Leonel held his hands together while appeasing Aina, an ingratiating smile on his face. He didn't even spare the group behind him a glance. Or, maybe, he was truly entirely focused on Aina to begin with.
Aina smiled slyly, seemingly enjoying Leonel's display. Wasn't this what he got for teasing her like that? Kissing her in front of so many people, what a bad guy.
"Alright, I'll forgive you this one time."
Leonel beamed as Aina flipped a palm to reveal her blue veined mask. She slipped it on, feeling more at ease now that the itchiness of her face was dying down.
She had taken the mask off previously because she was worried about it being harmed in the kitchen. But the truth was that Leonel's Crafts weren't so fragile. After all, he had designed it to have great defensive prowess.
But, the care she took for the gift spoke volumes about how much she appreciated it.
Of course, those who had been paying attention had no idea that Aina was putting on her mask simply to alleviate the discomfort of her curse. To them, she had been ashamed by the young lady's previous words and had now chosen to hide her face.
Such a scene provoked the sneers of the men who had tried been trying to prove themselves to the young lady. To get angry at such a beauty for a woman that looked like that… Had someone kicked this guy in the head when he was younger?
Clearly, they were dissatisfied with how Leonel was ignoring them and even turning their back to them. But, they still felt that it was no longer appropriate to lash out.
Still, they marked down Leonel in their minds. The moment they learned of his background, as long as he didn't have the capital to wield such arrogance, they would let him know the consequences of trying to impress women.
Obviously, they hadn't sensed the irony of their own thoughts.
"Miss Balthorn, are you alright."
The young lady who had helped Balthorn withstand Leonel's gaze and helped her up spoke. Despite having been admitted into the same Organization, the young lady still didn't dare to be disrespectful to Balthorn. In fact, when she had made that comment about Ailsa, the young lady had even politely laughed along with the rest.
The men sheathed their weapons and surrounded Balthorn as well, trying to radiate outward with a manly presence.
They were all aware that Balthorn's background wasn't small. In fact, her family was a preeminent powerhouse of their quadrant. Amongst those who had come, she was most definitely amongst the most well taken care of.
She was Balthorn Valynore, the young mistress of the Valynore family. The Valynore family was among the three most powerful on Planet Crars, a world on the brink of entering the Fifth Dimension and with the potential of a Sixth Dimensional world.
If Leonel had heard this, he would have faintly recognized the name… In fact, among the prisoners he had taken from White City, there was a man who claimed to be from Planet CrarsX10, a subsidiary of Crars.
Back then, Aina had told Leonel that Crars was among the most powerful worlds of their quadrants.
As for how large a quadrant was, Leonel had no idea. He only assumed that it was at least a few solar systems worth of space. But, it was much vaster than this.
Every Galaxy would have at most a few hundred quadrants. Though this seemed like a large number, if one considered the enormous size of a Galaxy, if a quadrant could be worth a single percentage of its size, it would be grandiose beyond imagining. At the very least, if Leonel's ancestors of the 21st century tried to cross such a distance, even their entire lifetimes wouldn't be enough. In fact, even a hundred generations wouldn't be enough either.
For Crars to be among the dominant forces of a quadrant, there was no doubting its strength.
That said, for Balthorn to be sent to Valiant Heart Mountain, an organization that was facing such struggles, it was clear that she wasn't very important to her family.
Still, compared to the background of these young men, she was light years ahead. If they could gain her favor and become her husband, they'd feel as though they had lived a fulfilled life.
"I'm fine." Balthorn said somewhat weakly, her heart still beating erratically.
"There's no need to worry about that coward, Balthorn. I just checked, but that weakling is still in the Third Dimension. There's no threat from him, I could kill him as easily as slaughtering a chicken."
Balthorn's eyes flashed when she heard these words.
'Third Dimension…? You idiot. That only means he's even more talented than you. Do you think Valiant Heart Mountain has fallen far enough to let people in just because? If that was the case, why would I bother with coming here?'
Balthorn bit her lip, suddenly feeling annoyed by all the flies buzzing around her. Seeing Leonel's attention completely focused on Aina, she bit her lip harder. The dichotomy between the kind of love the two women were receiving was striking to the point of being stifling.
The young lady by Balthorn's side, Henorin, gazed between the former and Aina but in the end remained silent.
In the distance, a young man watched all of this just as silently. Compared to the youths brimming with vitality around him, he seemed to have already placed a foot in his coffin. He was skinny to the point the line of his spine and his ribs were sinking against his skin. His complexion was pale to the point of being deathly. And, his back curved somewhat as though his head was too heavy to carry.
He gazed toward Leonel for a moment before shifting back toward Balthorn.
His tongue ran over his lips as he stared her up and down, his eyes focusing on her chest for an obscene amount of time.
But, what was maybe more grating was the fact his tongue, rather than being a healthy pink, was a dull grey…
At that moment, the tall pillars of the mountain pass quaked and a portal opened within them to reveal several figures.
It seemed the big shots of Valiant Heart Mountain had finally appeared.