In the dining room, Cynthia's giggles and chuckles continuously echoed across the room as if she hadn't laughed for a very long time.

Thirteen was telling her stories about her daughters' funny moments during their training, and the beautiful woman couldn't help but hold her stomach as she laughed without holding back.

Shana's and Rianna's faces were already beet red, both out of embarrassment as well as from doing their best to hold back the urge to cover Thirteen's mouth with their hands, preventing him from talking.

Of course, they already attempted to do so earlier, but Cynthia stopped them.

She even sat beside the teenage boy to protect him from her daughters' attacks, as if daring them to even try.

Because of this, the two young ladies could only look at the teenage boy with pleading gazes so that he would stop talking about their embarrassing moments.

However, Thirteen ignored their silent plea and continued tattling to Cynthia about the stories he had collected during the months that they were training in the Rigel Continent.

The other members of the Hero Party could only look at the two girls with pity.

But if someone were to look closely, they would notice that their bodies were trembling as they deeply bit their lips.

Clearly, they were doing their best to not laugh like Cynthia, whose sides were already aching due to excessive laughter.

"Stop! Hahaha! I can't laugh anymore!" Cynthia said as she held her sides. "It hurts so much."

Thirteen smiled and nodded in understanding.

This made Shana and Rianna sigh in relief, thinking they could finally get a breather.

"You'll be staying here for a few more days, so I wish to hear more of your stories about my daughters," Cynthia said with a smile.

"Of course, Lady Cynthia," Thirteen replied. "It will be a pleasure to have a chat with you."

The more she looked at the teenage boy beside her, the more he looked good in her eyes.

Clearly, Cynthia's first impression of Zion Leventis surpassed her expectations, and she couldn't help but wonder if any of her daughters caught his fancy.

'There's plenty of time to talk about this,' Cynthia thought. 'Let's just take it nice and slow for now.'

Mikhail, Shasha, Sherry, and the members of the Hero Party were currently in the Summer's Residence.

Cristopher, Colbert, and the Squad Captains of Thirteen's 69th Battalion remained at the Headquarters of the Central Government and went to their respective dormitories.

They didn't dare to stay at the residence of the Grand and Field Marshal of the Army.

Their skin wasn't that thick!

Only Thirteen had the ability to face the two highest-ranking officers of the Central Government without breaking a sweat.

"This is my brother, Mikhail," Thirteen said with a smile. "And this is my sister, Shasha. This young lady here is Sherry, and she accompanied me and the rest of the Hero Party during our last mission in Solterra."

"It's a pleasure to meet the two of the most outstanding members of the Leventis Family," Cynthia gave the two a nod of acknowledgment. "I have heard great things about the two of you from Rianna."

Mikhail and Shasha nodded at the same time. There was a mission where they had teamed up with Rianna in order to clear it, so they were acquainted.

A few minutes later, the discussion shifted to the upcoming Dragon and Phoenix Tournament, which was going to be hosted by the Ashford Clan.

"Right now, Clark Ashford is the favorite among the Seeded Candidates of the Ashford Clan," Cynthia said before glancing at Mikhail, who was of the same generation as the Heir of the Ashford Clan. "Unfortunately, Mikhail and Shasha are not the Seeded Members of the Leventis Family.

"It is quite unfortunate that they will have to join the elimination matches at the beginning."

"I don't think that's a problem," Thirteen commented. "I have complete faith in their abilities, and I'm sure that they will have a good chance of reaching the Semi-Finals."

Cynthia nodded because she could tell that Mikhail and Shasha were no pushovers.

"Still, just who is the Seeded Member of the Leventis Family?" Cynthia frowned. "I haven't heard any news from them. All I know is that each of the Monarch and Prestigious Families was allowed to send one candidate as a Seeded Candidate.

"Shana and her teammates are part of the Seeded Group. Only Rianna needs to fight in the preliminaries.

"I heard that this year, they plan to change the settings to a Royal Rumble survival-style elimination match," Thirteen said. "They will send three hundred people to different battlegrounds, and the last three survivors of each ground will move on to the next round."

"That's indeed the case," Cynthia nodded. "For the sake of 'fairness,' the Ashford Clan discussed this with the Central Government. After all, they will work together in order to prevent casualties from happening and increase the safety of the tournament. What do you think about this?"

"I think it's fine," Thirteen replied. "The Ashford Clan wouldn't want to lose face in front of the world. They would have to ensure the safety of the participants, or else they would face the ridicule of all Wanderers."

Cynthia smiled. "The Ashford Clan also handed the authority to decide on which people would be sent in various groups. This way, they will not be accused of rigging the Preliminaries of the Tournament."

Thirteen chuckled internally, knowing full well that he was the one who offered this proposal to the Grand and Field Marshal of the Central Government.

Thirteen used the word "fairness" in order to make the Ashford Clan agree, and he also went out of his way to create a program that would randomly put together a group, members of which would fight against each other.

As the creator of this software, he also made sure that none of his people would be fighting against each other during the early stages of the elimination matches.

Simply put, the Ashford Clan was innocent because the one rigging the tournament was the teenage boy whom they had invited to become the Seeded Player of the Leventis Family.

However, Thirteen politely declined their invitation, stating that he would rather be one of the judges of the tournament instead of a participant.

The Ashford Clan was disappointed that they couldn't put Zion in action.

However, the teenage boy gave them an offer that made them agree to his request to be one of the judges of the tournament.

Thirteen had declared that he would give the Champion of the Earth and Heaven Rankings an opportunity to fight him.

With such a juicy offer in front of them, the Ashford Clan didn't hesitate and even prepared to gather all the data of Zion's fight so that they could give an accurate estimate of how strong the teenage boy truly was.