54 Zealots
The old man seemed to have quick reflexes, as he managed to duck back into the palanquin.
Hence, the vase missed its target, and it crashed onto the wooden beams of the Palanquin while Aaron quickly leaped to the side to avoid the falling pieces.
Anissa completely ignored him, as her gaze was completely focused on her grandfather.
Wearily, the old man peeked out and only got out of the palanquin after making sure that there were no more threats headed his way.
After that, though, an embarrassed expression came on his face, as the sound of a low chuckle floated into his ears.
Of course, it was from the Official, who had inexplicably appeared behind Anissa.
Dammit! How was he doing it!
Aaron had half a mind to begin thinking that this man was more of a threat than the City Lord, because of this ability to magically appear wherever he wished. Wasn't it just a bit too overpowered?
That red panda was once more on his shoulders, and as Anissa, too, noticed that someone was behind her, her anger seemed to melt, as she shouted in delight, "Uncle Gildart!"
Running toward him, she was swept up into the air by her armpits, as if she was a little girl, and as she was whirled in the air by the absent-minded Official who had a wide smile on his face, she giggled before blushing brightly.
It was only when he set her down, did she realize that she was in the presence of someone else, who was practically a stranger to her.
Aaron had been watching, and as she turned to look at him and notice this, her blush deepened.
Compared to the tough image she was shown before, this one was so sweet and innocent that her impression in Aaron's mind almost changed.
As if she, too, had understood that the equation between them, itself, had changed, she averted her gaze and looked like she would run inside with embarrassment.
The Official spoke up, breaking the tension in the atmosphere.
"Little Nissa, it really was dangerous this time. The man had a Legendary level Tera! If a weaker Official had been present, he might even have attempted something out of anger. True, he's not dumb enough to go against the World Government by doing that, but anger can make men do stupid things."
This made Anissa turn and shoot a glare at the old man, who smiled, but it didn't look like she was willing to let go of her anger.
However, as the Official continued, a smile soon came on her face.
"However, it should have been your decision. This old man really has been constricting you too much. How about this? That battle sounds good, and it will also help our friend here to understand about combat roles, combat ratings, and strategies to be used during battles. As an Ascender, he will have to compete in them, and it's best if he can find out about these things in this matter. I, too, can't wait to see whether little Nissa whom mentor speaks of so much is really as talented as he says she is."
As he said the last sentence, he flicked Anissa's nose, who nodded before turning to the old man and shouting, "Just you wait!"
In response, the old man got an appalled expression on his face, which was followed by him glaring at the Official, who shrugged as if to say that he shouldn't be blamed.
This made a satisfied expression come on Anissa's face, before she stormed away after breaking one last vase that was still intact.
After the sound of a distant door closing was heard, the old man actually…burst out laughing.
As Aaron looked at him puzzlement, he said, "I was meaning to battle her anyway and see whether she can be allowed to do as she wants. Gildart, let's get the Survivor Orientation over with quickly. I'm itching to battle my granddaughter."
With a nod, Gildart led the way inside, while Aaron and the old man followed.
On the way, Aaron checked on the Core into which Woof had entered not even an hour ago.
It seemed that having Woof inside the Core meant that they were in contact, too, as he felt a very comfortable feeling coming from the Tera, as if it was having the best sleep of its life.
Feeling glad that this was the case, Aaron sat down on the chair in the room where he had had those harrowing visions.
As soon as Gildart sat down, too, he fixed his gaze on Aaron and said, "First of all, I won't waste time on miscellaneous stuff, which your A.A can tell you about later, too, as I will be officially recognizing you as a Survivor as soon as I leave. I'm here to tell you about what is not written down: in particular, about those enemies that the City Lord mentioned."
Aaron leaned forward as he heard this.
"The whole meaning of the Path to the Stars is to entice youngsters to work hard and keep climbing so that they can uncover more information about the world slowly, but in your case, this has to be broken. Partially, at least. You see, even though the World Government is the strongest force in the world, there are also others which are also quite powerful. Typically, this shouldn't concern you until you become a 1-Star Ascender, but you need to know about a particular group called the 'Zealots'."
An expression of disgust appeared on the old man's face as this name was uttered, and even the Official said it and looked as if it had left a bad taste in his mouth.
"Well, we call them that, but in truth, they are a bunch who follow a certain religion…there are multiple names for this religion, but what you need to know is that this religion believes that Teras are all profane beings which should be eradicated, or enslaved. They believe that a Bond should only be one where the Tera is forced to do what the Tera Master wants. Understanding Teras and becoming their partners is considered sacrilegious, and even though Zealots don't go around killing those who choose to do this, there is one section of people whom they are determined to kill, by any means: Survivors. They believe that surviving in the forest for so long results in Survivors becoming more Tera than human, and that their sympathies would always lie with that 'profane' race. Hence, in order to make sure that these individuals don't backstab humanity later, they wish to eradicate them all. And now…you are their target, too."
