The First Lord

After slamming the book closed, Kai stared blankly at the cover as he wondered to himself whether he was imagining things.

However, after opening the first page once more, and even glancing at the second page, Kai realised that he hadn't imagined it.

Queen Anastasia was trying to get Kai to read smut.

And on top of that, she herself said on the note that it was a good reading, meaning she had also read it at some point.

My god... What is up with that woman?

Kai wouldn't have been surprised if she was a succubus in disguise, however, he had no way to test it.

If Ezekial could sense when he used Soul Sense, he didn't want to risk using it on Anastasia or Castillian.

Still, Kai was a little curious, so he flipped the book over and had a look at the blurb.

For mature readers.

This is the second installment of the Fangs For Me series. After managing to escape the clutches of Jakob, her abusive Lycan ex-husband, Ella found herself trapped in a twisted game of lust after an ancient vampire called Damien awoke from his slumber due to the scent of her blood, and he has his eyes on her.

Warning - Contains graphic descriptions of-

Kai sighed again as he threw the book back onto the small desk beside his bed.

The end of the blurb just contained a bunch of kinks, some that even Kai himself had no idea what the words meant.

Like, what the hell was Dacryphilia?

And there wasn't even any WiFi or anything to find out, and there was no way in hell that Kai was going to ask Anastasia herself, he would rather die.

But now, Kai was left with a choice.

Even though this Subdimension had bidded on and successfully bought him, it seemed like they didn't actually have anything to do, meaning Kai could basically just relax for these next six months.

However, the other problem was that Kai had nothing to do.

He could train, but he still felt that something was off about this place and didn't want to reveal himself.

So that left him with two options.

Have a walk around the castle and get to know the place.

... Or continue reading the smut.

Sighing, Kai reached over to the book that Anastasia had given him and-

Slapped it a few times before saying:

"No chance, I'm going to go walk around."

Getting up, Kai used Soul Sense just in case there was anyone near him, but to his surprise, there was no one in this section of the castle.

There was still the fact that Kai had no idea how far Soul Sense could actually sense, so that was something he could potentially test...

After making his way into the hallway, there was one thing that Kai had to acknowledge.

No matter where he was in the castle, no matter what time it actually was, there was always a chill present. The only time Kai hadn't felt it was when he was in the bath, but obviously that would be the case.

Still, Kai had to admit that the hallway was a little creepy. They were only lit by the odd candles that were spread sparsely throughout, and the red carpet that was always in the centre reminded Kai of what a vampires castle would look like.

... Maybe that's why Anastasia likes the book.

There was another problem though, Kai had absolutely no idea where to go. There was undoubtedly some areas of the castle that he wouldn't be allowed to enter, meaning he could get in trouble if he got caught there.

However, he could also just use the excuse that he didn't know that he wasn't allowed there as it's not like he had been warned.

But to Kai's surprise, not even a full minute after leaving his room, Kai bumped into a familiar face.

... Well, two actually.

Turning a corner, Kai caught sight of Petunia running through the hall, a wide grin as she admired all the different paintings hanging on the wall.

"Mister, Mister! What's this one?"

Ezekial following close behind, acting like a mixture of a bodyguard and guide, a combination that Kai wasn't sure what to think about it.

Ezekial stood beside Petunia, looking up at the picture he was focused on.

"That, is the first lord of this castle. They were the one who built the foundation, but it is also them who abandoned this city when they needed him most."

Kai was also curious about the so called traveler that had founded this city. Like, if the ice used for the foundation was impenetrable and unbreakable, then how did he use it to build?

Kai made his way over to beside Ezekial, glancing up at the painting of the first Lord.

To Kai's surpise, they were actually quite young. They looked no older than Ezekial himself.

There was also some similarities between Ezekial and the first Lord, such as the hair colour. The first Lord also had blue hair, however, his first hair reminded Kai more of ice rather than the cotton candy that Ezekial's reminded him off.

Another thing that the painting had captured was the blue lines running across various areas of the first Lord's body, all of them in close proximity to where their normal veins would be.

"Oh, are those Mana Veins?"

Ezekial glanced over at Kai, curiously looking him up and down.

"Yes, they are. The first Lord is said to have one of the greatest magical talents in the entire Multiverse at the time, yet they disappeared. Historians say that he is probably dead, but if he didn't run away then he could probably be one of the strongest beings in existence."

Kai's eyes widened slightly as he whistled softly. That guy in the picture could have been one of the strongest beings in existence?

"Is that why the painter painted the Mana Veins? I was told that you could only see them if the being that had them were a god or had extremely high quality Mana Veins."

Ezekial's eyebrow raised slightly, seemingly surprised that Kai knew some facts about Mana Veins.

"Yes, in fact, it is rumored that the Mana Veins that the painter drew are smaller than they were in reality. However, we don't know if those rumours are true."

Kai glanced up at the picture once more. The Mana Veins in the painting were already pretty thick, yet apparently there were meant to be thicker?

"Damn, so they were definitely strong?"

Ezekial nodded, a strong expression on his face.

"Undoubtably."

Throughout that whole conversation, Petunia had been glaring up at Ezekial, pouting slightly.

"Mister, what are you talking about with Mister Two?"

Ezekial looked away from the picture of the first lord and smiled softly, patting Petunia's head, but careful not to mess up the curls that he had spent a whole three hours doing this morning.

"Nothing of importance, they were just curious about something."

Petunia blushed slightly, then pushed Ezekial's hand off her head.

Kai sighed after watching that. Much like the swordsman who had gotten fifth place, Ezekial seemed to have the same sort of attractiveness that could charm anyone, regardless of age or race.

After that, Petunia started running off again, leaving Kai and Ezekial behind.

"So." Kai exhaled as he began to ask another question. "You related or anything? You both have blue hair, so is he like your great grandad times a thousand or something?"

Ezekial's expression didn't change in response to the question, he only started dutifully following behind Petunia.

Kai wondered to himself was this what Failure was like with Ethania.

"No, I am an orphan. I have no idea who my parents were, all I know is that His Majesty graciously took me in when I was a baby."

Kai's expression shifted slightly.

"Damn, that's a rough childhood... Sorry?"

Ezekial turned his head slightly to look at Kai, but he was mainly focused on watching Petunia in case she injured herself.

"Sorry? What are you apologising for?"

Kai shrugged.

"I don't really know, it's just something that people normally say... Is it not?"

Ezekial's expression softened slightly.

"I see... And what of your parents?"

Kai shrugged again, only he let out a sad sigh as well.

"Well, I thought that they both would have died, but one of them ended up surviving. Still, it means that one of my parents died and I couldn't do anything about it."

Ezekial's expression still didn't change. However, he did nod his head solemnly and say.

"I'm sorry."

Kai flinched slightly.

In all honesty, Kai hadn't really thought about it. He knew that it was because of Nonchalance, but he wasn't really sure whether it was a good thing or not that the skill was numbing the pain.

Still, it was nice to hear someone say it, even if they probably didn't mean it.

But then, an idea popped into Kai's mind. If he had nothing to do, then why not just create something to do?

"Say, King Castillian said that you were a Sword Saint, so you must be good.

Would you be willing to train me?"