For a few seconds, neither of them said anything.
Lian truly did not expect to see her, not here, not in the heart of the Vorhelm family territory, seeing her here was a big surprise for him.
His eyes stayed on Seris’ familiar face, and his mind almost immediately started analyzing everything.
It was really her, the girl who had helped him escape from the Ruined Realm, he had expected that they would meet again sooner or later.
But not here.
The Pendragon family, they had been invited, this meant the ceremony that was about to happen was truly important if even that family had been invited.
But this created one problem, the Vorhelms and the Pendragons had never had a warm relationship.
They were not blood enemies, and they were not allies, but they were definitely not friends either, in fact they were closer to being enemies, and they had even had small conflicts over the years.
The two families had competed with each other in many fields for decades.
Economic companies, huge Federation projects, political influence, international quotas, and even the younger generation of both families had always been competing.
In many competitions, tournaments, and large missions, the names Vorhelm and Pendragon were usually seen together.
Two great powers, two giants, two rivals, and because of that, Seris being here was a little strange, he did not think his family would invite them as well.
’Then why did they invite them?’ That question stayed in his mind for a few moments, but he had no answer.
"You’ve been staring at me for too long." At that moment, Seris was the first one to break the silence.
"Because I didn’t expect to see you here." Lian laughed.
Seris shrugged and said nothing.
"I thought you had already gone back to the Ruined Realm, it’s strange that you still haven’t returned." He said, as far as he remembered, this girl loved fighting and excitement.
He expected that she had already gone back to the Ruined Realm and started hunting again, but it seemed he had been wrong, and once again both of them were in the same boat, and for some reason neither of them had been able to return to the Realm yet.
"We were invited, so we came." The girl looked at him for a few moments and then said.
"Honestly, I didn’t expect the Pendragon family to be invited, even if you were invited, I didn’t expect you to come." Lian raised an eyebrow and said.
"I don’t make decisions about these things, and I don’t know." The answer was completely direct, exactly what Lian expected from Seris.
The girl was not interested in politics, power games, or family discussions.
It was obvious that she had almost no interest in relationships between families, that was also why she had not reacted much when she learned he was a Vorhelm in the Ruined Realm.
"But there’s something else too." She paused for a moment and then added.
"What?"
"I didn’t expect to see you here either, I thought you would still be at that academy."
"So you looked into my real identity?" Lian smiled, when they first met it had been obvious that Seris knew nothing about him.
But now that she knew he was here instead of being at the academy, it was clear that she had looked into him.
Without the slightest embarrassment, Seris nodded.
"Of course, after what happened in the Realm, it would have been strange if I didn’t, I would have done the same."
Lian could not blame her for that, after everything that had happened in the Ruined Realm, it was natural for any reasonable person to want to know more about the people who had traveled with them.
Silence stayed between them for a few moments, during that time, Lian had the chance to look at her more carefully.
Seris had almost not changed at all, the same long hair, the same silver eyes, the same cold and calm look, but something about her presence had changed.
It was as if the invisible pressure around her had become stronger, like a sword that was slowly becoming sharper, it was obvious that after the Ruined Realm this girl had not been idle either, and had spent all of her time becoming stronger.
In fact, that was exactly what had happened, Seris had spent every day and every night training and improving her sword skills, and honestly, she did not want to be here at all.
She did not like parties, she did not like formal meetings, she did not like family politics, and she did not like speeches.
The only thing she wanted was to return to the Ruined Realm.
Fight, train, become stronger... that was all.
But now that she had seen Lian... maybe this trip was not so bad after all.
"Were you looking around?" Lian looked at her.
"Yeah, I wanted to see what this place looks like."
"Do you want me to show you around?"
Seris stayed silent for a few moments and then quietly said.
"Sure."
They started walking together, and as they walked, different parts of the Vorhelm family territory passed before them.
The family’s central square, where hundreds of people were walking around, the training buildings for the younger generation, practice halls, battle grounds, large halls, the huge family library, towers that were hundreds of years old, and in the center of all of them stood the giant statue of the founder of the Vorhelm family.
The statue of a man holding a huge sword toward the sky.
As they walked, many people looked at them, but the interesting thing was that not all of those looks were directed at Lian.
"Isn’t that the Pendragon girl?"
"The Silver Swordswoman?"
"That famous genius?"
"Is that really her?"
"I’m not sure, but she looks exactly like the pictures, but what’s she doing here?"
Seris showed no reaction, it was as if she had not even noticed those words, or maybe she simply did not care.
After a while, she brought up another topic herself.
"Did you tell your family anything?"
"What do you mean?" Lian looked at her.
"About what happened in the Realm."
He immediately understood what she meant.
"No, just like you asked, I didn’t tell the Federation anything, I also only told my family that I got help from a few people, what about you?"
"I gave the same explanation you told me, and they accepted it without any problem." Seris answered.
Lian gave a bitter smile, that was natural, Seris had been a real genius from the very beginning, of course they would believe that this girl could defeat any monster below level twenty.
From the first day, her family had trusted her, unlike him, who had needed a lot of time and effort just to make Aldric believe that he was not lying, and in the end he still failed.
"But there’s one more person, Alisa’s daughter, she might tell everyone everything." Seris said again.
"Alisa? Even if she tells the truth, no one will believe her." This time Lian laughed, this was his smallest concern, actually, it was not a concern at all.
Seris stayed silent.
"Why?"
"Because she has no proof, and no one will take the words of a non-Awakened seriously when she talks about an Unholy Monster, there is no way anyone will believe that girl managed to escape from an Unholy Monster, even with the help of two other young Awakened."
Seris thought for a few moments and then nodded.
"That’s true."
For a while, both of them walked in silence, until suddenly the girl asked another question.
"When will the duels be held?"
"You know about the duels too?" Lian turned and looked at her.
"My family tempted me with that so I would come, they said I could fight the best people of the Vorhelm family, and maybe many others too."
For a few seconds, Lian truly did not know how to answer, this girl was really crazy about fighting.
Most people their age, if they came to a ceremony like this, would be looking for political connections, relationships, or business opportunities.
But Seris? The only thing that mattered to her was finding stronger opponents.
In the end, he said.
"I didn’t see your name on the participant list, I don’t think you’re going to compete."
"But my family said I’ll still fight even without registering, because that’s how this competition works." Seris shrugged.
At that moment... Lian suddenly stopped.
Seris walked a few more steps, then noticed and turned back.
"What happened?"
But Lian was no longer hearing her voice, his mind had started working very quickly.
If what Seris said was true... then this was not a simple tournament, actually, maybe it was not even a tournament in the normal sense.
It was probably an open challenge, the main participants would choose opponents from among everyone else for duels, that was why his uncle and the others kept calling it a duel.
But if his guess was correct... why would it be like this? Why would his family hold a competition that would let outsiders gain access to the Heavenly Treasury?
Were they too confident in themselves? But he doubted the Council of Elders would allow a competition like that, it was impossible that they would accept such a risk.
Unless they had no other choice.
’Could this also be Father’s order? But why?’ The pieces of the puzzle slowly started coming together.
A few seconds later, he finally came back to himself.
Seris was still waiting for an answer.
Lian looked toward the huge duel arena that could be seen in the distance.
"Nothing." He quietly said.
Then he started walking again, but in reality... he had finally gained a general idea of the true form of the upcoming competition, and that made him even more interested in it.