"Are you sure you want to do this mission?" Annaliese looked at herpanion''s mask, a little doubtful about that. "I think we''d be better off taking something less exotic..."


    Lothur looked at her in surprise to hear that. "Don''t you like it? This mission is straightforward. We just have to clear a scorpion-infested cave and check the area."


    "Yes, but you know how fighting nests of insects like that is? There is always arge amount of them, and they are so disgusting..." She remembered past experiences, among them one time she had to endure the feeling of being dirty for two days straight because of the fluids of the snakes she fought against.


    Lothurughed as he realized the problem. "Well, this is the only missionpatible with my level and won''t be a waste of time for you. So, we''re without much of an option here..."


    That was true, but not all of it. Lothur wanted to do this mission because, besides the possibility of fighting a nest of insects capable of imposing a challenge on him, he could also collect poison from these creatures.


    This way, he could get free resources for his poison master training!


    "Sigh..."


    "I hope you are ready to deal with these creatures. I don''t think it will be as you think." She said as she crossed her arms and pouted at him.


    "Don''t worry. We won''t be staying our entire time inside that cave in question. How about that? I''ll take you to dinner tomorrow to make up for it."


    "Oh? That''s better, hehe." She took the paper in his hand and then walked toward the administration of that area. "But what about these strange reports? Do you really see no problem getting involved with something strange?"


    Hearing this, Lothur thought about what he had read on that poster, about the fact that strange noises and even remarkable phenomena had been noticed in that area. "Missions like this can always bring us unexpected results... I like that."


    "Humph!"


    "You like to run into danger!"


    ...


    After registering the mission they would start doing in a few hours, Lothur and Annaliese headed back to the Frost family estate.


    At that ce, it was not long before they were called to the patriarch''s residence, where dinner was already being served.


    "Tomorrow, we will begin the call for ourpetitors participating in the Province Conference. Don''t let anyone..." Aiken said in a low voice in a subordinate''s ear, exining what should be done.


    As he was doing this, the twins and Lothur greeted him and his wife before sitting down.


    "Do this for me..." Aiken dismissed that servant, who promptly nodded in agreement and left the dining room of that residence in a hurry.


    As he passed through the exit corridor and left the patriarch''s residence, that man momentarily smiled before stopping beside a woman dressed as a servant.


    "Is everything ready?" He asked in a whispering tone.


    "Hmm, some flowers will bloom tomorrow. Don''t worry. We just need to wait now." She said as she winked at him and then walked away, getting on with her work.


    "Perfect!" He muttered to himself, already imagining what next week would be like, the first moment of his group''s n for the big event they had in mind.


    ...


    Meanwhile, Lothur was already eating with his women''s family, asionally hearing from Mabel and Aiken about his responsibilities in theing week.


    "Lothur, you cannot miss or bete during the Province Conference. Then, stay by Viktoria''s side whenever possible, so you don''t make a mistake." That man''s father-inw said in an advisory tone.


    Mabel then coldly looked at him. "Your duty during the next week, besides helping us identify the family traitor, will be to make your presence felt."


    "We know you can do nothing to help us, so don''t think about trying to be a hero or your luck. Instead, just follow the family''s orders. Give up when you have to, and hang in there when you have to."


    "If you can at least follow our orders, everything will be fine."


    Lothur closed his eyes as he heard this, imagining his poisonous mother-inw''s look when she saw his performance over the next few days.


    Viktoria saw the muscles in Lothur''s face twitching and ced one of her hands on his left knee, ying with her fingers to calm him down.


    Annaliese was also doing something, but Viktoria did not realize it.


    Aiken sighed and said. "Hopefully, the family will not be weaker after this event..."


    Annaliese then said. "Father, I feel we''ll have some good surprises!"


    After looking at Lothur, she continued. "Besides, I also got stronger than we expected for this event. So, we''re not lost."


    Hearing that, Mabel, who was always strict with Annaliese, agreed with her daughter. "You are right. After absorbing that Soul Bone, you have improved much more than we expected and will probably be able to help us."


    The Province Conference was not a contested event between the leaders of the great families of this region, even though it was an important event for the future of each of them.


    Unlike the experts from these organizations, the people attending this event were the youths under 30, the future of these powers.


    The logic behind this was simple. It was the younger generations who could maintain the family''s power in the long term. In other words, a family with good seeds generally did well. And what better than the future to decide the ''value'' of an organization?


    Having specialists was good, but many of them had already reached bottlenecks. They had no time to go out and explore, maybe find something that would change their destinies.


    They had to stay in their territories and take care of bureaucratic and security matters. The result of this? The young people were left with all the possibilities and had the freedom to go out and achieve unusual things, far removed from the possibilities of those seniors.


    In this way, a family with talented young people with good fortune on their side had good chances to prosper.


    Hence, the empire gave such significant possibilities to its subjects using only the younger generation.


    Because of this, Annaliese''s unexpected increase in power a few weeks ago could not be underestimated, and even the strict Mabel was willing to make that positivement.


    Anyway, they talked for a few more moments until Annaliese gave her warning to her parents. "Later, I will travel to do a mission on Finn Mountain. Then I''ll be gone until Sunday night."


    "Finn Mountain? Why are you going out on a mission now? Is it an academy thing?" Mabel questioned her daughter.


    She negatively shook her head. "No. But I want to get some realbat training, so I''ll be doing a cleanup mission in an area full of insects. That will help me prepare better for next week."


    "Oh?" Aiken opened his mouth, finding it good that his youngest daughter was interested in bing stronger.


    "You too?" Viktoria asked in surprise, not expecting Annaliese to leave on a mission the same day as Lothur.


    "Too?" Mabel questioned her precious eldest daughter.


    She answered without much thought on the matter. "Lothur will also go out on a mission tonight."


    Mabel frowned as she looked at him. "Where are you going?"


    "Finn Mountain..." He said with a smile on his face, making Annaliese look at him wide-eyed.


    "What?"


    "Hehe, I''m kidding." Heughed. "How could I go to such a dangerous ce? So instead, I will go camping and collect nts near the city."


    "Sigh..." Aiken sighed as he realized that Lothur was only joking with them, ''What a difficult fellow.''


    But Mabel wanted to p that individual for ying with her like that.


    However, she was stopped by Viktoria''s following speech.


    "Mother, father, before we finish this dinner, I have something to talk about my marriage to Lothur..."