Sensing the annoyances who’re closing on to us, I collected my thoughts for how shall this situation be dealt with. First let's consider the pros. Knowing them who are pretty much rich sons or daughters from seeing them eating dinner in a luxurious restaurant, they should at very least know some organizations that have certain goals or objectives. Perhaps, there might be a hidden group that is possibly the perpetrator who affected and made the people living in the slums miserable. Just like the group I had enslaved, they were also an organization for the reason of doing anything for money. However, if I was to associate myself with others without considering how it shall affect me, I will end up with the short stick in my plans. Not only that, I wouldn't know much for what these kids who lived in luxury all there life, have plans for me. With these thoughts flowing through my head. I've decided to pry into their objective for why have they followed us.

Numbering 3 in total, they at last catched up to us. Huffing a little from the small exercise they had done, one of them shouted, " Oi, you three with the grey fox!"

Turning around the moment they shouted, I first looked at who the 3 were. The most obvious thing i noticed when I looked at them was they were all males. They wore the same clothing, a black suit with some yellow trim on it. Having short black hair which is very common in this world, which makes colored hair such as white and purple rare, one of them asked us, "Tell me which household you 3 belong to.” When saying this, I could hear the curiosity within their voices. However, I can’t help but have my suspicions for the reason they had came to us. It was very doubtful if they merely desired to know which household we belong to. Although in truth we don’t belong to any household.

Giving the 3 an odd look I spoke out, “These 2 belongs to my Azzur household. Is there something you require from me?” Attempting to come up with a cover, I tried to create a nice name to use. However, nothing came to mind except for my last name. In the end, since it would’ve been strange if I didn’t answer to them immediately, for which they may have suspicions if I’m whether or not a noble despite my looks that gives off that aura, I made my decision to use my last name. Even if it sounds unusual or weird, I believed I can fend of any questions they may ask of me or my group.

Hearing my reply, the same one questioned, “...Azzur? That is strange, I don’t know of any house who has that name. Is it that you’re from another country?”

Smiling, I answered, “Yes, I came from another country. However, I would like to keep where I came from to myself.”

“No, no, no. We always respect a person’s privacy. Only,” he directed his eyes Nylen as he looked at her with unhidden lustful eyes while having a slight grin, “you 3 have some sort of aura which attracted us.. We can’t help but look at you 3.”

With the obvious lust the late-teen boy displayed, I see his friends weren’t that different as their eyes keep moving to the direction to Nylen. Jeez, I didn’t expect someone to be so bold for going after Nylen. To be truthful, I knew Nylen would attract many gazes because of her unordinary purple hair and beautiful facial features. With long eyelashes and small pink lips, and with absolutely nothing on her body which could ever be considered not beautiful and attracting. Unless it is a person’s specific fetishes, then Nylen’s appearance is flawless.

Responding to his praise, “Thank You for the flattery, but you guys have yet introduced yourselfs to us.” Pointing out this out to change the topic.

Taking a moment for the message to come in,“...My apologies. I’m Norton Barton,” gesturing a hand to his right, “ the guy to my right is Carlos Bekorth, and my left is Elmore Sky.” He said it as though he expect us to know of them. Are they famous or something?

“I’m Ridar Azzur. The other man next to me is Akuezhor and the lady here is Nylen. It is a pleasure to meet all of you.”

“We too feel the same way.” Politely finishing the introductions, they attempted a conversation with us, especially with Nylen. However, I told them that we had to go somewhere. Hearing this they questioned where and how may they help us. Unfortunately for them, I answered it was for personal matters and it wasn’t for others to get involved with. The 3 men still insisted to come with us very persistently. Because of this, I ended up leading them to an alleyway and karate chopped them at their necks after making sure no one was looking. Akuezhor and Nylen made sure of it by guarding the entrances to here. The 3 men should wake up in a few minutes or an hour later since I hadn’t hit that hard.

Laying them on the floor, I then exit the alleyway after letting Akuezhor and Nylen know I’ve finished dealing with the horny animals.

The sun had finally set and the moon rises up into the midnight sky. The many stars as they do, shines brightly with all their might. The torches in the streets, lit up so many could be on their way to their residence. The sounds around the kingdom slowly diminished. Although there are many people drinking at a beer tavern at this current time, it had become mostly silent. Kids would usually be asleep by this time by the parents forcing them to. The image of a child, skinny and frail sleeping with their heads rested on their parents lap in the slums.

These thoughts swirled around my head. Unable to think of anything else, I mentioned to my 2 servants that we are going to the slums area to see how the people there are doing. They both agreed. With that, we slowly walked there.

--

Arriving there, the first thing that was noticed was the difference in smell in this particular area and the other areas of the kingdom. It smelled of vomit, feces, urine, and maybe possibly the decaying corpses. Remembering the way to the building where the miserable people slept at. Worried, I went and followed the directions I had in my head. Before long, I arrived to my destination and immediately I could hear the weeping and moans of the miserable in there. Reaching outwards to the doorknob, and turned it while pushing my way in, Akuezhor had a nervous expression and Nylen had one of curiosity. Nemaus is the usual. Stepping inside, what caught my attention first was a woman of only bone and skin, was weeping with a child lying still on her bony lap. She was hugging the child with a bit of red in her eyes. Her frizzle hair showing signs of stress and agony. The child was lying still ,ever so still that you would only think he or she was sleeping peacefully.

Wrong. The child was very still, however, his skin looks ashened like it hadn’t have blood run through his body. The smell of a corpse I’m familiar with is coming from the child. The same man from last time who tossed away a woman’s corpse, stood up and went to the child who must have died hours ago from the color of his skin. Maybe he’s sympathizing with the mother from losing her child who she raised with all strength. When he went over to her, he picked up the child. The mother desperately held onto her baby, however, her already weakened body wasn’t enough to aid her.

The man got a hold of the baby and went towards the door of this building while ignoring us, and again did the same with the dead woman. Tossing the dead body to another location so it may decay without bothering him, I started to get back to the gloomy building. Since there wasn’t any nearby soil where you can bury a person here, you can only either burn the body or let it decay somewhere else.

As he was about to leave off, I activated one of my divine ring’s ability, ‘Concealment’. Slowly my body vanishes from sight. Stealthy getting up behind him, I made contact with him as my hands grabbed onto his head, ‘Soul Reading’ activated, I read through his memories. I wouldn’t want to do this normally, but my desire to save them weighs more than the guilt I would feel towards them by this act.

Memories passed into my mind as I slowly took out what I required from the flow and before long, I got a lead. After finishing ‘Soul Reading’ I let go of the man after using ‘Soul Manipulation’ and took out memories from the soul.

The “soul” is pretty much a container of memories even power can be measured by the soul. Depending on who the person is, their source of power may come from the soul, which allows you to use magic, but some depends on their physical body for power, and they are warriors.

Letting go after I was done altering his memories, he slumped down on the ground. He wouldn’t be able to remember anything after the moment he threw the child’s dead body away. Setting him up right so he doesn’t sleep on the dirty ground, I then returned to Akuezhor and Nylen. They noticed my actions just a few moments ago, however, Akuezhor seems to be totally fine with it. SInce he was the empathy kind of guy, I previously thought he would question me and all that. Unexpectedly, he was totally fine with it. At that moment, I realized that I didn’t really know much about Akuezhor. The only thing I really know was he isn’t an evil guy and he is lonely. Not knowing my companions for how they are like makes me feel awkward.

From now on, I’ll understand and know more about my companions, or fail trying.

Nylen and Akuezhor listening, I told them what I’ve gotten.

“He found a Relic level weapon?” Akuezhor frowned as he hears this and looked to the man sleeping.

“Only Relic level? That wouldn’t really do much to me sooo it isn’t really a threat.” Nylen yawned as she was bouncing on her huge beach ball. Akuezhor gives her ‘Only Relic level? What the hell are you saying!?’ look. But as he looked at me and then into the starry night sky, his expression of doubt vanishes as he most likely remembers the weapon, Aedriha. He must had have a feeling that weapon surpassed even of that of an Artifact or Relic level.

“Sorry, that wasn’t what I meant. I meant that nothing really happened on a huge scale .” I said,

Suddenly Nylen asks me with an exhausted tone. “Master~, can we sleep now? I’m so tired~. I want to sleep~” Saying this, she bounced towards me and hugs my chest.

Being surprised a jumped a back a bit. Looking down on her, I found out she is sleeping. Sighing, I carried her in princess style while giving a look to Akuezhor that we would talk about this tomorrow. He smiled wryly as we start to return to the inn.

Allow me to explain what I got in detail. (Small Story)

----

First of all, the man to which I absorbed memories from, was a former low-ranked noble named Arand Kuisto. His family deals with wheat trade mostly and gets decent income for their family. If anything, the life that he had was a very normal life. He learned from tutors ever since he was 8-years-old and does his studies at a proficient level.His father and mother were also very normal. They never had to deal with high-society parties as they are low-ranked nobles who are just a little bit wealthier than the common people. His parents also got himself a fiance. Neither ugly nor beautiful, but nevertheless, he loved her for who she is.

This very comfortable life though, took a sudden change the moment their family found a very powerful item when they were returning to their house. A black colored dagger with a grey hilt dagger was left on the ground irresponsibly. It has releasing a dangerous aura as if you touch it, you would die. They could feel the ominous aura leaking out from the dagger. Although they wanted to get away from it, they weren’t able to as if the black dagger was attracting them and pulling them in. Telling them to use the ominous dagger. In the end, they took it as they quickly come home.

They hired some of their private ‘Appraisal magicians’ to analyze the dagger and its power. Their private magicians in the end, failed to learn anything from it as their ability in ‘Appraisal’ wasn’t very strong. Coming to this, the Kuiso family had a family meeting to discuss how they should deal with the black dagger. They wanted to sell it, but someone could kill them if he or she knew they had such a unusual dagger. Maybe they could sell if off cheap, but who can say if one person who wanted it, wouldn’t threaten their family if they don’t tell him or her who they sold it too or got it from.

Because they weren’t able to come up with a good conclusion to sell it, they decided to keep it for themselves and hid it. They will only take it out if their life were to be in danger. It was suppose to end this way. However, rumors spread out of nowhere about the Kuisto family having to obtained an extremely powerful weapon. It was actually one of their magic appraisers who were part of the group who were attempting to analyze the black dagger. Though the Kuisto family only knew later on.

The higher-ranking nobles caught the attention of this and have been persistently and insistently asking their family for a visit. This caused them to be trapped in a corner. If they decline their visit, who knows what would happen to them. It wouldn’t be surprising if they were assassinated by someone. However, if they did accept it, the nobles with greed would try to find it as they visit their house. And that person could pressure them to give the dagger away by threatening them. Even the fiance’s family started to request them of the dagger. It was causing much stress within the family in just a few days.

How they dealt with it was to run away from this kingdom and start anew somewhere else. That was supposed to be the plan. However, as they took all their needed items and objects of value and tried to flee from here through the gates at night, they were interrupted by several black cloaked men. Those cloaked men ambushed them and immediately killed the mother and father with a stab through their throat, heart, and head. Arand quickly grabbed the dagger for his confrontation with death.

Before long after the assailants killed his parents, Arand sprinted towards them with the dagger in hand. As he was holding it with the desire to kill them, the dagger suddenly glowed with darkness. He felt as though his life was draining away, but he still continues on to avenge his beloved parents.

His speed dramatically increased as his life was slowly being drained away. The assailants surprised by this, gets into formation as they knew the dagger wasn’t ordinary. A skilled fighter will always triumph the unskilled fighter, but if the unskilled one was to hold a weapon that could kill with one scratch, then he would be dangerous.

Unfortunately for the assailants, Arand’s speed was to fast for any of them to react. The first assailant dies as Arand thrust the black dagger into the assailant’s arm. Blood begins to flow out of the arm, but that wasn’t the only thing. black curse marks appeared on his arm and starts moving towards his head. Before long, when it made contact with the assailant’s head, a Black Skull appears on his head as it was laughing. Arand feels as if his life force was coming back as the Skull’s laugh is giving him power. Soon after, the assailant that was wounded with the dagger, went limped onto the floor.

His other comrades started to hesitate as they were wary of the dagger. With just a stab through the body, the assailant died with a skull’s laughter. At this time, it was in the middle of the night. Fortunately for Arand, everyone was deeply asleep and even if they did hear it, they will soon doze off and not get out of their warm blankets.

Arand turns his gaze from the dead body to the other enemies. The group tried to think of a method to kill Arand, but it would highly risk their lives as they remembered how their comrade died. In the end, they decided to go all in, which was a mistake on their part as they have forgotten that the black dagger was more powerful than they would have thought to be. Powered by Arand’s desire to kill to avenge his family, the black dagger activates another ability as it gives information towards Arand’s mind. Instinctively, he raised his arm and points the dagger towards the group. Suddenly, a black magic circle appeared underneath the cloaked men on the ground.

They quickly acted and attempt to get out of the circle. However, black hands erupted out of the ground and immediately grabbed onto all of the men’s foot. As it made contact with them, other hands erupted out of the magic circle and attach themselves onto the cloaked men. A burned smell starts to spread around the area. The cloaked men starts to melt from the area where the hands were. Before long, all the men became a puddle of blood.

Arand took a deep breathe as he relaxed. Until a throbbing pain was felt all over his body. The pain was so tremendous he lost consciousness afterwards. Waking up in a daze, he finds that it was early morning right now. Though everyone was still asleep right now. Thoughts and memories surged out from him as he remembers what happened at night. His parents died, avenged them, and he lost consciousness.

Checking himself out, he finds his dagger was still in his hand. He then went to the area where his parents died. His parents were laying on top of each other with ashen skin. His eyes became teary and hot tears soon came out. Weeping and weeping.

Hoping for something to live for, he stealthily went towards his fiance’s house. Not long passed as he arrived to her gates and behind those gates was an above average white mansion. Arand jumped over the gates and sneakily went towards his fiance’s bedroom. Passing through bushes and stepping on the backyard’s garden and climbing up the tree where it would allow him to see his fiance sleeping through the window, he finds himself in grief and agony. His very fiance was sleeping with 3 other men. They were heirs to the Barton family, Sky family, and Bekorth family and they had an ecstatic expression on their faces. He could see white fluids on her fiance as he was on the tree branch.

Losing all his desires to live, he quickly ran away from the area where his former fiance lived. He ran wherever he is going. Thoughts keep appearing in his head. His mother giving him his birthday present when he finally reached the age of 16. His father drinking with him and shared his funny childhood stories. His fiancee he was to marry before long if they hadn’t gotten into this kind of trouble. Hot tears kept coming out of Arand’s eyes. He soon stopped running and finds himself in the slums. He finds himself looking around and see many people were sleeping everywhere. Outside of buildings, inside a trashcan, and much more. For some reason, he felt as if they were similar to him. Arand’s intuition tells him that everyone here had lost something important to them and decided to live with others who they can connect with even though the environment isn’t that great. However it doesn’t change the fact they lost most of their reasons to live. Everyone was simply waiting for something to happen. Either death or something to live for when it appears in front of them. And for some reason, everyone who lost their will to live comes here. It was unusual, but no one gave it much attention since they no longer cared.

Arand then spent months living here. Occasionally killing people who were searching for him and it seemed that his fiance died from an incurable illness which she caught a couple of months ago. However, it didn’t affect him much. All he desires is to see how his life would end up.

---

Ridar

Well, that was basically what happened. I have found out the reason wasn’t really a big scale at all. That place is a gathering place where people go to when they lost everything they lived for.

Anyways, it seems that Arand had found a Relic Weapon just a couple of months ago. Knowing this, I unintendedly got a good comprehension of the current situation. It seems that even the King is trying to find Arand for the Relic Weapon.

With these thoughts, Akuezhor, Nylen, Nemaus, and I went to sleep in the inn.

***

Bit better mood.

See you next time