Looking at Mysta with a perplexed expression, Lieren said with a hint of confusion:
"What?"
The uptight woman sighed and repeated, looking back at him with her usual professional expression.
"Like I said, the contestant of the Mocný famiglia has issued an official challenge to the Exousia main family contestant. This letter that I received from one of their messengers have their own official seal and the signature of both the current head of the Mocný famiglia and the contestant in question. It says that they request a personal match in the underground arena beneath New Mireton, and that they will follow any following demands or conditions to a reasonable level. Here, read it for yourself"
Taking the simple letter with a red seal on it, Lieren quickly glimpsed the contents and laid it on the mahogany table as he squeezed the bridge of his nose.
'So, Scorpio finally made his move. That idiot, can't he wait for just a couple more days? I wasn't expecting him to stay down after I humiliated him like that, but neither did I consider that he would follow up this quickly. Who would have thought? Actually, I could. He's raised by the old generation — people with values that go back to before the Purple Night remade this city. They value might over fright, prioritizing combat power above all and nothing else below. Those ones criticize the new foundation that Alice is trying to implement through the main head's influence and her and her father's followers."
The old generation is known as the old ones, with values that date back to before the Purple Night. Due to the trauma of being reminded of their weakness and lack of power during that hellish night, they developed a sort of power disease — not an actual disease, of course, but a kind of a coping mechanism. This mentality may have helped them survive before the Purple Night occurred, but not now. Especially not after the reform that the Hanli-Mercuri-Krafa implemented through their various connections within this godforsaken city and throughout the country. It is only with the seer's help — Alice Exousia — did the main family even stand a chance against the illusive association by barely matching their crafty diplomatic moves and making use of the famiglia's superior military might.
Without Alice's help, then the family may have already died out. Either swallowed by another, or simply wiped from existence, never to be remembered. Forgotten.
And that's why Lieren respected main head of Exousia for not cracking to pressure and becoming one of the old generation and ushering a new age for Exouisa. As well as trusting his own daughter's words — which should have just an infant then — with his all.
Looking back at Mysta with nascent appreciation, he smiled and said, his voice as clear as the purest water there is:
"I don't wanna"
Now wasn't the right time, after all.
"I thought so."
The uptight attendant sighed, having already expected this answer. She seems to have already reached a certain grasp to his personality…
But that didn't seem to be it as she gazed back at him with dire severity:
"I'm sorry, but you can't run away from this one. This is an official challenge from one of the main families. It simply cannot be refused so easily like that."
Leaning back on the table, Lieren raised an obvious question:
"Even though it could be a trap?"
She nodded like it was a matter of course.
Lieren gripped the edges of the table, nervous and scared.
Things were not supposed to go this way.
There was a dark expression on Mysta's face as she said in her usual, grating professional voice:
"Yes, even so. The enemy has bet their household name on the line, and thus put the Exousia's as well. There is no other choice but to accept, lest the main household name falls."
Looking down at his tapping feet and trying to distract himself from the growing fear in his heart… Lieren couldn't help but sigh and give the uptight attendant and forlorn expression.
"…?!"
She flinched like a cat, raising her shoulders for a brief second, before falling back into her usual calm and professional expression. It was fake, of course, though that did not mean it was false.
Truth had always been dependent on human understanding and its many, many facets. What is true for one is not always the same for another.
But enough philosophical talk, there was war to be had.
With a sigh and a shrug, Lieren glanced to the side, where a familiar figure awaited silently, invisible to anybody but him, and straightened his posture. He looked back at Mysta with a serious expression that was almost on par with hers.
"Fine, I'll do it. But on one condition."
Her voice mused interestedly, which was apparent to Lieren despite her attempt to mask it:
"Hmm~ A condition, huh…"
Crossing her arms and looking down with a thoughtful expression, pretending to calculate his words.
"Liar…"
He complained under his breath, just low enough that the uptight attendant couldn't hear his mumbling.
She had already seen this coming and was now pretending to ponder over it, completely oblivious to Lieren's inhuman ability to detect lies.
After a while of staring at Lieren's dark expressions, and mumbling lies for a solid minute, she looked back with fake nascent resolve and determination, as if she had just recently made an important decision.
Looking back at her with a judging gaze filled with grim resolve, Lieren said plainly:
"I want information on all the contestants, family and all. Their powers, abilities, bloodline, all the way to how they eat their food and what foot they put out first to walk. I want it all by the time I return."
She put her hands to the side like a proper employee, her back straight as an arrow.
After a while of fake musing, she looked back at him and said in a disturbingly amicable voice:
"Of course! I would do anything for the contestant of the main Exousia famiglia, handpicked by the heiress herself."
Then, she bowed, and failed to suppress a grin.
"It is my greatest honor to serve you, venerable Aries."
◇◆◇◆◇
Passing through the maze-like streets of New Mireton, two figures stood above dozens. These two were surrounded by a more than a dozen thugs and hooligans, all of them asking for their own thing:
"Hey, doesn't that kid lool well-off? We should sell him as a slave."
"Whoa, little lady, how about you come with me? I'll show you a good time, if you know what I mean… heheh."
"You guys look pretty rich, how about you spare pitiful ol' me a pretty penny? Just a million shells will do! HAHAHAHA!"
"If you idiots don't want to due, I suggest you empty your pockets. While you're at it, I might as well take your organs, too! Oh, wouldn't that be grand?! HAHA!"
Giving the unadorned lowlifes a passing lazy glance, Lieren reached for his dagger… only to stop when the uptight woman suddenly stepped forward with an ice-cold glare.
The others, however, didn't seem to get a clue and merely laughed at her, twisted and perverted expressions warping their faces.
"Hey, hey. Look what we have here~"
"Oh, coming onto me like that. I didn't know you were so into me… hehe."
"If you insist, I guess I'll spare you a day or so… just until you break from the pleasure."
"Well, I guess I can have a little fun before I take your organs…. Ah! But I can't take too long. I have a quota to meet. About a hundred, you see. And you're the first."
As a malevolent aura surrounded her lithe figure, Mysta brought up her hands and glared at the hooligans with a gaze that seemed to freeze the very world itself… which unfortunately seemed to be lost on the hooligans themselves, as they continued to slobber and giggle disgustingly amongst themselves.
"How dare you shame my name, you lowlifes. You will pay for these transgressions!"
Lieren didn't bother to pray for these fools as he sighed and merely looked away, already having known the outcome of this story.