Chapter 57 - Compromises
Following her meeting with Beldon, Scarlett had returned to the mansion after picking up Rosa and Allyssa. Currently, she was in her temporary office there, looking through her red leather journal.
She had been thinking of clearing another dungeon before the Light Fest ended, but as things had ended up a bit more hectic and uncertain than originally planned, she was looking at revising that idea. The dungeon she originally had been thinking of clearing was an underwater cavern that held a decent amount of artifacts that one could sell and a ring that amplified the effects of aeromancy spells. While Fynn technically didn't cast spells, she was pretty sure buffs like that still worked for him so it would have been a good fit. But that dungeon would probably take some time to find, and it was a decent distance away from Elystead, so that idea was being scrapped for now.
Instead, Scarlett was looking over the other dungeons she knew of in the local area. Unfortunately, none of them had anything particularly interesting that she wanted right now. At least not of those that she both felt certain they could handle right now, and whose location was certain enough where it would be easy to locate it with her game knowledge. She might have to be satisfied with just choosing some random mid-level dungeon and clearing it for the easy loot.
That was, if she could find the time for it. As it was, she wasn't entirely sure what her schedule would look like for the coming days. The Light Fest was nearing its end, but that didn't mean there weren't still things to do.
A knock sounded out from the door, and Scarlett looked up.
"Enter," she said after putting her journal away in the [Pouch of Holding] lying on the desk before her. She now reserved the pouch for the more personal things, and the stuff she wanted to have close to her. The rest usually went in the [Bag of Juham].
The door opened and Evelyne walked inside. Scarlett found herself scowling before she even realized it, but quickly managed to temper her expression some.
Ever since their conversation the day before her emotions had fluctuated up and down a lot more than normal when she thought of the younger woman, and she was still working on how to exactly interpret that. Most of the time it was a mix of irritation and...humiliation, maybe? It was hard to put a finger on it. It wasn't just the embarrassment she had felt from her outburst the prior day, at the very least. Her relationship with her real sister had also been complicated at times, but she had never felt quite like this before, so she didn't really have a point of reference on the subject.
What she did know was that it was annoying.
Evelyne stood still near the entrance for several seconds, looking at her, before finally crossing the room and sitting down in the chair opposite Scarlett.
Scarlett narrowed her eyes as she examined Evelyne's face. The woman looked tired. Had Evelyne been like that yesterday as well? Scarlett hadn't thought about it then. But looking closer, she also noticed that Evelyne's normally smooth hair was frayed and jutted out in spots.
Had she gotten any sleep the last few days?