Summoned to the Archipelago

Slap—!

The slap interrupted the oath Leo was about to take. His hot coffee spilled on his lap and a burning sensation from his cheeks and thighs made him grunt. 

Leo's pained voice awakened the motherly instincts within Anne. Her anger was replaced by concern and in this instant, she took out a healing potion and fed it to her son. 

Watching from the sidelines, Leya could not make heads or tails of the situation. Her mind had blanked when she saw her brother get slapped. This was a really strong reaction from their mother, and sadly, Leya was helpless in this scenario. 

There was no right or wrong here. Her brother had his ambitions and her mother had her concerns. Taking any one's side was not justified and thus, Leya stayed silent and watched what was unfolding further. 

To her surprise, her mother did not say a word and instead focused on healing Leo from the coffee burn and the slap. She used her spells and cleaned the surroundings, then placed Leo's head on her lap and looked at him with a tired gaze. 

"Mumma's sorry for her outburst." Anne said softly while caressing Leo's hair. 

Leo closed his eyes and shook his head. "No, it's my fault. I shouldn't have tried that."

In the span of a few seconds, what had transpired was that: Leo was about to take an oath by swearing upon the heavens. This was a really big deal in the world as failure led to triggering a tribulation and getting striked by lightning. 

The percentage survival rate of this tribulation was in single digits. Anne definitely would not want her child to go through such a thing unnecessarily, and thus she stopped him in the nick of time. 

Now that things had cooled down, Leo was actually glad that his mother stopped him from making this pledge. He was caught up in the heat of the moment and was about to do something would definitely regret in the future. 

'Leo, Leo, Leo… such things are not expected from a regressor… what are you doing…' Leo scolded himself and sighed. He was getting too emotional and worked up over things. This was clouding his judgment and it had to be fixed soon. 

Watching the complicated expression on her child's innocent face, Anne massaged Leo's temples to ease his frown and said, "Never do that again. Swearing to the heavens has never done anyone good."

"Mhm…" Leo hummed in response. There was nothing much he could say about this. 

From the sidelines, Leya felt the matter had been settled. She heaved a relieved sigh and went to sit beside her mother. 

"You guys, I was so worried, you know? Don't fight like that again."

Anne wrapped her arm around her daughter's shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. Rubbing her arm, she said, "It won't happen again."

Leya hummed in agreement and stayed cuddled up in the same position for a while. 

When Leo finished arranging his thoughts, he got up and sat opposite to his mother. 

Leya didn't move and opened her eyes to see what her brother was up to now. She had her arms wrapped around her mother's waist, and this was more of a safety precaution than a hug. She didn't want her mother to dash and slap her brother again. 

"Mom, there's—"

"Wait, Leo." Anne interrupted him this time. One hand of hers was wrapped around Leya's shoulders and using the free one, she took out an envelope from her spatial ring. She passed it to Leo and said, "Read it before you talk to me."

This was an urgent matter and required immediate attention. If Leo did not say he had something urgent to talk about, she would've given him this before their conversation. 

The envelope that his mother passed him contained a letter. It had the Ignis family's seal on it and hinted that it was something important. 

Inside the letter was a summon for Leo, written in really fancy and formal handwriting. He was to visit the archipelago the moment he woke up and recovered. The elders and the Disciplinary Hall wanted to see him. They had many questions to ask him and rejecting them wasn't an option. 

Leo shook his head and tossed the letter in the fireplace, surprising Anne. 'Is this what they call the rebellious phase in teenagers?' 

"It seems that I am called to the archipelago and need to leave at the earliest." Leo said and yawned. 

Anne nodded her head lightly and replied, "The ship's at the harbor. You can board it anytime you want."

"Make sure to leave soon. The fiasco this time is too big. Delaying would only cause you more problems." Leya gave her two cents on the matter. 

As the matter was urgent, Leo had to leave immediately, but before going, he wondered whether he should talk a bit more with his family and tell them a few more important things or not.

After some careful consideration, Leo decided it was best if he gave them the information in small packets and not all at once. They won't be able to digest everything and it would only cause him more trouble. 

Getting up and dusting his clothes, Leo gave his mother and sister a light hug and said, "Make sure to not practice the Ignis arts. There's a few more things to talk about, but I'll save it for later. See you guys."

The ladies nodded their heads and waved at Leo. 

"Have a safe trip, my dear."

"Safe trip, Leo."

…..

Ignis Archipelago. 

Taking the same route as before, the one from the outskirts of Silver City followed by a magical steam ship's journey, Leo reached the archipelago even quicker than before. 

There was a carriage waiting for him at the docks, and instead of boarding it, he told the man that he'll be back to the same place in a few hours. 

The carriage driver did not have a high status to stop Leo from doing what he wanted to do and readily agreed to his commands. 

On the main island, Leo took an unknown trail and passed through a lush forest to arrive at a small lake. At the edge of the lake was a house with a chimney with a beautiful front courtyard adorned with colorful flowers.

There was wooden fencing around the house and everything was neat and well maintained.

Leo walked towards the house with slow and confident steps. From the front, nobody seemed to be at home, so he moved past the house towards the backyard and stopped when he found the person he was looking for. 

By the edge of the lake, on a downhill patch of grass sat a gray-haired woman in plain black daoist robes. She was relaxed and was reading a book. From the looks of it, she didn't seem to be aware of Leo's presence, but he knew very well that she knew about him the moment he stepped foot on the island. 

Leo took off his shoes before moving towards the patch of grass where the lady was seated. 

He walked barefoot to a bit of a distance and sat roughly five meters away from the lady. 

He did not say a single word and stared at the lake in front. The landscape was good, but not good enough to be stared at for five minutes straight. 

Leo got bored and began plucking the grass, then threw one strand after another into the lake. When he got bored of it too, he began chewing on it like a cow and continued to stare at the lake. 

After who knows how long, he heard a soft, melodic voice from the distance. 

"You have the same demeanor and patience as your mother, Leonard."