Swordmeister of Rome

Viscount Kirion Mansion, located in the 11th district on El-Lua Road.

The Kirion family had bases in the capital of Roa-Tian and they traded grains and ores with the Kharan, Tian, and Con Kingdoms to build their wealth. They were low-ranking Nobles, but their wealth made them a powerful figure within the Royal faction.

There was a famous saying within the family.

<You should do what you do best. Don't try to do different things to make money. Money is power.>

It was somewhat true as it had its limitations. There was no way to stop a powerful man going against a contract or making a mess with brute force.

As such, it was a long-time family goal for the Kirion family to have a powerful warrior group within the family.

However, not everyone was gifted like the Roman family. The viscount held the ceremony every time they had a baby, hoping for high Bander Rating to occur.

Then at last, a baby was born to finally give the family what they had longed for long.

<Elon de Kirion>

The third daughter, out of two sons and five daughters, had been rated 40 in the ceremonial. Viscount Kirion did everything he could to support Elon and to train her to be the best. He also started building up a group of warriors for Elon to lead when she grew up.

Elon did not betray her father's expectations. She slowly grew up, falling just short of the Master level. She was only thirty when she reached the top of the Expert level, but she still wasn't satisfied.

That was when she volunteered to go to the Wall. If she returned, the Talic Stones and her power would help her family go beyond what they had been dreaming for.

And after five years, she returned. Master-level warrior, with a handful of Talic Stones.

The Kirion family was thrilled. But they were also tense from the looming storm within the capital.

Elon, looked down from the window out to the streets from the mansion, smiling as she seemed to be interested in something.

'He's doing that again.'

Elon was looking at a Guarran-Tia walking about El-Lua. He was far away, but Master-level warriors had improved vision to overcome such distances with ease.

Sian von Roman. The famous second son of the Roman family. A man born with an unimaginable power from birth that she herself could never dream of.

The ruckus that happened at the party was interesting. She hated Jack. Lennon, from the opposite faction, thought that it was Rian who did it while others thought Marquis Narasha family was trying to frame Rian for something that had not happened. But she saw.

She saw Sian shaking hands with Jack who fell to his knees as Sian held his hand.

Even though Jack was the weakest out of the fourteen Returnees, he was still a Master.

Masters used Bander around themselves to crush their enemies with ease. It was a mystery, but Sian managed to crush the hand of a Master. He was no ordinary man. It would've been weirder if the son of the Roman family was a nobody in the first place.

She was sure that there were more that saw what happened since they weren't hidden. Yet there was nothing to be gained to say it out loud at the party, and people must've been investigating.

That was what she did also.

She picked up a teacup and began sipping it while she looked at the reports brought to her a while ago.

It was not wise to delve into the Roman family too deeply, so she just made simple investigations. It was the information that was floating around in the cities, but there was so little.

<Investigative Report: Sian von Roman>

-Second son of the Roman family. 17 years old.

-Bander Rating on ceremonial: 57 (Note: The Great Magical Rune did not work so Count Kain von Roman claimed the rating himself.)

-He has no talents on all sorts of things. According to the tutors who worked for the family, he was very slow in learning the following: instruments, horse riding, reading, history, geography, astronomy, political science, warfare, social studies, and others.

-Currently residing in Count Kerbel's mansion.

-Working in Guarran-Tia (Note: Ran into trouble with Celine de Kiraine during training week.)

-Patrols El-Lua Rd, 3rd to 14th district. (Note: Count Kerbel personally asked for the area.)

-Reputation among fellow Guarran-Tias is bad

-No confirmed fighting prowess

"Hahaha!"

Elon let out a loud laugh as she read through the reports. A lot of things seemed suspicious just by reading it. He came out unharmed after running into the famous Blue Train and showed Jack what he had.

The area he was patrolling was also suspicious. The 3rd to 14th districts represented the areas where the Royalist and Noble factions lived. Count Kerbel must've known of the impending war between the two factions and that the road would be on the stage. It was not possible for Count Kerbel to simply put his best friend's second son in the place where war would break out without knowing it.

There was something at hand. She wasn't sure, but she figured it would benefit her if she found out.

But there was too little information. If he was an officer of the army or a Knight Guard, he must've been done a regular Bander Rating evaluation, but he was only a Guarran-Tia. A Bander Rating evaluation was too expensive to be done for Guarran-Tias. There was only one way left.

'I should take matters into my own hands.'

There was nothing to be had in other ways. All the important information regarding warriors were usually gathered that way. Information on the paper was dead information.

Elon began plotting up a plan. She was not made to do the merchant side of work. She had to prepare for the upcoming war. She needed more information.

'Hmm… Why can't they leave me alone? Was that house on the 11th district the house of the Kirion family?' Sian thought as he felt like he was no longer being watched.

The Kirion family was one of the families from the Royalist faction that had a Returnee. The person who was looking at him must have been one of them.

'Elon… was it? This is why I should've stayed quiet.'

After that party, he felt people watching him every time he patrolled El-Lua Road. People must've thought they went unnoticed, but they had their Bander wrapped around their eyes as they watched so it was easy to notice. All of them were either Returnees or warriors from the party.

The Bander users had specific auras coming out of them that made it hard to forget. Once Sian saw them using it, he was able to tell when it was being used anywhere within the capital.

However, they definitely did not know that Sian had noticed. The only person who could do this was Sian himself.

It only had been five years since he could do something like this.

He did not like being watched, but they weren't doing anything so he decided to stay. Whatever it was, he just needed to do his job and return home to Count Kerbel's mansion.

He then noticed that his shift was almost over and he began moving to 14th district. That was the place where he traded shifts, so he needed to go there if he was to get off work right away.

Sian regretted not being so careful. He never thought someone would follow him to his home.

He looked at Elon de Kirion and realized he underestimated her.

"Good day, Sion. We've met, right? I'm Elon from the Kirion family. I thought it would be good to be friends since we will meet up more often anyway."

Sian smiled awkwardly as he watched her.

"Uh… yes. But… what? What do you mean that we will meet more often?"

"You keep the peace on our roads. I'm so relieved that a man like you is keeping the peace for a weak lady like me."

Sian could not agree. This woman was a Master-level warrior who just returned from the Wall. If there was a danger that she could not handle happening within the city, Sharlotte should just stay in the basement and never come out if she wanted to live.

"Er… erm… Yes, it's good that I may be of help."

He nodded.

To be honest, if he did not notice the vicious energy emanating from within her, she was a very charming and beautiful woman.

She was thirty-five years old, but her Bander kept her looking young in her twenties. Yet, unlike Sharlotte, she had the body of a well-trained warrior that gave her look of a panther.

They began chattering about non-important stuff for a while and as Elon felt like she got somewhat close to Sian, she started on the subject she was here for.

Sian didn't seem to alienate her either, but he seemed really lazy for sure.

'This is interesting. I can't feel anything.'

She couldn't bring up the energy to scan it as it was very rude (It was taken as a challenge) but she glanced at him as she spoke. He had the signs of being a warrior.

All warriors had similar feelings. Be it the way of training, Bander-Roa, personality, or others. It was all different for each warrior, but there was one thing in common.

<Habit of endless training and natural energy coming from the body.>

This was not something that one could hide. It was natural body language to show how hard the body had tried to become strong.

But this man had nothing like it. He just felt like a very lazy man.

However, she did meet a person like this before. The Great North Wall was a place where all kinds of powerful people gathered. There, she met those who felt like the man in front of her right now.

<World-twisting, extraordinary power user, Exer>