Chapter 7: Vitoria Vameloppe

"Arnold, have you finished writing the letters?" The Great Sage asked as He peeked out of the monastery windows. Looking at the beautiful astral sky while puffing smokes from his smoking pipe, He chanted something.

"Almost done master. I just need to finalize it before it's ready." Arnold replied while looking at six sheets at once. After concluding that it's error-free and that everything essential is written down, Arnold stood from his chair and gathered the parchments from the desk. While walking towards the Great Sage, a crimson ball flew towards his direction with great speed that he barely manages to dodge. Ducking to his left, Arnold managed to avoid the object. It landed on his escritoire, spraying his desk a vivid crimson.

"Vitoria... that was very gratuitous for you to do in front of the Great Sage. You nearly smeared his beard red." Arnold cracked up a joke, causing the Great Sage to give a little laugh. If it did, He would've looked like the Great Gifter of the Snow. The red taint amassed into a circle, and a womanly figure emerged from it. Walking past Arnold, the woman bowed in front of the Great Sage.

"You called for me, master?" Still bowing, the woman resolutely said.

"Meek as always, Vitoria. Yes, I did summon you. No need for formalities when you came here informally. There're cookies and a hot cup of rose tea on the table if you want." The Great Sage said while He stood in front of the woman known as Vitoria.

"I'm all good. So, master, what can I do for you?" Vitoria asked as she fixed herself into an upright position and faced the Great Sage.

"I need you to send these messages to the others and wait for us in the Northern Imperial Palace. Once you've arrived at the Palace, I want you to inform his Highness, Emperor Edmund Griffin, to prepare for an important meeting." Collecting and pilling the vellums from Arnold, the Great Sage handed these to Vitoria.

"Is there a reason why I don't get to have one?" Vitoria asked.

"You already received the message." The Great Sage replied.

It took some time for Vitoria to digest the meaning of His words. Once she understood, she bowed in respect to the Great Sage, and she stood in front of Arnold and saluted. Walking towards another window, Vitoria puffed into a misty crimson smoke, and a bat flew out from it. In a flash, the bat flew outside the window and disappeared into the cloudless night.

"Master, is there a reason why you didn't tell her about the coming of the new hero?" Arnold asks as he witnessed Vitoria's departure.

"It may be too early to tell her, but she will know soon enough." Stroking His beard, the Great Sage replied while looking outside the window.

"Why is that?" Another question came from Arnold.

"If I told her, she would have visited Laurence and probably suck her dry." The Great Sage's remark gave Arnold a goosebump.

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"Let's talk about it inside..." Dad coldly said. Laurence replied by going inside their tavern. Spontaneously, she made a run through the stairs and went to her room. Her actions fueled the fire burning inside Dad. Although he rarely gets that angry with Laurence, this day was undoubtedly his angriest. A hand gently patted Dad's shoulder, causing him to calm down a little.

"Let me handle this, Dad." Greg said in a serious tone.

"Alright, I wish she was more responsible like you..." Dad said as disappointment lingered in his voice. After getting inside the tavern, Greg walked upstairs and knocked on Laurence's room.

"Hey, I know it's hard seeing how Dad treats you, but the truth is that he was just worried about you. He loved you so much that he can barely maintain his calmness only by you disappearing for three hours." Greg said in a worried tone. No reply came out of the room.

"Trust me. You'll also regret not apologizing to Dad once you've gone out on your adventure. Speaking of which, the Great Sage gave you your first quest, am I right?" Trying to cheer Laurence up and hoping she'd come out to apologize to Dad, Greg said it with enthusiasm. To his surprise, Laurence actually opened the door and came out. Her face is flushed red, either from crying or embarrassment. Greg found it cute, though.

"I'm proud you managed to knock on the door." Laurence sarcastically said.

"I'm more proud you finally came out to fix your mess." Greg smiled as Laurence averted her gaze from him.

"Whatever. Watch me handle this situation like an adventurer." Laurence said while smirking. Walking down the stairs, Laurence looked back at Greg and stuck her tongue out before finally arriving down. A vein popped up from Greg's temple.

Approaching towards the kitchen, Laurence came face to face with Dad.

"Dad. I'm sorry for what I did a while ago. I know I could've told you that I wanted to go to the Guilds tavern, but my naiveness blinded me. I'm also sorry for running away from you. My emotions allowed me to do it." Laurence said in an apologetic tone as tears began to form in her eyes. Having been conflicted with her emotions, she couldn't help but avert her gaze away from Dad. Laurence started shedding tears, which turned into sobs. Covering her face with her palms while crying, she looked like an innocent kid. Laurence would've undoubtedly fooled anyone to think that she was a kid.

Instead of getting better after seeing Laurence apologize, Dad was rather hurt upon witnessing his daughter's current state. He came closer and gave Laurence a hug. He was crouching down to match Laurence's size, but he was also making sure it's comforting to her. Seeing how she took her palms away from her face to hug him, Dad also felt the kind warmth of comforting happiness. He wiped off the tears and snot from Laurence's face with his shirt and fixed her bangs, which covered her face. Once Dad got a clear view of Laurence's face, he held her cheeks with his hands and made sure that she was facing his face. Then he spoke.

"Laurence, my dear. I'm also sorry for being too harsh to you. I, too, couldn't help suppress my emotion. I'm sorry." Dad replied in a serious yet tender expression. Then he kissed her on her cheek and continued to embrace her. After a while, Laurence pushed herself away from Dad. Remembering that she had another topic to discuss with him, Laurence rushed upstairs to come to pick up the parchment in her room. But when she entered, she found a mysterious figure holding her brother's chin as he sat down on the bed.

"Who are you and what've you-!" She felt a sharp pain in her head, which made her unable to say the rest of her statement.