At Elen's residence, a young servant had just rushed when she gasped while saying to Elen, "Ms. Elen, the young master Luke went out to speak to the patriarch."
"Tsh, it looks like it's time for me to go out and try to avoid a bigger problem," Elen mumbled as she left her apartment before heading towards patriarch Marvin's office.
…
"What? Did you let him take one of the copies of our only Silver-grade technique?" The middle-aged man frowned and spoke angrily as he got up from his chair and slapped the table hard.
"I couldn't do anything, Dad. He had completely defeated me, and one of the people who was with him was very strong. I believe that only a Spiritual King could defeat that woman," Luke said while lowering his head in shame.
The patriarch then tried to calm down for a moment and then looked Luke in the eye and said, "Tell me about these people first. Your punishment will come later."
"I don't know much about their group, only that they are not from Stone Island. In total, 11 people seem to be led by this person who defeated me."
"Most of them are at level 40, but there is this woman who is at level 45. Because of her, the guard Brian who was accompanying me was unable to prevent that guy from running away," Luke said, trying to hide the critical 'unnecessary' details from his father.
"And are they still here in the Old Stone?" Marvin asked in a thoughtful position as he massaged his forehead with his fingers.
Luke nodded, "Yes, they are still here in the capital. In fact, they are staying in the central part of the city, at the Olson Hotel."
"Less bad. But tell me how it all happened. Why would you want to deal with this person?"
Luke looked at his father, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "He was courting one of my women. Because of that, I couldn't help myself and ended up acting recklessly against him."
"Oh! So, this guy is that kind of scum… I understand if it were me…" Marvin was speaking when the door of his office slowly opened, and a middle-aged woman entered.
She was a mature gorgeous woman, with curves that would cheer anyone who peeked at her. And even though she already had some age marks, she was still quite graceful. The woman was wearing a beautiful blue dress and had short blond hair.
This was patriarch Marvin's secretary.
She then walked over to the side of Marvin's chair and said, "Patriarch, young Elen is here to see you. She says that her subject is urgent and that it has to do with the young master Luke."
When he heard this, Luke felt a chill down his spine, as if someone was arming him. 'What does Elen want to talk to my father about?' he thought to himself feeling an indescribable tension.
Marvin then replied in a bit of surprise, "Oh! It is unusual for Elen to come looking for me. It must be something significant. Let her in."
He wasn't concerned that this meeting would mess up his affairs with Luke. After all, taking a few more minutes to sort out this situation wouldn't make much of a difference anyway.
It didn't take long before Elen entered into the office and greeted patriarch Marvin before settling in one of the chairs. She was wearing a red robe, which enhanced only her high-standard appearance.
After she settled down, Marvin smiled and took the initiative to ask, "How can I help you, little Elen?"
"Hmm, actually, the subject must be the same as what Luke was talking to you about before I got here," Elen said without showing any change in her expression.
'Oh! Shit!'
When he heard that, Luke's expression froze immediately, and if someone noticed him right now, they would probably think that he was severely ill.
Elen then continued, "Perhaps the patriarch has already heard that Luke has feelings for me. But I have already made it clear to him that we will never have that kind of relationship. However, he continues to chase all the men I know.
Before, I had ignored it because none of those people he chased away had any significant relationship with me. They were just acquaintances. But this time, he tried to harm an ally of mine, and so I can't allow it to continue."
As he listened to this, Marvin's brows were furrowed more and more. Of course, he already knew that his son liked the daughter of the supreme elder of the Nash family, but that was their business, and he didn't care about minor things like that.
Such a reaction was very typical in the Spiritual World. Although some people might still try to use the idea of arranged marriages to form alliances, most people disapproved of this type of situation or didn't even care about it.
That was because, in the Spiritual World, sexuality was quite liberal, and people cared more about having feelings for the ones they were going to marry.
And another reason for this reality was that arranged marriages rarely worked in this world.
That is because, in many cases, one side would always try to dominate the other.
And this only created many problems that would lead up to inciting betrayal on one side. So, it was not uncommon to find cases where an arranged relationship ended with one side being slaughtered by the other or, at least, severely damaged.
Thus, arranged marriages were not very common in the Spiritual World. And that was even more true for a commercial house like the Nash family.
Being a group that values stability, unpredictable situations that could arise from an agreement like such were not encouraged.
So, Marvin didn't give a damn about his son's one-sided love affair.
Marvin took a considerable look in Luke's direction and asked while narrowing his eyes, "Luke, you said that the person who beat you up had courted one of your women, you wouldn't be talking about little Elen, would you?"
"This…" Luke couldn't answer that simple question and ducked his head away from his father's gaze.
"Hmph, I already said that we don't have a relationship for you to call me your woman. The person who fought him is a new ally that I made on my last trip. He came to Stone Island just to settle some matters with me and buy items for his region."
"Oh! So, he is now an ally... Boy, what do you have in your head?" Marvin was disappointed in his son as glanced at the embarrassed Luke.
He then continued to Elen, "But little Elen, your new ally still took the Silver-grade cultivation technique that was with this irresponsible son of mine. I cannot allow this technique to leave the family."
Elen nodded in agreement and said, "Hmm, I wasn't aware of that before. But, he does have a justification for taking Luke's things since he was attacked by Luke without any reason. However, I believe that this can be resolved diplomatically. We just need to compensate Mr. Minos for the inconvenience Luke has caused. Mr. Minos is very sensible, and I'm sure that we can reach an agreement."
"Okay, so I will have to rely on little Elen to take care of that matter. But contact me as soon as this is resolved. As for you, Luke, you will first apologize to that person and stop disrupting the lives of people who don't want to be associated with you. You are already 18 years old. It's time to act mature!
But that will not be your real punishment. Before, I had planned to send you to the Western Empire after you turned 19 years old so that you could get to know this world better and maybe have some good opportunities. However, since you don't seem worthy of the only opportunity that our family receives from the Elemental Sect every ten years, I have decided to send you to a competition for this vacancy.
If you want to regain this chance, you must be in the top 10 in the Spiritual Tournament that will be taking place in the Cromwell Kingdom in a few months.
Consider this as a second chance for you. If you fail to complete this requirement, I will give the vacancy to the member of our family who has the highest-ranking after you." Marvin had a complex expression on his face.
That was an opportunity which was available to the Nash family once every ten years so that it couldn't be lost on an ungrateful idiot. Thus, even if Luke were his son, Marvin wouldn't harm his family's interests by throwing an opportunity like this.
To put it into perspective, each member of the Nash family who had managed to have this opportunity was able to take advantage of it and had grown better and faster. Many of them even managed to reach level 50 after going to the empire and had significantly contributed to the development of the family.
"I understand…" Luke said, deeply regretting his actions. 'Shit! I really screwed up. Now I have to participate in this competition, instead of doing my business…'
He couldn't afford to miss this incredible opportunity to go to the Western Empire!
That place was not like the Flaming Empire, in fact, it could be at the top of the Central Continent!