The moment he steps out of his house , Varsas meets Vandal Venir, the patriarch of the Venir family.
"How do you do."
The man greets him simply, to be polite Varsas greets him with a hello.
"You seems to not be surprised even though for the last three days you seems to be highly tense."
"It is because you and I both know Margaret is much more dangerous than you on your lonesome."
The man seems surprise by the brutal honesty, but he quickly recovers.
"Indeed, indeed, I was suspecting it was something like that. That girl truly is a prodigy, so much so that it shame me to say I can't see any future where she won't surpass me utterly."
The two men falls into a silence. No words were spoken, though Varsas recognizes it as one of the tool of interrogation, the intimidation of silence should not be underestimated. However the man here is Varsas Gungnir, the one who faced a creature that slaid an army with one stroke, the one that swam to the island of Lan Sphere on his lonesome, at this point there are little that faze him anymore. Instead he takes the moment to regard Vandal.
He does not know much about the man, except that the man is very secretive. They don't talk normally, even when his friend is Vandal's daughter, she doesn't talk much about him. When asked about it she cringe her nose and say "The old man would nag about it", she seems to be so free then, in her mannerism and speech, she has no hesitation except when she needs to put on an act, unlike now where she puts on an act all the time.
The only time they have a formal talk was after the war, during the peace talk. Vandal was very happy then, of course who wouldn't be when they are one of the ruling party of the new world order, he was also old so perhaps much has changed. He was very friendly toward Varsas then, so delighted he was that he start drinking and thanking Varsas for all his hard work and making everything possible. When Varsas asked him about the situation at home, he even happily stated that with the consolidated power their family has finally taken care of the various "small matters" and can at last rest easy with no enemies.
Varsas nodded simply then, thinking that whatever business it was it does not concern him, especially when he was the family member of a friend.
Thinking back he is disgusted at himself when he realized the small matter the old man talked about include the massacre of his family.
"...There are more to you than meet the eyes truly boy. From the very start I did not see any way I could walk away alive. Seeing is believing really."
It was Varsas's turn to be speechless by the brutal honesty.
"I could hardly let my guard down against someone who plotted my murder."
"So you do know boy."
And here is where the other shoe drops. It is the I know that you know that I plotted against you talked.
"Imagine my surprise when I heard about how much the heir of the Gungnir know, I can't believe you know about the future, I means the Venir is about to experience a famine due to an ancient evil, I can't believe that even my family secret source of intelligence was not as fast as your, we didn't even know about the famine until just right now, and I know for a fact that my intel is never wrong, so let be frank,
How do you know boy?"
His secret source of intelligence that is never wrong was a brat from the Lan Sphere island, Varsas almost says, remembering the day after their confrontation, his step mother retreated to a place Varsas is not allowed to know, for reason beyond his understanding, leaving behind explicit instructions for the girl to not bother him anymore. The girl start bothering him just as she left. It may not involve violence this time, but it is a bother.
"A certain fairy godmother from the same place your source of information come from tell me so."
Vandal stops abruptly, it is the first time Varsas has truly saw the man like that. He is shock into unmoving. He is truly, utterly shock.
"I can't believe it. Another one has descended or is it the same one? What secrets have those mystical people reveal? And why him of all people..."
There was glee in his eyes, and an uncharacteristic smile, an honest, gleeful smile filled with greed.
Varsas coughs slightly to get his attention.
"Now that we are on the same foot," The man suavely returns to the conversation as if nothing has happened, befitting of a patriarch of an ancient family.
"If the source is that, I believe we can talk seriously. There is a detail that I believe concern me boy, I know about the famine but what is this about an ancient evil being the cause behind the famine?"
The series of events was surprising to Varsas. However sure enough just as his step mother taught him, the world would move on.
"Now where do I start... I don't think you would believe me even if I tell you."