for Ranks One through Three.

Then, from Rank Four through Rank Six, one potion for each class option.

That made twelve altogether.

In other words, Freya only needed to begin entering simulations twelve hours before the gathering.

Take one potion.

Exit.

Wait for the one-hour cooldown.

Enter again.

Repeat.

In theory, she could bring all twelve bottles back into reality before the gathering even ended.

Freya had already requested leave from school.

After packing a few belongings, she and Euphemia boarded a carriage and set out for the capital of the Kingdom of Tarapaca.

The journey took a little over four days.

But after they finally arrived, Freya did not even get a chance to admire how prosperous the capital looked.

Euphemia immediately dragged her into a clothing boutique.

They were attending a noble gathering.

Freya obviously could not walk in wearing her usual blouse, short skirt, and black stockings.

Showing up dressed that casually would not just make Freya look out of place.

It would be disrespectful to the event itself.

A proper evening gown was practically mandatory.

Euphemia quickly pulled out a long black dress and held it up in front of Freya.

Her eyes lit up.

“Faye, try this one!”

“All right.”

Freya had never worn anything quite like it before, but she was not opposed to the idea.

If anything, she was a little curious.

She took the dress and headed into the boutique’s fitting room.

Even just holding it felt luxurious.

The fabric was incredibly smooth and soft beneath her fingers.

Freya changed out of her blouse and skirt.

Then she carefully rolled down her black stockings and folded everything neatly to one side.

Only then did she pick up the gown and, with slightly clumsy movements, begin figuring out how to put it on.

A little while later, Freya stepped out of the fitting room.

Euphemia’s eyes immediately widened.

“You look amazing!”

The black gown fit closely around Freya’s slender waist.

Its open-back design left most of her back uncovered, tracing a clean line from her shoulders down along her spine.

Against the dark fabric, her fair skin stood out sharply.

The lower skirt parted around mid-thigh, allowing her legs enough room to move freely.

Small sparkling ornaments decorated the waist and skirt, glittering like stars scattered across a night sky.

Euphemia circled her twice, examining the dress from every angle.

Aside from the bodice sitting a little loosely on Freya’s slim frame, there was almost nothing to criticize.

Still, Euphemia frowned thoughtfully.

“It looks great.”

“But this still isn’t enough.”