Silva Duchy Capital...

The Duchy Palace...

Adeline walked the halls with a clear destination in mind. It had been days since her brother's return from the Kirsten barony and she had not really had the opportunity to have a sit down with him and actually have a conversation.

The fact that it was already quite late did not factor in or make one bit of difference.

Of course, when he had first arrived, Pierre had had a lot to say about his experience at the Duchy, in particular, the blue-eyed young man he had met and felt for certain he could build a friendship with.

Granted, he had drawn his sword on the very same young man, but he was quite sure that there was no bad blood.

Adeline had not had the time to really invest in the chat as at that time, she received a summon from her Alchemy master who asked her to visit the Alchemist organization building.

She answered the summon but left soon enough with the excuse that she needed to further refine her alchemical skills for the same event they were discussing.

And then she met the pervert right on her way out.

Ugh, thinking about him really annoyed her.

Not to mention that over these few days, when had been informed of how he had gone missing right at the Alchemist organization.

She has been quite ready to scoff at the disappearance and claim it was a stupid attempt at attention seeking, however, the struggle that was said to have happened before the kidnapping made it impossible for her opinion to be popular.

To make things worse, her master had confided another vital information to her which was that the pervert was actually now a Rank 4 alchemist.

Granted, his workmanship had been said to be shoddy at best. That did not change the fact that on paper, they were both in the same rank. In one day and one sitting, he had established himself as her rival.

Or at least that was how her master saw it.

Adeline on the other hand was quite convinced that he was not worthy of actually being considered as a rival of someone of her caliber and talent. A point that her master had to admit definitely had credence.

That said, she was not still pleased with the events and quite frankly hoped he stayed missing.

Once back home, she was informed of her brother going into seclusion for a few days and he was only just out.

He immediately moved to the training grounds to hone his weapon skills. Mostly with his sword which despite the family's battle-ax, remained his preferred weapon.

Although he was busy, their sibling talk was long overdue and she would just have to make do with the location...

Training grounds,

Pierre could be seen shirtless while he battled what looked like dummy puppets wielding weapons with Runes etched in their bodies and powered with Cosmic energy just like activated already drawn runes. Clearly products of Runemastering.

With his silver hair tied in a knot at the top of his head, Pierre ducked and evaded a swing of his puppet opponent while he slammed the flat side Of his weapon against them.

As he was using his phenomenon rank artifact to better get used to wielding it, he was careful not to cause too many damages to the puppets. Especially damages he would have been unable to cause had he been using a normal sword which could not affect cultivators or the puppets.

As was expected of a handsome and shirtless young man like himself performing splendid swordsmanship, he garnered attention and the cooing of maids and female external members of the Silva family.

"Young master Pierre is so impressive"

"That's an understatement."

Acting completely oblivious to his audience, mostly because he rather preferred to be left alone during his training and also because he had no interest in any of those females, Pierre continued his impressive wielding of his sword.

In a bid to increase difficulty, Pierre pushed himself past the limit by handling even more puppets than he originally would and any hit from them was bound to wrack the spot with pain.

Even then, he prevailed.

Whirling and dodging their attacks to smack them with his weapon and even perform incredible moves with a lot of kicks and punches that tumbled the puppets over.

When he saw the crowd begin to disperse, he deactivated the puppets because he could sense the presence of the one who could bring about their departure,

"Hey there little sister" he said as he sent his sword into his spatial ring while he turned to face Adeline whose arms were folded beneath her breasts as she pouted at him.

"What's with the long face? What evil being could have actually dared to make my lovely sister look so angry and pouty?" He asked.

Adeline rolled her eyes and scoffed at his theatrical sounding words,

"Enough with the nonsense. Cultivation and training are more important to you than spending time with your sister? Other than a very brief moment, You haven't sought me out since you returned from Kirsten" she said and resisted the urge to stamp her leg against the ground in annoyance.

Pierre sighed,

"Adeline, You misunderstand me. After returning, I reported first to father after the brief moment I allowed myself to spend conversing with you all. It was he who made mention of me slacking off and ordered me to cultivation seclusion.

This training is just to complete that session. I just need to play to his good side. I was planning to come to see you once it's over." He said.

This time, Adeline could not stop herself from stomping her feet against the ground but not anger towards her brother but towards her father who was always hard on him.

Pierre shrugged when she made mention of this,

"I'm not his little girl and I'm not his heir. That's you and Elder brother. The constant pestering of father aside, I quite like being in the middle" he said and walked away from where he had been standing to dab at his skin after that particularly intense workout of his.

Adeline continued pouting all the same and it was mostly because all that Pierre had said was true. It was just a pity that she could not use her position as 'Daddy's Little girl' to stop the way Pierre was treated.

"So are you really just here to talk to me is there something actually bothering you?" Pierre asked.

Adeline narrowed her eyes at him wondering since when her brother was so perceptive. The answer was that he was not.

Pierre did not let the charade go on for too long before he was chuckling,

"Garrett might have mentioned something in that regard when he came to check up on me. Apparently, you met a perverted blue-eyed young man at the alchemist organization." He said.

To that, Adeline frowned but said nothing about it.

Eventually, she sighed,

"The one you met in the Kirsten Barony, Describe him to me" she said.

Pierre shook his head,

"No need, from the little Garrett told me of his appearance, I'd say it was definitely him"

Adeline groaned in annoyance,

"Just great. Oh well, I hope you are not really serious about having him as a friend because the next time I meet him. I will not be holding back" she said.

Pierre smiled at his little sister with squinted eyes because he could tell that this went further than a simple coincidental and most likely misunderstood encounter.

...

Meanwhile...

Black lagoon...

Hal's hotel room...

"Fancy meeting you here" Hal said in a grim voice when he was inside the room and facing the seductive Elsa seated on the bed.

Elsa had her sexy legs crossed with a light smile on her face,

"That doesn't sound very hospitable. At least offer me something as a guest. That's just good manners, don't you agree, Hal Klint?"