A group of identical-looking SUVs was traveling on the roads of Aclein like a convoy for president.
Since this is a tier-2 city, naturally, it attracted the attention of the passersby, but it didn't last long as they entered the most affluent neighborhood of Cypress. Here, it was common for wealthy civilians to travel in luxury cars. So, no one cares…
The four vehicles stopped and about ten guards in suits exited along with Estella and Scarlet who adorned themselves with expensive jewelry. It was as if they wanted to show off their wealthy status.
Estella was feeling a little bit embarrassed when being escorted by the guards. Even when they went to the high profile wedding at Graena city, they didn't go like this.
"If not for Rael, I wouldn't have bothered to suffer this much. I hope he and his family appreciate it," mumbled Estella as she continued to walk at a slow pace, due to her long gown and high heels.
The door was kept open and there was an old man in butler uniform waiting for them at the entrance.
Estella was a little bit excited; a little bit nervous for some reason when she arrived at the entrance.
However, just as she stepped inside, her face darkened right away. In the living room, Azzy and Claire were together, helping the servants in setting up the dishes on the dining table. As if both weren't enough, she even saw Gideon who was coming downstairs coincidentally at the same time.
Scarlet was also visibly surprised for a second when she saw Claire but she controlled her expression and walked forward.
Upon hearing the steps, Azzy and Claire turned their heads to find Estella who just looked like a human Barbie doll decorated with jewelry.
A while later, Azzy, his foster family, his real family, his best friend, his girlfriend, and the two guests were seen having 'Duck & Orange salad', which is a popular starter dish in the southern part of the continent.
The atmosphere turned out to be quite awkward since there wasn't any group talk at all.
Izora and Gideon were feeling out of the place. They were completely silent. At least Izora's situation was better. At least, she was getting attention from the other two married ladies, but Gideon, who sat on the edge, feels like he was invisible.
Oakley and Vesyrn were conversing between themselves just like Scarlet and Affea. Estella was unhappy as she was told to sit beside Avia and converse with her.
While she obliged, it was tough for her to witness Azzy and Claire were sitting together on the opposite side and talk between themselves while laughing.
Poor Gideon couldn't talk with Estella with her mother's presence in the room. As he sat beside Claire, he couldn't interrupt the couple's conversation at all. He regretted leaving the seat beside Azzy because of Scarlet's presence.
He was trying to woo her daughter, so, there's no way he would want to sit between Azzy and Scarlet Moon.
The lunch ended with Avia and Estella becoming a lot closer than before. The former even gave away custom-made daggers to the little girl on Scarlet's orders.
Other than that, there aren't any changes in the relationship between the Moon clan and Affea, Oakley.
Azzy didn't understand their approach but either way, he doesn't care about it and just spent the rest of the afternoon with Claire while Gideon, Avia, and Izora returned to the academy for special classes.
The next day morning, Azzy's parents left to accomplish some kind of secret mission.
The heir of the hidden clan of Kuru was abducted by a powerful dark organization.
Vesyrn got an order to join the group formed by several hidden clans and Zero division of WAMO because of his healing capabilities.
However, Izora insisted to join him on this expedition because she felt it is useless to guard the boy who is probably as powerful as herself.
Both of them joined this mission, which is not only saving the heir of Kuru but also destroying the hideout of the organization.
Because of her stubbornness, Qridus had to deploy someone else now. In the end, Ethan Night was deployed for Azzy's protection.
Pandora Night doesn't know that Azzy was the time traveler or the descendant of the Death clan. When tasked to protect Azzy, all she thought was that Qridus wanted to protect the descendant of Aelius Crescent from danger because there are a lot of people who had a grudge against that late thunder emperor.
While she was interested to drag Azzy to her side, she wasn't that desperate to send precious Exalt realm experts when there's Affea at the mansion and Barton at the school. In the end, she sent Ethan who was familiar with the family.
Either Affea or Oakley never knew that Izora and Vesyrn were sent there for Azzy's protection. They only thought that the couple is only there because of Izora's appointment.
Even when Ethan arrived on the day they left, none of them felt strange because Ethan is a part of the Night Clan.
Two weeks passed away in a blink of an eye. Azzy and the other students of Class Zero trained in the illusionary realm of Sorcerer Uphiar, their homeroom teacher.
It was even harder than Izora's harsh training. After all, the students couldn't die in that realm. So, every one of them who is above 12 years old had experienced death more than once.
The children below 12 were spared from that training as the sorcerer doesn't want to cause trauma among these little kids who just started their journey of becoming an Arcana Master.
As Azzy's strength is now even greater than that of the teacher, Uphiar's illusion didn't help him much.
So, he took this time to train under his master, Principal Barton, to improve his sealing techniques.
The preliminaries of the world league were only two weeks away and Barton was anticipating Izora's return. While Uphiar is good at combat, he felt that Izora was more suitable as she was good with a sword as well as a bow. She was better at training summoners too.
Thankfully for him, three more days later, Affea and Vesyrn returned after a successful mission.
Izora didn't take a rest and took charge of her post right away as soon as she returned.
The lives of everyone else acquainted with Azzy returned to normal, except for one.
Affea started to suspect the couple after realizing that Ethan returned to the clan village on the next day they returned. She somehow felt that this wasn't a coincidence.
If not, then, what might be the reason? Should she confront them? No, they might not answer it. And if there's nothing, then, she would unnecessarily make their relationship worse.
Maybe, it's Azzy? But, why the Death Clan would send Vesyrn and Izora, who are two powerful Exalt realm experts to keep an eye on him?
Is it because they suspect he will become the next Aelius Crescent?
The more Affea thought about it, the more it made sense. The world might not know but she was there when he made a breakthrough all the way to high-rank-6.
What if Azzy gives the symptoms of losing his control like Aelius? Will these two eliminate him? Such negative thoughts increased Affea's worries more. She knew very well that Death Clan wouldn't hesitate to even kill their own if one becomes a threat to mankind.
But, what can she do? A few people popped up in her head as she was thinking hard, sitting all alone in the living room. "Lord Aegis and Ancestor Crescent, both are legendary realm experts but if one day, the Death Clan decides to erase him, then, neither of them might come forward.
Ancestor Crescent will listen to the monarch of the Garcia Clan. And Lord Aegis was the pillar of this country now that King Brian and Royal Ancestor were dead.
Principal Barton will protect his disciple but he wasn't strong enough to face the Death Clan.
The Moon Clan is interested in Azzy but will they still protect him, considering their relationship with the Death Clan? Not to mention, Azzy doesn't seem to like Estella.
There's with Magnolis family. Azzy said that he was acquainted with the princess of Evenor. But, Evenor has good relations with King Ragron.
That leaves Claire… Triastal is far away and has no relations with the Death Clan. Their Elven relatives don't wish to stay in contact with the rest of the world either.
They are too young to get married but can be engaged in advance, right? The future can be left to the future but at present, Azzy needs some powerful backing so that people might think before having any nefarious designs on him.
But, the main issue is that I still don't know what her mother thinks about her relationship with my Azzy. She might not even know about it, yet.
Hmm… should I tell her, then? What if it backfires? Ugh… I'm getting a headache just by thinking about all of these possibilities. Maybe, I'm just thinking too much.
But, what if I was right?"
Affea thought for a long time before she mumbled with a determined look, "I guess it is better to talk with Claire and her sister directly before contacting the Queen of Triastal Kingdom."
While Affea is thinking of ways to secure the future of her foster son, at Aclein city, meanwhile, thousands of kilometers away, at the kingdom of Camelot, a peerless beauty was busy in intense training under the supervision of a drunken supreme realm expert.