Huff HuffIan placed his palms on his knees and breathed heavily as he looked around.After playing hooky with his secret little admirers for a good thirty minutes or so, he finally managed to get rid of all of them.They were currently in an unknown alley of the town and all three of them were catching their breathe as they stayed hidden."Did we manage to escape?"Ian asked, confirming once again that nobody was following him. Richard and Amber did the same and nodded their head. Since wolves had high sensitivity towards mana, they had to run without using any mana all this time, which was quite exhausting."Then let's go back now."Ian dusted off his clothes and prompted the two of them."We're going back?""Don't you want to look around some more?"The two of them asked. Since they finally managed to get rid of the kids, they could look around a bit peacefully now. But Ian shook his head instead."It's almost lunch time."Ian looked up and sighed. They had an appointment with the
"What's wrong?"Ian asked, gently placing his hand on Ash's head and softly ruffling his hair. Seeing how he didn't back away, Ian was relieved.'There's still chance for persuasion.'There was no better way than persuasion when it came to kids and their anger. But before that, he had to figure out the reason.As Ian patiently waited for Ash to explain what's wrong, the poor kid was slowly losing all his will to protest and sulk. The gentle hand running through his hair made it impossible for Ash to continue sulking."That.."He tried to stop himself from explaining why he was sulking as he looked up at Ian, trying to protest with his rebellious gaze."Hmm? That..?"But as he looked up, Ian tilted his head slightly and was prompting him to continue speaking with a face so innocent that it looked like it belonged to some angel."......."Ash was momentarily speechless as he tried to process the view in front of him. It wasn't his fault though. Ian, being his idol, showing him that type
"Forget it.. I'll talk to him later.. We should get ready soon." Ian decided to think about useless matters later as he had something more urgent coming up. He wanted to get done with the dinner as soon as possible and then pack things up and go. He kicked out the last two people from his room and finally sighed in relief. It was exhausting having to deal with so many people at once. The introvert inside him had almost suffocated to death. Ian decided to take a shower since he had been running so much and was drenched in sweat at some point. When they travelled before, they either took a bath while they were in some Inn, or in a nearby river. Seeing the spacious bath of the royal palace, Ian was reminded of his home. Back there, he had all the luxury in the world. He hardly ever felt the need to ask for anything because even before he felt the need to ask, that thing was already there. 'I lived a pretty damn luxurious life for a while.' Even back in Noah's world, although the
The sun was up high in the sky. Air that was neither too hot not too cold entered Ian's room and ruffled the curtains in his window. Drip. Drip. A few drops of water slided down Ian's hair and fell on top of the paper on the table. He was writing. Twitch. His finely drawn brows twitched slightly in annoyance, seeing how the ink was getting blurry due to the water dropd. He grabbed the towel placed on his neck and wiped the wet hair which he would normally leave alone. "It's just a few drops. I don't need to rewrite the whole thing again, right?" He spoke to himself. Since he was feeling lazy and unbothered, he decided to finish the letter he was writing, ignoring the smudged parts. 'Won't you be giving that to the King? At least try to write properly.' The Phoenix nagged him like an old butler and sighed. But even he knew that Ian wouldn't listen. He was just that unmotivated. "I am trying my best, you know?" His plan was to slide the letter into the King's pocket at the
Ian attended the party. Well. It couldn't exactly be called a party since the only people present were the King, his family, Ian and his party. Even the servants exited the dining room once the food was served. 'This is quite comfortable.' Ian was impressed by the thoughtfulness of the Royal family and nodded in satisfaction. The food was delicious. The atmosphere was pleasant. The people present were kind and considerate. Everything was perfect except- Bzz! A fierce battle of exchanging stares and glares were happening right beside Ian. It was none other than the kids. Riley, who was sitting in a seat placed between his parent and Ash and Louis, the two kids sitting one seat beside Ian, they were constantly exchanging glares with each other, creating static in the air. The two seats beside Ian were occupied by Lucas and Henry, yet, instead of getting mad at them, all of Riley's focus was on those two. "Pfft.." "Ahem!" Rick couldn't suppress his laughter anymore and it al
The lunch with the King ended nicely. Ian didn't forget to sneak in the letter he had carefully (not so much) written previously. Although Riley didn't throw any tantrum saying how he wanted to accompany Ian or something similar, he indeed had puffy cheeks and red eyes filled with water as he said his goodbye. Ian said how he was proud of him for not crying and acting so strong, and patted his head for a long time. Finally, the kid let go of Ian's arm and returned back to his mother. Their goodbye was neither dramatic not lengthy. It was almost as natural as if they were going for a walk and would return back soon. They used the palaces secret entrance to exit from the town, it was a long cave-like structure that led directly to the mountain outside. Ian and his party, led by a member of the wolf tribe, exited the cave and finally came out into the jungle. "Haaah.. We're finally out.." He took a deep breath and felt the slightly damp yet fresh air surrounding him. After say
"Ian?" Albert stood up from his seat, the pen in his hand rolling on top of the paper, spilling ink everywhere. He had a look of disbelief on his face as he tried to take in the scenery inside his room, his bedroom. There were dozens of people, including Ian, all of them who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. No. It wasn't actually out of nowhere either. He was working. He was writing in his desk. And then suddenly, a bright purple ominous looking door appeared in the middle of his room. Albert was shocked and the first thing that came to his mind was a monster breakout. Since, normally, those were the type so portals monsters used when they attacked the human cities. Specially sincr he had a first hand experience not so long ago, at the Lancaster birthday party. A gate of similar colour and attribute had appeared there as well, out of nowhere. And the next moment, monsters were crawling out of the gate like bees from a hive. There was simply no end to it. And Albert, so
"Hmm.. So you're saying.. that guy was the King of the wolves till yesterday?" Albert, placing his chin on his hands, looked at Rick as he asked. They were all currently inside Rick's bedroom. The door was locked from the inside to stop any uninvited guests from suddenly bursting in. Rick, Albert and Ian, the three of them were sitting on a sofa facing each other as Albert spoke. It all started with Ian trying to introducing them to each other. "No. As I was explaining, he was just temporarily replacing his injured brother and trying to find a way to cure him in the meantime. "So he was an 'acting King'?" It was a term that had never before been used there. Ian came up with it while trying to explain the story. "That's right." "I see.. " Albert understood and nodded his head, waiting for Ian to introduce him to the other party as well. "......" But he didn't. Albert looked at Ian with an expression asking why he wasn't speaking anymore, and to his surprise, Ian was look
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