After finishing with Erica he opened the door and let the person know he was done. When they went to look later they were dumbfounded by Owari’s mess. He had bought the most expensive space, but he had just been a kid so the person thought he was just overcompensating. Little did he know Owari was dissatisfied with their lacking targets.
After taking Erica home Owari went home himself. He sat there thinking well into the night. He was at a bit of an impasse. Until the Silverbloods properly responded to the situation between him and Noel it would be foolish to start new excursions and expeditions. For now he decided to laze around reading books until Noel came to get him. That was exactly what he did until two days later.
There was a knocking on his door and Owari got up and saw Noel and Morgana standing outside. When he opened the door he noticed Noel was nervous. “So is that a bad news nervousness or just your nerves working against you?” Owari joked.
Noel sighed, but she relaxed ever so slightly. “I’m just worried about what will happen. Anyway they finally responded. They want to meet you within three weeks.” Noel seemed annoyed by this.
“How far is it?” Owari asked with the same casual smile as always.
“A month by normal train and a little under two weeks by express train.” Noel replied.
“Let’s go by express train then. I prefer to be early over late.” Owari laughed. He wasn’t the least bit intimidated.
“Alright.” Seeing how calm he was calmed Noel down.
“What’s the worst that could happen after all?” Owari thought for a bit. “Let’s leave tomorrow, send them a letter tonight so they’ll know we are coming.”
“Why’d you have to say that? You’ll jinx us. But okay, I’ll get ready.” Noel turned and left with Morgana right after, much like Owari would do. She had started to take on some of Owari’s aloofness as she spent so much time with him. The same was true for Owari and her chattiness though.
Owari didn’t really have much to bring. In fact he had nothing. He made his way to Noel’s the next morning with just the clothes on his back. “Well I’m ready.”
“Are you really going to meet my family like that?” Noel smiled a bit forcefully.
“If they can’t accept me for who I am, then I can’t accept them.” Owari declared.
“Is that why you’re so fearless?” Noel asked curiously.
“Of course.” Owari smiled confidently.
“Well whatever they decided it won’t change my opinion on the matter.” Noel also declared, removing the last bits of hesitation. She was a warrior first before anything else. She refused to let others control her, it was her life after all.
“Well said.” Owari smiled and the two got into her car and made their way to the express train station.
They then spent the next twelve days straight on the express train without ever getting off. The two of them meditated the entire time, doing their best to steady their minds and hearts. They had grown comfortable around one another enough to not need to talk. They were just happy to be close as they relaxed and did their best to make improvements.
When the 12th day came around they managed to make it to the home of Noel’s family. It was known as Silverblood city and was on the border of the Griffon territory and Dragon territory to the north. Owari got off the train with Noel and Morgana. They made their way to the Silverblood estate which was massive. There were hundreds of houses each of which belonged to one couple within the family. Some were still vacant, but around half were occupied. This went to show just how massive the Silverblood family really was.
Owari was unaffected by such a display of wealth and power. “It is impressive though.” He admitted easily.
“I’d hope so, it cost millions of credits over the years.” Noel looked around nostalgically.
“So where did you live?” Owari asked curiously as the two strolled around. They had easily gotten past the guard when Noel showed her ID.
“I lived towards the center. My father was from one of the families closest to the head of the family so he inherited a central house.” Noel answered.
“Impressive. So what’s your father like?” Of course he had heard a lot about the man and had a good idea. But he wanted to know Noel’s definitive answer.
“He is kind but strict. He can be overbearing but he means well. He is also busy a lot and works hard for the family.” Noel had mostly good things to say about him.
“I’ll do my best not to fight with him.” Owari chuckled.
“He may not give you a chance.” Noel also chuckled.
“I’m a master of patience.” Owari joked. Of course it was true given that he could sit still for nearly two weeks straight without even moving.
“I am aware of that.” Noel definitely knew about his patience.
The two strolled around for a bit before running into someone leaving their home. When the two saw one another they stopped. Owari and Noel were curious, while the other party was shocked. Owari didn’t recognize the woman in front of them. She had blonde hair and green eyes and was in her twenties or so.
“That should be aunt Hilda.” Noel said aloud to snap her out of her reprieve.
“Ah yes. And you’re Noel. I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting you alone before. Well I suppose you aren’t totally alone today either.” She pointedly stared at Owari who was arm in arm with Noel.
“She isn’t. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Owari.” Owari nodded politely.
She seemed to be appraising him for moment and smiled awkwardly at his coat. “Well your father will want to see you now that you’re back.”
“For now we intend to spend some time in leisure. I’m sure you would be happy enough to tell everyone we have returned yes?” Noel knew all about her aunt’s love for gossip.
Hilda smiled with some embarrassment. “Right. I’ll let everyone know. Your grandfather wanted to get some of the more central members together to receive you two. After all I heard both of you are gold rank. It would be rude to treat such a guest with disrespect.” Although she said that she still seemed confused. It was rare for even gold rank geniuses to be treated with such respect.
Owari smiled calmly as did Noel. Soon enough Hilda left and the two along with Morgana left to explore some more. They ran into a few others. There were generally two reactions, one was to gawk, the other was to ignore them. Eventually though these were replaced by wariness as everyone learned of who they were. At some point a maid similar in age to Morgana appeared. Owari noted that this one was weaker. By this point he could tell Morgana was at least platinum level, whereas this maid was merely gold level.
“The young miss and young sir have been called to the main hall.” When she spoke she was about to refer to Owari by name, but her instincts seemed to warn her and she called him by sir on reflex.
“Then we shall go now.” Noel dismissed the maid with a wave.
Soon the group of three made their way to the central hall. It took a good ten minutes to do so just because of how big this place was. The hall was styled in the classic northern mead hall style. It was as big as the ball hall used for the annual genius’ get together. Owari and Noel made their way inside. There was a large table in the very center that ran along the entire hall, and a number of smaller tables here and there. There were plenty of people serving food already as if they had expected Owari and Noel to show up exactly today.
“Very professional.” Owari whispered in praise. Only Morgana and Noel heard him causing them both to smile.
As he walked along Owari looked at the various things on display. There were all kinds of weapons, armor, and portraits on display. Each one of them had a deep history with the family. One sword belonged to the strongest member of the last generation who died early while slaying a dragon, one portrait was of the original Silverblood leader who started the family clan. So on and so forth. Owari inspected them all curiously and with due respect.
As they were inspecting said displays, a familiar face along with two unfamiliar faces approached them. Of course the familiar one was Luke, and the two by his side were his parents. He was noticeably more subdued than the last time they met but still had a smile on his face.
“It’s good to see you again Luke.” Owari greeted him. They had left on good terms last time they met.
“Of course. Owari, these are my parents. My mother is Rin and my father is Zach."
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Rin and Zach both spoke simultaneously.
“Likewise.” Owari replied.
“This aunt and uncle of mine are one of the few who I interacted with most.” Noel stated from the side.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“She is a strong believer in our family’s cause after all.” Zach said with pride. “I hope you too believe in such a cause.” He said seriously.
“I share a lot of the same beliefs as your family. Otherwise I wouldn’t get along with Noel as much as I do.” Owari showed no shame as he drew attention to their linked arms by pulling her slightly closer. Noel of course stepped closer, accommodating him.
“I see.” Zach smiled somewhat awkwardly, he had intended to grill Owari on this and that but the words were stuck in his throat. How does one respond to such an action?
“It seems more people are coming.” Owari noted and a moment later a few groups all walked over at the same time. There were nearly twenty people. It was as if they had agreed on this previously.
“So you’re the one who wants to marry my daughter.” A woman dressed in an over the top dress with her hair in a big bun spoke to Owari as if representing everyone.
“I hadn’t really considered marriage yet considering our age and how long we’ve known one another. But I do intend to be with her long enough to marry her yes.” Owari answered with a calm smile.
“Besides, it was me who wanted to be with him first.” Noel said from the side.
Their answers stopped all momentum her mother had. However she wasn’t one to back down so she forced her way through. “I’m not sure whether you are deserving of such an honor.”
“Good thing it’s not your choice then.” Owari answered with the same smile.
“Since when did you care about my life? This is the first time I’ve seen you in four years.” Noel jumped in again.
Again all momentum was lost. “I’ve been busy with important family matters. I always made sure to write to you.” Her mother said as if she was genuinely offended.
Owari frowned for the first time before smiling once again. “So where is your husband?” Owari asked curiously.
“He is busy with other matters currently, unlike you he doesn’t have infinite free time. After all as an independent hunter you can afford to work on our schedule.” She sounded disgusted with Owari’s question.
“Then if he is busy I shall take my leave. I have no time to entertain people who hate me so vehemently.” Owari turned to leave only to find he and Noel had been surrounded. “What is the meaning of this?” He asked with the same smile.
“You don’t go anywhere until I say so.” Noel’s mother smirked.
Owari’s smile didn’t disappear as he waited for Noel’s father. The group of Silverbloods watched him with various expressions from pity to apologetic smiles to looks of regret, they almost all seemed unwilling to do this. It took a total of thirty minutes before Noel’s father and grandfather opened the big doors to the hall as if announcing their presence. They had smiles on their faces all the way until they saw Noel and Owari being surrounded by various members of the family and feeling the tension in the air.
“What’s going on here?” A loud booming voice rang across the entire hall.
“I’ve been kept prisoner. Apparently I’m not important enough to decide my own schedule.” Owari said without missing a beat.
“Is that so? Who made this decision?” It was Noel’s grandfather who was speaking.
“Mother seems to have been elected as representative for the family.” Noel sold out her mother with a smile on her face.
“Is that so?” Anger could be heard in his voice as he approached. Noel and Owari were on the opposite side of the hall so it took a moment. He looked down at Noel’s mother. He was a large man with a sturdy build. He was two meters tall and half a meter wide. He was intimidating to say the least. “You dare?” He asked all of them. “If I remember correctly that is my job.”
“She roped us into it father.” One of the men in the group sighed.
“You still accepted it did you not?” He didn’t give his child an inch shocking everyone who had surrounded them.
“So what exactly happened?” Noel’s father who was following behind asked with confusion. He was a thin man who looked like he was in his thirties. He had dark hair and bright amber eyes.
“Mother insulted Owari, and then when he went to leave everyone blocked his path.” Noel instantly responded to her father in a chipper voice.
“He was going to leave?” Noel’s grandfather was shocked.
“She said my time was valueless and therefore I should conform to your schedule. I disagreed.” Owari chuckled.
“I see. What a foolish woman you married.” Noel’s grandfather laughed mockingly at his son who could only smile bitterly.
“So? Is that the case?” Owari asked curiously.
“Of course not. Everyone’s time is valuable to them.” Of course as an upholder of justice and fairness he couldn’t refute Owari even if he wanted to or he would be a hypocrite.
“I thought you would say so. Then what about the past 30 minutes of my life I will never get back?” Owari asked curiously.
“I obviously can’t give you 30 more minutes of life.” Her grandfather said somewhat depressedly.
“If you just came right away this wouldn’t have been a problem father.” Noel pouted. “This is supposed to be about your daughters future husband and yet it was so unimportant to you that you weren’t even able to come for 30 whole minutes.” She actually seemed genuinely upset.
“Right, about that…” He didn’t have an excuse.
“It’s because you wanted to pressure me.” Owari said with certainty. “They wanted me to worry over how they would react and as such waited for a while. Unfortunately for them it backfired.” Owari laughed out loud shocking everyone present.
“Did all of you fools think I would go through so much trouble for a mere gold rank genius?” Noel’s grandfather sighed. “He is also an important business partner for our family.” Of course he knew all about Owari being the one to gift them the spring. Not only that but it wasn’t hard to figure out he had major shares in so many different mines and even the hot spring resort.
“Well not anymore.” Noel was the one who responded.
“What?” Her mother was dumbstruck.
“If you had done any research at all you would have known he wasn’t some random independent hunter.” Her husband was exasperated. Clearly she stopped paying attention after she heard the words ‘independent hunter’.
“So how will you make it up to me?” Owari asked curiously. There was no way they would let him leave without at least trying to restore relations with him.
“How could we?” Her grandfather asked hopefully.
Owari smiled widely. “First, the matter between Noel and I. I’d be delighted if you didn’t say anything about it. Whether you accept it is your own decision. However I don’t want it to affect my relationship with your family.” Owari started with the most important matter.
“Done. What is the rest?” Her grandfather assented easily. Her father looked like he wanted to say something but shut his mouth in the end. Owari intended to gain their approval eventually. This just meant he wouldn’t have to ruin his initial relationship with them.
“The second thing I want is for you to get rid of all the eyes watching me currently. I’m annoyed by them.” Owari pointedly looked at all the spots where people were supposed to be hiding.
“How did you notice?” He couldn’t help but ask, impressed.
“I have a unique sensory technique. Lastly, I never want to see this woman again.” He gestured to Noel’s mother.
“Alright. As long as you warn me before you visit I’ll ensure she doesn’t bother you again.” Owari smiled as he heard this.
“Then let’s start over. My name is Owari, it’s nice to meet such esteemed people.” Owari bowed in genuine respect. This surprised both Noel’s father and grandfather.
“My name is Francis Silverblood.” Her grandfather nodded approvingly as he introduced myself.
“And my name is Dustin Silverblood.” Her father however nodded unwillingly.
“Now then shall we go somewhere else? I’ve already seen everything I wanted here. Speaking of which, you have a wonderful collection of items. They certainly have a lot of history to them.” Owari could respect such a collection even if he wasn’t one for history.
“That would be perfect.” Francis sighed as he began walking towards the exit.
Owari and Noel joined both him and Dustin as they walked out arm in arm. This time nobody dared stop them. Owari just smiled all the while. “See? This is why I put in all that effort before.” Owari whispered to Noel.
Noel’s mouth twitched in amusement. “Just to be able to make this whole process easier?”
“Failing to plan is planning to fail. Besides, the whole making money part doesn’t hurt.” Owari chuckled.
“Very smart of you.” Noel smiled. She hadn’t expected Owari to put so much thought into this.
“What was all that about with your mother?” He asked curiously, why would the Silverbloods act so oddly? They didn’t seem to want to do it.
“She holds a lot of sway in the family due to her managerial skills. So getting on her bad side is a bad idea since she handles finances. As for why she targeted you, she was probably hoping to use me as a bargaining chip towards other families or organizations of power in the future. Typical politics stuff.” Noel knew her family would loathe to do what they did. Owari nodded and decided to forgive them at the very least for Noel. She seemed to care about her family deeply even though she had sided with him so far.
The group all continued to walk after exiting the hall. Francis and Dustin led them to a smaller hall nearby and all five of those present went inside and sat down. Morgana sat behind Noel and Owari. Dustin seemed surprised by this. “Morgana, you can go now.” He shooed her away.
“The young miss and young sir have yet to dismiss me. So I shall stay until they do so.” She replied in the negative.
“You can stay. Your presence is always reassuring during business deals.” Owari liked having Morgana around since it meant he was well protected. These two weren’t hostile to the degree of wanting to harm him, but they were wary. Even discounting that though they were very strong.
“Very well young sir. As he says, I shall stay.” Morgana answered in the positive to Owari, shocking both Francis and Dustin. They were well aware of Morgana’s level of skill. Yet she was willing to listen to Owari over Dustin.
“Now then let’s get down to business.” Owari drummed his fingers against the chair arm.
“We were wondering whether we could get an increase to the amount of ores received.” Francis got straight the point.
“You already have been given priority because of my relationship with Noel. Yet you want more?” Owari was amused. This news surprised the two of them, they had no idea Owari had been favoring them from the very beginning. “However in regards to the latest marble and gem mines, we can offer some amount of the marble. But the gems are going to be invested into the recently developed crystal recorder. After all gems are needed to synthesize crystal cards and now they are in high demand.” Owari had to go negative on this one. He had already corresponded with Tristain on this matter and had him act as Owari’s representative in terms of investing into this market. Meanwhile Tristain also jumped on this chance as well.
“Of course we can’t blame you.” Francis nodded. He himself didn’t see much point in investing in such a market so heavily, but Owari had already proven his business skills. He even thought that maybe he should follow Owari’s lead on this one.
“As for the resort, I also made a deal with the tradecenter to get anyone in the Silverblood family a 10% discount for the next 50 years.” Owari was way ahead of Francis and Dustin. “As for my future endeavors, should you actually offer me a reasonable price I’d be willing to sell to you. So far your offers have been quite lackluster. Not to mention you completely write off Noel’s share as if it’s already yours.”
“She is a Silverblood.” Francis said as if it was a matter of course.
“Yet you own none of the assets she has obtained with my help. Why? Because you aren’t entitled to her property. Individual assets are not forfeit to you because she shares your name. Unless of course you wish to give all of your own personal assets to the family.” Owari scolded them as if they were children. This caused the two older men to get slightly angry.
“Don’t talk down to us. Of course we know she doesn’t have to give us anything.” Francis took a firm tone.
“Yet you acted as though she did.” Owari fired back. “I don’t care why or whatever, all I care about is that you treat her fairly in the future.”
“Of course we will.” This time Dustin spoke up.
“Good. Now that the most important part is over with what do you wish to discuss now?” Owari was done with everything he had to do.
“That was most of what we wanted to talk about.” Francis seemed at a loss.
“Now then about Noel and I. I’m willing to listen to any grievances. After all, leaving it as is will only cause you to dislike me.” Owari specifically talked to Dustin.
“I’m not sure I can trust my daughter to someone as cunning and underhanded as you.” He immediately said. This caused Noel to laugh hysterically.
“He’s not usually like this.” Noel finally said after calming down. “Normally he is honest and doesn’t care about what other people think.”
“It’s true, I could care less what anyone else thinks. In fact I also don’t care what you think. I just want to make sure our relationship doesn’t cause Noel any discomfort. If it wasn’t for that I would get up and leave now.” Owari said honestly.
“What kind of mindset is that?” Dustin couldn’t help but ask.
“I’m a simple person in the end. I just want to live an enjoyable life. Why get bogged down in politics and business if I don’t have to?” Owari was annoyed he even had to do so in the first place.
“I don’t trust you.” He firmly stated.
“Alright. Then there is nothing left to talk about. Trust is one of the fundamental building blocks for a relationship. I already had a few friends without trust and that blew up in my face. I have no intention of making the same mistake again.” Owari frowned and stood up.
As he turned to leave Noel also stood up and walked over to him looping her arm through his. Like that the two walked out as if they didn’t care what else the others had to say. Because in the end they didn’t. Noel knew what he was talking about a moment ago and knew how much his relationships with his childhood friends affected him. He might have gotten over what happened in the sense that he no longer seemed to hold grudges. But his mind and emotions were still affected to some degree. She would never force him to go through that again, not even if it meant he would have a poor relationship with her father. Plus as she already said, she made her decision and now she was sticking to it.