Mia's family, Azzy, and his friends sat together for a breakfast.
Unlike last time, Claire and Azzy were separated by Snivy and Gideon with both of them coincidentally asking their respective roommates to sit beside them.
Looking at how Azzy and Claire are avoiding each other, Gideon wondered whether they fought or something.
After all, both of them are supposed to leave for the first train but they returned before woke up.
And since Azzy wasn't willing to tell him about the reason for their return, Gideon suspected that he probably changed his mind on the way and both of them might have argued about it.
Thankfully, only he knows about it. So, no one found anything amiss.
"So, are you all confident about winning against the Dragon Academy?" Wesley casually asked them.
Mia and Snivy just glanced at Claire as she's the captain.
Claire answered, "Honestly, uncle, if their performance against Central Academy during the quarterfinals is their best, then, I believe we have a fair amount of chance to win."
"Moreover, we have Azrael here," Gideon added her statement with a smile. Of all of them, he was probably the one who believes in Azzy's capabilities the most.
"There's an old saying. You can depend on a person to win a battle but not a war. To win a war, you need skilled soldiers." Wesley's face suddenly turned serious. "According to our research, Azrael was indeed far stronger than his peers but your opponent is the strongest Academy in the world.
More than one-sixth of all those rank-8s and above realm Arcana Masters in our continent are the graduates of Dragon Academy.
Such Academy cannot let a no-name academy like Aclein win the Championship that easily.
So, all of you can expect Azrael will be their target. Once he's out, then, victory will become easier for them. Other academies tried the same and failed but you never know when it concerned the Dragon Academy.
Honestly, I won't be surprised if their instructor even orders them to secretly violate the rules of the tournament and try to kill Azrael and maybe, including Claire for the sake of eliminating the future competitions."
At first, as Wesley try to explain how they couldn't underestimate their opponents, Azzy and his friends didn't pay much attention to him, but then, his last sentence made everyone become serious.
Due to the intervention of the instructors as well as the Proctor, until now, no deliberate or accidental killing had ever happened. However, when it involves the life of their friends, they couldn't just ignore it.
Amid serious gazes from the teenagers, Wesley then said, "It's necessary for the rest of you to become stronger. This is the reason I wanted you to stay at my house for three days."
"Hmm?" Everyone was a little bit surprised at his statement including even Mia.
When their Vice Principal ordered them to take a rest until the finals to not build up stress, Mia suggested to everyone that they could go to Egrein city for a one-day tour.
After she talked to her father, the latter said he would be happy to meet her friends and even asked her to stay for two more days.
Mia only thought her father was probably missing her.
She expected to tour around the city for a couple of days while spending time with her family and then, returns to Aclein for finals.
However, contrary to her expectations, it seemed like her father intends to train them. Mia couldn't help but feel sad upon realizing that he lied to her.
On the other hand, her friends were elated to hear that they get to train.
The only one who wasn't uninterested is Azzy as the person before he is only a peak-rank-6 expert.
After watching how that bunch of higher realm experts was killed too easily, Azzy no longer believes the six-star realm is as great as people claimed it to be.
It made him think that all realms under rank-7 are nothing but worthless. So, he wasn't that optimistic that this last-minute training from a rank-6 like him helps.
What he wishes is to have a peaceful time to absorb the solar energy and refine it to increase his soul power.
Right then, something clicked in his mind. He blurted out what he was thinking in his mind, "Are we training with Aria?"
"Aria?" Everyone suddenly turned their heads towards him. Wesley also seemed to be surprised. "You met her?"
Realizing the mistake, Azzy slowly nodded, "by coincidence."
Claire also stayed silent since Azzy was keeping the matter a secret.
A smile appeared on Wesley as he nodded, "Good then. I was actually hoping to introduce Alpha to you but since you are acquainted with her, then, it makes it easier."
Looking at everyone, he further said that he had actually prepared two days training regime for everyone but due to some reason, it was delayed.
"Well, I don't think this one-day training would help you win the tournament but at the very least, your skills will be sharpened a bit. If everything goes well…"
*Ring* Ring*
The phone call disturbed the conversation. However, Wesley couldn't be happier as soon as he saw the name on it. He quickly left without finishing his breakfast, picking up the call in hurry.
After a while, he returned and informed them to hurry up so that they could meet a special guest.
When Azzy arrived at the living room, he was surprised to see Uphiar, the sorcerer who teaches theoretical combat classes in the academy.
However, what stole everyone's attention was the middle-aged man sitting beside him and having tea.
He was tall and thin. Combined with big spectacles that have no lens, a colorful t-shirt on top of shorts, a thick beard, and shoulder-length hair, for Azzy, he appeared to be a weird person at one glance.
Adding the wicked-looking sorcerer, the pair indeed wasn't pleasing for the eyes.
"Oh, you are here. Come here and meet him." Wesley introduced the middle-aged man. "This person sitting before you is none other than Grand Prince Aegis Light."
"Huh!" Everyone was taken aback by surprise. Meanwhile, the expressions of Claire and Gideon quickly changed. They glanced at Azzy, who was plainly staring at him trying to gauge his strength.
When he found his soul power seemed to be a lot higher compared to his master, the Reaper cleared his doubts.
Meanwhile, oblivious to everyone's feelings, Wesley continued, "Remember the reward you got by winning the annual tournament? He's the one that is supposed to give you a special lecture. But, that's for another day. Right now, Mia, Gideon, and Snivy, his highness will give a special lesson you three."
Mia and Snivy were ecstatic to hear that they will be able to learn under a peak-rank-8 expert like Aegis. One could even tell how much they are excited by the look on their faces.
On the other hand, Gideon doesn't seem to be that thrilled as the other two girls. The reason was that Aegis is the brother of the King. He couldn't help but remember Claire's words that stated that Mia's family might hand over Azzy to the royal family.
"Does he come to apprehend Azzy in secret?" Gideon smelled a conspiracy
Wesley didn't bother to ask what's wrong with Gideon and continued to tell them that Azzy will train with the sorcerer to improve his control over the soul energy while Claire will have a solo training session with Alpha to improve her overall combat ability.
"Thank you." As everyone thanked him in unison, the middle-aged man chuckled in response with his eyes fixed on troubled Gideon. "Don't worry, kid. I'm not on the side of the Royal family. So, your friend will be safe under my protection. In fact, Alpha is protecting him for a while."
When Azzy first heard that that Super Android was his hidden bodyguard, he realized that the trap on the road that he saw back then was probably destroyed by her. He even assumed that the people who placed the trap must have been chased away or killed by her.
However, he didn't expect the brother of the King is the one that deployed Aria for a mission to protect him.
"Thank you." Azzy expressed his thanks for his actions.
In the meantime, Claire also sighed in relief. Like Gideon, she was also a bit worried upon seeing the Grand Prince here. Since he was the one who sent Aria, Claire felt like she could trust him a bit.
*Clap* "Okay, kids, let's not waste time anymore. It's time for all of you to pack your things."
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