Behind the Scenes (Part 1)

After making sure that the children were gone, Sian turned to Illianna. Although he didn't know what she was up to, he knew that most of her actions had a reason.

"What are you plotting?" Sian narrowed his eyes.

"Don't look at me like that," Illianna said as if it was no big deal. "I'm just trying to create a good image for you."

According to Illianna, even though Sian is quite notorious among the nobles, it is different among the commoners. Apart from the people of Hosnein who recognize him as a hero, the people of other kingdoms don't even know his name, either as a hero or as a notorious person.

There were two reasons for this, the first being that as one of the five powers of the central continent, Hosnein had at least ten times the territory of a normal kingdom. Since word-of-mouth tales take a long time to spread, they often ended up being distorted, making it difficult for people to believe.

Second was the fact that, good or bad, the nobles deliberately omitted the news about Sian. The reason was simple, to avoid uproar among the masses.

Sian's dangerousness was no joke, he has the power to threaten a kingdom. If you add his openly known teacher to the situation, it only makes it worse.

This is why despite the fact that there were rewards for criminals on the bulletin boards of various cities, Sian never had a reward posted on one of these. Of course, this disregarding those who were ignorant about his identity.

Most kingdoms treated his existence similarly to dragons. Although dragons are a menace that can flatten an entire kingdom like if it's making breakfast, they never had a reward issued for their head.

Even if a wanted poster were put up, it would only create unnecessary anxiety among ordinary people when they see him. Unlike the gangs of thugs and criminals out there, he walks openly around town without making much effort to hide his own identity.

As for Illianna telling the children of Sian's meager acts of kindness, that was a way of trying to spread the good word about him. Of course, she never believed that just the children would be enough, that's why she is using the merchants who came to visit in order to form business.

Despite the fact that deliberately spreading rumors about Sian to the commoners could get them into trouble if discovered, the merchants easily gave in to the benefits.

After Illianna finished telling her long-term plan, they went to the top floor of the hotel, where the living place were.

***

"I know that you and your master are not as gentle as the tales portray." Illianna crossed her slender legs as she accommodates on the couch with Fran. "So, what did Uncle Frank did to convince you?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, it was quite strange," Sian replied.

Moving to the sofa opposite on the opposite side, Sian sat with Ophi and relaxed while sipping the previously prepared tea.

"What do you mean by that?" Illianna asked.

"Somehow, the king knew about Ayze's weakness for candy. That was something only I knew."

Having piqued the curiosity of those in the room, Sian was urged to tell his side of the story.

Accompanied by a small caravan, the king went to Ayze's lair. However, unlike the version circulating, he was cruelly rebuffed with a threat to be burned to death.

Yet, since he had brought several sweets, and among them were several puddings, Ayze's favorite, she quickly accepted. Unfortunately for Sian, his master was too lazy to carry out the king's request, so it was left up to him. She told him to listen to the king's request and then decide whether he would accept or not.

As if he knew of Sian's preferences and tastes that not even Ayze knew about, the king offered numerous favorable and tempting rewards impossible for him to reject.

"Despite being weak, the king kept a calm look and expression throughout the negotiation," Sian said as he took a sip of his tea. "It seemed as if he already knew that everything would turn out as he had planned."

"I could never have imagined that the Ayze you always talk about was the dragon Ayzeret..." Fran murmured in admiration.

"I was also a little surprised when I found that out," Ophi said. "I would never imagine you were the Sage's disciple."

Because of her vast knowledge, Sage was one of the titles Ayzeret was also known by.

"Instead, I'm more curious to know what rewards you've earned," Illianna said.

"Besides some things I had not the slightest interest in, he offered me his harem, including the queen. He even tried to make me fall into temptation by saying that they were all still young virgins."

After his words, in addition to Illianna's contemptuous gaze, Sian also felt the stares of Ophi and Fran.

"Don't look at me like that! I didn't accept it because of that!" Sian shook his head nervously. "The king offered me information on where to find a book that had several recipes I had never seen in my life. He told me that I could find that book in the village that the hydra was heading to."

Illianna's contempt quickly turned to surprise.

"You mean that you accepted only the information from a cookbook as a reward for killing a hydra?"

"No, well..." Hesitating a bit, Sian continued, "I took everything he offered..."

"And here was I, for a brief moment, believing that you could be a decent person." Illianna rolled her eyes.

"What could I do? The spirit was willing but the flesh was weak. I tried to resist, but sleeping with the king's women was too tempting…"

After Sian said these words on impulse, silence surrounded the room, only then he realized the stupidity he had made.

Illianna's contempt, which seemed on the verge of spitting on him at any moment, although it seemed harsher than usual, was still somewhat commonplace. But the clear look of disappointment on Fran's face worried him greatly. Since the two in front of him were like this, Sian did not dare to look at Ophi.

Clearing his throat, Sian quickly tried to change the focus of their attention.

"I wasn't the one who defeated the hydra!" He said quickly.

Seeing that the gazes in front of him had flinched at the new information and now contained a hint of curiosity, he continued as calm as he could.

"Although I helped a little, the one who fought the hydra was Milka."

"This name is new to me…" Seeming to doubt his words, Illianna said, "Someone strong enough to defeat a hydra should be pretty well known, don't you think?"

"She doesn't like to show up that much," Sian replied. "She is my pupil. Sometimes I do some training sessions with her. The fight with the hydra was part of her training."

Even though she still didn't seem to believe his words, she seemed to accept what he said.

"So, in the end, you outsourced an outsourced service by throwing all the work to your pupil?" Illianna asked.

"Well, basically, yes."

"Poor soul," Illianna wailed.

"I'm not that bad, I gave most of the rewards to her."

As Sian had said, almost all the rewards he received from the king of Hosnein were given to Milka. The only things he kept for himself were access to the harem for a week and the information about the book.

After the defeat of the hydra, the king tried to extend the agreement by letting Sian visit his harem at any time, but in exchange, he would have to protect the kingdom. It was a purely commercial agreement where Sian would become the guardian of the kingdom and earn additional rewards.

Sian also told about the king's additional proposals, in which he could become the hero of the kingdom and be adopted by the king, becoming the prince. Although he refused both proposals, considering that the king always calls him my son when they meet and that he is recognized as a hero, it seems that his will was ignored.

"And you still say you don't understand why you're called Deflower," Illianna sighed, "Poor Uncle Frank."

Ignoring Illianna's remark, Sian expressed his misgivings about the king. Although not a huge harem, the king's women numbered three, and all of them were truly virgins, which was strange. The king seemed to be at least 40 years old, but despite that, he had no children. Apparently, even three years later, he didn't touch his own harem.

"Maybe he was afraid of you?" Ophi suggested.

"From the moment we met, he showed no fear of me or even of Ayze. He always kept a peaceful and calm smile. Whenever I express my suspicions to him, all I get as a response is 'You're just imagining things' accompanied by laughter. It's as if he is hiding something."

Looking at Illianna, he asked, "Since you two are relatives, do you know something?"

"Even though I'm his niece, I don't know him very well." Crossing her arms, Illianna pondered for a moment. "I don't know if it's true, but my father often cursed him, calling him shitty eunuch."

"Since they are brothers, maybe that has some truth in it?" Fran questioned.

"That's not the point," Sian shook his head. "Besides that hero title I just discovered, he practically forced the position of duke down my throat. He even offered his own brother's wives and daughters as a reward for me."

Even if at first glance it seemed that the king was wanting to win Sian's favor by offering an abundance of rewards, it wasn't quite like that. Some of the gifts he got from the king were things he didn't want, and he expressed that openly.

Despite this, the king didn't care about his opinion and kept pushing things towards Sian regardless of his will. Even if Sian initially believed that the king was simply an idiot trying to please him unconditionally, he was wrong.

After a little research, he discovered that the king was a master of scheming. Even his position as king was obtained through his cunning.

"Even though he and my father never got along, Uncle Frank is a good person. I believe he did it with the intention of protecting us, without any ulterior motives. Since Uncle Frank announced that my father did something unforgivable that deserved the death penalty, we would probably go to the grave with him. If his family stayed under your protection, even the people who hated my father would not complain."

"Regardless of his intentions, I believe your uncle is hiding some secrets..."

Leaving Sian and Illianna alone in the living room, Ophilia and Fran went to prepare lunch. The moment they left, Illianna stared at Sian's face.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I believe that because of your upbringing, you believe that force solves everything and so you act like a spoiled brat. But even when you threaten me, you won't actually kill me."

"What's with that out of the blue?" Sian frowned.

Ignoring him, Illianna continued.

"With the addition of Ophilia and Emily in your life, I've noticed that you seem to be trying to act like a responsible adult in front of them. I can see that you are the kind of person who is sincere and straightforward. It's the same with your feelings. I can sense that you really have a deep affection for both of them, because of that you won't do anything that might make both of them have a bad impression of you-"

"I don't need you to talk about me to me." Indifferent to her words, Sian interrupted her. "Be clearer, otherwise I won't understand where you are trying to get at."

"You need to learn to be patient," she said with a dissatisfied look.

Although he wanted to replicate her words, Sian knew that because of her serious expression, she probably had something important to say. As he took another sip of tea, he waited for her to continue.

"In the meantime, while I was watching everything, several doubts began to arise in my mind and now, I realized something..." She stared at him, "Would you believe in the possibility that someone is manipulating us behind the scenes?"