It took a few seconds for Don to come back to his senses and cough embarrassedly as he announced the results.

"Khm… The first duel has been concluded, the victor is Miss Sara!" He exclaimed, looking mostly at the unconscious girl with a worried look instead of the lady in his speech.

​​

Noticing his gaze and feeling the concern behind them, Aiden sighed, and nodded towards the already brightly smiling Galina.

'Go and fix her up. We shouldn't leave bad impressions on our team mates.' He spoke to her through their mental connection.

'Gladly, Young Master!' delighted that her young lord has given her such an important task, Galina brimmed with happiness and excitement as she happily stepped out of the spectators and walked towards the fainted Crysta whilst humming an unknown tune.

Seeing the girl walking towards their defeated member, the Silver Howl mercenaries immediately turned agitated and was about to reach for the holsters of their weapons. Even though they were supposed to get to know each other, if the other side was too overbearing, they would do their utmost to at least defend the honor of their brethren.

Before the situation would have a chance to escalate, or if Captain Don could question the intentions of the seemingly harmless-looking girl, the leader of the youth company, Aiden spoke up with a calm tone.

"Do not worry, Galina will not harm your friend…" He looked at Don for reassurance as he wasn't overly certain about the name. "…Crysta, right?"

Seeing the man nod with affirmation, Aiden continued by stepping out and turning around to face the crowd.

In the next moment, to the utter shock of the mercenary band, he gave a slight bow and continued.

"As for the battle, let me be the first to apologize to you all." His words stunned the crowd to a freeze. Their impression of this young man was that he was a proud and rightfully arrogant Young Noble that was the descendant of some really powerful family with an incredible bloodline or was an exceptionally gifted seedling and was cultivated well.

Either way, they would never expect a young lord of his supposed standing to bow his head to mere, dirty commoners and filthy mercenaries like themselves, much less actually apologizing for something that he didn't even do.

"I-it's alright, Young Master…" The first to break his reverie was once again, Captain Don. Stepping forward, he placed his hand gently over the boy's closest, left shoulder and spoke with a bit of stutter in his tone. "T-this is a fight, such outcomes are to be expected. Every one of us was nurtured through hundreds of battles, losing one or two in a controlled situation like this is not the end of the world."

He then turned around to look at the lying Crysta and the small, slender Galina crouched at her side. Ignoring the situation at the side, Galina heaved a sigh as she focused her mind on the task at hand. Slowly she began to mutter some strange, incomprehensible words as she slowly began to draw mysterious, intricate symbols in the air. Behind where her small fingers trailed floating golden lines remained as they slowly, gradually built up runes of unknown nature.

A minute passed with all eyes on the girl that was playing out this weird ritual fully focused on her task and ignoring everyone around her. As one rune was completed, it glowed, glimmered for a couple of seconds before it floated into the lying body of Crysta and vanished entirely.

By the time, the fifth rune was completed Lily was smiling brightly Lily could barely contain herself to not jump on her sister with excitement. The symbols Galina was drawing were incredibly similar to the ones her Granny was using!

Aiden on the other hand was focusing on the ritual. Her eyes followed her beloved Galina's movements closely, analyzing each of her movements, memorizing and learning each of the steps she seemed to be naturally talented at.

Meanwhile, he ignored the system's notifications that kept ringing in his head. Though as her chant suddenly stopped and the fifth rune entered the girl's body, he could finally take a look at what the system was trying to inform him about.

[Rune Magic discovered! Analyzing information… 98%]

[Rune Magic discovered! Analyzing information… 99%]

[Rune Magic discovered! Analyzing information… Error: Cogitation required! Please visit Haven's Holy Site. Usage of Host's Divinity is required for completion of the process.]

The note caught Aiden unprepared, his expression turned into a shock at first then gradually into excitement. He grinned in front of himself, confusing the rest of the onlookers unable to comprehend what could have been the source of his joy.

Yet, they couldn't spend too much time on the matter as suddenly when the fifth rune vanished inside their dear Crysta's body, she suddenly twitched. A faint golden light seeped through her skin, perplexing the mercenaries and even causing looks of worry to once again, resurface on their expression.

Crysta's body only glowed for a couple of seconds, before the scene swiftly calmed down, and returned a healthy pinkish light to the previously pale girl's cheeks.

In the next moment, a faint groan escaped through her thin lips causing shocked gasps to yet again dominate the previously silent air in the battlefield. As her fingers began to twitch and turn her hand into fists, the worried, concerned people could finally heave a sigh of relief and look at the little black-haired angelic beauty with a newfound look in their eyes.

Don on the other hand, though happy, had another thought in his mind as he witnessed this miracle. Yet, for the moment, he didn't dare to give voice to it, as the relationship between them and the youngsters wasn't affirmed yet, he didn't know where they stood for the moment.

'After this… Hopefully…' He affirmed himself mentally, as he forced a smile back on his face and turned to look at the young leader next to him.

"Thank you for your help, Young Master. We still have quite a few rounds to go before we could crown this event with our play. Are you guys ready to continue?"

—

From the windows of the mansion's study the Masked Mistress, who was watching the entire scene giggled as she saw the gasps of the surprised mercenaries. She was delighted to see that her dear daughter won so easily against such an opponent and was even happier to see how skillful she became in using the incredible abilities, traits she was born with.

Her display, her ease of usage as she easily dominated that woman's mind and caused her to stand there helpless against her mental control! It was such a marvelous, joyous scene, she really wanted to rush out and hold her in her embrace!

Still, she controlled her emotions a moment later and continued to watch as the scene unfolded. When she noticed that Aiden's little protegé, that silent little girl, stepped forward and began her ritual she gasped in surprise.

"What do we have on that girl?" She asked from her butler, Sebas still standing at the doorway of the room without turning back.

The skills, the abilities that girl just revealed… she recognized it. They were a very ancient method, a knowledge that should have been buried under the passage of time, yet somehow, someway this girl seemed to be so adept at it! This was too shocking!

---

AN: Hey there Readers!

Just a friendly reminder, that from wherever you are reading (although I wholeheartedly thank you if you are reading and enjoying the story through Webnovel), you can reach out to me using any of the below methods!

For you, sailors of the seventh sea (non-WN readers), be a bro/gal and throw me a cup of joe, show your appreciation!

Links:

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