"What did you say?" Acht almost didn't believe his ears so he asked again just to make sure.
"I-I'm the son of the king of Surgia." The boy said with a new fear in his heart. He thought that maybe Acht had some kind of hatred toward his father. If that was the case, then he might as well start digging his grave.
Acht stood silent for a couple of moments before asking again.
"What's your name?"
"...Leon Von Surgia…" he said with clear wariness in his eyes.
Acht squinted his eyes to the size of needles while trying to discern whether he was lying or not.
Then, he smirked slightly with amusement. He was sure of one thing now since he took a good look at his face.
'Who thought I would meet one of the main characters of the book here out of all places.' He shook his head while scoffing at himself.
"So, I'm going to assume that this dungeon location was leaked to you because of your status."
"Yes."
It seemed like this coward was already aware of what kind of tests the hunter exam will have. That's totally predictable since Acht knew the hunter association had some corruption going on in its high authorities. As for this, this is nothing but a small bribery or blackmailing at best. He didn't want to think of what kind of atrocities those bastards did for their own benefits.
"Sigh, anyway. This won't change anything, you will still lead me to the dungeon and I will still chop you to pieces if you turn out to be a liar so don't abuse your own luck. Let's go."
"Y-Yes!" The boy stood up as fast as he could and started walking again.
Acht watched him carefully and then whispered to Tania.
"You know him?"
"Mm." She nodded her head quietly.
"Is he worth trusting?" He asked again as his eyes grew colder and colder by the moment.
She stood silent for a moment before nodding her head but with less vigor than usual. She also seemed to be suspicious of him but not to the point where she will call him a liar.
Then, the group continued their journey. Leon seemed to be hesitant even when he was walking since he halted his steps sometimes to take a look at his device and then at the sea of trees around him to search for the location.
But, luckily, not even one hour later, he seemed to have found the dungeon.
"It's here!" He said with a shout of delight. His life was as close to being salvaged as it could get.
What he pointed at was a small boulder randomly put between the trees. It had a small hole akin to that of a rabbit and a few smaller rocks covering it from the sides, leaving the bare minimum of light to pass through.
It was quite well hidden and even Acht wasn't sure of his ability to notice it. It just looked like a boulder that faced the test of time and that hole was nothing but the aftermath of it.
Acht and Tania looked at each other for a brief moment. They both conveyed their thoughts to each other without even talking much. Then, Acht looked at Leon and said,
"You could leave." Then, he started pushing the rocks away to enter the whole.
He was sure that it was a dungeon since the soul energy around it was way denser than the forest and so it had monsters inside.
"Yes! Thank you so much! I will never forget this favor!" He bowed multiple times with extreme happiness. He had run away from the people that were chasing him and now he also escaped the clutches of a monster in a small boy's skin. It was as if he died and got reborn multiple times.
But, as he was about to turn around and leave, Acht pulled him from his collar and made him enter the whole with them.
"Wh-"
"Shhhh" He hushed him in a hurry and looked at the outside with his sharp eyes.
Then, a few moments later, 10 armored men or so passed by the whole. They walked in a clear order as if they were some kind of army.
Acht could feel the strength of each individual so he was sure they weren't normal.
Leon also saw them and he felt his heart jump to his throat. Was it not for Acht pulling him inside, he would've been caught easily.
"Follow me," Acht said as he released Leon from his tight grip and started walking deeper and deeper inside.
When they walked deep enough that the armored warriors outside couldn't hear. Acht turned around and spoke with a sarcastic tone.
"You caught the interest of some interesting fellas, huh."
Leon scratched his head in shame while averting his eyes. It seemed to be a sensitive topic for him. But, Acht couldn't care less if he was hurt by it.
"Who are they? And why are they following you?"
The boy sighed as he heard the questions.
"They are some people hired by our neighboring kingdom to assassinate me. Someone leaked the fact that I will participate in the hunter exam."
"Why would they want you dead, hm?"
"Of course, they would want me dead. They don't see me as 'Leon' but as 'The son of the strongest powerhouse in the lower world'. I'm a good target to use as a weapon to destroy Surgia."
'He seems to be having it rough, huh.' Acht wondered to himself.
"Anyway, I can't let you leave this place since you will expose this place and pull us with you. If you want, you could stay here until they leave…or you could follow us."
Leon gulped a mouthful of saliva and his eyes were automatically drawn to the outside where he could see the armored man still walking around and searching.
"I-I will follow you!"
***********************
While Acht was dealing with these problems, the wheels of fate were changing slowly and quietly.
In a huge castle-like house, far away from where Acht was at the moment. The place seemed to be in the middle of a huge metropolitan city.
The house was as extravagant from the outside as it was from the inside. It was something that only the top 1% of the world could afford.
Inside a luxurious room in this villa. A woman was sitting behind a desk, writing something on a stack of papers. Her distinctly red hair looked like a string ember of fire shining in the dark room. Her cold eyes kept looking at the papers with deep concentration.
Then, she heard a knock on the door followed by a respectful voice.
"Ms. Scarlett, the patriarch is asking for you." The voice said with a calm tone.
"I will be coming shortly." She answered as she stacked the papers again and stood up. Then, her eyes were briefly drawn to the window where she could see a full moon shining faintly as it created a huge shadow, lurking over the city.
This scenery made her remember a certain boy she met not that long ago. She remembered how they trained under such a light of the moon. His distinct features, his black hair, and even his expressions, she remembers them all extremely well.
'Hmm~ is he doing ok? Maybe he's in trouble? No! I should stop being a worrywart. My cute Acht will never fail to do anything~ He's strong and capable enough~ and….Hmm~"
She bit her mouth seductively as she imagined all kinds of scenes in her head. Since the moment she had met him, all she could think about was his silhouette. He was now the sole thing she cared about and longed for.
'When will you grow up~ I can't wait for that~ I might lose my patience~' She blushed slightly at her own lewd thoughts before shaking her head and returning to her cold expression.
Then, she left the room and walked down the hallway. Then, she stopped in front of a huge door.
*Knock* *Knock*
She knocked lightly and waited for a reply.
"You can come in." A deep voice answered almost immediately.
She then opened the door and entered inside. The room was even bigger than hers and even more extravagant. Everything in it is an expensive object worth a fortune by the world's standards.
"Is there any problem, father?" She asked.
"Sit down, Scarlett. I need to talk to you." The man answered.
He was middle-aged and handsome. His body was sturdy and his aura was almost near that of Thyrus. He was the patriarch of the GoldKnight family. Damian GoldKnight.
Scarlett nodded and took a seat not far away from his desk.
"I won't take much of your time. But, I was curious about some things. Where have you disappeared for the last 3 weeks?" He asked.
Scarlett didn't flinch and answered with her usual calm tone.
"I found a mission that I could get some useful rewards from so I took some time to finish it."
The man squinted his eyes slightly before nodding his head.
He had his suspicions but he didn't want to corner his dear daughter any longer. He loved her a lot after all.
"Hm, I understand. Anyway, I didn't invite you here to only ask about that. I wanted to inform you of something important actually." He said as he stood up and walked to a huge window by his desk.
"You are getting engaged."
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I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Don't forget to support this book. I would be more than happy if you review the book and give me your opinion about it. Thank you and have a good day <3
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺