Chapter 24: Welcome

Luke nervously sat in front of Noah and Finesse, who were inspecting every inch of his body from head to toe.

They have been acting like that since earlier and Luke can't take it anymore so he decided to speak.

"Uh, are you done looking at me now? It is quite uncomfortable."

Noah glared at Luke and crossed his arms. He then spoke in a cold voice

"So, hero of Hak Village and Ceb City. Can you please explain the contents of your vacation? Hmm?"

"Uh.... Ok?"

Luke then started to explain what he's done in the past months.

Of course, he didn't mention Nash, Plankton, the magic containers, the mysterious voice, or the mana stones. It'll be troublesome to explain any further if he did and it'll also make him suspicious as hell.

He tried to exclude those details as much as he could. And thankfully, it worked out.

Every time he mentioned himself fainting and coughing blood, Noah always glared at him while Finesse looks like she's going to cry, which made Noah glare at him even more.

While explaining further, Luke then heard Nash's voice in his head.

•Looking back, all of your actions are so sacrificial and stupid. Don't do it again.

Luke frowned at his statement but let it go since he can't afford Nash to get mad.

After telling them the stuff that happened, the room went awfully quiet. It was quiet for a long while but then Noah broke the silence.

"Do you want to be a hero so bad that you must let yourself cough blood and faint?"

Luke's face becomes serious and talked in a serious voice. He doesn't like what Noah just said.

"Absolutely, no. I have no plans to do those kinds of things again."

'Hell no, I'll hide myself on the land I'll choose and live there peacefully. And besides, even with the God of Light's blessing, I still feel a bit of pain. And the pain I felt while coughing blood is excruciating.'

Finesse looked at the tired and pale face of Luke in front of her. He looked like he's been through a lot. She then frowned and thought.

'Sister, no, Brother is really a good person. I could tell that what he went through this past few months are tough.'

Finesse looked at Luke with a sad and admirable expression on her face. She then heard Noah's sigh beside her which also caught Luke's intention.

Noah then took out some documents and threw them to the table. Luke stared at the document for a while and grabbed it from the table. He then heard Noah explaining what are the papers for.

"Fill those papers up and sign the rest."

"Oh, so these are the papers?"

The papers. The papers that'll make him officially a Viscellete and a noble. Luke really didn't like the idea of being a noble but since he doesn't want to work anymore, he got no choice.

And besides, being part of a rich and powerful family is really something Luke wanted. It's the first step towards being a rich unemployed laid back life.

"Yes, fill those up and I'll pass it to the administration. I just need the Royal family's approval here and there and after that, you'll be a part of the Viscellete family. Officially."

Luke stared at the papers for a while before smiling.

'So, I'll be part of a family now huh? In my past world, I could not even imagine having a family, let alone dreaming of it.'

Luke then grabbed the pen and wrote his name and fill up the rest. He also signed the other papers. After that, he passes it to Noah, who was quietly watching him through the whole process. Luke then jokingly asked.

"What? Is this young brother's face so handsome that you need to stare at it intensely like that?"

Noah frowned and grabbed the papers. Luke smirked at him and then looked at Finesse, who was also staring at him.

"Finesse, why don't I accompany you to buy your wedding dress? Noah said you still don't have one."

Finesse's face brightened. She is about to answer but Noah butted in.

"No, she is pregnant. She can't exhaust herself."

Luke stared at Noah in disbelief.

'Such and overprotective male lead.... Ugh.'

While thinking about that, he heard Nash's voice in his head.

•Why is he so worried? I'll be coming with you so what's the problem?

'You know that you can't reveal yourself, right?'

Luke then sighed.

"Hey, you know that I heard that walks are good for pregnant women. They could exercise and bathe their skin in the sun. Exposing her under the sun is good for the baby."

Noah glared at Luke.

"What do you know? What if she faints? What if she gets kidnapped while on the streets?"

'Oh, so I am not the only one who was aware of cliche plots here huh?'

"Uh, that is why I'm coming with her? And besides, I become pretty strong in this past few months."

'As strong as Hercules, actually.'

Finesse then butted in.

"Noah, brother Luke also needed a suit. We'll be fine, brother Luke is strong. He's a hero."

"Please don't call me that."

Finesse looked at the crumpled face of Luke at the world 'hero'. Finesse giggled.

"Oh my, you're so humble, brother."

"No, i-"

"I'll place some guards around you."

Luke frowned at Noah who interrupted him. He then heard Finesse's nervous voice.

"No! You don't need to. I'll just bother their work!"

"No."

"B-but."

Luke stared at them while cringing inside his mind. He then sighed and decided to butt in between the two of them.

"Hey, you don't need to worry. My group will come with us. Didn't you hear what I just told you? They are all strong."

Noah frowned and he heard Finesse plead

"Please? I also want to get along with my brother's friends. Please?"

Noah frowned and hesitated for a moment before sighing.

"Fine, you win."

"Yaaay!"

Finesse cheered and Noah looked at Luke.

"But if something happens to her, you are gonna get these fist. The reason why I can't go is because of work. And if I come home and see Finesse being hurt, I'll kill you brother "

Luke looked at Noah like he was tired of him. He was indeed tired of him. Tired of his protectiveness to Finesse.

It's quite nice that Noah is calling him brother but he doesn't like the threat at all.

"Relax, it's not like a high orc will spring up in the middle of the capital. So relax your balls and take a deep breath. She'll be fine."

Noah looked at Luke suspiciously. Luke brushed his face with his hand.

"Oh my god, why won't you stop doing that? She'll be fine. I repeat, she'll be fine."

Noah sighed and finally gave up. Luke sighed with relief. Finesse then excitedly spoke.

"Alright! We'll go tomorrow! I'm so excited!"

Luke smiled and nodded. He then stood up and walked out the door and went to the living room, where his group is currently located. Finesse and Noah followed behind him.

When they reached the living room, they all heard Luke's group chattering. Klein, Selena, Lina, Spencer, Lily, Jess, Michael, and Josh all talked to each other.

"What?! That happened?! Unbelievable!"

"Yeah! So after defeating all the monsters in Ceb City, Luke then said 'Not yet' and boom! A high orc appeared and Luke dashed and bam! He punched the orc's head off!"

"Amazing! I wish I was there at that time! I could've easily sliced those monster's necks! Then I'll be a hero!"

"What is so heroic about that bastard? That sacrificial dumbass already experiences near-death situations two, no, three times already."

"The first one is when the evil scrawny dude almost chokes brother to death! His face is so blue at that time!"

"Yeah! Then next was that time he fainted after the explosion! His heart beats so slowly that we thought he was already dead!"

"And at the third time, he fainted. He coughs so much blood that his face turned pale. His face is so pale and lifeless that we all thought that he was already dead!"

"...That was a terrible experience."

The group all nodded in unison. Luke stared at them lifelessly while feeling deep embarrassment for some reason, he could also feel Finesse and Noah's burning stares behind his back. He then heard their comments.

"Oh my god! A-almost d-dead? Brother Luke didn't mention anything about almost dying..."

"Bastard, you patched up your story."

Luke just pretended to not hear them and approached the group. The group noticed him and the children rushed towards him and hugged him. Then they all looked up to Luke, who was also staring at them.

"When we will go to the capital?"

"Tomorrow."

The children smiled and cheered.

"Yay! We're going to shop tomorrow!"

Luke then said something to them.

"We will buy some suits and dresses for the upcoming wedding next week."

Selena and Lina asked in shock.

"Wedding? Who's gonna get married?"

Luke answered while pointing at the two lovebirds behind him with his thumb.

"The ones getting married are these two behind me. Finesse and Noah."

"Will there be lots of food there? I heard that most weddings have chocolate fountains on their buffet table. I can't wait to taste it!"

The children then cheered at the same time.

"Yay! New dresses!"

Spencer then asked Luke.

"I assume that there will be a lot of nobles there since the one getting wed is a Ducal couple?"

"Of course."

"Ugh."

Spencer frowned as if he remembered a bad memory. Luke then asked out of curiosity.

"What? What's wrong?"

"I just have bad memories about nobles, that's all.".

"So, you won't come?"

"I'll think about it."

Luke was silent for a moment before peeking at Noah behind him. Since Spencer is supposedly part of Noah's group, he needs them to interact as much as possible.

"But what if some nobles hit on your sisters? My, my that will be bad."

Spencer's expression hardened at my words. He then spoke in a serious voice.

"I'll go. I can't let some hooligans touch my sisters."

Luke smiled internally and then heard Klein asking him.

"Will I come too?"

"Of course, after the wedding, we'll finally talk about the plans. For now, we will relax as much as we can."

"Gotcha."

Klein smiled, he seems excited to attend the celebration. Well, this is his first time to attend a celebration after a long time after all.

Luke sighed while staring at his group members. He then heard Noah's voice behind him.

"Your group seems very lively."

"I know right? And because of that, they are sometimes hard to manage."

Luke felt Finesse tugging his black coat and Luke looked at her. He then saw Finesse's sparkling eyes.

"What is it?"

"Can I play with the children?"

"Uh, sure? No one is stopping you. And besides, the kids will like you."

'Since you are the gorgeous main character, of course, they will immediately like you.'

"Really?"

Luke nodded at Finesse's excited voice, she then walked past him and approached the kids.

"Hello kids, can I play with you?"

"Ah! It's the pregnant sister!"

"Oooh! Can we touch your belly?"

"Wow so cool, her tummy is sooo big!"

"Hey, that is rude."

"But it true though."

Luke stared at the kids talking to Finesse then turning his head to one side.

There are quite many people gathered into that one side while looking at his group for a while.

It's the maids.

"Hey, did you hear what they just talked about earlier?"

"So they are really the heroes who saved Ceb City?"

"So that cool-looking man over there wearing the black coat is Luke?"

"My goodness! He's handsome!"

"Kyaaa! He's looking this way!"

Luke stared at than with a blank face and then talked to Noah.

"Hey, uh brother. Where will our rooms be?"

Since he is part of this family now, Luke assumes that Noah already prepared a place for him here in the estate.

Noah glanced at him and called some maids over.

"Guide my brother and his friends to their rooms."

"Understood."

The maids then started to guide Luke and Luke's group to their rooms. The maid guiding Luke through the hallways then stopped in front of a fancy door and stepped aside.

"This is your room, young master. The Duke said to prepare this room for you."

"Great, thanks."

The maid bowed respectfully and left. Luke felt weird because this is the first time in his whole life that he is getting that kind of treatment. He felt like he is the son of a rich CEO. Luke just shrugged the feeling off and entered the room. Luke then stopped he then looked at the room with amazement.

•Wow! It's sooo big!

His room is so wide and big that it can fit two garages and its walls are painted with sophisticated designs.

His bed is so big that he could roll around it. The walls are newly painted and everything is just extravagant.

This is the room that he could never imagine getting into in his past world.

Luke smiled and dived into the bed. He then heard Nash's voice.

"You seem to be really happy."

Luke then answered while hugging his soft white pillow.

"Of course I'm happy. This is the life I could never imagine having when I was little."

Nash then looked at Luke with pity.

"Being a maid must be tough."

"Sure is."

'Actually, my life in the past was more shittier than a life of a maid. But I can't tell a three-year-old child those kinds of stuff.'

Luke just closed his eyes and tried to feel the soft texture of the bed, it is like he's laying on a bed of clouds.

While admiring the soft texture of the bed, he unknowingly fell asleep.

Nash looked at the sleeping Luke and curled up into a ball beside him. He then slowly close his eyes and sleep.

The room then began to go quiet, there are no other people besides Luke and Nash. But then...

Black smoke rose up in the very dark corner of the room. It was a quiet but cold smoke. The smoke then floated on top of Luke's head and observed him.

A creepy eye and a mouth appeared on the smoke's surface and a voice then came from the smoke.

"So this is the one who killed Libi? He seems pretty normal..."

Looking at the slim and pale condition of Luke's body. He looked like he could die by just one hit. And that made the smoke confused.

But then the black smoke sensed something.

"Or maybe not... Interesting... He already has three powers from those damn fools. And also... An interesting friend...."

The eye then shifted towards the sleeping Nash. The eye then formed into a crescent shape as if it found something amusing.

A big and creepy smile then formed on the black smoke's mouth. It was like that for a while before the smoke slowly faded away and the room went silent again.