The old lady raised her brows when she heard him.
As for Gene, she looked at him as if he was an idiot and scoffed, "You can bring grade seven healing medicine? You must be dreaming."
She then put her hands on her either side of her thin waist and continued,
"Not to mention you can't travel to the central plains with your current strength, even if we assume you can, it'll take you a month or maybe more just to reach the place and I don't want to mention the difficulties you'll have buying the medicine."
Max ignored her and continued to look at her grandma.
The old lady was silent for a moment before she opened her mouth and gently said,
"What little Gene is right. It won't be easy for you to buy the medicine. Furthermore, by the time you return, the demons would have already invaded and the war would have started, making the journey back even more deadly. So…"
Max smiled when he heard her and before she could complete her sentence, he interrupted her, saying:
"Who said I'll need to travel to the central plains to get you the healing medicine?"
"If not that, how are you going to bring the medicine?" Gene asked, curious.
The old lady also looked at him with curiosity, awaiting his answer.
"You guys don't have to worry about it. I just want to know if grandma can stay and protect my family for a few months if I can get you medicine." Max asked, not telling what they wanted to hear.
"Hmph!"
Gene harrumphed, clearly displeased, but didn't say anything.
The old lady narrowed her eyes at Max, deep in thought. A moment later, she said, "I can, but you have to bring me the medicine within a week after I get the sword. If not, I would leave."
She then sighed and said, "Don't think I don't care about you or your family, I do, but not as much as my family members' lives that are hanging by a thread being in the thunder family's captivity."
"Don't worry. I understand." Max nodded.
After that, they did small talk before Max excused himself.
After he left, Gene looked at her grandma and asked, "Why did you agree, grandma? We can't afford to waste a week more here, especially since the War has been brought forward."
The old lady smiled, "Little Gene, did you forget how difficult it will be for us to avoid being found if we try to enter the cities that have grade seven medicine? If he can really bring me the healing medicine, it'll be worth waiting for a week and we won't have to take the risk. Even if he can't, it'll still be alright."
"But grandma, if he really got you the medicine, we'll have to stay here for a few months…" Gene complained.
"It'll be alright. Even if I have the Thunder sword, I can't just march into the Thunder family. I will need time to plan and wait for the right opportunity to infiltrate their family and who knows how long it will take until that opportunity arrives. It might take a week, a month, or even a year. And all this while, we'll be still at the risk of being found out." The old lady said.
Gene went silent upon hearing this. She knew even if their heirloom could make her grandma as strong as an early-stage monarch mage, the Thunder family wasn't easy to deal with.
After a few hours later, Garima and Mina returned with Emily and others. After glancing at Max, Garima went to one of the guest rooms.
When Emily and others saw their father's condition, Emily cried silent tears while Mark and William were visibly sad.
Noah, however, was enraged, mostly because of his wife's death. He pointed at Max and shouted,
"It's all because of his mother. If not for her, count Wiley wouldn't have become father's enemy and all this wouldn't have happened. My wife, Chloe, wouldn't have died."
Esther and others frowned when they heard this. Esther was about to scold him when,
Whoosh!
Max suddenly appeared in front of him and,
Slap!
Slapped him across the face, leaving a deep, red palm print.
Apart from Anna, Amara and Mina, everyone else was surprised by this.
"H-How did he become so strong?" William gaped while Mark's eyes narrowed and Emily, Esther, and Amelia looked at Max in surprise.
Anna glanced at William and smirked. "Did you think he was still as weak as before? Not to mention Noah is just a one-star mage. Even if he was a three-star, he would still be nothing in front of little Max."
Emily glanced at Anna strangely and thought, 'Isn't Noah your brother? Why are you being happy about it?'
She then asked, "When did he become a three-star mage?"
"Not long ago." Anna answered proudly before she looked at her in surprise and asked, "You can tell he is a three-star mage?"
"Yes." Emily nodded.
"Don't tell me you've become a three-star mage, too?" Anna asked.
"Yes. But I could tell even if I wasn't because the speed he just showed it a lot faster than a peak two-star mage. See, our mothers can also tell he is a three-star mage." Emily answered calmly.
Anna, however, didn't pay any attention to her words after she heard she had also become a three-star mage. She just gazed at her in a gaze. A moment later, she recovered from her surprise and her face drooped.
When Emily saw this, she could guess what she was feeling. Hesitating a little, she said, "Um, don't worry. You will also become a three-star mage soon." Same as before, she wasn't good at communicating because her words didn't sound convincing at all.
Meanwhile, Noah looked at Max, stunned. He never expected Max would dare to hit him, given how meek he was before.
"Y-You bastard. How d—"
After he came to his senses, his eyes burned with rage and he shouted.
However, he stopped mid-sentence because Max had grabbed him by his neck and clenched it slightly, causing his face to turn red.
"Little Max…" Amelia wanted to say something, but Esther stopped her.
"Don't worry, he won't hurt him."
Max glared at Noah and calmly said, "I understand you are sad and angry because of your wife's death. Everyone is. However, if you say another word about my mother or complain again, I'll bash you until you faint, understand?"