Julian, of course, tactfully took his leave—after all, his grandfather had been staring at him the entire time.
He had never quite understood his grandfather and grandmother. Although the two had been divorced for years, they clearly still had each other in their hearts, yet they never remarried, and every time they met, it almost always ended on a sour note.
"Slowking, give me a few lamb skewers. Extra chili."
Julian walked over to Slowking's barbecue stand and casually grabbed a drink from Magearna.
"Slow~"
Slowking nodded.
"Little Juli~"
His cousin Thea walked over.
Hearing that form of address, Julian's face darkened slightly, and he pretended not to hear.
"Little Juli~"
Thea called again, her eyes filled with amusement.
"Little Juli~"
"What is it?"
Seeing that she kept calling him and was even getting louder, Julian figured that if he didn't respond soon, the people around would probably all hear it.
"Oh, so you can hear me. I thought my voice was too quiet."
Thea looked at Julian with a teasing smile; clearly, she had done it on purpose. Julian, of course, had caught on to her intention as well.
But soon, Julian's gaze was drawn to the young man standing beside her.
"And he is?"
He didn't recognize him.
"He's my boyfriend, Lucas Brown."
"Lucas, this is my cousin."
Thea introduced them.
"Champion Walker, hello."
Lucas nervously extended his hand—he didn't dare to address Julian by name.
"Hello, just call me Julian," Julian shook his hand and replied casually.
"So cousin, you finally got a boyfriend."
Thea was the daughter of his eldest maternal uncle, three years older than Julian.
Back when Julian entered Imperial University, his cousin was already a senior.
Now, Thea was thirty-three years old.
For the people of Drakoria, where the average lifespan was 120 years, this age wasn't really considered old. Moreover, Thea was a Trainer. Many female Trainers got married around forty, and a considerable number had no plans to marry at all.
Since she had brought her boyfriend to Julian's birthday this time, it clearly meant that both families had already approved of the relationship.
Otherwise, she would never have brought him to meet Julian.
"From the Brown family in the Northwest?" Julian asked.
There were quite a few prominent families in Drakoria with the surname Brown, but the most well-known one was from the Northwest region.
"No, he's grandfather's student," Thea explained.
The implication was that this guy was either a civilian genius or from a minor family, but had caught Harold's eye and been accepted as his student.
His maternal grandfather had many students, a great number of whom had already become outstanding breeders. So the fact that Lucas had caught his eye meant he was certainly exceptional.
In fact, he was probably not just exceptional—otherwise, he wouldn't have introduced his granddaughter to him.
Thea was the eldest daughter of the Turner family and was herself highly accomplished. She was already a late-stage Elite trainer and was also a Psychic ability user.
According to the conventions among major families, if she were to marry, she would either marry the legitimate son of a family of equal standing to the Turners—and the other party's talent absolutely could not be weak—or she would take in a husband.
For a son-in-law taken into the family, the requirements were not as high; at the very least, there was no need to consider his background.
This guy was, in all likelihood, the son-in-law the Turners had taken in.
Absorbing civilian geniuses or talented individuals born into minor families into the clan to improve the genetic stock of the family's descendants was something many major families did.
After all, the number of civilian Trainers was enormous. With such a massive base, the number of geniuses naturally increased.
And for these geniuses, what limited their growth were resources and their own circumstances. If a good family extended an olive branch, why wouldn't they accept it?
Besides, most women born into these families were quite good-looking. They were essentially giving you a good-looking wife for free along with the resources you needed. The only thing you had to pay in return was a bit of dignity.
And dignity? As long as the price was right, it could be sold.
A man's knees might be worth in gold, but this was exactly the time to cash them in.
Julian didn't look down on Lucas in the slightest. Smiling, he said to him, "My cousin will be in your care from now on. She has a bit of a temper, so you'll have to be patient with her."
The fatherly tone infuriated Thea so much that she aimed a kick at Julian, which he deftly dodged.
"You actually dare to dodge?" Thea huffed angrily.
"You kicked at me—why wouldn't I dodge? I'm not stupid," Julian said, somewhat speechless, looking at Thea as if she was an idiot.
Thea then aimed another kick, and Julian dodged again.
Watching Thea play-fight with Julian, the others couldn't help but feel a little envious.
Although they were cousins with Julian, to say they were particularly familiar with him would be far from the truth.
Many of them hadn't even seen him for years at a time.
The reason Julian and Thea had a good relationship was mainly because, back when they were at Imperial University, Thea always took the initiative to seek him out, so the two gradually became close.
The fact that Thea hadn't married out of the family was partly due to this as well.
Even with blood ties, even among direct relatives, if you didn't stay in touch for over a decade, the bond would inevitably fade—let alone with collateral relatives.
Once Julian's maternal grandparents and his uncles grew old and passed on one by one, the relationship between the Walkers and Turners would naturally become much weaker.
By then, what connected the two families' bond would no longer be blood ties, but rather specific individuals within them.
That kind of thing was quite normal even in ordinary families.
In a normal household, relatives you frequently interacted with would naturally have a very close relationship, while those you barely contacted, meeting only once or twice a year, would inevitably become more distant.
"Arf~"
Arcanine came running over with its tongue hanging out.
In three years, the dog, whose level had once been reset, had half a year ago regained its status as a Champion.
Though Arcanine hadn't been that happy about it—because Moltres hadn't exactly been standing still, and had already surpassed it by several levels.
"Master, that stupid bird is bullying me again!"
Sure enough, Arcanine had come running over to tattle. This kind of thing happened almost daily, and Julian had long since gotten used to it.
Ever since it could absolutely dominate Arcanine in terms of raw power, every time Moltres traded barbs with Arcanine, it would casually beat it up as well.
Arcanine could rarely get the upper hand verbally, and it would get beaten up to boot.
A classic case of being bad at it yet loving to play, and against all odds, it never got tired of it. And every time it got beaten up, it would come to Julian to complain.
Right now, as it spoke, there was a claw-print on its face—clearly left by Moltres, and a pretty hard stomp at that.
"Mm-mm, got it."
Julian nodded perfunctorily. "I'll go have a word with Moltres in a bit."
Only then did the dog leave, satisfied.
"Isn't it a bit bad to lie to the dog like that?"
Watching Arcanine actually believe him, Thea immediately concluded it was a dumb dog.
It actually believed something like that. No wonder she always felt there was a certain "spark" in its gaze—turns out it was simply lacking in intelligence.
*****
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