"Gramps? What are you doing here?" James asked.
"Ehh… Morning grandpa…" I said rather awkwardly after being found out that I was digging for information about Emma.
"Morning! I'm just here to check on you boys. I hope you're rea…" The old man paused a little when he caught sight of the mountain of clothes and stuff on my open luggage. "Well, I see that you're almost ready. Good of you to offer him your help, James! Less talking and more packing please."
"Yes, gramps. Justin here is just curious about Emma and why the family members and helpers hate her so much." James glanced at Emma questioningly to confirm if she's really ok with telling me everything.
"He'll know about it sooner or later anyway. Better if he hears the truth from us instead of some garbage rumors from the imbeciles that seem to populate the clan nowadays." Emma sighed.
James nodded lightly and turned to face me.
"Well. Emma here is actually… A… A…" James struggled mightily with the word, but eventually gave up.
"Clone." Emma finished his sentence flatly. "The original died at childbirth. I am a successful lab experiment. Specimen number 1743."
"Meaningless labels. You're a beloved granddaughter." The old man said gently but firmly. "A beloved cousin, and a beloved friend. These are the labels that matter."
"And that too." Emma gave the old man a sweet and grateful smile.
"Well, I may not have been the best cousin so far…" James began apologetically.
"You're one of the nicer ones James." Emma assured him with yet another angelic smile.
"Yeah? Well I try to ignore the rumors…" James mumbled slightly guiltily.
"I don't see why that would cause the entire family to hate you so much." I said. "In fact, shouldn't they be happy for you?"
"A relatively large clan like the Whitefrost Clan is full of family politics and jealousy." The old man said with a sigh. "Many clan members are jealous of Emma and everything that the clan had done to secure her life and wellbeing. Due to some mistakes-"
"Sabotage." Emma cut in.
"Mistakes." The old man repeated heavily. "Emma, who was supposed to be far stronger than the average human being, ended up spending her childhood being weak and sickly. She remained that way until I gifted her the Gene Cleansing Pill. She got stronger and quickly became the Emma that she was supposed to be. But of course in the process, incurred the jealousy of all the other clan members."
"That, and also the fact that the clan spends a huge amount of money annually on medicine that I need to take daily until I hit puberty, makes the whole clan resent me. Afterall, the resources that should have gone to them, went to me instead. Salaries fell, bonuses were canceled and budgets were cut across all departments. The clan has been on the decline financially for the eighth straight year now.
Many clans who were once weaker than us have started to leave us in the dust when their offspring grow up with various pills and serums which they could afford, and which we now couldn't."
"I see. No wonder Aunt Isabella was so worked up about the Gene Optimizing Pill you're planning to give me." I nodded in understanding.
"Oh she was probably mostly worked up about her failure to kill me." Emma said with a dry laugh.
"Talking about Aunt Isabella, how's the situation with the Empire gramps? Are we going to war for real?" James asked the old man seriously.
The old man was not known for coddling his kids, and he didn't do so then.
"War is a very real possibility." The old man replied grimly. "We're throwing all the evidence we have on William Leon's involvement in Emma's kidnapping to their faces, and the Secretary is making a big fuss out of it. But whether or not that will stave off war remains to be seen.
And with the purge we just conducted, the Empire is currently left without most of its assets within our borders while ours are still at full strength within theirs. They would be fools to start a war now. I estimate the earliest they would declare war would be in a year."
He looked at me seriously after he said that.
"You have one year to prepare yourself. After that, we will need your power to help us withstand their onslaught."
"Grandpa, he's still ten! I'm eleven and Emma's only eight!" James protested indignantly. "He still has six more years of school before he's combat ready!"
"And I will do all I can to buy that six years for all of you." The old man said. "But always plan for the worst. Whatever you do this year, do it as though you'll be fighting in the frontlines of the war in one year. No slacking off, understand?"
The old man glared at James sternly.
"Why are you glaring at me?" James asked rather sulkily. "Emma slacked off just as much as I did. Probably even more!"
"I'm in the Accelerated Program. We don't "slack off" in that program." Emma rolled her eyes at James. "In fact, I'm probably a much better pilot than you right now."
"Yeah? Care to put some credits to back up that statement of yours?" James taunted Emma.
"Of co-" Emma was about to agree when she suddenly remembered that she lost five thousand credits to me a few days ago in the Black Salamander VS Giant Pegasi match.
"I'll do it." I grinned. "I'll bet one thousand credits that Emma will win!"
"What? ONE THOUSAND?" James cried out in shock. "How in the world did you get your hands on that many credits?"
"Secret. So you in or out?" I replied.
"I'M IN! Free credits, why not?" James smirked at Emma and me. "Let's go! A practice match before breakfast suits me perfectly."
I glanced at the old man, and found that his eyes were gleaming rather excitedly too.
"It's on! Lead the way!" Emma pronounced.
"I want half of the winnings." She said to me.
"You got it. Make it quick." I replied.
"STOP TALKING AS THOUGH I'VE LOST!" James roared.
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