Edmund walked back into the house, leaving Leonor and the others in the backyard to do their evaluation.

Sebastian saw the annoyed expression on Edmund’s face, and he was sure the result from earlier had been disappointing for him.

The incident with Leonor’s magic attack and Aya’s beast summon nearly injuring Helena was quite shocking.

Sebastian could understand them since they were not used to fighting as a party.

However, Edmund was different. An accident like that was more than enough to open his eyes to the fact that Leonor’s safety was also at risk within the party if they could not cooperate properly.

Sebastian entered the house through the back door, leaving the backyard and allowing Sera to handle all of them.

Once inside, Sebastian’s attention focused ahead. Edmund sat on the long sofa in the central hall, leaning back while drinking wine from his glass.

"Tiring day, huh?" Sebastian asked.

Edmund glanced at him and sighed, "Are you going to blame me too because they’re only amateurs and are bound to make fatal mistakes?"

"Not at all," Sebastian replied, sitting on a single-seat sofa and boldly pouring wine from the bottle into his glass.

"I understand your concerns. If you hadn’t saved Helena, that girl would’ve been injured by Leonor and Aya’s fatal attacks."

"That was only their first training session. What if they become careless again later and end up hurting Lady Leonor? Maybe that’s the reason behind your anger right now, Lord Edmund," Sebastian explained.

Edmund smiled faintly, raised his wine glass, and drank everything in one quick gulp, "You’re right. I’m lucky to have you, someone who can see things from a different side."

"As for Lady Leonor’s safety, I don’t think you need to worry too much, Lord Edmund."

"She’s surrounded by friends who care about her. One mistake like earlier will make them think more carefully."

"I hope so," Edmund replied.

Just as they were talking, someone knocked softly on the door of the Aschwin Mansion.

Sebastian stood up and walked toward the door while Edmund remained seated, watching in that direction.

A guard arrived together with a woman wearing a guild uniform, black with white patterns, along with a shirt and long pants.

Sebastian recognized the woman. He turned his head toward Edmund, "The adventurers managed to get it."

"That’s good news. Make the mission a permanent one, available only once every month," Edmund said.

Edmund’s butler accepted the wooden box containing a high-grade monster core.

It had already been one month since the mission was posted on the guild bulletin board, and finally an adventurer had succeeded in obtaining it.

To obtain a high-grade monster core, they had to kill monsters above level 50. To do that, they needed to enter an A-tier dungeon.

Edmund was lucky. Many gold-rank adventurers lived in Archester. Their abilities were more than enough to kill high-grade monsters.

"I’ll take my leave. Good night."

The woman excused herself and left the Aschwin Mansion. Sebastian walked toward Edmund and handed over the wooden box.

Edmund accepted it and slowly opened the box. There were a total of five grades of monster cores.

High-grade ranked third, above medium-grade and below rare-grade.

At the very top was legendary-grade, obtained from monsters above level 150. Edmund himself had never fought a monster that powerful.

With his current abilities, Edmund could only defeat monsters from high-grade up to rare-grade, although fighting a rare-grade monster would be a life-and-death battle.

The monster core emitted a blue glow with powerful mana energy. Even the flow of energy inside the core could clearly be seen in Edmund’s eyes.

"What date is it today?"

"The 17th."

"Leonor’s birthday is coming soon. That means she’ll be turning seventeen."

Sweet seventeen, huh? I never thought I’d be giving her a monster core instead of chocolate.

"Should we celebrate it lavishly?" Sebastian asked.

Edmund closed the box and placed it on the table, "I doubt Leonor would even understand it’s a celebration. Just invite a few people. We’ll have a big meal."

"I understand."

They returned to drinking and relaxing in the central hall. Someone came from the backyard. Edmund gave a brief glance as Sera walked toward him.

"What is it?" Edmund asked.

"I came to tell you that they want to train seriously," Sera explained.

"That’s good. Increase their training and communication. Build good teamwork between—"

"Training against monsters."

COUGH!

Edmund choked while drinking his wine. Sebastian was also slightly shocked. Both men immediately looked at Sera at the same time.

"Against monsters? But that’s dangerous!" Sebastian exclaimed.

"It’s not that dangerous. The other instructors and I will come along. If something happens, we’ll take responsibility," Sera replied.

"What do you think, Edmund?"

Sebastian turned and focused his attention on Edmund. Edmund’s face looked tense and serious, his mind clearly thinking through the possibilities behind Sera’s plan.

I have a mission to raise Leonor’s level to level 10.

The best way to level up is by fighting monsters.

"There’s still one month left before registration for new students at Livden Academy opens. I suggest you use this time to train them in real battles," Edmund replied.

"You agree with her, Lord Edmund?" Sebastian asked.

"Training against monsters with different attack characteristics will improve their awareness and thinking. Isn’t that a good thing?"

"But they’re still children. Their attacks also aren’t very effective yet."

"They almost cornered me. I think they can kill goblin-class monsters easily," Edmund explained.

Sebastian fell silent for a moment. What Edmund said was true. He had witnessed the fight earlier himself.

For someone like Edmund to use Absolute Affinity against them, their abilities clearly could not be underestimated.

"Register them as a beginner adventurer party. Their group name... Diva."

"You’ll be responsible for them. If you succeed, I’ll give you a reward," Edmund said firmly while staring sharply at Sera.

"No! I don’t want a reward from you."

"I don’t want my body tainted by you, Edmund!" Sera shouted.

She turned her face away irritably and walked far away from Edmund, her heart still upset.

Sebastian frowned after hearing Sera’s complaint, curious about why she said such a thing.

"She... what did she mean by that?" Sebastian asked.

Edmund chuckled softly and poured more wine into his glass from the bottle. "Oh Sebastian, the less you know, the better."