Since he didn't have any memories of Azzy and didn't know whether they are close or not, Calder don't know how to react to him and tried to be formal and a little bit casual as he explained, "For two decades, I, Mia, Principal Barton, and everyone always wondered who this guy is… Just what happened? How come you didn't age at all? Where were you for the past 27 years? And why is that no one has any memory of you? Even the authorities of WAMO have no clue why your name is in their system but no one has any memory of promoting you to Tier-3 cadet."
"I'll tell you some other time but I'm in a bit of a hurry at the moment." Azzy dodged the question and went into the matter directly. "I want to know the whereabouts of Claire. Do you have any idea?"
"Claire?"
Calder fell into thoughts after hearing Azzy's request. He put aside his questions aside and answered, "No, after the world league, she dropped out of the academy. After that, we never met. I only heard that she returned to her kingdom."
Azzy didn't have expectations of finding her whereabouts from this guy. So, he was cool with the answer and then asked, "Then, do you know Mia's contact? She must have known Claire."
"Mia's contact?" At this request, Calder appeared to be slightly taken aback. He asked in return, "You never been here during the past two decades, aren't you?"
"Why?" Azzy asked. Did something happen to Mia as well? He wondered.
Calder then took out his smartphone and showed a picture of a couple in the wedding dress.
As Azzy took a look at the picture, his eyes widened, "Both of you are married? Seriously?"
"Fate is really mysterious, I guess." Calder was smiling big as he took back the phone and looked at the picture. "It's been 11 years since we married," He mentioned as an afterthought.
"Wow…" Azzy was really amazed at the development.
He never imagined Mia would fall for Calder. He thought the girl had something going on with Louis but it looks like he was wrong.
As if that wasn't shocking enough, Calder showed another picture on the smartphone, introducing his family member, "This is our daughter, Serestia Leveret. She took her mother's surname as you know that I'm a commoner."
Azzy recognized her right away as it has only been a few hours since he encountered her. "I had to appear in front of Mia's daughter of all the people. What a coincidence. Wait a second… it's been 11 years since they married?"
While Calder might be just an acquaintance, Mia is a friend to him, and he cannot ignore his curiosity.
He proceeded to say, "I actually met your daughter in Arcana world, at the whale island. She appeared to be already in the 4-star realm. How old is she?"
Azzy doesn't feel like Serestia is below 11. She appeared more like 13 or 14 years old. Either she was born before their marriage or she went through puberty too early.
Calder answered truthfully and then bragged a little bit, "She turned 13 recently on Oct 4th. She's currently studying at Emerald Academy, top of her grade, you know.
Mia actually wanted to send her to the Phoenix Academy but I was worried about the competitive nature of the students in that top-tier academy. So, I sent her to Emerald academy.
Who could have expected that she would be taken in by the headmistress of the academy as a disciple and that will lead her to awaken for a second time?
I don't want to brag but she was a twin Arcana master.
In this age where silver or purple grade Arcana is considered awesome, she awakened top-tier gold-grade Arcana, two times. She's just like her mom, a pseudo/stepdaughter of Heavens."
Emerald Academy is an all-girls school like the Phoenix Academy and almost has the same rules as the latter it was established by a student of Phoenix Academy about two millennia ago.
However, the key difference between them is that the Phoenix Academy is considered an S-tier Academy while Emerald Academy is rated a one-tier lower, the A-tier. In comparison, the Aclein academy in the past used to be rated as a C-tier. So, yes, it is an elite academy with enough reputation.
Hence, Calder has every right to brag about his daughter when she's at the top of her class.
After patiently listening to all that bragging, Azzy asked only one question in return, "So, you had her before the marriage?"
Perhaps, Calder went through that question several times in the past. He wasn't surprised or offended in the least and calmly explained, "At that time, Mia wasn't ready for marriage as she was busy with her political campaign. She was in the lead but had to withdraw from the Presidential elections because of me.
She was angry at me for doing this to her, and at the same time, doesn't want to abort the baby either. So, our relationship took a great hit. In the end, she finally accepted me into her family."
"I see…" Azzy nodded in understanding, although being uncomfortable talking about those things that are reserved for adults. Calder thinks that Azzy is a 41-year-old man with a teenage appearance but only Azzy knows that he is still a 14-year-old.
He then thought, "So, Mia's daughter is one year old younger than me? I must be the youngest uncle in the world. Great…"
Being a friend to Mia, Azzy already started to think of her daughter as his niece or maybe, younger sister, considering the age difference. He decided to give her a present when they meet again.
At the same time, he also wondered what others have been doing. However, he didn't ask Calder. He thought it would be better to ask Mia when he meets her later. Well, the only concern is whether she will put the time to talk to him or not. He hoped she would act as nice as her husband even though she is a President of a country, now.
<strong>Meanwhile, at the secret research facility;</strong>
Following the orders of Dr. Mac, while Aria was working on hacking all the CCTVs of a particular country one after another to check the whereabouts of Azzy, in the adjacent room, Mia was going through some documents.
"Hmm, I received the mercy petition from Daniels' family, once again, this time, on the grounds of his age. So what if it has been 33 years since he committed the crime? What if he is 78 years old? There's no mercy for a child rapist in my country. Let him rot in the prison until he dies. In fact, they should be thankful that I didn't seize their assets."
Mia stamped reject on the document and turned the page. "Declaring Stripes' clan as an anti-nationalist organization? Ugh… Theodore Light must be the one behind this. Stripes family isn't really a threat to the country and neither do I want to get in the affairs of the royal family."
She rejected it once again and went on reading the other documents. "The farmers' bill must be passed no matter what. It will upset the conglomerates but will ensure our party's victory in the west and south. And then, there is the demand for the pension increase for policemen. The elections are only 16 months away. Hmm…"
As she was thinking about her next move, an envelope made of energy appeared in her sight, before going into her forehead. It was from Calder.
As soon as she heard the message, the file dropped from her hand and she rose to her feet, "Azrael is in Aclein?"
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