Chapter 13: The Ball that everyone waits for...

"Kyaa! You look so cute!"

Hannah pulled him into a hug before he could react.

Now dressed in an elegant purple gown, she looked like a refined young lady in her twenties.

Despite her delicate appearance, she was actually a Fourth Circle Mage.

Caelum sighed helplessly at her affection.

He had initially thought of her as his nanny — which, to be fair, was essentially what she had been during the year she took off from Arkhavel Academy to be with him.

Later he learned that she had cried a great deal when his mother died, and the two of them had grown somewhat close.

Because of that, she occasionally acted like a mother figure to him, sometimes even taking weeks off from the academy to visit home.

This year she had fully graduated with Magic Honors and was now contributing directly to Annum County.

The visits had become less frequent, but her enthusiasm for pinching and hugging had not diminished in the slightest.

"Let’s go, sister," Caelum said.

"And you won’t believe this, but Uncle literally sent that message five minutes ago."

Hannah grabbed his hand and dragged him forward while the nearby servants watched the scene with resigned sighs.

They arrived in front of a luxurious carriage.

Roger Annum was already seated inside, a slightly broad man with a face that seemed permanently set to hard mode.

His right-hand man, Hans, occupied the coachman’s seat.

"What took you so long?" Roger asked.

"Uncle, you literally sent the message five minutes ago!" Caelum said flatly.

Hannah said nothing.

Roger sighed, he knew perfectly well whose fault the delay was.

He also knew he was incapable of scolding her for it.

"Get in."

What he did not mention was that they were still thirty minutes early, as a smart man he was already prepared.

"Shall we depart?" Hans murmured, tapping a sequence into the panel at the coachman’s seat.

After a few seconds, the two orbs mounted above the carriage blazed to life.

Light poured from both, and the beams collided ahead of them, folding inward and tearing open a warp.

The carriage rolled forward and passed through it. The scenery on the other side was entirely different.

"Listen, you two," Roger said, settling back in his seat.

"Today’s gathering isn’t a normal social event. It’s a private meeting among close friends, so don’t pull any strange tricks and that means you especially, Caelum." He gave him a measured look.

"You spend all your time locked in the library or that secret training space of yours and sometimes I worry you don’t even have friends your own age"

"Uh... I’ll make friends at school," Caelum replied defensively.

In truth, he had been focused on other things.

Learning what he could about this world and training his small body in the [Heaven Dominating Divine Sword Art] using his innate Aura to develop control.

And now that he was a cultivator, he could begin that in earnest.

Currently, Caelum was five years old.

He still had two more years before he would enter the Imperial Zenith School – the institution reserved for nobles and the exceptional.

Common children typically started at local schools from the age of five, learning reading and writing.

Wealthier families sometimes bypassed criteria through a generous donation, though the School maintained a strict dropout system.

Even if the donation had been accepted, a child who later failed could still be expelled.

The reputation of the institution mattered more than the revenue.

Caelum gazed out the window as the carriage rolled down the other side of the portal.

This carriage ride was rather ceremonial.

On the other side, a grand red carpet stretched forward beneath a magnificent night sky. Their carriage rolled across it for nearly a minute before someone approached to greet them.

"Haha! Roger, who did you bring this time?" Duke Luke Morvendrell stepped forward greeting his old friend.

His gaze moved immediately to Caelum, who was supposed to be five years old and looked closer to seven.

"Your daughter has grown, have you given any thought to her marriage?" Luke said, glancing at Hannah

"My daughter isn’t dumb like your sons for me to start thinking about that," Roger said pleasantly.

Luke’s eyebrows twitched.

He clearly wanted to curse, but he restrained himself since there were children present.

"Victor’s here as well," he added, lowering his voice.

Roger’s expression shifted. He glanced at Caelum and Hannah.

"You two go enjoy the food and Caelum, remember what I said."

"Yeahhh..." Caelum was already moving before the sentence finished, crossing the entrance at a speed that should not be coming from a five-year-old.

Hannah followed after him.

The doors to the ballroom opened automatically as they approached.

Inside, the space was enormous.

Nobles mingled everywhere beneath glittering chandeliers. A second-floor balcony overlooked the main hall, while one side of the ballroom opened into a beautiful garden illuminated by magical lanterns.

It felt less like a hall and more like the interior of a small luxurious mansion.

Caelum made it approximately four steps inside before he stopped moving entirely.

"I’m not going anywhere," he said immediately.

"I am simply hungry."

"Stay with me," Hannah said, arriving beside him.

But it was already too late.

His cute appearance had drawn the eyes of several young noblewomen, who quickly gathered around him.

"Oh my, what a cute child!" 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"Did you come with Hannah?"

"Those eyes are extraordinary,"

"Stop surrounding him," Hannah said calmly, and several of them stepped back on reflex.

"Senior Hannah!" A girl nearby practically lit up at the sight of her, she was a young magician walking the magical path.

"Stop with the senior thing, you can just call me normally," Hannah said, without changing expression.

The girl, Holly Fulger, looked at Hannah with barely contained admiration which was understandable.

Hannah was the youngest Fourth Circle Mage in the history of the Empire. Among young magicians, she occupied roughly the same cultural position as a pop idol.

Caelum genuinely wanted to escape to the food table.

Unfortunately, introductions were socially unavoidable, and nobody was letting him leave.

’If Abracadabra could see this, he’d die from envy.’ Caelum simply though smiling slightly as an invisible arrow pierced the hearts of various young ladies present here.

And so, for quite a while, Caelum became the center of attention among the nobles and their children gathered at the ball who all seemed to find a five-year-old with the bearing of someone quadruple his age deeply fascinating.