Madam Zerst
The Zerst Family was very famous in the town of Mondo, and it's surroundings.
While the family's resounding history as the number 1 Bloodline Family was one of the reason for their popularity, it wasn't the main reason.
The main reason was simple.
The Zerst family owned 50% of Mondo.
And this is an accomplishment owed to Madam Zerst, the mother of the twins.
When the Zerst family relocated to their old mansion in Mondo 5 years ago, except for their main residence, they had nothing else in the town.
The only wealth they had except for their main residence were a few pieces of jewelry that Madam Zerst had carried with her from their previous residence.
Madam Zerst started with a small jewelry shop and went on to become the biggest business owner of the town in these 5 years.
The rise of Zerst Family's business is a common topic discussed around the empire all year long.
Famous financial institutes even use the Zerst family's rise as commercial gaints to motivate their students, and teach them that their dreams can indeed become realities.
....
"Good morning Master Zerst!"
"Good morning Master Zerst!"
The early risers of mondo were suprised.
It has been a while since Master Zerst had graced the roads of mondo with his presence. So they greeted him politely, making sure to distance themselves from him to show their good intentions.
Master Zerst nodded his head to their greetings. He continued walking on the sparsely crowded road since it was still early in the morning and reached a small shop.
He pushed the entrance door of the shop open, which resulted in the hanging bell to sound out pleasantly, as if to welcome him.
Seated behind the reception of this small shop was his mother, Madam Zerst.
Seeing him enter, Madam Zerst smiled. She stopped dusting the jewelry behind the reception, and walked up to him.
He was still a head shorter than her, so she bent a little and hugged him.
"My little boy is all grown up." She said rubbing his head, messing with his hair in the process.
Master Zerst did not mind. He hugged his mother once, and then let her do as she wished.
They then talked about miscellaneous things. Things about how sunny the weather was recently, what was happening around the world, how the Bloodline academy rankings have changed over the years, how the invention of technology had been progressing, and how to take advantage of the market to snatch up more percentage of profits.
After they finished with their mundane talk, they began discussing serious topics.
"Mother, is it really safe for us to venture into The Academy? Wouldn't our bloodline cause a resonance of misfortune once we get closer to the inheritance ground?"
Madam Zerst sighed. "I've been mulling over this for the past 4 years. Honestly, I am as clueless as I was 4 years ago on how to avoid this misfortune! The 13's ability is really too overbearing!". Even she, an awakened, who had the ability to see through fortune couldn't help but accept defeat.
The 13th Ancestor of the Zerst Family was too special. He alone brought down the mighty Zerst Family to its current state.
"If possible I would rather avoid the misfortune of our clan.." Master Zerst had a rare expression of seriousness on his still childish face. "But, if it isn't avoidable, I just have to prepare to recieve it!"
"Mother, Give me the Family Earrings. It's about time for sister to wear them."
"Earrings..." Touching the Earrings that she was wearing, a rare expression of pain appeared on Madam Zerst's face.
Only after a long time, and a few minutes of getting hugged by her son did she recover from her pain and remove the Earrings.
She then placed the Earrings on her son's outstretched hands. These Earrings were ring shaped. The rings were green in colour except for a white spot on top and a black spot below.
"Son, remember the cost these Earrings will ask from you. Don't forget their past, and don't ever forget their importance!"
"Don't worry mother, sister will make you proud." Master Zerst knew the story behind the Earrings and how it had hurt her, so he stopped talking about them and switched topics.
Madam Zerst saw through him, but she let him lead her into other topics. She believed that her son was capable of handling his work.
....
Master Zerst left the shop to return to the Zerst residence when it was about time for lunch.
The roads were crowded with people now, but as soon as they saw him, people gave way and distanced themselves from him.
As he walking on the road, Master Zerst felt something fall on his chin. He looked up to see raindrops falling out of sky, and his eyes widened.
Pitter platter, pitter platter, PITTER PLATTER...
People ran for shelter as it started pouring down like a raging storm within seconds.
The panicking crowd still avoided running into Master Zerst subconsciously, but that only led them into running over others and causing accidents.
As time passed, more and more people were falling down on the road because of this chaos.
There were children, elderly and women among these people and they were being stepped on, kicked and hurt by others who were desperately trying to run to take cover.
"ENOUGH! EVERYBODY STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" Master Zerst shouted. Though he was still 13, and lacked an imposing stature, his voice had the authority required.
The crowd instantly stilled. They looked around and saw the mess they had created and felt shameful.
The ones standing helped the ones fallen down stand up. The rain was pouring down heavily and some people were feeling pain from it, but they composed themselves and awaited Master Zerst's Instructions.
"How many people here have houses that are at a walkable distance? Raise your hands." Master Zerst's thoughts raced as he tried to come up with a way to deal with this situation.
He roughly estimated that there are about 120 people on this road alone.
This was very unusual as even at peak hours, the number of people on a single small road in towns like Mondo should not cross 50.
Master Zerst counted the number of hands raised and found that there were only 13, which was also unusual.
"Everybody make a group of 10 and get together with one of these 13 people." Master Zerst could roughly guess that the Earrings were the cause behind the incident and took measures against it.
Within a minute, all 120 persons had crowded around one of the 13.
But one person with a raised hand did not have anyone around her. The people here deliberately avoided gathering around her.
Master Zerst saw this and took note.
"Now, all of you will follow these persons to their house and wait until it stops raining! Am i clear?" The sound of raindrops hitting the muddy road was very loud, deafening, but everybody could hear the words spoken by Master Zerst.
"Yes, Master Zerst!"
Soon the 120 people had left the small road, leaving Master Zerst alone with the 13th person. Both of them were soaked wet and the rain just started going even heavier on them.
Master Zerst made his way towards her, and inquired, "Do you know why this small road was this crowded?"
"Hello Master Zerst!" The young lady distanced herself from him first.
"I am Caroline. We recieved news that Lady Zerst was going to demonstrate her ability to others at the Zerst residence, so I guess everybody wanted to go there?" Caroline thought for a moment before replying.
"I see." Master Zerst thought for a moment before he asked.
"So, do you still want to see my Sister's ability?"
The young lady was silent for a moment, she looked at the rain that seemed endless before her and nodded.
She needed to find shelter, and the Zerst residence was closer than her house.
"Then let's go."
Thus, the two of them, Master Zerst walking in the front, and Caroline, 5 meters away from him made their way towards the Zerst residence.
'The misfortune of my Zerst family has caught up to Mondo. Mother used to suppress the misfortune that came from the family Earrings with her innate luck, but neither me, nor sister were born with mother's Innate luck. Now that the Earrings are free from suppression, Misfortune will follow us everywhere we go! I must be prepared, especially for the upcoming journey to the Academy where our family's misfortune is the greatest!'
'But first, I have to find out why this incident has happened! My sister would never demonstrate her ability in front of others, so who had spread this rumour. Getting into the root of this will prepare me for the greater misfortunes my family has to suffer!"