The four of them went to the dining room. The house was quite quaint, there was a small but functional living room with a couch and coffee table as well as a reclining chair. There was little space between each room but the way it was laid out made it seem compact and not cramped. The dining room had a beautiful redwood table with matching chairs. Owari and Noel sat on one side while Kent and Maribelle sat on the other. Noel and Owari noticed that Kent showed no discomfort at this. He seemed to feel it was natural.
“So you two seem to get along.” Noel noted.
“Of course. We are going to get married one day.” Maribelle said excitedly.
“At first I was a little awkward and wasn’t sure how to take all of this. But I’ve gotten used to it. My main problem was how much younger than me she is, but honestly she is more mature than she looks.” Kent replied.
“She was 14 before right? She should be close to 16 now. After all she is three or so years younger than us.” Noel seemed to think of something. “Weren’t you two supposed to get married around this time?” She asked.
“I turn 16 in a month.” Maribelle said calmly.
“I suppose it’s almost time.” Kent tried to seem calm but he was clearly nervous.
“Well is there going to be a wedding?” Noel asked curiously.
“Unfortunately my family has unique wedding procedures. We only host weddings at the family compound which is a secret. Obviously that means we can’t invite guests.” She seemed to feel it was a shame.
“That’s too bad.” Noel was disappointed.
“It truly is.” Maribelle said depressedly, she wanted to have as many people see it as possible. In fact she wanted a wedding similar to Noel and Owari’s.
“So that means that Kent has gained your family's trust. For them to let him know where the main compound is.” Owari was impressed. It probably wasn’t easy.
“With his age and rank it wasn’t hard. It would be weird if our number one genius didn’t know where the main family lived. Plus he has done a number of missions for the family and eagerly helps anyone and everyone who needs it.” Maribelle was quite happy to brag about Kent.
“Impressive.” Noel nodded. It was indeed hard to gain the trust of a family like this. He would probably have worked hard.
“I was just doing what I wanted.” Kent argued. He was just doing what came naturally to him.
“Even more of a reason why we should trust you.” Maribelle shot back.
“Fine, I admit defeat.” Kent didn’t bother to argue.
“How has your aquila been?” Owari asked.
“It’s been good. It’s at high gold now. It grew quite big too. It can’t jump on my back anymore which is nice.” He chuckled.
“It’s quite a beautiful aquila too. It takes good care of its feathers.” Maribelle also said.
“So it’s a lot like my snake.” Owari laughed.
“Your snake?” Maribelle was curious.
“I have a hydra blooded snake. It has a lot of pride and cleans its scales at every opportunity.” Owari explained.
“Sounds exactly like Uriel.” Kent said. “That’s his name.” He answered before they asked.
“Some beasts are prideful despite being tamed huh?” Noel would have been surprised had she not already witnessed Hebi for herself. “I wouldn’t know anything about that with Scythe and Guillotine. They act like common house pets.”
“What type of beasts are those?” Maribelle was curious.
“Scythe is a weasel, and Guillotine is a white tiger.” When she mentioned the first one Maribelle was curious, but the second one stunned her.
“You mean like the apex beast?” She was a bit surprised. But then she recalled who Noel was. Not to mention Owari just mentioned having a hydra blooded snake.
“Of course. It acts more like a house cat though.” Noel chuckled.
“How envious. I wish I had a beast of my own.” Maribelle sighed.
“I’ve been wondering for a while, but you aren’t a tamer are you?” Owari asked curiously. He didn’t sense any strength from her. She was no different from an ordinary person. In fact she seemed even weaker than normal.
“Ah, how did you know?” She was again surprised. But then she again recalled who they were and it became obvious that they would be able to tell. “In fact was born with a weak constitution. I have very little mana, and my body struggles to accept more no matter how much I meditate. On top of that I have a weak body since I am so small. Because of that the beasts I can tame are all weak and have too little affinity.”
“That’s rather unfortunate.” Noel didn’t know what else to say other than to offer condolences.
“Do they know what’s wrong with you?” Owari was curious.
“The doctors aren’t sure. No matter what method they used, no medicine could cure me.” She seemed somewhat forlorn as she talked about this.
“I see.” Owari didn’t pry further.
“Well then, how about we talk about something else?” Kent interrupted and brought the conversation back on track. After that they made some small talk until Noel and Owari decided to leave.
After that Owari and Noel left the two alone and made their way off to a guest house on the Aquila estate. They had received one on behalf of the Aquila family after they left Kent and Maribelle. They were quite professional to have known where they were. It was clear they were keeping tabs on them. Though all three of them knew that was the case. It was hard to slip things by a person who can sense movement and a person who can sense your aura.
They passed the next few days lazing around waiting for the party. There was no need to go out and do things. They had seen all the city had to offer the last time they were here. Once the time came the two of them prepared and made their way to the party venue. Being in the same area where said venue was meant they arrived quite quickly, and as usual they were both early. Only Aquila family members were here. They showed no surprise at Owari and Noel’s arrival. Most people now knew they were the first to arrive at such parties.
After a while people started to flood in. Owari and Noel stood in place and waited for others to come and greet them first, there would be a lot of people hoping to talk to them and it would be tiring to go meet all of them themselves. The only ones they would make a point of going over to themselves would be their closer friends. Unfortunately, all of the people they met for training were too old to come. Other than them there weren't many people they knew. After all everyone here was mostly younger than them. Some were the same age, but that was rare.
“Should we have brought Erica after all?” Noel said a bit lonely.
“She didn’t want to come.” Owari replied back.
“I know, but she is a gold rank. Surely we could have convinced her.” Noel didn’t give up.
“We could. But we didn’t want to force her. This isn’t her type of thing after all.” Owari and Noel knew Erica wasn’t the type to socialize.
“Too bad. I wonder how shocked people would be to find out someone who only just turned 16 was already gold ranked.” Noel chuckled.
“Probably too shocked for words.” Owari laughed.
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“That would have been entertaining.” Noel thought about it and found it funny.
“Still, she grew quite fast.” Owari had been shocked when he tested her.
“Indeed. It probably has to do with the Sapphire Agency. They did give her the best water affinity sword technique. With her sword talent she was easily able to adapt it to a katana. I still can’t believe how good she is with a sword.” Noel had seen how Erica had been able to split open a boulder with a wooden sword.
“Even I wasn’t that good until I was older.” Owari was full of praise for this student of his.
“Still though, it will be a long time before she reaches platinum rank at this rate.” Noel was a bit disappointed.
“There’s no helping it. We already agreed not to use the dangerous method with her. We should still take her hunting for a magical beast when we get back. She refused to take any of the ones I found for her unless she tamed them herself.” Owari felt it was a shame. He could probably have convinced the beasts to faithfully serve her with some effort.
“What type did she say she wanted?” Noel asked curiously. Erica’s water affinity was strong enough for now, she needed a sub affinity now to complete her mystic art.
“She wants the light affinity.” Owari answered.
“Not dark like you?” Noel was surprised.
“Light has sharper motions while dark is too fluid. She already has water for fluidity. She needs something that can cut fast and sharp.” Owari had to convince her though. Her mystic art wanted light affinity not dark. And while it was possible to replicate one’s effects with the other they would have slightly different properties.
“But your dark techniques are very sharp.” Noel didn’t know a lot about different affinities.
“That’s because dark can still be sharp. However because of its fluid nature it stays together better than light which is important for my spirit art. If it was light instead it would collapse more quickly.” Owari explained.
“I see.” Noel knew she would forget all about that anyway so she stopped asking. It wasn’t really her thing.
“You should study more. Otherwise when you fight you’ll get caught off guard.” Owari chided her.
“Don’t wanna.” She answered back childishly.
Owari just sighed, unfortunately some people stopped by around this time interrupting their rare bit of private time. They continued to talk to various people, slowly making their way through the day. They were somewhat glad this would be their last time coming to these parties. After the day was over Noel and Owari went back to the guest house and slept. When they woke up the next morning they were still exhausted but still made their way to Kent’s. They still had a promise to upkeep.
They spent the next few weeks coaching Maribelle on how to take care of her house and how to cook. Meanwhile Owari would take Kent out and distract him by hanging out around town and blowing away the day. It was actually quite fun and Kent was surprised to see how laidback Owari really was. It was quite the eyeopener as he had spent little time with Owari outside of training.
When all was said and done Maribelle had learned quite well. It seemed she had a knack for housework, it shouldn’t be too big a surprise seeing as how she was quite passionate about learning. It was rare for her to find something she had a chance of being useful at so she was quite thrilled to find something she could do. Although it was tiring, it wasn’t too bad for her. She may be weaker than most people, but on average people were quite tough and could do this kind of work without breaking a sweat.
After her training was over it was time to go home. They all bid farewell to one another and Owari and Noel got on the train. They took first class so they would have a private room to talk in. “So what do you think the Osiris family is gonna do?” Owari asked once they were alone.
“I’m not sure. They are basically at the corner, there’s nowhere left to go. It should be about time they bit back.” Noel said casually.
“The question is what kind of bite they’ll make.” Owari looked out the window and drummed his fingers against the armrest.
“Is it that serious?” Noel knew Owari well enough to know he was taking this seriously.
“Of course. I have a bad feeling about this. There wasn’t a single Osiris member at the party. Something is happening in the background. Howling Wulf also didn’t show up. Didn’t you notice?” Owari was surprised.
“I wasn’t paying attention.” Noel said embarrassedly.
“You’re cute when you’re flustered.” Owari chuckled.
“Get to the point, smooth talker.” Noel pouted.
“There were a few other families and agencies missing as well. Clearly they coordinated. And they’re all building forces while hiding them. This can’t be good no matter how you look at it.” Owari shook his head.
“What do you think will happen?” Noel asked curiously.
“One of two things. Either they are building up forces to go accomplish something big to get the backing of the government to back off against the people suppressing them. Or…” Owari trailed off as he was unsure whether to say it.
“Or what?” Noel was surprised, Owari rarely left things unsaid.
“Or they’re building up to attack something or someone.” Owari shrugged.
“Who?” Noel was shocked. Nobody was brazen enough to all out attack anyone else. There were laws for a reason.
“I don’t know. Probably the big families. Write a letter to your grandfather and warn him. I’ll write to our other allies. We need to be prepared for something big to happen.” Owari shook his head. He had a feeling he was going to have a lot of headaches soon enough.
“Alright. I’ll get on it right away.” Noel got out some paper and a pen. She could tell how serious this was.
Time passed after that. The days turned into weeks, which became months. Owari received a letter from Max in April. His wedding was in May, and he was inviting them. Owari sent a letter back saying he and Noel would be there. It was set to take place in Vermillion city in the Phoenix territory. Both the Vermillion and Aquila family took up residence there making it a rather prosperous territory.
When the time came Noel and Owari once more took a train over to the Phoenix territory. It took longer than going to Kent’s home city since it was further in the territory, but the city was quite nice. Noel and Owari walked around looking at the various buildings and architecture. They also observed the people curiously who inspected them back. Like always they certainly stuck out. Things had finally died down in Leviathan city. About half a year ago people had stopped constantly having their attention drawn to the two. They had finally all seen enough of them.
Noel and Owari arrived only a few days before the wedding and soon the date in question arrived and the two made their way to the ballroom in which the wedding and reception would take place. Just like Noel and Owari they were going functional over anything else. Why put them in two separate spaces when you have one large pretty space?
The two of them arrived early and made their way into the hall to check things out. Mostly they went inside to let Morgana join the servants and help out. They were grateful for the help though they were a bit hesitant to let someone else help as it was their job. However after seeing Morgana’s skills they quickly fell into her rhythm as she masterfully directed everything to be perfect. She was as skilled as always. Now that Owari and Noel were mid platinum they knew Morgana was at least low electrum ranking as well.
Soon all the guests had arrived and the wedding began. It went rather smoothly. Max and his fiancee Octavia were married within an hour. It was fast-paced much like the bride. She didn’t seem interested in dragging things out. Mostly because someone had convinced her to wear a real wedding dress. That person being Max who was insistent on it. The only way he could convince her was if she was allowed to dress casually for the reception.
The reception also went well. Everyone enjoyed their time there and before anyone knew it the day was over. Owari and Noel made their way back to the house the Vermillion family loaned them and slept through the night. They were on a train back home the very next day. They wanted to go rest up and soon it would be their birthday, as well as their anniversary. They wanted to spend it together relaxing at home.
Soon they were home, Owari decided to spend some time with his beasts in the meantime before his birthday, it was still a little bit off after all. It would only take a day or two to distract himself with his beasts and he felt he had been neglecting them recently. He started with Draco who he brought out away from the road. The drake flew around as Owari chased after it using wind walk, the two played for a few hours. Sometimes they would play tag, and for some of the time Owari simply groomed its scales.
Next was Hebi, he dragged the serpent out to a nearby river and let it play. Though the hydra would never agree that it was playing. It was merely ‘washing its scales’ as it was saying over the link. The hydra was growing smarter by the day and it was getting closer to evolving. Owari would bring it back some of the meat from hunts for it to eat, as well as the mana imbued feed he bought for it. This allowed it to slowly accumulate mana and prepare for its evolution. Owari was planning on bringing it out to let it have a few meals when he hunted as well as to train it.
The next day Owari played with Garm and Feng together. They were the easiest as they played with one another mostly. The two got along amazingly, Feng would turn the ground into a marsh which Garm would play around in. They enjoyed their little play for a while. After they were done Owari cleaned and brushed Garms hair which it enjoyed thoroughly. As for Feng he would hose him down and clean its skin with some soap and a brush. Of course the soap was entirely safe for the salamanders skin.
After playing with those beasts all that was left was Mirra. Owari sat under the tree with his back to it and pulled out a canvas and painting materials. He spent the entire third-day painting various landscapes he could think of and allowing the treant to view them both on the canvas followed by memory fragments. This satisfied the treant’s desire to see the world as well as its laziness and lack of a desire to move. As time went on Mirra realized it enjoyed staying still over moving even if it could move. It was the instinct it had as a tree.
After that Owari brought Erica out to test her skills. “Have you improved?” He asked her.
“Not significantly.” She replied seriously.
“Alright, try and attack me and let me see for myself.” Owari didn’t fully trust her word. She would always say the same thing.
She pulled out her sword and prepared a horizontal strike. When she swung her sword it was surrounded by water. Along the arc of the blade water coalesced before rushing at Owari. The stream of water took the shape of a serpent trying to bite down on him. He held out his hand and used his phantom cloak to cover his body. The serpent bit down on him before being blasted to bits as if it hit a brick wall.
Owari then waited for the next attack. Erica did as she was expected of and rushed him. Her body flashed blue as she rushed at a speed even faster than Owari had been at her age. Her water affinity allowed her to push her body beyond a normal person's limits and pull more out of her muscles. When she reached Owari her arms flashed blue as she swung her sword. Owari lifted his arm in the path of the blade, when it collided with his arm it stopped dead and a loud crack rang out as the blade chipped.
“You still need practice with the force redirection method. This time swing with less force. We’ll slowly up the strength as you succeed. Again.” Owari waited and soon she attacked again with less force. Over time she increased the force as he blocked using just his arm coated in a little metal mana and phantom mana.
After finishing the training Erica was much better at the force redirection method though she needed some training still. The truth of the matter was that she was a gold rank mostly because of her advanced mystic art as opposed to her martial arts. She was only mid silver with martial arts, but she was high silver with mystic arts. This was how she achieved gold rank. Owari wasn’t pleased with this and was extra strict with her martial arts training. It could be said his show of absolute power over her was quite cruel as it showed just how much weaker she was then him.
Soon enough it was Owari and Noel’s birthday/anniversary. They laid on the couch together relaxing wondering what to do. They were both feeling lazy and mostly just snuggled on the couch while talking about nothing in particular. By this point Morgana’s new home was built so they no longer had to worry about her presence which made it easier to relax and do as they liked. They spent the entire day in their nightclothes, or lack thereof in Noel’s case, and enjoyed the day.
After the day was over not much happened until a little over a week passed. Owari got a few letters during the week and all of them had troubling information. There was movement not just from the Osiris family, but from nearly every faction. It turned out everyone was slowly being grouped into separate factions.
There were Owari’s allies which had slowly come together through him, there was the Osiris family and their allies which was mostly made up of newer large families and agencies with something to prove, then there were the more neutral faction, and finally there was the government. The most troubling of these was the government. They were starting to horde supplies such as food and water as well as weapons and armor. It was like they were preparing for war.
Owari read the letters carefully and considered a few things. In the end he realized he was only partly responsible for this outcome. While it was true he triggered the Osiris family into doing something drastic, it was clear this was something years in the making. The various factions had been chafing for some time. The fact that everyone had been trying to make allies in recent times showed that something was going on. Like how all of those different families and agencies tried to befriend Owari.
The only thing Owari had done was cement the different factions' stances with one another. By having larger agencies and families suppress a smaller one, the other smaller ones grew afraid and banded together under the coaxing of the Osiris family. The older families and agencies on the other hand were always close, so they banded together, it helped that most of them had some connection to Owari. As for the neutral faction, it was made up of the remaining families and agencies who were merely doing their own thing and had little interest in the politics behind all of this.
The government however was a surprise. Owari didn’t expect them to move. They usually stayed out of the business of the hunter groups. Their job was mostly public safety and security. From what the letters said it could be seen they were getting sick of their passive role in their own country. They wanted to have more power and had been secretly building up forces to show they deserve respect. Overall it was a massive headache for Owari. He rubbed his temples, he knew something bad was about to happen, as did all of his allies. It was only a matter of when and where.