Chapter 193: Kurt Vander

Giliath demands your power stones! Let's try to get over 500!

*

At the same time as Naoto's group could be seen off the highway with the town of Parm still in the distance...

Amberl Tower, Entrance Floor. 

Two figures could now be seen inside the amber colored tower. Yet it didn't take long for Renne and Lorence to get distracted. And for a good reason. Not long after the two entered the tower, they suddenly heard a soothing voice reach their ears.

"Threat presence detected. Now initializing blood recognition scan...", A soothing voice spoke out as if directly talking right over Renne and Lorence's heads. 

"Huh?", Renne asked, blinking her eyes as she heard this mechanical-sounding voice reach their ears. At the same time, the two found the room suddenly pixilated for a brief moment as a scanning-like aura quickly swept the first floor.

"This voice...", Lorence began to say, also intrigued seeing this sudden change of the tower. Yet before the two could do anything, the voice began to speak again.

"Bloodline match not found. Raising threat detection level to max. Now entering, extermination mode. Initializing gate sealing sequence...", The soothing voice echoed the first floor once again. Before Renne and Lorence could act, the scanning finished its sweep, and the two felt a sudden change in the room. 

They also heard that voice mention sealing, and they couldn't help but turn around.

Before their eyes, they saw the entrance to the tower fully sealed off by a powerful barrier. Seeing the barrier now in place, it appeared that Renne and Lorence were now sealed in the tower.

"This voice must be the autonomous defense mechanism of the Liber Ark the Professor mentioned...We're definitely in the right place.", Renne mused, seeing the sudden change in the air. Lorence also nodded his head and his gaze became serious.

"I didn't think the tower would actually place a trial for us. It would seem the other three would have a challenge ready for them as well.", Lorence said, agreeing with Renne's word. "All the more better too. The Shining Ring is assuming us as threats, so it is likely seeing us as invaders. It will put our strength to the test.", Lorence continued to say as he looked down at Renne, readying his Kernviter. 

"Hehe. I don't mind this at all. It looks like we have a welcome party already.", Renne happily said, brandishing her scythe in front of her as a few monsters began to materialize before the two. As these monsters appeared, Renne and Lorence soon saw the atmosphere start to release an amber-like glow around them, causing Renne to look around. She could feel a change in the air, similar to how Tio is easily able to spot changes in the air as well.

"Looks like the three higher elements are now at play. With this, we can have some fun.", Renne happily said again.

"It appears these drones have mutated to suit our threat level too. Get ready, Renne.", Lorence said seriously.

"Of course.", Renne said, changing her gaze to where the monsters were now in front of the two. Just like that, the two entered combat as the tower appeared to set a challenge for them...

Back in Erebonia, south of Parm.

Emma and Fie curiously looked at to what I now had in my hand. The three of us were wearing cloaks and Emma and I didn't want to use our magic to sneak into Parm undetected, so this was likely the next best thing. It was a school uniform, and it wasn't just any school uniform. It was three uniforms from Thors Military Academy, composed of mostly of red. As for Emma and Fie, I had two green skirts that went along with the uniform, and black pants for me.

"So we'll be posing as students then. Works for me.", Fie said, said. Seeing what to do next, Emma and I only stared at Fie before she started to rummage through her cloak, only to do a pulling motion of it, beginning to take it off. Emma became wide-eyed seeing Fie start to take her clothes off right as we were still beside the highway.

"F-Fie! Haven't you learned any sense of shame since our time spent together a year ago in North Ambria?", Emma said, feeling her cheeks turn a bit red seeing Fie attempt to change her clothes.

"No?", Fie retorted, only to stop what she was doing after hearing Emma say that. Hearing that, I could only chuckle.

"Haha, for Emma's sake, why don't we go change behind those trees?", I said, seeing Fie's frankness. Hearing the two of us say that, Fie had another look at her own body, before she released her grip on her cloak, and did a motion of her hand.

"Suit yourself.", Fie simply said, before turning to the side to see where the closest trees were. As for Emma, she took in a breath of air and let out a sigh, before turning toward Celine.

"Celine, we are going to go change our clothes, do be on the lookout, okay?", Emma said, looking at the cat still trying to chase the fox. Hearing that, Celine came to a sudden halt.

"Got it.", Celine said, showing interest in her eyes a the uniforms I was now holding onto.  In the next moment, the three of us found ourselves behind some trees, and after ensuring the coast was clear, we stripped of our cloaks, changing into the Thors' uniforms. Fie made another comment about Emma's growing breasts which caused the tension in the air to ease a bit. I also had a glance and she definitely had grown since the last time I had seen Emma over a year ago. We only took a brief moment to change our outfits, and now we could be seen as three students.

Both Tamamo and Celine saw us return to the road, showing interest in their eyes.

"So you're students now huh?", Celine asked, seeing us in uniforms.

"For now. I could pose as a noble while we were in Legram, but we will be heading into Parm, which is outside of the Arseid Viscounty. We are now in the Sutherland region. It would cause more of a distraction if I wore my Phoenix robe over our cloaks.", I said, nodding my head at Celine.

"I share the same sentiment. Still, this skirt is a bit tight. Do students at Thors really wear these?", Emma said as she padded herself down a bit. It seems she wasn't really used to wearing to these kind of skirts. She was used to wearing longer ones with her robe over it.

"Hmph. That's 'cause you keep growing in the wrong areas. I'm pretty sure your boobies are up another size since we met last in North Ambria.", Fie retorted, causing Emma to come to a sudden halt.

"F-Fie!", Emma blurted out, only to reveal a deeper blush on her cheeks.

"Hahaha.", I said, letting out a laugh, seeing Fie and Emma do this. Well, I mean, Fie wasn't wrong.

"Will you three hurry up? While you were busy changing into your uniforms, it seems there was a commotion going on in front of the gates leading inside Parm. I can see a couple imperial soldiers.", Celine retorted seeing us. 

"Imperial soldiers?", I asked with interest. Hearing that, Emma was able to calm down, and her gaze drew toward the entrance of Parm. We started walking a ways, and it didn't take long to approach the gate. It wasn't a big one, but it still offered some protection. Inside, we could see very colorful buildings. Each one designed exquisitely with a good sense of craftsmanship. Parm was known for its textiles and spinning, so it made sense to see crafts here made by expert craftsmen. I for one though, had little interest in the field.

We could see a couple people currently waiting to get in, it appeared there was a line which was quite unusual for such a town. It wasn't the size of the city, so it was quite easy to get in, not taking too much time. As we approached the line, a guard spotted us.

"Students?", The guard questioned, seeing how we were currently dressed.

"Yes. We have some activity inside Parm, Will it be alright for us to enter?", I decided to ask the imperial soldier.

"Ahhh. You three will have to wait for a bit though. Captain Vander is currently en route outside Parm.", The guard said, explaining the situation to us.

"Captain Vander eh? Now it makes sense as to why there's a hold up here. You two don't mind waiting for a bit, do you?", I asked Emma and Fie. The two shook there heads. 

Like that, we decided to remain off to the side next to the entrance to let the commotion die down. As we waited, some time had passed, and before we knew it, we heard the sound of an orbal car drive by. The window was open, and I could see a rather pretty silver-white haired boy seated in the seat behind the driver's seat. My interest drew toward the car as I could recognize who he was.

'Isn't that Kurt?', I inwardly said to myself, observing the silvery-white haired boy. He seemed to be around Fie's age, seemingly no more than ten years old. It was only brief, but it seems Kurt's gaze also drew toward our direction. He became a bit surprised seeing students wearing the Thors uniform standing aside near the entrance. Sadly, he was in the car, so it was not like he could stop, even if he wanted to.

As for the driver though, I could see it was actually Mueller, who I had not seen for a while either. Not since I've parted way from Prince Olivert back then. It really has been a while since I've last seen him. I have been in contact with Prince Olivert here and there thanks to Kloe's falcon, Sieg. It appeared he had graduated from Thors not too long ago.

'Thors students...?', Mueller uttered to himself as he drove the orbal car away from Parm. It took a moment to click, but Mueller's eyes turned wide a bit the moment he was able to recognize who the violet haired boy was. 'Wait...don't tell me, is that who I think it is!?', Mueller inwardly cried to himself. As he did, he did a swift motion of his foot, causing a screech to streak nearby. This screeching of the car drew our interest, as it came to a sudden halt.

"Brother?", Kurt asked after feeling an initial jerk of his seat. Thanks to his seatbelt, he wasn't sent flying. He only looked toward the front of the car, only to see it now stopped with Mueller still in the driving seat...

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[Insert picture of Mueller Vander here]

[Insert picture of Kurt Vander here]