Alta believed herself to be capable of enduring any hardship. She even managed to pull herself together after The Emperor took a piece of her soul thread. Although she was forced to recover, the fact that she did it still showed how much she could endure anything.
Alas, the experience of getting thrown from one portal to another appeared to be the only thing that could break her seemingly unbreakable will. Because the mont she got out of the opposite side of the portal Kyran threw her with Leif, she vomited without reservation.
Leif was actually the sa. Though she did not vomit, she did fall to her knees, and her complexion had a strange, deathly hue to it.
"What is a Blade Dancer mage doing here?"
Alta almost choked back the remaining contents she had been vomiting as soon as she heard a woman speak demandingly.
Leif's reaction to seeing As was one of shock. "L-Lady As!" She stamred, her eyes wide as she took in the sight of As glaring at them from a couple of ters away.
The mont Leif blurted the na of the woman who spoke just then, the 'almost' part of choking back the remaining of her vomit was no longer valid as Alta gulped down the contents due to shock.
"I could ask you the sa thing, Lady As. Why are you here?" Kyran returned while stepping out of the portal.
As frowned at Kyran, "Why can't I be here? A supposedly dormant portal in our plane suddenly showed dangerous activities and emitted high magic fluctuations. There is no way I'd stay back and not investigate."
Though As replied roughly to Kyran's question, Alta noticed the familiar and almost endearing note in As's voice while talking to Kyran. Alta was not really that interested in knowing how the latter was connected with the Dragon Clan, but after that short exchange, her interest was piqued.
She turned her head slightly to look at Kyran, wanting to observe his expression, but instead, she almost choked again.
"You—!"
Kyran looked at Alta with raised brows while he was halfway through lowering his mask.
"What?"
Obviously, Ata reacted like that because it was her first ti seeing Kyran without his mask.
Leif caught on to it and gave Kyran a dull look, "Aren't you too complacent when removing your mask? Can't you find a better place to do that?"
"Apart from Lady As, those guys only know about my real face. If three individuals showed up in their plane through a supposedly dormant portal, they'll likely attack before asking questions."
As frowned, "What do you take us for? We are not unreasonable, nor are we barbaric. We will surely be on guard, but we won't attack without understanding the situation."
"...Right."
Kyran imdiately turned away, making As's brow twitch in response. She more or less guessed what just went through his head, and she could not refute it, even if she wanted to. After all, her father acted unreasonably and barbarically when he attacked Kyran the mont he stepped out of the portal.
Alta looked at them dumbfoundedly. Unfortunately, she sensed two powerful auras approaching them before she could make sense of what was happening.
"They sure responded well," Leif remarked as she stood up. She looked at Alta, who was still on her knees and added, "Don't worry. Since Null is with us, they won't do anything."
"What?" Alta looked at Leif in confusion.
Leif only responded with a wry smile and offered a hand to help Alta up.
Alta gratefully accepted Leif's offer and reached out her hand. However, before she could grab Leif's hand, the latter pulled back and asked, "You did not use that hand to wipe your barf, right?"
"I didn't!" Alta shouted in response, her face bright red.
Leif chuckled at Alta's beet-red face and took her hand.
anwhile, As simply observed the two before looking at Kyran again. The latter was not even looking at his 'guests' and was looking in the direction where the two powerful auras were coming from.
"We've heard so rumors, but seeing you bring a Blade Dancer mage here, it seems like those rumors do hold so truth."
"I'll explain everything in front of everyone."
"You say that, but you just could not be bothered to repeat yourself."
"There's that, too."
Alta snorted at Kyran's honesty.
The two approaching auras were among the eight aides of the Dragon Emperor.
Nothum and and Eissen.
Nothum, with dium silver-blue hair and golden eyes, was Aillos's aide who handled the clan's internal affairs. On the other hand, Eissen, whose human form had ash-gold shoulder-length hair and gold-silver eyes, handled the clan's military affairs.
From the fields they were handling, it was obvious why they responded and went there when they noticed the portal's activity.
Alta and Leif did their best to appear harmless. Nevertheless, they did not let down their guard.
Nothum and Eissen frowned the mont they saw Kyran. They then regarded Alta and Leif's presence briefly before turning their attention to As.
"Lady As," they greeted her.
"You need not co here yourself, Lady As. We could have handled the situation by ourselves," Eissen added before looking over at Kyran again.
"There is nothing to handle since there is no situation," As told them dismissively. "Besides, I'm only here to greet my grandson since he just returned after being gone for almost half a month. Nothing more."
It took every fiber in Alta so she would not react to As's words. She then decided to distract herself by observing Kyran's profile. As she did, she noticed sothing familiar with him. The longer she stared at him, the more she realized his resemblance to the black mage who got away from her pursuit.
Alta bit down the words she was just about to blurt out. Ultimately, she could only glare at Kyran and observe him to confirm if he was truly that black mage.
"That may be true, but he ca back without properly declaring the presence of his guests," Eissen replied. "We cannot allow unauthorized entry to the plane, even if they are your grandson's guests."
"Hm?" As tilted her head while showing a confused expression. "Did I rember it correctly? Aren't you handling the clan's military affairs? Why are you suddenly interested in unauthorized entry to the plane?"
Without giving Eissen a chance to speak, As looked at Nothum and continued, "You are the internal affairs. So you don't handle immigration stuff as well, right?"
"... That may be true. However, any threat posed by unauthorized entry to the plane will have to go through us, Lady As," Nothum replied after a short pause.
"Obviously," As nodded in agreent. "However, my grandson's guests have just arrived. Don't you think it is too soon for you to approach them when they haven't even presented themselves before an Immigration Officer? Whether their entry to the plane is authorized or not should be declared by them and not you both."
Eissen frowned, "Lady As, I hope you don't get your priorities mixed up here."
"I don't. In fact, I think you are the ones who got your priorities mixed. Just because my grandson belongs to my other family doesn't an you can bulldoze your way around him."
"That is a bold accusation, Lady As. We are simply doing our job."
"Again, with that excuse," As snorted. But then, the next mont, her eyes glowed silver as she glared at the two. "Null is my grandson. If you have any problem with the people he invites to the plane, you can direct your concern to . I will take responsibility."
Without saying anything, Eissen and Nothum looked at As for a few tense seconds. Finally, they turned their attention to Kyran and said, "Make sure to report your return and declare the number and nas of people you're inviting over."
Kyran, who remained silent the whole ti, lowered his head and replied, "I will."
The two nodded as if content with his response before turning around and leaving.
Once the two were a distance away, As let out another unladylike snort before looking at Kyran, "You sure have a knack for getting on their nerves."
"Don't you an 'you' have the knack of getting on their nerves?"
As clicked her tongue in annoyance, "So uncute. Your grandfather had a cute side, you know. Why did you not inherit that side of him?"
Kyran's face darkened slightly, "My grandfather doesn't have such a cute side..."
"You know who I an when I said your grandfather!" As shouted in annoyance.
Kyran sighed. He did know As was talking about Zane. However, rather than calling Zane his grandfather, he was more of an ancestor. Then again, if As called him that, she would admit she was also an 'ancestor' rather than Kyran's grandmother.
Seriously, why do females make such a huge fuss about their age?
Kyran looked at Alta and Leif, who had been keeping their mouths shut since Eissen and Nothum arrived. He addressed Alta and said, "Among the mbers of your clan, you're the first one to understand my real relationship with the Dragon Clan."
"...True," Alta replied with mixed emotions. She had yet to confirm if Kyran and the black mage were the sa person. So far, she was about 60% sure. But she was still 40% unsure because if Kyran and that black mage were the sa person, there was no reason for him to go after the portal in that unnad plane.
Moreover, The Emperor said the black mage was the person he sought. But was he not looking for a human mage with the Void core?
"I now understand why you keep saying that you are not part of it."
"For now," As corrected Alta.
Alta looked at As with similar mixed emotions. Among the female mages in the Higher Realm, As was infamous because of her temper, but at the sa ti, she was known as one of the most powerful, if not the first.
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