The reunion Veles was currently witnessing went the way he’d expected. It was the classic one where the older sibling showered the younger one with all the affection in the world, while the younger clearly didn’t show a spec of appreciation…

But sisters? Veles found it hard to believe. The woman currently enveloping Tora’s head and further pushing it into her rather large chest was very different from the currently suffocating alchemist girl.

Her first noticeable detail was the snow-white hair—completely different than Tora’s black. What further made her interesting was that the hair strands themselves were unusual. They were thicker than normal and had a strange silky sheen to them.

Yet, probably her most noticeable feature was her eyes. They were those slightly droopy, colored deep black without any pupils, just a single black orb standing amidst the white sclera.

Davis, who was standing next to him, nudged his elbow lightly and whispered, “I cannot sense her steps, even as she visibly took the heavy ones.”

Veles raised his eyebrow, slightly impressed by the first detail Davis had noticed, “If my guess is right, she should be something akin to Arachne.”

“A what?” Davis looked at him in bewilderment.

“Looks like you haven’t read a single book I’ve told you to…” Veles shook his head, “She is partially a spider kin. Mix between a human and humanoid spider…”

Seeing how his face fell, Veles immediately knew that gears inside Davis’s head were working on overload. Probably thinking something stupid. “Perish the thought and instead focus on actually learning something. Knowing different species is crucial. If you don’t learn their aspects or culture, you can easily get in trouble.”

At this moment, the affection shower that was happening up front ended…

“My, what do we have here,” said the white-haired woman. A smile colored her face, which didn’t match her serious look. “To think my little Tora would bring home two handsome gentlemen. What a surprise.”

Tora pushed herself away from her sister while gently slapping her hand away. “Stop teasing, sis!” Then she pointed at Veles. “Meet Veles, he is a Sorcerer I met on the way back,” She then switched to Davis. “His name is Davis, and he is an Elementalist.”

During their travels, they did introduce themselves. He’d figured out that there wasn’t a reason to lie to her or hide anything, she learned most of the stuff from that bounty anyway.

But seeing her sisters smile, that actually wasn’t one. Veles almost sighed.

“You just bumped into two rare classes. How interesting,” she then faced Tora. “Anyway, what brings you here? You weren’t supposed to return this early. Did something happen?”

Tora’s right foot was going in half circles, she suddenly found her own movement fascinating. “Well, I kinda messed up. You know, I found something interesting that I really wanted, and ruffians there said no even after I offered some good sum of money… Then you know. I decided, why not just take it?”

“And you got bounties on your head,” It wasn’t a question; it was a statement like she’d already known.

“Eh?” Seeing her sister’s knowing look. Tora gazed at her, confused.

“That idiot Randal appeared a week ago waving the papers of your bounty like it was your diploma or something to be proud of.”

“Brother Randal is here?” Tora asked, she expectantly looked at the doors of the mansion they were currently in front of.

“He left,” Her sister quickly denied, “You know him, he leaves and goes as he pleases.”

“Shame. It has been a long time since I saw him,” Tora then finally decided to go on the important matter, “Now, now, let’s ignore that. We came here looking for a place to rent. Can you offer us some of your estates, sis?”

“We?” Both Veles and Tora’s sister asked in unison.

Veles matched the white-haired woman’s look and said, “I have no idea what she is talking about.”

“What seems to be a problem?” Tora continued, aiming her next words at Veles, “We made a deal that you would help me with my alchemy tests. Obviously, we are going to live in the same place. I can’t be bothered to travel each time I need something from you.”

When Veles said he was willing to help with whatever Tora was trying to achieve—he could tell she had something specific in mind—he was expecting it to be like a once-a-week thing, where he would give her some help and even nudge her in the right direction until she reached her goal. However, he didn’t sign for something like this…

“That’s not the problem here,” Tora’s sister said. “I trust your instincts about these two. What worries me is you staying here in Acelia City…”

Hearing this, Veles was honestly more interested in the first part of her sentence. But he kept quiet and let them continue.

“What is going on?” Tora asked worriedly.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“You probably didn’t hear the details since you started your journey even before this happened. But that appearance of Heaven had thrown everything in dismay and this whole Forest of the Forgotten ordeal caused enormous chaos in the city,” Tora’s sister stopped as if remembering something. “I’ve figured out what we are going to do. Follow me. I will explain everything on the way.”

She turned around and faced the butler, who was quietly standing near the entrance of her mansion, “If anyone needs me, tell them I won’t be available for the next three hours.”

The butler gave a curtesy bow, “It shall be done, my lady. Do you perhaps require extra protection?”

“No need,” She replied, then scanned Veles and Davis, “These two gentlemen are all the protection we need. Am I right?”

“Absolutely,” Veles said with a smile. It was clear she was joking. She was in the Sixth Stage and a strong one at that. Let’s not even talk about all the jewelry she wore, which was actually numerous defensive artifacts—many of them were the same as Tora’s.

“Ah, yes,” she added, “Where are my manners. My name is Dalia Argusa Nora. It’s a pleasure meeting you, and I hope we can work together in the future.”

After a few more pleasantries, four of them exited her large estate and slowly walked through the wide sidewalk. They occasionally observed luxurious carriages being pulled by the exotic beasts, showcasing that this neighborhood was for those with deeper pockets. This also explained the general lack of people in the area. It lacked that life and busyness one would expect in the big city.

“Where was I?” said Dalia. She carried herself like a classical businesswoman. Her back was straight, and her every step oozed confidence. Her already good looks were further enchanted by her business attire, which suited her well. “The problems that Heaven’s appearance caused, yes.”

“To not bore you with the details,” Dalia continued, “For the first five days after it occurred. Every Seer, Diviner, or other Fate reading class reported that they weren’t able to get any readings. Everything was blank.” She then looked at Tora, “You are aware how that made all those power-hungry freaks in the city. They grew paranoid and started taking action.”

“Then, a few days later, those proficient with Astronomy reported that the stars weren’t aligned as they should. It was like a couple of seconds was suddenly missing—time didn’t match. And you know from history. When something like this happens, a great change is about to occur.”

“A great number of rare classes suddenly appeared. The ruling powers of all the nations in the union started taking matters into their own hands. People are hoarding materials and other commodities. Small skirmishes are occurring. And much more…”

“Whoa,” Tora exclaimed, “I heard about some of the problems. But all of that? Isn’t the situation awful then?”

“It is. Two of my estates have been attacked and practically razed to the ground,” Dalia said. Her voice was laced with anger. “And everything I got from officials was that whoever was a current resident of the estate was the target of the conflict. They said it had nothing to do with me. Even the banks are giving me a cold shoulder about the insurance. It’s clear someone is setting me up…”

“Did you contact father?” Asked Tora, her tone also carrying a trace of wrath.

“Of course I did. However, you know how he is. The only thing I got was basically ‘good luck’,” replied Dalia.

“We will continue with this later,” said Dalia, “We are here.”

They stood in front of a large gate. Beyond stood a pretty big garden with a not-so-small mansion in the middle.

“It’s basically just around the corner,” It was actually Davis who commented on this.

“I reserved this one for special occasions. So, I don’t mind allowing you to say here for now,” said Dalia.

Just as she was about to explain some things, a loud screech of a beast attracted their attention.

They turned around and faced a luxurious red carriage being dragged by a strange feathered horse. The door of a carriage was already opened, revealing a visage of a young blonde-haired man.

It took Veles a glance to understand what kind of person this newcomer was…

“How lucky must I be to come across two beautiful ladies of the Argusa family,” He said, his voice gentle and soothing.

But before the man could utter some more flattery. Tora, without missing a beat, coldly said, “Fuck off.”

Like she’d done a boring chore, she focused on her sister yet again, “Continue, sis.”

Amused by her behavior, Dalia obliged—this made it clear that this occurrence was common. She took the keys from the estate and reached for the gate. Treating the blonde man like an air.

Davis was visibly giving his all not to snicker and the man on the receiving end. It was really comical seeing the shock on his face.

But Veles didn’t really hold back. He had an amused smile, just as Dalia did. This was actually something one would expect out of Tora, after all, he’d seen similar behavior coming from her during their short time traveling.

Unfortunately, it seems the blondie didn’t take this very well. Not that Veles expected anything else, hell, he wanted what was about to come.

Finding the outlet of his frustration, the blondie’s gaze intensified as he carefully noted Veles’s appearance. Veles didn’t wear anything special. It was the same attire he wore during their travels, the usual mercenary set. And this detail seems to have given blondie an idiotic notion.

“I don’t see a reason for that expression,” he addressed the Veles’s ever-increasing smile. Despite his dissatisfaction, the blondie still maintained his dignified behavior.

“Sorry, but I really don’t want to waste my time on this.” That was all Veles said before he made direct eye contact with a man. The burst of mana reached his brain as he sent the strongest psychic attack his current self could muster.

Unfortunately for his target, he took this very poorly. Blondie looked momentarily dazed before his head fell forward and kissed the pavement in front of the carriage. The small bracelet adoring his hand loudly cracked and burst into pieces.

This sent the driver and an extra that served as security to immediately go into action. They unsheathed their swords and activated rows of runes around their limbs. But Dalia didn’t take this lightly either.

“You heard my sister,” She threateningly told the two men, “Fuck off.”

She let her mana run wild, making the men immediately understand that the situation wasn’t to their advantage.

Without any other option, they took a step back. They tucked in their unconscious ‘master’ and retreated away.

“Am I going to get into trouble because of this?” Asked Veles after they reached some distance away. He didn’t sound bothered at all.

“Probably not,” Dalia replied, her eyes narrowing. “That bastard was harassing Tora for a while, and he never crossed the line. Still, I would be careful if I was you.”

“He was about to say something that would force me to kill him,” Veles casually said. “This was kind of inevitable.”

“…” Dalia stopped what she was about to say, “Never mind. We need to have a serious talk anyway. Especially now, knowing you are a psychic.”

Raising his hand in surrender, Veles said, “It will be as you wish, Lady Dalia.”

Just as he said those words, a pitch-black owl landed elegantly on his left shoulder, its beak raised high as if the mare presence of those below were filth unworthy to stand before her.

Dalia opened her mouth in confusion at the sudden appearance of the strange bird, but before she could say anything, Tora beat her to it, “Don’t ask. Just don’t ask…”