************
In the middle of a dense forest, many camps could be seen. Various structures had been built for the accommodation of people. This was the temporary base of the Abyss Guild, located in the lost lands of Somaria. Various people could be seen transporting huge monster corpses through the established teleportation gate. Several people covered in armor and blood were resting after a probably tiring exploration.
A mile ahead, a man in his forties could be seen resting on a big rock with a reddish greatsword resting beside him.
"Guildmaster, Vice-Guildmaster Arthur has contacted you," a man wearing armor reported to Nathan Greville.
"Hoh, and why has that damn son of mine, who clearly hates me for handing him all that paperwork, contacted me now?" Nathan said with his eyes still closed.
"He has invited you to your grandchild Asher Greville's 14th birthday party," the man replied.
"Did nobody tell him that this old man is exploring a damn SS-Rank dungeon? Why the hell would I have any time to attend such things?" Nathan said, ignoring everything his guild member had just said.
"Guildmaster, he has sent a video message for you!" the man said, playing the recorded voice.
A hologram appeared, showing Arthur sitting in his office.
"Father, I know you will probably ignore the invite, so I will not force you," Arthur said.
'Yeah, that's how you should behave, you crazy bastard,' Nathan thought.
"Don't worry about Asher, he will just be sad, so I will support him in his tough times. Please handle all the Guild work yourself because I will have to resign regretfully," the hologram said before closing.
Nathan opened his eyes, which were gleaming dangerously.
"This fucking brat dares to leave that huge pile of paperwork to this fragile old man!!" He said, with two veins popping on his forehead.
'How are you fragile?' The guild member thought, not having enough courage to say it to Nathan's face.
"Tell all the guild members I will be out for two weeks and tell them to stay away from the vicinity of the dungeon for the meantime," Nathan said.
Boom
Nathan jumped off the big stone, leaving a crater behind.
"It seems I haven't beaten him enough to fix that battle maniac head of his!" Nathan scoffed while darting off towards Soran at an incredibly high speed.
"Sigh, but you could have used the teleportation gate..." the guild member left behind said, watching Nathan take off towards Soran.
****************
Lucas was overwhelmed with emotions as he saw Asher appear. He was a young 10-year-old who had experienced difficult times, and he worried that Asher and his sister might be harmed. However, when he heard Asher's response, he was relieved.
"Who are these people, Lucas?" his weak twin sister, Livia, asked as she opened her crimson red eyes.
"They are people who will take us with them and treat you well," Lucas told her directly.
"What?" Livia jumped out of her bed.
"Don't worry, I will explain everything to you," Lucas said as he calmed his sister.
"This is my twin sister, Livia," Lucas introduced her to Asher and Emmy.
"Liv, they are from the family our father was from!" Lucas explained to her so she could understand the situation.
"What? But mother said to stay away from them," Livia said as she hid her head under the thin bedsheet.
"Don't worry, I am here to take you to the place you deserve to live," Asher spoke before Lucas could explain further.
However, Asher's indifferent face did not help much in this situation. Livia was even more terrified of Asher now. She looked at Lucas, asking him for help. Lucas moved closer to her and she whispered to him.
"Are you sure they will not hurt us?" Livia worried about her and her brother's safety.
"Don't worry, if he wanted to harm us, he would have done it already!" Lucas tried to calm his sister down.
Lucas was strangely comfortable with Asher, even though nobody in their right mind would think of being with Asher as comfortable in any way. He always radiated an "don't trouble me" aura, and his cold demeanor kept people from getting close to him.
Livia was a bit shorter than Lucas, and her body was weak due to an unknown illness. She was a bit more normal for her age than Lucas, since most of her time was spent lying in bed and chatting with Lucas. Her eyes were innocent, unlike Lucas's sharp eyes, which were a bit like Asher's.
Although Lucas's face was not as emotionless as Asher's, the way he carried himself was a bit like Asher. His rough life until now had made him let go of any emotions like guilt and remorse. All that mattered to Lucas was his goal of taking care of his sick sister.
"I am Asher Greville, the current heir of the Greville Family and your cousin. Your father, as you know, was the little brother of my father and his name was Ivar Greville," Asher introduced himself in an attempt to calm Livia a bit. He did not know how to behave in front of children.
"I will tell you more about your father and introduce you to the rest of the family later. But right now, we need to leave this area. You might not know it, but your condition is quite serious and you need to be treated as soon as possible," Asher explained their situation to them.
After hearing this, Lucas and Livia looked at each other and nodded, signaling their approval. Asher turned to Emmy, who was standing there watching their interaction. He told her to carry Livia to the car, as she might not be able to walk properly in her condition.
Lucas followed behind Asher, keeping his distance to Livia short in order to assist her whenever she needed his help. Asher didn't mind Lucas' behavior and was confident that after saving Livia, she would trust and follow him faithfully.
When they arrived at the front of Asher's Roll-Royce, both Lucas and Livia were surprised to see such a fancy and cool car. They had only ever seen hunter vehicles in their area and luxury vehicles like this were new to them.
Lucas sat quietly, but Livia, who was in Emmy's arm, was looking around the car with shining eyes. She seemed to really like the car and, seeing this, Asher spoke to her, "Don't worry, you can have even better cars from now on." His words surprised Livia, who stopped looking around the car, embarrassed by her behavior. Although she never demanded anything from Lucas, as she knew how hard he worked to take care of her, even Lucas was surprised to see his sister react this way.
The car began moving in the direction of the Greville mansion, taking its time so that the kids could calm their nerves and enjoy the ride.
Asher thought to himself, "I can use the Item Duplicate on the healing elixir and use it on Livia, saving the other one for future use." He remembered the rewards for his quest this time and asked the system,
"Can I buy these Item Duplicate things from the shop?"
[No, some quest rewards are unique and cannot be obtained again or purchased from the [Shop] tab.]
Asher reminded himself, "I need to be careful handling unique items in the future."
Asher called out to the system in his mind, "Status."
----------------- Fate Devourer System -------------------
[Name] : Asher Von Raven Greville
[Level] - 2 (EXP 0/2000)
[Bloodline] : Devil's Absorption Rank SSS
[Blessing] : Goddess of Time(Sealed)
[Body Constitution] - Mana Core Rank E
[Shop] [Quests] [Synthesis]
[-Attributes-]
Strength: 32
Agility: 27
Endurance: 40
Intelligence: 55
Mana: 45
Stamina: 40
Charm: 57
Fate: 2730
[AP]: 5 [SP]: 2
[-Skills-]: Time Dilution (Rank S) Lvl 1, Absorption (Rank S) Lvl 1, Ash-Sword Art (Rank C), Mana Flow (Rank C)
"How much fate do I need to unlock the [Shop] tab" Asher asked the system in his mind.
[ Host needs to gather 10000 Fate points to unlock [Shop] tab ]
"Quite a large amount to gather" Asher told himself.
"And with this I can stop Grandfather from going back" Asher was relieved.
Convincing Nathan Greville was really annoying task. And now with Lucas and Livia, he could use them as a purpose to stall him for two more weeks.
