Chapter 3: Lilliana Kranjcar
A few days have passed, somewhere near Milan at the Manor of the Bronze-Black Cross Knight HQ's. The competition of the Blandelli's, within the office an old man was sitting after reading a report his subordinate brought to him.
"Paolo took a boy as his adopted son?" a Middle Age man spoke in surprise when he heard this report of his friend, it was not that he was stalking him but one of his subordinates just by luck saw what happened and notified him.
Lord Kranjcar was the leader Bronze-Black Cross Knights is close friends with Paolo so he could somehow understand this boy took his interest and probably a personal reason was involved in this choice as well.
Lord Kranjcar ordered, "Call Liliana, I intend to visit my friend and see this boy for myself"
The subordinate bows before heading off to complete his leader's orders.
"Paolo, I hope you won't mind me using the boy as an excuse to visit an old friend since our competition at times prevent us from doing so" Lord Kanjcar spoke to himself,
The Bronze-Black Knights and the Copper-Black Cross Knights were competitors in a heated competition at times, this caused many subordinates to misunderstand the normal competition as real rivals over the years.
Because of this the Kranjcar Family and the Blandelli Family kept their ties a secret since having a fierce competition allows their subordinates to have the motivation to become stronger, they naturally have control over it to prevent it from escalating. Otherwise, their growth would have stagnated or even deteriorated after a long time even.
"Father?" Lilliana was six years old and was a prodigy that could be comparable to Erica herself, the competition between the two knighthoods did make the relationship between Erica and Liliana have a competition with each other but understanding the reason behind the competition the two of them were still close friends despite it.
"We will be visiting Erica and Uncle Paolo, apparently they have adopted a child" Lord Kranjcar said,
Hearing this Liliana was a bit worried since it was only a few days back when she was tricked by Erica so seeing her so soon made her feel reluctant but then again only Erica understood her compared to others which is why she could tolerate having her as a friend.
"Is it another girl?" Liliana asked since she could understand her father wanted her to meet another child her age, the same happaned when he made her meet with Erica.
Lord Kranjcar shook his head, "It's a boy"
Liliana's eyes widen in surprise.
>\/<
When Paolo read the notification he could not help but chuckle at his close friend's excuse to visit, but it was reasonable as he too would like to pull his friend into this discussion to protect Masaru at least till the boy was old enough.
Since the two of them have a special team that both Knight crosses had formed, they can train Masaru to become its leader. And if things go well, he might even consider convincing his friend to have Liliana and Erica engaged to him, that way their future ahead would be secured with both Kranjcar and Blandelli linked.
With that both Bronze and Copper knights can work together with Masaru as an excuse since he was finding this competition excuse to keep distances a nuisance and his friend probably felt the same.
Currently, Erica and Masaru were playing house, he was not certain whether or not he will be staying here permanently. He was not certain of what plans Paolo had for him and knew better than anyone that the adults were much more complicated than children, that's why he decided to play along with her so he could learn more about this cute girl.
"Masaru, how is the food?" Erica asked with a bright smile while looking at Masaru.
But Masaru looked at the empty plastic plate that had nothing on it, 'But where is the food in the first place?' he thought
Masaru still smiled "Anything Erica makes is delicious"
Erica who heard this felt a bit happy while hopping, although she studies and trains hard, she too wanted to at least experience this and Masaru was so nice to play along with her allowing her impression of him to increase.
The two of them continued to play a little longer till Paolo came inside, when he saw Masaru was already so close to Erica despite it being only a few hours was quite amazing making him feel relieved that there will not be any possible problems in the future since he does care about Erica a bit more than Masaru at this moment but he considers the two children equal.
"Uncle, why are you here?" Erica pouted, she did not have the chance to tease Masaru by calling him Hubby as she was first getting him into the mood to roleplay with her.
Paolo chuckled, this little devil niece of his still loves to tease others relentlessly since she enjoys it but just like he knew, she had a bottom line where she stops as well. "Lord Kranjcar and Lilliana will be visiting so I want you to get changed, that includes you as well Masaru as he wishes to meet you"
Masaru tilts his head to the left wondering why, he pulled a fake sullen face "You're not selling me to another man are you?"
Paolo almost fell face first in the floor but swiftly recomposed himself better as he was getting used to how to deal with this boy who teases him, "I'm afraid your too expensive to sell"
Masaru nodded with a satisfied smile thinking it was understandable, "I almost thought that I was too cheap considering I was picked up from the street like a stray cat"
Erica giggled at how Paolo's face was cramping up from Masaru's words, Paolo said nothing since he could sense Masaru was much closer compared to the start. Despite his harsh words, Paolo felt relieved that Masaru could move forward.
'At least he says such things privately... Except for the manor servants...' Paolo felt relieved for a moment before sighing, he lost his face in front of his servants yet his servants respected him even more. Since Masaru was showing them a new side to Paolo.
Masaru was getting himself dressed in a formal white shirt, black trousers and black shoes. Since he was not the heir of Blandelli like Erica was, he could get himself dressed semi-formal except for Erica who got herself dressed in a red dress with frills and shiny decoration making her appear like a queen.
"You look so cute" Masaru spoke but Erica blushed a bit before moving in front of him, she could not show him that she was happy about his compliment as any girl will feel happy to be complimented.
"You appear to have quite a sweet tongue too... If only it was not venomous towards me" Paolo spoke while looking at the two kids seems to naturally mesh together like puzzles, he too felt quite natural around Masaru ever since he came to the house.
Outside one of the Servants called out followed by a Middle age handsome man walking over shaking hands with Paolo before giving each other a brotherly hug, although Masaru would normally want to tease his father but he held back since he knew it was important guests so he will at least act his part by showing respect.
Behind the old man was a silver-haired tied in a ponytail girl, she was wearing a light blue dress with frills looking quite like a real princess, "This is Lord Kranjcar and his daughter Lilliana" Paolo introduced them to Masaru.
Masaru nodded at his father while recalling what he has done to Erica so he politely bowed before Lord Kranjcar before going on one knee before Liliana taking her hand gently kissing it once. "My name is Masaru Hayami, it's an honour to meet a cute girl like Miss Liliana"
Liliana who was quite a major fan of romance was blushing beet red at this situation, Erica found something interesting to tease her friend of. Lord Kranjcar only raised his one brow before looking at his friend who had a defeated look. "Does he have a natural talent to sweet talk girls like this?"
Lord Kranjcar was quite impressed the boy looked handsome, dressed neatly and had good manners. Paolo shook his head, "He read history about Nobles so he does have a few misunderstanding about noble etiquettes and manners, I only adopted and started to fill in the gaps of his knowledge by teaching and training him till recently"
Lord Kranjcar smiled broadly but looking at his daughter having dazed eyes looking dreamy his lips twitched wondering why he was feeling a bit irritated.
Erica came behind Liliana whispering in her ears, "Did you finally achieved your dream of falling in love with your prince?"
Liliana who heard this blushed beet red once again almost fainting from the stimulation of her emotions, she shook her head vigorously but Masaru swiftly flicked Erica's forehead lightly "Don't tease someone too much Erica, she is definitely cute and having such a dream is normal for girls to have"
Erica held her forehead glaring playfully at Masaru but hearing the last part she looked at him with a smile, "What is your dream?"
Masaru looked at her, he read a lot of novels about families and he envied them when he lost his. If it was not for his strong mind then he might have broken down then and there, so he too wanted one. "Find a good wife, maybe two. So I won't grow up lonely like my old man"
Paolo who heard this coughed while his friend was laughing at this interesting boy, to be so blunt without hesitation was quite funny for a kid but if Masaru was older he might not entirely take it as a joke but at his age, it was still fine.
Liliana looked at Masaru with wide eyes wondering why this boy was being so open about his dream not finding it embarrassing 'He thinks I'm cute... Could I be the wife he was talking about?' Since it was her dream to write a Romance novel her thoughts ran wild.
While Erica was blushing a bit because she hoped Masaru would feel a bit reluctant to share his dream. 'Wife... Wife... Is it me?' Erica thought while taking Liliana together with her, she was feeling too embarrassed to face Masaru right now.
"It's a bit sad that it will not be possible" Lord Kranjcar spoke
But Paolo shook his head, "No it is, we can resolve our family matters in one go as well..."
Lord Kranjcar was wondering what his friend was telling him so he followed Paolo while Masaru was looking at everyone leaving but Sebastian that was near him, "Sebas, why did the girls run from me?" Masaru asked innocently,
Sebas look at this young master who is really amusing, at times he was smart, at times he was silly and times like this he was dense. "I think it was because the two girls think you want to wed them"
Masaru who heard this realized what happened then he nodded, "Well the two of them are perfect to be my wives"
Masaru walked off leaving behind a shocked yet amused Sebastian who could not help but smile broadly. He was quite surprised that his young master actually quite openly honest to his feelings. Masaru, however, did not understand love, he only knew he liked Erica and Liliana so he felt that it was normal thinking that he wanted them as his wives.
"Remember the plan we made for the leader position of the Dark Gold Cross Secret Services?" Paolo spoke while sitting on a couch facing Lord Kranjcar who sat in front of him.
"Yes, we will train a successor who will become the bridge between our families" Lord Kranjcar answered,
Paolo smiled as he leaned forward, "What if I told you that I have found the perfect candidate, and he is the same age as both our daughters?"
"You mean that amusing boy?" Lord Kranjcar instantly caught up with what Paolo wanted to do,
"Yes, these few days I have tested him and his talent in incredible in both combat and magic" Paolo explained, "I have not made him practice Combat yet, however, I have schooled him in the basics of magic and so far I have to say his talent. Is terrifying since he picks it up quickly but..." Paolo stuttered at the end not certain how to explain it,
"What is it?" Lord Kranjcar asked,
"The manner how he uses magic is different, even his mana is different" Paolo muttered, "I have sent samples to the laboratory and none could come up with what kind of power it is, it's different even from Campiones"
"It allows him to cast magic according to his imagination" Paolo concluded,
"WHAT!?" Lord Kranjcar stood up, such a thing was prosperous since even Campione's had to follow the laws of calculations. Only those who have an authority that does the calculations for them, did not need to do it themselves. Thus magic based on imaginations was something yet to be discovered.
"What about his mana capacity?" Lord Kranjcar asked,
"It's similar to that of a low ranking Knight, I believe he would exceed the capacity of the Serdania Witch or even that Princess of England," Paolo said his speculations,
"Then he really is a promising candidate," Lord Kranjcar said while nodding,
"So do you think we can officially agree and start his training when he turns older?" Paolo asked,
"yes" Lord Kranjcar answered without hesitation, as a seasoned veteran he knew when he grabs a chance when he sees it. And his instincts told him that he will not easily find another chance like this one in the future.
Paolo smiled as he took out his plans he wrote down and handed it over to his friend to read it, the more Lord Kranjcar read the paler his face became but then it suddenly flushed with excitement as he realized what his friend was hinting, "But using the girls as a political marriage is a bit"
Paolo gave his friend a look, "You think those two girls are not already hooked? That boy is completely oblivious about love, and those girls matured much faster than average girls. Don't tell me you have not noticed this when he went and said such lines to them? Although I can't guarantee that they "love" him right now, I know if they continue being this close then won't they naturally end up wanting to marry him in the future?"
"How about this, we keep that suggestion open till they are a bit older then we can ask the girls. I at least want my daughter to say it on her own, then I can feel relieved" Lord Kranjcar said after considering this plan, he would agree to it as long as Lilliana agree to it.
Paolo nodded, "I agree with your point, it is just because I know how it's going to end after living a few days with Masaru that I rather prepare for it in advance"
Lord Kranjcar could understand his friend, just from that short exchange, the boy piqued Liliana's interest and even guarded her dreams against being teased about, not to mention how he was blunt about his so-called dream. 'Is this his natural deposition as a man destined to have more than one wife?' He thought.
"Liliana do you like Masaru?" Erica asked with a sly smile but Liliana only looked like she was daydreaming not responding till she heard Erica's question about Masaru.
It will not be farfetched to say she does have a good impression of him, he even protected her from being teased by Erica about her dream. But she still blushed beet red, Erica knew her friend liked the same boy she does so she pointed at Liliana.
"I will become his main wife, no one will take him from me" She declared shocking Liliana out of her wits, she never expected her friend to fall for a boy that she herself taken a liking to. 'It's not like I don't like him... but...'
But the feeling she had of Masaru in that short time was impactful, she thought more about it and felt that she might understand in the future. What her little heart is trying to tell her.
What was further talked about between the two of them no one knew, but the servants only saw the Rivalry between the two girls exploded but it was within manageable levels so they did not pay any heed to it.
Sebastian who saw this went to report to the two lords causing the two of them to give up, but they will still wait it out since they were still kids they could easily change their minds.
Masaru, however, was currently walking around the Manor looking for his father, there was a lot of places he had not yet visited until he came across the two girls. "Erica, Liliana so this is where you two were? I thought you were angry with me?"
Masaru went over to them, the girls both shook their heads saying that they were only playing together while covering up their own discussion, Masaru did not bother asking them more as he believed the two of them would not have ill intent towards him.
The three of them played house together while using dolls as children, Masaru had no idea but the two girls were quite challenging each other for the "Main Wife" title, he only shrugged looking at the empty plastic plate wondering, 'What food should I imagine this time?'
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
CompleteNoob
CompleteNoob Changes made 06/09/2020
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