“We have arrived! Let us move, it is time to rest!!”

As they were closing on the camp in the distance, which could be still seen with the last rays of the sun, the expressions of the guards brighten, as the exhaustion of the ride forth, and back without rest, coupled with the wounds from the battle fought several days ago, had taken a great toll on both the body and mind.

While the group was approaching the wooden wall, the guards looking from the watch tower notified the others of their presence, as a group led by the two others rank 4 guards, exited the camp, to welcome them back.

“Levis, go to your village and rest, we will talk properly tomorrow.”

“Alright—.”

“What?”

“My things?”

“Your statuettes right? A moment please.”

After Rowen passed the sack to Levis, which was the only property taken from his village, the boy entered the camp before any of them, while moving thru the numerous tents, and the small fires that were used by the various villages as hubs of assembly.

Though, only after he arrived in the northern part of the camp, where he could finally recognize a familiar person from his village that he greeted and asked about the village chief's whereabouts.

With the knowledge of the exact tent where the village chief was, Levis immediately took a few left and right turns, before he arrived at a negligibly more extensive tent.

“Village Chief!?”

“Hmm? Levis!? You have returned!!? Come in, come in!!!”

Yet, once he was inside the tent, Levis was greeted by the face of the man, that was grinning while also brimming in anger pointed at him.

“You dastardly brat, you left this place in such a hurry, once you spoke what you were going to do, that woman had nearly ripped my head in anger. So sit down, and tell me what you have to do, at the village?”

As Levis took a small chair and seated himself next to the bedridden man, he began to tell his reasons as to why he had to go back, as the face of the man lost any kind of joyous attitude, while taking a more somber countenance at the words told by Levis, meanwhile his head was down, and eyes were closed, as he was concentrating on listening at every word spoken by the boy, while also taking curios a glance at the sack that he was carrying with him, once Levis was done displaying his motive and story.

“I understand, why you had to go. However, this is an extremely rash move, as it were not for the guards to protect you all the time, what danger could you face alone?”

“I can protect myself!”

“Hmm! Try to say that to my wife and then come to me.”

“I can, I am strong, and I can fight as well, now—.”

“Slap”

“Is that right? Say it to my face then!”

“Ahh!!! Aunty v-village chief???”

However, as he was trying to refute the words from the man, a hand fell on his head making a resounding slapping noise, while a voice of a woman came from behind him, making his skin crawl, as though he had encountered, the most fearsome predator he could think of.

“Your run out like you own the world, and now you returned here, thinking you have become a man, you cub-size brat, it is time I teach you a lesson on what you will get when you do what you want and make others worry for you.”

“Ahhh, wait, Aunty my head, it hurts! No, no-, wait what are you—!”

“ “Slap” aah! “Slap” aaah!! “Slap” aaaahh!!!” “

Though, the screams of the boy did not resound for a lengthy time, as before long he was running at full speed from the tent while touching his buttocks which were larger than usual, while he was going in the direction of his tent, that he had used several days ago.

“Aww, aww, this really hurts, did she have to beat me like this, I am not a little boy anymore.”

[HAhah, kid, try to say that to anyone that will see you for the first time, and then we will talk. Though you could harden your skin on your bottom if you wanted, that way it would have been her to suffer.]

[How can I do that, is this not one of the things that I have to be careful of?]

[That is right, “suffer a little bit now if you want the riches from tomorrow” was it? Anyway, tomorrow we have other things to do, so for tonight you can take it easy and suck a bit on your thumb or one of that small soybean of yours.]

[Yes, yes.]

“Levis!!”

Nevertheless, as he was about to reach his tent, and entered inside of it, the voice of a little girl calling for him, came from some distance behind him, as noises of running footsteps were also approaching.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“What is it? What is that you want this time?”

[Why can I not sense them?]

Though as he turned his head to look at the one calling him and the owners of the noisy footsteps, he could see the same little girl, boy, and young child running towards him.

“Where have you gone this time? When you left a few days ago, Aunty had been so furious over you, that she had taken her anger onto us. Now you have to explain yourself.”

“Did no one tell you?”

“No one had known where you had gone, and the village chief had said nothing about you.”

“Well, I have visited the village, and taken my little statues back, look!”

“For those strange things!?”

“Can w-we play with them?”

“No!! These are for me to keep safe. And---, I am too tired and sleepy to play with you now, we can see each other tomorrow.”

“Alright then.”

As the children left and Levis entered his tent, he fell face first on the thick blanket that was his bed as tiredness was truly and really taking him, having a hard time keeping his eyelids open all of a sudden.

“I– am really sleepy.”

[Kid, you asked why you can not sense the villagers right, the answer is quite simple, as you are not proactively trying to sense or scan them, you can not sense them. Only when someone, uses their energy or harbors a strong killing and hostile intent towards you, your body will automatically alarm you, that is why—, kid are you listening to me?]

[He is sleeping! It seems that he was truly tired. I guess that after all, he had experienced in these days, pressure had pilled on him, to the point that now, when he feels somewhat safe, it came all crashing down on him at once, putting him in a deep sleep.]

[For once you make some sense. However, this little bastard could have waited and listened to me.]

[You can repeat yourself tomorrow, now just wait for him to wake up.]

At the same time when Levis was falling asleep out of his mental fatigue, someone else was wakening right at this very moment in the captain's tent, where old Wan and Rowen, were looking attentively, at the twitching eyelids, of the one lying down on the thick raw of blankets that were used as a mattress substitution.

“It is about time already!?”

“Hard to say that, young master. I am unsure of what kind of damage he could have received to his mental consciousness.”

“Re-ree-re-red!”

Though as the two men were speaking, the sudden soft mumbling of the man could be heard all of a sudden, making the two of them focus on the man even more intently.

“Ahhh-ahh! Nooo!! HE!!!”

“Adrian! Calm down, you are in no danger.”

“Captain? Arghhh!!”

“Do not move. Although your life is in no danger, your muscles and the rib bones still need to heal for a few more days.”

“Senior Wan? What happened, how did I arrive here!?”

“Well, you should that the scout and the guard that had followed you, otherwise you would have died a few times over, were it not for their intervention. However, what I what to know, is what happened to you. And why the Bandit's Stronghold had collapsed? Was it a trap by the rank 6 or someone else?------And how should I say this, congratulations on reaching rank 5!”

“What have you said—, captain!? Rank 5, this, why this can not b—?!”

Though at the statement, questions, and exclamation made by Rowen, Adrian was thrown into a storm of confusion, that could be seen by the two of them. Once he processed the information of himself reaching rank 5, his complexion which could be said to be good for one in his condition, palled in a somewhat terrifying aspect, as he seemed to remember something.

“What? What happened? And I told you, not to call me "Captain" all the time.”

As he was once more questioned and pressed by Rowen to speak of what had happened, Adrian, raised his head to look at the two men before him, with a grim aura about him, that gave the impression of being someone that had experienced a true kind of hopelessness in his own life.

“I—I remember everything that happened to me, however, it is not just remembering, is as though I have lived two times the same moment in my life. I do not know if you will believe me or not, but what happened at the bandit hold was-, was his–, no the information we had on him was wrong, his power was---, something else—.”

As Adrian began to narrate his happening inside the Stronghold, with a very detailed description, the countenances of both Old Wan and Rowen began to sunken into a dark shade, while the portrayal of the event was continuing. Though, as to the end of his narration, the two did not know what to say to the man before them, or about the “Red Pervert”, that could have been the worst situation possible were it for them to go or for him to come.

“His disciple? Is that what he had said?”

“Yes.”

Although, after a long moment of silence, made from the tension that came between the three of them, was broken all at once by the oldest of them, as he address Adrian directly.

“In that case—, I am about-, I want to verify something, this may be hard for you, but try to endure.”

The old man backed a few steps and made a full circle while looking around, he then turned back while fixing his eyes and body posture on Adrian, as the latter began to tremble as in his eyes the old man that usually gave the calm and refined manner, transformed into a cold, dead, and dark mountain.

However, Adrian was not the only one to tremble in fear, as Rowen’s own body stiffen while his teeth were clenched, as though a dog showing his canine as a last resort while facing an unbeatable predator.

And yet, as the old man alternated between the two young men’s eyes, he could observe the fluctuations and body language of both of them, yet at this moment Rowen seemed to have many thoughts going thru his eyes, while his body was trembling out of fear from the uncertainty of reaction he could take, whereas Adrian's eyes and body seemed far calmer than his young master.

“Huuu!”

As he was done, Rowen could not help but exhale from the pressure he had been put under, as it was something far too problematic for him given the difference in power.

“This was my power and some of my killing intent, power can crusher you but killing intent can draw your nature outside. From what you are exhibiting, it seems that you have experienced a far greater murderous intent than mine, which is quite surprising since I have some confidence in this aspect.”

“You tested him?”

“Yes, young master, I needed to know if he was telling the truth, or if he was hiding something, and as it stands now, I can somewhat be certain he is telling the truth. Though this just makes this place even more dangerous of a location than ever, especially now that I can be certain that this “Pervert” is not just far stronger than me, if I am, to tell the truth, he might actually be someone at the—----, Emperor stage in hiding.”

Finally, at the mention of the possible stage of the “Red Pervert” by the old man, both the two young men, had their faces fall in a somewhat shocked and pessimistic manner, as this was something that nighter of them had any right to even talk about, let alone try anything stupid such as taking any action against him.

“How sure can you be about that? Because if that's the case, we can no longer stay here at all, and report back.”

“I would like us to leave immediately, this is what I would do were I to be the one to decide. However, the young master has no such intent, right!?”

“We will leave in a few days, before that I need to talk with the villagers and make preparations, as many are still recouping from their injuries.”

“Very well.”

“In that case, Adrian, you will stay here and rest, focus on healing yourself. This way we can watch over you in case you still have hidden injuries or complications.”

“Thank you very much, Capt—, Rowen.”

“Now, old Wan, use some more bone healing elixir on him.”

Nonetheless, as senior Wan was carefully applying the healing liquid that Adrian had only heard of, in his eyes that were looking with an intense and strange gaze, there was something else than amazement as there was something hidden that he had not disclosed to them. In contrast, he himself had trouble and was finding it hard to comprehend as the “pervert” had called him, his last disciple. However, from his last words, there was supposed to be something that he had left inside his body, as that was the only explanation he could give for his sudden rise in rank, while at the same time, his body seemed to be nurtured from some unknown source.

[I can not say anything about this, otherwise, what will it happen to me? If anyone knew that my body contains something from an Emperor stage cultivator, I would probably ---. However—, if anything strange will happen to me I will come clean at that time. Till then, it is better to stay silent.]