Child of Destiny

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Alucard could not help but stare blankly at Arthur, who seemed to treat those costly body-strengthening serums as some sort of commodity from a neighborhood market.

He wanted to ask if it was alright since he felt that they had yet to become worthy of such treatment from this team. After all, he felt that they still had yet to do something for the team.

He was not the only one who had such thoughts as Diablo was thinking the same, so he quickly stepped forward and asked. "Is this alright? I know you guys are quite wealthy, but I don't think it is appropriate for us to get such a treatment yet."

Arthur looked at Diablo with a slightly inclined head before saying nonchalantly. "Don't worry. This is no big deal. And it is not for free as we need you to work twice as hard for this team in the future."

Diablo was about to say something more, but Leonard quickly cut him off. "There is no need to feel uncomfortable about this."

"This guy here is from a military family, so they have quite a lot of boxes of enhancement serums lying around their home," he added while pointing at Arthur.

Arthur nodded and added. "And it is not like I am stealing them from our house. I am paying it with the funds of our adventurer team, and we will be deducting some from your salary, so there is not much to it."

"Moreover, the serums that we are giving you are not military secrets, but commercial ones, so there shouldn't be any problem."

Alucard wanted to say something, but he then swallowed his words back after seeing from Arthur's expression that it was not a big deal.

He also somewhat from a military background, so he was aware of some things related to them. He knew that despite Arthur saying that they were only providing serums that were meant for commercial use, it was still quite costly as such things were a form of strategic source.

But given that Arthur was not too bothered about it, he could tell that their family was not as simple as an ordinary military family, especially after hearing from Leonard that there were a bunch of serum boxes lying in Arthur's home.

After collecting their information, the meeting then proceeded as Cloe took over. "Next is our schedule for this month to prepare for the upcoming group stage of the United Cup."

"Our adventurer team has accumulated enough fame and reputation to be considered as one of the top teams within the game. Though, most of the reason is because of these monsters in our team," she added while pointing at Arthur and Leonard.

"We are exempted from the early rounds, so we still have quite a lot of time to prepare for it," she paused for a moment to open a virtual screen and project it to everyone.

"This will be our schedule. Since we are still busy with our respective tasks here, we can only train in our team's virtual space together every three days. But we hope that you can finish the daily training regime we prepared for you in the virtual space."

Cloe continued to discuss their overall schedule for quite a while before displaying another panel on the projected screen. "We will also be sending some information about the top teams that we may face in the next rounds of the tournament. I hope you study them as well whenever you have time."

"We will also do a group discussion about these teams after our team training every three days," she added before proceeding to another topic.

This meeting lasted for almost two hours before they were dismissed to return to their respective business.

As every was leaving, Lorraine suddenly entered the training grounds. "Eh!? Is it over already? What a pity~! I can't see the beautiful and professional Cloe."

Cloe rolled her eyes when she heard that. "What do you expect when you come two hours late?"

Lorraine made a pitiful expression as he clung her arms to Cloe's. "What can I do? My family is asking me to come back now."

"Hmm? Why? It is not like your safety will be at risk inside the Springfield Household," asked Cloe in confusion.

Lorraine sighed as she answered. "The Springfield Family is the reason why my family is asking me to come back sooner."

"As you can see, the Springfield Family has become the center of the storm recently. My father is worried that I will be swept by the tides given my close relationship with them."

"Of course, he did not tell me to distance myself from Arthur and the others. After all, our families are still allies. He just wants me to be careful since there are a lot of powers targeting the Springfield Family right now," she added with a sad tone.

"Still, it does not mean your life will be at risk inside the household," said Cloe confusedly.

Lorraine scratched her cheek as she said in confusion. "I also don't know about that. But the tone my father has is very serious. It seems like another big thing is going to happen."

"So? Are you going to go back now?" asked Cloe. Even if she felt sad about that, it could not be helped since it was a family matter for the Goldstein Family.

But to her surprise, Lorraine gave her a different answer. "Of course, not! This is a rare opportunity to live with my Leo under the same roof! How can I let it pass?"Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Or should she say this was something to be expected?

With a helpless sigh, Cloe shook her head before saying. "I will be logging out for now. I have something else to do."

"Eh? It hasn't been that long since you have gotten online. Why are you longing out now? We still haven't visited those shops yet!" Lorraine pouted her lips, trying to act coy.

Unfortunately, it did not work for Cloe as she wanted to meet someone right now.

"I'll tell you later," said Cloe as she ignored Lorraine and quickly pulled out the virtual panel in front of her and pressed the logout button before the latter could even complain.

Swoosh!

Seeing Cloe disappear right before her eyes, Lorraine could only sigh, showing her loneliness. "It seems like I have been ditched."

But before she could further fall into 'her despair', a familiar voice suddenly sounded behind her. "What are you doing?"

Hearing that voice, Lorraine seemed to come back to life as she could recognize that voice even in her sleep.

Swiftly turning around, she saw Leonard standing behind her with crossed arms and a tilted head.

A beautiful smile suddenly bloomed on her face as she hopped beside Leonard and linked her arm to his. "What's this? Are you waiting for me? Are you going to invite me for a date?"

Leonard quickly regrated asking. He knew that this was going to happen, but for some reason, he felt like talking to her.

He sighed and shook his head. "Forget I ask."

He was about to free his arm from her so that he could go back to training when Lorraine clung to it desperately. "Wait! You are not going to leave a poor girl alone, right? Accompany me for a while. I promise you that you will not regret it!"

"I've discovered something interesting during my time here. Let me show it to you," she added before dragging Leonard outside the training ground before Leonard could even say anything.

Seeing them, Owen nudged Ithilien, who was busy reading the files sent to her by Cloe earlier.

Ithilien frowned deeply and glared at Owen for interrupting her. "What!?"

Seeing her snap like that, Owen hesitated for a moment before gathering all his courage and pointed his lips and chin to Leonard and Lorraine.

Ithilien turned her head toward the direction he was pointing at and saw Lorraine dragging Leonard outside the training ground. She then turned to Owen, who was looking at her 'pitifully', before rolling her eyes.

But after a brief thought, she sighed before closing the virtual screen in front of her and linking her arm with his.

Owen was surprised at first before smiling brightly. He then ran out of the training ground along with her.

Not long after, the others, who were already outside, saw those pairs.

Samael thought for a moment before dragging his younger sister to relax as well. There was also Daulla who invited Archimedes to unwind as well since they never had the time for it since they arrived on this continent.

Seeing them walking in pairs, the single guys, could not help but turn at each other.

"Why do I suddenly feel lonely?" asked Akailu in a joking manner.

"We have decent girls in our team, but they are either taken already or have someone in mind. The rest are not interested in getting in a relationship from the looks of it," commented Alucard while nodding his head.

Diablo shook his head and walked away.

Seemingly understanding the conversation, Chaotic Luck shook his head as well before whispering. "You two better be careful. You can get in jail with those words."

The two froze when he heard him before realizing something. They then turned at each other before cursing.

"F*ck!"

"Damn it!"

...