Chapter 93: Another Addition To The Family

"Why were you chasing her?"

The two guards were taken aback to see someone appear so suddenly in front of them, and as they were about to say something and ruin their lives forever, they realized that the one in front of them is the disciple of the patriarch.

The two bowed, and one of them said, "Uh, Lord Auguste, that child trespassed into the stadium and we were only trying to capture her and send her back to the city."

"Then I'll take care of this. You two can go now," I said, and they bowed again before leaving.

I saw everyone looking at me, again, but this time, I didn't pay attention to them. I turned around to meet the child as old as me, and said, "Are you by chance, Helia Farnus?"

She nodded a bit timidly, and said, "Y-Yes, Lord Auguste."

Why are they suddenly calling me Lord Auguste? It's only been less than an hour since it was announced that I am Yule Atlas' disciple, at least pretend that you don't know my identity! I am not exactly keen on people suddenly respecting me for small reasons as being the patriarch's disciple.

"Come with me then," I said as I reached out and held her left hand. Now that I take a closer look at her, she looks like one of those street children I used to see a lot back in the village and in the Rock Kingdom. But she is a bit different because her hair alone already makes me doubt that she's just a street child.

She has long, untamed, blonde hair. Her round gray eyes were full of innocence, and her skin, although touched by the dirt, was still more beautiful than that of a noble's children. But I frowned when I realized that she was malnourished when I saw the outlines of her bones in her arms, and her sunken cheeks.

Using wind magic, I levitated her to transport her to the middle of the stadium.

"Eep!" She reacted.

Soon, we reached the middle, and my master said, "My, is this Helia, my dear disciple?"

"Yes, but why is she," I gestured to her malnourished body, "like this?"

Frowning, he said, "She must be from the orphanage. I told Donovan to fix the situation there but he's too busy trying to reach the next level of cultivation," He then looked around, "But enough about that, let's not keep the people waiting." He stared at the audience for a moment, before saying, "This is the child I talked about; Helia Farnus!"

I nodded and I put Helia down, though she was a bit frightened by that.

I honestly didn't know what to do, so I just ruffled her hair and said, "Don't worry about that, it's just a magic trick." To prove my point, I took out a candy from my storage ring and levitated it using wind magic on top of my hand, then it slowly floated towards her before she caught it.

"What is this…?" She asked me, showing me the candy.

I simply grabbed the candy and opened it.

"Here, say 'ahh'," I said.

"Ahh," She opened her mouth and the candy floated into it. She closed her mouth, and as soon as she tasted the candy, she brightened up, "It's delicious!"

"Of course," Though it's unhealthy for you. I don't know why I gave you that candy. I think I still have the roasted pig's half body. I'll let her eat that later along with the salad.

"She will receive the following prizes since she is the only person who voted for my disciple;

Anyway, master was too busy talking, so I decided to look after the girl.

My team approached her, and Scarlet said, "Hmm, what a cutie you are! Big sister here might just adopt you~!"

Helia looked at her with hopeful eyes as she said, "R-Really? You're going to adopt me?"

A bit taken aback, Scarlet looked a bit conflicted, as she said, "U-Uh, w-well…"

Seeing this, I stepped in, and said, "No, she won't adopt you."

She looked down, a bit sad, as she muttered, "Oh…"

But I smiled at her, and said, "Do you know why?"

She shook her head.

"It's because I'm going to adopt you into my family. We have a pretty big family, there are more than 40 of us!" I said to her, smiling.

She suddenly brightened up, and said, "Really? I'll be able to join your family?"

"Yes, really. The one who raised me has an orphanage, and in that orphanage, we were fed well, dressed well, cleaned well, and sheltered well. And I would like you to be a part of us; a family," Well, I just made this decision in a haste. Seeing her look so sad made my heart ache so, adopting her into our orphanage would be better than her current orphanage. I'll talk with the others about this topic later.

Soon, my master finished talking and turned to us, "Now, I will be promoting these four to C-Class, and their stuff shall be transported to the seventh district. That will be the end of the promotion ceremony, and now the rewards," He took out 5 storage rings, and walked around us, giving us a single ring each, then turned to the audience, and continued, "Each of those rings contain their rewards for winning the tournament. And now, Team Heroes can leave if they want to. The other teams are waiting for their rewards, after all."

We nodded at that, and bowed for a bit before leaving the stage with Helia. I saw the teams we defeated, glaring at us as they held their broken arms or legs, probably from wincing at the phantom pain they felt when they saw me.

Hey, it's not like I completely crippled you guys, it's just that all of you were too weak against me.

Anyway, we left but not before seeing the audience staring at us, no, probably me. It's amazing how it can affect the way they think of me when they suddenly know that I am the patriarch's only disciple. They don't know me yet I see admiration in their eyes, some held envy, some were angered for some reason, and some were neutral. But most of them held admiration in their eyes.

I scoff at that. They don't know anything about me, they should not be feeling those emotions, yet they do. Why, though? Because of my now-revealed status? Or is it because I was talented enough to be the patriarch's disciple?

Either way, I don't care about them and they should not care about me. It is entitled to feel that everyone should care about you, and I hate that. Care is for those you consider close to you, not for strangers that don't care about you. Is that thought selfish? Maybe so, but caring for strangers could lead to your death.

Well, I would be a hypocrite if I really thought that. Because… I tried to help Delia, didn't I? I lost a bunch of my wealth at the time but I still got her everything she would've never had in her lifetime, and I felt great when I did that. When everything is put aside, in turn, you will realize that nothing really matters. No matter how much you hate, care, lie, steal, kill, or anything, nothing matters.

Heh, I didn't think that looking at the audience would make me think so much.