<h4>Chapter 56: Chapter 52 - Briar</h4>
Aiden was sitting in their family''s library while studying the fairlyrge map which was spread across the table, a handiwork of his.
A fairly thick and big book was also ced directly in the middle of said map, covering a few certain portions of it, its pages opened to show thest few nations of the world.
Arcadia which was the biggest of all the nations was situated right in the middle of the map, while the second, third, fourth and fifth nations upied the north, east, south and west portions of the map.
Due to humanity''s constant battle for survival with the Demon King millenniums after millenniums, many countries and nations of the world had perished and only five major ones were now remaining.
Although the "Last Five Nations" weren''t originally a thing, many countries that were left from the many years of battle had banded together over time and eventually became absorbed into one of the five respective nations that was now left in the world today.
As Aiden kept staring at it while thinking of a few things here and there, the door of the library opened.
Aiden who had wondered who it was that hade into the room, raised his head up to check who it was but after been unable to spot anyone, lowered his gaze downwards to spot Briar who was now running towards him with a huge smile on her face.
She was wearing a small long-sleeved white round-neck which had a big yellow smiley face on it, dark blue jeans that were perfectly suited to her size, white socks and small ck ts.
Her brown hair had also been styled into twin half-tails today, with a bow on each one and her big purple eyes reflected the childlike happiness she was feeling from seeing Aiden as she rushed over to with her small legs.
"Brother Aiden!" she said while running over to him with a wide smile.
''Ack! God that''s dangerous for my heart!'' Aiden inwardly eximed.
Briar upon getting to Aiden, clutched his legs tightly while still smiling happily with her eyes closed to which Aiden gently patted her head.
"Hey Briar. How''re you?" he asked while patting her head with a warm smile.
"I''m good!" she responded in a cheery tone.
''Dammit! Why the hell are you so cute!'' Aiden inwardly eximed again.
"Who brought you here though Briar?" he asked curiously.
"Papa did!" she replied immediately after which she then continued cheerily.
"He carried me here!"
"I will never get used to hearing that…" Aiden said with a chuckle.
''So dad did huh… I''d have never expected he and my mum to be so enthralled by Briar but who am I to talk. I''m literally doing the exact same thing'' Aiden mused to himself inwardly.
After Briar had answered Aiden''s questions, she then looked around curiously, specifically the ornately designed mahogany table that had piles of book on one side and the map Aiden had spread across it along with the thick big book he had ced in the middle of the map.
In an effort to satisfy her childlike curiosity, Briar began to climb onto Aiden''sp… or at least she was trying to.
Aiden who couldn''t be helped but be amused by this sight, just stared at her in her attempt to climb onto hisps.
She was constantly struggling to get one leg up first on hisps first before trying to pull the rest of her body weight up in such an interesting manner but to Aiden, he couldn''t help but find her struggling cute.
Also, considering how much smaller Briar lookedparison to an actual six-year old, which was also her own age, she was genuinely quite small.
After continuously struggling for over a minute, Briar stopped trying to climb onto Aiden''sps and instead, resorted to looking up at him with teary eyes, hoping he would help her out.
Aiden who was now feeling somewhat guilty by the fact that he had found her struggle amusing, quickly raised her up from the ground and gently ced her on hisps, much to Briar''s joy.
Now that she was properly settled on hisps, Briar''s eyes firstnded on the fairly big map, her curiosity piqued by thebelled nations and its geographical features represented by vibrant colors.
"Smoke!" Briar suddenly eximed while pointing to a cloud that was represented on a portion of the map.
"This white thing, it''s smoke… This is what I saw when I woke up…" she continued in surprised tone.
"Smoke?! Oh… I see…" Aiden questioningly said at first but after seemingly understanding why she was referring to the clouds as that, he then tried to correct her misunderstanding.
"These are clouds Briar" Aiden began.
"Clouds?" she asked in a questioning yet curious tone.
"Yeah, clouds. Those white things you usually see in the sky" Aiden exined.
"In the sky…" Briar responded again but almost immediately, she asked Aiden another question.
"Are they not the same as smoke?"
"No they are not. Don''t worry, you''ll understand in due time" Aiden said while patting her head again.
"Okay…" she replied, even though it was obvious that she still wanted more information.
''It''s not particrly surprising that she''s mistaking fog for smoke and smoke for clouds. She did wake up for the first time in the past four years to the fog from a cryogenic pod…'' Aiden thought to himself.
Briar had woken up a month and a half ago, just a few days after the Royal Banquet incident.
Everyone had gone to the hospital that day and Ivelia and Ivar upon seeing their cousinpletely healthy and cured, and with her contagiously cheerful smile on the hospital bed of one of the many rooms that they had transferred her to, had burst into an uncontroble state of crying. Ivelia especially.
Seeing their little sister, as they liked to refer to her, all healthy and sound, had given them so much happiness and they couldn''t help but cry from joy.
The Belmonts had also introduced themselves to her that same day.
They had informed her that they were now also her family and that she could also refer to them in a familial manner. That same day, they had also brought her to their home.
Briar however had been very wary of all of them for the first two weeks she had met them and was often hiding behind Ivar and Ivelia a lot of the time whenever they were around but after that, the warmth that the Belmonts had constantly been showing her had made herpletely open up to them.
Now, she was even referring to Anna, Leopold and Butler Frank as Mama, Papa and Grandpa respectively, while also adding Brother to Aiden and Flynn''s name, something she had only been doing with the twins.
After looking at the map for about two more minutes, the next thing that caught Briar''s big purple eyes was the big book that was ced in the middle of the map, the beautifully and elegantly big handwritten words drawing attention to themselves.
"The Last Five Ma..Ma-jor Na..ti..ons of The World…" Briar began slowly.
Aiden''s eyes immediately widened at this.
Over the past month and a half that they had all gotten to know Briar, Ivar and Ivelia had never once told them that Briar could actually read.
Before he could even ask her who had taught her how to read, Briar continued without stopping.
"Arc…Arca-di..a. Arcadia!" she said excitedly after struggling to pronounce the words after which she then continued, but this time, she took a bit more time before she began to pronounce the words.
"So...ris. Ty..be..ros. Fle..nor Isnds. Q-Qi..los Re...pub..lic!" Briar concluded with a wide grin.
She then looked at Aiden, hoping that he would praise her but all she got in return was Aiden''s stunned face.
Briar slightly tilted her head in a confused manner but soon enough, Aiden recovered from his surprise and gently rubbed her head while praising her, causing Briar to elicit a small yet heartyughter.
"Good girl!" Aiden said while praising her, his hands still rubbing her head while ensuring not to ruffle her hair too much.
"Hehehe…" Briar let out a small yet proudughter.
As Aiden kept praising Briar, he had a few other thoughts running through his mind.
''Flenor Inds and Qilos Republic huh…''
''Those two are the fourth and fifth biggest nations respectively, with Sris and Tyberos being the second and third…''
''That being said, those massive airship battles will take ce on Flenor Inds during the second year of our Academy lives but I''m notpletely sure if that''ll even happen at that same time anymore. Butterfly effects and what-nots…''
As Aiden was thinking about this, the doors to the library opened again, interrupting his train of thoughts as Flynn, Ivelia and Ivar casually strolled in.
"So this is where you were Briar" Ivar immediately spoke the moment he stepped into the library along with Flynn and Ivelia.
"What''s got you so happy Briar?" Ivelia asked curiously.
Aiden then exined what had happened to all of them, to which Ivelia then also exined that she had been the one who had been teaching her how to read when Briar was two and to her surprise, Briar was really good at picking up on things very easily so it made her endeavor to teach her all the more worthwhile.
"Is that so?" Aiden said, immediately continuing afterwards.
"Reminds me of a certain someone…" Aiden remarked while moving his gaze over to Flynn.
Briar who had seen Flynn and the twins immediately got down from Aiden''sp while running over to Flynn.
"Brother Flynn!" she said while running over to him.
Flynn just bent down as she ran over to him and scooped her up into his arms.
"Hi Briar…" he said with a warm smile, after which he then immediately began to tickle her, his smile instantly changing into a yful yet mischievous one.
"Hahaha! Stop it!" Briarughed yfully while struggling to stop Flynn''s ticklish assault on her.
"I won''t!" Flynn immediately replied to her mischievously.
However, after a few seconds, he stopped tickling her and instead of cing her back down, he opted to hoist her up and ce her on his shoulders, both of her small legs wrapping around his neck and her dainty hands on his silvery green hair.
"Wow! So high…" Briar eximed happily, after which she then said something thatpletely caught all of them off guard.
"I''m taller than everyone!" she suddenly dered proudly, both of her small hands on her hips and a seemingly even prouder expression on her face.
Both brothers and twins were taken aback by her sudden deration but almost immediately, they all burst intoughter.
''It sure is fun to have a little sister…'' Aiden thought to himself even in the midst of his heartyughter.
"Ah! The real reason why we came here!" Ivar suddenly announced after they had all stoppedughing.
Ivelia, as if on cue, immediately retrieved a blue vial from her spatial bracelet and tossed it over to Aiden.
Aiden then looked at Ivelia and Ivar in anticipation, his heartbeat slowly increasing with each moment as he asked.
"It''spleted?!" he asked, anticipation evident in his voice.
Flynn, Ivelia and Ivar looked at themselves, smiled at each other and then, Ivelia responded, every single word that came out of her mouth,ced with a lot of pride and happiness.
"Yeah… It''s done! 99% efficacy!" she responded with a radiantly beautiful and beaming smile.