Rebirth: The Shadow Of Greed

... Upon reaching the gate of the Aquos building the guards bade him farewell as they started to leave. 

Z raised his commswatch to his lips and started to reach out to Soli. 

-I'm at the front of the building, what do I do now? 

-just wait there for a while, I will come down and bring you up. 

Z stood in front of the building waiting for Soli to come to pick him up while he started munching on a nutrition bar. While he was eating a voice sounded from behind him. 

"Excuse me, young man, may I know what you are doing here? Are you waiting for something?"

An old man with a hunch walked towards Z, his head shaking a little bit, involuntarily. 

"I'm actually waiting for Soli… My friend to bring me into the compound."

"Ah… I see, will the young mistress take long? How about I brew you some tea while you wait."

"Oh… it's okay, I'm pretty sure she's coming out already."

Z replied politely with a smile, as the old man stood beside him and waited with him. 

Soon Soli emerged from within the compound with Odrunn in tow, she walked out with a smile as she greeted Z. 

"Ah, Zero meet groundskeeper Sam, he has been in charge of this area for the longest time. Uncle Sam, this is Zero Cromwell, he and Odrunn will be guests staying with us in the compound, so do take care of him in the future."

The two men proceeded to shake hands, Groundskeeper Sam smiled as he made a passing remark. As he walked back to the shed at the corner of the compound. 

"Seems like it's going to be more lively in the future."

Soli hurriedly pulled Z into the compound as she introduced him to the various facilities. 

"The first floor consists of the training area, it's all state of the art and has a really big space for you to train. But please the walls and ground are not indestructible, so I would appreciate if you two with your penchant for destruction could take care of not breaking anything."

Z and Odrunn smiled sheepishly, in the wild they had indeed gone overboard, throwing boulders around after they were done using them, sparring as they smashed walls and grounds. 

"Zero! It's good to see you back again! Thank you for keeping our young mistress safe!"

Ashli walked towards them as she gave a slight bow towards Z. 

"Who knows, it might have been the young mistress who kept them safe."

Arlene added uncourteously as she saw Ashli approach them. 

Soli started to frown when seeing the attitude of Arlene. 

"That might be true, she played an important role in our survival, without her we'd all probably be dead already." 

Z laughed it off as if not putting the matter at heart at all. Odrunn at the side was still figuring out what was going on. 

"Excuse me, I'm sorry we haven't met, who are you all again?"

A young man stepped forward and broke the atmosphere as he strutted in front of them. 

"This is an Aquos family compound, can all unrelated people leave immediately? Even if you are the young mistress what gall you have to bring in guests."

The young man said with arms folded. 

"Cousin, these are my guests, my father the head of the family has approved their stay here and they will be staying here from now on. Or have you already demoted my father?"

Soli retorted as Ashli and Arlene started to frown. 

"hmph! You've missed close to half a year of lessons. I'll see how your father keeps his position once you flunk out of the academy. Please don't hang around with Riff Raff. They will only pull you down."

The young man mentioned as he turned and left. 

"that was… unpleasant."

Z replied looking at the figure of the young man as he walked down the hall. 

"Yeah, I want to hit him so badly."

Odrunn said clenching his fist hard as he walked towards a punching bag. 

"Don't do it now! You're clouded by your emotions if you swing for a hit the bag will probably blow up."

Z shouted over to Odrunn who was halfway into a swing, forcing him to keep it in dejectedly. 

"I'm sorry about that, he's my cousin and his dad is one of the elders. My dad and his dad have always been a thorn on each other's side and because of this, he's always trying to find problems with me. I'm just sorry the both of you ended up as collateral today."

Soli gave an awkward smile as she apologized. It was a really rigid structure within the noble families, there would always be infighting for them to secure power for the next generation. But somehow amidst the inner turmoil, they still function well enough on the outside to deflect any attack from outside forces.  

"No, it's okay, honestly Odrunn and I don't really care about that at all. We're just glad that we have a proper place to rest and train while we prepare for our exams."

"Speaking of which, what did Principal Davenport want to talk to you about? It wasn't anything serious was it?"

Soli asked concern plastered on her face. 

"I think you will get your information soon, so he has agreed for all of us to join the mock trials as well as the final exams. Also, I'm transferring to the offence department."

Z said with a smile. 

"What!? Boss! You can't do this to me! I can't take the test alone! What if I get bullied?"

Odrunn wailed as he grabbed onto Z right. 

"You? Bullied? You right now can easily decapitate anyone who bullies you, what do you mean you'll get bullied?"

Odrunn stuck out his tongue as he rubbed the back of his head, 

"I'll still feel lonely" he muttered under his breath. 

"If you clear your final exams the next year you'll be able to take electives! Wouldn't you be back together again?"