I Level Up Dragons with My Evolution System-Chapter 83: Preparing

While they waited...

"Hey, she’s..." Lander caught their attention as he looked in one direction.

"Elara Vire," Arnold said for a moment, before indifferently turning his attention away from her. It was as if she were just anyone to him.

Elara was walking through the perfectly manicured garden, with several people by her side: students and servants.

She was an elegant and quite beautiful woman, although her beauty did not rival Aurora’s. She had blue eyes, black hair, and skin as white as snow. Her posture was firm, but she walked slowly. Elegance radiated from her, overshadowing everyone around her.

"I heard she could have been part of the Council, but she didn’t want to accept it because it was annoying," said Lander. "Could that be true?" He was clearly interested in her.

"Aurora told me once that she rejected it because she had some issues with several members," said Edward.

"I see, so the rumors of her confrontation with The Mage, Gideon are true..." His eyes widened in surprise. "I heard that she is also the niece of Miss Lyssandra Vire. I wonder if this is true."

’...Lyssandra Vire.’ Edward repeated those words in his mind.

She was a dangerous woman, the most powerful businesswoman in the entire region and one of the richest people in the kingdom.

Edward had the good fortune to see her once, when he had just arrived in this world, and he always had the feeling that she was an extremely dangerous woman, though not because of her strength, but because of her eyes.

"It’s even unclear whether Miss Lyssandra belongs to the Vire family, so that’s difficult to verify." Edward laughed, and his attention was drawn to a beautiful figure coming quickly behind the woman who had just left.

Aurora.

With her beauty and natural manner, she practically overshadowed Elara Vire, whom she did not greet even after she had passed by her.

Elara stared at her, words on the tip of her tongue. "Who are those people?" she asked, looking at the men Aurora was meeting with. "And that young man... Is he a foreigner?" she asked again when she saw Edward’s yellow hair and blue eyes.

One of the people next to her spoke up.

"My lady, Miss Aurora has a temporary group recently. It seems she has stopped going alone as in the old days," said her butler. "Those three are the members of the group."

"They don’t seem that strong, one 2-Star and two 3-Stars, two of them look new students... Are she helping them earn points?" Elara asked, genuinely confused.

"No, miss. I heard she did it for love."

Elara turned to look at him. "Love? That woman?" Despite her soft voice, she couldn’t help but hide the shock in her tone.

"Surely you’ve heard the rumors that Miss Aurora is madly in love with a non-talented person, right? Even Count Ashford himself accepted it."

"Oh..." Elara nodded. She remembered hearing something like that. She looked at the young man who looked like a foreigner, who was holding Aurora’s hands. "Is that him? A foreigner?"

"It’s him, but he’s not a foreigner, at least not as far as I can remember. He’s Abraham Lux’s son."

"Lux? She fell in love with a talentless Lux?"

"That’s what the rumors say." The butler laughed and watched the exchange between the two. "And it seems they’re right."

The people around Elara who wanted to ingratiate themselves with her began to talk about it, some gossip they had heard...

"I heard they were seen entering a hotel together. Lately, they seem to be closer than before," said one of them.

"Yes, a cousin’s friend saw them. I think they already..."

Elara stopped paying attention to them when she realized they were talking nonsense. Instead, she stared at Edward.

’It’s not easy to get so much attention from Aurora Ashford. This guy was not only blessed with good looks, but also with the attention of the most famous woman in the academy today’

’I wonder what you see in him, Aurora. Besides his face and foreign features, I don’t think he has many good qualities,’ she thought...

"Do some research on that Lux," Elara said to her butler before continuing on her way.

-

Aurora, Edward, Lander, and Arnold had to leave for the city immediately.

"Arnold and Lander, I want you to buy the new clothes that they say maintain body temperature, the ones that are useful for fires that broke out recently."

"Aurora and I will go buy the rest of the things in town. Remember that we’re going to the mines, a difficult place to navigate. Mines aren’t like dungeons; they can collapse at any moment, so we’ll need all kinds of things to avoid problems."

The four of them split up after those words, and each went to buy what they needed... Well, Edward and Aurora went together.

They bought a variety of potions for all kinds of situations, various clothes, secondary weapons they would surely need, and Aurora took out a few items, one of which she gave to Edward.

"Such high-level items..." Edward looked at Aurora. "Are you sure you want to use them on this mission?"

"This is exactly the mission we need them for. The one you have is for revealing traps in difficult-to-navigate places, but also for tracking undead. These two are for hearing screams from a distance and for covering an area with oxygen for a long time."

"In enclosed spaces like mines, they’re the ideal items for us to use."

"If that’s the case, then it’s fine..." Edward nodded, and several hours of shopping later, they met up with Arnold and Lander again.

Finally, they left the academy grounds on one of the trains and, once outside, took a carriage that would take them to the Southern Silver Mines.

The journey would be long...

Lor was in the center of the province, and traveling to the mines in the south normally took two days or more, but thanks to the fact that they were able to rent some of the best carriages that never stopped to rest, they were able to do it in just over 30 hours.

"Gentlemen, this is the City of Silver..." said the driver, pointing to it in the distance. "One of the most prestigious cities in the use of silver as a natural resource for construction and innovation. Surrounded by more than 11 silver mines, it has become a powerful city in the Province."

"The traffic..." Edward saw a huge number of carriages in front of him, waiting to enter. There were easily more than 300, so they were quite far from the city.

"Yes... that’s how traffic is in Silver City. It’s almost as annoying as Lor’s, except that here they work more slowly."

"How long do you think it will take us to get in like this?" Edward asked.

"Hmm, about 12 to 18 hours, possibly. They have to investigate those who enter too much, to avoid tragedies."

"Too long." Edward shook his head and looked at the three behind him. "I’ll go talk to the city guards. We have to hurry."

"Can’t we go straight to the mine?" Arnold asked lazily. Lately, he’s been acting like this even in front of Aurora... he doesn’t even keep up appearances in front of her anymore.

"According to the mission, we have to meet with the General in the city first, as it’s a complicated mission," Edward reminded them as he walked downstairs. "If you complain, then come help me talk to the guards."

"No, you go alone." Arnold scoffed. "I have no intention of leaving my current comfort zone..."

He was lying on his beanbag chair. Ever since he discovered how comfortable it could be, he said he would never sit in such uncomfortable places again, even if he had to carry his cushion everywhere.

Edward walked past hundreds of carriages and saw all kinds of people. Rich, poor, Beast Masters, con artists, writers, merchants...

He quickly reached the city gate.

"Sir student." Several of the guards greeted him and planned to open the gate for him.

"There are four of us and a few drivers. We have an important mission issued by Instructor Mervan, who told us to meet with the General in charge."

The guard nodded. "May I see your mission?"

Edward showed it to him, with Mervan’s seal.

After a few seconds of verifying that the seal was genuine, he carefully returned it. "Young man, are you part of Miss Aurora’s group?" he asked.

"Yes, I’m Edward."

"I see. Return to your carriage and go ahead, young man. The General has already been informed of your arrival and has instructed us to wait for you attentively."

With that, Edward returned to his carriage and, under the jealous, admiring, and almost adoring gaze of some of the smaller people, they drove ahead of all the other carriages until they entered through the main gate.

"Why are they allowed to enter before us, Daddy?" a child asked innocently from among the crowd of carriages, looking at the one that had just entered with almost no inspection.

"They are students from the Academy, son. They fight the beasts to protect us." His father smiled at him.

"Is it impressive to be from the Academy?" He looked up at him, confused. "I go to one, but they don’t let us in like that."

"Haha." His father laughed. "You still go to a small academy, my son. They go to the Provincial Academy, they are talented Beast Masters, the best in the region."

The boy’s eyes sparkled. "Beastmasters! Really?" he asked, and when his father nodded, he leaned in even closer to try to see through the doors, wanting to see them again...

Innocent admiration and adoration adorned his tender gaze... All children dreamed of becoming a Beastmaster one day.

The father saw himself reflected in that bright gaze... He once dreamed too. "One day you will be one of those great heroes, my child. You’ll see."