After thoroughly lecturing Estella for not following the rules set by her, Izora announced the end of sparring matches and gathered everyone.
With her hands crossed to the back, Izora stared at them sternly, "Listen carefully. I have some urgent business to attend for the next couple of weeks. It might even take longer for me to return. During this time, your training will be taken care of by your homeroom teacher.
Since we aren't getting much time to train, I'm taking this opportunity to conduct a special class, tomorrow. Those who are interested can come. It is entirely voluntary but I would recommend it because tomorrow might be the last class of mine before the league preliminaries."
"Eh?" Most of them were happy that they are gonna get a break from this devil instructor, the others like Estella and Claire were a bit unpleasant.
As the biggest international league is on the corner, they wanted to improve their strength as fast as possible even if they have to face harsh training.
Surprisingly, the driving force behind it was same for the both of them. It was Azzy.
The only difference is that Claire wanted to catch up with Azzy so that he wouldn't have to worry about her and Estella wanted to defeat him fair and square.
Meanwhile, Azzy wondered the reason behind the absence of his mother. Is it another mission from the clan or something? Will she go alone? Or will both of his parents leave? Several thoughts popped up in his head.
<strong>The next day morning;</strong>
*yawn*
Letting out a yawn, Azzy slowly came out of his room and went downstairs. He wasn't planning on going to the academy for special lessons at all. Instead, Azzy intended to take a break for the whole day. Not to mention, with Affea being busy at the academy, he would be able to get some qualitative time to spend with his girlfriend.
"Morning, Aunt." Azzy greeted Affea. He looked around. There was no one else. "Where is everyone?"
"Avia and Izora left for the academy early morning 5, your uncle and Mr. Garcia left for clinic," Affea answered him with her eyes fixed on the television. She was watching a rerun of a popular tv drama called the 'Wolf of the East.' Azzy doesn't like it because of the outdated graphics.
"I'm going to the garden…"
As Azzy was about to go outside to check up on the plants, she added, "We are having guests in the afternoon. It's from Moon Clan."
"Eh?" Azzy stopped in his tracks and looked at her in surprise, "Moon Clan? Again? Why?"
During the past couple of months, Estella's mother came to lunch twice already.
"Yeah." Affea nodded and further said as she finally turned her head, "I bet you have already figured out why they are trying to get close to our family. Look Azzy, Moon Clan is a close ally. We cannot reject to host their direct descendants without proper excuse. If you are uncomfortable with them, you can go and meet your friends. I will give them various excuses and manage here."
Azzy stayed silent. He doesn't want to trouble Affea for his mess. Azzy knew that Estella fancies him and he rejected her twice already, stating that he was in a relationship with Claire.
He didn't say it to her face because she and her mother helped out during the crisis but even if he didn't like Claire, Azzy would have still rejected her proposal. Her arrogant attitude, which outrightly dismisses weaker people doesn't sit with him very well.
After brief thinking, he responded with a question, "Can I invite Claire, then?"
In an instant, Affea understood what was going on in Azzy's mind. She nodded with a smile, "sure, why not."
***
Meanwhile, somewhere nearby the island nation of Athledon, which lies to the east of the continent, a young girl was accompanying her mother who was fishing on a boat, early in the morning.
It was Estella Moon and Scarlet Moon.
The former was getting impatient while the latter was very calm as she stayed still like a statue, waiting for the fish to bite the bait.
"Ugh, I shouldn't have informed you about my arrival, mom," Estella complained to her.
Estella returned home to spend time with her family on weekend instead of wasting time on attending Izora's special class for the latter punished her earlier. Of course, there was Gideon who always asks her out no matter how many times she rejected him.
If not for the fact that she wasn't ordered by her mother to bear his presence, she would have already made her thoughts of getting rid of him forever, a reality.
And when she returned to Athledon, early in the morning, she was received by an attendant who was sent by her mother. She followed him.
As a result, she ended up on a tiny fishing boat which is floating on the ocean but isn't moving an inch as it was covered by an invisible barrier.
After waiting for 30 whole minutes without any result, Estella asked her mother, "mom, if you want to catch fish, I'll just release Levi into the water. She will bring you thousands of them."
Scarlet replied, "Yes, you can but in the process of catching those fishes, you will cause a disturbance in the ocean, Ella. And what do you do with those? It's not like you will sell in the market or eat all of them. This is why, to achieve a goal, one should carefully choose a path."
Estella felt something strange in her mother's words. "You are talking about fishing, right?"
Scarlet shook her head with a smile, "It is applicable to life as well, especially yours."
Estella furrowed her brows in confusion, "just what do you want to say, mom? Please explain it properly? Did I do something wrong?"
"I'm talking about Azrael and Claire," replied Scarlet with her eyes fixed on the waters. She added in a serious tone, "I agree that the boy is a once in a millennium genius but you are just 14 years old, a teenager, and so were those two.
Do you think they would stay like that forever? The second princess of Triastal will eventually leave the academy, next year and you will spend a whole year with him. The time was enough for them to break up and form a new relationship with you.
Is there a need to get rid of her just so that you can get close to him?"
Estella Moon wasn't surprised at her question. She answered calmly, "of course, it is necessary. It hasn't been long since they became a couple. I fear that their relationship will only get stronger as time passes away.
So, I might as well get rid of him now. He would certainly feel sad but it would be easier for him to forget her as time passes away. If not for the fact that she has a powerful background, I would have already done it myself with one of my trump cards given to me by the ancestor.
This is why sought both of your help but until now, you aren't doing anything."
Estella asked her mother and even her ancestor's help several weeks ago, back at Graena city, but her mother was delaying this task until now.
Instead of removing Claire from her path, her mother was trying to get close to Affea and her family instead.
In her view, they aren't important as they aren't Azzy's real parents and only took him in more than a year ago. On top of that, her mother ordered her to behave with Claire and Gideon.
Estella's answer made a Scarlet frown. She immediately berated her daughter, "this is why you couldn't defeat Claire despite possessing two powerful Arcana of platinum grade."
Estella's facial expression changed when she heard that. She wanted her to counter that she defeated Claire three times until now but in the end, she swallowed her words and stayed silent.
Meanwhile, Scarlet lectured her daughter, "If you rush towards the destination without thinking too much, you will miss things (opportunities) that were around you. Who knows… you might even end up falling into a manhole (trap).
Just stop once in a while and look around you."
"I don't understand." Estella was confused with these word games.
Her mother smiled once again, "Patience, my dear. Be patient. The world is like an ocean and the people around are like fish. If your goal is to acquire a fish without disturbing the ocean, then, you need a perfect bait and patience."
As soon as her words ended, Scarlet felt something and pulled up the fish rod. An arm-sized tuna was seen at the hook.
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