"Should we take them all out first?"
Louis asked Ian, who had been staring at the kids for a while now.
"Yeah.. I'll do it."
Ian said as he looked back. The crack of the cave was too small for them to carry the kids themselves.
The only choice was to carry them with the help of Ian's wind.
"Alright.. Up.We.Go!"
Ian picked them all up like the bundle they were, wrapped in leaves and flowers. Of course, he couldn't take them out like that and would have to separate them from each other, but the sight was too cute for him to ruin.
"Can't we make the crack bigger?"
Ian pondered for a moment as he looked at his teammates. The others shook their head while the wolf kid just looked around. He still hadn't started opening up to the others and would mostly keep quiet, observing everything.
<"Thank you.. thank you, young lad..""You're the savior of our village!""We'll forever be in your debt!"The villagers grabbed his hand and kept bowing their head repeatedly in gratitude. It was obvious with their expression just how genuine those feelings were. They were simple people afterall."Uh..umm...that.."And the one whose hand they were grabbing, it wasn't Ian but Louis. He looked back and glanced towards Ian again and again, flustered by the sudden situation.Ian nodded his head with a small smile as if telling him to go along with the flow. Louis, a member of the cat tribe, he was being used as a slave by the humans even months ago.It was the first time he was being surrounded by so many humans. He felt a little uncomfortable at first but seeing how Ian was standing right behind, smiling as if telling him that 'it was
Early morning.Ian and his party were departing from the village while everyone except the Meyer was asleep.The Meyer wanted to give them a proper farewell but Ian insisted on leaving quietly. When asked for his reasons behind that decision, Ian simply shrugged and said one sentence-'I hate attention.'It was understandable to some extent. And the Meyer also didn't request him anymore in order to not make him feel burdened.As such, the small party of initially six people, which had turned into seven due to the werewolf child, and then eight due to Ash's mother, had now turned nine and was finally on their way back.The little girl with the power of nature, she was sticking close to Ian by grabbing his finger. The two of them had a long talk the night before and Ian managed to persuade her to go with them."Say your goodbyes?"Ian asked the little girl and smiled. For some reason, she also preferred not sayi
"Hmm... So it's fine like this?" Ian wondered as he walked. It was a question but also an affirmation at the same time. "Isn't that.. troublesome.. brother..?" Ash asked from the side. His eyes were glued to the two baggage that Ian had on each of his shoulder. Ian smiled helplessly as he shrugged. For some unknown reason, the wolf kid was unusually attached to Ian. And it wasn't just to the level of simple attachment, he was obsessed. Sticking to Ian all the time without saying a word, showing no signs of opening up to the others of his team and getting jealous and overprotective over Ian, these were the things he was particularly good at. Even a few hour ago, he was constantly growling and glaring at Ria because Ian was carrying her. And he only stopped after Ian took him from Damon and put him on his shoulder.
Half an hour after Ian's kidnapping. He was finally thrown on the ground of an old storehouse. Even without using mana or opening his eyes, Ian could tell that there were a lot of people around him. Not just around him, but below and above him as well. He could feel their presences very clearly since all of his senses were much sharper than the normal people. 'The basement is probably where they are, right?' Ian asked the Phoenix. But he wasn't exactly waiting for an answer. It was more of a self talk. After reading hundreds of novels back at Earth, Ian had grown a sense or intuition that told him in advance what was going to happen next. And he was hardly ever wrong. "What did'ya bring this time?" A heavy voice sounded coming from the stairs. Ian's kidnappers straightened their posture instinctively as the
"Hmm..."Ian looked down at the scene in front of him with a thoughtful gaze. Although he wasn't particularly thinking anything.There were about thirty people in front of him, they had their hands tied and and were sitting on the cold hard floor.All of their faces were plastered with expression of terror and fear as they looked up at Ian.Their fear was reasonable by the way. They just saw Ian burning and vaporising a big chunk of wall with unbothered expression. It was a wall, made of cement and not wood."Y'all from Dharia village?"A cold and unbothered tone. They were questioned before as well, about their origin and home. But none of them uttered a word because they didn't want them to loot their home and hurt their family.But hearing that name from Ian's mouth made them almost choke as they gasped. A
"I'm okay."Ian said, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart. He had to use the gate twice again to go back so he wanted to gather as much mana as he possibly could in a short time.'Can't afford to be too late.'The kids were waiting for him back at the Inn. He definitely didn't want to worry them.After taking a half an hour break under the tree, Ian finally stood up. He had gathered enough mana to use the gate and not collapse once again."Alright! Let's go back now."He gave Damon a thumbs up and the boy nodded his head in reply.A significantly small gate opened up in front if them this time. Damon was trying to minimise the mana consumption and not strain Ian too much.Ian patted his head and they both entered the gate. But only after stepping inside the gate did Ian realise something.
Ian was malfunctioning. That's right. His body, which he was treating like some disposable good finally decided that it was enough.First, he exhausted his mana twice in a single day. As if that wasn't enough, he used even more mana, forcefully, to conceal his condition from the others.Then what? That much should've been fine as well. But rapidly decreasing his body's temperature and then increasing them instantly, that was the last straw. The miniscule amount of mana left inside his body went out of control due to the two opposite actions that were taking place inside his body."What's happening?""Brother? What.. what's wrong? Those.."The blue and red patches all over his skin became clearly visible as Ash and Louis approached him quickly. They looked shocked and baffled for a moment but soon regained their composure and started checking Ian's condition.Right now, he was sweating, had huge red and blue patches covering all of his body and the mana inside his body was going out
Ian and his party left the city. He of course didn't forget to send a letter to the Dicarious Duchy before he left. It had most of the information about those kidnappers and their hideout. Of course, he added a little bit something else as well. But that's a secret. After travelling in their previous pace for a whole day, they decided to put up a tent inside the forest. The next village was too far away for them to keep travelling through the night.As they all sat down to enjoy their dinner, the kids couldn't contain their curiosity any longer and finally asked. "Where are we going?"Ian had previously told them that they'd be returning back to the duchy after handling his business in Dharia village. Although they had to take another turn to rescue the villagers, that should've been the end. As such, all of them expected Ian to return back home this time. But after travelling for a whole day, that didn't seem to be the case. They could clearly see how they were going further and
Ian returned. After wondering the continent for half a year, he came back with a 'Bang!'. Right when the nobles all around the country gathered to 'show the hero his place', Ian returned. Crazy hypothesises such that Ian being a Devil worshipper, betraying the country and being on the run or that he's actually a demon etc etc all came to an end as he openly took Arthur's side and threatened the other nobles.Of course, most of those rumours weren't too far off the mark. Ian did prefer villains over heroes, demons over angels, he had no love for their country and lastly, he was a darkness ability user with a twisted moral sense. And! To top it all off, he also preferred these rumours over ones that would hail him as a hero. he'd rather be on the run after being called a demon rather than be called a hero and worshipped. Again, twisted morality. But he couldn't do that this time. There were too many people using his name so he couldn't just let it be as those people got treated bad
"It's been a week since young master lost consciousness."Rob wrote in his diary as he sighed. There was a heavy atmosphere surrounding the duchy ever since the day Adrian fell down from the roof and went into a coma. How or why it happened was still a mystery around the duchy but speculations about an attempted suicide was slowly spreading around. Rob didn't believe them though. The Adrian he knew was too selfish and arrogant to do something like that. Yet, even when he was so sure, a small part of his mind kept lingering over that quiet and motionless room where Adrian was."Ah.. It's been a while."With that, Rob went to take another look at the sleeping Adrian for the 36th time that day. Although he was telling himself that Adrian's situation wasn't that serious, that he'd wake up soon, as he tried to remember all the bad things Ian did in his short lifetime just to mask his worry, he didn't even realise that he was unconsciously heading towards Ian's room again. After worryin
Things Ian did(Unintentionally or intentionally) that influenced the future of Arthur's world: First of all, although the effect wasn't that eye-catching at the moment, Ian was going to be known as the figure that erased racial discrimination. Due to him giving shelter to people of all age and race, and the humans around him having constant changes in their views and perspective, it was going to be the seed that erased all future discrimination and racial profiling. Secondly, he was going to be known as the bridge between Humans and the Demons. The Queen of the Demons, Ash's mother who had gone back to the demon world to deal with some 'internal affairs' would soon return with an actual offer of friendship between the demons and the humans. It was Bela's way of showing gratitude to the people who had taken care of her son in his times of need. Ian's love for Ash was plain as day and the care and gentleness he showed when dealing with him was no different from what a parent woul
"What..?""That's absurd!""Is that sorcery? Does he think he can fool us so easily?!"There were looks of disbelief, shock and confusion on everyone's faces as they looked at Ash. But no matter how tough they acted or how oblivious they tried to be, the bone chilling aura coming from Ash that slowly filled the room was undeniable. It was an aura that was impossible for any human to manifest, dark and scary."It doesn't matter whether you believe me or not.""I'm not the one behind bars looking at lifetime imprisonment and possible death sentence."Ian shrugged his shoulders in a casual manner as he signaled for Ash to stop. He was only here to give these people a chance. A chance at repentance. If they refuse to grab it, he didn't care less whether they died or lived inside a cage forever. 'Human resources are valuable after all.'That was one of the other reasons why Ian was here. He wanted to bind all these people under contract and have them serve the country. It didn't sit right
"You're gonna let them go?" Arthur asked, conflicted, as he looked at Ian. They were currently in an underground prison, the biggest prison that was made on Ian's request under the Duchy. The war criminals, the cult members, were being held here. Seven days had already passed since Ian's soul returned to his body. He was forced to have complete bedrest this whole time by his parents and the kids. They finally let him go after he managed to manipulate them emotionally with everything he had. It was a difficult job indeed. But nothing was impossible for Ian. "Let them go? NO?" Ian asked back in utter shock instead. But it wasn't Arthur's fault that he misunderstood. Ian did indeed say something that could be easily misinterpreted. "But you just said 'It's time to go out.'..?" That's what he said. To the criminals. Not that he meant it literally. "To the hall. TO.THE.HALL." Ian repeated himself twice, once for the criminals and once for Arthur. Everyone captured already had
Ian's time with the kids were cut short as the Dicarious couple arrived in a haste. A part of Ian was happy to see them again after so long. But a part of him was also wondering if they really were there for Ian. What if they were expecting their son to come back? What if the person they expected to see coming to his senses was Adrian and not him? How disappointed they would be. With a mixture of these various emotions coursing through his mind, he failed to make any type of expression when faced with those two people. Neither could he smile wholeheartedly nor apologize and cry. The kids were guided outside by Arthur and Albert, giving Ian and his parents the room to themselves. Ash was reluctant to leave seeing Ian's expression, but the atmosphere was too heavy for him to interfere. So while everyone else went to another room, he stayed, waiting while standing outside Ian's room. The others also didn't force him to leave since they didn't know which was better. "Are you
"YOU!"Smack!"THOUGHTLESS!"SMACK!"BAS-! JER-!! PERSON!"Ian had to wake up from his peaceful sleep with the sound of someone's shout along with the obnoxiously loud yet not so painful smacking of the pillows."Ow ow ow.. what the hell...?""Huh?""I'm back?"Ian woke up rubbing the back of his head that was the victim of continuous battering and looked around. The changed bedroom and the familiar faces made him aware of the fact that he had indeed come back. "What?""What are you talking about, young master? You didn't go anywhere."Both Albert and Arthur looked concerned as they checked Ian's status for any abnormalities. Only after multiple checking did they finally sigh in relief. "Ah no.. ""Hey guys.. Long time no see?"Ian greeted the kids and the Prince and the Knight all together while leaning back on his bed. The one responsible for the ruthless battering from before still had a massive pout on their face as they silently glared at Ian. "Are you angry? I'm sorry. How lo
Ian enjoyed the tea from hell while having a long and informative conversation with death, or at least that's who he assumed the other person was. He learned about the past that he had locked away and the people he had forgotten. But it all felt distant, like he was viewing the life of somebody else. "Why did I do that? Lock my memories?"Ian was curious. Just by watching the memories of Noah's future, he could tell that he lived a pretty okay life. The daughter he adopted also turned out to be great. She became his family. These were precious memories. So he couldn't understand why he'd lock them up like this. "After I presented you with my request, this is what you told me."Death continued showing Ian another set of completely different memories. An old man, wrinkly hand, white hair, hazy eyes. The room looked similar to the one he was in right now, and so was the person in front of them. "The me right now cannot save a world.""The blade has already lost it's edge.""I've grow
"What do you mean by welcome back?"Ian asked, confused. As far as he could remember, never before in his life did he see this man or these scenes. And these weren't circumstances that he'd forget 'by chance' either. "After your first death, you came here.""First death.. Ah.. When I jumped down the bridge?"Ian remembered his last moments as Noah. The music that played, the scenery he watched on top of that bridge, they were all very memorable. Yet, he had no memory of coming to this place.But unlike Ian's thoughts, the guy in front of him shook his head in denial. Not understanding exactly which part he was denying, Ian tilted his head to the side slightly."What death are you talking about then?""You didn't die back then."The guy sat down on the bed, facing Ian and the endless hell behind him as he spoke. "When you were at the verge of losing consciousness, you heard a childs cry.""A child?""Yes. It was the final monster outbreak." Ian wondered what this guy was talking abo