Chapter 376: The Patriarch (1)

"So… Galina, right?" With her usually bright, charming smile, Mary and the team were currently in the midst of having Galina signed up as a new adventurer and, once her test was confirmed and the whole process finalized, have her added to Aiden's team. 

"Y-yes. Galina, just simply G-galina." Answering the question, the masked, hooded girl, meekly answered whilst hiding behind her Young Master.

"Okay. Let's go and sit down over there. I will need you to fill in this small form with your basic details." Pointing towards an empty box, Mary stepped out of the counter, guiding the team to sit down.

As they took their places, Aiden in the center whilst her sister on her right and Galina on her left whilst the royal sibling at the side, Mary pushed the yellowish pergamen fold with the magic-machinated writing tool in front of the masked girl.

With the same kind, friendly smile, she nodded explaining what was expected of the shy little Galina.

"Just press the crystal at the top of the device, and it will turn on. Don't worry, it's not dangerous." She giggled at her own joke, before coughing and continuing.

"Use it to fill out the form."

She instructed, however, a moment later as she saw that she was just swaying her attention between the tool and the form, a thought came to her mind. With a wry look, she asked.

"Ehrm… Can you perhaps… No…" She coughed again, rephrasing the question. "Excuse me, Galina, but would you like me to write while you give me the answers?"

Galina shyly nodded, putting the tool down on the desk and pushing it back to the curly brown-haired receptionist. Aiden smiled at the scene, not saying anything but giving a gentle pat atop Galina's head.

"Right… No problem… Now, for the name, we will simply add Galina, and leave the rest as it is…"

For the next dozen or so minutes, they went over the questions, filling in all the necessary details. When asked about her specialization Galina looked at her Young Master with a pleading look, for which, Aiden smiled and answered. "Write in Support. She is mostly specialized in Light and Nature Magic, with some minor knowledge in close quarters combat."

A few additional minutes later, only the final sections, the Grade and Rank have been left empty. As per the latest rules, just like with Aiden, all new applicants are required to go through a test, before their registration can be finalized. Even if the applicant was with the newly crowned 'strongest' adventurer (at least after his brutal victory over the previous champ), he or she will still need to abide by the rules.

Standing up, Mary grabbed the filled-in papers and looked at the group, mostly focusing on Galina.

"Thank you guys and Galina. I will bring these back to have them added to the library, and ask the examiner team if they have anyone to conduct the test at this moment. Please, give me a few minutes, I will be back as fast as I can!"

"Don't worry Mary, we can wait. No need to be in such a rush." Aiden reminded her with his disarming calm smile, which Mary couldn't respond to, only give a goofy blushing smile, before escaping to the back area.

As her figure exited the hall through the back office door, Aiden turned to Galina and spoke with the same charming look on his face.

"Don't worry about the test, okay? You will be facing one of the examiners or one of the available older rank 2's for a quick duel. From what they told me, you don't even need to win, just show your skills."

"But Aiden…" Hearing his explanation, Lily tugged her shirt from his right, grabbing their attention. Once they turned to her she spoke. "From what you explained, Galina doesn't seem to be a fighter, but someone who is expected to stand behind the frontline and provide ranged support. How is she expected to win… or show anything if they put him against a warrior-type combatant one on one?"

While the question was indeed good and would raise some concerns in normal circumstances, Aiden wasn't worried at all.

For once, while it did seem unfair to have a support archetype face against someone whose the main role was to dish out damage or just the opposite, soak it up, however, even these supporters needed a way to protect themselves. What if his or her team was engaged in a large, chaotic battle, and whilst the team was focused on their front line, one or two would sneak to their backline and directly come for the support? He or she needed a way to protect his- or herself.

Also, Aiden was fairly certain that after her newest transformation Galina was anything but simple support. He could feel a kinship, a strange sense from her.

Aiden had to admit that this was a perfect chance to take a deeper, closer look at the new Galina. Her skill set was just as much of a mystery to him, as it was to herself. Though strangely she was unable to access her own core, he had a growing feeling that she might be capable of some surprises if push came to shove.

Unfortunately, until the system comes back 'online' roughly 15 hours later, they could only try methods such as these.

Anyway, ultimately, this was a perfect opportunity for them to safely test her skills. 

Thinking about all of these, Aiden reached out with his right arm, gently patting the top of her head, enjoying the sight of the brimming girl, who squirmed closer and closer as she was rewarded by the Young Master.

"Listen Galina. Try to enjoy this upcoming fight of yours. There is no real danger, as their goal would only be to see how ready and determined you are. After all, as an adventurer, you will be fighting most of your time with your life on the line. You will need to be able to overcome several obstacles, sometimes even without us or your brother and teacher with you."

Enjoying the rubs and pats, Galina only hummed happily at her Master's words. 

Seeing her lack of attention, Aiden stopped with the excessive head pats and looked into the girl's eyes.

"Show it to us… show it to me, that you are ready! Let me see your brilliance, okay?"

Just as Galina nodded with bright brimming eyes shining behind the dark mask, the back office door was sprung open. The heaving, heavily gasping curly, brown-haired girl, Mary appeared, running towards their direction.

What caught Aiden's attention was not the fact that despite his words she still ran back and forth with all she had, but the worried, forlorn look in her eyes.

"Something bad happened…" He muttered, grabbing all of the attention of the others. 

Though before they could ask, the heavily gasping, tired Mary got back to their table, heaving loudly.

"Huah… Heh… I… I…"

Before she could continue, Aiden smiled at her, raised his arm, and shushed the girl.

"Relax, Mary. Calm down. Get some air, and then explain it to us what the problem is. I can see something is bothering you."

Amidst two heaving sighs, Mary could only helplessly nod, taking almost a minute before she could resume.

"I… I got to the examiners, and asked for an examiner… However…"

A wry, bitter look appeared over her youthful expression, ruining her picturesque visage with the desperate, worried look in her eyes.

"However, there's currently a high-profile figure with the Examiner's Leader. When I explained your situation to them and learned about you Aiden…" She looked at the golden eyed boy with a bitter-looking smile. "…when he heard you are connected to Galina, he instantly sprung up and wanted to conduct the testing himself."

"And? Why is that a big problem? Is he perhaps from somewhere else? What is his rank and class?" Confused about what could be so bad about this all, Aiden fired a few questions to get a better understanding.

"Well… his name is…"

Just as she was about to finish a middle-aged-looking statuesque figure appeared from the back office door. He was tall, easily towering over everyone in the hall even from a first glance. He had short silver hair and a thick, short beard. His turquoise gaze swiped over the instantly stunned, silent crowd before his face curled into a theatrical smile. He raised his right arm in the air as if celebrating his latest victory causing the crowd to erupt into a loud cheer.

He was wearing an elaborately designed set of armor. His chest plate resembling a roaring lion's head, gave even more momentum to the elated crowd's cheer.

Various murmurs, whispers could be heard amidst the exploding spectating group of adventurers.

"Am I seeing things? Is that really the legendary Roaring Lion himself?"

"What is he doing here? Shouldn't he be at the capital?"

"Ahahaha! I knew today was gonna be special! I felt it!"

Hearing the strange whispers, Aiden looked at Mary, asking the question that was on the minds of almost everyone.

"Mary, who is that man? Is he the one that will test Galina?"

However, before she could answer, Drake interjected, a frown visible on his face.

"That man is the Roaring Lion himself. He is probably one of the most famous, and one of the strongest knights in the entire kingdom, one of the acting generals in my father's army, and one of the few Rank 6 adventurers still active… Sir Arthur Sonovan, the patriarch of the Sonovan Clan."