Within a few minutes after the disappearance of Azzy, the girls managed to strike down the Volcanus King and they chose their leader to give it the final blow so that she may absorb its spirit core.
While she was refining the core to raise her soul power, the remaining collected carcasses into their respective storage rings to submit them to the academy as proof of mission completion.
Once the leader was done and rose to her foot, one of the teammates, Stella asked her, "So, what now, Serestia? It is only noon but we have already finished the mission. Should we explore around or should we return?"
Serestia thought for a bit and replied, "I have something to do at home. So, I'll have to return to Egrein. You girls can fool around if you want."
"You are going home?" Navi, the girl with purple-blue hair color, expressed her surprise. She further asked, "Is it a family dinner or something?"
Serestia shook her head, "I don't dare to have such lofty ambitions. I just remembered that I need to talk to my mother about something."
As the rest of the three returned to the Emerald City, a place in the level-3 region where the Emerald Academy is located, Serestia teleported to Egrein city's portal point and then took out her electric skateboard gifted by her Granduncle on her second awakening.
This skateboard, specially made for her, can be considered the fastest skateboard in the world with a top speed of 250 kmph. That's as fast as a sports car.
Of course, it isn't just a skateboard. It contained an automatic defense mechanism that releases defensive barriers to protect the rider in case of unexpected crashes. There's also a flight mechanism installed in it along with a bunch of other features.
Anyway, after riding on such a skateboard for nearly 15 minutes, she reached a mansion with heavy security outside the gate.
As she reached the place, the security guards moved aside and respectfully opened the gate.
Serestia nodded to them and then entered the compound, only to see a couple of dozen guards spread all over the place.
She shook her head with a sigh, "I seriously don't understand mom. Grandpa is a 6-circle realm Arcana Master. What can these civilians do to give security to him? It's just a waste of public funds."
After criticizing her mother once in her head, Serestia went inside and saw a middle-aged-looking fellow with gray streaks of shoulder-length hair, sitting there in the living room and watching the television alone.
Sensing the presence of an Arcana Master nearby, he turned his head only to see the 13-year-old girl walking into the living room.
His face glowed in happiness and he got up on his feet immediately, "Sera!"
"Grandpa, I'm back." The teenage girl scurried forward and gave him a hug.
Taking a seat, the man asked her, "So, what's with the sudden surprise, Sera? Did something happen at home or school?"
"Not really." Serestia shook her head and then said, "I'm here to see mom's pictures from the academy. Do you know where she kept the albums?"
"Eh? All of a sudden? Why?" Her grandfather was visibly surprised by her request.
Serestia didn't reveal her real objective and just vaguely answered, "It's nothing, I had free time and was curious."
"Alright…"
The man went upstairs and returned five minutes later with a thick album. Serestia took it and started turning the pages as if she was in a hurry. He wondered who might be she was looking for.
After a while, she stopped turning the pages and her eyes became fixed on the photo.
There were seven people in the photo with gold medals hanging around their necks. It's team Twilight that won the world league.
She took a closer look at the photo and mumbled with her eyes widened, "It's the same guy."
Meanwhile, the grandfather peeked at it and commented, "Ah, those people, huh. It's your mother's teammates."
Looking at the trophy, he bragged about the past achievements of his daughter, "Those were the golden days of your mother. She won the annual tournament, then, Champions league, followed by the world league."
"I know." Serestia nodded and then pointed at Azzy, "Who is this person?"
"Hmm, that guy…" Her grandfather went into a daze for a while as he stared at Azzy's picture. No matter how much he thought, he couldn't recollect it despite the fact that he met the boy in person. In the end, he gave up and answered, "I'm not sure. It's been a while and I don't really stay in contact with any of her past teammates."
"Can I take this?" asked Serestia.
As he nodded, she took the photo and stared at Azzy once again, "this guy is a vampire or what? This picture is from more than 27 years and he hasn't aged a bit. Maybe, he is in the wild for years. That can explain why he asked what year is this."
"What are you thinking, Sera?" Her grandfather suspected that she might have met with one of his daughter's teammates, perhaps the guy that he has no memories of. Her actions clearly indicated that he was correct in his assumption.
"Nothing. Just a second…" Serestia didn't say anything once again and just took out her smartphone, dialing her mother's personal number.
When there is no response, she dialed her mother's personal assistant.
"Hello?" A sweet voice was heard from the other side.
Serestia spoke, "Ms. Anne, it's me, Serestia. Can I have mom on the line?"
"Um, sorry but Madam President is busy in a meeting with Southern Qudour's ambassador. It will take a while," replied the person from the other side.
Serestia let out a sigh, "alright. When she's free, inform her that I have some news on her missing friend Azrael and I'm currently at grandpa's house."
"Sure, I will." The personal assistant disconnected the call and Serestia finally decided to speak to her grandfather about his encounter with Azzy.
<strong>Meanwhile, at the Presidential office;</strong>
"Ma'am, our President is ready to even release Edmund if you are ready to drop all the charges on Mr. Coil." Southern Qudour's ambassador made the proposal on behalf of his government.
The one who is sitting before him is none other than Mia Leveret, the current president of Northern Qudour.
She rejected the proposal, giving a reason, "Look, Mr. Wells, I understand that Harvest Coil is an important figure to your government but his company is involved with tax evasion of roughly 6.7 billion Krocs (67 billion credits) to our country. Not to mention, the investigation of the past financial records hasn't finished yet.
Once it was done, I have no doubt that the Supreme Court will sentence him for atleast two decades. So, exchanging him for just Edmund is a loss for us."
Crossing her hands to the chest, she leaned back and continued with the negotiations, "how about our Captain Axel and Captain Cayenne along with their units? And of course, Mr. Edmund is necessary. If you include all of them, we can think about the exchange."
"Those captains?" The ambassador's face darkened a little bit as he knows that it is almost an impossible task. He tried to explain to her, "Ma'am, you do know very well that our civilian government has no authority over the military. We cannot order them to release the prisoners of the war."
"Well, that's your problem, not mine." Mia didn't back down an inch. She further spoke seriously, "I'll be direct. Neither of our countries has a great trade volume nor do we have any military alliance. I don't see any reason to do a favor on the South without getting anything more in return."
The ambassador's expression turned darker and cursed her inside his head. "Damn, this bi*ch is a dictator, indeed."
It isn't a secret that Mia is more like a dictator rather than a two-time democratic elected president of Northern Qudour. With the powerful robotic army on her side, she had wiped out several rebellious forces and even won a small war against the western neighbor, occupying 45 sq. km of land from the Gesian kingdom.
Seeing that the negotiation isn't going anywhere, he decided to make a call.
As the ambassador walked away a bit and talked with his President, Mia, who freed up a moment, took out her smartphone.
There was a missed call from her daughter and there's also a message, according to the notifications.
She opened the messenger and there was a message along with a photo where Azzy was circled by a sketch pen.
"Azrael?" Mia was stunned by the message.
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