Just as Lucas was finishing putting together the summary report of the last day's incident, he sensed a new, powerful aura descending towards the Town Lord's Manor.
Normally, he would have detected this newcomer sooner, but after being discovered by Celestina earlier today, Lucas had been strictly restraining his Soul Sense.
Even if his Master had said it wasn't a problem exposing his unique condition anymore, a bit of caution never hurt; not to mention, keeping his Soul Sense spread out was quite exhausting.
A moment later, the cry of a flying beast rang out, confirming that the advanced party from the Capital had arrived.
Hurrying to jot down a few last points about the plan going forward which had been discussed earlier, Lucas quickly completed his assignment before gathering all his papers and heading off towards the reception room where his Master was waiting.
Ordinarily, the upcoming meeting would have taken place in Charles' office, but since that was currently being used as the temporary command centre where messengers were constantly coming and going, it was decided that the reception room where guests from out-of-town were normally entertained would suffice.
With a big map rolled up under his arm, and a couple of loose papers and books in his hands, Lucas swiftly moved through the familiar hallways to reach the meeting place.
Upon turning the corner in the hallway and arriving the reception room, however, he was greeted by two women wearing silver armour.
One of these women was familiar to him, while the other was a new face he had never seen before. Even so, the auras which naturally permeated from them told Lucas that they were both powerful Spirit Initiates.
Glancing back and forth between the two women, and recalling what his new Master looked like, Lucas couldn't help wondering, Are all powerful female Cultivators just naturally pretty?
In fact, Lucas' guess wasn't far from the truth.
While there were natural differences in appearance between individuals, with some being blessed with good looks from birth and others not, the process of cultivation continuously invigorated, rejuvenated, and tempered one's body.
In other words, as long as one wasn't practicing some kind of strange Cultivation Technique which resulted in a bulky frame or exaggerated features, it was quite normal for powerful Cultivators, both male and female, to appear attractive as they were constantly becoming the best version of themselves possible, from a physical standpoint at least.
Recovering from his momentary distraction, Lucas was about to lower his head and offer a proper greeting when the unfamiliar woman swiftly arrived in front of him and bent down, a big smile on her face as she reached out and pinched his cheek, "And who are you, little cutie?"
"Uh…" Lucas was so taken aback by how forward this woman was that he didn't know how to respond.
"What are you carrying there? Did you get separated from your parents?" In a coaxing tone, the unfamiliar woman didn't even given Lucas a chance to get a word in as she completely treated him as if he was a lost child.
Now, to be fair, seeing a 10-year-old boy running around carrying a bunch of papers would usually produce this kind of reaction from a responsible adult; this just happened to be an unusual circumstance.
Finally, Allina seemed to return to her senses and called out, "Vanessa, it's not like that, he's…"
"Oh! You know this little boy, Allie? Why didn't you say so! We should send him back before the meeting," Vanessa once again cut in, jumping to conclusions.
Just then, a voice that carried a tinge of annoyance called out from inside the reception room, "Stop wasting time and get inside!"
Vanessa's neck shrank slightly when she heard this familiar voice before she put on an apologetic look and said, "Sorry, little boy. Big Sister here has something important to do now so she can't help you. Be careful on your way back, okay?"
Saying so, she lightly patted Lucas' head before turning him around and gently pushing him back the way he came. Nodding her head, as if she had done a good job, Vanessa turned around, fixed her expression, then opened the door and entered the reception room.
"Commander Vanessa Clark, reporting as ordered, General Balfour!"
Standing at attention, with as serious an expression as she could muster, Vanessa felt like she had managed to present herself in a sufficiently dignified manner, but as she glanced over at her old instructor who was sitting on one of the two couches in the room, she immediately noticed that the latter had her head down and was massaging her temples in exasperation.
Unsure what she had done wrong, Vanessa subtly turned to her childhood friend for help, only to see Allina also had her face in her palm.
"Um, can I come in now?" A young voice quietly broke the silence to ask.
Startled, Vanessa looked down to see that the young boy she had just sent off had returned for some reason and was now even asking if he could enter the reception room.
Glancing back and forth between General Balfour and the Lucas, Vanessa seemed to realize something and hurriedly said, "Little boy, you can't be here. The adults need to have an important meeting now. Hurry along now."
Turning back to Celestina, Vanessa smiled proudly, as if asking to be praised for doing a good job.
She may have messed up in allowing an uninvolved civilian child to follow her inside the meeting room, but she had promptly dealt with the matter, so everything should be resolved, right?
"Haaa…" Celestina wore a truly exhausted look on her face when she saw that look on Vanessa's face.
Allina Crest and Vanessa Clark were both among the most talented students she had ever taught, both having reached the Peak-Rank Spirit Initiate Realm at just over 100 years old.
Allina was slightly stronger thanks to her being a few years older and being a bit more dedicated to her training, but the difference between them was hardly worth mentioning.
What made them even more impressive was that neither of these two belonged to high noble house with abundant resources, instead just being daughters of unremarkable Viscount-rank families from the Royal Province.
However, while Allina had always been steady, sensible, and observant, Vanessa was the exactly opposite, often acting impulsively and getting into trouble, though still far less-so than the third member of their trio who wasn't present right now.
That wasn't to say that Vanessa was an idiot by any stretch of the imagination; in fact, she was a genius when it came to aerial combat and had even risen to the post of First Regiment Commander and Vice-General of the Golden Wings Legion.
Unfortunately, it seemed that she was destined to never overcome her hasty personality and immaturity.
Doing her best to sooth her growing headache, Celestina sighed and called out, "Just ignore her, Lucas."
Vanessa whipped around to look at the young child once more, this time with an incredulous expression on her face. She couldn't understand why her former instructor was asking for this boy, whose name seemed to be named Lucas, to enter.
Wracking her brain for an explanation, Vanessa suddenly took note of all the papers and books Lucas was carrying and it all finally clicked!
This boy must be here to deliver these documents for the meeting!
"I understand now!" Vanessa exclaimed before reaching out her hands, "I'm sorry, Little Brother Lucas. You've done a good job carrying those important documents! Big Sister can take them from here."
Lucas was torn between tears and laughter at this point, not sure whether this new, interesting 'Big Sister' of his was a genius or a fool.
Finally having had enough of this farce, Celestina snapped and shouted, "Just sit down already, Vanessa!"
"Yes!" Vanessa immediately snapped to attention at this all-too-familiar scolding tone before hurriedly walking over and sitting on the couch facing the General.
Allina walked in next, shooting Lucas an apologetic glance before she too sat down next to her childhood friend.
After the 3 women had finished arranging themselves, Lucas quickly walked over and spread out the map he was carrying before handing one book to his Master and the other to a somewhat confused Vanessa.
Once his task was done, Lucas very much wanted to withdraw from this uncomfortable setting, but before he could do so, Celestina called out, "Come sit next to me."
Lucas opened his mouth to respectfully refuse the offer, but upon seeing the stern look on his Master's face, he realized this wasn't a request, but an order.
So, with resignation in his heart, Lucas walked over to the couch and sat down, his legs barely even reaching the ground, emphasizing just how young and out of place he was.
Not caring for her First Disciple's discomfort, Celestina immediately opened the report Lucas had prepared and swiftly began scanning through it, using her powerful Soul Sense to read the entire document in under a minute before nodding and praising, "Good work. This will be sufficient for now."
Turning to Vanessa, who was glancing back and forth between her and Lucas, Celestina brushed off her former student's unspoken questions and instead declared, "Let's get started."