Chapter 8

Timeskip: 4 hours later

"Oh dear… now this is unexpected."

Now, THIS hadn't been within her calculations, Alexa had to admit to herself. She currently sat with her Maid in her own personal room, prepared for her by her relatives. They DID have some connections within the upper ranks of Gamacademi's staff, after all, and if there was anything that politicians specialized in, it'd be using everything in their arsenal to their advantage.

Meanwhile, her maid who stood beside her with a circular tray in her hands clutched said tray whilst still reeling from what she had seen back in that battle. Compared to her charge, she hadn't taken the brutality Vali had displayed only a couple hours ago NEARLY as well. "Mistress that boy's power... it's nothing like I've ever seen before..." she whispered, still incredibly shaken despite her professionalism affording her a somewhat calm and stable posture.

Didn't mean that Alexa couldn't read through that however, since reading people had been a specialty of hers for a while. Still, Alexa nodded her head in agreement, understanding the Maid's concerns as she replayed everything in her head. "I know, and those wings...… they were almost like a Lost Item, one which had been with him since he was born." she muttered, remembering the silver and blue wings which had appeared midway into the battle. She didn't know a THING about those, even after having looked up the history books shortly after she had returned to her room and begun immersing herself in research about them. None of the history records had any mention of any wing-type devices made by the CPUs aside from Processors, but they could only be used by the CPUs anyways so Alexa didn't count them as part of this.

Then there was their apparent ability, the ability to take about half of the user's energy and supply it to the user, according to what her Mana Sensing had shown her when she'd analyzed the ability during the battle and a little afterward too. Furthermore, from what she could tell those Wings hadn't appeared before and Vali had no idea how to use them, she'd figured this to be the case thanks to the guy having not used them until midway into the battle when that Jilk character made the pathetic move of threatening Vali's family. She had heard of what had happened when the last person did that, and a fool she was not, she's not going to make that mistake.

Plus, as a TRUE aristocrat, she wouldn't need to.

"What should we do, mistress? The boy, he now has an unknown Lost Item in him that makes him even more powerful! Soon, if his magic continues to grow.... Then he could potentially be able to match a CPU." Her maid questioned, causing Alexa to frown deeply at the VERY possible outcome. With the combination of Vali's immense Mana, as well as those strange Wings and those Lost Items he had found, then that could very well be a possibility. Something which she had no doubt that those fanatics back in the capital of Leanbox (heck any of the four Nations as far as she was concerned) would try to stop by any means necessary. That would without a doubt end badly… for them, she believed, since Vali had shown time and time again that he didn't care much for rules or traditions.

"I know..." The silver-haired girl remarked, looking down into her teacup. "….. We must contact IF, so we can let her relay this message to the CPU."

Upon hearing that, the maid jumped lightly with a look of shocked concern. She didn't waste any time voicing her opinion though, knowing how her charge liked to hear things from her straight and without any lies. "Are you certain, Mistress? Because the CPU will be in quite a bad mood when she hears of this. It won't help that she'll get a hold of Julius' foolish confession of his love for that brat, Marie."

Alexa shook her head at that, taking another sip of her tea. "I'm not talking about Green Heart, I'm talking about her Oracle. She can relay the message to the other Oracles of other continents. So that way once Green Heart is calmed down, the Oracle, I can't recall her name, will inform her about the situation."

".......I see, shall I prepare a phone call to her Mistress."

"Of course Mary. Once she picks the call, inform me that she's done so."

"Yes, Mistress."

"...I see. Thank you IF, for informing me of the situation. When Lady Vert and I had sensed the unusual Mana that we'd felt before..... I will be sure to tell Lady Vert once she calmed down. Right now, she is FURIOUS with Julius when he had said he would disrespect her...…. Alright, I will thank you and have a nice day IF."

CLICK!

The sound of a phone turning off after it had ended a call resonated throughout a long corridor filled with knight-like armors aligned on both sides, the cause of which being a woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties. She had long, light green hair with a black and green ribbon tying a portion of it into a ponytail in the back. She had red eyes and dressed in a stylish, black mini dress with black bows on both sides, along with long frills draping off both sides of her waist with a bright green interior. Her legs were covered with thigh-high black socks were black, alongside being accompanied by matching black heels with purple bows in the center.

After this sound vanished and things returned to normal around her, the woman pocketed her phone inside her dress before sighing. "Sometimes...…. I really wish things didn't get more complicated than before." she muttered in weariness. She then walked through the corridor passing through many decorations before stopping by a room. "........ Let's hope that lady Vert has managed to calm down a bit."

For a moment, the woman took a deep breath to prepare herself for what may happen, knowing that if it did then it likely wouldn't be pretty. As much of a gamer and usually pleasant woman the CPU of Leanbox was, there were times when one tended to forget that she was a Goddess… and one with a slight temper at that. The woman only needed to remember when she had once got replaced by a replica of herself by two brothers all because of her rack size, something which had irritated her to the point where she had saturated them in BL for weeks on end. That had been on the LOWER spectrum though, but the woman didn't want to think about what she'd do when pissed off to the highest degree. All the CPUs would be horrifying demons in that kind of state. Once this breath had been taken, the woman then knocked the door before entering "Lady Vert? Are you there, because if you are I'm coming in."

She opened the door and entered the room, allowing her to see what lay inside. The moment she did though, the woman got the impression she had just entered the aftermath of a storm, seeing lots of comic books on the floor, many consoles broken including game DVDs and lots of posters ripped apart.

"#Huff...…#huff...…#huff Oh, Chika! Didn't know that you were here!"

Yet, in the center of the room, surrounded by so much destroyed merchandise that her vicinity looked more like a junkyard, was another woman who looked to be similar to the first one in terms of age. Although the green-haired woman knew for a fact that she was likely older than all of humanity put together. She had the appearance of an adult woman with a slender figure, sizable bust, blonde waist-length wavy hair and dark blue eyes. Her attire looked to be her signature green and peach-colored dress, with the top being dark green with gold lining on it. In addition to it being sleeveless, as well as revealing a considerable portion of her cleavage, the dress got covered through a veil of sorts. It had a ribbon on her neck, which was red in color, alongside detached upper-arm portions of her dress's sleeves and had frilled gloves on her hands. Her legs were concealed by the long skirt, as well as white stockings whilst her feet got covered by a pair of silver high heels with green frills.

With the state the room was in, the green-haired woman sweat dropped with a slightly awkward look on her face. "I-is this a bad time right now Lady Vert?"

"No no,...…..on second thought, give me a second and I'll be with you." The woman known as Vert replied, then calmly began to move in another direction with Chika, the first woman, then entered another room…

...before screaming out loud whilst the sounds of crashing and bashing could be heard.

"THAT LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT AND THOSE FUCKING IDIOTS! THEY THINK THAT THEY CAN DISRESPECT ME, ALL FOR SOME SINGLE FLAT CHEST WOMAN?! I'M GONNA DISEMBOWL THEM ALIVE WITH A SPOON THEN I'M GONNA USE THEM LIKE MARIONETTE STRINGS, THEN TIE THEM AND THEIR FUCKING FRIENDS TO THE GODDESS DAMN CEILING!"

A while later, Vert exited out of the room with her usual calm expression, although Chika could see the remnants of destruction in the other room. That would be a NIGHTMARE for the cleanup crew, she believed… not envying those people in the slightest.

"There now I feel better now. Now can you tell me why have you come to see me, is it because you want to...… collect butlers?" The blonde woman questioned with a coy, knowing smile.

"Wha-?! NO!........ Maybe." Chika replied, affronted at first, although later on she revealed her true thoughts as she bashfully looked aside, remembering the last time she had been served by a bunch of handsome butlers. She also wouldn't admit it, but she wouldn't mind if she were to have a partner who would dress up as a butler for her every now and then, take care of things for her like her stress born from her job as an Oracle. Of course, her 'big sister Vert' as she liked to call her on normal days would have to give her approval first, she wouldn't be with anyone who she didn't like.

However, this didn't bother Vert any, as she giggled in excitement as she latched onto the Oracle, pulling the side of her head into her bosom and fondling her hair like a mother would her child. "Oh, so you DO want to collect more butlers, Chika! That is simply splendid! I've been meaning to find something else to replace the stress I've been under. Let's go to the Capital to see if we can find any butlers!"

In response to this, a panicked flustered expression formed on Chika's face as she (albeit reluctantly) pulled away from Vert's heavenly bosom. She feared that if she went along with this, and by the goddess she REALLY wanted to, then she'd forget about her reason for coming here initially which considering the importance of her info, wasn't acceptable. "That's not what I meant!...(Sigh) Lady Vert it's about the unusual power we felt before."

Now THIS got Vert's attention as a surprised look crossed onto her face. "Oh..... I see, carry on what you were saying, Chika." she stated, making a 'go on' kind of gesture whilst crossing her arms under her breasts.

Looked like things could finally progress, the Oracle thought as she nodded her head in acceptance. "Yes my lady. I had a call from IF that she told me to relay this message to the Oracle, to you and the CPU. She told me that Alexia knows where the unusual Mana came from."

As she heard this, Vert frowned as she recalled that incident. It had happened quite recently, but it had also quite caught her by surprise when she had suddenly sensed a HUGE torrent of Mana somewhere. To her, it had been a chaotic, storm-like feeling, as if it were something that could cause a disaster anywhere it went… which honestly unnerved her more than she'd like to admit since, as Leanbox's CPU, she had the duty to respond to such threats. The fact that this had appeared whilst they were dealing with another potential threat to Gamindustri also caused no small amount of worry to her, though upon calling her fellow CPUs she had found that only she had sensed it, hence she believed that it seemed to be somewhere within her own lands. As such, she had been worrying about its true nature and exactly what it could have been, so any information on it, even from a friend of IF's who had been quite an interesting person politically, would be quite valuable. "Oh? That's interesting. What did she say?"

"She said this: 'the power which you and Green Heart felt, was from a recent baron boy that was ranked up. You know him as Vali Fou Bartford. The boy who found lost items and uncharted land, but has an unusual amount of Mana.' that's what she said." Chika replied as she gauged her CPU's reaction to this news.

As for the said CPU, Vert pondered for a moment, humming thoughtfully as she tried to think of why that name sounded quite familiar to her. That is until it hit her moments later. "Vali Fou Bartford..... Ah, I remember now! He's the one who found little Nepgear's lost items!" she exclaimed, remembering how distraught the younger sister of Purple Heart had been when she'd seen her last. According to Planeptune's Oracle known as Histoire, one of their facilities which had been assigned to Nepgear specifically had been attacked, with no information on either the attackers' identities or the whereabouts of the goods which Nepgear had been developing. Though she likely would want to meet the one who had found her stuff, but because of how young she was, only a couple centuries or so, that wasn't allowed to happen.

With this, Chika nodded, surprised that Vert even remembered since, normally, she would have just lost herself in gaming to the point where she didn't give much thought to stuff around her. It did make her a bit jealous though, as well as want to… talk, with this brat for taking up her big sister's time, although she refrained since that would be both petty AND destructive to her big sister's image of her. "That's the one, but that's not all to what she said, Lady Vert. She also went on to say that 'this boy just unlocked his own Lost items that I have never seen before, not even in the history books. They look like a pair of silver and blue wings that have a strange ability. They seem to possess the ability to take about half of the users' enemies' energy and supply it to the user, with there seeming to be no limit to how many times this ability can be used. If Vali continues to get stronger...….. He might have the potential to match you or the other CPUs' she says."

"......That IS something we have to look into. Hmmm… strange, very strange yet also very interesting. This is very unusual for a male to get stronger."

Vert frowned in worry at that one, knowing that there could very well be a danger like that regarding Vali, especially if what young Alexa Midgar had mentioned about him having his own unknown Lost Items. It has long since been established that women were capable of more power output than men, since a woman's Mana Core, a part of the human body which produced and supplied Mana to humans, was significantly larger than a Male's Mana Core, whose Mana is somewhat drained from it to give them decent physical strength. Women's Mana Cores however don't do that, resulting in their feminine bodies though they can enhance their physical ability at will, plus their magic attacks were a lot more effective. Hence why there were so many prominent women in Gamindustri as well as why society was how it was.

"Lady Vert...what should we do with him? We don't know what type of man he is. He might be up to something or had done something bad to become that powerful!"

"......No, he didn't do anything bad Chika. From what my reports from the Gamiacdemi supervisor, it would seem that he was apparently born with that type of unusual Mana."

When Chika had raised that concern, something quite valid since Vali's existence could very well upset a LOT of powers throughout Gamindustri, Vert dropped THAT bombshell on her. Not only did the fact that Vert knew something she hadn't about Vali, but only told her now stung at Chika for a bit. Not to mention it threw her off quite some. "B-B-B-B-Born?! But, who could his parents be!? For him to have such immense Mana like he does according to the reports... As unlikely as it may be, could he have come from one of the other CPUs, or...….. Could he be from the Deity of Sin?!"

The Deity of Sin… An entity which only recently the four Nations had become aware of. Not much was known about it at this stage in things, and it had only been uncovered from a series of robbers who had mentioned the name in passing, like 'the deity told me to' or 'for the deity of sin!' almost like they were possessed by something… it'd been a haunting experience. Ever since then however, various happenings had occurred throughout the four nations from an unknown adversary, among them being the attack on Nepgear's facility. Thus, the emergence of someone who had a strong connection to this unknown deity would DEFINITELY be a cause for concern, hence Chika's fearful reaction.

"Chika calm yourself. For one, he is not my son nor he is the CPU. You know as well as I do that it's next to impossible for us ageless Goddesses to conceive a child in the first place. Also, this boy does not resemble the images we've collected of the Deity of Sin, because if he did then he would inherit its behavior."

"...I see... forgive me lady Vert, I was just being paranoid. But the fact remains that we need to do something with Vali Bartford. From his actions in this whole incident, he cannot escape notice especially since he assaulted the members of some of our biggest families."

"Well, why not give him a rank up?!"

"A rank up?! But why, lady Vert?!"

"It's simple he did some honorable actions by putting them in their place for being so arrogant, thinking that they could escape punishment. Especially that foolish brat called Julius, if he wants to not be in that family fine, have the members of his family disown him for disrespecting me. As for the others... let Reinhard know what his cousin did, in fact let ALL their families know what they did."

��.....As you wish, lady Vert. Though I should mention that the dukes and other nobles won't like this, lady Vert."

At this, a derisive scoff escaped her lips as she made a dismissive wave. "Let them Chika I don't care what they say. It's their own problems, not mine." she remarked, expressing her own distaste for the way that some of her subjects behaved… though, it wasn't like her previous destruction of her room upon hearing that some lowlife men preferred a flat-chested bimbo over HER didn't get this message across. In her OWN territory no less.

"I understand, lady Vert. I will leave now."

"Good luck Chika...….Oh! And also buy me some new consoles, and also Mangas while you're at it Chika."

"......Whatever you say, lady Vert."

"........Let me get this straight: You want me to make sure nothing happens to your family. Is that correct, young man." a middle-aged man questioned as he sat behind his desk on a luxurious chair. He wasn't alone either, for at his right side stood a tall man looking to be in his mid to late twenties, with sharp features and the same hair/eye colors as the man behind the desk. Standing before him was Vali, who had his hands pocketed inside the pants of his school uniform whilst looking at the two males straight in the eyes, having pulled his Slime Suit back inside of his body since it had been infused with his Flesh through his Mana.

Right now though, he currently had been busying himself with something OTHER than his own desire to train for once, something he REALLY wasn't so used to as he liked to project. Still, this came first, and with that Vali nodded at the assumption which the older man had remarked with."Yes indeed, Mr Redgrave. I want to make sure that nothing will happen to them because of my own actions. There was no one else to turn to but you since your family approved my adventure license. I don't give a rat's ass what happens to me, but as long as my family is alright, then that's good enough for me." internally though he couldn't help but wish that bitch Zora could explode from the anger she must be feeling over what he did. That'd be a fun sight to see.

"......I see. To come to me just for a request to make sure your family is safe. You know that's quite an expensive request young man, court work is indeed a burden on the wallet."

"I will give you the necessary amount of money you need. I don't care much for the cost nor is money that important to me. There is just one request I ask of you, please keep my family safe, that's all I need."

"........Impressive young man, for an upcoming Baron. To go this far, just to keep your family safe. Very well, I will look after your family for you."

Hearing that put the silver-haired teen's heart at ease, prompting him to lower his head in gratitude. "Thank you, Mr Redgrave."

After a nod of acceptance, the man then asked him a question. "Let me ask you this, why is it that you helped my daughter when she acted so rashly yet you still helped her? Why is that?"

".......Personally, your daughter was done right by a friend of mine. Helped her when she had problems with the school, so I owed her a debt. She looked out for a friend of mine, so I returned the favor, that's all there is to it."

".....Spoken like a true man, I'll give you that. There is a matter with your honor though, you brutally beaten not one but all five of them. Thanks to you, the nobles and dukes are panicking because of the situation... Are you willing to give up your status and reputation just because of this?"

"....I will, I don't give a flying fuck about the baron or status stuff. I'm not even interested in politics, they would only hold me back. As long as I have my own freedom and my family is safe, that's all I need."

".....I see. You are an interesting boy."

Seeing that the man had been satisfied for now, the other blonde man then decided to inject his presence into the conversation. "I want to ask you something, Vali Bartford. What is your true motive? I know you have a strong love for fighting, but there has to be another reason why you challenged all five heirs of the great houses. You could've walked away from it, so why?"

"......When I first met your daughter, she looked like a desperate soul, trying to get Julius to fall in love with her. But instead, he gives attention to another. I don't need to explain it further to you, since you already saw his reason and the disrespect of the CPU. I thought of not getting involved with their drama and move on with my day, but that girl Marie... the moment I saw her, I KNEW I couldn't trust her. Mostly because while the others think she is a sweet girl, I'm not that stupid nor am I a blind idiot. I saw her true motives...… Therefore, I decided to knock some sense into that fucking idiot, to show him that your daughter loved him. That's my reason."

In the end, what it boiled down to was simple, Vali was a battle maniac. He knew this and had accepted it as part of him, as something about him that would never change as long as he'd live. However, that didn't mean he was a blind idiot to other things either, he just usually chose not to care too much about them. It helped that he got to beat those fools as a way of venting his frustration with… everything, really. With Zora, this society trying to shackle him down with their silly traditions and bias against men, their idiotic natures, all of it.

Things DID get out of hand when he had beaten Jilk as much as he had though, and Greg too now that he thought about it, but they had it coming for threatening his family, especially his mother. That woman had gone through hell alongside his father under Zora's hand, just for being a commoner. She deserved to have a long peaceful life, especially for loving him despite him not being her blood son, and he would make sure to become strong enough to do that for her. So she wouldn't have to worry about him or anything like that.

"...that's an honorable thing to do, young man. The house of the Redgrave has called off the marriage between Julius and Angie. That 'thing' who disrespected the CPU of Leanbox Green Heart isn't suitable for my daughter, won't you agree?" the father of Angelica questioned, prompting a nod from Vali.

"Indeed, Mr Redgrave. It won't be long until the CPU gets a hold of this incident. Who knows, she may call for a banishment, stripped him of his title, or... even an execution sentence. I wouldn't be surprised if she did. That fucking idiot needed to have some sense knocked into that wall-shaped skull inside his head."

For a moment, Angelica's father remained silent as he took this in, all while staring into Vali's unflinching gaze. In that moment, he swore he saw them change for a moment, but perhaps that had been his imagination. "....I see, I have but one request for you young man."

"What is it?"

"It's the matter of my daughter. It appears that the recent events have taken a toll for her, and as a parent and a father, it's unbearable to see her so depressed. Currently, she is being taken care of by her classmate's, some students named Emilia, Alpha and Olivia. As much as I want to help her, I can't be with her right now due to politics holding me back, as you said. I'm thinking of sending her out in the countryside, so she can have time to recover. Your household and your charted land seem perfect. Take her home with you."

".....Sure, it's the least I can do to repay you."

"I am thankful for that, you are excused now."

"Thank you, Mr Redgrave. You won't regret this."

With that said, Vali gave one more bow, before he turned on his heels and took his leave. He did so while leaving the two members of the Redgrave family alone.

Timeskip four days

"Dammit, I was so close to speaking with that strange creature..." Vali grumbled to himself now that he was alone with his thoughts. Right now, the boy sat in his own private bedroom within his Airship, which he had Luxon bring in order to pick him up and take him back to his deserted Island. The Airship itself currently had embarked on a medium speed trip since there wasn't any rush to get back to his island, not to mention that according to Luxon there were multiple facilities that had been developed there for accommodation purposes, bringing it one step closer to being suitable for Vali reuniting with his various companions. Said male still had yet to name that Island though, but it wasn't like he hadn't been thinking of any names, it just so happened that things of greater importance had occupied his attention as of late.

The reason why he was grumbling like a little brat right now, had to do with him once again being unable to contact that strange creature (he felt 80% certain that it was a Dragon) for answers, despite having unlocked his mysterious Lost Item. He had been doing this ever since he had gotten onto the Airship, about 50 times now but with no luck. It irked him even more so since he felt like it was so close to happening like it needed one last final push. One possibility Vali had tried to ignore, had been one where he would unleash his rage again, but...…. That required him to go berserk on levels that were borderline TOXIC to his mental clarity.

More than that, Vali wasn't sure if he could control himself if he did get that pissed off, as while he had managed to quell it this time, the rage still felt present within him. As such, if he tried, Vali feared that he might lose control and destroy everything in his path.

So, to that end the silver-haired teen decided to not release that much rage. Should the time come when he would have no other option THEN he'd try it, but only and he meant ONLY as a last resort.

"Master, are you sure that bringing in four of your companions was wise."

Hearing the AI's voice, Vali glanced to his side, seeing the current form that the said being had taken to using instead of any robot body: a small, like hand sized drone-like thing from that movie about intergalactic war between an order of knights and some dark overlord kind of folk who shot lightning. It had a futuristic spherical appearance, with a single lense that eyed him currently, though Vali had no clue about what it was feeling at the moment. Did AI's even have the ability to feel? He thought they would since intelligence and emotion seemed to be interconnected, if one asked him anyways. Remembering that it had asked a question, Vali provided an answer. "Of course it is Luxon, so that way I can get away from that Academy. I just wish I could graduate early so I don't have to go back to that trash heap."

"There are ways to graduate early master, but it requires the attention of the CPU."

Yeah, NO, Vali would NOT do that unless he had no choice. Nothing against the CPU, but he didn't want to meet her. Mostly because she had been one of the four deities who'd designed society to be like this. Hence, she may be worse when it comes to treating him like a pawn or worse a slave. Hence why he shuddered at the thought of meeting her… if she DID try to enslave him, Vali didn't know if he would be able to hold himself back, and Goddess knows THAT would make things hard for EVERYONE involved. "I know, Luxon, which isn't something I'm willing to try at the moment...…. By the way, how's Angelica?"

"Angelica Redgrave is currently in a depression mode that Emilia, Olivia, and Alpha are trying to assist her through. She didn't think that you would have that much resolve and likely regrets not properly thanking you for trying to get Julius to love her."

"...... She's really that depressed, isn't she Luxon?" That felt more like a statement than a question, and both parties knew it.

"She is currently spreading tears now."

… Well shit, he DEFINITELY didn't know what to think of that beyond the following opinion. "........Fuck, love life is really complicated is it?"

"I am unable to know what love is, Master. I don't have a heart."

At Luxon's blank sounding reply, Vali began to wonder if it were capable of emotions at all, if it didn't have a heart. Yet, that statement held a small trace of what he knew was sarcasm, resulting in a complex expression forming on his face as Vali noted dryly. "Of course you don't."

"What are you going to do now, master?"

"...... I'm going to my land first, see how it is, maybe go to the hot spring. Then, I'll probably go to my parents to see if my mother can do anything to help her." Vali replied after a moment of thinking. Unfortunately for him, the teen wasn't very good with this sort of issue, yet his mother likely would be able to have a better chance of supporting the heartbroken Angelica through this time. After all, her current husband hadn't been the first man she'd dated according to the stories she'd told him, so maybe she could offer some advice he couldn't.

"Acknowledged... ah, it would appear that we have arrived, Master"

Upon hearing that they had arrived at their destination, a relieved sigh escaped Vali's lips as he stood up from his bed. "Finally." The boy mused whilst stretching his arms up into the air. "Never did like being cooped up too long, anyways let's Go Luxon. Let the others know we're arriving too."

An acknowledging sound came from the spherical drone as Vali left the room… unaware of how his shadow had briefly transformed from humanoid into that of a dragon, with wings, long neck, snout and a pair of eerie hollow blue eyes that gazed upon his form… before the shadow returned to normal.

"........you know, you could've just stayed on the ship Angelica. So, why have you followed me?" Vali questioned whilst putting his hands inside his pockets. Currently, the silver-haired teen was walking down the ramp which the Airship had lowered for him post landing so him and the passengers could disembark safely, although he still preferred skydiving from above and then did the whole 'superhero landing' thing. He always did like those kinds of things as a child, never got a chance to try them though.

Also, another interesting thing to note was that, before leaving the Airship Vali had changed out of his school uniform, not liking it at all despite the changes he had made to it. Hence, why he had switched it out for this new outfit, one which suited his interests way more. It looked to be more of a more casual punk kind of attire, consisting of a dark blue hooded jacket that fell to his waist in length, a tattered dark crimson shirt, black pants with matching military-style combat boots. His hands, if they were still visible, would be shown to have fingerless black riding gloves on them that had holes on the back of the palms.

This was his more 'casual' choice of outfits, since Vali had become quite the fan of the punkish, rebellious genre.

Meanwhile, the person whom he had been responding to, Angelica, stayed a couple of paces behind him as she answered his question. "I was curious about the Island and the Lost items you discovered.: She replied as she looked around at the scenery, a look of appreciation in her eyes whilst she did so. "It seems lovely here." she mused, her breath stolen from her at how beautiful it looked.

Hearing that definitely brought a surge of pride out of Vali's chest, as evident by the smirk on his lips. "Thanks, it's still in development right now. Won't know when it will be finished." Part of him attributed to the natural beauty of this land that managed to flourish whilst being trapped in that space, since humanity hadn't been able to taint it like the folk from Lastation had used to do back when their pollution levels were so bad that the skies became permanently clouded like they were storm clouds.

"I see."

Meanwhile, not too far behind her, Olivia had a much more verbal and physical reaction to the sight with how her eyes sparkled at the beautiful scenery, with Alpha and Emilia beside her. "Woooow this is amazing! It's like you said Emilia, I've never seen such a beautiful land without people in it! These robots you call them? It's amazing!"

Alpha chuckled at the brown-haired girl's enthusiasm, even thought back to when Vali had once told her he only intended for those who were close enough to him to be called precious people to be allowed here. A slice of peace and tranquility within a world filled with chaotic society, as Vali would have put it. Though she bet what he wanted was a place where he could train in peace, she could understand the feeling, "Well maybe it's because it's beautiful because there are no people here, Olivia."

"It's the opposite Alpha! For there to be such well-maintained land without people is unbelievable!"

"Huh? What's that strange.... Smell?"

"What are you talking abo-ohhhhh why that is a Hotspring Angelica."

"A Hot Spring? I've heard of them before from my brother, but I never went to one before now..."

"Ohhhh, this is perfect Vali! Why don't we relax at the hotspring? When was the last time you had a shower Vali, because you smell."

"Hey that's rude Alpha I don't (sniff) Oh...…. Your right, it's been so long since I had a bath. Come on let's go to the Hotspring."

"Yay!"

Timeskip two days

"We have arrived home, Master."

After having spent some time at his Deserted Island, whilst listening to Luxon explain about the current status of its development, the group of girls and one guy (one might say lucky bastard, but they don't know Vali) returned to the Bartford family home.

Something which Vali almost wanted to jump for joy for after spending multiple days cooped up inside his Airship with nothing but his failures to contact that strange creature to occupy his thoughts. "Fucking finally, set the ship towards the landing ground, don't want to just arrive home with a big ship again, especially if that bitch Zora's down there."

"Acknowledged, Master."

Once the ship went to the landing ground, Vali proceeded to leisurely walk out of the ship with only Angelica with him. Mostly because he worried that Zora would try anything again to get rid of the others so he wanted to make sure that the coast was clear. Angelica would be fine since she had her authority as a Duke's Daughter to rely on, not so much for his companions though. As such, they continued to walk to the main house, to inform his parents that Angelica will be staying with them for now and have his mother to try and help Angelica as much as she could.

They arrived at the house with maids in line bowing down to them as they were informed by the Master of the house that a daughter of a duke would be coming to their house. But just as things were going good for Vali, the veins in his head began to bulge as he saw the source of his anger, Zora, appear at the door. However, that wasn't all that made him mad, for he saw a bruise mark on his father's face which pretty much tipped the boy off to the fact that Zora must've hit him.

'That bitch… to hit one of MY family…'

He internally tried SO hard to calm down as he had a neutral face to hide his anger

".....Well should've known that you're still alive, brat."

Zora sneered at Vali, and the boy had to restrain himself from doing the same whilst responding evenly. "Should've known that you're still living, hag. What brings you here to our home?" he questioned, hands in his pockets with an uncaring demeanor about him.

Something which irked the woman before him, though to his disappointment it didn't do more than that as she responded. "You know as well as I do brat, you made a commotion back in Gamicademi. The nobles of the royal capital are in an uproar all because of your recklessness. What do you have to sa-"

Before the woman could continue, Angelica then stepped forwards, her eyes hard despite the polite smile on her lips as she addressed her senior. "I think you should stand down, Zora." Angelica stated.

This of course, finally made Zora aware of her presence, having focused solely on Vali to the point that anything else had been irrelevant."Hm?...... Who are you little girl? Stand down I have business with that scum beside you." she ordered, pointing her Fan towards her in a threatening manner.

Hearing that, a rather dangerous smirk formed on Vali's lips, his gaze upon her being like he was disciplining a child ".....You have been acting high and mighty for some time now. Shouldn't you be asking on who this little girl is?"

"Why you-!"

"Wait a second Zora! Let's at least talk about this! Now everyone come in!"

In order to quell the obvious situation to a more civil leve, as well as to prevent anything destructive happening, Barcus grabbed a hold on Zora and quickly retreated with her inside the family home. Whilst this happened, Vali just had his smirk waiting to see Zora's expression to see who Angelica actually was. Part of him even got impressed with this woman's quick change in attitude when a rude noble showed up, which showcased that whilst she may be down due to a broken heart, Angelica Redgrave wasn't out of the game just yet. 'Hehehehehehe, now the old hag will get what's coming for her.'

"I-I see, so that's it. The daughter from the house of the Redgrave is here in this countryside."

"Gehehehehehehe."

Vali just could NOT hide his smile and laugh at Zora's rather panicked expression, her brain realizing who Angelica really was. Heck, whilst the woman sweated bullets, her trembling hand held a cup of tea in an attempt to keep calm.

On the other hand, Zora, like Vali had been doing previously, tried SO hard not to explode in anger while trying to not break her tea cup in front of Angelica. Said woman looked as calm and composed as she ever had, like there literally wasn't anything wrong with the situation at hand. Though, as they all sat in the family' living room sipping tea, Zora tried to keep herself calm by asking a question. "S-so what brings you here?"

Whilst mentally smirking at the happy thumbs up Vali had discreetly sensed her, Angelica calmly responded like a pool of water, cool and collected. "I am just sightseeing. I wanted to see the newly discovered island that sir Vali had for myself….it's a lovely place that even has a Hot Spring." she explained, praising something of the silver haired male's in front of her and watching how the older woman struggled to keep her composure. She wouldn't admit it, but part of her derived some sort of twisted pleasure from tearing down arrogant nobles a peg, since they usually tried to prove themselves better than they really were. She'd seen the likes of her WAY too many times before

"Well, I-I-I'm pleased to hear that you've enjoyed yourself."

"Yes, I'll be in your care for the time being."

".....Huh?"

Oh, she could just FEEL how Vali had begun gripping himself in order to contain his amazement at how she was making the formerly bitchy Zora sweat. Seeing how happy he looked actually made this all the sweater, considering how much he had done for her already. Meanwhile, Angelica calmly sipped her tea like there wasn't anything wrong, her words cool as ice. "Be at case while in the care of the Barony I'll be sure to compensate them handsomely, to the "Barony" of course."

".....Enjoy your stay Ms Redgrave. I have to go, there is an important meeting I have to attend to. Have a nice day."

Zora then put her tea down as she quickly left the room and went outside to the landing ground where her ship had been stationed (not too far from Vali's much larger one too), ordering her servants to quickly operate the ship to leave quickly.

Back down in front of the family home, Angelica, Vali and his parents looked up into the air and saw Zora not far from the house as Vali let out his amused laughter at long last. "GAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NOW HOW DOES THAT FEEL, YA DAMN OLD HAG?! NOW I WIN AGAIN! HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAHH!"

Barcus and Luce deadpanned at Vali when he was letting out his laughter at Zora when she had an excuse to leave quickly.

All the while, Angelica just looked at him with an emotionless face but thinking on the inside. 'Somebody's going a little overboard.'

By the time 5 minutes had passed, Vali then calmed himself down as he then looked at Angelica, before starting a conversation. "..... So, I hope you can enjoy your stay, Angelica." he stated with a welcoming smile, though if one looked into his eyes they'd see the amusement from before still twinkling within them.

"Thank you Vali."