Chapter 159: An Unexpected Party
"Well...this is unexpected," Adrian muttered as they got off the bus.
Renelle pinched the bridge of her nose as she felt a headache coming, or was it because she was embarrassed?
The Spirit mages and even the commander himself stood frozen as he looked at his base.
This frontier was in the West, so there was no way snow would fall here, and yet, coating the ground right now was undeniable snow.
Just ahead, sitting on a throne made of ice, was a man that the commander clearly recognized.
Hell, there was barely anyone in Avera that wouldn’t recognize him.
Beside him, sitting on a normal chair and calmly sipping tea was a woman with black hair and red eyes.
She had a smile on her face as she pushed a tray of cookies towards the white-haired child who was opposite her.
The commander immediately started sweating, after all, who wouldn’t sweat when you were in the presence of Grand Duke Boreas Ardent and Headmistress Evelina?
Besides, there was the Grand Duke, Sebastian, a young man with black hair and bright blue eyes. He had a small smile on his face as he looked directly at Renelle.
"Welcome back little sister," the young man said, his smile growing wider.
Even the Grand Duke seemed to let out a sigh of relief as his eyes landed on Renelle before they moved towards her butler, Adrian.
"I see my students returned with quite the party," the headmistress said, "though I wouldn’t say I’m surprised, after all, I’m only here because the stubborn old man wouldn’t trust in my visions."
The moment the headmistress spoke up, the white-haired girl finally noticed the group and her eyes immediately widened when they rested on both Adrian and Renelle.
Before anything else could be said, she suddenly stood up and rushed towards them, quickly enveloping Renelle in a hug.
Renelle’s annoyed expression immediately faded as she crouched down and asked, "Did you miss me?"
"Hmm," Isla nodded.
"I missed you too," Renelle said with a chuckle, though she wanted to lift the kid right now, more than anything, the armor she currently wore still had the blood of the corrupted beasts.
And there was no way she was going to mess up Isla’s cute dress with it.
Adrian looked at the two with a smile on his face.
The prince, on the other hand, seemed a bit confused as he looked at the headmistress and asked, "Why is the headmistress and Grand Duke Ardent here?"
"We received a report from the frontier three weeks ago that two groups were missing and a search was being conducted for them," Headmistress Evelina answered.
"Missing?" Lucian muttered still confused, "Isn’t the search for us only supposed to happen after the month is over?"
"Yes," the headmistress nodded, "and yet, it has been two weeks since you entered that dungeon."
"Two months," Noelle repeated, disbelief evident in her tone, "and the other teams?"
"They also returned three weeks ago," the headmistress said, "completed their missions, filed their reports, and are currently back at the academy wondering what happened to the rest."
"Though I was certain that you would return," she continued, "this old man was too worried about his daughter to sit still."
"And thus, here we are."
"I see," Lucian nodded.
The commander, on the other hand, let out a sigh of relief. He had previously reported the group as missing and was ready to report them as dead.
Had the Grand Duke arrived and hadn’t seen his daughter, only the goddess knew what he would’ve done.
"Alright," The headmistress turned to her students, "you all seem tired, so why not get some rest before we depart?"
With that, the soldiers led both the students and survivors towards their resting quarters.
Leaving only Adrian and Renelle behind.
Renelle finally looked towards the black-haired boy, her brother, and asked with a frown, "Where have you been?"
"In a dungeon," he answered, "after all, that was our graduation test."
That’s right, Renelle’s brother, Cedric Ardent, was a final-year student at the Imperial Spirit Academy.
And said students had been missing from the academy for quite a while now because they had been going through their final tests.
Hence, the reason Cedric had missed their mother getting out of her sick bed, the attack on the capital, and finally, her death.
"So, you’re officially a spirit mage now?" Renelle asked as she continued looking at him.
"Yup," Cedric nodded with a grin, "is my little sister proud of me?"
Renelle stared at him for a few seconds before replying flatly,
"No."
Cedric placed a hand over his chest as though wounded.
"That hurts," he said dramatically, "I return after risking my life in a dungeon and my adorable little sister greets me with cruelty."
"You disappeared for almost a year," Renelle replied without sympathy, "mother died and you weren’t there."
The playful expression on Cedric’s face faltered slightly as their surroundings went silent.
Cedric eventually let out a small sigh before speaking again, though this time his tone lacked its earlier teasing.
"I heard," he said softly, "the moment we got back."
His smile returned after a second, but it was noticeably weaker now.
"I’m sorry."
Renelle didn’t truly blame or hate him, if anything, she blamed herself more, after all, she was the one with knowledge of the future and still couldn’t protect their mother.
Even when Adrian had done more than half the work of getting her out of her sick bed.
Cedric continued looking at the expression on his sister’s face for a while before turning to the man who stood by his side," And you must be her butler, Adrian, am I right?"
"It’s a pleasure to meet you," Adrian gave a polite bow, "master Cedric."
"Likewise," Cedric said with a smile, "Sebastian speaks highly of you, he even claims that you have the potential to surpass him."
"To be honest, I didn’t believe it at first," he continued, "but after learning of what you did and seeing you in person, I changed my mind."
"I’m honored," Adrian answered.
Sebastian adjusted his monocle slightly as he looked at the kid’s mannerisms. It seemed he hadn’t abandoned his training, which was good news.
And from what he could see, through his monocle, it seemed the kid had gotten even stronger.
He truly was proud of him....Well, he was disappointed in one aspect, but that was for the Grand Duke to handle.
"Speaking of what you did," Cedric’s grin returned as he looked at the Grand Duke, "it seems father would like to have a word with you."
Boreas had a neutral expression on his face as he looked at Adrian, then he slowly stood up and turned around before saying,
"Walk with me."
