An Owl's Rise

If she did not make a good first impression, her time spent within the Sect would undoubtedly difficult, even with her grandaunt's backing. No organization was a monolith, and there would certainly be those that benefited from her failure here.

Thankfully she was not going in alone. With both Lucia and Evelyn by her side, she felt confident that everything would go well. The two of them were as beautiful as they were competent.

With her head held high, Maeve walked down the hallway and towards the large double door that entered onto an upper floor above the main party venue.

"I've just received the signal from Lady Vivienne. You may go in now." Gervasio said, opening the doors.

At the same moment Vivienne's voice echoed through the great hall.

"Now, everyone, please allow me to introduce you to my grandniece, apprentice, and the newest member of the Miris Sect."

The lights on the first floor began to dim and the ones situated on the second level glowed brightly.

Maeve was lit up for all to see as she entered the room. Her golden dress glimmered in the light and everyone's gazes were drawn towards her.

For a few moments she was the center of attention, until Evelyn and Lucia walked in and stood slightly behind her off to the side.

Naturally this split where everyone's eyes were directed. Most still continued to focus on Maeve, but many could not help but curiously look at the two beauties that were standing alongside her.

"Who are they?"

"I am not certain. They are definitely not attendants though."

"Ah, I heard a rumor that some mercenary friends of hers traveled with her as added protection."

"What?! Mercenaries! Then what are they doing appearing with her like equals?"

"Apparently, they are also first-class citizens of the Usturg Federation. You know how eccentric some of their upper echelon can be. They're all supposedly childhood friends as well."

Questions and rumors like these spread across the great hall like a wildfire.

Everyone was speaking in whispers, but with so many voices talking at once, it almost became a cacophonous uproar.

After standing in full view on the second floor for nearly half a minute, Maeve, Evelyn, and Lucia walked down the spiraling staircase and joined the party.

As soon as they reached the bottom, Vivienne came to greet them.

However, she was not alone, a handsome middle-aged looking man with sharp red eyes and hair had his arm interlocked with hers.

At their approach, Maeve bowed her head and Evelyn and Lucia followed her.

"Please go ahead and raise your heads. This is party is for you after all. And any family member of Vivienne's is like family to me as well." The man said.

Maeve slowly raised her head as requested and brightly smiled at the man when their eyes met.

"It is an honor to finally meet you Sect Leader. Thank you for welcoming me into your organization."

"Of course. You came recommend to me by my most trusted confidant. If even a tenth of what Vivienne told me about you is true, then I know that you will make an invaluable addition to my Miris Sect." The Miris Sect Leader said.

"But you really do look like Vivienne. Just looking at you brings back memories of the past when we first met."

As the Sect Leader seemed to be reminiscing, Vivienne who had remained silent up to this point pinched his arm, and said, "Oh my. You're not planning on replacing me for a younger model, now are you, Ellison? I don't believe that either my niece or I would particularly be fond of that."

Ellison, the leader of the Miris Sect winced at this accusation.

"You know that I would not do something like that. She is still a child to me. Plus, I would honestly be afraid of what you might do to me." He said, laughing to try and relieve some of the tension.

Watching this display, Maeve was surprised. She knew that her grandaunt was close to the Miris Sect's leader, but it would seem that they were far more intimate than she had heard.

Fortunately, this revelation would only help to strengthen her position within the Sect. So long as she did not mess up catastrophically, her grandaunt would protect her, and she could easily influence the Sect's Leader.

'That is one less thing to worry about.' Maeve thought.

"Now, would you mind introducing these other two lovely women you have brought as your guests. I have only heard what Vivienne has told me." Ellison said, turning his attention towards Evelyn and Lucia.

"I would be happy to Sect Leader."

Maeve then introduced both of them and they bowed to Ellison again.

For a moment the man in charge of the Miris Sect stared intently at Evelyn, but lightly shook his head as if to cast off some sort of doubt.

'I wonder what that was about?' Maeve pondered.

Things continued to proceed as normal after that though and eventually Ellison and Vivienne moved on to allow the other upper ranking members of the Miris Sect to come and greet her.

By themselves, in pairs, or occasionally in small groups, everyone at the party came and introduced themselves to Maeve.

Some attempted to flatter her, while others laced their seemingly cordial words with malice.

A few times some particularly antagonistic individuals went a bit too far and incurred Lucia's wrath. Her way with words was impeccable, and she sent several hostile individuals fleeing with their faces bright red in embarrassment and frustration.

Maeve felt grateful that she decided to bring Lucia and Evelyn along. She was not particularly well-versed in dealing with people's hostility when it was directed at her.

Eventually everyone had met with Maeve at least briefly, and she was finally free to move about the party as she wished. There were several individuals she had wanted to speak with more since they gave off good first impressions.

Yet before she could take more than a few steps, the main entrance to the great hall opened and two new individuals walked in.

Immediately Maeve could tell that the blue haired man in the lead was powerful. The magical energy emitting from his body was clearly that of a peak arcanist rank. The same as her grandaunt.

Except, she was certain that there was no one else currently in the Miris Sect that matched Vivienne. Ellison was at the low tier of the magi rank and the only one stronger than her. The other high-ranking elders were high tier arcanists or lower.

"Chsss!"

Suddenly hearing the sound of glass shattering, Maeve looked to her side and saw that that cup that Evelyn had been holding had been crushed in her hand.

The shards of glass and water that had been in the cup falling to the ground.

For just a moment she saw unrestrained animosity in Evelyn's eyes greater than anything she had ever witnessed before.

Even the murderous look her uncle gave her when she integrated him after his failed attempt on her life paled in comparison.

Luckily no one else seemed to notice Evelyn, and a second later her demeanor had returned to normal.

Out of the corner of her eye, Maeve saw her grandaunt and the Miris Sect's Leader approaching these newcomers. From the looks on their faces, she could tell that the two men were probably not members of the Miris Sect. Her best guess was that they were important individuals from another Sect that had stopped by unannounced.

'I'll worry about Evelyn later. This is probably more important.' Maeve thought, turning back around and focusing all of her attention on the two unfamiliar men.