Drunk Ian. That's it. That's what was happening. As Louis looked at those hazy eyes looking up in his direction, along with the thick smell of alcohol coming from all over Ian, he could tell instantly that Ian was drunk."Brother...?""Just how much did he drink..?"Louis wasn't moving since he still had the stick stuck to his neck, and didn't know how Ian would react to his movements. Ash sighed as he looked at the dozens of empty beer pot beside Ian. "Should we wake the other's up?"Louis asked, still frozen in place. After looking at the situation for a second time, Ash actually found it quite funny. Louis could hear a small snicker ringing behind him."You.. you're really laughing?""Don't move.. pfft.. That stick.. It might pierce your..pfft.. ""Ah really! Brother! Wake up!"Louis shouted in frustration as he looked at Ian. He wasn't particularly afraid of the stick actually. And it looked like his screaming did do something, seeing as the haze in Ian's eyes cleared a little.

Ian was out of his mind. He could barely recognise Ash and the others and separate them from enemy to friends. The only other thing he did was chain himself to the ground when he heard the word drunk, like a relfex or trigger word. But that's all he could do. His brain cell didn't allow him to process anything other than that. And the only drunken habit he had was protecting the people around him. So when Erza appeared out of nowhere and surprised or shocked the members of his party, Ian didn't really have enough data to register her presence. If she were to attack them or show hostility, then that'd be a complete different case. Ash and the other's were subconsciously hiding Ian behind their back when they realised someone who wasn't welcome was present there. They didn't exactly have any deep bond with her afterall. She was just a women Ian knew and someone Ian seemed to favour."Why are you here?""And since when have you been following us?"Ash and Louis stepped forward and

Warning: Description of accidental Self-harm"Soft"Ian mumbled as he brushed his hand through Henry's hair. The way his crumpled up brows softened and his posture loosened, it was clear he was letting his guard down. Everyone was relieved watching his reaction. But there was one problem. They didn't know how long this was going to last. "We should prepare lunch.. "Amber suggested out of nowhere. And although it seemed a little out of place, truth be said, all of them were more or less hungry by now. They had already missed breakfast and it was almost lunchtime. Ian always kept them in a regular routine and fed them three major meals a day along with lots of snacks. So even if their body didn't necessarily need food, they'd always get hungry when the time to eat came. It was more of a psychological thing rather than physical. "Yeah.. Brother should be hungry too.. Right, brother?"Louis asked, expecting to be ignored. To his consolation, Ian at least looked at him. "But what a

"Brother.. Are you crazy?!?"Ash asked as he looked at Ian innocently tilting his head. That was the only conclusion he could come to after listening to Ian's explanation.Of course, the truth was far from that. The only reason Ian was going so far to stop Ash from absorbing other living beings vitality had to do with halting Ash's growth. Not his physical growth, neither was it the growth of his strength, but his growth as a demkn. Demon's were a race that grew strong by feeding on negative emotions. The more bad energy they absorbed, the stronger they'll get. But that didn't always mean a good thing. The energy they absorbed also affected their own mind and actions. For example, the Demon King had to be the one with the strongest power in the demonic realm, meaning he must've absorbed the most amount of negative vitality. And that also meant that he was the most sinister and vile existence in that world.The stronger a demon was, the more evil they became. Ian didn't want that. H

"You finally found a trace?!"Arthur slammed his hands on the table as he asked the wizard in front of him. They were talking about Ian."Yes! Although it's in a weird location.."The wizard replied with a not-so-confident voice. Arthur's party, they were trying to track Ian down since forever. At the begining, Arthur was confident he'd be able to find Ian.But after a month passed by, his confidence started to grow thinner along with his patience.In the end, he decided to ask for help from one of his acquaintances, someone who had connection with a wizard. The wizard requested Arthur to get him something that Ian used on a regular basis. Since people used mana consciously and subconsciously, things that someone with a lot of mana used regularly will have a trace of their mana in it.Simply said, Ian's things should have small traces of his mana. The wizard intended to locate him using that mana. But even that wasn't possible at first. Since Ian was always hiding his traces along w