Yuuta slowly sheathed his blade as he faced the tree line. 'Did that look cool? Hopefully, it looked as cool as it did in my head! I need to make a good impression or Ria's brother will hate me.' he turned away from the filleted hog with a nervous smile trying to quickly gauge the reactions of his spectators.

Ash had his mouth open looking back and forth between his sister and supposed fiance. "Wha..how... Just who are you!" Ria walked up to her confused brother and got on her tippy toes to tap her brother on the forehead.

"Didn't I just tell you who he is dummy," she said with a small giggle. "His name is Yuuta Vermillion Future lord of Yuart and A-rank adventurer," she said with her sickeningly sweet smile. Yuuta was already behind Ria butting into the conversation. " You forgot my most important title beautiful." Snatching her up from behind twirling her around making her laugh as everybody watched in either envy, interest, or disgust at how cringe it was to watch from the sidelines. '

Yuuta put her down giving her a kiss on the cheek making her blush as red as the day she met him. Ash's brotherly instincts kicked in and he was about to punch the white-haired perv in his smug face but before he could the look on Yuutas face got intensely serious as he walked towards Ash. 'Goddamn it why is his aura so intimidating he's not much older than Ria this little brat is on another level.'

Ash had to physically stop himself from stepping backward. The warrior inside him told him he wouldn't win a fight against this monster. Yuuta stoped directly in front of Ash the same intense stare still on his face he bowed as deep as he could making everybody in the company gasp. " Before my title of Lord or the duties of being an A-rank adventure Ria is my priority! I know you just met me and this all is happening so fast I understand if your upset or mad but please let me say my piece before you respond." Yuuta straightened up and looked Ash in the eyes.

'What the hell is this crazy bastard doing bowing to me in front of all these people. Is he trying to give me a complex or something.' Ash was trying to keep his cool if he was honest he was mostly just confused. He wasn't too amused about his little sister having a fiance but she was safe and happy that's all that mattered to him.

He nodded his head not sure how to respond. He wanted to push him aside and ask his sister a million questions but when he glanced over to her she had a serious face that was reminiscent to their moms when she was deadly serious.

Yuuta gave a breath of relief at Ash's nod. He wished there wasn't a whole audience for this but what can you do. with that though a little light bulb went off in his head. 3 people sized portals showed up underneath Ria, ASh, and Yuuta as they disappeared from the open field.

Lara and Barret stared at each other for a moment before Barret spoke. "He's an odd one wouldn't you say?" Lara coughed out a laugh before nodding her head. "Well, not much we can do lets head for the city before it gets dark. I don't want to get caught out here if another monster decides to wander out here. Besides, I figure I'm going to have a long conversation with the city guard when we get back."

"But cap what about Ash are we just gonna leave him alone with that monster. He took the Troll Boar down in one swing and vanished into thin air." the company seemed to agree not wanting to leave one of their most valuable members alone with the mysterious man.

"What do you expect me to do about it you idiots they vanished into the ground I don't know where they went. They could be halfway across the world." She let out a sigh at the sheer stupidity of her company. They were outmatched when it came to that man besides she didn't feel like he was a threat. 'Judging by his reaction that was his little sister. They need their privacy anyways no reason for us to butt in.' Lara thought to herself.

********

"UGH!! Yuuta I told you to warn me when you do that my stomach feels like its doing flips." Ria gave a small pout as she looked around the new room they were in. It was new to her the medium-sized room held two couches and a plain wooden table. It looked very similar to the meeting rooms in the castle but the vibe of the room was off.

"Sorry I forgot to tell you. Here let me help." Yuuta once again placed his hand over Ria's stomach. A small light appeared very briefly before Ria let out a small breath of relief as her stomach calmed down.

Of course, Ash wasn't taking it much better as he ran around frantically trying to find somewhere to release the built-up vomit in his mouth. He chose a classy looking vase making Yuuta snicker as Ria went to comfort her brother. They were already bonding again over their hatred of his gate technique.

"I would say you get used to it but you never get used to vertigo it causes when you change orientation so fast." She said rubbing his back. " Yea a little heads up next time wouldn't hurt. He said as he chugged some water.

"My bad guys anyways take a seat I'm sure you have a lot of questions I'm more than happy to answer."

Ash took a seat as he eyed down his future brother in law. Ria sat nervously next to Yuuta trying to diffuse the non-existence fight that she was sure was going to happen. She knew her brother was going to do his usual big brother act and piss Yuuta off, though she wasn't too worried she knew Yuuta knew how much this meant to her.

Ash stayed quiet for a moment before tears started to pool around his eye. A very rare thing was happening for him his emotions were boiling over and they all wanted to come out at once. "Where have you been? Where's mom? You were gone by the time the fighting had stopped me and dad looked everywhere for you. When we found the dead bodyguard we assigned to the carriage we thought the worse! We tried to follow the tracks but the soldiers surrounded us took us, prisoner. They hauled us to querth the next day and were stuck in the dungeon for months before they finally let us go. We ended up in this damned city broker than we were when we were slaves."

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Ria tried to stay calm she knew this was coming and had secretly been fearing this. She thought this scenario over thousands of times and she still didn't have a solid answer. Yuuta watched her as she tensed up the emotion building on her spaced-out face. He knew she was thinking of how to tell her story without upsetting her brother. When he heard it for the first time he wanted to burn the world down for what it did to her. 'That damn monster if he wasn't already dead I would hunt that fucker down to the ends of the earth.' Yuuta shook his head trying to clear his head now wasn't the time to get angry this Ria needed him for this.

"Ash. I..I.I'm sorry mom is..." Ria couldn't finish her sentence before breaking down she just whispered I'm sorry over and over. Ash jumped to his sister ready to comfort her knowing where she was going. He himself was on the verge of breaking down but he had assumed his mother's fate for over a year now. He had been dealing with the grief for a long time a small part of him was relieved he finally knew for certain his mother's fate. Before he could cross the gap RIa lunged into Yuuta's chest wrapping her shaking arms around him.

"It's ok... I'm here, just breath." Yuuta whispered comforting words as he rubbed her back soothing her sobs. Ash froze not sure what to do he wanted to hug his sister tell her its alright. But he only sighed and sat back down on the couch opposite of the two. ' I guess that's not my job anymore.'

Yuuta looked over at Ash and saw he was taking the news in stride. " I will tell you what I know," Yuuta said hugging Ria harder. " Is that ok Ria I don't want to reveal anything you want to keep between us." She was silent for a minute as she looked up her big blue eyes looking deep into his. "It's ok Yuuta I can do this." She said shakily as she loosened her grip and pulled away from him.

At that moment he wasn't sure why but he pulled her back in not wanting to let go. Maybe it was his need to protect her or just the thought of what she was going through made him want to show his love for her even more. "You don't have to this alone remember. It's me and you till the end of the world remember."

Ria stopped for a moment before giving it some thought. " Thank you, Yuuta but I need to do this myself. It's my story I will tell it!" Ria proceeded to tell her story no matter how hard it got she didn't stutter or breakdown she told her story with her head high and her back straight.

That couldn't be said for Ash his emotion changed rapidly the first shock then sadness, anger, and finally rage pure anger. He was seething when he heard what his uncle did to his mother his sister. He wanted to scream get revenge, kill himself so he could go to the afterlife and kill his uncle again. Ria's words slowed when it got their mother's fate each word was like spikes stuck in her dry throat clawing their way out in unrhythmic beats.

Yuuta sat quietly threw all of it. It wasn't any easier hearing it for a second time but he knew what was coming. All he could do was ball up his rage and let Ria tell her story. HE only quietly rubbed her back trying to soothe her. He didn't know how much an effect it had. It was the only thing she could focus on so she didn't break down in tears.

"Yuuta found me in the forest and saved my life killing the man trying to buy me. I have been with him ever since. When I was the most broken he put me back together. He didn't know any of this at the time, but he still took me in cared for me gave me a place to live/ food, and most importantly he loved me for every part, not just the happy submissive parts. The jealous me, angry me, petty me, even the spiteful me. He's done so much for me there's no way I couldn't fall in love with him I honestly don't even know how he loves me he could have anybody but he constantly reassures me that I'm the only one for him and as hard as it is to believe when he looks at me I know he's telling the truth. It's cheesy but he looks at me differently his gaze is so loving it makes my head spin and I get all red and embarrassed its actually a real problem." Ria gasped and covered her mouth not realizing how much of a tangent she went on.

"Sorry, this always happens when I talk about him hence the problem I mentioned. Like I was saying if I was to be truly honest if Yuuta hadn't found me I'm certain I wouldn't be alive. I definitely wouldn't have found you let alone come here to see you and father. I know this will be a big adjustment for you and father but believe me, I owe Yuuta everything so please try to get along I know you're just being my big brother and trying to protect me but I don't need to be protected from him." Ria finished eyeing her brother down to see his reaction.

" I owe just as much to you Ria," Yuuta spoke up. "You have no idea how much you changed my life so enough with the who owes who ok. As far as I see it I'm forever in debt to you. For loving someone like me." He said with a playful wink and smile exposing his sharp canines and nudging her side making a small smirk escape from her lips.

"Nope if we tallied up the score I'm sure I owe you more than you owe me so deal with it." She said poking his forehead with her angelic laugh. "Fine then let me make a list and well see who owes who. first, we could start with that thing you do in the bed...." before he could finish Ria went bright red and covered his mouth with her hands begging him to shut up.

Ash watched on in silence as Ria just told the most horrific story he had ever heard and was now laughing and joking around. That's when it really hit him this wasn't just some puppy love that was going too far this was the real deal, real love. 'No use trying to stop this. He seems like a good man with a good heart he's already proved he can handle himself and protect Ria. Not to mention being a lord, insanely rich, and by far the greatest warrior I've ever seen. The gods must be smiling down on our family for once no reason to spit in their faces.

Ash shot up from the couch causing the two to stop their joking around and focus on him. He walked confidently to the other side of the room and stopped in front of Yuuta. Yuuta took the queue and stood up looking ash in the eyes. The room got eerily quiet as the two stared each other down. Then to Ria's shock Ash bowed to Yuuta before speaking.

”You saved my sister I am in your debt for everything you have done for her. You honor me and my father I'm sure he will say the same when you meet him. Though technically unneeded let me still say this, I approve of your relationship and pending marriage I am extremely happy my sister has found a man like you." Yuuta and Ria were in shock, to say the least. Ash gave a big smile and a thumbs up. " Welcome to the family bro I hope you like me cause you're stuck with us forever.