Days later, Aella opened her eyes at the tail end of their journey, silently meditating until their car made its way to the house of the Davis family, rather slowly at that.
The journey to Seraphina’s house was a peaceful one, marked by the gentle hum of the city waking up to a new day. The city had all but returned to normalcy at this point with the caveat of most businesses closing early due to the events that still lay fresh in the minds of the citizens.
Aella, Anastasia, and Cid arrived just as the morning sun painted the sky in soft hues of pink and gold, leaving them both awe-struck by the scene.
With a dumbfounded expression, Aella asked, “That’s… That’s Seraphina’s house?”
Cid’s expression was similar but muted. In front of them was a massive mansion, one Aella couldn’t comprehend being in the middle of a massive city.
And yet, it just worked. It didn’t look out of place or anything. She still wasn’t fully used to the architecture of this world, even after living here for nearly a decade.
‘Forget a mansion… That is a WHOLE ASS CASTLE!’ Aella thought to herself, not even bothering to try and hide her surprise.
Aella’s house was large. Larger than what your average middle-class family could afford, sure. This was classes higher than her house. It had a massive and intrusive front gate leading to its yard.
In her past life, only the highest-ranked nobles got to live in a residence this big! The worst part for Aella was that she’d seen bigger houses in pictures. This is still pretty small compared to what those million and billionaires live in.
Exiting their vehicle and entering the premises of her best friend’s house, Aella, and co were quickly and warmly greeted at the door by the Fallen bundle of energy known as Seraphina and her parents.
Anastasia exchanged pleasantries with Indigo and Blair, her demeanor both friendly and assured. “Thank you for having us,” she said with a smile. “I’m sure the kids will love it here. As much as I hate to say it, I don’t let them get out much.”
Blair nodded with a chuckle, her eyes kind. “As overprotective as ever, huh, Anna. Well, of course, we’re always happy to have them. Sera has been looking forward to it.”
Although she said this, Seraphina hid behind Blair, her eyes glancing between Aella and Cid, the latter of which also hiding behind someone, in his case Aella.
After a few moments of conversation, Anastasia turned to her children. “Aella, take good care of your brother, okay? I’ll be back in a couple of days.”
‘I’ll consider it.’
“Don’t worry, Mama! We’ll be fine!” Aella cheered, pushing her intrusive thoughts to the back of her mind.
With a final wave, Anastasia departed, leaving Aella to navigate the social dynamics of the day. She turned her attention to Cid and then Seraphina, quickly taking account of the apprehension both children seemed to have toward each other.
‘I expected this from Cid but was Seraphina the shy type? She took to me rather quickly. Perhaps because I saved her?’
Pondering how to mediate this situation for a few moments, Aella placed her hand on Cid’s head, ruffling his feathery hair. “Cid, this is Seraphina. She’s really nice and has the coolest dragon ever!” Aella said before realizing that Stormy was glaring daggers at her.
“Besides Stormy, of course!” She quickly corrected herself with a nervous chuckle.
Stormy, still narrowing his eyes at Aella but satisfied with her answer, returned to resting and pretending to be her scarf.
Without noticing himself, Cid ended up chuckling slightly at the antics of his elder sister and her partner before peeking at Seraphina. The mood was lightened, and he was more willing to interact with the girl. He didn’t think Seraphina would lie to him.
Seraphina, for her part, offered a faint smile but said nothing, her hands fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.
Noticing the hesitation, Indigo let out a small chuckle, “Well, no use standing outside. Please, come on in. Have either of you had breakfast yet?”
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Aella shook her head in response, taking up his offer of entering into their house. “We left early, so we didn’t have a chance.”
Just as she had thought, the inside was just as intricate as the outside, if not more. Minimalistic white walls were sparsely decorated with unique artworks, glass windows, and just about everywhere, and more stairs in eyeshot than Aella was willing to count.
“Alright, make yourselves at home. I’ll whip something up for you kids.” Indigo said before walking off.
Waving as he walked away, Aella once again looked at the other kids. “So what should we do first? Ah, can I introduce Cid to Aetherion?”
Her words caused Blair to raise an eyebrow. What she was doing was pretty obvious to the older woman, but she couldn’t figure out why. It was clear Aella wanted to naturally take the chance to deal with Aetherion’s rebellion like she said she would, but that seemed out of character for Aella.
The only thing she could think of was that Aella didn’t wanna bother explaining how she knew about Aetherion’s situation to Seraphina.
‘Actually, yeah. That seems like her.’ Blair mused, thinking about it for a second time.
“Ah… Uhm… Aetherion is a little… Busy right now?” She said, unsure of herself.
Pretending to be confused, “Oh? What do you mean? Did something happen?” Aella inferred.
“Aetherion has been more and more aggressive after he reached the 2nd rank,” Blair stated bluntly, not seeing a reason to drag this out.
“Mama!” Seraphina pouted. “What if Aella thinks I’m bad at managing my Dragon?!”
That wasn’t the response Blair or Seraphina were expecting, causing the latter to giggle.
“The fact that Aetherion listened to you in general, considering the size difference, already proves how good you are, though? If he stopped listening to now, you just need to discipline him!” Aella stated resolutely.
“D-discipline him? How?”
With a confident smile on her face, Aella turned to Cid. “Hey, Cid! You wanna see how cool this big sister is?”
For some odd reason, a sense of foreboding engulfed Cid whenever Aella asked him this, but he nodded nonetheless.
Nervous, Seraphina shook her head. “That’s too dangerous!” Resolving herself to not tell Aella where Aetherion was currently being held.
“So was saving you from two grown men, but I did that anyway.” Aella teased.
“T-that’s different!”
‘No… No, it’s not Seraphina…’ Aella continued to chuckle inwardly.
“The big guy is in the training facility.”
“MAMA!”
“YOU HAVE A TRAINING FACILITY?!”
Both Seraphina and Aella shouted in unison, startling Cid a little bit. He understood, though, if not for his circumstances, he’d probably show a greater reaction than Aella. After all, having a whole training facility was simply ludicrous.
“Seraphina… Remember what I taught you about contracts?” Blair interjected.
“Uhm… To always make sure that the other party is upholding their end of the bargain before giving it your 100 percent?”
“That’s right!” Blair clapped. “Just think of this like that, okay?”
Seraphina and Cid glanced at each other, seemingly mutually acknowledging that neither of them had any idea what that was supposed to mean, but she went with it.
“Thanks for that, Aunty Blair~,” Aella said, making sure only Blair heard her words.
Blair nearly fell forward off the wall she was leaning on when Aella called her Aunty before letting out a sigh and a serene smile.
‘I’ll play the villain for you this time, Aella.’
“Follow me. Watch your step, though.” Blair clapped once again, taking the leader of the children who followed behind her like ducklings.
She took the group deep underground, which made sense considering how large Aetherion was as an infant. Aella could only imagine how large he was now that he increased his rank.
‘Speaking of. Why was his gaining of a rank delayed? Seraphina should have hit level 25 before the final reward calculation, I think. Is it because of Aetherion being a 10th Tier Dragon?’
While in her thoughts, Cid pushed himself closer to Seraphina, worried about the long distance.
Reassuring him, Aella made sure to reciprocate, holding him close with her smile not wavering in the slightest.
“Nobody can hurt you with me around. Be it a boss monster of the most powerful dungeon or a massive dragon!” Aella cheered, using the same trick to make it so her words only reached Cid’s ears.
He nodded, smiling slightly at the confidence Aella exuded.
‘I need to be more like Big Sis!’ He thought to himself stalwartly.
“We’re here. Are you prepared, Little Aella?” Blair asked as the group arrived at a pair of double doors not nearly large enough to let Aetherion in or out.
Manifesting her fan and holding it to her mouth like the true Ojou-sama she was, Aella nodded.
“A minuscule issue. That aside, however... This might be a little late, but is it okay if I rough up Aetherion a little bit?” She asked Seraphina.
Seraphina wasn't sure how to react at first. She knew this was what Aella meant when she mentioned discipline, and she knew Aella was strong, but was she truly capable of beating Aetherion? "Uhm... As long as both of you are safe after." She answered hesitantly.