Once he opened the door, Rio's eyebrow slightly trembled but managed to quickly stop it, however, this didn't go unnoticed by the visitor
'What on earth? What is going on?' Rio's mind was in turmoil, but his surface was still composed
Rio shut all thought of his heart and said one name questionably
'Lara?'
The guest giggled, both at the slight tremble of his eyebrows and his confused look
"Hello, Master Rio, my name is Matilda Hyuser, sister of Lara Hyuser, the person you mentioned" Matilda mentioned
When nobles introduce themselves, they always include their family name, so much so that it's now a sort of reflex of the new noble generation
'Matilda, Matilda…I think I've heard that name before' Rio thought however within a second Rio recognized the name
Mages that unlocked the psyche Meridian have a lot of benefits including excellent computing power, which is why even though 2nd rank and 3rd rank are in the same realm, they're still very far apart
"Matilda, as in the one that kept sending me letters?" Rio questioned
"Ahh, so you indeed got my letter, I thought it got lost in transit, Master Rio, you should know that it is good manners to respond when receiving a letter" Matilda pouted
"How can I help you, Lady Matilda?" Rio internally rolled his eyes
'He's quite cold, but I wonder how long he can stay like this with me near' Matilda thought in her mind
"Oh yeah, I have something important to talk to you about, but here isn't a good place to talk, can I come in?" Matilda asked
Rio sighed and opened and rotated his body, leaving a path for Matilda to enter
After she walked in and closed the door, Rio offered her a seat, which she gladly took, followed by Rio also taking a seat
"This place is quite nice for an inn" Matilda glanced around the place
"Well, it is one in the city Centre, what brings you guys here," Rio said making Matilda flinch a bit, naturally this couldn't escape Rio's eyes
"So, I guess the rumors about you were true, for you to even detect our family best at concealing, however, don't worry, they're just here to protect me, no hostility I meant by it" Matilda smiled
"Not like they could anyway" Rio mumbled, however, loud enough for Matilda to hear
Matilda cleared her throat and tried to direct the conversation away from this mood
"Master Rio, I heard you used to be close to my sister, could I ask what your relationship was?" Matilda
"We weren't that close, just schoolmates," Rio said casually
"Are you sure? because I've heard from our schoolmates, that they would sometimes see you two talking" Matilda persisted
'Yeah, because she was my piggy bank, but it's not like I need such a small pig anymore, so she's rotten pork in my eyes' he thought, naturally didn't want to say it out loud
"I'm sure" he responded briefly
"Ah, it's just that I and my sister were very close, and she'd talk about you sometimes, so I thought there was a connection between you two," Matilda said whilst putting on a mournful expression
"Is that what you came here to talk about, Lady Matilda?" Rio asked
This cold kind of response, surprised Matilda slightly, when she usually put on such an expression, people tend to let their guard down and even comfort her
"Ahh no, I came to talk to you about something else, I arrived in Solia last night to see if I could find someone to make a special weapon for me, I realized you seem to be very close to the Myriad House Alchemist, I was wondering if you could put in a message for me" she stated her reasons
"If you're looking for a weapon, why are you looking for Sir Mevad?" Rio questioned
"Well, both sir alchemist and Artificer of the auction house would be connected, so I was wondering if you could ask sir Mevad to ask the artificer to ask the recent artificer to make me or has a special rapier?"
'So, you want me to ask a friend to ask a friend to ask a friend' Rio thought and internally scoffed
"I see, that would make sense" Rio pondered, and this gesture seemed to give Matilda some hope
"But why would I do that?" Rio asked in genuine confusion
"Ahh, err, right, my family can pay for your services to contact the artificer"
Rio frowned, "However, I don't lack funds"
"Errr, then can I ask what you might want?" Matilda said blushing whilst pushing the golden hair behind her ears with her middle finger
"Nothing really, I don't lack anything," Rio said casually
'How can he be so calm, when someone like me is sitting right in front of him, he shows no sign of emotion whatsoever, I wonder if he…?'
Matilda's thoughts were cut off by Rio's suggesting she leave if there was nothing else
This attitude slightly ticked off Matilda, 'why is he so Ill-mannered, I have been nothing but polite, yet he's being so rude' However, Matilda really wanted the Rapier
"Master Rio, I really want to weapon, if you could pass the simple message, I will be eternally grateful"
"Sorry, but you and your gratefulness are of no use to me, so unfortunately I can't help you," Rio said decisively
Anger was fuming up on Matilda when she had ever been rejected. The amount she could probably count with her fingers, However, she was wise enough to know that anger isn't going to solve anything, as a matter of fact, it might make things worse.
So, she gritted her teeth, stomached the anger, and stood up
"Thank you for your time, Master Rio," she said as she headed to the door not bothering to look back anymore
"Ahh, before you go, I heard from people, that a rapier is being auctioned, try your luck with that," Rio said dismissively
Matilda paused in her footsteps, looked back, and thanked him
'He could've just said that from the beginning, why did he have to be so difficult? Is he playing hard to get? Probably? In the end, no matter how, hard you try to hide it, you're still a man with desires, different people just approach it differently' Matilda showed a smirk as she left the room
When Matilda Left the room, the surrounding mana signatures disappeared,
Since Rio has reached the 3rd Mage Master Rank and unlocked his psyche Meridian, noticing mana signatures and changes in the surroundings was merely instinct now
When Rio finally confirmed everybody was gone, he rolled his eyes and lay on his bed awaiting for the next day to arrive, doing kind alchemy until his eyes slowly and finally fell
————————————————————————————
In a carriage, the slight smile on a girl's face seemed to plaster there
"Young Miss, are you going to attend the auction, it might be too late to get in," Ruth said to Matilda
"Too late? Why is that? Just spray some money and whatever the problem is, usually fixes the problem" Matilda said dismissively
"Young miss, it seems that the auction has made internal changes due to the large increase of people that attend their auction each year," Matilda said hesitantly
"What type of changes?" Matilda raised a brow
"This year, there's no walk-in auction, everybody has an invite, I could probably get a common seat, but I wouldn't be able to get a VIP invite in the short amount of time"
"Huh? I think you're looking into this, I am a descendant of the Hyuser Family, a noble family that resides In the core area of the city, no matter what it is, as long as it's within the city, it shouldn't be hard to obtain" Matilda looked at Ruth with a question look the continued
"Let us go to the Auction House, I will sort this out myself"
"Understood, young miss," Ruth said however internally she felt bitter as she was able to complete such a simple task for Matilda
After about 15 minutes, Matilda reached the auction house and proceeded to get out of the carriage and entered the auction house
She found the nearest attendant and summoned him to her, once the attendant was close enough, she pulled out an emblem
"I'm Matilda Hyuser of the Hyuser family, I wish to see a higher-up of the Auction House," Matilda said calmly
The attendant looked at the emblem closely and realized that it was indeed the real emblem of the Hyuser family
"Yes, young miss I'll have a chat with my manager about your request, give me a second," he said slightly nervously as he rushed away