[Dona's Pov]
"I need you to watch over him until I return."
Having come home with the young man that I felt deserved more than just a harsh scolding, I gently put him down on the couch and mentally prepared myself for the conversation I knew I would have to partake in before ending the night.
Despite him being more than a bit confused about what was going on, Daniel still just nodded.
"Alright. But where are you going?"
"I'm going to talk with some big shots about what happened tonight."
And with that, I was on my way.
Not long after that, I was sitting in my car, making sure I had sorted my thoughts before I arrived at the Leviathan guild house, the place we had decided over text that we would meet up.
I had been alive for too long to have had something to do with the guild masters of the biggest guilds in Teton, and even though I often tried to avoid them, they also still knew who I was. Therefore, it wasn't a surprise that soon after I had left the venue, Mr. Ayim called me up, telling me that he wanted answers.
And therefore, I knew I had no choice but to give them to him.
****
[3rd person Pov]
Despite the fact that the night had carried on relatively smoothly after the incident with Aarick and Levi, with Will absolutely crushing his opponent that was part of the small guild Feeble, the men sitting around the table in one of the meeting rooms at the Leviathan guild house were still not too happy.
Or rather, two of them weren't too happy. One of which couldn't stop himself from commenting on the incident. With his flaming red hair symbolizing his temperament, it wasn't surprising that Mr. Steiner was the one who couldn't hold his tongue.
Needless to say, he wanted answers before the witch arrived.
"What are you planning, Alexander? Not only did you go against the tradition of promoting a smaller household, you even picked that crazy youngling as Levi's opponent."
Leaning backward in his chair, the yellow-haired man wasn't affected much by Leonard Steiner's very upfront confrontation of his actions.
"Planning? I'm not planning anything, am I? I simply gave the opportunity to someone my son thinks of as a friend. If anything, I fulfilled the tradition of bringing forth someone of lower status to give them an opportunity more than we have ever done before."
*Bom!*
Slamming his hand into the table, Leonard couldn't take Alexander's indifference.
"Cut the crap! Damian, don't you have something to say as well?! It was your daughter that..."
"Please sit down, Leonard. Of course, I am upset as well, but unfortunately, Alexander is right. There is nothing that went against him inviting Aarick as her opponent. In fact, we should be happy that he seems to be doing well. Even though I could see that she wasn't giving it her all from the start, he still managed to put up a good fight."
"Tch!"
Sitting back down in his chair, it wasn't hard to see that the guild master of the Phoenix was still not content. However, if even the father of Levi had said that there was nothing wrong, who was he to say otherwise?
Still, it wasn't as if Damian would just take it lying down either.
"But, Alexander, I have to say that I'm a bit surprised. Because, could it really be a coincidence that you chose Aarick?"
Exuding his pressure around the room, letting a blue mist of mana fill it with his discontent, he still wanted to remind Mr. Loxley that he was currently alone in a room with two of the most powerful individuals in Teton.
This time, Alexander did flinch a bit, but it was still not enough to shake him up to the point where he would lose his confidence. Even if he wasn't on the same level as Leonard or Damian, he still wasn't that weak where the pressure would affect him more than feeling somewhat suffocating.
"You mean Aarick? I'm not quite sure what you are talking about. From the way you are speaking, it's as if that young man would be more than just a friend of my son. Almost as if you have some kind of history regarding him..."
This was the moment of truth for Alexander, as he had now shown his hand, letting them know that he was already aware of what had gone down four years ago. Though he didn't want to believe these two guild masters to be so crazy that they would get rid of him, it was still a gamble. A gamble with his life on the line.
"I guess I'll just repeat what Leonard said earlier. What do you want, Alexander?"
Not too surprisingly, it had paid off. There was no doubt in Mr. Loxley's head now that he would be holding the position of superiority as the conversation continued.
There had been no actual need to make Aarick fight Levi, but just putting him in the spotlight for even a second would make it hard for Mr. Steiner and Mr. Ayim to get rid of him. There were now too many people aware of his existence.
Granted, in hindsight, it had been completely superfluous anyway. Because...
*Creak*
As the door opened, a gorgeous lady walked into the meeting room, without even having changed from the purple dress she had worn at the event as well. Although they had been surprised to hear that she would participate tonight, they now understood the reason why the lady who never showed herself in public events had chosen to do so.
She was for some reason Aarick's patron.
"Welcome, Ms. Zito. Please, do sit down."
All three men took a stand to welcome Dona, all too aware of what the dynamics of their relationships were, and with a nod, she joined them at the table, patiently waiting for one of them to kick off the discussion.
The men sitting around the table all knew that they would have to tread carefully now, while at the same time knowing that they couldn't just ignore what had happened earlier this night.
Because, as they were at the top of Teton, they were one of the few people in the nation that knew about the lady now known as Dona Zito, as well as the fact of the numerous different names she had carried in the past.
Though she had been forced to leave her life behind so many times in the past, adopting a new identity and finding other ways to live, she was still the same being that she had been for hundreds of years. A pure-blooded monster with the nickname the Witch of Eternity.
A very special human that had been wrongfully accused of being a demon on multiple occasions, something that history had proved wrong over and over again. Because she had always been on the side of her kin, not only serving to fight in the old wars against their neighboring country Alabast but also fighting against a multitude of demons.
She was also an entity that only a very select few of the elites of Teton would ever get to know about, as the king of old had sworn that his country would help keep her identity a secret.
Naturally, it wasn't as if the elites could just go on and massacre the people who believed her to be a demon. Therefore their way of going about it was to make sure she could get another identity, allowing her to lead a new life.
And this was the reason why they knew her as the Witch of Eternity. Because although it was unknown to be a side-effect of her blessing or something else, she had completely stopped aging, now able to live for seemingly forever.
Knowing this, and knowing the power inside of her long-lived body, there was no doubt that this conversation could get very 'problematic' if they weren't careful.
As the man who had invited her, Levi's father was the one to kick off the conversation.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice, Ms. Zito. I hope that the trip..."
But Dona wasn't in the mood for pleasantries, turning her purple eyes toward the one she found responsible for most of the things that had gone down tonight, making Alexander's face pale a bit.
"Stop. I still have a very injured youth at home. A boy who should have had no business ever participating in your ridiculous tradition and as a result was inflicted with very severe injuries. So, Damian, please do tell me what you want."
Feeling as if a cold wind flew through the air, all three men suddenly felt like no more than mere boys in front of the witch. Still, Damian still knew that there was one question he needed to ask, a question that was more important than anything right now.
"Alright then, I will just go ahead and ask. Are you the patron of the young man known as Aarick Laupier, and if so, are we to regard it as you breaking out of neutrality?"