"..."
"..."
Awkwardly, Sylvia and Mika were staring each other in the eyes, whereas Lily and Lena, the mother-and-daughter duo, were chatting happily.
The four were sitting in a carriage.
"It feels like ages since you’ve co to visit us."
"You’re exaggerating, Mom."
The two shared giggles.
Still, Sylvia and Mika remained nervously silent as they both wondered how they landed in such a situation, where the four of them traveled together to the ho of Lily and Lena.
A few hours before.
It was when Mika rushed out of the arena, where he previously talked with the representatives of each nation, except Stakew.
Lots of people were already standing in groups, waiting for the mont of departure.
Only students, who decided to remain in Loogam, minded their business and relaxed in the shelters. But there were also so, who ca to say goodbye to friends, who were about to embark on another nation.
When Mika saw the faces of Sylvia and Lily among the mass of people heading to Malnor, he stopped in his tracks and changed his course to them.
"Hey, what are you still doing..."
He approached them with his natural tone.
"...here?"
But upon seeing another person, whom he was familiar with, his tone changed and he turned quieter.
"Oh, are you also done now?" Lily said, ignoring Mika’s surprised face and tone.
"The others already went back to the camp." Sylvia inford him indifferently.
"..."
The other person gasped silently for a mont.
"Hm?"
Lily lightly tilted her head when she noticed that Mika and the other person were staring each other in the eyes for a long amount of ti.
"Mom?"
"M-m-mom?!" Mika repeated Lily’s words.
The other person was Lena Hayth.
"You’re the boy from back then, right..? We bumped into each other, rember?" Lena said surprised.
"Y-yes..."
"Huh? You already know each other?"
"Yes..." Lena replied, still shocked by this coincidence.
Then, a man in armor approached them.
"Ms. Hayth, your carriage is ready." he said politely.
"Understood. I’m coming."
Mika and Sylvia were looking around but it seed like only Lena was personally inford by soone.
"Ah!"
As if she received an idea, she clasped her hands together.
"How about you three co with ?" Lena suggested.
"?"
All three of them raised their eyebrows.
"What do you an, Mom?"
"I want to know more about your ti here and of course, I want to get to know your friends better." she responded innocently.
"I-it’s really kind of you to invite us over but I’m afraid that we can’t go with you." Mika apologized with an awkward smile.
"Why not?"
That question was posed by two people at the sa ti.
One of those voices belonged to Lena and the other to...
"Ms. Ross!" Lily called her out happily.
"Ugh..." Mika groaned silently when he noticed Ophelia standing behind him.
"What are you doing here?" Sylvia asked cluelessly.
"I just happened to see you here and wondered what you were up to." she replied, glancing at Mika for a short mont.
"Are you perhaps their teacher?" Lena asked.
"In so sort of way you could say so..." Ophelia answered pensively.
"Are you Lily’s mother, then?"
"Ah, yes, sorry for not introducing myself now. I’m Lena Hayth." she said, bowing slightly.
"And I’m Ophelia Ross. As a teacher, I have nothing bad to say about your daughter. Contrarily, she’s perhaps one of the top students in her year." Ophelia stated with a small smirk.
"I’m glad to hear that."
"Hehehe..."
Lily could only laugh shyly as her face went red.
Then, Ophelia turned her face to Mika.
"Those, who decided to stay behind in Loogam, are free to spend their ti the way they want as long as they return here by the end of this month. The headmaster told to relay this ssage to the students." Ophelia recited.
"In other words, if you want to go with her, we won’t hinder you from doing so. Furthermore, this may be a good opportunity to let yourself recover ntally." she added as she turned their backs on them and was about to disappear in the crowd.
Just like she ntioned, it was a chance to let their minds heal after witnessing and participating in the fight against multiple monsters and demons.
"Well, my offer still stands." Lena said with a beaming smile.
"I guess we can’t say no to that..." Sylvia muttered taken aback.
"Sorry, guys..." Lily replied with a wry smile.
"..."
Thus, they gave in and took up Lena’s offer.
Back to the present.
Mika and Sylvia were staring outside the carriage’s small window.
According to the Hayths, their destination was a city in the south of Malnor.
It would have taken days to get there but surprisingly Lena got permission to ride in a carriage pulled by tad monsters.
From what was seen, the other people, who departed to other nations, rode in carriages pulled by normal horses. Only people with a high status would have had the chance to ride in a faster carriage.
"..."
Sylvia glanced at the daughter and mother duo.
"Are you actually nobles?" she bluntly asked them.
The two looked at each other confused.
"No, we aren’t exactly nobles. But..."
"My father has connections to Malnor’s royal family." Lily finished sheepishly as she scratched her cheek with a finger.
"Connections?" Mika wondered.
In Mika’s head, the pieces slowly ca together. Not only was Lena personally notified when her carriage was ready, it was also her carriage, which was not ordinary.
Even if they had re connections, it would not necessarily explain the treatnt Lena received.
But before one of the two could answer, Sylvia suddenly facepald herself.
"Sylvia?"
Mika was perplexed.
"Connection to the royal family... Fire magic... Hayth..." she muttered in broken sentences.
"At first, I thought that was just a coincidence but now it makes sense..."
Then, she laughed as if she lost her mind.
"..."
Lena only smiled at her, while Lily remained clueless.
"Could it be that your father is Louis Hayth, the commander of the king’s personal troupe?" Sylvia asked tensed up.
"?"
"That’s indeed correct." Lena replied, still wearing her gentle smile.
"So you’ve heard of him, Sylvia?" Lily said with beaming eyes as she leaned closer to her.
"Y-yes... I’ve read so articles of his achievents so ti ago..." Sylvia responded, taken aback by Lily’s enthusiasm.
"Is he that amazing?" Mika asked genuinely.
"..."
Everyone stared at him.
"Ah, sorry! I didn’t want to sound rude!" Mika corrected himself, waving his hands wildly in front of him.
Lena chuckled.
"It’s fine."
"I knew it..." Sylvia murmured, following up with a defeated sigh.
This ti, Lily got closer to Mika.
"You see, Dad is the king’s court mage and one of his most trusted people." she explained with a proud smile.
"Not only that but he’s also a powerful mage, who’s almost on par with a mber of the Grand Order." Sylvia added with crossed arms.
"And if I may also brag, my husband leads, as already ntioned, the king’s personal troupe, which consists of the elite of the whole nation." Lena said, putting a hand on one of her lightly blushing cheeks.
[Based on my own research, the man nad Louis Hayth also managed to subjugate a B-rank demon on his own.]
Mika raised his eyebrows.
Considering that an average S-rank person could not handle a B-rank demon, it was truly impressive that Louis managed to achieve such a feat.
"But once you get to see him, you will understand how amazing he really is!" Lily declared confidently.
In return, Mika could only gently smile.
"I can’t wait to se-"
"We’re under attack!"
"!"
Mika opened the carriage’s door and looked outside once he heard the driver’s warning.
"What do you see?" Sylvia asked sternly.
"Just a horde of monsters." Mika said calmly.
"Mom, stay here. We will take care of them." Lily stated determinedly.
Then, the three jumped out of the carriage even though it still did not co to a halt.
Mika stood in front of the other two, ready to lead them in the fight against the group of monsters.
Among them were at least four high-ranking monsters while the 6 others were either middle or low-ranked.
Back then, this would have been a tough battle for them but since their first mission, they grew significantly. And compared to demons, those enemies did not scare them one bit.
"..."
However, Mika just rembered sothing important as he began to break into a cold sweat.
Despite almost everyone knowing about him, Lily was one of the few people, who was still in the unknown concerning his true abilities.
"Is this the mont, where I have to reveal myself...?"
[...]
Even the system had to sigh at Mika’s small complaint.
Sylvia and Lily were already charging up their magic.
"Mika, what are you doing?" Sylvia asked sharply.
"O-oh, y-yeah, my bad..."
He slowly reached out to Excalibur.
However, at the sa mont, the group of monsters were set ablaze in one go as a large fire pillar erged beneath the monsters.
"Huh? Lily, did you do that?" Mika wondered.
"N-no, it wasn’t ..."
"Then, who’s it then?" Sylvia pondered as she narrowed her eyes to the front.
The only thing they knew was that it was soone really strong.
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