Inside the house, Layla was busy doing some cleaning around the place. There was dust that would grow in the strangest of places, and she took pride in her home. Now that they had stayed in a single spot for a long time, she could start putting her own touches to the place. Changing up furniture, hanging up paintings, and choosing her own style of decorations. Before she had been afraid to do any of these things, because in the back of her mind, there was always the chance that this wouldn't last, that they would have to up and leave at any second. After a while, that fear had disappeared and it was safe to say that Layla was the happiest that she ever had been. Getting up from the floor, she started to look around. "Where did I put that other cloth?" Layla asked. Suddenly, a yellow cloth that was slightly dirty appeared right in front of her from the side. On the end of the cloth there was a small little chubby hand. "Thank you so much Galen!" Layla said, as she took the cloth and went to kiss Galen's cheek, who was standing on the table. "You really are a special boy, always helping out your mother like this." It had been a total of six months since Galen was born, and to everyone's surprise, but to Quinn's the most, after one month he could already walk. It wasn't your usual off balance wobbly walk that kids did either, it was full on walking. In a lot of ways, it frightened Quinn seeing something so small, walking like they did, but he also had to clap and smile, telling his son how proud he was. He didn't know if this was usual for vampires, or if Galen was talented and as usual being a parent, one always thought that their kids were talented. Just in case, it was really strange though, so Quinn never asked anyone what would be a normal age, and whenever they went out in public with him, Quinn would carry Galen anyway. On top of that, Galen seemed to understand a lot, he helped out his mother whenever she needed something and would respond if she asked for something. The only thing that seemed slightly normal about Galen, was the fact that he was still unable to speak, but could make simple noises here and there. Other than that, in the six months that had passed, nothing strange had really happened, when at the same time, it felt like a lot happened. Just like Edvard had suggested to them six months ago. Quinn had met with the leaders the next day along with Minny, stating that they wished to select the fifth family leader, Hikel. The other vampires didn't like this, but there was nothing that they could argue about or complain about now. There was one condition that Quinn had put though, and that was told to Hikel in private. That she was not to learn any ability. With how much fuss had gone on, and with such a talented vampire in front of him, Hikel had agreed to the demand. The vampire leader and Minny trained everyday after school for an hour, and sometimes the sessions would run for two hours. What was surprising to Quinn was that Minny had stated she had learned quite a bit from her teacher. How to control her aura more to focus on healing, fighting techniques, fighting plans and more. At the same time, so it would look like her training was going well, Quinn said that every month Minny was able to increase her power use in front of Hikel by one percent at a cap of 15 percent. The interesting thing was, when Hikel saw the progress of how fast and how strong Minny was growing, he had told her the same thing. To not show her full strength to others willy-nilly. The good news was that there were no incidents at all between the two, and there wasn't really much going on with Minny at all. At school, life was the same for her. She got more attention from others, but that dwindled quite quickly and her small friend group had remained the same, consisting of Tobi and Abby. Just like she promised though, Minny had mistreated Tobi for a few days, but when he explained why he had done everything, it was hard for Minny to stay angry at him for a long time. Things weren't just going well for Minny though, they were going well for Tobi as well. He was learning a lot and could use his aura freely now. Edvard was teaching him diligently and from time to time, the two of them would talk about other things. Things that had nothing to do with fighting, such as winning over one's heart. But Tobi and Minny weren't the only students to be selected, Hebe had been picked up by Binaca in the end, and one of the most talented students of all, Jared, had been selected by Magnus. It was assumed that with the guidance of the family leaders, that their strength would be improving by leaps and bounds. As for Quinn, 6 months later, he was doing the same thing as he had been doing 6 months ago. Walking around the marketplace, with Ronkin. "Man, I'm so annoyed!" Ronkin almost yelled out. "I know, you said this already." Quinn replied. "You don't understand, I was ready." Ronkin pumped his fist. "After all the training you gave me, and winning our little local fight, I thought it was my chance. My chance to take the assessment and get out of this job." The little tournament that was set up by the guards had continued, and at the time when Ronkin had won, Quinn had called out the cheating by one of the other members. Rather than disqualify him from the matches, there was a suggestion that was made. For Ronkin to fight him fairly, if he was to win then, all the money that had been lost would be handed over. The opponent accepted and it was a tough battle, but Ronkin had come out as the winner. "You know, based on the way you speak, sometimes I think you're trying to get away from me." Quinn joked. "Hey, don't be like that!" Ronkin replied. "If I get on the scouting team or as a permanent guard, we can still all go out for drinks. Heck, we meet up with Nell all the time, and he isn't even in our family." It was true, now that they had been at the settlement for a while, and their child was born, like Layla had suggested, Quinn was beginning to mingle more, and closest things that he could call friends, were Nell and Ronkin. Not much was said about that day, because they knew nothing about it, but Quinn still felt like their attitudes towards him had greatly changed after it. "Look, I just want to know, why would they cancel all the assessments like that and put it on hold so suddenly." Ronkin continued to complain. ---- A few hours later and their shift was over with. That was when Ronkin and Quinn decided to head to what had become the usual spot for them, a little inn called 'The Fat Pig's Head'. It could seat around fifty people inside at most, but it was popular with the guards as well as others. In the place itself, there was a spot that was always reserved for them, because one of Nell's relatives owned the place. In that spot, in the corner, Nell was waiting for them, already having a drink with two ready for the others. Sitting down, Ronkin took a big swig from it, and slammed it on the table, nearly causing the others to spill. "Why, why is my luck so bad?" Ronkin asked. "What's up with him?" Nell asked. "He's been complaining about it all day. Do you remember the announcement they made, about the assessments being put on hold for a while. Well, Ronkin was planning on taking the next one." Quinn answered. Hearing this, Nell looked to his left and right, wondering if any of the other vampires were paying attention, but they seemed far too busy talking about their own business. So he leaned in and in a soft voice spoke. "About that, I think I know the reason why," Nell stated. "I heard that Jim Eno is returning." ***** For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below. Instagram: Jksmanga P.a.t.r.e.o.n jksmanga When news of MVS, MWS or any other series comes out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I'm not too busy, I tend to reply back.