I reached the vacation home with little trouble, and when I say "little trouble," I mean I didn't crash into any orchards this time.
As I walked up to the massive mansion's doors, I could already hear children playing inside.
I knocked on the doors, having given my keys to the red-haired lady. I mentally steeled myself for some type of reprimand when I handed her the keys and gold.
She looked furious when i had given her the gold coins. How could she be furious when I had given her money, the answer to all problems?
I could hear all the children inside stop playing after my knock, and not too soon after, a red-haired older woman opened the door. When she saw me, her face scrunched up in anger.
She didn't move aside to let me into my own house—the nerve of some people!
"May I come in, please?" I tried not to let my annoyance slip into my tone. I mean, I had just destroyed her house, but this was still my house.
The woman raised her hand and slapped me. I could have leaned back, but considering what I had done earlier, it was understandable.
"Spoiled brat," she said.
She seemed satisfied with just the slap as she moved aside to let me into my own house.
As soon as I walked in, around twenty children swarmed around me, saying random things.
The little goblins looked so happy, jumping around; it almost melted my heart a little—almost.
"It's the shooting star man!" I heard a young girl call out.
"Will you grant us a wish? Please make me a sovereign-ranked swordsman!"
"I wanna be the strongest man in all of Xia!"
"Please let me become rich like you!"
"Bring my parents back!" I felt a slight pang of sympathy and sadness at this statement. The boy looked no older than six, and he had already lost his parents.
Before I could let myself follow that train of thought deeper, the woman yelled, "Calm down, children! He's not a shooting star that can grant wishes—just a spoiled brat like all of you!"
The group of children deflated at her words, and most quickly lost interest in me.
The redhead sat on MY couch as if she had been living here for ages. Her face still clearly looked angry. I didnt really like how she was walking around like she owned the place but one thing I could respect about her was that she was treating me as a normal teenager rather than a noble.
I knew for a fact she understood my status, given the amount of money I threw at her without caring and the size of the house—both were dead giveaways.
"So, what's the name of the bastard who destroyed my home?"
*******
There were no dummies in the training room, as they would all simply break. Strikes and cuts through the wall and floor of the training room were present all over, and in the center of it all stood a man.
A man with long white hair that reached his chest and grey eyes that could pierce through anyone who bore his gaze.
He looked to be in his twenties, but don't let that fool you—this man was Oliver Neant, a king-ranked swordsman who had lived for over 100 years.
He was holding a wooden sword in his grip, raising it and bringing it down with the force of a meteor.
As his wooden sword struck, a reverberating shockwave followed the single slash.
Oliver Neant was currently training, even though it didn't do much now that he was a king-ranked swordsman, except for slightly refreshing his skills. He still did it every day, four times a day.
Why, you might ask? It was to remind himself where he started—as a poor fallen noble with no status, who trained until he nearly passed out in hopes of reclaiming his family's lost glory. And he had done so.
Oliver himself could barely believe that he pulled it off. Although he hated the Zelk as much as any other, it was only because of the Zelk War that he was able to gain his status and rise to the rank of archduke due to his accomplishments.
Suddenly, the door to his room swung open.
A man with bluish-grey hair and yellow eyes, who looked to be in his mid-thirties, entered. His name was Evan; he was Oliver's butler and shadow.
Although the man wasn't as strong as Oliver, he was only one rank below as an ascender-ranked mage.
The butler swept his gaze across the room and spoke with a respectful tone. "I have some news for you, my lord."
Oliver nodded for Evan to continue.
"The young master has fired all staff in the vacation house located in Tintor."
Of course, it was his useless mage of a son. Oliver had tried everything to instill discipline in the boy, but not only was his talent trash, but worst of all, he was unbelievably lazy.
Oliver had even taken the boy to the Church of Sephia to see if the child somehow bore the spirit of the 7th Sin, Sloth.
What did the shadows report? Oliver did not try to hide his annoyance in his voice.
"They have reported that the young master has been training all day and night for some unknown reason and seems to possess a new mysterious crown artifact.
Another thing he has done is destroy an orphanage and allow the children to stay in the vacation manor."
"The useless bastard has decided to try to become useful finally, but it is too late, as his sister will inherit everything I have. Not only that, he somehow still destroys something." Oliver laughed humorlessly.
He sighed. He had failed his wife by telling her that he would give their children everything she wanted, but deep down, he always knew he had been lying to her.
He hadn't let their children grow up as weak, normal children. He simply couldn't; this cruel world they lived in would eat them alive if they didn't get stronger.
His daughter, Anissa, had understood this, but his son, Amit, had not. He wouldn't waste time on someone he believed would be devoured by the world soon.
"Tell the shadows to give up monitoring him. I no longer care for my idiot son."
"As you wish, sir," Evan bowed and left.
*******
Anissa Neant was annoyed.
She had received a call from her underlings telling her about her idiot brother, who for some reason had begun training suddenly and had gotten his hands on some weird artifact.
She had told the forgettable underling to shut up and hung up the phone before he could finish.
Although she didn't hate her brother, she didn't care for him much.
She only kept an eye on him more out of caution in case he wanted to embarrass their family even more.
The day she heard of the stunt that got him kicked out of the academy, she was so embarrassed to be related to him that she didn't leave her room for a day.
She wasn't even worried about him gaining enough strength to catch their father's attention; it was too late, after all. She had been training all her life.
She lay in her dorm, meditating. She was almost on the verge of ascending ranks soon.
She would soon become a squire-ranked swordsman—one of the fastest in her generation of first-years at Eden Academy.
Whenever her brother came back from suspension, she would make sure he learned his place. She smiled at the thought and continued her efforts to break through.
*****