"Report from the Valerian Mountain Range.
Currently, the Hero of the Dragons is residing in the Kohryu training center and is recieving tutelege under master Seiryu. The status of the Hero has also been made available recently and it turns out that it is around the same level of our Hero. Unfortunately, his affinities haven't been determined, but we are still staying vigilant of any information that might come out. More updates will be coming soon."
This was a letter that Aureus was reading in his study while taking care of the work that is required to manage the dukedom. The room he was located was a normal study with piles of paper on the desk he was reading the report. Aside from the desk, there was also a couple of bookcases on the opposites sides of the room and a door that was facing the desk. Just as he was about put away the report he was holding, a light came from the last drawer of the desk and once he saw it, he opened it and took out an envelope with the seal of a monstrous sea snake, or to be more precise, a Leviathan.
'That's weird, Diana doesn't usually send messages this way, unless it's an emergency. Let's see what the problem is going to be.' Aureus thought to himself as he opened the letter with a tiny knife that was laying nearby. The moment he started reading the letter though, his complexion became pale in one moment.
"Hey honey.
You should have realised the fact that we are in a state of emergency by now. For starters, we got attacked during our return trip from Aques City by a band of roaming brigands, but not your usual ones. Those guys had a couple Dark-ranked assassins with them, but thankfully there were caught by our guest, which I'll explain about him in a bit. Although we did catch them, the problem is that no matter how much we 'kindly' ask them, they aren't opening their mouths, hence we have no clue of their motives for launching such an attack. The only thing that seemed a bit weird about them, is the fact before the skirmish, those two seemed like they were focusing more on the guest, rather than my children or any of the injured guards.
Now, as for the guest, he is an interesting individual since he has our characteristics, but he isn't of our or her blood. Actually, he is a natural reincarnator and it seems like he had absorbed the essence of the Leviathan recently, since his mana inside him is still pretty unstable. I can't say for sure if he is the 8th hero you had mentioned before, but it would be better if you keep an eye on him for now, at least.
I believe by the time you recieve this letter, the guest and our children should have reached the city gates and it shouldn't be long until they reach the mansion. Until then, get the surgery room ready for Dallius so that he can have his arm fixed and have Vale check on the guest for any injuries.
Your cute wife,
Diana
P.S. Get the shower ready by the time I'm back."
*sigh* "Diana, sometimes you are quute the handful." Aureus could only sigh in frustration, since his wife had forced another problem on him.
"So another reincarnator has appeared... Let's see who that reincarnator is going to be." After saying that, Aureus then decided to wait for Soren to come. While waiting, he decided to take care of a few things until it was time for them to meet.
After an hour passed, the first one to enter into his study was actually Kana who was dressed with a more casual cyan dress.
"Dad, how has your day been today?" Kana asked while bowing down slightly.
"Same as usual, just work and affairs. I heard from Diana that a reincarnator was coming with you, do you have anything to say about him?" Aureus asked with a stern expression.
"Don't be hard on him. Mom had already roughed him pretty badly, so it is better if you went easy on him." Kana answered while rubbing her temples and trying to keep the memory of that entire mess out of her head.
"The way you are wording that means that she used 'that' to get her answers, am I correct?" Aureus asked while keeping his eyes on Kana.
"She did and it nearly cost her life this time. And my first kiss as well..." Kana spoke quietly during that last sentence while looking away slightly embarassed.
"I see. How is Dallius' condition?"
"Thankfully it isn't anything serious, so it shouldn't take any longer than a few weeks for his injury to be healed." Kana answered back with a serious expression.
"That's good to hear then." He answered back indifferently while staring at her before checking on Diana's letter again. In reality he had his doubts about Soren being a reincarnator, because doing so would not only mark him as a potential person of interest that everyone would want to have connections with, but news of that would spread faster than scandals between nobles. For now though, the only thing he was able to do was to wait for Soren to appear and see the truth with his own eyes.
After around another ten minutes or so, Soren and Lavenza entered room and their expressions were serious and didn't show a hint of nervousness. Aureus was a bit impressed that Soren could his emotions even under pressure, but Lavenza gave him a weird feeling that made him feel like he shouldn't associate with her. Such a feeling would only appear whenever Laventhign or any of her relatives made an appearance, but Aureus wasn't aware of that.
After Soren and Lavenza sat down on one of the chairs that were available in the room, the first one to break the silence was actually Kana, who was a bit worried about Soren's injuries:
"Soren, are you alright? You don't look as well as before."
"I'm alright, don't worry. It's just that the recovery process was slightly tiresome, that's all." Soren answered with a smile on his face while petting Lavenza who was still shivering from the situation from before. After that, Soren and Kana started having some small talk between the two of them.
Aureus was rather intrigued by Soren's behavior. It wasn't as if this was the first time seeing someone polite, but he felt like Soren's tone was rather casual, instead of being serious. But he also felt slightly annoyed, since he felt rather left out and decided to stop the small talk and get into business.
"Ahem. I know we have come to talk, but if possible, I would like to get down to business before dinner time comes." Aureus spoke with a cold expression on his face while staring at Soren.
"Oh, sorry sir. I didn't mean for that to-" Just as Soren was going ask for forgiveness, Aureus decided to interupt him and said:
"I don't having you two converse, but for now, it is of utmost importance to take care of the current business."
Soren showed a suprised expression before clearing his throat slightly and then asked with a serious expression:
"Then what kind of business do we have to take care of?"
"For starters, I would like to confirm if you truly are a reincarnator." Aureus answered with a serious expression while taking out a sheet of paper from one of the drawers of his desk. After taking it out, he gave to Soren and said:
"Rip it."
"What?"
"Rip it."
"Wait, why should I-"
"I said, RIP IT." At that moment, Aureus had a small emotional outburst that was nearly heaed throughout the entire floor that Aureus' study was. That outburst shocked Soren and decided to do as he wanted, lest he wanted to more trouble for himself.
*rip*
At that moment, the sheet of paper burst into black and blue flames before those two flames started dancing wildly in front of them and then those flames turned into another sheet of paper that landed on the desk. The moment Aureus picked up the sheet of paper, the color from his face drained immidiately and then left a sigh.
"Is there a problem father?" Kana asked while being worried of her father's complexion before then Aureus asked Soren with a dark and serious expression:
"Just what are you supposed to be? A reincarnated man or a reborn man?"
"Uhhh... reincarnated?" Soren shrugged his hands while answering with a hint of confusion on his face.
*sigh* "I don't even know if I should believe you or not." Aureus then spoke in disbelief while rubbing his temples.
"Why do you doubt me? At this point, the cat is out of the bag, so I have no reason to hide the fact that I have reincarnated." Soren asked slightly annoyed with Aureus' statement. At that moment, Aureus decided to calm down a bit and think for a bit and after a minute, he spoke seriously:
"Hmmm... For now, I'll take your word for it, but answer me this. How did you start your life in this world?"