"Master, the letter from the Queen has arrived." Said Meleas as she entered the training ground with a letter in her hand.
It had been almost two whole weeks since Aiden and co had started staying at one of the palace residencies. Their life had been normal with Aiden starting his daily practices and studying. A few rules were placed in the meantime in the house and these rules were, no outsiders were permitted within the house and all letters were to be placed in the nearest mailbox which was collected everyday by one of his angels.
The other rule was not to wear masks in the house and to let everyone in on discussions and meetings that took place in the house. This was quite odd for the ladies because typically, senior angels and higher ups usually discusses topics of discussion among members of equal ranking before passing to the lower and worker angels who carried their jobs dot to dot.
But Aiden was different, his strategy was inclusion and discussion as he said and, in this strategy, he wanted to compensate for his inexperience with knowledge and discussion. It was a little idiotic to them but Aiden simply liked to have each of them talk with one another.
Aiden's daily training includes swordsmanship training, endurance training and strength training and today was no different with Alice training him. She was his physical and weapon instructor while Ashriel was his language and magic instructor.
"O-okay! One minute!" he shouted as he dodged the incoming attacks from Alice while trying to stabilize himself but he didn't last more than a few minutes. After taking three consecutive hits from Alice, Aiden fell back on his hips, his hands fully sore and red.
"Your reflexes have improved quite a lot, Master." Alice said as she helped him up.
"Thanks, but can you not hit me that hard, Alice." He replied as he rubbed his thoroughly sore arms. He looked at Meleas and said in a slightly apologetic tone, "Sorry for the wait, Meleas but do sit down and have some fruit while I wash my face." He indicated towards the temporary table which had been set in the training ground.
Meleas nodded her head and sat down promptly followed by Alice who took a small apple and started to eat it. Aiden returned shortly after and passed a cluster of grapes to Meleas when he saw that she was sitting silently.
"Have some." He said smiling as he took the letter and a green apple. He tore open the envelope and started reading it with interest. In the meantime, Alice turned to Meleas and engaged in a small talk.
"How's the outside?" she asked while chewing on her apple. Without her mask, Alice looked quite beautiful with her milky-white fairness and smooth texture, her blonde hair tied in a pony tail and her large blue eyes filled with vigor and energy. Her face was a little oval-shaped with an almost perfect nose-bridge and pink lips.
Meleas on the other hand, had a light chocolate shade with distinct brown pupils and long black hair tied in a knot. Her face wasn't as smooth as Alice and she had light freckles around her nose but her phoenix like eyes and rounded face gave her a graceful look.
Now, you might be thinking that their hair color was blonde previously in the Queen's Throne Room, so how could her hair be black now? And the reason for that is, faction.
Every Senior Angel in heaven have their own factions with member angels who have to follow the rules of the faction. A faction could've more than one Senior Angel but there can only be One Head Angel with a distinctive mask.
In Heaven's hierarchy, masks are one of the factors which determine an angel's rank. The more intricate and powerful their mask, the more powerful their faction is. Aiden, by rank and bloodline is one of the higher Senior Angels but since his raw strength and cultivation base is way too low, it has degraded his rank temporarily to the Low Rank.
These masks also hide the facial feature and other characteristics like hair color with every member of a faction having the same hair color and other same key characteristics. But after unequipping the mask, these little illusions all disappear and they recover their original features.
Meleas bit the skin of the grape she was eating and said in a worried tone, "Master's prediction came true with the Southern border. The Veronica Witch Dynasty's Delta Legion Corps were sited way inside the Xerith border. It seemed like they have passed the garrison cities which were garrisoned by the 3rd Legion Corps. The War Council of Xerith is predicting that they are surrounding the garrison cities and waiting for other Legion Corps of the Veronica Witch Armies, mostly the Alpha or Beta Legion Corps.
Fortunately, the 9th and the 10th Legion Corps were on hold ever since Master warned the Queen of a possible incursion and have moved out the moment they got the information. I've also heard Archduke Theodore Emory has also moved out with his armies to the Southern border to counter the threat." Meleas gave a detailed report of her findings.
Alice shrugged her shoulders and said, "They should've listened to what Master said and moved their forces right when he warned them. They might've even caught the Delta Corps unaware." She said but Aiden only laughed at her proposal.
"If they had done that then we wouldn't be getting this letter now, would we. In fact, my only reason for warning them was to get them on their edges. I didn't think that Queen Isabella was idiotic enough to listen to a toddler's war advice right off the bat." He said as he folded the letter back and placed it on the table.
He looked at Alice and said, "Alice, please call the others for a small meeting. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes. Also bring a map, if you happen to come across."
"Will do and as for the map, Ashriel always have one on her," she said as she stood up and went inside the residence with the apple in her hand.
She returned soon enough with the other three, Ashriel, Carmel and Jadiel. Just like Alice and Meleas, the three of them too were a beauty of a different level. Carmel and Jadiel were in reality twin sisters with a more rounded face with a purplish-pink hair and light orange hair respectively. They were shorter compared to the rest at a height of 150s cm and were on a little scrawny side. But given their weapon of proficiency being blunt weapon like maces, one cannot underestimate their strength. Another way of distinguishing who is who is by their hairstyle. Carmel, the one '2' is slightly taller by a few centimeters with a more forward and positive attitude and with a feather cut bob hairstyle. While Jadiel was more of a timid personality with a short ponytail.
Both of them were currently wearing cooking aprons and were in charge of cooking in the house since no maids or chefs were allowed in.
Ashriel was Aiden's magic instructor and the one with the most grace and intelligent in the team. She was quite tall, reaching almost the height of Alice at 160s but was on a little skinny side. Her face was also oval-shaped but her eyes were a deep purple from the constant usage of Mana and magic during her childhood. Unlike the others, who had a more positive and social traits, Ashriel was a typical bookworm and would spend days inside a book if it caught her interest. She was a Master Mage and her magic construct were both beautiful and deadly, always able to mesmerize Aiden until he couldn't think of anything other than magic.
Her curiosity in books also ignited a small curiosity in Aiden's heart but since most of the books in circulation are written in Noble Tongue and not Commoner's Tongue, Aiden had to learn the Noble's Tongue before he could actually read the books. Unfortunately, in that aspect, Aiden has made far lesser strides than other subjects because even though Ashriel was a talented Mage and powerful fighter she wasn't a good teacher as one would expect.
The four of them sat down and Carmel immediately dived her hand into the fruit basket to look for any pears, she was mad about pears it seemed to be.
"D-don't be so disrespectful infront of Master!" Jadiel said in a reprimanding tone but Aiden stopped her with a laugh, "Don't be so tense. Have some fruit too, both of you." He said as he pushed the basket towards her.
Her face, which seemed to be in a perpetual state of blush, blushed some more as she picked a few grapes from one of the clusters.
Aiden turned towards Ashriel and asked for the map. He placed the map on the table and looked at it carefully for a few minutes before marking a few places with a pencil.
"Whazzat Master?" asked Carmel as she took a few bites from her pear.
"Our first territory, home territory." He replied as he pointed towards the marked location.
"Arife, Silvershire, Bouvin, Orsart and Felusia… wait, isn't that the Northern Frontier?" she asked with a frown.
"Yep. It seems like the Queen thinks a little too highly of me. In the letter, she says that these five cities belong to Earl of Arife, Sir Chester Tyrrell of the Tyrrell family and it seems like he is the only one who has agreed to enter my House of Marchelle, the Protector of North."
"House of Marchelle. That's the name we got?!!" Carmel froze in her spot while the others looked quite astonished at the name. As for Aiden, he only shrugged his shoulders and continued on, "Well, I don't have a problem with the name. Our emblem seems to be an inverted pentagon with a sword passing through an olive crown in the middle with a dragon and lion on either side of it. Hmm… dragons…"
Typically, dragons are frowned upon by Angels and other Heavenly creatures because of their alleged connection with the Devil and it seemed like the Queen Isabella was taking her revenge on them by giving them such an emblem. Well, it did look cool so Aiden didn't really have a problem with it again but almost all of the other girls were against it.
"Nope! That's not happening!"
"Definitely! We're not going to have a dragon in our emblem for god's sake!"
"This is blasphemy on a whole new level."
"I-I agree on that, Master…"
"I will agree on whatever Master says."
The five of them said one after another but he only shrugged his shoulders and said, "Meh! It's not like we're colluding with the Devil or something. Also, the other emblem is kinda lame…" he said.
"What's the other emblem?" asked Alice with a twinkle in her eyes.
"A stag with an olive branch in its mouth. Nope! I'm definitely not having that!" he said firmly as he tossed the other emblem away. The girls didn't object but Carmel pouted and said lightly, "Now, we're laughingstock of the Heavens…"
Aiden rolled his eyes and went on, "Oh! Another fact, it seems like in order to be a Kaiser and officially and permanently own my House later on, I need to be of Noble descent. Hmm… that's interesting." He said but Carmel just shrugged her shoulders and said, "Well, what's the big deal with that? Master's a Senior Angel which is way higher than a simple noble."
"Welp! That's not how it works, isn't it Ashriel?"
"Yes, Master. In the Plane of Existence, one is called of Noble Descent if he is the born as a son or daughter of a main branch of a noble family. So, technically, even though Master is a Senior Angel, since he's born of low descent, he can't ever be a Kaiser. Normally."
"Normally?"
She smiled and went on, "Well, I said normally because that applies to the common people with no background. But if some talented person wanted to join a noble family, he can become an adopted son or daughter of the family and partially inherit the noble descent. By partial, I mean, he's officially of noble descent but in the noble's circle, he's more of a half-breed.
I believe that Master has been asked to become the adopted son of this… Tyrrell family, is it not?"
Aiden nodded his head. "That is what it is." He replied, "The Queen says that in order for me to have all the necessary qualification and given the fact that the Tyrrell family doesn't have any direct heir currently, she had made me the adopted son and the next-in-line of the Tyrrell family. Without my consent, obviously." He smiled lightly to which the other girls looked flabbergasted. They kind of understood the logic but ding everything without even telling them, the Queen was quite bossy.
"Is there anything else, Master?" Ashriel said, sounding impatient to which Aiden said, "Well, other than this she says that she will send one of her spare regiments to me as a sign of good faith and to give me some military protection in and around there. Welp, I'm not sure they can be very good." He said in a bittersweet tone.
"Do you want us to check on the regiment, Master?" Meleas asked and Aiden nodded his at her proposal. "Not only that, I also want you to scour the capital for any material or resource we would need. Carmel and Jadiel will help you on that. We would also need carriages, food and horses and whatnot. I suspect this trip to the North can be a bit troublesome considering the ruckus we made two weeks ago and therefore we should all take as much precaution as we can."
"B-but Master, wouldn't our finances take a big hit? The Gold that were gifted to us by Lord Scribe i-is not good enough to cover all our expenses in the trip." Jadiel said a little hesitatingly at first.
Aiden thought for a while and said, "Well, don't worry about the finances. This evening me and Alice would take trip to the Kauffman House and let's see whether we can gather some funds. If not, I will directly ask the Queen for some."
"O-okay…"
…