The Burning Fiend

Windsor had named her new magical beast companion as 'Bolt' and both girls loved to play with the baby panther and pet its soft fur. Even Koral had a surprising degree of patience with Bolt and Reynold suspected that it was only because it was still a baby. Reynolds was slightly concerned that a baby electrobolt panther would be too attractive and it might attract even more trouble than Windsor and Jenne together but this was solved when Windsor asked Bolt to reduce in size, perhaps it was its saint lineage that allow him to make small changes in size, Reynolds remember that Bebe could grow almost 5 times his normal size for a short time, and now Bolt been half its normal size looked not much different than a cute cat.

After another two months they finally entered the O'Brien Empire and they made their way toward the Dunstan clan manor, Reynolds was suddenly aware that he felt no much attachment to that name as he had left when he was 7 years old and there was nobody within the Holy Union that cared about a wealthy clan on the other side of the Yulan Continent. Even his teachers had never used his family name at all and only refered to him as Reynolds.

The Dunstan clan main residence was within the Capital not far from the Imperial Palace, they made their way unimpeded as the giant velocidragon was intimidating and its 9th rank aura was slightly released to avoid wasting time on useless confrontations.

They arrived at the door of the Dunstan mansion and Reynolds threw a medallion to one of the guards while saying. "I am Reynolds, son of Neon Dunstan and I came to visit". The guard had been working there for 10 years and he never heard of a young master of the clan with such a name, but the medallion seemed real. "I understand, please wait a moment to inform the patriarch of your arrival".

Reynolds did not mind as he was not planning to return to the clan, he only came to pay a visit and repaid his family for their care on his early years. He had spend most of his life on his own and the idea of subordinating himself to anyone, even his own father, was disturbing.

A moment later a beautiful middle aged woman made her way toward the gates with tears in her eyes. "Reynolds, my child! You finally came home!" Reynold smile was born from the deepest parts of his hearth and said. "Hello Mother, you look as beautiful as I remember you were when I was a child".

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Neon Reynolds was happy that his youngest son had returned home, but he also was dissatisfied as he saw him return with two gorgeous women that showed that he had been playing around all this time. 'Such a waste of time and resources!' he thought and when he focused his attention on Reynolds he saw the he had a slight frown as he looked to his eldest brother and curious he also looked only to find that the boy was looking at the brown haired beauty as if he had lost his soul, there was no trace of l.u.s.t or d.e.s.i.r.e it was as if he had found the most precious thing in the world and felt the call to protect it without caring for his own life.

Neon sighed, he was praying that there would be no trouble between his two sons for the cause of a woman, and wondered what to do. He decided to put this on the back of his hand and said. "Reynolds you have wasted enough time, you will join the army immediately and start to work hard or you will receive no support for the family".

Reynolds was thinking as he saw this elder brother whom caused no much impression on him as a child looking at Jenne as if his life depended on it and felt slightly annoyed but was surprised to find that he was not nearly as annoyed as he would be if that look was directed at Windsor and started thinking that Windsor had grown to something else in his heart and was not thinking of her as a slave. He was forced out of his thoughts by the reprimand from his father and without looking at him he threw him the jade box he had prepared before.

"Old man, do not misunderstand... I have no intention of joining the family or getting support from it, I just came to visit for a few days and then I will be on way again. That box in your hand is compensation for the expenses you made to pay tuition at the Ernst Institute".

Neon was startled an anger raised in his heart but managed to kept his calm and opened the box to find three rank 9 magic cores which value was close to the full founds of the clan. He was frozen for a moment and looked at his son again this time really paying attention and found that the gorgeous red haired woman was a rank 8 magician and the brown haired woman was a rank 6 magician and a rank 3 warrior and most disturbing was that he could not see through his son which could only mean that he was stronger than him.

"Reynolds this will not do, you have an obligation to the family! To the O'Brien empire! I will not all..." His voice was cut off abruptly when Reynolds released his aura on him while looking at him sternly. "Old man I do not want to fight with you but if you believe that you can control or manipulate me in any form you might have forgotten that I only spent 7 year here and I'm almost 30 years old by now. One more word like that and I will leave and if you try to force me by calling a saint from the empire I will kill that saint or die fighting and... this place with all of you will likely end up coming along for the ride".

Neon sighed in resignation while his brother seemed terrified that Jenne would leave as the three women looked at this unexpected exchange in surprise, Neon looked at his wife and she shock her head in refusal while saying. "Reynolds come with me I would take you to a guest house so you and these lovely ladies get some rest before dinner".

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Fenir felt like his heart was torn but he was a soldier and he knew that indecision will only make things worst, he sighed and knocked at the door of the guest house. Reynolds opened the door and said with a serious expression. "Brother I was wondering if you would come, get in".

After seating on the small living room and before he said anything Reynolds started. "You should know that Jenne is my maid not my wife, so tell me what are your intentions towards her?" Fenir couldn't help but relax as his younger brother said that, perhaps it was not impossible, he took a deep breath and said. "Brother if she wants to stay with me I would take her as my wife and she would never be mistreated I swear".

Reynolds sighed and said. "I will ask her intentions and I plan to stay here for a couple of weeks so you may have a chance to make an impression".

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Later that night while the family was seating at the table, the discussion was regarding the Royal weeding that took place a couple of weeks back and that the powerful saint and master sculptor Linley had left the O'Brien Empire to create his own territory within the Anarchic Lands. Reynolds smiled at that shock his head, it was clear that his brother was deep into his war against the Radiant Church and that was his main motivation, he would find his own territory soon but he would not be reigning over anyone, he would built a small castle on a secluded place to train and live calmly a little far from the politics and conflicts of the material world.

That night he told Jenne his brother's proposal and told her to think it over for a while before assigning her a room for herself during their stay in the Dunstan Mansion.

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Next morning a happy Reynolds seat up on the bed enjoying the fantastic view as he did everyday, Windsor was sleeping n.a.k.e.d and seemed completely void of any ward of defense. He felt a little annoyed that Jenne was not there, but he found that while he cared for her he did not love her. He was not a 20 year-old moved by d.e.s.i.r.e as he had been while conquering Windsor and taking Jenne, he was sure that he really loved Windsor and perhaps what stopped him for loving Jenne was that she had almost no chance of becoming a saint and he did not want to feel the pain of losing her to age. He did not wake Windsor up and went to the garden to materialize his 'fire spear' and started his training in a leisurely way.

After about half an hour later both Windsor and Jenne joined him on their respective training, Koral had already started not far away while Bolt was sleeping under a shadow purring from time to time. A few minutes later Reynolds's mother entered the garden as she could not help but try helping her husband to convince Reynolds to stay with the family but stood there frozen as she watched the scene on the garden.

Reynolds seemed to be dancing with a spear made of fire and fire itself followed his every move, she suddenly realized that his arm was pure fire attached to his shoulder. Not far from him a giant velocidragon with a rank 9 aura was making space tremble with every move of its tail and it seemed to be analyzing the phenomenon before trying again.

The gorgeous red haired girl was carving a giant boulder with grace and confidence, she realized that the girl was close to the grand master level sculptor while the brown haired girl was seated in meditation while seemingly integrated to nature. She decided not to interrupt and left the garden understanding that it was lost battle and it was not even worthy to complicate things any more, the four of them alone were stronger than the entire Dunstan clan.