The news spread like the wind across the continent: at Astrong Academy, just one week after someone broke the record by reaching circle three, four more circle threes appeared in the same week, on the same day, also breaking the record.
"Is that serious? How absurd is Astrong Academy?"
"They're not absurd—if you ask me, they just got lucky to have five prodigies appear."
"Looks like we already know who's going to win the Thrones of Runes this year."
"You still had doubts? Most of the time, it's always them who win—they always recruit most of the continent's top talents."
"Yeah, and it seems they've found five diamonds this time."
The whole continent was talking, and Hao was the one who let the information spread, even revealing all their names. Of course, everyone already knew about Victoria, since she was the great prodigy who had evolved first.
"Hahahaha, I want to see the reaction of the other academies on the continent—they must be going crazy, hahahaha!"
Victoria was the first to reach circle one, Lira the second, and Enrico, Rina, and Yumeha—as always—evolved at the same time thanks to being connected to Enrico, with the difference that he was in a dimension where time passed differently, something between two and three hours before Enrico came out of that storage room.
"My Ketsumei, you're amazing!"
"Master, while you were training, we could feel how fast you evolved—you really are the best."
"You're not going to ask why you've all been evolving so quickly?"
"No, why would we ask when we trust our master completely?"
"That's right, my Ketsumei."
While Rina rubbed her face against his, Yumeha held Enrico's right arm, both smiling happily, feeling there was no one better than their Ketsumei in the world—at least to them. Their father had also sent letters congratulating them and Enrico, even calling him "son-in-law" in the letter, which made them both happy.
'Our father was already calling him that secretly before, especially after sister Rina did the ritual with him.'
Now that Enrico was being treated as one of the great prodigies of the continent, it was almost as if the emperor just needed to shout that he was his son-in-law. He had wanted to do that before but never had the chance. Now, though, there was no way he could hold back from letting everyone know how great his son-in-law was. Even their sisters seemed jealous and were planning something for when he reached their level.
'Looks like even with the restrictions, my sisters seem to be thinking about making my Ketsumei theirs too. Though it doesn't matter—I got here first.'
When Rina and Yumeha evolved, they waited excitedly for Enrico's return in his room—but there was one problem: when they advanced to circle three, the room was destroyed. Luckily, Angela repaired it while asking several questions about how Enrico was doing, since she could feel his evolution.
"So you destroyed the room? Good thing Angela was nearby, then."
"I'm sorry, master."
"Why are you apologizing? If it were your fault, then it would be mine too."
Arriving at the dorm area where they lived, he came across the other girls training their magic, all with determined expressions, wanting to evolve faster.
"What are you all doing?"
"I'm training, subordinate. I need to focus on getting stronger—I can't let myself fall behind."
"That's right, dear. If we're not at your level, we can't be proud to stand by your side."
They were all concentrating to the limit, but the ones most focused were Seraphina and Valença, who were sweating as they pushed their magic to the extreme.
"Looks like you've fallen behind, as always."
"That's right. As long as we're connected to my Ketsumei, we'll always be able to match him."
"And even so, we'll keep training—so you'll never catch up to me."
"You two are just lucky to have a connection with the subordinate, damn it!"
Enrico noticed that their training could destroy part of the dorm again if they kept going like that.
'I don't want Angela to have more work… so what do I do? …I've got an idea—I'll take advantage of this.'
"Would you like me to help you train?"
"Really? Dear, you're amazing! Please, come help me!"
"Since you insist, subordinate, you may come."
Enrico asked them to go to the training room so he could help them. Valença seemed to be the fastest, even with her neutral expression, and dragged him along with her.
"Why the rush?"
"Of course I'm rushing—I have to catch up to your level again."
Both of them dashed off, with the others running right behind. Valença's eyes were hidden behind her hair, as if she was deep in thought.
"Why do you look like that, Valença?"
"You… why did you kiss them first?"
Valença glared at him darkly. Enrico thought it was something serious, but apparently, she had simply learned about the relationship that had developed with the others.
"Why didn't you do the same with me on our first meeting—"
Enrico kissed her on the lips while still running, matching her steps so it wouldn't be uncomfortable, then stopped for a moment. Pulling away, he saw her blushing and smiled before continuing toward the training room.
"If you want more, you'll have to get stronger like the others."
"Stronger?…"
Touching her lips with her finger while following him, Valença began to think about becoming the strongest in the world. Her eyes flared up with determination burning in her chest.
"I won't just be strong—I'll be the strongest in the world!"
"I'll be waiting, then—"
"Subordinate."
Being grabbed by the shoulder, he noticed Serenya floating beside him, meaning she had learned to fly using her control magic. Her appearance seemed demonic, as she had just realized she was the last among the six to receive a kiss from him.
"My reward, now."