Responses
I hope they can be friends
exactly!!!
I think we are used to reading stories where female side characters only exist as a rival to the fl, and based to what I also observed and by reading your comment I also think the same way because both the fl and the female side characters are honestly interesting in their own ways and it would be also very refreshing to read
I like both of the lady rivals, it feels like they could both be heroines in their own stories; the shy book-smart heroine, the ambitious villainess-coded heroine, and our mc is the badass sword-weilding heroine.
I'm hoping for a rivals-to-friendship arc where mc wins them over by acknowledging their skills. Recruit Book-smart into an admin/research leadership role where she doesn't have to constantly make herself small, and enthusiastically discuss pigeon breeding with Villainess (it probably isn't a popular discussion topic among the city nobles)