Meeting Elena again

As the deafening sound of the explosion rang out a fierce trimmer erupted as the golden sun destroyed a wide area.

Elena's long ponytail swayed roughly by the intense wind of her attack. A thick cloud of dust rose up into the air as debris were sent flying!

"... Perhaps using that spell was unnecessary?" Elena muttered as she cocked her head slightly in doubt. Despite having a rough idea of the strength behind her spell she didn't think they would be taken down in the first attack.

With the explosion that had just occurred, various cries of the commoners passing by resounded. It was impossible for an explosion of that magnitude to not caught the attention of the surroundings.

"Who's there?"

"Identify yourself!"

As she was absentmindedly gazing at the destroyed land Elena heard the sound of footsteps approaching her from behind followed by two elderly voices.

Noticing that the situation was going to become troublesome from here Elena glared at the three unconscious elderly men lying on the ground and snorted coldly before leaving.

The entire area was destroyed and covered with pitch black smoke making it difficult to clearly see the outline of the silhouette that was previously standing there mere moments ago.

Soon, the royal knights patrolling the area appeared as they observed the destroyed area attentively. However, when they sense traces of magical energy distinctive to the sun clan, they all wore different expressions on their faces.

"Was there someone from the sun clan here moments ago?"

"Seems like it but, why would someone from the esteem sun clan be in a place like this?"

"Let's ask those three lying there."

The knights turned their gazes towards the three unconscious men lying around. Despite the heavy injuries they had sustained from Elena's attack they were still breathing albeit barely.

As one of the royal knights casted healing magic on the fallen men somewhere on a building that towered high over the outer perimeter of the capital Alan observed the surroundings from a bird's-eye view.

While he was shopping with Trisa and Suzu he had skillfully managed to slip away from them using the crowd that had gathered inside the store to his advantage.

'Hm, this presence... It's that woman.' He thought inwardly. The image of a beautiful young black-haired woman came to his mind. His fiancée whom he was supposed to marry in the future.

"Why would she use such a destructive magic all the way out here?" He wondered, tilting his head. Judging by the destruction of the surroundings he judged the spell she had cast was a rather powerful one.

[Hard to say, why don't we go to her directly and find out. I can sense she is still close by.] Akane suddenly suggested, in a cheerful tone.

Hearing her sudden suggestion Alan furrowed his brow as he hesitated. Even though it was decided he would wed her without his permission she was still the woman he was going to marry in the future.

After contemplating for a moment, he seems to have come to a decision.

"Alright let's go see her." Spiritual energy began to swirl around his figure as he vanished from the top of the building where he stood mere seconds ago.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away from the area of the explosion Elena was currently making her way to the inner perimeter of the capital.

With brisk and elegant steps, she traverses through a park near a pond as the sound of various children could be heard running around. While she was one of the heirs of the renowned sun clan who is rumored to have the greatest magical prowess of the kingdom of Nahinil she rarely left the mansion and is always under the protection of her family this was one of the few times she could actually move around without anyone constantly observing her.

"Sigh, it feels nice to get away from my bothersome sister every once in a while." She mumbled to herself. As the youngest daughter of the sun clan her older sister is naturally the true heir and the one first in line to inherent the position of the matriarch of sun clan.

Raised as the family favorite she got everything, this eventually led to her ever-growing arrogance as she saw herself as the superior one between them while they were growing up and constantly looked down condescendingly on Elena since a very young age.

"The decision has already been made, the previous patriarch, your grandfather had already declared you will be marrying the youngest son of the dragon clan... It's impossible for me to overturn the situation."

'Those were the words father had said back then but...' For a moment her gaze wavered as she stopped in her tracks.

As she stood before the clear crystal pond with a circumference of approximately 50 diameter Elena sat gracefully on a bench as she observed the beauty of the surroundings.

The tranquil water rose and fell softly as the rays of the golden sun reflected off the surface of the water painting a beautiful image to the already picturesque scene.

For a moment as she observed this scene she felt at ease as though all her troubles had been washed far away. However, it was at that moment a familiar voice resounded next to her.

"For you to be so deep in thought, I can imagine you must have a lot on your mind."

"Eh, you, why are you here?"

Elena screamed in surprised as she saw a young silver-haired youth with bright green, emerald pupils dressed in white, the young silver-haired youth had a striking bearing to him as he sat next to her in a calm and relaxed posture, it was the youngest son of the dragon clan, Alan dragon.

Seeing the surprise on her face Alan chuckled slightly to himself as he shifted his gaze.

"Sorry for scaring you, but I couldn't help it when I saw you making that kind of expression."

"Expression, what expression are you talking about?" She inquired, narrowing her eyes. "There was a rather depressive air around you." He responded.

"Hmph, I'm not depressed. I'm perfectly fine." She replied. "Are you really? A few moments ago, I heard a loud explosion and some of your presence lingered there. Can you tell me what exactly happened there?"

"Humph, it's nothing I was just teaching some ruffians their place." A cold sneer appeared at the corners of her lips as she said that.

However, Alan shifted his gaze back to her as he observed her.

"Wh-What's with that look?" Elena inquired with squinted eyes.

"Oh, nothing much I just felt like seeing you all flustered like this is kind of cute."

"..."

[... I'm amazed how you can utter such things with a straight face.] Akane felt exasperated by his out of place remark.

Even back in his past life he had a really bad habit of suddenly making flirtatious comments unthinkingly. However, Akane couldn't allow herself to get angry at him as his words were all his genuine feelings without any pretense or scorn at all.

Despite his coldness Ellard at heart, was someone very honest who spoke his mind no matter the situations or circumstances.

[... Really, it's not fair.] Akane mumbled, while glaring at Alan. Alan's face twitches as he felt her piercing gaze despite the fact that she wasn't in her materialize form.

"Do you want me to scratch your eyes out?!" Elena exclaimed with flushed cheeks. However, with a slightly bitter smile Alan decided to change the topic as his expression stiffen slightly.

"About our marriage... We're you able to get them to call it off?" He asked, curiosity laced in his voice.

"... As I thought you don't actually want to go along with the engagement either, do you?"

"Of course not, I've never been interested in something like marriage at all. There is something else that I must do." He replied to her inquiry. "Something else that you must do, which is?"

"My apologies but may I ask that you refrain from prying into that matter?" Alan asked with a somewhat awkward smile on his face. With a dubious look on her face, she gently nodded her head in understanding.

She was prudent enough to understand that everyone had things they would rather keep to themselves after all.

"... Very well. But I'm sorry to disappoint you but I was unable to get them to prematurely cancel the engagement between us." She responded, her head drooping.

"I see... So, it's as I thought." Alan responded sighing to himself. But soon his tone became serious as he spoke.

"But let me ask you this lady Elena, do you really want to marry someone you do not like?" He inquired as he attentively peered at her beautiful face.

Although he understood the importance of political marriage and creating stronger relations between two houses. Alan, no Ellard couldn't accept the idea of being wed to someone he didn't personally like not to mention.

'I haven't even gotten the chance to actually experience the feeling of falling in love before.' Indeed, despite his many long years of life and experience he had not been able to find true love as his focus was more inclined to becoming stronger and serving the goddess.

Alan was someone who believed marriage should be between those who truly loves each other.

Neither Alan nor Elena had reached that level in their relationship, at best they could only merely be considered as acquaintance.

Elena fell silent when she had heard this and went into deep thought. Her father could not cancel the engagement between them so she would most likely have to accept the fact that she would be marrying into the dragon clan in the future.

And when she thought of her aunt who had also been in a political marriage with her fiancé her expression became rather complicated. Her aunt once told her she was also against the political engagement initially but eventually fell in love with her fiancé in the end.

Slowly, Elena raised her head and peered at Alan's face closely as though she wanted to decern something from their exchange of eye contact.

Elena was currently 16 years of age while Alan was 13. The gap in their age wasn't large as once Alan reaches 15 years of age, he is considered an adult.

By then the two would officially be legal to be married. 'I still have two years to go.' She thought to herself. There was no need for them to force things.

The future held an endless number of possibilities.

Fate was one law mortals had no control over as its impossible to predict it, who knows what will happen in the future.

The chances of them developing feelings for each other is low but, at the same time it's not impossible.

"Let's wait and see what happens, whether we do end up becoming weds or not is no longer something we have the power to decide." She responded in an eloquent tone.

While on the contrary, Alan furrowed his brow as his keen senses seem to have detected a change in her attitude.

[Hehe... Not bad this little girl's way of thinking is very astute.] Akane's melodious voice resounded.

At that Alan could only heaved a sigh of resignation. Many thoughts were running through his head as he observed the fishes swimming within the pond.

...

Meanwhile, back inside the store...

"Where is the young master?!" Trisa was panicking as she gazes around restlessly at the crowd. It wasn't that long ago she was holding Alan's hands as they followed after Suzu's figure and got separated.

"Stay calm, I'll try using magic to find his traces." Suzu said in a slightly stern voice. Though she specialized in spirit magic, Suzu could use basic detection magic. As they move away from the sea of crowd Suzu closed her eyes and uttered the aria to activate her spell.

"Detect." A geometric magic formation appeared around her as her senses sharpened and expanded, covering a vast area around her. "Sister did you find him?" Trisa asked anxiously.

However, Suzu shook her head with a sigh.

"... I'll try expanding the range of my senses." As she said that the range of her senses expanded and covered a great distance.

It easily passed through all obstruction and covered the capital.

Soon, as she was searching for his presence from the outside, she spotted the magical energy she was searching for. "Found him." She said in a detached tone. "You did, where is he?"

"In the park." Suzu replied.

"... The park. The only park nearby is the central park." Trisa furrowed her brow slightly.

"You should go and find him. I'll stay here and take care of the shopping." Suzu suggested.

"Right. I'll be back." With a wave of her hand, she had left.