"Oh! You returned." He sighed in relief, spotting the little princess of Nelnoris nation. If she wouldn't arrive, he, who was their homeroom teacher, would be the one who will be punished for letting them go alone.
After confirming that she was safe and alive, his attention shifted to the two beasts, one being a Galarian and the other being an Erudian. As for the quality, well, once the experts dissected them, their meat will tell their grade and rank.
"Congratulations in advance for completing the 6-star mission."
As they thanked him, he said to hurry up and submit the carcasses. They bowed and left for the mission hall.
<strong>15 minutes later;</strong>
"Both of them are of gold grade and rank-4." The lady in charge said to them. She handed them some kind of cards, and further said, "Congratulations… You finished the 6-star mission in 13 hours and 35 minutes. Your grade is 'A' and the correspondent mission points are added to the cards."
They nodded and returned with a depressed expression. A girl named Louella gritted her teeth, "If only that boy hadn't stolen our prey, we would have gotten S-grade."
"What happened?" A familiar sweet tone from the side made them halt their steps.
As they turned their heads, the girls saw a beautiful senior from advanced studies. They greeted her with a slight bow while Iphi on the other hand was taken aback, "sis, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at the palace?"
"Oh! Father asked for you to be present at our brother's wedding. So, I'm here to take you back," replied the third princess of Nelnoris nation, 18-year-old Sapphire Magnolis.
"He isn't our brother," Iphi replied in a serious tone. "Just the son of a maid."
"Iphi…" The elder sister frowned at her behavior. She glanced at her friends, reminding the brat where she is spouting the words. "I will take it that I didn't hear you speak ill of our brother…"
Sapphire reprimanded her not because she insulted their brother or something but even if he's a son of a maid… their brother is still the crown prince. He can't be humiliated in front of others.
Iphi apologized for her behavior, although she didn't know what she did wrong.
"Forget it…" The elder sister waved her hand, and then asked, "What is this business about a boy stealing your prey?"
"It's not a big deal…" As Iphi tried to be silent about it, the elder sister looked at the one who commented earlier and asked her.
Under her pressure, Louella confessed the truth. She recounted everything that happened.
Upon hearing her accusation, Aphiane defended Azzy, "C'mon, it isn't his fault. Anyone in his position would have thought we are in danger."
"No." Sapphire disagreed with her. "Just based on your uniforms, he should have realized that you belong to the Phoenix academy, right? Tell me how his uniform looked?"
She asked them in a serious tone. Iphi, who has an excellent memory, not only described the uniform but also his face, pupils, expression… everything…
Upon hearing it, Sapphire grabbed her chin and started to analyze, "so, he is from neither the Dragon Academy nor Heavenly Academy, huh! You said there's a badge that was stitched to his shirt pocket? Surely, there must be some animal symbol with the name…"
Iphi shook her head, "I'm not sure. I haven't observed him close enough."
"Okay, fine. I get it." Sapphire nodded, "He's probably from the other world. Anyway, after getting back to the palace, I'll get a sketch artist for you…"
"C'mon, sis. Do you want to make a big deal out of it? I will be the one who will look bad even if punished him." Iphi already felt bad for losing prey and got laughed at by her arch-rival. Does this sister of hers wanted to make her look like a sore loser…
"What are you talking about? Who said anything about punishing him?" Sapphire looked at her like a fool.
"Eh?" Iphi was taken aback.
She thought her sister was trying to take revenge for her.
However, contrary to her thoughts, Sapphire explained, "You said he looks like a 12-13-year old, right? A boy with a higher soul rank destroyed two purple-grade peak-rank-4 Galarians with a single fist, making a huge crater while leaving behind nothing…
That means his physical strength itself is at least mid-rank-5… Unless he isn't using a disguise card, there's a possibility that he's a genius comparable to you.
As long as he isn't someone from Central Academy or an enemy nation, we can recruit him as the Royal Knight, provided that he isn't also a Prince. So, I want to do a background check on him…"
"Woah… Stop right there…" Iphi stopped her sister who has gone too far. They were talking about him stealing their prey. How did the conversation ended up recruiting him and that too as a Royal knight?
Is this sister of hers is going crazy? Iphi wondered.
Looking at the expression on her little sister, Sapphire understood her thoughts. She smiled, "I know what you are thinking. But, it doesn't do any harm in background checking, right? If he's nothing like I expected, then, we can just forget about it…"
In the end, Iphi can't help but accept her sister's decision just like she always does.
Aclein city, Northern Qudour Nation;
The students returned to the academy. While the rest of them returned to their dorms, Azzy walked back to his home where his grandpa and his wife are waiting for his return.
He reached the mansion. Opening the door, he spoke loudly, "I'm home…"
But no response came from the living room. 'Are they asleep?'
He immediately shook his head. Feeling something wrong, Azzy then activated his aura sensing ability and found no one is present in the house, not even the servants…
Well, the servants, i.e. the cleaner and the gardener usually only stay up to 6 p.m., so, Azzy wasn't worried about them being absent. What worried him is the fact that the door isn't locked and yet, no one is there.
"Azrael, careful. There are enemies." The Reaper suddenly warned him.
"huh!"
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