“Ha ha ha! My daughter! My precious youngest daughter! Where are you? I was told she would definitely be here!”

The Dongbaek Palace suddenly became lively.

It was because of the visit from Master Kirson.

Naturally, the chatter among the maids increased as well.

—Oh my, Master! It seems you’ve come again. You've been appearing frequently lately.

—Indeed.

—I guess the rumor that Lady Cecilia is the Master’s adopted daughter is true.

—Indeed, indeed. No wonder Lady Cecilia has such discerning taste.

—Oh, is she really saying that without even putting any lipstick on? They say she’s too strict, but when did that happen?

—Was it just me?

—Of course, I was also involved. Ho ho ho!

Kirson passed through the gossiping maids and butlers with a booming voice.

“My daughter! My daughter, where are you?”

But there was no response.

Kirson ultimately began to forcefully open every door in the Dongbaek Palace.

“Is she here?”

Bang!

“Not here. Then here?”

Bang!

“Then is it here?”

Bang!

After tormenting the poor doors about a dozen times,

Bang!

“Found you!”

Finally, Kirson was able to find his youngest daughter, Cecilia, whom he had been desperately searching for.

Cecilia was in the midst of discussing a tailcoat for Theo with the costume designers.

Her face was clearly irritated.

The third exam would be completed in a day, so she had intended to finish her work as quickly as possible before the exam ended, but she had been interrupted.

“…Everyone, could you please step aside for a moment?”

The designers, sensing the tension, quickly cleared the area.

Cecilia then glared at Kirson, her eyes blazing.

“What on earth is this rudeness, Mother? I believe I requested you to maintain decorum in the palace!”

Kirson flinched slightly but soon broke into a wide grin.

The flared nostrils seemed like they would exhale heat.

“Decorum? In a situation like this, isn’t it strange to maintain decorum? I’m about to become a wealthy woman!”

“But you’re already wealthy, aren’t you?”

“Not just wealthy! I’m about to be filthy rich, filthy rich! Ha ha ha!”

Cecilia shook her head in disbelief as she watched Kirson, who was half-crazed with laughter.

Since Theo gained fame,

Kirson had frequently barged in like this.

Was Theo’s advertising effect beyond imagination?

Thanks to that, the waiting list for the Bask Workshop was already fully booked until the end of next year.

And yet, reservations continued to pour in.

Thus, the capitalist elf, who would jump out of bed at the thought of money, couldn’t help but be ecstatic.

However, Cecilia didn’t like Kirson’s attitude.

It wasn’t just the uneasy feeling of having profited by selling her son,

But also her concern about whether Theo had been hurt during the flowering ceremony.

“When he was only at the Rose Palace, I kept pushing him, but now that he’s out there thriving, I’m feeling even more anxious... I must not be a qualified mother, dear son.”

Looking back now,

She realized she had not been a good mother to Theo.

She had always scolded him for not doing well enough.

—A tool to crave the affections of her distant husband.

Sometimes, she thought of it that way.

If Theo were to shine, then Kyle’s visits to the Rose Palace would become busy again.

But Theo hadn’t followed Cecilia’s hopes,

And so the distance between mother and son only widened.

However, the relationship, which had been awkward, began to progress again thanks to Theo’s courage.

As Theo started to stand out, Cecilia’s heart opened up,

And Theo matched his pace with hers.

At that time, she hadn’t realized it at all.

She was just busy thinking about how to give Theo wings,

How to help him overcome the pressure and constraints from those around him.

But now,

Having been away from Theo for so long, she painfully realized.

She had treated her son harshly all this time.

Theo was still just a fifteen-year-old child.

At an age where a mother’s embrace was more important, she felt sorry for letting him grow up so quickly.

“Soon, the third flowering ceremony will take place; I wonder if he’ll be okay?”

She worried that the meeting with his father wouldn’t be very warm.

That was a concern as well.

“Ha ha ha!”

“…”

The problem was that this foolish person was completely unaware of his daughter’s restless feelings.

‘…For now, let’s chase him away and think about it.’

Cecilia glared at Kirson, her eyes blazing.

Suddenly, she remembered something the butlers had mentioned in passing before.

—There have been many inquiries recently about finding a swordsmanship master for the young master.

—You mean he had a swordsmanship master? I had no idea…! Who was it?

—It’s Evelyn Nerabil, who manages the Fourth Training Hall; she was the former captain of the White Armor Brigade...

Cecilia recalled her mother’s face, which was still annoying but skilled enough to be considered the best in the north.

“Mother.”

“What is it?”

“Have you ever made a prosthetic arm?”

* * *

“Ugh…!”

After the sparring match between Theo and Erika had ended,

Erika grimaced from the muscle soreness that throbbed throughout her body.

She hadn’t noticed it during the exciting fight, but every part of her was now screaming in pain.

Ragnar defeating Lanke through sheer strength? 

Was that even possible?

“Heh heh! See? Not so easy, right?”

At that moment, Holcus’s mocking laughter reached her ears.

One of Erika's eyebrows twitched.

“…Could you be quiet for a moment? I’m dying here.”

“I told you so. I said you wouldn’t win. You didn’t listen, and now look at you. Ha ha ha!”

“You little brat?”

If she scratched that itch, she would truly get hit. With that thought in mind, Holcus quickly stifled his laughter.

But his twitching smile was impossible to hide.

Twitch, twitch—

‘Should I kill him? Or not?’

Erika felt an overwhelming urge to smack her teasing younger brother’s head right now,

But with no strength left in her body, she sighed and gave up.

Just standing up was a struggle.

Holcus found great joy in her situation.

It felt like a ten-year-old burden was being lifted.

‘He he he! I should use this method often!’

In fact, Erika charging at Theo had been Holcus’s scheme.

No matter how great his sister was, he had figured she wouldn’t win.

Naturally, the prideful Erika wouldn’t stay quiet about that,

And this had been the result.

‘But to see my sister, who seemed so unlike herself, lose… she truly is a human, right?’

Unlike Erika, Theo appeared to be fine, only slightly out of breath.

‘He has a good face, fights well, is strong, beats my sister—what can he not do?’

Above all,

The words Theo had spoken during their sparring still echoed loudly in Holcus’s mind.

—How could the head of Ragnar become the lord husband of Lanke? We are supposed to be a prestigious family.

—Anyone who is the heir of Ragnar can dream of that much, right?

‘That’s so cool.’

It wasn’t said with any grandiosity or arrogance.

He had said it in a very casual manner.

As if it were simply a matter of course.

And that was likely what struck Holcus so hard.

He had known Theo was cool before.

But this time felt different from before.

It wasn’t merely about being good-looking or well-dressed; his tone and actions reflected the aspirations of a hidden dragon dreaming of leadership.

A sight any man would dream of,

Filled with such ambition.

Thump, thump!

Recalling that moment... his heart raced wildly once again.

—As if he had been enchanted by Theo’s determination.

‘My sister… kept saying she would become the head of the family. Not one to fall short of Lanke. Rather, one who would elevate Lanke above Ragnar.’

When he was younger, he had dismissed his sister’s lofty dreams as nonsense.

But now, he understood.

He understood how grand those dreams had been.

And Theo was dreaming just as grandly.

Then came the question.

What about my dreams?

Simply to be cool?

Or just to be strong?

‘I don’t know... not yet.’

Holcus’s mind swirled with various thoughts.

—I want to find my dream.

He had lived day by day, seeking only what seemed fun or cool without any deeper thoughts,

Now, he wanted to throw himself into something bigger.

Like Theo or Erika.

Thump, thump, thump—

His heart raced even faster.

‘If I keep watching those two, will I figure out what I want to do?’

While Holcus was fidgeting, a gaze watching him from afar caught his attention.

“Looks like the young master has caught another one.”

Wellington chuckled at the fact that another member had been added to the early morning training team at the Fourth Training Hall.

He couldn’t help but understand what Holcus’s reaction meant.

He had once been exactly like that.

The ability to draw people into one’s dreams.

That was undoubtedly one of Theo’s greatest strengths.

* * *

“Ugh…! I can’t just sit here forever.”

As Erika slowly got up from her seat, she looked back at Theo.

Her body was still creaking

 all over, but she was in the middle of her last third exam.

Retiring was out of the question.

“Hey, Chirpy.”

“…Are you talking to me?”

Theo gave her a puzzled look at the strange nickname.

But Erika merely nodded as if it were obvious.

“Yeah. You’re Chirpy, he’s Mr. Perfect, and this lady is Ice Cold.”

Wellington chuckled lightly.

“Why do I have to be Mr. Perfect?”

“You just look too proper.”

“Is that really all it takes…!”

“And your manner of speaking is way too uncle-like.”

“…”

“Are you really fifteen?”

While Wellington was shocked by his own tone, Ray blinked in surprise.

“Why am I Ice Cold?”

“You keep shooting ice everywhere.”

“…”

“Why? Do you need another reason?”

In the end, it was just a nickname for her comfort.

‘So, I’m just called Chirpy because of my thunder attribute? But why that particular nickname…?’

Theo recalled a character from a cartoon he had seen on Earth and sighed lightly.

“Well, anyway. So?”

“How are you going to get up there? It’s going to be too hard to meet your father.”

The only one with the audacity to express herself like that to the head of Ragnar was Erika.

“The head's aura will grow stronger the closer we get to the lodge. So it’s better to abandon the thought of overcoming it.”

“Then?”

“We need to match the mana waves.”

“Mana waves?”

Erika tilted her head, not understanding what that meant.

Holcus and Ray also looked confused.

But Wellington seemed to have realized something.

“Are you suggesting we create counteracting waves to eliminate the displacement through inverse phase interference?”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

“Hm! But it’s easier said than done…”

“It’s difficult, but that’s the only way. The third exam will likely hinge on controlling and adjusting mana.”

“Well, that’s true.”

Erika, who had been standing absentmindedly, frowned deeply.

“Inverse phase? Waves? Interference? What on earth are you talking about? Explain it in a way I can understand.”

Holcus and Ray nodded along.

Wellington looked back at Erika, a smirk on his face.

As if to say, “You don’t know that?”

Erika found Wellington’s attitude oddly irritating but kept her mouth shut and listened patiently to the explanation.

“Mana is a type of wave. It has the properties of vibration. Naturally, the head’s aura will also be made up of waves, so to navigate this, we need to calculate and create a mana wave that cancels it out.”

“…So basically, we need to create and unleash mana that directly opposes this damned pressure?”

“Well, simply put, that’s about right.”

“Then just say that, you jerk! Are you intentionally using difficult words because I called you Mr. Perfect?”

Wellington shrugged without responding.

Erika rolled her eyes but soon frowned.

As he said, it was easy to say, but the difficulty was extremely high.

They were all novices who had barely begun to unlock their mana a month ago.

No matter how much they had learned the Spirit Protection Law, that level of detailed control was difficult.

But.

“Don’t focus too hard on wave cancellation. Even if we try our hardest, we can’t stop the head’s aura. That would be impossible, even for the Nine Dragons.”

Theo said calmly as he stepped forward.

Thud!

The pressure, much stronger than before, weighed down on his shoulders.

His balance slightly wavered but quickly steadied.

Impossible for even the Nine Dragons.

At those words, the gazes of the other four naturally shifted toward the judges.

The judges stood with their arms crossed, only smiling.

“After all, we’ll only secure enough space to move. That should be sufficient for now.”

Step, step—

Theo slowly moved forward.

With each step he took, faint ripples formed across the ground.

His balance adjusted, and his pace quickened.

“Then I’ll go first.”

Boom—

Theo began to ascend the slope,

“You all should hurry too. The third exam scores are awarded based on who reaches first.”

At the judge's blunt remark, the four of them hurriedly sprang into action.