'This is so boring..'
Ian was sitting on the front seat of the award ceremony. He and a few others had their special seats reserved at the front, according to their social status or merits.
Almost two hours had passed since Ian entered the Royal palace. All those royal etiquettes and then the King's speech it was tiring him out.
'Why's the seat next to me empty?'
Ian thought.
The merit ceremony was supposed to last a long time since a large number of people were supposed to get rewarded today. It was a once in a year ceremony, rewarding everyone who has done remarkable things for the last one year.
'And Arthur's name is at the end, as expected..'
Since he was the protagonist, his rewards were grander and more attention gathering than anyone else's.
Yawn.
A few nobles
"Is the seat next to you taken, young master?"Asked Arthur while smiling from ear to ear.'Seems like he has no intention of ignoring me..'Ian originally planned on ignoring Arthur if he did the same. Since Arthur had just recently started getting the public attention, Ian didn't want to be seen together with him outside of work."It's empty."But if Arthur was going to approach him so openly like that, he didn't have the heart to reject him openly in front of everyone either. Arthur was the protagonist of his favourite novel afterall.As the protagonist took the seat right next to him, suddenly, Ian felt like all the attention of the world was on him. He wondered if it was the side effect of being with the protagonist."Is it your turn next, young master?"Arthur asked in a curious voice. Since the awar
"Young master..""Son..""Ian! How come you always have the answer to every problem?!Mister wizard! Please hurry and find my sister now!""Yes Prince Albert. Right away!"Arthur and Miller showed their bewilderment while Albert shouted in joy and hurried the wizard.Once he received the earring, the wizard managed to quickly track the princess down."It seems like they're planning on leaving the city."He pointed to a specific location on the map and spoke. The others weren't as tense as before since they all had a ray of hope now."Father. I'll go rescue her right away. My knights are ready."Reynold spoke, ready to take off any moment."I'm going with you."Albert said blocking his way. He didn't want to lose
"The food was good."Ian said. Rianne also had quite a satisfied look on her face. She didn't plan on having dinner with Ian in the first place. But seeing how considerate he was, and how there was no one bothering her when she stayed with him, Rianne changed her mind."Yes. I enjoyed it as well.""What do you plan to do now?"Ian asked casually. He initially wanted to leave the party as soon as the ceremony was over. But with the whole princess kidnapping case, he had to stay here till the end and look after things."I don't have any prior engagements."Rianne replied. She didn't seem to have any intention of mingling with the nobles present at the party."Hmm.. You don't have any friends?"Ian asked. Corner would've dropped his sword if he heard Ian speak like that, and Rob would've had a heart attack. The blu
"Young master, what are you trying to do?"Rianne asked in a small voice from behind Ian. She was worried a fight might break out here if Ian started throwing punches randomly. It may even sour the relationship between the two families."Have a conversation."Ian spoke, the nasty aura around him disappeared and his expressions returned to normal.'A conversation?'Rianne wondered if she heard correctly as she saw Ian approaching William. She wanted to stop him from causing trouble but amidst all that people, she was unable to do so."Young master William, are you okay?"Ian asked as he closed the distance between them within a few steps. William still wasn't paying any attention to him and he was grateful for that fact.When William was within Ian's reach, he looked at the girl. There wasn't anything wrong
The party hall was deadly silent as the confrontation between Ian and Vel took place.Ian was, from his point of view, trying to save Vel the embarrassment of getting his ass kicked by his own hostage, Rianne.But Venom and Vel both seemed to have misunderstood his intentions as someone who was trying to protect their lover.The nobles around also had similar thoughts. Adrian pursuing Rianne was a story well known to many people in the kingdom. Specially the nobles, they knew each other's every moves since it was in their habit to do so."You're wrong... Listen.. Let's not complicate matters more than necessary, okay?"Ian tried to negotiate."Since it looks like you guys want to take someone hostage, how about me?I'm one of the people with the highest importance and priority here, you know."
'Young master Adrian is hurt..'Rianne thought to herself. She could clearly smell the faint scent of blood coming from Ian's direction.But even when she asked if he was okay, he answered as if nothing was wrong. Just when Rianne was trying to figure out Ian's condition, she heard other footsteps coming from behind them.The three people that were with Venom was approaching them from behind. One of the three guys mumbled something to her ears and she chuckled."Not a bad idea indeed!"She spoke delightfully. Her eyes looked more vicious than ever as she twirled another small knife in her other hand.'What's she planning now?'Ian wondered, getting a bad feeling from the way she maliciously smiled."This'll keep you to your place."She whispered and moved her hand. Th
An hour later.Arthur and the other's of the special force were already inside the mansion. Since they didn't know where the princess was being kept, they had to check every corner of the mansion while maintaining their stealth."Stop. Hide."The leader of the team signalled and they quickly moved. An enemy went past the place they were standing moments ago. After he had disappeared from their vicinity, they all came back to the same spot once again."He came out of that room."The leader spoke. It was enough to tell the other's where their next target was. When they arrived in front of the room, they could see that it was locked from the outside.Click.But since no mana seal was applied, the lock was broken easily and they quickly went inside after confirming that only a single person was inside."
Inside the party hall.Ian was trying hard not to fall asleep. An hour or so had passed already. The noble kids were all on the ground a bit far away from him and Rianne.Their hands were tied up and were under constant observation of the five criminals. Rianne was currently right beside Ian since they decided that only one person was enough to keep an eye on both of them.'And it obviously had to be that bastard.'Vel was guarding them while the other three were in charge of the other noble kids. As for Venom, she was eating.That's right. She was eating. All the high quality foods prepared by the royal family was simply wasting away on top of the tables so she decided to have some for herself."Whoa... Isn't that her fifth bowl?"Ian couldn't help but exclaim as he kept watching her stuff her mouth. She was definitely
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