Don't Need To Eat Or Sleep

Seeing her smile so softly, Riddle couldn't help but frown as a slight feeling of bitterness came over him. In that moment, he just wanted to change the topic. However, this was a little unusual seeing that he was feeling just fine after hearing her talk about laws earlier. With his knowledge, Riddle could read between the lines and pick up little hints as he is familiar with interacting with people, even if it's not to the same degree of royalties or nobles. Naturally, her words were advices for him to follow meaning that he could stick to his way of sticking to the rules of the dorm and his own, but that he can learn to bend these rules and test out the waters till he is more comfortable to move around in.

Knowing this had brought him a sense of security. Yet, it all changed after she started talking about her encounter with Malleus. If not for what Little Jun had asked, he would've already changed the topic to something regarding the laws of that small country or even the health benefits of the fungi they had gathered. But...

.....

"So you want us to help you put your master in a better mood with a barbeque?" Riddle concluded after hearing Little Jun's request.

"Eh?" Cater looked to him in surprise, "Just what could it be that has put her in such a bad mood?"

Little Jun nodded, "Recently, Lotus had to run an errand for her and it just so happened that this short guy called Lilia came to invite Big Brother Yuu to a New Years feast. However, he was dragged to Scarabia by their dorm leader. So, the ghost suggest that Lotus should go instead, but Lotus wasn't around and Peony was taking his place. So, she went instead in a disguise as Lotus. Everything was going well at first, but then she met Malleus and started acting rather sad. She said how much Malleus's actions and words regarding her cooking reminded her so much of an old friend."

"An old friend?" Trey looked to him in disbelief, "The dorm leader of Diasomnia?"

Little Jun nodded again with a heavy sigh and then continued to explain the rest that happened in more details. When he was done, Riddle raised a brow, "If it was an old friend, should she be a little happy about it? Maybe a little nostalgic..."

Little Jun shook his head sadly and responded, "I was told by the other contracted beast later that her old friend was torn apart from her because she was of a different race and suffered a great deal before rising in power. However, because master was in a different realm during that time with her kind, the flow of time between your world and hers shifted. Before she knew it, so many years has passed and her friend have long since passed on without seeing each other again. To make it worse, she later found it that she suffered a lot before she passed away during her absence. After meeting the tall fae guy, a lot of old memories resurfaced and it has made her all depressed again. None of us can cheer her up again. It's worse since the guy also bears great resemblance of her old friend that day they were torn apart. So, now she wants to see if they have any connections and hasn't been well since..."

"If that's true, then it must've been a long time since she's been here..." Riddle muttered in bewilderment after hearing all of this, "For racial discrimination to be so strong that they were torn apart. There's still some left all over the world, but for it to be this strong... Cultivators are immortal and live in seclusion. My best guess is that this old friend of hers was someone back during the warring era..."

"You say that they resemble Malleus, but it can't be that much, right?" Cater muttered in disbelief.

Little Jun shook his head sadly, "I took a peek once at the memory and saw that her friend was originally very normal looking with brown her and green eyes. She was definitely a fae, but later her features changed. Her brown hair turned black and her skin paled a lot. The only thing that looked the same was her eyes and her black horns. If she was a man, she might look very much like this Malleus guy."

"Eh?!" They stared at him in disbelief once they heard it.

Riddle frowned, "I doubt there can be another person that looks so much like him! However..."

He sighed and continued in defeat, "I also can't refute that this wouldn't make her sad at all."

"Yeah." Cater nodded with a frown, "To see someone you missed so much stand before you but is a totally different person and doesn't know you, it would make anyway that sad. It's no wonder she became so depressed."

Trey thought for a bit before he asked, "How close was she and this friend?"

"Very, very close!" Little Jun responded readily, "One of the contract spirit told me that they were sworn sisters and treated each other like family. Crystal said that, from the way she sees it, she may be as close to a younger sister than the other older sworn sisters she had."

"There were others?"

He nodded, "Yeah. I've seen them too, they looked to be very strong, but they don't visit her often, it seems. The little sworn sister was always with master in comparison and got along really well. Crystal said something else about her, but I didn't quite understand it. I did understand that she was very honest, though, and kind. She said that master like that about her the most, which is why she's really sad right now."

"Hm... her words and actions greatly resembles Malleus's." Riddle hummed in deep thoughts when he heard this, "I can't say that I known much about him, but there are some resemblance. He also not one to shy away from giving others advices and I can see that he's usually very close with Lilia. If you're right, then this is really a big surprise. And, you said that she wants to look into their background?"

Little Jun nodded, "She wanted to see if there was any connections because the coincidence was too big to just ignore."

"I see. Well, it does make sense for her to do that." Trey nodded, "But, why us?"

Little Jun shook his head, "Her contracted spirit told me to go and find you guys to help cheer her up with some barbeque. For that, he helped clean a lot of pheasants and gathered spices!"

"Pheasants?" Trey looked up in surprise, "That's rare..."

"Um, just to be clear, this contract spirit of hers called us specifically?" Cater asked curiously in surprise.

"Hm? Well, he did say someone she's the closest with. But, she doesn't interact with a lot of people or grow close with them. You guys are the closest she's been with. There's another guy second, but he only knows of her disguise as a student from Scarabia, not her real appearance. Also," Little Jun grumbled, "he's caused some trouble for Peony and Lotus. I don't like to see master around him so often. He gives me the creeps..."

Hearing this, Riddle heaved a heavy sigh, "I have a bad feeling about this... Still, why don't we go ahead and hold this barbeque, then?"

.....

Riddle bit back a sigh as he watched Peony talk about the other contract beast and spirits she had encountered and have with her in the ring, being just Crystal and the contracted spirit of the ring. The one who asked them to cheer her up. He was feeling better to hear her speak of Crystal in more details, but he couldn't help but feel a little uncertain and strangely upset when he heard her talk about Malleus. It was rather bitter, like the time he had tossed aside the Mont Blanc, but worse. It was rather ridiculous. He had never resented Diasomnia's dorm leader before, so why would he feel this way now?

Trey glanced over to Riddle curious as to why he's gotten rather quiet and was surprised to see him staring straight at Peony rather silently with a frown. For some reason, Trey felt a little amused upon seeing him like this. Perhaps he was wondering a bit on the identity of her old friend or was there something else on his mind?

He glanced over to Riddle curiously wonder what was on his mind. It was the first time he can't tell the reason for him to stare at this woman like this. However, it was also true that he doesn't interact with women as often either... Wait

"So, cultivators don't need to eat or sleep, then what do you do during your free time?" Cater asked curiously.

"During my free time?" Peony recalled her past life and her current life before coming up with an answer, "I guess we do whatever we want. It's been a long time since I last returned to our society... Hm, but I used to manage shops and build my social network. Aside from that, sometimes my sisters would visit me often. Probably twice a months when they can."

"That's called often?" Trey wore a small dry smile when he heard this.

"It couldn't be helped." Peony shook her head in disappointment, "My sisters and I needed to become stronger and cultivation isn't just the absorption of mana. Once you absorb it, you need to categorize it and carefully disperse the mana properly throughout the body. Just absorbing it and doing nothing won't make you stronger. While you get stronger with practice and knowledge, we have to spend many hours meditating and practice martial arts. Then, we have to practice our own fields: alchemy, weaponsmith, spatial arts, and such. Well, I imagine things will be somewhat similar for you in the future with your choice of career. We usually don't rest unless we are mentally tired. Don't eat unless it's for entertainment purposes and such."