"I'm sure the instructors will be pleased to have a recruit from their own homeland" ?
aha. backdooring her way into what she needed already.
Interesting point that her seeming focus on the lion was picked up by Vian. It does give him a prospective pressure point to compel Alicia this way or that, as I'm sure that for all her bluster, she'd cave to threats of harm of death to her new familiar.
Though there's a chance that, similar to lvl.99 Villainess, the nobility of Laval are in major contention with the royal family, meaning that Vian and Victor have bigger things to worry about than this new noblewoman mage showing up on their doorstep in disguise. And, that quip from Victor about whether Alicia would "look down on commoners" makes me think that they also have the interests of their populace in mind. Sure, Durkis nobility are notorious for turning their collective nose up at "their inferiors", but the prince seemed focused in the moment on Alicia doing the same here--so there's a bit of depth to the political climate in Laval, that could prove to have potential.
I guess we'll have to see what happens with "The Tower", and whether Alicia learns about it and gets herself sent there (assuming I read it correctly and the "instructors" are located therein), or if she'll inadvertently end up there when she does something wrong and gets punished.
Lots of potential directions, though.
Thanks for the TL