Stella, who was the main reason that Sett had ventured onto Adriel’s and Ivis’s island, was woefully unaware of the things that Sett had gone through. When she had last left Sett, her mind had been in turmoil due to the things that were happening. Though her decision to send Sett to the elusive former grandmaster’s island was at most quick thinking, it should not have been a dangerous choice.

If she were to know that Sett had almost been outright killed by the former grandmaster’s tamed beast, she would surely have called the other party a liar. Adriel, although collectively thought of as a strange hermit who rarely showed himself in public, was a peaceful soul that would not hurt anyone as long as they were not hostile towards him first.

The fact that she had accidentally chosen to send Sett to that place when the grandmaster was going through a life and death situation, could only be considered an incredibly bad stroke of luck.

But in the end, she had more troublesome matters to consider at the moment.

The troublesome matter in question was the enormous beast that a large part of the crusader order was gathered before. It was a serpent. Specifically, it was a Parterian Aerial Serpent. A huge, scaled creature that carried a considerable part of true dragon blood.

If one were to compare the wyvern that had accosted them in the corvette and the serpent before them, it was simply not possible. Although it was only a little bigger than the wyvern, the strength that emanated from its body was considerably more dense, it was almost to the point that some of the squires nearby had trouble breathing. In addition, Stella knew that this specimen was far older than the wyvern and thus held more wisdom, allowing it to perform much better in combat.

All that, however, mattered little when one compared the true dragon blood that flowed in the two beasts’ veins. Dragons were the apex of what dragon kind could ever expect to become. At their strongest, a fully grown true-blooded dragon could almost rival a god. Thus, the more dragon blood that one of their lesser counterparts contained, the more potential they would hold.

Even though the serpent lacked many of the traits that people would expect from dragons, they were one step higher on the hierarchy of dragons. Given time, the serpent before them would surely be able to squash the wyvern beneath its feat if it ever came to a fight. That said, fights between dragons rarely happened due to the deference that lesser dragons had for higher-tiered dragons.

As for the appearance of the serpent before them, it was slightly strange. Serpents could almost be considered as an entirely different race in of itself. Their appearance was simply too different from what people would normally expect from a draconic race.

The serpents, much unlike true dragons, had no legs to speak of nor did they have any arms. Even the wings, which was the most defining feature of dragons, were often absent of serpents. Their body, however, was lithe and incredibly long, stretching far longer than any other draconic race. Most serpents, with the only exception being the sea serpent, had the ability to float in mid-air, despite their apparent lack of wings, through their incredible ability to control essence.

Often, scholars had compared them to oversized snake ascendant beasts, something that should never be done in the presence of a serpent. The serpent, like most dragons, were incredibly arrogant and wished to uphold their honour to the highest degree possible. To insult it in such a way was simply no different than looking for a fight.

The serpent before them was easily of the fourth grade and could wreak great havoc in their crusader order should it wish to do so.

The serpent, however, was not the troublesome matter. Rather, it was who was on its back.

Any person who was capable of taming a serpent of such a high tier and having it serve as a mount was surely a person of great capabilities. Oftentimes, it was not rare that the tamer was of a higher tier than the beast that served beneath him, considering that taming often required forcefully subjugating the beast before any kind of taming could be done.

Of the crusaders that had arrived at the scene, they each held many different emotions. Some looked worried at the sight of the serpent, frightened at the huge beast that had suddenly arrived at their doorstep. Others looked elated and happy, clearly having understood something that the others did not. Finally, there were those that felt abject horror at the sight.

Stella and Adina, who had been reduced to a frightened mess at the arrival of the beast, was firmly in the third group.

More and more people arrived from the crusader orders side, with many captains accounted for, while those on the back of the serpent did not deign to show themselves before them. Only the serpent stared at the people before it with untold arrogance.

Finally, a member of the leadership of the crusader order arrived. His aura arrived before his physical self could be seen.

“Paying respect to Elder Ironskin.”

Every member of the crusader order that was present at the site immediately disregarded the huge beast and turned to greet the elder that had arrived.

A person, who appeared to be around the sixties and who wore an intricately woven rope inlaid with many ornaments made out of gold, arrived at the scene. Contrary to what one might expect, the elder completely disregarded the many subordinates and order members that had turned to greet him and immediately headed before the serpent.

“Elder Ironskin of the Gliese Prime Crusader Order greets the esteemed envoy of the Newson dynasty.”

The elder had carried himself with an aura of dignity and had grandly displayed his strength for all to see, but before the serpent, he had almost appeared as a lamb before the wolf.

“Took you long enough...” A voice, that was so filled with an arrogance that it made one’s skin crawl, sounded out from atop the huge beast. “Bring me down!”

Hearing the command, the huge beast compliantly laid its head down on the ground, allowing whoever was on its back access to the ground.

Stella, who was hidden in the sea of crusaders, could not help but feel rage and fright erupting from her stomach. The voice had been the one she had wanted to hear the least out of tens of thousands of people.

Before long, three men stood before the huge gathering of people. Despite the various emotions of the crowd, with some being outright hostile, none of the men seemed nervous at all. Among the people, two of them were elders approximately the same age as Elder Ironskin. Their aura did not at all lose out to the aura that the crusader elder had displayed earlier.

The last member of the group was a young man, only a little older than Stella and Adina. He carried himself with an utmost arrogance and wore clothes that reflected his personality. Despite being obviously the weakest of the group, the two elders were clearly deferring to him as their leader.

“Now then, Mister Ironskin.” The youngster spoke with a voice that seemed to belittle the elder. “We have been delayed for long enough. The dynasty head has clear expectations as to what matters should be completed today. I, as the envoy of the Newson dynasty, is to survey the Crusader Order’s land holdings to temper the expectations of the dynasty’s leadership. Furthermore, we will be discussing which strategic resources that you will require to ensure that the position of grandmaster ends up in our hands.”

As the envoy of the Newson dynasty spoke plainly about the annexation of the crusader order, many hands were clenched in anger and disgust. Only a minority of those present were happy with the words of the envoy.

It was a clear provocation. To proclaim so openly that a sub-faction, that was under his control, would win so openly would direct much anger to him from the other sub-factions. In addition, although it was clear to everyone that the order had not had an independent grandmaster in many years, it was still a sore spot that was not supposed to be discussed publicly.

“Yes, envoy Caspian.”

A few droplets of cold sweat appeared on Elder Ironskin’s back as he felt many hostile gazes appear on his back.

The envoy, Caspian, had already marched ahead of the elder, not caring about the qualms of the other. Even some of those from his own faction could not help but narrow their eyes at the clear disrespects from the envoy that they were supposed to be secretly serving.

Envoy Caspian paused in front of the huge gathering of people with a slight smile on his face. It was almost as if he enjoyed the various looks of disgust, anger and confusion that was being sent his way.

Slowly, his line of sight passed around the gathered crowd, until it gathered on a particular individual. His smile became even greater.

“My, oh my!” Caspian immediately went into a particular spot in the crowd where the origin of the angered gazes was the most concentrated. “If it is not my dearest cousin, Stella. Oh, and who is that hiding behind her back? Adina! So wonderful to finally see the two of you again after so long! It has been so long since we last heard from you. The family head almost feared that the two of you had passed away.”

Envoy Caspian spoke words that could almost be confused to be loving banter between cousins, but the tone of his words spoke an entirely different story. His voice was filled with deep derision and was completely devoid of the love that would have otherwise been expected.

“Cousin, Caspian.” Stella held back all the anger that had been bubbling in her stomach and replied in a courteous manner. “It has indeed been long. We have unfortunately been unable to write or communicate otherwise due to a deep lack of resources at the crusader order.”

Stella had truly wanted to rip the other party a new hole but knew that it was impossible for her to do that with the difference in status.

“A lack of resources? That cannot be allowed!” Caspian shook his head and proclaimed with a deeply feigned worry. “Although you are no longer recognized as part of the Newson dynasty, it is nonetheless completely unacceptable for you to be living in such a state. Listen to this, father has agreed to allow the two of you to return to the Newson dynasty should the two of you agree to marry the son of Duke Gardner!”

Barely constrained anger flashed in Stella’s eyes. Her hands itched for her swords that hung by her waist. The other party had truly infuriated her. To ask them to return and support the dynasty that had exiled them through marrying a partner of the dynasty? Even if there were no such stipulations attached to the offer, she would have said no.

“Never…”

Stella sneered at her cousin.

“That is unfortunate…” Caspian shook his head and sighed deeply. “Do you truly think that the two of you can survive by your lonesome? Perhaps it might have been possible if that old grandmaster that adored you still lived, but now it is impossible. Do you not know how many enemies that wish to gain revenge on your father? Do you know how many of those people would get to him through you? You might be somewhat strong for your age, but the enemies in the shadows are far stronger and will not allow the two of you to grow! Only through the Newson dynasty can you survive!”

As he spoke, envoy Caspian drove his essence in his body, revealing his ascendancy tier. Stella almost felt like staggering. He was at least at the pinnacle of the second tier, perhaps even breaching into the third tier. She had thought that Adina had worked hard on gathering essence and training, but it seemed to be all for nought.

For a moment, she even considered giving in to the demands of the other party. What could they do? They were only two people against the whole world…

“Yes. You see it, do you not? Only through family can you survive! It is the right thing to do!”

Suddenly, when Caspian mentioned the word family, Stella’s train of thought shattered.

“You bastard!” Stella no longer cared for public display. “You dare to mention family before me? You and your family are the reason that our father is crippled and imprisoned. You even banished our mother to the infinite lands for a crime that she did not commit, leaving her to suffer death or worse. You took everything from us! We will never return to the Newson dynasty! Never!”

Stella’s vision turned red and she felt her heart rate increase drastically as she spoke. It took everything from attempting to pierce the abhorrent human before her with her sword.

“I see. I will be staying in the accommodations of mister Ironbark for the foreseeable future. Should you reconsider, do come to see me.”

With that, the arrogant cousin left Stella and Adina behind.