As usual, the Kazoku were having breakfast in the dining hall. There was quite a bit of noise discussing the dragon that was still sleeping in the courtyard of the Royal Pce. Everyone looked at Shiro for answers since she was sort of like the only dragon expert amongst them.


    Shiro had of course been forced to memorise an entire book on different dragon species. The one sleeping in the courtyard seemed to be a hybrid of two different breeds.


    It possessed white feathers like the dragons of the White Dragon lords Winter Zone, but had a way smaller build than one. It looked more like a wyvern, but Shiro found that to be odd since dragons would never mate with wyverns. They were lesser dragons, seen as more like the ves of the dragon race.


    And even more odd was the fact that Wyverns couldn’t survive in the Winter Zone for too long. Neither could the White Dragon Lords survive in a ce that wasn’t as cold as the Winter Zone.


    In the end, she got tired of thinking about it too much, exined what she knew and shrugged.


    “That’s a good guess on the dragon’s origin. In fact, I’ve always wondered where Dread was from. Guess I’ll check the Winter Zone next for his parents.”


    A new voice spoke up, acquiring everyone’s attention in an instant. A man was seated next to Shiro out of the blue and was even looking at her.


    What made it odder was how much the two looked alike. Shiro immediately turned to meet the person who had appeared out of thin air.


    “Nii-san!?”


    She jumped up once she identified who it was invading her personal space. Hiro grinned at her with a smile as bright as the sun.


    “Been a while, cuz.”


    “H-How are you here? Is this some sort of illusion? Kana can you use magic?”


    She turned to the silver haired teen. Kana was just looking at her with widened eyes and a face of utter disbelief. Shiro then checked Mori, then Akari, all possessing the exact same expression while looking at her.


    “It’s me, Hiro. Ha~st time I saw you, you were like 5~6?”


    Hemented nonchntly and grabbed her cheeks, pulling them yfully. Shiro pped his hand away and jumped back.


    “I was 4 and you… how are you alive?”


    ording to what she’d heard, Hiro went missing and was practically confirmed dead.


    “Eh? You thought I was dead? I could have sworn lots of people knew I was alive.”


    Now she felt stupid for not connecting the dots when Neburis told her that there were “currently” 3 people capable of wielding [Baldr]. She was suggesting that Hiro was alive somewhere.


    There was also the fact that a dragonnded in the pce courtyard the day before. Still, no one could me her for not being able to tell that the dragon was her brother’s.


    She sighed and dropped her guard.


    “Idiot…”


    She muttered under her breath, but Hiro easily caught this andughed.


    “Come over. Let’s have breakfast together.”


    He beckoned her over and she shyly approached her seat. She sat down and looked away from him with a refineddy-like aura around her. Kana who knew this to not be the normal Shiro only cringed at the sight.


    “Shiro, what’s up with the act?”


    She questioned Shiro and thetter replied calmly.


    “What act? This is how I usually am.”


    Akari and Mori found the scene funny andughed.


    “W-Why are you guysughing? Defend me!”


    She pleaded for help and Akari came to her aid.


    “Yes, yes. Shiro is truly the well-mannered one.”


    “Kana on the other hand…”


    Mori chimed in and the silver haired girl threw her spoon at him. Mori blocked and stuck his tongue out at her.


    “Come on, now. No ying while eating.”


    Akari mothered them and Hiroughed, drawing their attention.


    “Sorry, sorry. It’s just so refreshing seeing you interacting so freely. I’m d Shiro has made some new friends.”


    He nced at her, but she was looking away, her face flushed red.


    “Oh right. Where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself.”


    Akari pointed out then sat up.


    “Don’t worry, I already know about all of you. Saito Akari of the Saito n. Expert swordsman in the advanced level and graduate of Lord Muramasa’s School with the best results ever.”


    “Wow. I’m honoured you know. However, you’ve made a mistake.”


    “Eh?”<novelnext></novelnext>


    Hiro was certain his information on Akari was perfect.


    “I was only ever the second-best student. Muramasa-sensei only ever praised Hiro-san’s swordsmanship, even calling it god-like.”


    Caught off-guard by the sudden praise, Hiro scratched the back of his neck.


    “Haha, is that so? I will have to visit sensei sometime then.”


    “Please do once we recover the Empire. I am certain he will drop anything just to meet you.”


    “Next is Minamoto Mori, the golden child of the Minamoto n. Genius mathematician and quite mature for your age. I’ve always wanted to meet you, but I heard you were training somewhere.”


    “Oh, that was…”


    Hiro winked at him, as if to say he wouldn’t reveal his secret. Mori caught on to this and a weing smile spread across his face.


    “Then we have the spunky Taira Kana. I hear you’re in your fifth year at the Dhijan Academy for Heroes? Best in thebat department too.”


    Hearing herself being praised, Kana couldn’t help but snicker.


    “Then there’s my kid sister.”


    Shiro sat up, waiting to hear her older brother whom she’d idolised for most of her life praise her. All she got was a pat on my head.


    “Hey, where’s my introduction?”


    She pouted, but Hiro only saw this as a chance to grab her cheeks.


    “You didn’t lose your baby fat after all the years, huh? I guess you were a fat baby.”


    Hiro was reminiscing about the past and revealed several embarrassing secrets about Shiro’s childhood. The girl kept shouting for him to stop, but Hiro didn’t tell he got a decent amount ofughs out of them. He even projected images of the past into their heads.


    After thoroughly embarrassing his little sister, Hiro deemed the mood to be right.


    “I want to talk to you all about something very important.”


    The mood barely changed. Smiles were still present on the group as they now looked at Hiro. In truth, Hiro felt a tinge of guilt at the kind of responsibility he was about to throw on them.


    “You will have to participate in the Elder n Trials in a couple of weeks.”


    Silence.


    That was one word wouldn’t be enough to describe how the room had turned. Hiro could think of all the sorts of things they were thinking about without having to read their minds.


    The Elder n Trials were a means of picking the new n heads of the Elder ns. Normally, there would be members from branch families participating, but this time they couldn’t due to the current state of affairs of the empire.


    In official Elder n Trials, the n heads monitor them from afar as their sessors go on month-long or sometimes year-long adventures in order to prove their worth an inherit the seat of n head. Normally, this would be a topic for celebration, but one could easily surmise why they weren’t too pleased hearing this.


    The Elder n Trials had only two ways of starting. When the n heads feel like stepping down a bit early, or when the seat of n head was vacant.


    Just as someone was about to voice theirints, the door leading to the room burst open. Guards rushed in and surrounded the n members. Behind the guards, Veronica in uniform marched forward and looked at Hiro.


    He stood up to meet her gaze, unsure as to what was happening. Veronica saluted him then continued.


    “What is this?”


    “Due to an incident involving the Pdin of Space Neburis and Heavenly Judge of Blood Red mes Rulis, all pdins are to be summoned before the king of the Dhijan Hero Nation. You, as the [True Hero] are also requested to follow this order without resistance.”


    Again, Hiro looked at all the guards that were surrounding him. He had scanned their strengths and scoffed.


    “So, are they here to detain me if I refuse?”


    He whispered into her ear.


    “No. That is what I am for. They have another purpose.”


    He looked at the Kazoku from the corner of her eye and Hiro caught it. The king was aware that he would not beat Hiro under any normal means, so he resorted to using hostages against Hiro. Still, Hiro wasn’t worried in the slightest.


    “You truly believe that I can’t beat you and everyone in the room before you blink?”


    He stared down Veronica. The pdin did not back down, nor show any sign of fear.


    “Haa~ I wasn’t even looking for a fight. Just tell me why I’m being summoned.”


    Giving up, he asked for a reason. Veronica also let out a sigh, showing how tense she truly was. This was the man who opened up the doors leading to the Chamber of Heroes with raw strength. She wasn’t confident in being able to hold her own against him for more than 30 minutes.


    “It would seem the two princesses havemitted an act of treason against the king,”


    “Treason, huh? Was only a matter of time before Neburis went after her father’s head after all.”


    He joked, however Veronica’s shocked gaze suggested that there was more truth to what he was saying.


    “Wait… she didn’t actually go after his head, did she?”