Her undisguised animosity was met with a look of defiance as the two women exchanged glances. As their eyes locked, Kaleissa felt her blood rising, an instinctive reaction to what she read as a challenge from an intruder on her own turf. Her smile grew cold and more than a little predatory. There had been merchants with that look on their faces, strutting about as if confident in their own wealth; they always ended up screaming and wimpering more than the others who were wise enough to recognize when danger was present. In Jaskreim, this kind of confrontation would probably have ended with a corpse on one side; the underlings of the larger organizations in the capital were always looking for an excuse to pick a fight. And in raider culture, going after another group's prey with a look like that was an open challenge that pretty much guaranteed violence.<br/><br/><span style="color: gold">"Hm…<span style="font-style: italic">'jou-chan</span>, let us humor her for a while."</span><br/><br/>At Jyuuzou's behest, Kaleissa reined in her killing intent, though her distrust remained evident in her body language. For a Jakuuzoku, Rei was so totally oblivious to how things worked in Jakuuzoku society today that Kaleissa was seriously starting to doubt whether the woman was actually from Jakuu at all. Her mannerisms and behavior, coupled with her identity as a scholar, reminded Kaleissa of the old-blood nobility of Kanzem more than anything else.<br/><br/><span style="color: gold">"Sit with us then, 'scholar' of Jakuu. But beware - this one is watching every move you make"</span><br/><br/>Without warning, the tension in the air spiked. Shooting a glance over at her companion, she found Jyuuzou staring off at nothing in particular, his expression as neutral as it had been before. However, even if it was not directed at her, Kaleissa could feel the pressure that he was exerting, strong enough to make her skin tingle as her body reacted subconsciously to the sudden appearance of malicious intent right beside her. Had she been the intended recipient of his attention, Kaleissa was nearly certain that she would have activated blood devastation immediately and retaliated.<span style="color: violet"><span style="font-style: italic">'Or fled,"</span></span>she thought dryly to herself,<span style="color: violet"><span style="font-style: italic">' considering this is Jyuuzou at close range.'</span></span><br/><br/>A flare of magic caught her attention, and her gaze snapped back to the mage before them as the air around them stilled. Although Kaleissa had not been blessed with abundant magical abilities of her own, a burst like that was impossible to miss when she was sitting in the middle of the active zone; it was possible that even some of the more magically attuned mercenaries around them had picked up on the disturbance. The moment passed quickly though as both parties backed off, Jyuuzou continuing as if nothing had occurred.<br/><br/><span style="color: gold">"Sit, and un-cloak yourself, 'scholar', and tell us about yourself. Spare us the humility; there are no individuals who can 'merely' know of the artifact."</span><br/><br/>Kaleissa watched with narrowed eyes as the woman finally pulled back her hood, allowing them a better look at her features, and took a seat at the table. As Rei then proceeded to spill out her life story, Kaleissa could not help but shake her head slightly in disbelief.<span style="color: violet"><span style="font-style: italic">'She really isn't like a Jakuuzoku at all.'</span></span>However, if what the girl said was true, it would certainly explain why Rei seemed so out of touch with contemporary Jakuuzoku society. It was a fact that Jakuu had once been a monarchy, though that was in the distant past, and very few people knew or cared to know what had happened to the remnants of the noble families from that time period. Jakuu certainly had enough forests and swamps that nobody bothered to explore, particularly in the southwestern regions: plenty of space for a few disgraced nobility to hide out in secluded mansions and cultivate the old values, whatever they happened to be.<br/><br/>Scholars were…a species that Kaleissa did not really understand, having never encountered them before. In Jaskreim, and most of Jakuu, the pursuit of knowledge was a distant afterthought to the pursuit of power, wealth, and in the case of the craftsman, perfection. The Sabakujin did have loremasters, walking troves of cultural identity, but they spoke to none outside their own Clan. As for Kanzemites and the Nanpoyamajin, Kaleissa had only ever encountered the warriors and the merchants, and killed the occasional mage; there were probably scholars in those kingdoms, but as one might expect, they stayed as far from the battlefield as possible. This Rei had called herself a scholar, and the look on her face as she described poring over musty old scrolls buried in libraries and wandering ancient ruins of various civilizations buried by time was one of profound bliss. There was no apparent interest in material wealth, personal growth, or technological advancement, just a single-minded devotion without a concrete purpose, a journey without an end. To go through so much trouble just for the sake of saying "Ah, so this is how it is", and then moving on...it was incredibly confusing. All Kaleissa could say was, she would probably never understand.<br/><br/>Still, there was no doubt that Rei certainly possessed a good deal of magical ability. If she was not exaggerating, she had already visited several ruins on her own and survived to talk about it, despite her less than stellar physical constitution. Even if the ruins were all in Kanzem, where a lone traveller was reasonably safe, the ruins themselves tended to have dangers of their own. Kaleissa relied on blood devastation and her experience as a raider across various terrains in order to get through; for Rei to compensate with magic alone indicated that the woman had either an incredibly well-suitab skillset, a high degree of versatility, or both. At the very least, her magic could prove useful, even if the information she brought with her was not.<br/><br/><span style="color: crimson">“May I have the pleasure of knowing your names and...if you are comfortable...your progression in this quest?”</span><br/><br/>Kaleissa studied the other woman for a moment, her expression unreadable, then sighed, turning to look at Jyuuzou. Her eyes conveyed that she would leave the decision of whether to continue the conversation to him. From her standpoint, she and Jyuuzou had two options: either to stay and keep talking to Rei, or to leave and discuss their plans in a more private location. She judged Rei to be a danger, certainly, but not enough of a threat to her personal objectives that they could not simply part ways here. Mages were powerful it was true, but they tended to be...fragile. If they were to meet again as opponents, Kaleissa did not having the feeling that she would lose.<br/><br/>Instead, the biggest issue was trust once again.<span style="color: violet"><span style="font-style: italic">'I cannot trust what I do not know, and strange as she might be for a Jakuuzoku, she is still a Jakuuzoku.'</span></span>As far as she was concerned, if they could acquire the information in Kanzem's vast libraries without needing to visit each of them, it was certainly advantageous. Even if they were given false information, it would not be a major problem, just a bit of a delay; she had confidence that between Jyuuzou and herself, or even if it were herself alone, she would be able to manage. However, inviting Rei along with them would carry a much higher degree of risk; even she could not remain vigilant<span style="font-style: italic">all</span>the time.<span style="color: violet"><span style="font-style: italic">'If she honestly does not care for a wish, then there should be no problem, but...'</span></span>Kaleissa turned her gaze back to the older woman. She could not even begin to fathom what the scholar's motivations were, further complicated by the disparity between her behavior and her nationality...it was best to leave it to Jyuuzou to decide.