Chapter 186: Bloodlines

Matching the Mistress' gaze, Aiden spoke in a calm and collected manner.

"Just a new adventurer in the city, nothing more, nothing less." He shrugged his shoulder, then leaned slightly closer to the lady, returning the question in kind. "I could ask you the same though. You referred to Sarah as your daughter, and she has some very unique abilities, which unfortunately for you, has no effect on me. Who or what are you two?"

Just as he said, the Mistress' first try was to use the same skill as Sarah tried as well. The corners of her irises were glowing in a bright purple manner, but besides the uncomfortable, the uneasiness of her fierce stare, Aiden was completely unaffected by her [Charm]. 

This time, however, Aiden was focusing on the skill in effect, trying to see if the system could give her any information as it tried to automatically process and analyze it. Unfortunately, the only notification he received was just a notification informing him of the failed attempt of an attack of unknown origins.

[Warning: The system detected an invasive action of unknown origins.]

However, the second notification that quickly followed was something he did not expect. 

[Your [Psychic Resistance] has increased 100 XP due to the successful absorption of a high-level mental assault.]

[Your [Psychic Resistance] skill has transformed and has been upgraded to [Mental Resistance] due to successfully absorbing a high-level mental attack.]

'Interesting.' He muttered inwardly, quickly glossing through the messages, before he returned his focus to the lady in front of him.

"Are you done with your attempts?" He asked with some annoyance in his tone.

In response, the purple outline from the lady's irises quickly faded, returning to their original charcoal black color. Although her face was hidden behind the mask, her tone suggested that she was probably smiling apologetically. 

"I must apologize for my rude behavior. It's an unfortunate habit of mine, it comes with the nature of our bloodline you see. It's hard to control and keep ourselves in check. It will not happen again."

She gave a slight bow towards Aiden, then she walked behind the desk and sat on the chair. She pulled the small stack of papers closer to her and picked out the three papers from the top. 

As Aiden followed along and walked in front of her, he took the closest available seat, the lady pushed the first paper in front of him. It was the form he filled out when he registered.

"Name: Aiden. Hmm... Is that your full name? Why did you omit your family name? Is it a secret?" The lady began with her questions.

Shaking his head, Aiden responded with a smile.

"No. That is my name. I don't have a second one if that's what you ask. From where I lived this was enough."

"But you must have a family, right?" The lady continued with the topic, unwilling to leave it at that.

��Yes, I do, what of it?" Aiden returned the question with a curious smile on his face.

"Well, your family must have a name as well, right? That would be your second name. What is that?" Thinking that maybe this boy was an uneducated one living in one of the remote villages around the city, she explained, hoping to get some much-needed answers. 

A boy with strength like his, couldn't be a nameless person, he must be a hidden heir from one of the powerful nobles' houses, or from a previously unknown inheritor of a bloodline. She had to have all the answers to be able to control the situation to her liking, unknown factors would be unacceptable.

"Uhm…" Aiden thought about her question for a bit before he simply shrugged his shoulders. "No… There's no second name. There is Granny, my sister, and my master. Neither of them has anything like what you describe. My name is simply Aiden, is that some sort of a problem?"

The lady sighed at his response, grabbing the top of her mask as if caressing her forehead. 

"Right now, it is enough I guess. In the future, you will need a full name if you wish to be able to properly navigate through the human world. If you do well and make enough contributions I might as well…" She coughed, changing the topic. "But we can talk about that in due time. Let's continue."

She pushed another paper in front of him. This was Cole's sign-up sheet, which was a few weeks older than Aiden's.

"He is your… companion, right? Cole Phamas registered almost 2 weeks ago but had limited results until he mysteriously joined up with you. On the previous day, you both returned after completing your first two quests as well as trading 6 Sea Devil Monster Cores with the guild. On the same day, the original group that took on the quest the 'Bloody Daggers', which was famous for their cruelty and notoriety has gone missing since then. May I add that they were last seen leaving with you two? Do you have any comments on the matter?" The Lady asked, her tone carried the trace of a cheeky smile hiding behind the mask.

In front of the facts, Aiden managed to keep his calm and cool. With his usual friendly smile, he shrugged his shoulders once again, as if he had no idea what she was talking about. 

"No, I can't say I have any idea what happened to them. They gave us some information about what to do then we went our separate ways. I have no clue what could have happened to them… Giving a thoughtful look, he continued after a brief pause. "Maybe… Did they overestimate themselves? I heard the Sahuagin, or Sea Devils as you called them, are ferocious nasty creatures. They might have ambushed them, and pulled them to the depths? Who knows!" In the end, a small curvature of a smile could be spotted on the edges of his lips.

"I see... " The Lady responded knowingly. Obviously, she knew what happened to them, and did not care the slightest. The group was a bad omen, causing trouble wherever they went. It was more appropriate to call them thugs and thieves than adventurers. They were a shame, plague-spot under the guild's banner, which she was already thinking of eliminating at some point in the near future. The boy's actions just lessened her burdens, so if anything, she would be grateful for his actions. 

However, she did not voice any of that. She kept her slightly cold and questioning attitude. She picked up the third prepared paper and was about to push it in front of Aiden when he spoke up.

"Wait a bit before you continue with your questions. I do have some of my own. If you want my cooperation this needs to be done back and forth, not like this." He spoke with the same friendly smile, then without waiting for her response, Aiden continued. With a thoughtful look, he continued.

"You mentioned the term bloodlines at the start. That the attack you did was the result of your 'bloodline'. Could you please explain what that means? What is a bloodline?"

Giving it a momentary silence as she thought through what to say, the lady eventually spoke up.

"Fine, I guess it's a fair request. I will answer your question." Although the words sounded natural, if the elderly butler, Sebas, or her daughter would have heard these words, they would be shocked to their very core. The Lady, the Mistress would agree to a rude request like that? That was unthinkable!

"Bloodlines, in other words, Heritage, is your connection with your family all the way to their roots back in the past. Everyone has their bloodline, it's just that some are more unique, special than others. Some families have roots that go beyond human boundaries. In our case, we have this gift or curse… our eyes have the powers to... dominate." She felt slightly uncomfortable talking about her past, but she forced herself to reveal at least this much.

"Please don't ask more, it's hard for me to talk about these matters." She added in the end, with a troubled tone.

"I see." Aiden nodded, storing this information in the recesses of his mind. "So, some families, -and I guess mostly the nobles' households are the most affected-, have some special abilities?"

"Yes." The lady nodded. "But this is very rare, and only the 4 Great Noble Houses has such bloodlines apart from the Royal Family which you already know about.

"Anyway… I have answered a question of yours, so let's continue." She changed the topic and pushed the prepared paper in front of the boy. With a coy smile that was unseen behind her mask, she asked. Her gaze carried great curiosity, greatly interested in the boy's reaction. "What would you say about this adventurer?"

Agreeing to her attempt to continue the questioning, Aiden smiled at her before he turned to look at the next piece of paper, she wished to show him.

However, as soon as he saw the name on the form, his calm immediately vanished, his anger rose rapidly. His eyes lit up, and his draconic aura subconsciously unfolded putting the entire room under his tremendous pressure. 

His voice also changed, carrying an unnatural growling undertone as he looked at the masked woman, with visible anger in his golden glowing eyes.

"Why... " He slowly blurted out every word, giving more and more pressure to his speech. "Do. You. Have. Her. Paper?"