Varian entered his home. With every flash of his memory, he grew more and more fond of this little building.
Perhaps because it represented the most carefree and brightest days of his life, Varian felt a reluctance to leave it.
Even though he lived in an apartment for the last year, he spent most of his life here.
The small garden in the front yard filled with purple flowers was a memory of his mother and her love for gardening. But to support him and Sia, she worked overtime and sacrificed her one little hobby.
"Rest In Peace, mom," Varian muttered softly as he looked at the swaying flowers. Their scent…they had the same scent as her.
Like all other times he thought of his mother, Varian still felt pain. But now, he also felt a sense of tranquility.
Her wish…even during her last moments, she wanted him to help Sia.
"Sia is hiding things from me." Varian closed his eyes and sighed. He only wished she could tell him her problems.
"But don't worry. I'll find out hr problems and keep her safe." He smiled before coughing awkwardly. "She's stronger than me at the moment. Level 7 already."
Varian looked at his rooms with nostalgia.
The posters on the walls, the figurines of the Sovereigns, the guides on how to be a good and upright Awakener…
Somehow, Varian felt like fate was laughing at him.
He went from dreaming to joining the army and being a member of the Shadow Guardians—an official terrorist outfit.
Varian circled Sia's room and sat at the dining table.
It was a small round table with three seats. Varian had his preassigned 'seat'.
For as long as he could remember, the dining table was a place of sweet memories.
He looked at the now-empty chairs and sighed.
Amanda was gone forever.
Sia refused to return.
"I will bring you back," Varian muttered and his gaze fell on the final empty chair. Even after Sia came back, it would still be empty.
No.
"Sarah…hm." Varian smiled lightly.
Before he could immerse in a good future, loud noises caused him to frown.
Varian looked at the entrance in confusion.
"-pen this door."
"Ya bitch, use this key—"
With a frown, Varian asked. "Boo, who is it?"
"Master, there are some gangsters outside. They're trying to unlock the door. They've failed thrice already, they're preparing to attack."
'Gangsters?' Varian raised a brow before he patted his forehead. 'This is a pretty low-end neighborhood. Even though things like gangsters on earth are low, they aren't impossible.'
Still, those bastards wouldn't be able to open the door no matter how hard they tried. After all, Butler Richard made sure to fortify the house well.
"Open the door." Varian exhaled. He didn't want his home to be attacked.
—Creak.
The door snapped open and three men staggered into the home. They were all tall men with weird tattoos all over their arms.
The most noticeable feature of the three was the injuries they had all over their bodies. They seemed to have taken healing potions as there were only scabs but with their half-torn clothes and disheveled faces, it didn't take a genius to guess they were coming right after a fight.
Without giving a look at Varian, they tumbled onto the floor and lay down in the living room like dead fishes.
"Huff! Huff! That motherfuckers! T-They aren't giving us a break." The biggest man out of the bunch snarled, with his chest heaving up and down.
"No shit, boss. But we got it didn't we." The leaner man of the three lay down next to him and grinned.
"Of course we did! We are rich, brothers! Rich! Rich!" The bald man next to him exclaimed with sparkling eyes.
"…." Varian watched the trio with doubt. Did they ignore me purposefully or were they so tired they didn't notice me?
"Who the fuck are you guys?" He asked lightly.
"Huh? You pest?" The bald man turned his head and growled at him. "Do you want to die that much? Shut the fuck up and we'll let you live for a few more minutes."
"Haa~" Varian shook his head in pity. He didn't want to cause violence in his home, but he could always throw them into ghost ship and beat them up. That wouldn't count as violence at home, right?
The boss thought Varian's sigh as his resignation to death. He felt a tingling pleasure at ruling over other's death and laughed out.
"Hahaha. Since you're dying anyway, we will show you who we really are." He said and tapped on his comm.
The video of a news channel popped up. It was an ongoing interview of a rather sensual woman with a cold man.
"Sir Plosh, what are the main events in the Mercury ruins this year?" She smiled sweetly.
"Ylocan flower appeared. Goreiki was stolen again by the Shadows. And I'm done."
The man stood up and teleported away.
"S-Sir! Sir! There are still two minutes lef—"
The boss looked at Varian's confused gaze and coughed awkwardly. "Wrong channel! The wrong channel I say! Here you go!"
A male reported stood at a rather desolate site of what looked to be a mine. With eyes that demanded attention, he shouted with blood-boiling rage.
"Another Roshnium mine theft incident! Fifteen dead and three tunnels destroyed. The agencies have said they'll look into it, but…"
The boss closed the comm and grinned widely at Varian. Come, show me the despair.
"You guys are thieves?" Varian titled his head. He thought they were something more menacing.
Like members of Shadow Order or agents of Abyssals.
Ai, his standards were too high.
"Boy! Are you not afraid?" The lean man slowly stood up and glared down at him.
"I can always report you to the police. Why aren't you afraid?" Varian didn't get up from his seat as he kept an eye on the three.
His words elicited laughter from the three.
"Hahaha!"
Even the lean man collapsed on the ground and clutched his stomach.
'I didn't joke.' Varian sighed inwardly. 'It'd be great if my actual jokes can get this much laughter, but oh well.'
He didn't want to think much about that topic.
Finally, they stopped laughing and the boss smiled playfully at Varian. A great pressure erupted out of him and enveloped the entire house.
Peak level 5.
"Everyone in this neighborhood is fucking poor. With your age, what level are you at? Level 1? 2 if you're a genius."
Seeing Varian staying still, he thought Varian was frozen in place.
"See. Just some of my aura and you can't even mov—"
The boss was about to discuss his plan on killing Varian cruelly when the space suddenly solidified.
The trio's expressions froze as they realized they couldn't move.
They suddenly recalled an odd detail. They tried to open the door multiple times and failed.
For a normal house, that was extremely odd.
Then, even under their aura, this boy didn't shed a drop of sweat nor did his face pale.
From the beginning…he was playing with them.
The trio's faces went pale as they nearly had a heart stroke.
Varian propped his chin on his hands and his eyes narrowed. "You were saying something?"