"Marry him."
"Eh?!" Flora was startled, not knowing why her aunt suggested such a thing out of nowhere.
Surprisingly, Lena returned to her seat while saying, "I have heard of you, Nathan. The unique summoner who can only summon beasts. The inventor of the magic weapon. The strongest among the first-year students in the Frexia Academy, who also has the ability to defeat second and third-year students.
"More importantly, you've created a new rank to define summoners' strength. You have done a lot, despite only studying for a few months in the academy.
"In addition, you have a humble background, which ans everything you've done cos directly from you, not your parents.
"I'm also aware that you have been suggesting a few things to the kingdom and even contributed this cloud-repelling device. I have heard about sothing in the front line that saves the whole kingdom.
"With all those achievents, it's not you using Flora's identity. It's the other way around.
"I know my niece well. Her achievents might be great, but they can't be compared to yours." Lena smiled helplessly before looking at Nathan with a solemn expression. "With all those things under you, are you sure Flora is good enough for you?"
Rena gasped. She rarely followed the news around the kingdom, but she never expected that the young man before her was actually at that level.
When she heard Flora bringing a man ho, she thought he would be a capable man, considering neither Flora nor the royal family would accept the relationship between her and an ordinary man, but she never thought Nathan was this capable.
Nathan, on the other hand, smiled. "Yes."
There was no need for other words. This one word confird whether it was his feeling or Flora's status. For Lena, she knew Nathan was capable enough to make a good judgnt regarding a person, so if he deed Flora worthy, there was no need for another talk.
"I see." Lena nodded. "In that case, the discussion ends here. I will let you arrange the rest."
"Seriously? I am Flora's mother. Why are you discussing this without ?" Rena pouted.
"You know it as well." Lena chuckled. "Or what? Do you find unpleasant?"
"Not really." Rena shook her head helplessly. She couldn't refute all of Lena's words.
"Then, that's settled." Lena clapped her hand as the sign. However, she noticed Flora and Nathan looked slightly astonished, as if they didn't expect Lena to agree so easily.
"What's with the long face? Do you not like it?" Lena squinted her eyes.
"No. I an, I thought you would be more protective." Nathan shook his head.
"I'm protective right now. However, I know my niece has good eyes on people. And with your achievent, you should have the sa thing. So, I don't really plan to stop you at all.
"In the end, if both of you have bad eyes, it just ans you're going to suffer for a while. And once you learn from that mistake, Flora will be more likely to accept her marriage arrangent by the royal family. That's all." Lena shrugged, treating it as not a big deal.
Nathan didn't know how to deal with these carefree twins.
"And with that out of our way…" Lena's expression turned solemn as she slamd her hand on the table, startling Flora and Nathan. "For what reason do you co here? You said a request earlier. What do you need from the duchy?"
Nathan could feel Lena's aura was changing. In the end, even though they were twins, Lena was raised in the military. As a result, she had to put on a tough face behind that carefree personality.
Now that they reached the business discussion, Lena turned serious again.
Nathan fell silent for a mont before raising one finger. "I would like to make a formal request to the duchy. I'd like to acquire a certain sacrificial item, specifically a corpse of a certain aquatic animal."
"Sacrificial item, huh?" Lena frowned. "What animal?"
"Whale."
"!!!" Lena widened her eyes first before her face turned grim. "You really don't hold back with your request, huh?"
"Whale? Is it hard to find such a thing?" Rena tilted her head in confusion. "I have read about this animal. It's said to be the largest mammal in the sea."
"Yes. That's exactly the problem." Lena nodded. "You haven't ventured beyond the front line, have you?"
"Well, I'm not a summoner, unfortunately." Rena shook her head helplessly.
Lena glanced at Flora and Nathan, who also shook their heads.
"In that case, let tell you about one thing. Do you know that when strong summoners venture beyond the front line, they rarely bring any food?" She asked.
Nathan and Flora shook their heads again.
Lena then raised one finger. "There's only one reason. If you go beyond the front lines, you will actually find… animals. Normal animals."
"!!!" Nathan and Flora looked shocked. However, it was clear that Nathan looked more concerned than Flora, as if he had realized sothing.
"It seems you've got it," Lena smirked.
Nathan gulped down. "Is that really true?"
"Yes."
"What does that an?" Flora and Rena beca even more confused.
Nathan ignored their question. Instead, he asked one more question to confirm his suspicion. "Is there… a ferocious animal like a lion?"
With that question, Lena confird Nathan had understood the problem perfectly.
"No. All of them are dead."
"…" Nathan looked down, falling into deep thought.
"Nathan? What's going on?" Flora had never learned it in school, so she didn't know about this.
After a few seconds, Nathan explained, "It's a big problem. If the aliens actually spare the animals, it can an a lot of things.
"The aliens who have always fought us whenever they sense us treat the animals like livestock. However, aliens don't eat them.
"In that case, why would they treat us differently? Why would they kill humans while sparing the animals? It's not like they will eat us.
"I can only think of one possibility. It's that… the alien actually thinks of us as a threat while the animals are not. If we are not a threat, the aliens… might actually leave us alone."
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