The Young Master in the Shadows

Victor, who was lazily lying on his sun lounger, watched as an army of summoned gargoyles worked tirelessly to collect all the ‘debris’ from around the garden. Lin was using them to clean up before the dungeon closes. They were summoned earlier in preparation for the battle against Isphigar, they were meant to be a part of the last trap but ended up without a job.

“Why don’t we descend and search for the reward room?” Lily asked as she carefully fed her young master a grape.

“It would take at least 4 hours to reach the first room and at least 20 to reach the one at the bottom,” Victor replied after a sigh, “we better take what we can here…”

“You have a map too, don’t you?” Zoe, who was watching the show while resting to the side, suddenly asked.

“Of course I have!” he replied, “How do you think Alex was able to find his way here so fast? I sent him the map!” he explained, making Alex who was tied by her ankles and hanging from a tree look away as Zoe glared at her… she lied to her earlier.

“How did you get the map?” Zoe asked.

“... It’s a system reward…. That’s all I can tell you for now as you still can’t get it,” Victor said as he slowly looked at her slightly annoyed face.

“Don’t worry, one day I will tell you… Now I need a favor,” he said

“What?” she asked.

“After we leave the dungeon, they will probably question us. I want you to claim that you killed the monster alone with Lin…. Don’t tell them anything about meeting me or Alex… No that won’t do….. just replace Alex with some poor player who died in the battle!” he said.

“AH…Why? It was all your work! I can’t take the credit! I could only be carried around by you….” she said then blushed as she trailed off in an low voice.

“Cousin, this is important!” Victor said seriously, “You might not know it, but my situation in the family is very delicate! If I became too strong all of the sudden, some factions might decide to eliminate me!”

“What? That can’t be….”

“The family might appear united but it is a mess nowadays!” Victor interrupted her, “You don’t have such restrictions as you don’t belong to any branch unlike me!” he explained.,

“But…”

“No butts! I don’t want to ruin the image of a pervert young master that I crafted for myself!” he said.

“Stop saying the word ‘butt’ so casually like no one is noticing that! And why do you always act like a pervert anyway? Can’t you just be normal?” Zoe asked, from knowing Victor she realized that he was a very dependable person, but he always acts like this ruining his image! “If you act decently, with your strength, you might get to be an elder in the future or even the patriarch!”

“I told you… I have enemies, and would have others in the future! And why would I want to be an elder or a Patriarch? Those are some very tiresome jobs! I just want to relax and enjoy my life with my harem….” he started then stopped talking as Lily stuffed his mouth with a bunch of grapes.

“I can help you…. But I have a condition…” Zoe said, totally ignoring the pouting Lily who might be trying to murder her young master.

“What?” Victor asked as he chewed his way out of suffocation.

“Tell me how you knew about my class!” she said. She had kept it a secret since the beginning, only the patriarch and uncle falcon knew about it.

“Oh… that’s easy, but keep what I tell you a secret….” Victor said as he lowered his voice, and looked to the sides to make sure no one was listening… Alex tried to eavesdrop, but Victor used his disguise to make sure she couldn't.

Zoe nodded.

“I have a very strong inspection skill, I can see everything from your class to your skills. I can even figure out your three sizes… you don’t have to wrap your ‘chest’ that tightly, no one would… mmmmm.....” he was interrupted.

“It’s not your business! And you don’t have to say that too loudly!” she said with a blush as she put her hands on his mouth, making him briefly let go of the rope in his hand before catching it again as Alex dipped a few inches toward the boiling cauldron below.

“Young master, spare me!” Alex cried out as she twirled around helplessly, making Zoe who finally noticed her ambiguous position over Victor, quickly let go and then sit to the side as she crossed her arm, hiding her chest with a blush. She regretted asking her shameless cousin.

“Why can’t he just be normal? And why does he smell this good?....” she questioned herself silently.

Victor, who could easily read the thoughts of a little girl, chuckled then softly bit Lily’s finger that forcefully pushed an entire fig in his smirking mouth…. She was getting jealous again.

But that’s to be expected, she was probably afraid that someone would take him away from her before she could have a chance to take a bite.

Well, when she gets to taste his ‘strength’ after the wedding, she will definitely beg him to take more wives... He he he...

"What are you grinning about?" Zoe suddenly asked, ignoring her embarrassment. His grin was just too lewd.

"Nothing… just wondering that we are not that different from me, you too hide your true beauty," he said.

“Shut up!” she said as she blushed and looked away again. It was what her late mother taught her. She was used to staying low-key. Being a beauty in a poor mountainous village was an invitation for trouble.

Victor, who was watching her pout, sighed. In his previous lifetime, when he met Zoe at the imperial palace she proudly walked around like a queen, digging the eyes of anyone who dared to look at her proud chest… What made this sweet girl so nasty?

He quickly looked at her, sacrificing 10 order points to look at her destiny list.

; DESTINY LIST :

>> <WORLD FATE> SCION: GREATNESS WITH THE WORLD’S BLESSING <SSS>

>> <BIRTH FATE> DEFEND THE WORLD’S FIRE GATE <SS>

>> <BIRTH FATE> KILL 9999999999 DEMONS <SS>

>> <BIRTH FATE> DECAPITATE ▄▌▓░▒▀▄██▀ THE WORLD EATER <SS>

>> <BIRTH FATE> DESTROY THE BOOK OF SPACE.<SS>

>> <SELF SET> : FIND A GOOD HUSBAND <SS>

>> <SELF SET> : SOLVE THE MYSTERY OF FATHER’S DISAPPEARANCE <SS>

>> <SELF SET> : HELP REBUILD MY VILLAGE<SS>

>> <SELF SET> : HELP OLIVER OVERCOME HIS SORROW<SS>

>> <SELF SET> : DEFEAT EVIL EVERYWHERE <SS>

>> <ID_X_147337> (30 DAYS) : GREAT MISFORTUNE <24/30 DAYS><S> ;

So that’s what they hid back then… Zoe turned up to be one of the mysterious five gates protectors. That’s why the imperial family respected her greatly.

Victor pondered.

What? “The book of space”? Did this have anything to do with the book of time… Yes, the book of time was discovered across the fire gate!

What if he tried to get it before Zoe destroys it? Could it be done?

“Stop glaring at me!” Zoe had to say finally, to wake him up from his contemplation. Why was she feeling like this…

“Oh sorry, I was just enchanted,” he said, then turned around, grabbed Lily’s hand then dragged her forcing her to fall on his lap.

“Ah, young master…. “ Lily complained softly as he glared at her clear eyes.

“I can only look at you now!” he said joking, making Zoe pout for no reason, and Lily chuckle. The truth was Victor wanted to take the opportunity to check Lily’s fate.

; DESTINY LIST :

>> <BIRTH FATE> RULE THE WORLD <X>

>> <BIRTH FATE> DESTROY THE FATE SECT <X>

>> <SELF SET> : MARRY THE YOUNG MASTER <E>

>> <SELF SET> : GIVE BIRTH TO THE YOUNG MASTER’S CHILDREN <E>

>> <SELF SET> : BE ALWAYS BESIDE THE YOUNG MASTER AND PROTECT HIM<E>

>> <SELF SET> : BE THE YOUNG MASTER’S FAVORITE<E>

>> <SELF SET> : FIND OUT ABOUT MY ORIGINAL FAMILY<E>

>> <SELF SET> : GET FILTHY MARGRET AWAY FROM THE YOUNG MASTER<<E> ;

“Holy sh*t” Victor suddenly cursed, making Lily flinch

“Young master….”

“Stay still and let me think!” he scolded as he began to carefully inspect her like a porcelain doll. She didn’t really mind, but the jealous glares she was getting from the girls and Alex were a little uncomfortable… Why was Alex glaring at her like this? She had no idea.

Victor on the other hand was pondering about many things. First, he quickly scrolled through his log file and searched for the entries he got when he upgraded his class at the auction.

; LOG - LILY - : X BIRTH DESTINY /DEATH/ OVERWRITTEN: 10,000,000 Pts

LOG - LILY - : A (ID_X_147337) DESTINY /DEATH/ OVERWRITTEN : 5,000 Pts ;

Ever since then, he has been pondering about Lily’s two death fates…

The first one has clearly turned from Death to Rule the world. Why was that? He had a hunch it had something to do with her family, but was not really sure…

The second ‘Death Destiny’ was caused by that artifact (ID_X_147337) which Victor was now pretty sure belonged to the fate sect, it meant that they wanted her dead.

She was meant to destroy them!

They must have known about her. But the question was whether the Fate Sect knew her real identity or they were using some kind of an identifier or a trace to target her… Victor suspected it was the latter.

Wait… Could it be that the great misfortune curse was not aimed at him, but at Lily? He must have unconsciously disturbed some of their plans in Vein city.

But they could justly target Lily specifically. Why did they need to fish her out like this? It made no sense!

Should he make Lily his blood slave and use his disguise skill on her? No way. This would be very detrimental to his plans and to her too! This would need to be delayed until after she got baptized at BlackNest castle.

For the first time in a while, Victor had no idea what to do. There were many things he didn’t really understand about fate.

Maybe he just needed to play along…. His plan would need to be readjusted though.

“Young master…….. My hair is burning…. Can you at least lower the temperature a bit?” Alex’s repeated pleas broke Victor’s line of thoughts.

“Enough whining! This is your punishment, take it like a man!… If you told me about the sword hilt as soon as you reached this floor, I wouldn’t have had to waste all of those GEMs! That explosion cost me a fortune!” Victor scolded… he didn’t care about the gems, even with the sword, he would have needed to weaken Isphigar first. Victor was just using this as an excuse to punish Alex… Her bad luck was flaring very dangerously, he had to make sure that she got miserable enough to suppress it. All of this without making her hate him. It was a delicate balance.

“Owwww…. Can’t you spank me instead?” Alex asked, making Zoe who was listening blush… How can a man ask another this? Could it be…. She gasped.

“No way, I can make Lily spank you instead though….” Victor replied, making Zoe breathe in relief while Lily glared at poor Alex dangerously.

“No thanks…… I am fine here… I am a man… I can take this punishment!” Alex retreated. Unlike Margret who was a little lenient with her before, the merciless Lily would surely dig out every ounce of flesh from her tender butt before she got satisfied.

…

“Tom, we are rich!” Peter said as he began to stuff his pockets with gems. The moment the announcement sounded, all the skeletons' corpses collapsed leaving behind mountains of GEMs.

“Yes…” Tom said with a frown. He had just ransacked the reward room behind the lich king’s chamber, which was full of treasures and had two very unique Artifacts, but his happiness didn’t last as the dungeon was conquered moments later, and he didn’t get a chance to level up!

“System, what happened? Who defeated that monster?” Tom asked with annoyance.

;

CALCULATING….

THE MONSTER ISPHIGAR THE GREAT WAS DEFEATED AFTER A BLOODY BATTLE BY ZOE VON WEISE BY UTILIZING A SACRED SWORD.

YOU WOULDN'T HAVE STOOD A CHANCE.

;

Tom frowned but said nothing. He was not satisfied with the system's analysis.

;

WARNING

CRITICAL MISSION

THE NUTCRACKER HAD SET HIS ETERNAL EYES ON YOU. PREPARE A TRIBUTE AND PRAY FOR SURVIVAL.

SURVIVE FOR 24 HOURS.

REWARD: 10,000,000 COINs

IN CASE OF FAILURE… THE SYSTEM DOES NOT NEED TO PUNISH A DEAD MAN.

;

“What? What is the Nutcracker?” Tom asked,

; THE NUTCRACKER IS A MULTIDIMENSIONAL DEMON THAT WAS SET FREE WHEN THIS DUNGEON WAS OPENED. ;

"What?" Tom wanted to question it more, but the whimsical system, being whimsical, decided to hold its silence.

…

The zone around the dungeon gate was a mess.

“Report!” The gray-haired three-star general who slowly descended from the black unmarked ‘twin dragon’ jeep ordered his right-hand lieutenant as he looked at the ominous-looking gate.

“Sir! 97 Hours ago, player Naomi Chill reported finding a disguised talisman under the gate and discovering an anomaly, the player’s council directly ordered our dispatch….”

“I know that! I want to know what the appraisers found!”

“Ah, sorry sir! It is an S-ranked gate just as we suspected. Sir!”

“Did the headquarters send any new instructions? Will they send a raid to save the students or would they just ignore it and bury the gate like the one near GreenMist town?”

“Sir! They intend to conduct an emergency council meeting tonight… They would probably delay the decision… “ the lieutenant said.

“Oh… It has already been two days, what’s going on?”

“Inside the dungeon, there are two students with sensitive backgrounds, they are elite heirs from the Von Weise family….”

“Oh, so this turned into a political game….”

“Yes, sir!”

“Raiding an S dungeon is not an easy task. Even with 10 master players, there is only a 20% chance… the council member would surely force the Von Weise family to handle the cost.“

“Probably, sir!”

“Well, let them fight this out, we are only here to collect our paycheck. Let’s just hope that…….” the general was interrupted as the gate began to pulsate.

“Sir… Is it going to explode?” the lieutenant asked.

“No, it has been conquered!” the general said as he squinted his eyes, “Clear the perimeter!” he ordered in a loud voice just as the dungeon’s Vortex began to slowly expand, making everyone step away and watch.

The vortex soon grew to fill the entire area around the dungeon gate, then began to retract, leaving piles of collapsed players.

“Don’t let any player leave, make them wait to be thoroughly questioned," the general suddenly ordered. He had just noticed that most of the players who appeared were not teenagers! Those were not students from the academy!