Chapter 21 Volatile Situation

Leonardo and company made it back into a particularly odd atmosphere in Valdmor. Though nothing seemed to have changed, Leonardo could sense that something was off, as though a trigger to a ticking time bomb was set off.

He was gone for merely a month, yet the general tension in the town was at full swing. This could only hint at the progression of recruitment orders passed down by the Venus and Exodian crowns, perhaps the Sluvian crown was involved on this.

Although the elves and beastkin seemed to operate as per usual, the human citizens have split into opposing factions be it in terms of attitude or otherwise. The crowd moved in groups of twos or more, and caution was written all over their faces.

The tension was even more so prevalent on little Leona who was acutely sensitive to the hearts of men.

The trek into the old town under the scrutiny of unscrupulous eyes was anything but pleasant to the young ones, but be it out of reservations or yet a more sophisticated reason, no one involved themselves with the party of young humans escorted by a mature beautiful elf.

Only when the party made it inside their room at the inn did Leona visibly relax and stare curiously at a particular corner. Seeing this, Leonardo was genuinely shocked because he didn't think this was a mere coincidence.

The little girl's intuition was frightening because the next moment, a petite girl with long silver hair made her presence known with a look of unbridled astonishment on her face. She, too, felt incredulous and humbled when her concealment was seen through.

Leonardo smiled flatly at this and pointed out the flaw in Pandora's concealment, "You need to clamp down on your intense feelings when you mask your presence, don't understand the mysteries of someone's instinct."

Leonardo then patted Leona who was petrified in shock that a human could pop out of thin air. Of course, at this point, Leonardo was sure that Leona's instinct must be some sort of an innate martial intent.

There was no way in hell a nine years old could temper her instincts to such a level unless she was like him, trapped in some god forsaken corner of the universe cut off from the flow of time. Of course, the difference between Leonardo's instinct and Leona's was purely their mastery and control over their sixth sense.

There existed a lot of irritable convicts in the Exiled Paradise, so much that the slightest of psychic fluctuations in their domains of perception would warrant a beating. However, those bitter memories are better kept on the shelf.

Kieran was just as shocked as his little sister, but he was more so the introvert type so he silently stood to the side. Juvia seemed to be the only one to notice the new item on Pandora's body, an energy rifle, but she assumed it was something Leonardo arranged for her little competitor for Leonardo's good praises.

Leonardo, in fact, had a vague feeling that this rifle was somehow connected to the high tension outside. Still, he opted to wait for Pandora to explain herself as he stroked Leona's hair until her shock simmered down.

"Leader," Pandora quickly settled her thoughts and got her priorities right before sounding out her thoughts, "I want a moniker too!"

Leonardo blinked, visibly confused for a split second before it all clicked in his mind. She wanted a name just like Juvia, but she also wanted one personally picked by him. Well, that was easy enough, he thought.

On the other hand, Juvia felt as though she was losing something important with this transaction. Thus, while Leonardo was in thought about a suitable moniker, she took it upon herself to diffuse the situation before it's too late.

"Why would you need it? No one knows who you are or where you came from throughout the entirety of Arcadia!" Juvia snorted, her elven charm on standby as her competitive nature kicked in high gear.

Pandora was thoroughly entranced by her leader's pensive expression when she was yanked out of her revieree by Juvia's snide words. Glaring at her elven counterpart, she barked back, "What has this got to do with you? Keep your nose to the Arcadia business where it belongs!"

The meaning behind Pandora's words was that at the end of the day, unlike Juvia, they would have to leave this planet sooner or later. As for the elf princess? Her sole objective was sainthood, and she had well and over achieved beyond her goals.

Pandora didn't even spare her minced words as she continued, "Your potential died out as a saint. Even if you follow us back, what can a mere saint help with? There are millions of people like you; a toddler saint!"

Juvia's face flushed red as she spat out her words that might as well sum up everything she knew about Pandora's profession, "Like you'd have it any better? Out of Arcadia, and god knows what other middle realm planet off you go, stop acting as though you're going to follow the leader forever!"

Juvia's comment struck a sensitive nerve of Pandora's, catching the girl off guard. Both girls were striking open wounds and retrospect insecurities in efforts to blindside their own.

Kieran and Leona chose to silently stand aside and act deaf, mute, and blind to it all while Leonardo felt amused by the whole situation.

"Alright enough! Sigh…" Leonardo interjected before they implanted some psychological damage to their state of mind. He recalled some of the lectures his master spoke of during his tenure in the Exiled Paradise, most lectures were about martial intent and other mechanisms of combat free of internal energy.

"Each of you has a sliver of my martial intent already, that is to say your innate talents are amenable and susceptible for future development. I have a plan in mind to increase your talents and cultivation, though peak sainthood might be the limit for the foreseeable future." Although Leonardo wasn't sure how high his martial intent would propel their innate talents, he at least knew that in due time, the benefits would show themselves.

Of course, the method he spoke of was dual cultivation. Under peculiar circumstances, the seed of his martial intent was already planted within the two women, hence the process would be much smoother in the future.

Both Pandora and Juvia couldn't believe their ears as they have never heard of someone propelling someone's talent relying solely on their own. Of course, this orthodox method is forbidden in the higher realms because a lot of dak hand factions hunt talented yet unripe cultivators, extract the essence of their martial intent, then force them into dual cultivation to breed and evolve other talents.

This kind of vile manhunt disgusts the ISC.

With that off the table, Leonardo looked at Pandora and cleared his throat, "As for your moniker, how about White Specter?"

Pandora didn't care what the moniker was, she only wanted one from her leader to somehow ease the urges from the depths of her blood as she nodded silently, though her eyes overflowed with honey and joy.

Then, seemingly recalling something of less significance to her new identity, she displayed her new weapon to Leonardo as she said, "Leader, I got this from the Andrew guy's shipments while keeping an eye on their movements! It can silently blast someone to death from over a two kilometre range before they could even react to it!"

"Oh," Leonardo nodded, now understanding the volatile situation in Valdmor. Andrew must have suspected his business partner with the theft, disturbing their relationship. Of course, Leonardo didn't know that Andrew was so adamant about his suspicions because he himself harboured such thoughts in the first place.

Leonardo's eyes flashed with a devious glint as he said, "Tell me everything you know about these rifles and shipments in detail."