The Little Vixen was a popular and long-standing tavern run by an old albino foxkin woman. Among those of nobility with a more refined palate, this was the capital’s best-kept secret, worthy of an undercover visit; among the working class, practically everybody knew about it.
Despite the establishment’s considerable age, the architecture and furnishings all gleamed honey-gold, indicating frequent cleaning. The restaurant wouldn’t open to the public for a few hours yet, but nevertheless, a few VIP customers were seated around a table.
“Hell yeah, let’s chow down!” Tanya shouted, her voice echoing across the empty dining hall.
“Oh wow, I can’t wait!” Nadine chimed in.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just shut up and taste it for me, alright?” Katherine snapped.
Plated before Tanya was a large helping of deep-fried chicken bites, creamy tomato pasta, and potato wedges fried a foxy golden brown, their warm, crispy exterior concealing a sweet, starchy interior. As she munched along, an apron-clad Katherine put her hands on her hips and proudly thrust out her chest, her pointy fox ears twitching atop her head of long blonde hair.
“Mmmm! It’sh sho good! I wish Laplashe wash here to eat thish with ush!”
“And you made all this yourself, Katherine? That’s incredible!”
“Heh heh! Nah, it’s nothing special.”
Katherine Foxxi was a Mage-class adventurer. Originally she had registered with the Guild in the hopes of landing herself a good man, but after the Sparring Tournament, she quit her party. According to her, “After watching you guys, I’m starting to think this man-hunting stuff is just a waste of my time.”
As a Mage, she was quite gifted; even Tanya was impressed at the extreme mana efficiency of her custom spell fusion, which combined ordinary attack magic with secret albino foxkin techniques... but now she was just a waitress at her grandma’s restaurant.
As Nadine worked her way through her plate of chicken, her eyes lit up. “Katherine, this food is amazing! Really, I mean it!”
“Y-Yeah? For real?”
“Yes! I’ve never cooked before, so I’m not sure how to describe what I like about it, but... it’s just delicious!”
“You think people would pay money for it?”
“Absolutely! It’s divine! The chicken is so juicy!”
“Heehee! Nadine’s our resident meat lover, so if it’s got her stamp of approval, it’s guaranteed to sell,” Tanya nodded. “Mmmm, this pasta is great!”
“L-Look... Don’t you people have any, y’know, constructive criticism? Your stupid compliments aren’t gonna help me improve!”
As it turned out, there was more to Katherine than her glamorous good looks—she was a hard worker and a damn good cook, too.
✦ ✦ ✦
These days, a corner of the Little Vixen was officially reserved for Lilium.
As the nation’s first-ever all-female champions of the Sparring Tournament, Lilium had captured the hearts of women all over the city. They couldn’t walk down the street without someone inevitably stopping them to ask for their autographs, and then a crowd would form, and the next thing they knew, they’d end up roped into an impromptu fan meet and greet. Following their historic victory, they were basically celebrities... and they needed a place where they could relax without getting mobbed.
Enter Katherine, their former opponent at said Tournament. “Why not camp out at Grandma’s?” she offered.
Outside of operating hours the Little Vixen was nice and quiet—the perfect place to unwind. When the tavern was open, however, the place attracted all sorts of boisterous clientele... including some unsavory types. Now, with Lilium around, the Little Vixen had the added security of Sparring Tournament champions as on-site bodyguards. Needless to say, this proved to be an effective deterrent for belligerent drunks, sexual harassers, and other troublemakers. As a reward Tanya and the rest of her party received a discount on their bill whenever they stopped by for a meal.
“Whenever I see them eating here, I always end up ordering the same thing they’re having. The way they eat it, they just make it look so tasty!” one of the regulars commented.
In other words, their presence drove sales up, too—the perfect win-win for everybody.
A delicious smell wafted out of the kitchen, accompanied by the peaceful, rhythmic sounds of chopping knives and clinking plates. In a few hours, the Little Vixen would open for business. Having finished the taste test, Tanya and Nadine occupied themselves with other tasks as they each enjoyed a cup of tea.
Then Nadine looked up from her paperwork and asked, “What are you reading, Tanya?”
“Huh? Oh, this?” Tanya lifted the hefty book to reveal the cover: The Complete History of Pajan.
“A history book?”
“Yeah. I wanted to do some research on Laplace... Oh, but don’t tell her, okay?”
“O-Okay! To tell the truth, I’ve been curious about her, too.”
“So tell me: when you hear the phrase ‘Laplace the Great Sorceress,’ what comes to mind?”
“Well, um...” Nadine hesitated. “According to everything I’ve read, she was known as the Wicked Dragonwhore, or the Calamity Hag. She’s depicted as a truly frightening individual, to be frank.”
Tanya pointed across the table at her. “Exactly! Everyone sees her as this total alpha bitch!”
“I... I wouldn’t put it like that, but...”
“And yet there’s so much historical evidence suggesting that Mages, Magi-Crafters, and almost all of our modern magic can be traced back to Laplace the Great Sorceress. The legends say she created it all herself!”
“Oh, really? And yet there aren’t that many female Mages or Magi-Crafters these days...”
“Yeah... I imagine the Imperial Magic Academy isn’t the only institution with tricks up its sleeve,” Tanya sighed.
Never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined that prospective applicants were getting points deducted from their test scores just because they were female—at least, not until a few months ago, when she and Laplace raided their boardroom to set them straight. The mere memory made her head hurt... Hopefully they’d learned their lesson.
Even the Academy, the birthplace of magical studies, had painted Laplace in the worst possible light. Her good points were all kept hush-hush, whispered from one Mage or Magi-Crafter to another, almost like a fairy tale.
“So lately I’ve been thinking...”
“Yes, Tanya?”
“I think maybe... all the legends we were told were wrong.”
She turned to the next page in her book. With mana immeasurable, the wicked Sorceress raged all across the nation and beyond—until Maxwell the Grand Mage, savior of Pajan, sealed her away for the rest of time.
No matter where she looked, every book, document, and record echoed a similar sentiment.
“Everything I’ve read, from 300-year-old records to this very book, claims that Laplace was an evil Sorceress who tried to destroy Ode and was sealed away as punishment at the hands of Maxwell. None of them bother to explain the specifics of who she was or what she did.”
“That sounds... kind of fishy.”
“Right? Especially since female Mages were supposedly fairly common back then.”
But now they were scarce... Was that somehow connected to Laplace’s banishment?
“All I know is... the Laplace I know is strong and brave and sweet and sometimes even kind of adorable.” Tanya closed her book with a fwump. “She’s just such a good person, so it makes me mad that she’s getting the villain treatment. Is that weird? Haha...”
“It’s not weird at all,” Nadine smiled. Relieved, Tanya put her book away.
Yeah... Laplace is one of us now. If I want to know more about her, I shouldn’t dig it out of a book someone else wrote. I should just ask her directly.
Just then—
“Oh, I can sense her nearby,” the highly perceptive former Assassin murmured to herself.
Sure enough, a beat later, the front door jingled, and in walked—er, floated—Laplace.
“Hey hey! The Great Sorceress has returned!”
“Laplace?!”
“What is it, Tanya?”
“How many times must I tell you, no floating in public?!”
“But you know I hate walking!”
“Yes, I get that, but as I’ve told you before, you can’t just flaunt high-level levitation magic in front of the entire world!”
“Oh, please. Everyone’s too entranced by my beauty to notice my—”
“Hyah!”
“Aagh!”
And so Tanya promptly tackled the Great Sorceress to the ground, then hastily scanned the dining hall for any witnesses. Whew. Looks like no one noticed.
“My, my, Tanya! Couldn’t wait for later tonight, could you?”
“Huh? Aaack!”
Realizing she had inadvertently positioned herself on top of Laplace, Tanya sprang off of her at the speed of light.
“This is my grandma’s restaurant! Could you guys, like, go get a room or something?!”
“It... It’s not what it looks like!!!”
Tanya blushed beet-red as Katherine peeked her head out of the kitchen. Meanwhile, Laplace giggled like a mischievous schoolgirl.
How could someone this ordinary possibly be evil? There has to be something they’re not telling us.