The Eternal Family



Among the darkness of new night, Houses alight with small torches, and the smell of grass and trees filling the place.

Ace walked down the village path, his sweaty body needed another bath and he had some work to do. Reaching the village housing area, and seeing a small boy playing with a Kite, Ace walked towards him and asked with a smile, "Hey boy, Where are Rome and Raina? What are they up to?"

The black-faced child looked back at him with a smile and pointed to his left, "That Hut, Raina and Rome live there with their mother."

Ace smiled and looked at the Kite, the kid was trying to bind some rope to it, but his tiny hands just couldn't. Taking the kite gently from the kid's hands, he bound it tightly, gave it back to the child, and then patted his head, "Thank you for showing me the way."

The kid smiled and said, "Thank you too, Big Brother."

Nodding, Ace walked to Rome's place, he didn't mind being a kind and good human being, that was also his inherent psychology. Even though for benefits, he didn't mind becoming a devil.

Walking past a small wall, Ace saw the thatched hut clearly, it was cleaner than the others and much more elegant. With flower pots and such put in the correct places.

But what surprised him was that the Hut didn't have a door, it was wide open.

Raising an eyebrow, he didn't mind much more and entered into the small hut.

It was dark inside except for a small Oil lamp that kept the place dimly lit. Hearing his footsteps, two people, Rome and Raina looked up from their meditation.

Ace said, "Hello Kids."

"Hello Brother Ace, did your duel end?" Rome asked with a yawn.

"Yeah, I even met your Village Chief."

"Oh? What did you guys talk about?"

Ace sat down on the ground and replied with a sigh, "I really want to tell you that, but the Village chief spoke with me in secret, so it should remain a secret."

"Ah, I see, did he allow you to stay in the Settlement for more than one day?"

"He did, but I am leaving soon," sighing again, he continued, "I have some important matters to deal with and I am here to tell you something else. I am going to give you two an opportunity."

Rome and the silent Raina looked at him in confusion. What kind of opportunity was he going to give them?

They were also curious.

Ace smiled at their faces and said, "But before that, let me introduce myself."

Rome and Raina got even more confused, hadn't he already introduced himself?

"I am not Ace, my name is Harry, and I am a prince of the lust royalty. Mmm, they call me the Null Prince," Ace said, his voice calm.

Rome and Raina's eyes widened, and Raina exclaimed, "Bu..But that's impossible! We questioned you using Rome's Gift earlier."

And… had she shot an arrow at a Prince earlier? She couldn't help but shiver inside.

"Nothing is impossible girl. So now, let me tell you your opportunity." Had there been a shrewd minister here who knew Ace's plans, he would have been impressed by Ace's mental games. "As a Prince, I have high authority, and I am someone whom you could trust. What do you say? If I invited you to be my Vassal, would you agree?"

Rome and Raina turned silent again, they pondered for some time before Raina spoke, "Uh… Prince, please don't be offende—"

"You can call me Brother Ace as you used to."

"…Brother Ace," Raina said, relieved that he didn't mind her earlier discretions, "Actually, this is not the first time that Rome and I are getting an invitation from the Royal Family, but we have never accepted and they had never bothered enough to force us."

"Oh? Why didn't you accept? Isn't that a good deal? You can even get guidance from Stage 5 Gifted…"

"Chief Blueflame is one reason and our mother is another reason," Rome said, looking towards the side, but he then shook his head and continued, "Chief Blueflame said going to the Royal Family would be my end. That jealous people would end up killing me someday."

"Oh? But won't they just think you are good enough and come here to force you into submission?"

The kids chuckled slightly, and Raina said, "We have a small trick for that, we act extremely Arrogant to outsiders and Royalty, and say my Gift clouds my judgment and that it is weak in many areas, so the Royalty just lost interest in us after a time. They wanted to bring Raina in for her youth-making ability, but one woman, Venezuela, people called her the Royal Doctor or something." She looked at her brother and then continued, "She came and said her healing Gift is much better than my flimsy illusion of youth and the royalty lost interest in me too."

"But you were not Arrogant with me?"

Rome couldn't help but smile wryly, "That's true, the thing is, our Gifts just won't advance past Stage 1 no matter what, and then one day. We decided it was probably because we couldn't be true to ourselves and kept playing arrogant brother and supportive sister cards."

"So you decided to be yourself and kind?"

"Yes."

Ace couldn't help but chuckle, "No wonder you seemed like experienced Arrogant Young Masters when I first met you. So, in the end, the arrogance weakness was bullshit?"

If that was the case, his Gift's potential was very high.

But as Valeria mentioned, it must be incapable of reaching the level of 'Great Gifts', after all, he couldn't see any way for [order] to control him when he had DreamWalker.

Why mention [order]? Even if he used his thread Slavery method, [DreamWalker] gift could be used to lie to himself and it was simply enough, going to work.

Great Gifts.

He only had one of them and it was already showing its greatness.