#71 Returning

On my way back to the Capital, I decided to go through the forests and mountains which sometimes was even faster way than on the road but I mainly did it because of my Beastmaster class. Sometimes I stopped for a while to rest a bit and also to "talk" to other neutral beasts like birds. Although I couldn't literally talk with them, I was able to understand what they want by reading their emotions and I could communicate with them in the same way, by showing them my emotions. It different procedure than just showing your aura or expression which also could be used for communication, it felt like we had faint connection once I was close enough to my target and we could express our emotions through telepathy.

At first, it was really strange but after some time, I got used to it and I was slowly improving. At one time, I even met hungry wolves that were already quite insane from hunger but instead of killing them or ignoring them, I decided to try to communicate with them. They naturally wanted to attack me once they spotted me but when they got near enough, I started to communicate with the alpha of the pack. They suddenly stopped but it was visible that they were holding themselves back not to pounce on me, it took me only a few seconds to get their situation so I decided to help them as an experiment. The problem was that they were lowest in the Food chain of this forest. Well, there were other animals even lower than them but they started to become scarce to come in contact with them and they couldn't just hunt Danger Beasts hunting here.

So I told the leader to wait for a few minutes before jumping away on one of the branches. I went some distance away from them and cut my thumb a bit and with the help of my Blood Butterfly Wrigglers, I spread the smell of my blood all around. This is something I once tried out of curiosity since they can track stench of blood, why wouldn't they be able to also spread it. After all, they have blood in the name so they should be able to work with it more efficiently than just track it. Of course, who would want to ever spread their own smell of blood but sometimes it might be good as deception.

My smell of blood immediately attracted some beasts and I swiftly killed them, taking only 2 of them with me back while burning the rest of them.

When I presented the pack with 2 fairly big and dead Danger Beasts, they immediately started to wiggle their tails while hungrily looking at the dead beasts but they still obediently waited for the leader to go first. Instead of pouncing at the food immediately, the leader first thanked me while looking at me with eyes of gratitude. I just nodded and left them, I couldn't help but smile since my Beastmaster class got quite a good amount of experience just from this encounter.

I continued my journay back to the Capital and after 1 whole day and night of traveling without sleeping, I finally arrived near the gates.

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Beastmaster (Lv. 4) 51/80 NXP

[You are now able to control up to 150 lesser Beasts.]

[70x Beetle Wriggler]

[50x Wriggler Flies]

[30x Blood Butterfly]

Class: Blade Master (Lv. 5; +9 Str, +9 Agi, +4 Const) 23/160 XP

Free Stat points: 27

[New Skill unlocked!]

[Hail of Blades - Create 3 projections of a broadsword behind your back that can move according to your mind, the toughness and the sharpness of blades are decided by the level of your Blade Master class and also by half of your strength+agility. The number of swords can also increase with a higher level of class. You can repeatedly use this skill however if you will exceed maximum number of the swords you can control, they will start disappearing from the oldest one. You can control them up to 20 meters away from you, any more is impossible and your swords will disappear. Maximum number of blades: 0/3 (50 energy)]

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Hmm, I completely ignored my status through the entire journey but now that I look at it...this is a kind of interesting skill.

I thought with an amused smile.

I looked towards the city gate and saw quite a lot of carts going through with many people around since it was early afternoon.

I don't want to be really seen since I was away for some time already and there is some chance that some certain people already suspect where I am. It's no news that I was rarely attending any balls for nobles but I could at least be spotted in the streets from time to time.

I thought and decided to climb over the enormous wall which was no longer problem with my strength and agility. I successfully entered the city without being seen and then I put on a cloak I asked for when I was leaving the Oarburgh's hideout.

I was able to quickly arrive at the marketplace that's positioned very close to our mansion, however, instead of taking the front gate, I decided to go along the tall and sharp fence until I found a good spot to jump over. With my current leg power, it was pretty easy to jump over numerous meters high fence.

I used this chance to practice with my Wrigglers so I sent some of my Wriggler Flies to scan the surroundings and good place where I could sneak inside. After a few minutes, all of them returned to me and informed me of everything, I knew everyone's position but I was quite surprised that both Ichika and Kurome almost discovered them despite them hiding in the shadows.

I sneaked into the mansion and thanks to knowing everyone's position, I was able to easily get where I wanted to. I completely erased my presence and sneaked up to Kurome who was currently sitting at the table, reading some reports.

When I got near enough, I wanted to start tickling her but since behind me was a window together with sunrays, Kurome noticed a strange shadow over her table and quickly threw a fist at me without even looking at me but I easily caught her fist, however she didn't give up and tried to kick me into my stomach.

"?!" She widened her eyes when she finally saw my face and her kick stopped just a few centimeters in right in front of me.

"Yo, I am back, Kurome-chan" I let go of her hand and greeted her with my hand up and a small smile across my face.

"A-Akashi Nii-sama!!" She exclaimed and jumped at me and wrapped her arms around my neck, tightly hugging me while she was hanging in the air, it wasn't because she was too small but because she bent her knees.

"Heh" I chuckled when I saw how she is acting and just patted her back a few times.

After a few seconds of hugging me, she even gave me a little peck on my cheek before she finally let me go with a slightly embarrassed expression, even she was aware that her reaction might have been a little too much.

But it was just a cheek so I didn't mind it at all.

"Was everything alright while I was gone?" I asked with a gentle smile while patting her head.

"Y-Yes! We made huge profits from Nii-sama's investments. We even found some evidence of a collaboration of a few noble families with Northern Tribes and The Revolution army. The organization Nii-sama created is also blooming, we have much more members right now and we have almost the entire city covered except for a few parts where our spies were found out and killed." Kurome started reporting with an expectant expression.

"Hm? Sounds like you weren't slacking off with Ichika at all." I praised her with a satisfied smile while patting her head.

"...Akashi Nii-sama also looks slightly different...Did anything good happen to Nii-sama while you were traveling?" Kurome suddenly asked while holding her chin and looking at my expression more thoroughly with a curious expression.

?! When I immediately heard her question, only one person appeared in my mind but I quickly shook my head since it should be impossible for her to even think of it.

"Well, my travels were alright and I was away for almost 1 month, of course, I will change a bit, for example, my hair grew a bit longer." I said with a smile while touching my bangs and trying to cover the fact with Taeko since it would be too weird to say 'Hey, I was away for 1 month and found myself a woman, what a nice trip.' Not to mention when Kurome and Ichika were working really hard.

"I see, it must be it then...I was just about to go to the dining hall. Would Nii-sama like to go with me? Everyone should be there having lunch right now." Kurome just nodded her head and stopped thinking about it.

I know that already thanks to my Wrigglers. They are really practical.

"Alright, let's go, I have yet to greet anyone except for you" I said and went ahead with Kurome following me like a tail with a happy expression.

On our way, we met a few maids and they immediately gasped when they saw me but they also quickly calmed down. They probably wanted to quickly inform my father but when they saw my destination they continued doing their work.

*Creek* I opened big wooden double doors of the dining hall where everyone was sitting, having lunch.

"Yo!" I walked in and exclaimed with my hand up as greeting with closed eyes and bright smile.

Everyone snapped their heads at me with a shocked expression.

"Son, you are fina-" The first one who calmed down and reacted in more calm way was my father who also stood up slowly but...

"You are back, honey!!! Give me a big hug, 1 month of not contacting us, what kind of behavior is that~?" My mother exploded and immediately run to me while forcing me to a hug.

Ugh...I am not a kid anymore, can't you also behave in a calmer manner?

I thought with a helpless smile while patting my mother's back.

When she finally released me after a few seconds, she looked at my face very thoroughly with her narrowed eyes which slightly surprised me.

Fuck! I forgot about my mother's intuition, if Kurome was able to see something suspicious, my mother will be able to see it too but in her case, I won't be able to convince her that it's nothing!

I thought while looking at my mother with a forced smile.

"Yes?" I asked while tilting my head to the side.

"Hehe, we will talk about it later, son." She creepily laughed while looking behind her at everyone else before winking at me.

...My expression immediately dropped down when I heard her words. She didn't even try to ask if anything good happened, it's like she is sure about it...

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'Finally! Hopefully, it will be my future daughter-in-law. I really hope that he didn't just fool around...' Ember thought with a happy expression and sparkles in her eyes before her expression became a little bit complicated when she thought of all possibilities.

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I ate lunch with everyone while talking mainly with Ichika, Kurome, and Aiko.

.

.

After lunch, I went to my father's office to report everything.

"Hmm, I see, so you didn't kill anyone but apparently the one you injured will be lying for a few months." My father muttered with a thoughtful expression.

"I intended to control the death count while letting the others do killing but I have never imagined that those kids would be that strong. I already told my companions at that time that I would be just a stalling enemy so I did what I promised without trying to kill anyone. I would have thought that they would be able to kill at least one of them but they somehow discovered us and we quickly fell into number disadvantage." I explained everything that happened and my father just kept nodding his head with knowing expression.

"Well, let's put it aside for the time being. Right now, I want to know who is it." He suddenly said with a teasing smile while supporting his chin with his hands.

"? Who is who? What do you mean?" I tried to play ignorant.

"Don't try to play a fool. I am man myself and I was also once your age, to be honest, I met your mother at the same age as you are right now. I perfectly know from your eyes that you are too relaxed and very 'satisfied'." He said with a smile.

"I just hope you didn't fool around in the brothel." He said with narrowed eyes since if I just needed some relief, I wouldn't have needed to trouble him with Aiko's matter previously.

"*sigh* Well, it's not like I was intending to keep it as a secret." I muttered and used my Wriggles to scan the surroundings if anyone is listening to us.

"?! This?!" My father's eyes immediately widened when he saw numerous insects fly out of my shadow scanning the surroundings of the room.

"It's a little gift from Oarburgh" I said with a small grin.

"? A small...gift? From that Oarburgh clan?" My father was completely dumbfounded when he heard me say it with completely normal expression.

"Oh, and by the way, my woman is also from Oarburgh." I dropped the bomb at his dumbfounded expression with a smirk across my face.

"What?!!" He stood up from his seat in shock while staring at me with wide-open eyes.

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'How was my son able to charm any woman from "that" dreaded group?!!' Jun thought while staring at his son.

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