Ch.16 Neo and Ruby

Yawn!

Walking up from the bed I rub my eyes as I look at my room, seeing that nothing has changed I sit on the bed and wait for me to truly wake up.

After a few minutes of sitting there idly without doing anything, I make my way toward the bathroom and take a quick shower. 

After freshening myself up I take out a little fancier dress than usual and change into it, after all, today Aunt Ruri and Ruby will be arriving in the duchy.

Although they will not mind even if I wear my normal dress, still for the reason keeping their face I have to do this.

Looking at myself in the mirror I manage my hair and seeing that there is no more problem I leave the room.

Walking the long hallways of the castle I make my way toward the dining room, entering it by opening the big door I enter it.

All the seats are empty, well it's normal after all we all only get to enjoy food at night time, after all even though currently is the time of peace with the four superpowers of this continent signing the peace treaty the threat of the "Titan Spine Mountain" still exists.

And we the Lionhearts holding a border with both the edge of the "Titan Spine Mountain" and "Everlasting Empire" have to be vigilant all the time.

So mother and father can be said to be quite busy individuals, plus they even made time from their busy schedule to train me.

As I sit on my chair some maids enter the room and put the breakfast on the table, giving me a bow they leave the room.

Enjoying the food, I devour it and then leave the room, walking toward the direction of the library, I think of which book to read today.

After a while of walking, I reach in front of the majestic gate, feeling my presence the gates open up as I enter the room. 

I can feel the space inside of the room visually increasing as I look at the towers of hundreds of bookshelves. Each of the bookshelves is taller than 100-story buildings.

The library keeper greets me as he continues on his job, greeting him back I make my way toward a large pillar.

There are thousands of magic arrays and runes etched into the stand, I place my hand on the pillar and specify the book I want to read.

The stand glows as I can see a book gently falling toward me, taking my hands off the pillar I catch the falling book.

"Higher Magic Theories, just the thing I need."

I mutter as I read the book cover, putting it in one of my hands I leave the library, the door closes behind me and as I look back the door has disappeared from its place and there is just a wall in its place.

Although I have seen it so many times, it still fascinates me.

From what I have heard about this castle, it was built even before the formation of this kingdom and has stood strong for millions of years. All the magic spells etched in all parts of the castle were created in those times when even "Mana God" ranked people roamed this world. 

Thinking that to myself I make my way toward an opening in the hallway, and as I reach there without even a single thought I jump down.

<Flight >

With that spell I take flight as I reach the top of the castle, making myself comfortable on the roof I open my book and start to read it.

This is one of my favorite reading spots as from here I can see the entirety of the "Lionheart City" and also the enormous mountain in the distance.

Plus Aunty Ruri and Ruby should be arriving soon so by sitting here I can see when they arrive and then make a cool entrance.

Hehe

I wonder what their reaction will be.

...

A few hours have passed since Neo sat on the roof of the castle and started reading his book, the time for his training with Vayu is coming soon so he puts his book down.

Then from his view, he can see a carriage appearing in front of the castle, although it looked like any other carriage the way it arrived could not fool anyone. 

Smiling to himself Neo stretches his body as he stands up, feeling his mana inside his body he jumps down without a second thought.

The door of the carriage opens up and two figures exit the carriage, one of them is a mature woman with flowing orange hair and is wearing a beautiful blue dress that complements her hair.

The other one is a little girl with reddish-orange hair and beautiful silver eyes, wearing a cute dress of pink and white she looks at her surroundings with a smile on her face.

As if feeling something both of them turn their head up and look at a figure of a boy falling toward them. Seeing the familiar figure the girl gets worried as she can feel that he is free-falling.

As for the mature woman, she looks just fine as she has a smile on her face.

<flight >

With that spell, his flight speed slows down as he gently lands in front of the two of them.

"Are you alright?"

Ruby shouts in a worried tone as she hugs his body after she is quite scared seeing him falling from the sky. 

"I am alright, there is no need to worry."

Neo tries to calm her down as he pats her head. His words seem to have calmed down a little as she looks at him.

"You know that was dangerous."

She reprimands him as she looks at him with a pouty face.

"Well, I can use magic so it's not that big of a problem."

Noe replies as he scratches his cheeks, though inside he is smiling as his plan works. Although a little underhanded he managed to avoid the beating he would get from Ruby and also looked cool when doing it.

"Still, you have only recovered a day ago. And you are doing something like this, weren't you the one to say that you don't take unnecessary risks."

Ruby continues with her words as she tries to look angry.

"Yes, and I still follow by that."

Neo replies as he gives her a smile.

"Youuuuu"

"Now, now my daughter don't trouble little Neo like this."

Ruri says as she gently pasts both of their heads.

"But Mother.."

"Yes, Ruby you shouldn't trouble me like this."

Neo says as he quickly escapes her embrace and hides behind Ruri.

"Haha, you still haven't changed Little Neo."

Ruri says as she laughs and pinches Neo's cheeks.

"Hmm"

Ruby is just glaring at him without saying anything.

"Still as childish as ever. hump!"

Ruby says as she points at Neo.

"Well, at least I am not an ignorant child, who can't even read a book without a picture."

Neo says back as he gives her a smirk.

This irked her as she bawled her fist and chased after Neo, seeing this Neo ran as he used Ruri's body as cover.

"Haha, you can't catch me."

Neo continued to tease her and she continued to get triggered.

Ruri just looked at their behavior while smiling to herself, after all her daughter can be like this only with Neo.

Although it may look like Neo teases her just for the fun of it, Ruri understands that he does it to cheer her up.

After all, being a princess she has to keep her image, Hilda plays with her from time to time but she is still a busy person being the head maid and all.

As for the heirs of the other two duchy, although they are of the same age they aren't really that close. The Starlight family's sole heir is busy training every day and the heir of the Fietena family being the fiancé of the Starlight family heir spends most of her time with him.

"It seems Neo has already arrived."

A woman's voice says as footsteps can be heard, Ruri looks at the source of the voice and sees the face of her three friends, Alice, Nexus, and Agni.

Both Neo and Ruby also calm down as they look at the approaching figure.

"Well, you know how our son is."

Nexus says as he looks at his wife.

"Too energetic."

Agni adds, the she turns her gaze toward Ruri.

"It's been a while Sister."

Ruri says as she makes her way toward Agni and hugs her.

"Yes, it has been a while."

Agni says as she hugs her back.

"Auntyyy, Neo is bullying me again."

Ruby shouts as she jumps into Alice's embrace and Alice hugs her back holding her in her embrace.

"Neo, don't bully her too much."

Alice says as she looks at her son with a smile on her face and then pats Ruby's head.

"Bewww"

Ruby teases Neo as she takes out her tongue.

"Ok, ok"

Neo says to his mother's words and then just smiles at Ruby's behavior.