Clarice and Evelyn laughed sheepishly. They had failed to mention to Leo that the Mercenary Group was an all-woman group. That was why they had to go through the wait to get permission for Leo, a male, to come in.
Leo shook his head in disbelief. He realized there wasn’t anything that changed so he just toured the manor along with the two sisters.
The architecture of the manor was incredible. There were large open spaces where he saw people train their skills. A lot of people were sparring with each other which was more optimal than just training by themselves. As he walked through the place, he felt a lot of stares prickling his skin.
They quickly got to the manor. They entered the manor and walked into it. Inside, the entrance was massive. It immediately opened up into two grand staircases while there were two hallways on the ground floor both leading to living spaces.
They first walked to the hallway on the ground floor that led to the left of the hall. As he was walking, he heard a familiar voice.
“Leo!”
He looked in the direction of the voice and his eyes widened. A tear started to form in the corner of his eye but it quickly vanished. The person on the other side of the hallway was a girl the same age as him.
“Lily?” He asked.
Lily ran through the hallway and hugged him tightly. Leo reciprocated the hug.
“I am so happy to see you. How are you here?” He asked her. “Is Miller here too?”
His question immediately hit a nerve. She turned gloomy all of a sudden. Meanwhile, Clarice and Evelyn caught up to them.
“You know Lily too?” Evelyn asked Leo.
Leo nodded. “I knew her dad very well. But I thought that they would still be in Solhaven when the incident happened.”
Clarice shook her head. “We both went back to Solhaven to visit a month ago. It was right before it happened. When we went, Miller pushed Lily to come with us to visit. He wanted her to experience the life of an Aura Knight before she could enter the academy at Solhaven. He even tried to send her to Eldridge. He gave us a pouch to pay for the fees if she was able to get into the academy here.”
Evelyn continued the story, “So we took her with us and were planning to teach her aura. The Mercenary Group let her stay here and she started learning aura. She was on track to even try to get into the Eldridge Aura Knight Academy. But then we heard about the news. Her parents, unfortunately… were still in Solhaven.”
Leo sighed. He rubbed Lily’s head. “It’s okay. Trust me. They would be happy that you made it.”
Lily hugged Leo harder. “Dad wants to thank you for the pouch. He told me to do it if I saw you at Eldridge.”
Leo smiled. After a minute, he let go. When he did, Evelyn asked him. “What pouch?”
Lily answered for him, “The pouch that Dad gave you. Leo was the one who gave it to help with my academy tuition.”
Clarice and Evelyn were shocked. They didn’t know where Miller would have gotten the amount of money in the pouch from, but now they knew.
As they were talking, someone came into the hallway. She didn’t have a very pleased expression on her face.
“Quickly take your guest to your room, or leave. Don’t make the hallways cramped.” She said.
Evelyn immediately snapped back. “Get your stinky breath out of here. No one wants you here either.” She said.
“Do you want to fight?” The girl asked.
The girl sneered. “Listen to the boy. Who is he anyway? Your boy toy from Iceland?”
Leo immediately got irritated. “You don’t need to fight a useless 1st Circle Aura Knight who probably doesn’t know what an Aura Technique is anyway.” He said to Evelyn while being loud enough that the girl could hear him.
He knew that she was only a Middle-Stage 1st Circle Aura Knight which was pretty common in the manor. He found very quickly that the entire manor had around 50 each of 1st Circle and 2nd Circle Aura Knights. As for 3rd Circle Aura Knights, there were 3 of them in the entire manor that he could sense.
Evelyn and Clarice would both be able to easily defeat the girl. In her defense, she looked like she was 2 years younger than Evelyn.
“Shut up kid. Adults are talking here. What can a kid like you who looks like he just became a teenager add that is useful?” She snapped back. She was very irritated when a kid like Leo commented on her strength.
Leo laughed. “It’s funny that’s coming from someone who can’t beat a kid.” He said.
The girl immediately started fuming. Meanwhile, the four of them were walking away to the room that Evelyn and Clarice stayed at. They left the hallway, leaving the girl angry.
They got to the room where Evelyn and Clarice stayed. It was a cozy double for both of them. It had two beds and an adjoining bathroom. He admired it for a while before deciding to leave.
“I appreciate you guys inviting me here. I’ll leave now. I’ll try to come again to visit. Or you can come to my apartment.” He said.
They nodded. “Thanks for coming here.” They all left together to drop Leo off at the gate.
As they were walking, Leo realized something was off. He looked around and saw the girl he had seen in the hallway training in the courtyard in front of the manor. She was staring at the group. She saw that they were leaving and started to walk up to them.
“Keep walking. You don’t want to engage with her. She feels she is entitled because she is the daughter of one of the leaders, but otherwise, she is useless. Let’s just ignore her.” Clarice whispered to Leo.
However, before they could leave the manor, the girl blocked their way.
“Are you trying to run away? After making comments like the ones you made, you have to learn to match your words.” She said.
Clarice stepped up. “Seems like the sort of thing you would do, Blake. Only you would think of challenging someone 5 years younger than you. How about you spar with me?” She said.
At this point, everyone training in the courtyard listened to the conversation. Leo looked around and saw the audience and then turned to the girl called Blake.
“So, what is in it for me?” He asked.
Blake was confused. “What do you mean?”
“Why am I supposed to fight you? I don’t find anything beneficial to me if I beat you.” He said.
Blake’s mouth twitched. He was mocking her with every sentence. “Sounds like something someone scared would say.” She said.
Leo sighed. “Looks like you have nothing useful for me, so I’ll leave.” He said.
He turned around, ready to leave. He suddenly turned around and caught a wooden sword that flew his way. His eyes narrowed.
“Looks like your guardian came,” he whispered.
