20. Handling Trouble

"Tsk… this thing sounds like trouble" Grey muttered as he looks toward the source of the shout. A slightly short, middle age man with pot belly accompanied by a tall stick like man about the same age. Both of them wearing what his father told him what is supposed to be the uniform of the Heavenly Gate Guards. A silver armor with its right shoulder having an insignia of a crossing halberd in front of a gate.

The people around, seeing the two men approaching get themselves away from the group of five. Eventually finding the perpetrator from the people's reaction, the two guards look surprised as they stare, lecherously, towards the three young ladies that appears to be a representation of the pinnacle of a certain type of beauty if not for their young appearance.

"The three of you, come with us for an investigation" the lanky guard proclaimed domineeringly as they approach the group, clearly pointing towards the girls when he spoke.

The three, feeling the stares these two gives couldn't help but form a frown on their face. Lucia, being the girl she is already started leaking out a bit of aura that is immediately suppressed by Grey, the young lady staring at him only to find him looking back at her, shaking his head as he talks to her and the other two telepathically, 'Let me handle this one.'

 Grey approaches the two guards, blocking their path towards the three ladies, with an amiable smile, he said, "Good morning gentlemen, what could be the problem?".

The two guards, annoyed that someone blocks their path scrutinized Grey thoroughly. Seeing the appearance the young man is blessed with, the two become further irritated, making them point their fingers to the young man.

The pot-bellied guard then spoke with an arrogant tone "You bastard!! You think the likes of you can just barge in our business?!"

"I do think I can, especially since they're my companion" Grey continues his good guy act while suppressing his laughter inside, thinking how interesting these two's reaction will be once they reveal their identity.

'I'd like it if I can limit it to my identity as a special student of the Federal Academy though' Grey thought to himself as he imagines not only the trouble from fans but also dangers from his father's enemies, if there was even any worthy, once he is revealed to be Arthur's son.

"So what?! You can also get captured but you will be put in a different area while we interrogate these young ladies, hehehe" the pot-bellied man said as he rubs his hand, his lecherous look eliciting disgust not only from the three young ladies but also the people surrounding them.

"There's no way to talk us out of it?" Grey asks, starting to get annoyed at the middle-aged man.

"Heh, give it up brat, interrupting the peace of the area surrounding the East Heavenly Gate City is punishable with at least month of imprisonment along with public service in the duration of confinement, there's no way brat like you who's still wet behind his ears can talk out of it" the lanky man interjected, having a mocking look on his face as he stares at Grey.

Grey, then nodded his head as if in agreement as he said. "I see, I see, no way to talk out of it huh… You wish!! You think I'm as dumb as the two of you combined?! Only squad leaders have the right to detain a person, not mentioning they can hold them only for two weeks at most, not mentioning the fact that you're like flea in terms of strength, don't tell me you…" he paused as he points to the pot-bellied man "who can't even look at your own feet, and mister here, who looks like he wasn't fed for months ranks higher than a squad captain right?"

The two middle-aged men, surprised with the young man knowing the guards' power structure, widened their eyes, their gaze averting Grey's and their faces fuming in embarrassment because of the insult the young man just said.

"You want to challenge the authority of the guards huh?! Just you wait, I'll contact the squad leader to deal with you!!" the pot-bellied man bellowed in anger.

The two middle-aged men backed out for a few seconds, using a device that seems to be used to communicate between the guards. After doing so, they just smile at Grey thinking that the kid is done for. Not long after, an aura far greater than the two guards are emitting gradually approaches the scene, making the two guards' smile even wider as they started pointing their fingers at Grey and the girls when the figure shows himself.

"Leader! Arrest this guy, he humiliated the guards!" the pot-bellied man said, clearly trying to escalate the situation.

Hearing this, the squad leader's gaze turned morbid, as the aura surrounding him exploded, engulfing Grey's group in an instant.

Grey frowns as he observes the new guy's arrival, now speaking in a neutral tone, he said "Won't you listen to our side first before releasing this aura of yours?"

The squad leader, clearly surprised by how unaffected from his pressure Grey is, focuses the pressure more on him as he replies "My subordinates said all that is needed to be known, there's no use for talking, all of you need to come with me."

Grey, revealing a terrifying look in his eyes, clearly angered by how unreasonable this man is, mocks' "Man, all of you guards love flaunting yourselves one way or another huh? I have no time for this, so either you will listen to me willingly, or you listen to me by force." as he also releases his aura. All of a sudden, the surroundings feels like it turns into a desolate battlefield, bones of creatures, humungous and small, scattered around, wailing sounds from beasts getting killed, the metal-like smell of blood permeating all around.

The squad leader, knowing that such kind of phenomena only happen when someone of either an extremely high cultivation level or an absurd level of talent, couldn't help but gasp air as he was continuously getting pressed by the aura, in desperation, he forces himself to politely bow as he speaks before it's too late, "May I know your identity, as well as the purpose of your visit to the East Heavenly Gate City, sir?"

Hearing those words, the amiable look returns to Grey's face, as he releases all the pressure around him, turning everything back to normal.

"Shouldn't we start the talking here? It's much easier this way, right?" Grey claps as he helped the squad leader up from his half-kneeled position, even patting his shoulders repeatedly as if to help the man tidy himself up.

The squad leader, looks at the young man who just released that terrifying aura that causes his two subordinates to fall unconscious, and looking at his amiable face, he can't help but find it weird how such a young man can control himself so much that he can restrain that terrifying aura, an aura that makes him wonder just what kind of things this young man has gone through.

'And seeing that those bystanders aren't affected even the slightest, it looks like he can also control his aura to an extreme degree, a level not even the captain currently cannot reach.' He though to himself before being interrupted by the young man.

"Let's see, the main purpose of our visit this time is some sight-seeing, as well as using the teleportation array to go somewhere… as for our identities, this should suffice right?" Grey said as he reveals a projection of a letter, surprising not just the squad leader, but also the people around them.

The letter, cased in a black envelope with intricate golden linings is sealed with a red stamp. The stamp, if observed closely bears an insignia that looks like a dragon's side profile in the right side, and a humanoid side profile on the left. Seeing that Grey reveals his admission letter, the three girls also reveal theirs, all of them looking exactly like Grey's. This escalates the astonishment the people around feels as they know very well what that black envelop means. And as if one of them being a student of the Federal Academy is not enough, all four of them are! Meaning this group of four is probably stronger than all of them combined, not to mention that they have yet to grow to their full potential.

The squad leader, still surprised by the revelation gathered himself together as he apologetically bows before he starts talking, "I'm sorry young ones, I've never known all of you are new students, I should've listened first before doing anything else" he stated sincerely, surprising Grey's group.

"No need to worry about that sir, can we pass using this?" Grey continues being amiable, but now not as an act as he sees that the man is quite a good one, just a bit gullible to his subordinates.

"Using that admission letter as an identification to pass through the gates is no problem but we have to first confirm the authenticity of the letter, would you mind showing it to me once again so I can send a copy to my superiors? We have no access to such information as only captain levels can confirm the authenticity of those letters for security purposes, is it all right?" the squad leader asks, now treating them with a bit of respect, after all, in his mind, kids like this represents the pinnacle of humanity, people who will one day lead Earth, possibly to a greater height.

"There's no problem" Grey nodded as he once again projected the letter, the squad leader then doing something to his device, after doing so, proceeds to do the same thing to the girls' letters as well. After a few minutes of waiting, the device rang with a message from his captain, 'treat them with care, they're all going to enter 'that' class.'

Seeing the message, the squad leader couldn't help but gulp once again, looking towards this group of young people with a newfound respect. As he approaches them, he greeted them with enthusiasm and said, "Sorry for the wait young ones, I will escort you to the gates."

The group thanked him as they proceed forward, the group asking the squad leader about good places to go in the city, and the squad leader replying to them and recommending spots his children used to tell him.

Reaching the front of the gigantic gate, lots of people seems to look at the squad leader with respect in their eyes, some of them even bowing to him as they greet him.

"Welcome to the East Heavenly Gate City, enjoy your stay" the squad leader said, making the group bow as they thank him, proceeding to enter the city.

Behind the squad leader, a figure emerges donning the same kind of armor, the only difference the being the color of the insignia branded on the armor's right shoulder being golden, signifying the figure's position being a captain.

"Sir, those kids are…" the figure said, interrupted by the 'squad leader'.

"They're from that class you say?"

"Indeed."

The 'squad leader' laughs loudly causing everyone around to look while he said, "As expected of Arthur's son huh… He's a great kid."

The figure continues laughing as he enters a nearby elevator followed by the captain, an elevator exclusive only for generals and their closest aide.