Leo sat together with Mary in the backseat of the car, looking through the window he noticed that they were flying to the centre of the city. Now that he thought about it he didn’t know much about Mary family, he avoided talking about it since what he knew was not good.

“Why do you think your father would invite me?” asked Leo.

“I’m not sure…” said Mary.

“And that man was in the training hall does your father knows about it too.” Sa0id Leo in the whisper to make sure the man in the black suit didn’t hear.

“He is a butler from my house and I’m also not sure… Though I wouldn’t be surprised if he knew.” She turned to the driving seat. “Sebastian, do you know anything?”

“Mr Edge knows of most things that happen in school miss. He made sure of it after that incident years back.” said the man.

“I wouldn’t have thought he cares.” said Mary.

“Mr Edge cares, just in the way he believes in.”

The rest of the ride was silent, it took them 30 minutes to get there. Mary house was a structure in the middle of the city, it was over 20 stories high and the walls were made of different kinds of stones with arches above every window and a lot of piers used for decorations some looking normal, some made to look like statues. There were also a lot of engravings on the walls in shapes of wines and leafs which all connected to an emblem representing a big tree on which a gryphon was sitting.

Leo knew that Mary came from a nobility but that was more then he expected, thinking about his clothes he wondered if it was okay, he wore a simple t-shirt and jeans. Mary wore similar clothes but her seemed to be of some famous brand.

He couldn’t change them now anyway. As he was thinking the car entered a gate in the middle of the building and entered a big parking lot, there were quite a lot of cars here.

After exiting the car he saw a door in front of him. Slowly it opened and a woman in a maid outfit was waiting for them inside the elevator.

“Welcome back Miss Mary. Welcome, Mister Leo it’s an honour to meet you.” she bowed to them.

Leo looked confused at her not only was her outfit something he was not used too the way she spoke to him was new to him too.

“Ah, nice to meet you.” Leo bowed back.

The maid smiled at him. After they too entered the elevator it closed and started moving upwards.

“Sebastian, while I go with the Miss Mary to get ready, could you show Mister Leo to our guest room?” asked the Maid.

“Of course.” said the butler.

Leo looked at him, the man was little higher than him, his dark hair also had a hint of grey in them, despite that he looked quite young, thirty at most he would say.

The elevator stopped and Leo and the butler entered a corridor. Following behind Leo looked around and the inside of the building looked even more extravagant than the outside. So much that he felt that stepping on the carpet in his shoes was a waste.

Soon they entered a single room. It had two leather couches inside separated by a wooden table. There was a single big window and other then some paintings and plants there was nothing else.

“For now please sit down. Is there anything you require?” asked Sebastian.

“No, thank you.”

“It’s my duty. For now just rest, Miss Mary will come here soon probably. If you need anything please call the service through this.” He said pointing with his head at a wall there was a small device on it before he bowed and left the room.

Now alone, Leo wandered to the couch and sat on it trying to relax a little. It was more then he expected but on the other hand, he hadn’t known what to expect.

Sitting there he looked at his backpack since he had nothing better to do he took out the book he got from the principal. The pages were not even connected with each other so he had to make sure to keep them in order as he read.

Reaching for the first page he started reading. The language seemed archaic but it was not unreadable. The story began with a black haired boy who just ended his sixteenth winter, his name was Daniel he was the second son of a Marquis who decided to leave his house name behind and become an adventurer. With a simple bag and his axe, he left for the closest city where he would register in a guild.

Leo was already more interested in the story since the protagonist used the same weapon as him.

On the road to the city, he met a merchant being attacked by a group of goblins and it looked like the merchant and his guard were being overwhelmed. The boy helped them and after killing few goblins together with the guard the group retreated.

After that, the merchant offered him a reward but the boy didn’t want anything so in exchange they offered him a ride to the city on their cart.

Leo was getting to the part where they reached the city but at that moment someone opened the door, startling him a little. He gathered the book and closed it back in the box.

Looking at the door he saw Mary standing in there she wore a red one-piece dress. She usually had her brown hair made into ponytail but now they were let straight modelled to look a little curly

“Hey.” she said.

“Ah, you look great.” he said hastily.

“Thanks.” her smile widened. “Was that the book the principal gave you?”

“Yes, I have been interested what it was about. It looks quite normal though.”

“Can I see?” she asked sitting beside him.

“Ah yes, sure.” he opened the box and showed her the papers.

She looked through them and started reading, turning pages every few seconds. Leo looked at her face, it seemed she had a little makeup on her face, she also seemed to have used a lipstick.

That reminded him of what happened before and caused him to blush.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

“Ah, no… It’s just that you are reading quite fast.”

“Really?” she was not sure if that was fast, she always read like that. Closing the book back in the box she looked back at him. “I don’t know what is so special about it so I guess it’s okay and I wanted to talk a little to you about today.” Her cheeks also become red.

“About that?” Leo asked his eyes moving around the room.

She nodded. “You didn’t like it?” there seemed to be a doubt in her eyes.

“No!” Leo shouted and blushed even more deeply. “It’s not that… I just. I want to think about that carefully. I haven’t really thought about those things much yet. I want to give a proper answer so can I have few days?”

Mary nodded. “Sure, it was me who jumped the gun anyway. You don’t need to hurry.” she said smiling at him. “Just know that I love you.”

Leo blushed even more deeply and averted his gaze, he could only nod.

“Ah the young!” someone shouted passionately. Turning his gaze Loe saw a man standing there. He wore a white suit with navy coloured endings and tie, he also wore square-shaped glasses and had the same colour of hair and eyes as Mary. He seemed to be little higher than Leo but not by a much. “But where are my manners. I’m Edward Edge, Mary’s father. Nice to meet you, Leo.”

Leo stood up and bowed “I’m Leo Redmond. It’s an honour to meet you Mister Edge.”

He smiled. “There is no need for such pleasantries here. You are here as a friend of my daughter and maybe even something more soon so no need to worry and you can call me Edward.”

Leo and Mary blushed a little.

Mr Edward chuckled a little covering his mouth with a fist. “I came here to call you for dinner as it’s going to be ready soon. Please come.” he said beckoning them to follow him.

Leo left his things in the room and followed soon after. Shortly they entered a big room on the same floor, it had a lot of windows and a big long table in the middle of it. There was also a big fireplace and he felt that it operated on use of fire mana, his sense of mana used outside of his body was rough but he could tell that much.

Mr Edge sat at the top of the table and Mary sat on his left, Leo was gestured to sit next to her. There was an empty plate on the right of Mr Edge.

“Don’t worry about it. Angelica won’t be joining us tonight.” said Edward.

Mary whispered to him. “It’s Max’s mom. She always hides in her room.” he could tell that she didn’t care about it.

Leo only nodded.

“She was a strong woman when I first met her but I guess there is a way to break everyone, anyway. I think that congratulations are in order. I heard that you won against that mana battery. It’s quite an achievement.” said Mr Edge.

“Mana battery?” asked Leo.

“I mean Sophie Leonhard since she was small the amount of mana she possessed was extraordinary and was only limited by the throughput of her mana circuits so she gained that nickname.” he said. “By beating her you have proven yourself quite strong.”

“Thank you.” said Leo, for now, the men seemed quite pleasant.

“Now let’s eat.” Mr Edge clasped his hands and trays of food were brought to the table.

Leo tried it and was shocked at the taste, it was probably the best food he has eaten in his whole life. He started eating faster but still made sure to not be rude. He has eaten most of the food he got soon and looked longingly at the plate.

“Would you like seconds?” Mr Edge asked.

Leo looked a little embarrassed but nodded. “Yes, please.”

After he finished eating he relaxed in his seat both Mary and Mr Edward looked at him smiling.

“It was a while since someone showed some life in this house.” commented Mr Edge. “After what Mary did to Max the atmosphere had been a little tense around here.”

Both Mary and Leo were shocked and looked at him. “You knew?” asked Mary.

“Hmm? You thought I didn’t? You shouldn’t think so little of your father.” he looked at them as if he didn’t know what was wrong with what he said. “Don’t worry I don’t blame you, you just finally showed that you were stronger than him. I always knew you had it in you. Who do you think covered the incident up with all your mana residue left in the ice?”

Mary shook, Leo was just as confused.

“But there is nothing to worry past is the past, and I also know Leo knew. I think that you have a potential boy and you could even become a future head of this house.” he continued calmly.

Leo had no idea what to say and Mary didn’t seem any better than him. In truth, she was probably little worse. “You don’t blame me?” she asked her voice shaking.

“Hmm. Of course not. The moment Max picked up a challenge with you he should have been ready. It was similar with my older brother and my father too.”

Now Leo saw what was wrong with the man, his only rule in life was the rule of the strong. He had no idea what to say.

“I guess it’s okay to be confused. It’s also getting little late, I’m sure your parents will be worried if you stay out too much. I’m happy you visited us tonight. I hope we will see each other in the future.” The man said noticing the tension in the air.

After Leo said his goodbye to the man and soon he was heading towards the elevator with Mary and Sebastian.

When the elevator opened Mary spoke “I’m sorry about today. I hoped he would behave himself today but I expected too much, and about that other matter you can forget about it.” Leo thought he saw tears in her eyes.

“No, it wouldn’t be okay for you… You are not your father.” said Leo.

She nodded her head. “See you tomorrow.”

“Yes, until tomorrow.” After that elevator closed and Leo left with Sebastian in a car. He was given a ride to his home by him.

The trip was silent with both of them not speaking. Only after they arrived at the place Sebastian spoke “Mister Edge can be quite eccentric… I hope you won’t judge him to heavily he wasn’t like this when he was younger. It’s just a lot happened, if you can I would be happy if you could stop Miss Mary from becoming like that. I feel that you are the only person that can.” he said passing him his bag.

Leo nearly forgot about its existence, he nodded at the man with determination and soon the car took off disappearing from his field of vision. He entered his house and was greeted by his mother.

“Welcome home. How was it? With who were you anyway?” asked his Mother.

“I was at Mary place.”

“That Mary? Mary Edge?” asked his Mother with widened eyes.

“You knew?”

“Of course everyone knows Edge family in this parts. They are an important part of the nobility. Are you friends?” asked Julie.

“Yes, yes we are. I’m quite tired though, I have already eaten so I will take a bath and go to sleep.” said Leo excusing himself.

“Just be nice to her!” she said as he disappeared into the bathroom.

“You don’t need to tell me.” Leo whispered.

After taking a bath Leo entered his room. He wanted to go to sleep but he couldn’t. Looking at his back he took out the box and the book from inside and creating light with his hand he continued reading it.

The book continued on with the boy becoming an adventurer and then taking on quests and meeting new people with which he created a party. As he reached the last page he was confused as the book ended halfway just before the boy and his party were going to enter the dungeon.

Still, after reading till late he got tired. Laying his head down he slowly fell asleep and entered the world of dreams.