Alphonso's doubt

Looking at the awkward girl, he couldn't help but think about the childhood of the protagonist mentioned in the novel.

She was a normal rich heiress in her childhood and lived in the shadow of her big sister, always behind her back.

But all it took was a devastating incident, and everything changed for her The main reason why she bore the unlimited hatred towards demons rooted from that incident.

He sighed and shook his head. Looking at the excited yet stoic faces of the children, he knew half of them would not be the same in the future.

"Oliver, right?"

The elder sister of the protagonist, named Bella, called out.

"Yes, Miss Bella?"

"Ah, you don't need to use titles with me or my sister. You can talk to us normally too. We are here to get to know each other after all," she said.

Oliver nodded, "Alright, I will call you Bella from now on and…" he looked at the quiet girl, "Evelyn."

The girl turned her head and looked at him.

As he saw her staring at him with those red eyes, he could not help but tremble slightly. For some reason, those red eyes were quite intimidating.

'She should have awakened her special eyes already, huh. What a pity.'

Oliver knew the talent of the protagonist was extraordinary. He could feel an intensity behind that stare.

"Right, right."

Bella nodded. She was quite sociable and asked others to do the same.

Oliver also helped Nadia to get acquainted although she barely said a word and kept her indifferent expression.

"So, do you have any idea what's with this sudden meeting? I heard it was for some joint training program or something," Bella asked everyone, wanting to lighten the atmosphere and make everyone comfortable.

Oliver could not help but nod. This was a true extrovert, eager to get comfortable with others and take charge.

"I heard the same. I am not aware of the sudden reason behind it. The elders of my clan suddenly summoned me," Alphonso also informed.

Daniel placed his hands on the table as he pondered, "If I had to guess, it might be related to the recent increased activity of demons at the borders."

"That sounds about right," Oliver added. He noticed that Daniel was carrying a sword dangling by his waist.

"Too simple," Amber casually said, much to Daniel's displeasure as his brows furrowed a bit.

"What?" he questioned, looking at her.

Amber, however, ignored him and looked at Oliver and Nadia with a deep gaze as she asked, "Your clan recently had an anomalous phenomenon, right? What was it about?" she questioned with a sly smile.

'The others did not know about this. It seems that she got the information from her clan.'

Oliver looked at her thoughtfully. He had to phrase his words in a way that didn't give any confidential information out, lest he got reprimanded by the elder later.

"It was actually—" Just as he started to explain, he heard a loud banging sound from a corner.

Bang!

"Are you ignoring me!?" Daniel asked in a slightly louder tone as his eyes locked onto Amber, and his hand, which had turned into a fist, was placed on the table.

"Hmph." Amber scoffed and turned towards him, "Did I ask you?"

"OH? You…? I don't really fight with women, but you're provoking me," he spat.

"Umm, calm down, you two," Oliver tried to maintain the peace, but…

"You don't fight with women? Why? Are you scared of getting beaten?" Amber taunted him, further pushing him.

"You! I can handle you even with my hands tied, haha. I am scared of none."

"Really? I am sure I can put you in your place even with my eyes closed."

The argument was slowly getting out of hand.

"Remember, guys, we are here to get to know each other…"

He tried to speak, but his voice only got drowned out by their loud heated talk.

He turned to Bella and saw her serious eyes. She stood up, and he thought that she was finally going to be a true leader who calmed the crowd.

"How about a duel then?" she suddenly said.

The two stopped and looked at her at the same time and asked, "Duel?"

She smiled and replied, "That's right. Instead, how about we all duel with each other? Isn't it a great way to connect and familiarize ourselves with each other? We can develop a strong bond too by knowing each other's skills!"

Oliver stood up and said in a hurried tone, "Hey, hey, what are you saying? Why all of us? Just let these two fight it out."

He suddenly felt a little regretful. She was indeed the unstoppable machine; he should have predicted this outcome given her nature.

"Don't worry, Oliver," Bella looked at him, "It's going to be a friendly match."

She paused for a moment and thought of something, "If you are worried, then we can ask one of the elders to oversee. I believe they will be good to judge."

"But why exaggerate—" Once again, he got cut off in the middle of his sentence when Alphonso interrupted with a comment.

"I do not mind. I believe we noble exorcists must recognize each other's skills if we truly intend to get to know each other." He looked at others before adding, "We will be the future of our clans and humanity at the same time. Someone weak would only drag us down. Of course, I am not implying that any of you here is weak. Neither am I trying to disrespect your respective clans. However, personally, I will never believe someone whose skills have not been seen by me."

He glanced at Oliver as he said this. It seemed that he doubted Oliver.

Ever since he had arrived here, he had seen others come one by one.

He didn't tell this to anyone, but he was carrying an artifact with him that helped him measure the strength—overall esper—of those around him to some degree.

The artifact buzzed constantly in the presence of the two girls from the Celestial Paradox Clan, informing him of their superior strength.

He was able to acknowledge them through this alone and their clan's reputation.

So was the case with the other two clans as well, so he had no problems whatsoever.

He had always been a person who did thorough research on both his allies and enemies beforehand.

And there was a reason why he was feeling doubtful...