"Can we just get this over with." Adrian said with impatience after the awkward revelation. He just wants to get out of this room right now but he needs to behave.
"Alright, alright. Sorry about that." Kyle felt a little guilty to both Adrian and Scott. Scott is sitting at the maximum distance from Adrian while covering his face in shame. Staying silent.
"The reason I invite the both of you here is because I will get married in spring next year. There will be a bachelor's party but I will only invite my friends in the academy. So that is why I want to spend time with the two of you and make the announcement." Kyle made his big announcement to Adrian and Kyle.
"I don't hear anything about this?" Scott asks in a confused voice ignoring the previous debacle.
"I only discuss this with father. Even mother don't know about this." Kyle gives a smile to Scott's sudden question.
"When is it? My aunts wedding will also be in spring next year." Adrian asks after reminding of Rosaria's marriage is also in spring.
"Really? Mine will be of late spring as the engagement was done in a hurry a few weeks ago. Take a guess who the girl is? Here is a hint. The girl is someone both of you know." Kyle is surprise of what Adrian said but give an estimate of the date.
"…" Scott and Adrian don't know what to say even with the hint. Such a vague and stupid question.
"Ahem… Okay, fine. If you don't want to play, so I will just say it. It's Julie Turner." Kyle says the name of the bride making the 2 boys eyes popped out.
"Julie will be my sister-in-law?" Scott should not believe it.
"Julie? Julie Turner? The short-tempered girl?" Adrian describes how he views Julie.
"Hahaha… based on your reaction it is quite a surprise indeed. Even I am surprise that I will be getting married to Julie. Father did show me some marriage candidates but I don't like seeing stranger's faces so much, but among the profiles Julie is one of them. So, I just picked her. Hahaha." Kyle feeling embarrassed as he scratches the back of his head.
"Sigh… A stupid conversation indeed." Adrian thought since the topic on girls is brought through.
The three chatted about Julie and Kyle thoughts on her for a moment. They also throw Conor's name who is a 3rd year senior at the academy in to the conversation.
"Alright… I will be leaving now. Thank you for the tea." Adrian stands up suddenly after finishing his 2nd cup of tea. He bows and leave while giving a final glance at Scott.
"Brother, can I stay here for a moment? I won't bother you working." Scott just wants to escape the awkwardness between he and Adrian for the time.
"Sure, but make sure to send the Cross family off with me later on. I will be here at the desk." Kyle went to the office desk and scanning through the reports he received for the past days while Scott is lying on the sofa trying to think of a way to made up with Adrian.
"Hmm… these things again. They have been popping out like mushrooms. What are they really? They look like monsters but more ferocious and seems to be 'bleeding?'." Kyle wonders while looking at the description from the reports.
Reconvening back with his family in the guest room, Adrian saw the parents are still chatting and Marylyn is on Katie's lap being pampered. Tea is also served by the servants.
"Oh, you have come to join us young Adrian. Come and sit down. I will ask the maids to prepare tea for you too." Count Shields invites Adrian to come over.
"Thank you, Count Shields. But hold the tea please, I already had some with Kyle and Scott just now." Adrian declines the drink and sit sits down after giving the count a respectful bow.
"I see… I see. That is good. Hahaha… You are already 10 years old but I don't see any difference since you are 5 years old. Good boy. Since you are at the same age as the youngest Scott, please take care of that immature boy for me in the future." Count Shields is amused with Adrian since he first met him. He hoped than Adrian had a good relationship with his family in the future.
"Thank you for the compliment, Count Shields." Adrian let a small smile while thinking back that he is a 10 years old boy. Scott is also a 10 years old boy, so he doesn't need to be wary of him in the future because of his little sister. He will find lots of crushes at the academy. He took a quick glance at Marylyn who is being pampered by Katie like a kitten.
They chatted a bit for an hour. Count Shields also give the details of Silver Ash town. He tells them about the best restaurants, the best street food, popular attractions and landmarks. As expected, the most popular ones are the hot springs. Nobles often come to Silver Ash town just to take a dip in the hot spring and left tomorrow morning.
The hot spring is filled with mana from the heat of the volcano. It had magical properties to the body by relaxing tense muscles, drains away fatigue and assisting in mana flow. Upon hearing the magical properties of the hot spring can also assist in circulating mana, Adrian begins to thought about adding Durandal to the mix. To do that he need to be alone. He will see how the outline of the villa first then he proceeds with the plan.
After finishing the talks, the Cross family sets off to the villa on the Shields family carriage as their carriage is already sent to the villa along with Ralph and the maid. They went there after having lunch to prepare and check on the villa. Giving thanks for hospitality and waving goodbye the Shields family, they set off to the villa.
After a 7-minute ride, they arrive in front of a glorious villa. It's a size of a modern bungalow. The architecture is from the Victorian era but had a gate and fences around it. Steam can be seen puffing up at the back of the villa. The family bid the coach driver farewell. They entered the front gate and went inside the villa where Ralph and the maid greeted them.
"Welcome, masters and missus. The villa is prepared and inspected to be safe. Please walk around and take a look." Ralph giving the Cross family opportunity to look around after checking the villa is safe.
"What a magnificent villa." Amanda praise.
"Indeed. A comfortable place to relax." Malcom nodded in agreement and take his wife hand to look around.
"Hehehe… a new territory. Mary the explorer is off to a new adventure." Marylyn runs off on an adventure.
"Wait Ma… well the that is fine. She is already a big girl on the inside but just adorable on the outside. Ralph already checked the perimeters. So, it's fine." Adrian begun to think back and made a decision to explore alone.
The villa had 2 floors. The ground floor and the second floor. Like the estate mansion it had 2 floors but much bigger areas. Adrian checked the second floor first as Marylyn and his parents are having fun at the ground floor.
The second floor just had 5 rooms. All of them are fully furnished and arranged with decorative aesthetics. All of the beds are king size and only one room is a bit bigger and more unique arrangement indicating it is a master bedroom.
"If my parents stay in this room, Marylyn should be the room next to them. I should pick the room furthest away from them and give an excuse to be alone for some moment." Adrian thought out the settings of his 3 days' vacation. The irony of not having a suitable tame beast for travels, cuts the real vacation short.
Heading down the stairs, Adrian scan around the ground floor. The ground floor had the dining room, common room, kitchen, bathrooms, fully furnished quarters for the servants along with a single bathroom in each room and a wide decorative main hall that leads to two corridors to access the earlier facilities. The common room had a door leading to the open-air hot spring at the back of the villa.
"Woah… this is amazing." Adrian is amaze at the pool of steaming water. The hot spring seems to be dug up naturally and build it into a 9-meter diameter pool. It is also not so deep.
"You are right. It is amazing. I never seen such magical lake before. The water elements here is super active caused by the fire elements." Cassie is also in awed.
"It's an average hot spring not a lake." Adrian corrected Cassie.
"Different word, same concept. Humph." Cassie rebukes back feeling a little annoyed. Adrian just shrugs it off and saw Marylyn coming over to him.
"Big brother, come join Mary to explore the hot spring. Adventure!!!" Marylyn becomes more excited and drags Adrian around the yard.
It has a barbeque pit, some tables with parasols, and two hammocks that is tied up around the trees. Adrian is just about to lay down on the hammock but Aria's voice sounded out.
[Warning. Demonic beast activity detected 4 km north of Master's location.]
[Warning. Concentrated unknown energy detected 3 km north of Master's location.]
[Notice. Unknown energy is very likely classified as 'Miasma', as a Demonic beast is detected near it.]
"F***" Adrian cursed under his breath.