Silvana turned to him and met his cold gaze. "What are you and your guild hiding?"
Enraged, yet Reiji dared not fall into her trap and remained his calm composure
"Nothing" he simply replied
Silvana sneered "I'm not a fool. Mere kids, no matter how high and strong their families are won't be able to wipe out a large amount of skilled adventures and treasure hunters by themselves unscratched. What's more, make a powerful ancient dragon their familiar. You're not fooling anyone"
Reiji sighed and forced a smile "If your disappointed by losing to a group of children, then why not improve your skills further. Children these days are incredibly frightening"
Dissatisfied with his persistent, "Drop the act" she said
Reiji frowned knowing that she won't stop pestering him about this. He tried to be nice at first, but this girl had gone too far.
"Your head sure have gone big to go this far" He said mockingly
He looked at her with distaste. Right in front of him, she was showing her true colors without any consideration who she is talking to. Not that he never seen this side of her before, but this time she totally crossed her borders. And was her reason being because she's the next master of the Silver serpents that had just raised their ranks to the top? Outrageous!
"Just because your guild managed to reach the top doesn't give you the rights to pry in the Cursed dragon's business" he rebuked
This has surprised her. She didn't expect him to say this. But now that he did, confirmed her suspicions. However, what he said next turned the table against her.
"And do not forget, the only reason why the Holy wolves gave up their title is because you forced them to; taking advantage of the quest to make them surrender." Reiji snorted "That doesn't change the fact that they are still above you. Now that the quest is over, they will probably rise to the top again in the coming guild tournament. You're getting cocky"
"Perhaps, but what also gives you the right to gather those monsters secretly in your guild? Have the authorities known this? I found it unbelievable that they will just let this by. They would probably executed this threat--!!"
Before she could finish, Reiji's eyes were suddenly filled with murderous intent upon hearing her words. It froze her completely both mentally and physically. It stopped her from breathing and suffocated her as if he was strangling her. Reiji lost his cool when he heard what she called those beloved children.
"You treacherous woman! You dare not call those children monsters! What have they done to you for you to go this far as to call them that?! Haven't they just spared your life?! Shouldn't you be thankful!" He totally snapped
"You know nothing of how much they suffered! You have no right to judge them for whatever they are! They are only children who are trying their best to overcome life, taking every opportunity to smile and have fun! No matter how powerful they get, or no matter how people see them, they are always kind enough unlike the likes of you! But what have you done?! Call them names whenever they turn their backs?! Outrageous!!"
He turned to leave her after that. Silvana slumped down to the ground breathing heavily and trembling.
He cared for them after all. What she thought was all wrong, the rumors are all wrong. Because of the Cursed dragons being a secret guild and also possess so much power and even go so far as to get the sacred realm involved, they have created a bad reputation of taking over the world.
It might sound ridiculous, but it's not entirely impossible. Given that Harmonia was in complete chaos right now; without a proper ruler, wars here and there, if someone powerful so desired to take over, no one would be able to protest. People feared that someone evil will take over and snatch them all their rights, power, treasure and everything.
That's not how the powerful think however. To those who stood higher than everyone else, the reason they did not desire anyone to rule over because they refused to be forced to swallow their pride and bow down to anyone else like how they used to when the Sacred realm is still powerful. They want to be the rulers, not the ones being ruled over.
Founding out that there really exists someone who can rule over, they can easily take advantage of the rumors to get rid of threat.
Among all the rest, the Cursed dragons are the biggest threat of all. Not only are all their members powerful enough to overshadow almost everyone, they also possess all the means they needed. They also hid almost all information that it's hard to tell which families are involved and how many of them. Those who knew a great number of them are counted in one hand. No one also knew anything about the children, as that information is highly top secret.
It made them all sound suspicious. But in truth, it's only their parent's way of protecting them from traitors who will use any means possible to manipulate them in order to get what they want. After all, no matter how powerful they are, they are still children who has yet to fully know he world and how cruel it is.
But others eyes, the children are nothing more but powerful puppets that can self-destruct anytime and easily be rid of, showing no sympathy for their short cruel life. Monsters that they deeply despise.
But after how Reiji reacted when she called them that, Silvana can easily tell how much he cared and loved those children despite not having any real relation to them except them being his friend's children. He also seemed to hate the fact that they were born that way except for being just simple and ordinary children. He was scared of their power and the future they must face. He became too attached to the point that he wants to run away from reality. He can't accept it all.
Looking at him as he made his way back to the palace, she was surprised when he halted not far from her.
"Were a private guild, whatever we do is none of your business. We don't join ranks or even define ourselves. The authorities also have no power against us. You heard it, I'm sure you do. The Sacred realm is rising once again, and most of them are among us. The authorities can't just do something about it. Especially since most of those your so called 'monsters', half of them are Sacred royals themselves. You should be grateful that none of them vowed to eliminate backstabbers or you'll already be dead."
And after that he totally left. The way he spoke is still cold but he managed to calm himself down a little.
Silvana on the other hand, was left on a tighter spot after he made her realize what she just said.
Recalling what happened on the ravine, Asa did say something about being a lower ranked Sacred royal. And those in the noble realm or lower are forbidden to defy the Sacred royals as stated to the Clover rules. Despite the fact that the Sacred realm have lost their power, the rules of Clover shall not be defied.
Fortunately for her, the current rulers are kind and no strong will nor pride to just let her pass. Then again, if they wished to punish her, the heavens itself will give her the justice she deserves.
Meanwhile, the twins and the others just arrived at the palace and was greeted by Sychi's ruthless lecturing.
Glaciel was warmly welcomed in the Enchanted. He was treated there with all the other creatures with respect and all seemed to like him too.
Tired after all that happened, the children cleaned themselves up and went to bed.
To Sychi's relief, the five of them have gotten a lot closer previously. Kishi also started to return back to his original self, and was less aloof like he was in the past four years. Kira's presence has changed a lot of things. Sychi was glad to see it.
The next morning, Rex, Airi, and Lune returned home. The twins were left on their own once again.
After seeing the others out, the two of them are making their way back to palace when Kira started feeling heavy and weak. Her vision started to swirl and she felt her head aching a lot.
She stopped walking after. Kishi turned to look at her
"You alright?"
"Nisan...."
Then she passed out. Good thing Kishi's always walking beside her while holding her hand that he caught his sister immediately before she dropped to the ground.