Jyuuzou listened in silence as Rei began speaking of herself.<br/><br/>It seemed as if she came from a long line of scholars. The concept was slightly foreign to him, as Sabakujin culture did not particularly stress being scholarly. Those who could be considered the closest thing to a 'scholar' in a traditional Sabakujin sense would probably be those who held occupations such as the Elders; they would tell the children stories, or dispense advice as they saw fit. However, there were none who were specifically in charge of curating and managing accumulated knowledge as Rei had described. He also noted that despite her origins as a Jakuuzoku, it did feel like she took pride in the less-than-typical pursuits that her family, the Kuro'an, proclaims as their life's work.<br/><br/>Additionally, it didn't seem like the family of scholars Rei was from were like the Kanzemic scholars either, content to simply sift through information in the comfort of their homes. If what she had said was true, and that she had traversed through six other ruins after going through the Great Kanzem Library, then she would indeed have much to contribute towards their cause. The significance was two-fold: he could not speak for Kaleissa, but he himself was not a scholarly type, and so could not even hope to go through the seemingly limitless amounts of information held within those halls. Secondly, and more importantly, the fact that she had gone through six ruins indicated that she had enough skill in whatever her proficiency was to keep herself alive throughout her journey. The fact that not only the air around them, but also the sounds had stilled unnaturally when he had been applying pressure onto her with<span style="font-style: italic">sakki</span>seemed to hint at a high level of proficiency in magic, but he could not rule out that she had physical qualities as well, despite her diminutive figure.<br/><br/>Jyuuzou glanced over to Kaleissa as Rei finished speaking, asking her for her opinion with his eyes. He was greeted with a look that told him clearly of Kaleissa's hesitance. He could certainly understand why she felt that way; even after his years of mingling with Jakuuzoku, he was willing to concede that a vast majority of them were...chaotic, to say the least. Being confronted with a self-proclaimed Jakuuzoku from an ancient family specializing in collecting knowledge, and not spoils, which no one has heard of only served to deepen the suspicion. On the other hand, the look that Kaleissa had given him implied that she herself was unsure of the matter, and was one which told him that she's leave it for him to decide.<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/>Jyuuzou decided that, for now, he'd simply share what he knew. He hadn't heard much from Kaleissa before Rei had interrupted, so on the off chance that Kaleissa wanted to withhold or put forth any information for later, she'd be free to do so. Of course, he also hoped that she wouldn't withhold any information from him, either, but that was a discussion for another time.<br/><br/><span style="color: gold">"Well met, scholar. This one is called by others as Jyuuzou, of the Togishi."</span><br/><br/>Jyuuzou made a motion with his hands towards Kaleissa.<br/><br/><span style="color: gold">"The lady sitting with this one is Kaleissa."</span><br/><br/>He heaved a small sigh as he continued to speak. Now that the self-introductions were out of the way, it was time to head into the heart of the matter.<br/><br/><span style="color: gold">"In truth, this one has just exhausted his leads. This one was planning on visiting the Libraries, but that may be a redundant task if we do end up travelling together...Hm..."</span><br/><br/>His brows furrowed lightly in concentration as he considered their options, and took another sip of the tea. Truthfully, there was nothing in particular to lose from allowing her to join their party. It seemed that Kaleissa and himself were in agreement that the only real issue here was one of trust. While he held a reasonable amount of goodwill towards Kaleissa due to the Ritual they had just performed, neither of them really knew who Rei was; the Kuro'an name, while self-proclaimed as an old household, could be, for all they knew, simply a Jakuuzoku variant of a Seraph. On the other hand, while Seraphs were simply old-money, Rei had earned the benefit of the doubt with her display earlier of her magical abilities; she clearly had the skill to at least justify her claims.<br/><br/><span style="color: gold">"Very well then. This Jyuuzou has no problems with adding another to our group. Tell us then, Rei - where do you think we should go from here?"</span><br/><br/>Jyuuzou scratched lightly at his chin as he continued to speak.<br/><br/><span style="color: gold">"This one has already gone through the ruins in the Toutetsu, Shiba, Kani, and Tsukinuke Clan's lands...but..."</span>