VOL 2 Chapter 71: A fierce and ruthless tigress.

The reason for Martín's happiness and Sofía's astonishment was very simple. Although the Arcane Order was known as the land of opportunity, if you were to ask any random person what the second most appealing aspect of the Order was for ordinary folks like them. Without a doubt, everyone would say it was its security.

In the Arcane Order, everyone was equal before the law, and those who broke the law were pursued and judged mercilessly regardless of their position or power. There was even a legend that several millennia ago, the Order executed one of its Master-level members for going against the law—something that, frankly, nobody believed. 

However, the fact that the Order never denied it only meant that, at the very least, it was far better than any other faction, where Master-level individuals remained unpunished, no matter what they did—unless they committed treason.

That's why, for Martín, the fact that his sister Sofía would end up working for someone from the Arcane Order was undoubtedly the greatest good fortune they could have received. It could only mean a better life for everyone, including him and their sister Clara. Since it was well known that if a family managed to send someone to the Arcane Order and that person didn't forget them, they were guaranteed a great life ahead.

A prime example of this was their neighbors, the Gaitán family, who pooled all the savings from decades of work by the entire family to send their youngest son to the Arcane Order in search of opportunities. In less than five years, not only had the boy stabilized himself there, but he had even saved enough money to come back and take his entire family with him—eight people in total, or in other words, eight tickets. 

That was a considerable sum, practically out of reach for most people in the Auroria Kingdom, and it was a clear demonstration of what could be achieved in that dreamlike faction.

But now Sofía had not only secured passage to the Arcane Order; she had done something even more shocking: she was going to work for a student of the Arcane University, the most prestigious and important university in the entire galaxy. It was so renowned that even people like them knew that simply graduating from that university was a guarantee of never being out of work, no matter where one went—just showing your degree was more than enough to be hired for high salaries.

As for Sofía, she honestly felt like she was dreaming, feeling as if she'd gone from the depths of hell straight to the pinnacle of heaven. It turned out that, right from the start, she hadn't sold her soul to some heir of a famous house. Instead, by saving her brother, she had practically handed herself over on a silver platter to someone from the Arcane Order—someone who couldn't do anything too extreme to her due to his faction's laws. 

And, if that weren't enough, now she wouldn't have to be too far from her siblings because as everyone knew, the people of the Arcane Order were very wealthy. Now they would be too, so it would be nothing for them to pay for flights to reunite with each other inside the Order.

"Are you okay? Do you really hate the Arcane Order that much?" Erik asked, a bit confused at Sofía's reaction. She immediately got up from the ground and bowed deeply in an apology.

"No, Boss, in reality, it's my dream to become part of the Arcane Order. It's just that it's dangerous to say so out loud here because it's something the leaders don't like, and it can lead to death. Therefore, I sincerely apologize from the bottom of my heart for lying to you."

"Seriously?" Surprised, Erik turned to look at his masters and at Seraphina, who all wore mischievous smiles, and he asked incredulously.

"Yes, it's something that commonly happens in other factions, especially in somewhat backward systems like this one." Sigrún nodded and explained briefly with a smile.

"I see…" Erik murmured thoughtfully before turning back to Sofía and asking in a calm tone.

"In any case, if it's no problem for you to go to the Arcane Order, do you want to do something about the person who hit you or not?"

"I would be infinitely grateful if the Boss helped me get revenge on that man." At this question, Sofía's expression turned into one filled with anger and dark intentions, though there was a hint of delight in her voice. Erik nodded and spoke.

"Then let's go. Tell me where he is."

"He's in the center, over there, Boss." Sofía pointed toward the center of the mine where the foreman's main camp was, then asked, feeling a bit uncertain.

"But, Boss, isn't it against your faction's laws to do something to him?"

"So you know about them. Well, as long as I don't kill him, there's not much of an issue. Even if he ended up dead, the faction's laws are only enforced strictly within the faction or, if need be, upon faction members. Outside of that, as long as there's a decent excuse, and it doesn't create too many problems, nothing really happens—probably just a fine or something like that." Erik replied calmly, but a mischievous grin spread across his lips as he gazed into Sofía's blue eyes and asked.

"So tell me, is he a member of the faction?"

"No, my Lord." Sofía quickly responded in a serious tone, which soured Erik's expression. He promptly reminded her firmly.

"Boss!"

"No, Boss!" Embarrassed by her mistake, Sofía corrected herself right away, exclaiming aloud like a soldier, which made the star-haired boy nod in satisfaction.

"That's better."

Immediately after, Sofía and Erik started laughing together, causing Eleonora, Sigrún, and Seraphina to feel extremely uncomfortable at Erik's sudden closeness to the young woman. Almost instinctively, they clung to his arms possessively—Seraphina even grabbed the corner of his shirt—while casting dominating gazes at Sofía.

When struck by the jealousy of three monsters of colossal power and beauty, Sofía stumbled slightly backward in fear, finding herself caught alongside her brother, who looked a bit worried—something that surprised Erik, who failed to notice the women's gazes and asked.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, Boss, just a little tired. It's been a complicated day."

Sofía answered nervously while shooting apologetic looks at the goddesses surrounding her Boss like cats guarding their territory. Erik paid it little mind and simply nodded, then asked.

"I can imagine. Do you want us to postpone?"

"No, it's better to settle this today, Boss. I'm fine." Sofía responded in a serious tone, sounding much calmer now, as if the trio of goddesses had silently accepted her apologies and relaxed somewhat.

"All right, then let's go."

Erik nodded casually and guided the Myst platform toward the center of the plaza, where the foreman's camp was located. The man was left dumbfounded at the sight of the group flying through the sky, like gods descending to the earth to look down on mere mortals.

"HERNANDEZ!, TODAY IS THE DAY YOU PAY FOR EVERY DEBT WE HAVE PENDING!!!"

With confidence, Sofía shouted from above, giving the foreman a glare full of malevolent intent. Without saying a word, he bolted away in terror, only to freeze after a couple of steps, locked into a strange posture and unable to move, overcome by unimaginable fear.

As if trying to make the moment more dramatic, Erik slowly lowered the Myst platform to the ground, while everyone present seemed frozen in place, afraid to even breathe too loudly for fear of angering the powerful beings who soared in the sky.

Once on the ground, Sofía walked toward the foreman with firm steps and looked him straight in the eyes, finding nothing but fear and resentment there. Without overthinking it, she gathered what little mana she had left into her fists and started beating him with all her strength, letting out all the frustration, rage, and countless other swirling emotions in her heart.

"You bastard! You think you're so tough you can just hit me, huh?! You think you're important enough to treat my brother's life like trash, do you?! Piece of garbage! Today, I'm going to show you that nobody messes with Sofía López and her siblings!!!"

As Sofía screamed in fury and pummeled the foreman with everything she had, Martín could only smile wryly. They had truly given wings to a tiger. Sofía, though very pretty and seemingly frail and gentle, was actually a fierce and ruthless tigress who could hit hard, and few people knew better than he did just how painful those little fists could be. At the same time, however, he felt quite satisfied with the revenge.

"She punches well. I like her, hehe."

For her part, Sigrún commented with a refreshing smile as she watched the beating Sofía was administering to the foreman, now calmer and trying to hide the embarrassment she felt for having shown her jealousy so blatantly before.

"Yes, although she's lacking a bit in technique. Nothing that can't be polished, fufu," Eleonora added with a small grin, sharing the same idea as Sigrún.

Meanwhile, Erik was sweating bullets as he caught sight of the expressions on his masters' faces, mentally noting never to do anything too stupid—who knew what might happen if those two decided to do something similar to him? At that moment, Seraphina handed him a new plate of cookies with a small smile, since the old one was empty. Inadvertently, he turned to look at her as if she were a beautiful, compassionate goddess.

(Yes, no doubt about it—Seraphina is the best…)

After a while, Sofía stopped hitting the foreman, who collapsed to the ground covered in blood, with a couple of his limbs bent at unnatural angles and his face completely disfigured. Then she returned to Erik's side wearing a relaxed smile, even though her knuckles were bleeding.

"Thank you so much for the opportunity, Boss. You have no idea how many times I dreamed of making that bastard pay for loving to exploit my brother and making all kinds of inappropriate remarks, but we could never afford the consequences." Without even showing any pain in her knuckles, Sofía spoke in a tone full of relief and joy, a huge grin lighting up her face.

"Are you going to let him live?"

Erik asked, surprised, because although the foreman was in a miserable state, he was still breathing, and his injuries wouldn't be too difficult to heal with the right methods. Given how ruthless Sofía had been in beating him, Erik had almost been certain she would kill him—and had even calculated how much the fine might be.

"Yes, Boss. Even though I really hate that son of a bitch, I know his children, and although they're not much better than he is, I don't want to be the one responsible for leaving them orphans." Sofía explained with a slightly conflicted smile, prompting Erik to shrug as though it didn't concern him much.

"If that's what you want. Tell me where you live so I can drop you off there; I'll come back to pick you up in a couple of days."

***

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