"So… this human is not a person you love?"

"O-Of course not! How did you even come to that conclusion!" Melia retorted.

Alaric glanced at Orpheus.

"Don't look at me, I told you there is nothing like that."

"You had that expression on your face."

"What expression?" Orpheus questioned.

"…"

Alaric turned silent.

Who was he even talking to?

Orpheus was known for not showing any expression on his face. No one would believe him if he said he read his expression.

Alaric glanced at his niece who was still glaring at him.

Then, he glanced at Nux and his wives, who were looking at him with strange expressions on their faces.

"My dignity as the King…"

Alaric muttered.

He could see his dignity being crumbled away.

First, he was seen forcefully hugging his sister while he was being pushed away.

Then, he was bashed by his sister for forcefully entering Nux's Mind Space.

And now, he was being glared at by his niece.

And in all these situations, there was nothing he could do.

It was fine if it was only Orpheus, Ambrosia, and Melia, they were like a family, but…

"We can come later if you wish, Your Highness."

Nux spoke with a wry smile on his face.

Alaric glanced at Nux and in the end, he sighed,

"Alright, I will not embarrass myself any further. Let us start with the most concerning issue.

The Hunt you are planning,

I heard that you did not give a proper reason when you were asked, so I will respect your choice and will not ask any further.

I only have one question that I wish to ask.

This Clan you will be registering,

What position will Melia have in it?"

"She will be one of the founding partners."

"No, that is not what I am asking about, founding partner is just the names of people who were there first when the clan was formed. What will be Melia's position?

Or let me just be direct,

Will Melia be the Vice Leader of this Clan?"

Alaric questioned as he looked into Nux's eyes.

Nux narrowed his eyes as he glanced at Alaric, Ambrosia, Orpheus, and Melia,

"Would this answer affect your decision?"

Nux questioned back.

"It will not."

Melia was the one who answered this question.

Alaric was about to stop her, however,

"Uncle." Melia glanced at him and nodded.

Then, she turned towards Nux and spoke,

"But I do request that you make this decision, not based on your emotions, but after considering all the facts, advantages, and disadvantages. There should be no 'favorability' in the clan, and only the competent should get the important positions, that is a sign of a strong clan."

"How about I let you discuss it with the Vice Leader I had in my mind?

The two of you can talk it out, and once you are convinced that she has what it takes, you can select the competent one."

Nux offered.

"You seem confident." Melia smiled.

"Why do I feel like we have had this type of conversation before?" Nux smiled as well.

"…" Melia turned silent.

Nux smiled playfully, then, he stepped back and patted Amaya's back.

"You want to be the Vice Leader, don't you?"

Amaya questioned with a small smile on her face.

"I do feel that I deserve the position of the Vice Leader more than you do, yes." Melia nodded with her usual, expressionless face.

"Why do you feel that way? We have spent some time together now, I am sure it is not just you being arrogant thinking you deserve everything in this world. You are a smart woman who calculates everything before making a statement. : owner of this content.

So I would like to hear your reason."

"The Strong rules, the Weak is devoured.

I am stronger than all of you combined, I feel like that reason alone is enough, no?"

Melia replied.

"Then why don't you just get the title of the Strongest Clan Member?

What's the point of becoming the Vice Leader?

I am sure the respect and influence you would have as the Strongest would be higher than what a Vice Leader would have.

The world works on the principle of the Strong devouring the Weak, Melia.

But this is not the world we are talking about.

We are talking about our Clan here.

We do not have to 'Devour' the weak here, we need to pull them up together with us, so that in the future, we can 'Devour' our enemies.

A Vice Leader is not just an empty title, there are a plethora of things a Vice Leader has to do, honestly, it wouldn't be wrong to say that a Vice Leader needs to work even harder than a leader.

Just being strong is not enough,

Creating different Branches in the Clan with each Branch excelling in a different field, recruiting new clan members, dividing the members into different those Branches according to their talent, managing all the Branches, appointing different Branch leaders for each Branch, managing those leaders, ensuring the communication between the branches and the entire clan, ensure that the Clan Leader is updated with any major things going inside the clan, managing relationships with other Clans and Powers, you think you can do all that with strength alone?"

Amaya questioned as she looked into Melia's eyes.

This time, however, Melia's answer wasn't instantaneous.

Even Ambrosia, Alaric, and Orpheus were silent, in front of Amaya, Melia's argument sounded… weak.

"Everything you just mentioned, what makes you think I cannot do it?" Melia questioned.

"Well, for the starters, your argument only mentioned strength, but honestly,

Even if you could do all these things, it wouldn't matter."

"Why is that?" Melia narrowed her eyes.

"Because I know I will do a better job than you."

An open challenge.

"And how are you so sure about that?" Melia narrowed her eyes as she questioned.

"I am competent.

I can do everything that I mentioned, I know all of the members of this clan, I know what they specialize in, I know what their strengths, I know their weaknesses, I know who would be best for what job, I know how they would manage their respective branches, and I know how to keep them connected with each other.

And I am 100% sure I know all of this better than you do."

Amaya declared.