Johan was lying on his back.

"Yup, right there. Uuuuh. hah, That's awesome."

Videl was massaging him after his training with Bahamut. She tried her best to make her Lord feel at peace.

"Lord Johan, if there is any-"

"Everything's alright. Just continue the massage."

"As you wish."

He wasn't actually hurt anymore. The healing ability was goated because just after short nap he didn't feel the aches anymore. The bruises were still there, though. More Light was needed for them to ga away.

"How're the maids doing? I haven't talked to them since two days."

"They are adapting very quickly. No one has any complains. Rachel is also great at managing them."

"Good. Now tell me Videl, are you ready?"

She knew what he meant.

"My bodies healing very fast. I already feel better and I will start training tomorrow if you say so."

"That's great to here. Then let's start your training protocol as well. I will see what I can do about school as well."

"Thank you, my Lord."

Johan's initial plan was to train Videl himself but that would lead to nothing. He noticed training with Bahamut that his own skills were bottom of the barrel at the moment. He could barely swing a sword in decent manner, let alone teach somebody. So what he needed was an instructor or some sort of manual which would explain martial arts and sword arts. His own abilities, he could learn from Bahamut. But when it came to learning other things, he couldn't just rely on a dragon. Dragon's couldn't use swords.

I CAN HEAR YOU, MY LORD.

'Well, did I say anything wrong? Or are you able to use a sword?'

DON'T WORRY. I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT I CAN IN TOMORROW'S TRAINING.

'Wait! No way! I'm not dying here, you hear me?'

"Lord Johan, is everything alright? You seem disturbed."

"Huh? Oh, no I'm fine."

...

Johan and Bahamut were planning their first gate. The next week a C Rank gate would open downtown where a lot of local Rankers would participate in. especially academies would send their students to have gem hunts. Depending on what Rank a gate was, the treasures would increase in Ranks themselves. Also rare items and side bosses would increase in numbers. The most usual dungeon Rank was C/D, occasionally an B Rank would appear and very rarely an A Rank was sighted. When it came to S rank gates then in Germania only five existed. Only one of them had ever been cleared. It was the most horrific gate exp in Germanian history. That was over thirty years ago. In total two SS Rank, twelve S Rank and dozens of A Rank Rankers participated in that gate. Three S Rank Rankers died and over ten A Rank Rankers.

One of the SS Rank Rankers was Thimaeuss von Parseval at that time. He was in his prime back then and contributed a lot in the fight against the boss. That was it though because the reward ratio didn't really make sense. They lost a lot more people for what they got. The problem wasn't the rewards in the gate themselves but rather that they couldn't get all of them in time. Also risking even more lives would have been extremely stupid. Especially the side bosses were sometimes higher ranked than the main boss or they had difficult to deal with abilities.

Nonetheless Johan's concerns were other different right now. His first aim was to clear the gate with his normal system. That would require immense training and patience.

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THIS OPPORTUNITY IS THE BEST YOU WILL GET IN A WHILE. THE GATE HAS A FAIRY BOSS. THEY ARE USUALLY EASIER TO BEAT THAN GOBLINS OR DWARFS. THE ONLY DOWNSIDE IS THAT THEY DON'T DROP THE REWARDS YOU NEED. BUT THAT DUNGEON HAS AN ITEM IN IT THAT WILL HELP YOU LEVEL UP FASTER.

"Mhm, that makes sense. If I clear my first gate now then later there won't be a problem going after higher ranked ones. The item the Fairy drops will be great for Videl though. Isn't it an Amulet for SPD enhancement? At least that's what the website said."

INDEED. AT THE BEGINNING OF THE GATE THERE WILL BE A MERCHANT WHO WILL TRY TO SELL YOU ITEMS. BE CAREFUL AS HE IS VERY DECEITFUL. HE WILL SELL SOMETHING THOUGH THAT IS USEFUL FOR LATER. I'LL TELL YOU WHEN WE'RE THERE.

"Alrighty, bruv. It's time to take a nap. It's already two in the night."

...

cough cough

Slowly opening his eyes, Zahhad recognized a smiling face over him.

"Good evening, Zahhad van der Beck. It seems that you have woken up."

Himmelstein put on his gloves, while making the creepiest smile one could imagine. These were not normal gloves though, they had a specific effect on them known as the 'Truth Gloves'.

"Wah, what are you gonna do?"

He had a complex look on his face. His hands were bound to the bed with metal cuffs while his legs had some type of crystal on it. Unable to move he gave up and went back to lying.

"That's a great question. But if I'm correct, you're in no position to ask any questions. Now, let's get to work. Tell me everything you know. I'm not gonna ask twice."

Looking at him, Zahhad knew that only pain was going to come, if he refused to answer.

"Look, I only got the order to stalk the patriarch and if there was a situation where I could... you know... get in a hit or two, then I should do that."

Himmelstein looked at him, don't believing a thing.

"It seems that you didn't take my message seriously. Let's try something else then."

He came forward and put his gloves on his chest. First nothing happened but after a couple of seconds the area where the gloves were on started to pulsate and bit by bit the pain escalated.

"Grr, aaaaaaah, wait, wait, pleeeeeeease!!!"

Zahhad's eyes started popping out. Blood vessels became more apparent by the second.

"Blurggh!", he threw up blood.

cough

cough

"Woah, this works better than I thought. It's still in its testing phase, but it seems to work wonders. Don't worry though, because it only accelerates the the plague in your body."

"Huuuuhhhaaa, ple-ase, what... did you... do? I-I'll talk, pl-"

slap

slap

"Good. Now talk."

"Re-move the... plag-ue. Can't... breath."

"That's so 2020 bruv, like he already dead. Get over it. The fentanyl ain't coming back. Anyways, take this."

He gave him a little bottle with liquid inside. It had a pinkish colour.

"It will stop the spread for a while. Be quick though, since I only have this bottle."

Quickly chugging it down, Zahhad finally felt some relieve.

"Hah, hah. I didn't lie. I really got an order. Haah, haah. I was told to look what Thimaeuss von Parseval... is up to."

"Good. Continue."

"Yes. So after I had some data, the next part was to follow him and-"

"You, already said this part. I'm not stupid. Tell me about the 'who' you're talking about."

Zahhad closed his eyes. He knew there was no way around this anymore.

"Whatever."

In a blink of an eye he took something out from between his cheek and teeth and bit on it.

cssssss

It poured out something green. Zahhad's eyes rolled back and he passed out.

"Hey, wait. What the-"

"What happened?"

The patriarch also joined the torture session. He had some bandages on but seemed fine overall.

"He bit on a poison capsule. He's dead."

"Hmm, he killed himself? This guy?"

Thinking about his personality, Zahhad didn't seem like the guy to kill himself just like that.

"What did you get out off him?"

"Not much. Just that he was ordered to do this."

"Shit."

...

Trimur was lying in his bed. He couldn't sleep. Knowing that any second the guy next to him would do something to him, was exhausting.

'Why is this happening?'

Trimur was shocked. His entire life had been shitty but the last two weeks were extremely out of bound. From his father to Mike, people who disrespected him kept appearing everywhere. He didn't know what to do. The only option that he saw, was to go to his homeroom teacher. She seemed nice enough.

Deciding to do that the next day, he finally got some sleep.

...

Johan was asleep when somebody came up and looked at him with cold eyes.

'Sorry my Lord, I have to do this. It's masters order.'

Raising a kitchen knife, it got stabbed into Johan.

stab

stab

'Huh?'

The knife couldn't penetrate his body.

'Why is it not penetrating?'

BUUUUUUHH!

"Ihhkkkkkk!"

"Aaaaaaahh!"

Both Johan and the girl shrieked up.

"HUh? WHo's there?"

AN INTRUDER IS HERE. TURN ON YOUR LIGHT ABILITY.

bloom

A girl in a maid uniform was standing in front of them. She had a mortified expression on her face.

"Hmm? What are you doing here?"

...