System's POV

The next day…

Thirteen was doing his best to keep his lips from twitching as he looked at the guests who had arrived to come and meet him.

Rianna hadn't come alone.

She brought with her Shana, as well as the three Valkyries—Viola, Sharon, and Louise.

Frankly, that was still acceptable. Thirteen didn't mind having them around.

But, Shana had brought some pests along with her—that was what he found unacceptable.

The entire Hero Party had come with her on her return trip to meet with Zion, which made the latter curse Fate three times over in his heart.

"Welcome to the Leventis Main Branch," Thirteen replied with a smile. "Please, come inside the house."

Whether they thought that Thirteen was just joking, or not, for calling his home the Main Residence of the Leventis Family, they decided to set it aside for the time being as they entered his home.

Including Shana, the Hero Party was composed of seven people with different roles in the party.

Hero, Sword Master, Crusader, Archer, Sorceress, Sage, and finally, the Saintess. These seven teenagers made up the elite team that the Central Government was nurturing.

Thirteen had wanted to meet them all under the circumstances of his choosing. However, he and Fate weren't the best of friends, so he had a feeling that the Goddess had been working in the background to make this meeting happen.

Fortunately, the living room was spacious enough to accommodate twenty people, so there was room for everyone to sit comfortably.

"Can I get your autograph?" the Sorceress of the Hero Party, Erica, asked. "I'm one of your fans. Feel free to call me, Erica."

"Of course, you can, Erica," Thirteen replied with a smile. 'Usually, the Sorceress is always the love rival of the Saintess for the Hero's affection. Is this girl perhaps bullying Shana? Should I give her an injection for safe measure?'

While he was thinking about these things inside his head, he signed Erica's diary, which she always carried with her wherever she went.

"My sister also pestered me to get your autograph. Do you mind giving me one as well?" a young lady with long black hair, blue eyes, and a sharp gaze asked.

She was none other than the Crusader of the Hero Party, and she went by the name, Diana.

"I'll feel left out if I also don't ask for a signature, so I want one too!" the archer of the party, who had shoulder-length blonde hair, stared at Thirteen mischievously as if she found someone to play a prank on.

Her name was Mildred, and she was the Archer of the Hero Party.

Aside from the three ladies, the Sword Master, Derek, also asked for his signature.

Only the two other handsome young men at the party didn't ask for his autograph.

They were none other than the Hero, Roland, and the Sage, Joshua.

Both guys were looking at Thirteen with appraising gazes as if trying to understand his character through his interaction with their party mates.

Frankly, it wasn't their idea to visit Zion.

But since Shana was dragged by her sister, Rianna, to accompany her to visit the Supreme Commander of the Alliance, he thought that this was also a good opportunity to meet the Legendary Rookie personally.

'What do you think of him?' Joshua asked through telepathy.

'It's just as the rumors say,' Roland answered. 'He's indeed just a Rookie.'

Since both of them had very sensitive sensing abilities, they could immediately tell that the boy's Rank was a Rookie, matching the information available to the public.

While the two were paying close attention to the Supreme Commander of the Alliance, Thirteen was completely disregarding their existence.

If not for the fact that everyone was gathered together, he would have already spat on the two and kicked them out of his house.

After he finished signing the autographs, Rianna gave her old comrade a look from head to foot.

"You've grown a lot since we've seen each other," Rianna said with a smile.

"When we first met, I was only seven years old. Of course, I've grown up a lot since then," Thirteen replied. "If not, then that means something is seriously wrong with me."

"Right." Rianna nodded. "You've grown more handsome since I saw you."

"And you've grown more beautiful," Thirteen replied. "My brother talks about you a lot."

"Does he?" Rianna asked, her smile widening a bit. "Your brother is a young man of few words, so it's a great honor if he talks about me."

Thirteen wanted to say that his brother only acted the way he did because of the training that he had asked him to do when Mikhail was younger.

Since he didn't want ladies to take advantage of his brother's kindness, he trained him to be a man of a few words and to act cold in front of people. That way, they wouldn't pester him so much.

Unfortunately, Mikhail was a very handsome teenager. So, despite his cold and brooding persona, many young ladies still found him irresistible. In essence, Thirteen's plan completely backfired.

The same could be said for Shasha.

Since she was also extremely beautiful, she had countless admirers, including a certain Tigerkin named Taiga and a certain young man from the Stallard Family who went by the name Kane.

"By the way, Zion. How about we spar for a bit?" Rianna asked. "I wasn't able to beat you during the time when we were together. I want a rematch."

"Sure," Thirteen replied. "Should I give you a handicap?"

The people in the living room found the teenage boy's words quite funny.

A Rookie planned to give a Master a handicap?

If this was heard by anyone, they would just laugh it off. But to their surprise, Rianna nodded her head as if it was only a natural thing to do so.

"No," Rianna answered. "Fight me for real this time, and don't hold back."

"Okay, let's go," Thirteen said, motioning Rianna to follow him to the underground training room in the basement of their house.

Roland and Joshua exchanged glances before nodding their heads at the same time.

There was no way that they would allow such a chance to slip by, so they decided to tag along.

Of course, since everyone thought that it was going to be an interesting sparring match, they decided to come along as well.

They didn't expect much from this duel, but they wanted to see how Thirteen would struggle against his opponent.

Alessia, Remi, and Rhia also followed behind them.

Unlike their guests who thought that the one who would be losing would be Zion, the members of his family believed that a surprise was waiting for everyone in a few minutes.

But they were not the only ones who had these thoughts.

The three Valkyries, Viola, Sharon, and Louise also believed in the prowess of their Supreme Commander.

After all, the four of them went to face off against Evuvug together.

Compared to the Brain Beetle, Rianna was way cuter than the bug. But they weren't holding their breath for her to win against the teenage boy who had changed their lives in more ways than one.