Life Hunter

In another continent, the hired mercenary Arima had let go previously was meeting with someone who seemed to be the king of some country.

When he faced Arima, the merc had a disguise on. Now, his true appearance was revealed. He was a young-looking man with dull and dark eyes. His hair was gray and he wore black clothes with a leather jacket.

"What do you mean you couldn't do it?!" The king he was conversing with shouted in indignation.

"It's as I said. We stumbled upon a man who foiled the whole operation," The other party responded with an indifferent tone.

"Don't fool me, Arister! You're a Z rank! Why do you think I gave that mission to you?!"

Arister suddenly released his aura and closed the mouth of the king, "…Don't push your luck. I accepted your request because you paid for it. But I failed, that's all," He uttered with a cold voice. He pulled out a pouch filled with shining golds and threw it on the ground.

"I give you back the payment. I can't accept it since I failed my mission. But I won't accept anything from you anymore. That guy let me go by telling me to stop doing this. It wasn't some sort of childish warning. I feel like he'll seriously hunt me to death if I even say the 'y' of 'yes' to another request from you, even if we're continents apart. That's how dreadful he was."

Arister turned around to leave, "Don't try anything against me, I can easily destroy your entire country alone. Also, friendly warning; stop targeting the Main Land. At least… as long as that guy is there," He teleported away and the king collapsed on his knees, exhausted.

He gritted his teeth and shouted a name. He didn't look like someone who was prepared to give up at all.

******************************************

The same day, in a certain Inn's restaurant.

"What the hell happened?" Lilis asked Arima with a reprimanding look. It looked like she was going to lecture him.

"Weren't you supposed to enjoy a day with Lanya? Why did you release two magics like that? You also used time, right? And you even revived them? Before even asking how the hell you can restore a soul and reconnect it to its body, why did you use it so openly? Do you want the gods to pursue you even earlier?"

Arima looked away with a groan and Lanya smiled wryly, "It's fine… He saved a great number of lives, you know?" She tried to pacify Lilis.

The goddess sighed and glanced at Lanya. Then she noticed what was hanging around her neck. She saw the beautiful purple necklace and her eyes widened. She hastily grabbed Lanya by her shoulders and dragged her to a corner.

"Did he actually give you that?" Lilis asked after putting up a soundproof barrier. Escaping Arima's senses wasn't so easy as only moving away from him.

Lanya smiled and held the necklace in her hand, "Yes, he actually made it in front of me."

"Seriously?" Lilis was stunned. She just suggested the idea of going with Lanya for a day because she wanted to speak with Night alone. She never expected Arima to do something so considerate.

"Wait a second…can I see it for a moment?" Lilis asked after she observed the pendant closer.

Lanya nodded and handed it to her. When Lilis touched the necklace, it transformed into a purple light that flew back to Lanya's neck and reformed.

Lilis was staring at her empty hand in a daze, "…Semi-transcendental…" She muttered in shock and laughed dryly, "That pendant, it was refined by Karma, wasn't it?"

Lanya tilted her head at first then recalled about the peculiar drop that fell from Karma's blade onto the pendant and nodded.

Lilis chuckled, "I won't tell you to take care of it… Simply because it's most likely that necklace that will take care of you. Besides, as it's bound to your soul, you'll also never lose it," She said and dispelled the soundproof barrier. She started walking back toward Arima, "It will protect you."

Lanya looked at her pendant one more time in wonder then remembered something. She went to Night who was idly eating. "Master, here," She showed him the necklace which had the dragon wings hanging from it.

Night's eyes widened and blinked. He glimpsed at Lanya's face and received the pendant with his magic. It then became a silver light that flew toward his neck. As Arima did, Night could also bind things to his soul.

"Thanks, Lanya," He said and Lanya brightly smiled.

"Well, it's good and all. But I still have three days to spend in boredom," Arima commented and everyone looked at him blankly.

"Why don't you just go to sleep then?" Lanya, Lilis, and Night replied at the same time. Arima fell silent and silently ate the rest of his cake. He stood up and climbed the stairs.

"…He will actually do that, you know?" Night stated and the two girls looked back at him.

*****************************************

The next day, Lilis and Lanya left the Inn together. Night stayed and befriended the owner of the Inn who was a warmhearted old man. He lazed around while snacking and chattering with him. And, as expected, Arima just slept.

In the afternoon, a middle-aged man wearing some flashy clothes entered then Inn, "Where is Arimane Blade?" He asked the owner who already had knelt down in front of the man.

Night was a bit startled by the owner's behavior and guessed the newcomer's identity to some extent. "Who are you? What do you want with him?" He raised his voice before the owner could even open his mouth.

The man frowned and eyed the wolf cub sitting on a table, "How does small a beast like you dare to address me in such a way? I'm Jerio, oldest prince of Center City's Royal family."

"Huh?" Night's pupils changed to the ones of a dragon and a concentrated aura shot out from his body, "Repeat that."

The prince froze and began sweating. He bowed almost instantly in a beautiful 90° angle, "I'm sorry! Please don't kill me!" He bellowed. The owner and all the customers of the Inn watched wide-eyed as the oldest prince bowed to a small wolf cub.

That prince wasn't actually haughty or anything. His character was just like that. Also, his strength was only at the ninth level. So, he suffered the full blow of the threat of a tenth level dragon who had an Earthen realm body.

Even Night got awkward because of the prince's abrupt submission. He forced a cough and his eyes reverted to normal, "I'm the soul beast of the one you're looking for. What do you want?"

"Yes," Jerio replied obediently and sat at Night's table. He straightened his back, "Your summoner helped my brother and sister through an ordeal yesterday. I'm here to thank him and bring him along with me to the castle."

Night scowled, "Sorry, but Arima is sleeping right now. He most likely won't wake up for at least three days."

Jerio blinked once with a dumbfounded expression, "Is he hibernating or something?"

"Nah, he's just bored," Night said and the entire restaurant was struck with silence. He coughed again, "…I'll will go. Bring me to the castle. I should be amply adequate for anything you want to tell Arima."

The prince mused for a moment, "There's no problem, I guess. It should be alright if the soul beast comes."

"Then let's go. What are we waiting for?" Night jumped on the prince's shoulder and pointed at the door with his paw, "Onward, Jerio!"

The prince stood up and bitterly smiled, "Hum… could you not say that… please?"

"My bad, I just felt like it was a funny bit."

"I-I see…" Jerio walked toward the exit. Outside, a huge carriage of the same type Ofia and Kyle had yesterday was waiting for them. A young knight was also standing beside the carriage, wearing black armor.

Although Night wasn't as perceptive as Arima, he could still realize that this black knight was at the tenth level, "Your highness." The latter greeted and opened the door of the carriage.

Jerio nodded and stepped inside the carriage, alone. At least, from the knight's perspective, "Sir, weren't you supposed to bring back a certain individual with you?" He couldn't help himself from asking.

"Mh," Inside the carriage, Jerio turned back to look at the knight and pointed at his shoulder, "He's right here."

"Sorry?" The knight stared at the wolf cub, cutely hanging from prince's shoulder with its front paws, "Him?"

"Correct," Jerio answered plainly "Now don't waste time Yoran. Let's head to the castle."

"Yes," Yoran complied and entered the carriage. The inside was incredibly luxurious with two high-end couches. There was also a magic crystal placed on a pedestal in the center. Yoran put his hand on it and the crystal glowed with a blue light.

The entire carriage glowed before advancing toward its destination. After starting the carriage, Yoran serenely sat down on the couch opposite to Jerio.

While they were slowly, but surely, approaching the castle, Yoran's expression didn't stop twitching as he glanced at Night from time to time.

It took them about ten minutes before they reached their destination. The three of them got off the carriage which was now in a parking lot of the castle's citadel. When they were out, Yoran sighed, relieved of the awkwardness he endured on the way here.

"Sir Yoran. Your Highness," A group of soldiers approached them and one officer greeted them, "You're back. Where is the Z rank mercenary?" He asked. Apparently, they had already found out about Arima's identity.

"He couldn't come," Jerio shook his head, "But his soul beast came in his stead."

"Huh?" The officer exposed the same reaction as Yoran previously.

Yoran felt enlightened though, "(So it was his soul beast…)" He thought then looked at Night. When he saw the cute pup eyes, he lowered his head again, "(No, still doesn't cut it.)"

Afterward, Jerio brought Night inside the castle and immediately made his way to the throne room with Yoran following him. On the throne, there was a middle-aged man, with white hairs, wearing a red robe. At his side, stood a well-built man with a taciturn expression. He had his hand constantly placed on the hilt of his sword.

Sitting on the other seats besides the throne, there was Ofia, Kyle, and two other people. One of them being the queen and the last one, the youngest daughter who seemed to be around sixteen years old.

"Jerio, where is the Kind Demon?" The king asked his son.

Jerio slightly bowed, "Father, he couldn't come. But I brought his soul beast on his place," He declared with an earnest expression while pointing at Night.

The entire royal family stared at him with dead eyes, "Jerio, are you perhaps joking? How could you bring a wolf child here?" The king retorted and squinted his eyes, "Why did he not come himself?"

"He was sleeping," Jerio answered in complete honesty. Ofia chuckled and Kyle opened his mouth wide. Only the king, the queen, and the youngest daughter felt indignant since they never met Arima.

"I shouldn't have nominated you…" The king shook his head, "Go back there, and bring him back even if you need to wake him up."

At that moment, Ofia and Kyle had a sudden change of expression, "Wait! Fa-" When Kyle was about to say something, Night started laughing and jumped off the prince's shoulder.

"Why do you make it sound like I'm not worth your time?"

The king inspected Night, "I have no interest in a soul beast. Tell your master to come here himself. I'm willing to reward him. He should at least be present."

"Oh? So, you dare to say it, huh?" Night was one more time angered because someone was disrespecting not only him but also Arima. "First, let me tell you, Arima is not my master, he's my partner," He stated and his body started expanding under the astonished looks of the royal family.

The guard next to the king gripped his sword but didn't move. He observed Night and frowned.

"You're saying I'm not worth your time. When did you assume that you were worth Arima's? Who cares about your reward? You're just a puny king," Night continued to talk as his body took the appearance of a dragon. His aura also burst out inside the throne room.

When Night finished his transformation, he coldly glared at the king and the latter started to somewhat regret his words.

"Now, if you take that back, maybe I will ignore it," The fifteen meters tall dragon snarled. Thankfully, the throne room was big enough to welcome him. But the temperature in the castle rose and could very well melt the castle's walls.

"Make your choice. Apologize, or say goodbye to your city." Night lowered his neck and his head which was bigger than a human halted right in front of the king. He snorted and smoked came out of his nostrils. His crimson eyes made the royal family shiver, "A king is nothing without a land. I'll be happy to teach you what respect is by turning it into ashes."