Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Though it wasn't 'within the hour', as Rin had previously stated, Vahn eventually picked up on an aerial transport that was preparing to touch down on the helipad located at the summit of the surrounding hills. What caught his attention wasn't so much the design of the transport, which looked like a combination between a helicopter and a plane, but the fact that Luvia had brought along someone that caused Vahn to instinctually furrow his brows. Even without the ability to sense the 'color' of a person's affection, that didn't mean Vahn had lost his ability to sense how strong people were. Though the person traveling with Luvia kept it concealed well, Vahn felt like their tiny flame was akin to a small star that was preparing to go supernova at the smallest stimulus...

Amongst those gathered within the study, only Artoria and Fenrir showed any reaction, the latter likely using his own senses to supplement her own. Rin also had a small reaction but hers seemed to be the result of Ishtar or Ereshkigal bringing the matter to her attention, resulting in Rin blinking in confusion before her face became slightly pale. Then, while holding her forehead, Rin complained, "That idiot...!" before looking to Vahn and asking, "How soon can we move to Avalon...?" in a hurried voice.

Vahn, however, shook his head, a smile visible on his face as he said, "I'll take care of it. Please look after Sakura and Mordred." As he said this, Vahn closed the book he had been reading with Sakura before handing her over to her mother. Then, before she could ask, Vahn looked at Mordred and said, "It isn't an enemy. Watch over your little sister and behave..." After that, Vahn ruffled Mordred's hair before leaving the study, accompanied by Artoria and Gray while Fenrir was left to 'protect' the children. Though a fight would undoubtedly break out, Vahn didn't think any damage would be done to the chateau and, even if things went south, the odds of any danger befalling those within were negligible.

The same red-haired woman from before, Sophia, was on her way to inform the group of Luvia's arrival but, seeing Vahn already heading over, she self-assigned herself to guiding them the rest of the way. Vahn remained relatively calm throughout while, compared to the demure and reserved woman he had come to know, Artoria had started radiating an aura of dignity that caused most of the staff within the chateau to lower their eyes by instinct. This caused Gray to also raise her head a little higher than normal, even though she didn't fully understand what was going on. She felt that asking would make things awkward and, seeing Vahn and Artoria both radiating a regal aura, she just did her best to keep her back straight and head raised, copying Artoria's posture as much as she could...

By now, the weak winter storm had already passed through the area, leaving fresh powdered snow covering most surfaces, the path leading to the helipad being one of the few exceptions. It was very apparent that the staff had done their best to clear it out, even going so far as to spread salt along the dark trail that cut through the white snow like a gently curved line. Towards the end of this path, wearing lavish winter coats, a group of blond-haired women were idling down the path, followed closely by a tall man with broad shoulders and sword-like eyebrows. While the three women had a very obvious relation to each other, the man stood out as he was around 198cm tall and looked like a bear that had been stuffed into a suit and given a human mask...

At the same instant that Vahn was evaluating the group, they were doing the same towards him, the only exception between the woman at the very front. The moment she saw Vahn, Luvia raised her hand and began to wave, shouting, "Yahoooo~! Vaaahn, I'm happy you came out to receive me~." As she identified Vahn, the two women following behind Vahn had their visions sharpen, especially the 'younger' of the two, at least going by appearance. Like Luvia, both women had golden-brown eyes and long golden-blond hair that had been painstakingly crafted into complex ringed-loops and braids.

The older of the two women was very clearly Luvia's mother as, even with her winter clothing, Vahn could tell she had an impressive figure, possessing both beauty and a physique that contained great power. She was slightly shorter than Luvia but her three sizes, which Vahn could easily peg with just a glance, were around 87cm, 56cm, and 88cm respectively. As for the even shorter woman behind her, who looked like a good match as Luvia's older sister, she was relatively petite compared to the other two girls. Though she had a veritable fountain of magical power hidden inside her 158cm tall frame, she looked to be the weakest and most frail amongst them, even as the other three gave her a comfortable distance as if they were afraid to offend her...

Like Luvia and her 'mother', the petite woman behind them had her hair in complex ringlets but, while it was still golden-blond, it had started to fade into platinum-white around her scalp. At the same time, she had a very 'aged' aura and, though it was hard to tell at a glance, Vahn would be confident in placing her at over a century in age. Though her vitality showed no signs of burning out any time soon, it was slightly more chaotic and sputtery than someone more youthful, showing that she would probably cut into her own vitality if she ever went all out. She was long past her prime and likely used several treasures to preserve her youth, something Vahn figured he would be able to help her with if they could come to an accord...

Soon after that thought passed through his mind, Vahn produced a wry smile as Artoria stepped forward to cut down a surprisingly 'massive' reddish-black beam of light. Though he could have easily blocked it himself, Vahn decided to let Artoria play her part for once as, even during the Holy Grail War, he hadn't let her do much. She was his Knight Commander and, if he fought against every enemy from the start, it would probably start to weigh on her mind after enough time passed. It was also very refreshing to see her in her armor as, even though she had a youthful appearance, Artoria always cut a heroic figure whenever she threw herself headfirst into battle.

After Artoria deflected the massive [Gandr] into the surrounding forest, Luvia placed her hands on her h.i.p.s, staring down at the petite woman as she complained, "Grandmother! That bad habit of yours is going to give Vahn a bad impression of our family...!" This only caused the petite woman to shake her head as, instead of responding to Luvia, she looked across the 70m distance and said, "So you're the man my Luvia has set her sights on...hmmm..." As she said this, the woman also cast her gaze over Artoria and Gray in turn and, even though she had already heard the reports, it was quite the sight to see the two girls ready to protect Vahn. What annoyed her was that, instead of dealing with her attack himself, Vahn continued to stand in the back with a casual smile on his face, lacking even the smallest semblance of fear in his unwavering gaze...

Understanding Luvia's Grandmother's intentions, Vahn gestured to the side before placing his hand on Artoria's shoulder. She and Gray both stepped off to the side as the snow in the surroundings began to retreat away from Vahn, followed by an exponential rise in pressure. Since he had seen the characteristic glimmer of 'doubt' and 'ridicule' contained within the woman's eyes, Vahn loosened the collar of his shirt, saying, "Come..." in a stern tone of voice. The Edelfelt's had always been the type of family that settled private affairs with physical and magical might, to the point that even Rin and Luvia practically fought every day the two had lived together...

In response to Vahn's overbearing choice of words, Luvia's mother began to laugh in an elegant manner, issuing an 'Ohohoho~' before remarking, "My, he seems like quite the catch. If I were thirty years younger..." As she said this, the woman cast a glance towards the tall man that Vahn assumed to be Luvia's father, the former Head of the Edelfelt family. Then, the biggest surprise of the day, the man very noticeably rubbed the woman's backside before smiling in a crude manner, the result of his physical appearance, not his nature, as he said, "It looks like I haven't been giving you enough attention lately..." This caused the woman to giggle as she moved closer to the man and joined him in walking off to the side. As for Luvia, she just crossed her arms without minding what her parents were doing, seemingly intent on joining the fight herself...

Instead of rebuking him, Luvia's Grandmother just gave a curt nod in response to Vahn's words before her magical power began to swell. In the same instant, reminiscent of Artoria's [Mana Burst], she formed a deep pit of debris with her step, closing the seventy-meter distance to Vahn nigh-instantaneously. He answered this by converging his domain all at once, putting great pressure on the woman's body as he directly grabbed her fist with his palm. Then, from an area near her hip, several thin reddish-black lasers shot up from just outside Vahn's blind spot. As he wasn't all that reliant on 'seeing' attacks from the start, Vahn guided her hand downwards with her momentum as he stepped to the side, evading the [Gandr] with room to spare.

With her back now facing him, Vahn extending out his palm, sending a [Primordial Rune] to embed itself into her winter coat. Had things gone as he expected, the rune would have temporarily made her weightless, causing her to spin around in the air a few times and exposing her to future attacks. What happened instead was, the figure of the woman seemed to vanish as Vahn's perception of time automatically caused the world to slow to a crawl. Her winter coat was left in the air, bereft of its wearer, as Luvia's Grandmother used it as an obstruction to hide the fact she had formed her hand into a fist, gathering an incredible amount of magical energy into her palm as she jumped backward to create some distance from Vahn.

Doing his best to ignore the fact that Luvia's Grandmother had been wearing what looked like a lightly-armored leotard underneath her coat, Vahn's hands and forearms became covered in black scales as he 'vanished' from sight at the very instant a crimson-red laser cut through the ground, eating through several tens of meters of gravel and stone in an instant before causing the entire hill to shake as the ground exploded. All of the snow on the surrounding trees fell simultaneously, nearly at the exact same moment that Vahn had spiked Luvia's Grandmother towards the ground. To her credit, she managed to right herself mid-air in a surprising display of flexibility, but Vahn had already appeared right in front of her as she turned her eyes skyward.

With an excited glimmer in her golden-brown eyes, Luvia's Grandmother smiled, almost as if she were baring her pearly white 'fangs' for him to see. Then, causing the flow of time to slow once again, Luvia's Grandmother had red electricity run along her arms as she moved to intercept Vahn's palm strike to her abdomen. She was moving 'much' faster than should have been possible, the result of using [Time Manipulation] to forcibly accelerate her thought process and reduce the lag between mental commands and motion. It was an admittedly ingenious way to increase the reaction time of the human body but, with Vahn's Agility being ninety times that of a normal person, it wasn't a speed he couldn't react to...

Instead of allowing Luvia's Grandmother to deflect his strike, Vahn twisted his hands, grabbing her wrists in the process. Around the same time, at least from Vahn's perspective, her eyes began to slowly widen as he pulled her downward, bringing her center of gravity forward as Vahn raised his knee, connecting it with her jaw. He was aware of the peculiar flow of energy around her body and, as he hadn't gone all out, the chances she would take any considerable damage were slim, at best. Instead, his attack 'broke' on contact with her chin, diffusing most of the impact force but still sending her flying nearly ten meters into the air.

At the same time that he had sent Luvia's Grandmother flying, Vahn slapped his palms together, simultaneously producing nine links of [Enkidu] to form a sphere around her body at the apex of her ascent. This was in response to her mustering up a little 'too much' magical energy, far more than the small hill would have been able to take. Had she used it while he was in the air, Vahn wouldn't have minded it too much but, considering the amount of damage such an attack would deal to the surroundings, he would rather bring an end to their small skirmish instantly...

Seing the cage of resplendent golden chains, causing her own magical energy to simply 'vanish', Luvia's Grandmother didn't have much choice other than to simply land atop the chains and dangle in the air until Vahn decided to let her down. She had already heard that Vahn was capable of using the 'Chains of Heaven' so it wasn't all that surprising to her that he had whipped them out of thin air. If anything, she felt a little embarrassed to lose her cool, even though her expression could only be seen as one of mild annoyance to observers. Since staying in the cage would only exacerbate her frustration, she looked down at Vahn and asked, "How long do you intend to keep this up? Let me down this instant..."

As he intuitively understood making an enemy out of Luvia's Grandmother would be a bad idea, Vahn slowly withdrew [Enkidu], though not before raising a platform for her use, even though she could easily drop to the ground without injury. Then, as the platform lowered to the ground, Vahn already had her winter coat in hand, sans [Primordial Rune], handing it over to her the moment she landed on the ground. This earned him an appreciative nod from Luvia's Grandmother, followed by her stating, "I never doubted Luvia's judgment. Still, I wanted to see for myself what an Emperor from another world was like. If I hadn't already entrusted matters to this generation, I might even try to sink my teeth into you myself...hmmm..."

Understanding she wasn't really joking, as it was also very likely she was aware of his actual age, Vahn could only answer with a polite smile as Luvia ran over with an excited expression on her face. Then, just as her Grandmother stepped off to the side, Luvia jumped through the air, both of her heels together as she shouted, "Oshaaaa~!" while attempting a dropkick. Like her Grandmother, she was wearing what looked like a leotard under her winter coat, allowing her bare legs to be visible as she 'spun' through the air, fully intent on kicking him if he allowed it.

Since it was a rather amusing attempt, Vahn held up his hand and, as he was still in his Xuanwu form, completely negated the force of her kick. He knew the Edelfelt's had a policy about potential suitors being able to defeat them in combat and, while it was just a formality at this point, Vahn used the moment when Luvia was confused by her arrested momentum to step to her side and catch her in a bridal carry. Unless he wanted to cause unnecessary tensions, especially with Luvia bringing the rest of her family along, Vahn knew he needed to put on a bit of a show.

Having already made up his mind earlier, Vahn used the moment when Luvia was slightly fl.u.s.tered to lean in and steal a kiss from her lips. Since her parents had already committed quite the faux pas of their own, Vahn assumed they wouldn't mind too much even if he was a bit 'heavy-handed'. As a result, their relatively tame kiss turned into Luvia waving her hands excitedly before grabbing the sides of his face like a vice and reciprocating with a surprising amount of vigor. For a brief moment, Vahn felt like he had been ensnared in a trap but, after nearly suffocating herself, Luvia eventually released his face, her own gaining a ruddy hue as she licked the saliva from her lips and commented, "I knew you would come around..."

Hearing Luvia's remark, Vahn issued a lighthearted chuckle while, after having closed the distance, Luvia's mother joined him in laughing while her father, significantly less enthused, sternly stated, "My little girl chose you, so I have nothing to say...if you make her cry-" Before he could continue, Luvia's mother elbowed him in the ribs a little harder than necessary before adding, "I expected to see my grandchildren soon...ohohohoho~." With that parting remark, she pulled her husband along towards the chateau, waving toward Artoria and Gray in passing.

Throughout this entire series of events, Luvia continued to hold onto Vahn, apparently enjoying the princess-style treatment, even though her dress had hiked up to reveal her fair and long legs to the crisp and freezing air. She seemed to agree with her mother, not minding the presence of others as she unashamedly stated, "I want at least two children, one to become the heir of the Edelfelt family and another to strengthen ties with the Imperial Family. I imagine I'll need to settle things with Rin to determine which of us gets to be the Empress. We'll also need to talk about the rights of succession before too many children start popping up. Ooooh, there is so much to do~! I'm so excited!" Toward the end of her statement, Luvia snuck another kiss before curling up in Vahn's embrace and giggling in excitement...

While Vahn was somewhat stupefied by Luvia's reaction, it didn't really show on his face as, while she had been speaking, Luvia's Grandmother was staring directly at him. When her granddaughter had finished her rambling, she plainly stated, "I'm certain we'll have plenty of time to talk in the future but I'll go ahead and introduce myself and those two nitwits. My name is Oliviagelita Edelfelt, the current 'Lord' representing the Edelfelt family. Those two you met earlier are my daughter, Junelita, and her muscle brained husband, Samuel."

Though Samuel had been the previous Head before Luvia, it was only because her mother had sustained an injury on a battlefield, damaging her Magic Circuits and causing her to 'pass' on her Magic Crest by having s.e.x with Samuel, the man who had saved her. Until Luvia was mature enough to take on the title for herself, her father had carried the burdens of the Edelfelt family while Junelit and her mother managed their finances. As for why they had been left in charge, the Edelfelts had a secret that Vahn would very soon come to learn.

Though they were well-known for seeking out strong partners, the 'true' secret of the Edelfelts, which had led to their almost meteoric rise, was that their first-born descendant always carried the [Golden Rule] skill. This was why, even though Luvia had been relatively young at the time of becoming the Head, she had been instantly placed in charge of the families finances as, for the first time in their five-hundred year history, she was the only descendant to have the [Golden Rule: EX] skill. In a way, by allowing Luvia to marry Vahn, instead of the other way around, it was like giving off generations of their family's fortunes to an outsider. It was for this reason that Luvia herself intended to have two children, one to captain the Edelfelt family and the other to support the Empire into the far future...

Unaware of what was going through the two drill-haired women's heads, Vahn listened to Olivia talk about various things he needed to be aware of as he carried Luvia towards the chateau. As she had been alive for 97 years, Olivia knew the inner workings of the Mage's Association quite well and, though it wasn't really comparable to Luvia's [Golden Rule: EX], she had the same skill at B-Rank. Her own mother had only had the skill at C-Rank and, by consuming various treasures, June had been able to increase it to A-Rank. As a result, their family had constantly been on the rise and, in order to protect themselves, they had built a 'business empire' as a Mercenary Family.

To protect the secret of the family, they always trained their primary descendent to be one of the most powerful Magi of their generation, sparing 'literally' no expense to produce a suitable heir. After all, regardless of how much money they spent, the existence of Luvia's [Golden Rule: EX] guaranteed they would always be wealthy. The hardest part was 'protecting' that wealth, a duty that would now become Vahn's in the future. Since Luvia would essentially be the 'face' of his forces in the outside world, the chances of her being attacked were astronomically high. Though this wasn't anything new, and they were more than prepared for a fight, things could change drastically as the world approached its potential end...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Da Vinci needs to get her hands on that Osprey...','Vahn over here bullying 'children'...(>,...,<)','Two girls with [Golden Rule], one with 'Body', the other with 'Wealth'...')

(A/N: For those that are confused, Luvia essentially has a powerful 'intuition' that allows her to know whether or not an investment is worth making. When she looks at Vahn, there is 'literally' limitless potential for returns. This is also why she was okay with Olga being brought into the fold as, even if Olga herself isn't necessarily the best investment, the things that came with her made it more than worth it xD...)

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