Everyone arrived at the mansion and was immediately attended to by the servants, who checked their bodies for more serious injuries.
After receiving their initial treatment, everyone gathered around a large table.
Cristian had taken the last thief with him, accompanied by one of his guards, and asked the young people to rest before receiving their rewards.
Since Liang had been the one who found the core, he would receive the greatest reward.
Meanwhile, Alex gathered all the parts of the armor that had been found during the dungeon, finally managing to complete the set.
"You two were better than me, so you can keep it."
"I don't want it. What am I going to use something like that for if I'm already the strongest?"
Kael answered exactly as Alex expected. Then he turned toward Kai, who at that moment was surrounded by the small fairy. She had just explained that she now had a contract with him.
"I don't need it. I already made a contract with Jatina."
"That's right. He only needs me."
Kael was surprised to hear that. In the original story, Kai would keep that armor for practically the entire year, until the Infernal Academy arc began, when it would be destroyed by a Rank Faizes Level 3 Nartheis.
Alex sighed in relief and took all the pieces of the armor. That protection was really good and could help him a lot, especially now that he intended to assist his father in his search for revenge.
"Looks like you've already decided who gets what. And it looks like you really ended up with nothing, Kael. That arrogance of yours can cost you dearly."
"It won't, because I'm strong."
After talking with Meilin for some time, Kael noticed Elowyn looking directly at him with a deadly gaze. He immediately turned his face to the side. He still did not know exactly how Elowyn could see his essence through the disguise. That meant she might have discovered his true identity. In that case, he would need to use one of his trump cards to prevent her from telling anyone.
'I intend to use this disguise many times in the future.'
[Well, you've already received your reward and two new pacts. So that's fine.]
'That's good, but I'd like to know why I didn't receive the reward from the previous arc.'
[Your rewards are given by the constellations. They can offer a reward and, sometimes, they can offer something that doubles its value, as happened last time. This time, however, they decided not to give you anything.]
Kael was confused. Why had they given him nothing if those constellations seemed to have had a lot of fun watching that battle?
Upon noticing the confused expression on his face, the system explained that the constellations could grant rewards, but they also wanted him to face difficulties, as that would make his journey more entertaining for them.
Upon hearing that, Kael squeezed the glass in his hand so hard that he ended up breaking it. Meilin, who was sitting beside him, was startled when she noticed blood running down his fingers.
'Those bastards.'
[Calm down. The reward is good.]
Kael hoped it really was. His desire to find those constellations and beat them up only increased as time passed. Upon noticing that his hand was bleeding, he took the cloth Qianlan had extended toward him.
"What happened?"
"I simply remembered something from the past."
'Damn. I think I made everyone uncomfortable.'
Realizing that the atmosphere had become strange, Kael decided to ease the situation by bringing up another subject at the table and began talking about the others' abilities.
Little by little, he noticed that everyone was becoming more relaxed again. So he decided to leave for a few minutes, allowing them to continue the conversation without his presence. Everyone realized what he was doing and was grateful for the gesture, imagining that perhaps he had remembered something related to his mother.
"Do you think we did something that made him remember his mother?"
"Maybe. But the most important thing now is to do what our queen asked."
The students of Shengtian were rivals of Astrong, since the two were considered the best academies on the continent. When they received that mission, none of them imagined that they would need to form a team with their rivals. However, when the queen gave them that order, they had no choice but to accept it.
Liang then turned toward Kai, who seemed to be the easiest person to get information from.
"You know, I'm very interested in knowing how strong this Enrico is. Could you tell me more about him?"
"Really? Let me see where I should start..."
Kai began talking while Liang asked some questions to obtain more information. None of the Shengtian students knew exactly why their queen was interested in Enrico. From what they had discovered, she had gone as far as sending a mission for the only three students from Tianlong present at Astrong Academy to observe Enrico from a distance for several weeks.
The only thing Liang knew was that if his queen was interested in that boy, then he should be someone who could represent some kind of threat in the next battle between students from the different academies.
Valença, however, interrupted Kai from time to time, preventing him from revealing too much information about Enrico.
She did not intend to allow the Shengtian students to discover too much about the one who, according to her, would one day be her husband. After all, they would be opponents, and she did not want to risk any of those girls falling in love after hearing stories about how incredible he was.
'No way I'm letting more girls enter this competition.'
When Kael returned, Cristian entered accompanied by a servant and thanked everyone again. Then, he handed Liang his reward, a necklace capable of increasing his magical storage. Liang received the gift with evident satisfaction.
"With this, the mission is over. So I would like to offer you a nice banquet today and a celebration party for you."
"No need, sir. We will return today."
Virelle entered at that moment accompanied by the teachers from both academies, while the mercenaries came right behind them. With the mission over and Kael disappointed that he could not stay longer to discover how that food was prepared, everyone began gathering near the adults.
"That's a shame. I will send some extra money to everyone at their respective locations."
Everyone nodded. The Shengtian students left first along one path, while those from Astrong went to the left. When the mercenaries were about to leave, Cristian approached Alex and Lyssandra.
"I'd like to talk to you later, son."
"What?"
"First of all, you didn't change Lyssandra's name."
Alex put a hand to his head. He had told Lyssandra to change her name, but she had refused because she did not want to pretend that she had another name. Behind him, Lyssandra simply tapped her own head and stuck out her tongue, as if that situation was exactly what she wanted to happen.
"And second, why wouldn't I recognize my own son?"
"Father..."
Alex decided to remove his disguise, and Lyssandra did the same. Her black hair, which only reached her shoulders, became visible.
'Yumeha is better.'
Still annoyed by the push he had received earlier, Kael found any reason to criticize her mentally.
Since Alex's disguise had already been discovered, he decided to remain at the mansion. After all, he wanted to become a knight, not a mercenary. Alex and Lyssandra canceled their rookie mercenary cards.
"It's a shame. You two had potential."
Kurte seemed disappointed, but those he considered most important had remained, so there was no reason to complain. Kael, Arvanys, and Dorian began following the other mercenaries.
"Kael!"
Kael looked back and saw Alex smiling while raising his hand in a farewell gesture.
"Thank you for saving me."
"Thank me by sending me something interesting."
"Why? If you're going to become stronger without anyone's help."
"Tsk."
Kael simply said goodbye, but ended up smiling.
In the original story, Alex would die at Cláudio's hands. The death of his son would drive Cristian insane, especially because he had already lost hope after failing to find a way to cure his wife. With Alex's loss, he would eventually become a villain.
'They'll have a good father-and-son relationship... And the mother too. After all, I left a message behind.'
When the three began entering again to speak with the adults, a guard ran toward them and informed them that the prisoner had been killed. Cristian was the first to run. That thief was his only hope of discovering who was behind everything.
"How did this happen?"
Upon arriving at the cell, Cristian saw the body of the last thief lying on the floor. There was a letter on his chest. The guards had not touched it because they wanted to leave any investigation in the hands of their lord. Alex, however, quickly approached, picked up the letter, and began reading it.
"Your mother can be cured with a dungeon item, but for that, you will have to convince your king to ally with Tsuyokuni."
Cristian and Alex looked at each other, surprised. From the contents, it seemed that the person responsible for the message knew that Cristian was one of the secret advisers to the king of the territory of Sanos. However, at that moment, the only thing that truly mattered to the two of them was one specific part of the message: she could be cured.
"Is it true, Father?"
"I don't know. But I will investigate the situation in Tsuyokuni thoroughly. I will also be careful to make sure this isn't something bad. Guards, I want you to investigate the entire place. I want to know who left this letter."
"Yes, my lord."
All the guards ran to investigate, while, in the hearts of Cristian and Alex, a small flame of hope began to emerge once again. For the first time in a long time, the two had a possibility of bringing that person back into their lives.