Chapter 88: Man Attached to a Boulder
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On what was a relatively normal day that most people spent busily working, Marcel and Allan decided to go exploring alone. Shalia had returned home a week after promising to stalk Marcel forever after receiving a summons from her father, just great! Silva and Valeria were back adventuring through the dungeons; this time, with Daniel in turn.

The other two thunderbeast brothers, Nigel and Evan were both busy doing their separate things. Evan was being secretive and disappeared suddenly, though, it wasn’t any alarm for concern because he was just trying to defy his future ‘gay prophecy’. Nothing much! Nigel took a temporary adventuring mission elsewhere in some labyrinth with another party as a favor to an old friend. Kenny had returned home once again and it doesn’t seem like he’ll return anytime soon. See, everyone was doing their own separate things and they were still friends.

Anyway, it’s been two months since Allan and Marcel last saw their friends, and out of what might be jealousy formed from being left alone while the others prattled around, doing their own things, they decided to get off their butts and take a trip. How nice. Ahem, how nice~!!! That’s better!

And, where did they decide to take this random, unscheduled trip? To Bladethawl, of course! The homeworld of the werewolves and vampires is where. They decided to travel around Bladethawl to waste as much time as they possibly could because, why not? Was squandering a part of their lives on this worth it? Only they will be able to tell you. I won’t comment.

As for where in Bladethawl they decided to start with, they chose somewhere they thought welcoming to them; well, Marcel, for the most part. It was the territory of the Silver Wolf clan, Wolfgang’s original home before he moved with Vladimir to the edge of the vampire and werewolf territories to establish Blutwolfweise, the united territory. Also, that’s close to where the telecircle they took brought them, and seeing a territory in the distance coupled with boredom naturally led them to explore. It seemed like a good idea. They also decided to do some shopping for rare oddities while in this territory and decide where else to go.

Just to be clear, this is all so that the others feel like they missed out on something when they return. Again, how nice~!

And so, just like that, two young men and a wolf, as their stead, headed into the Silver Wolf territory.

Oh, wait! The wolf. Ah, looks like Ains decided to join them for some fresh air. He offered to carry Marcel around but seeing as it wasn’t just him exploring, he reluctantly decided to carry Allan too. He was excited to be of service to his master and show off his amazing prowess as always, so he turned large enough to carry the two like some kind of elephant, and then they set off.

Looking around in the near distance, the Silver Wolf territory seemed to be surrounded by nature and undisturbed life, with its natural scenery that merged buildings and trees together and the dense forest of trees that surrounded the territory like a natural barrier. They lived in harmony with their surroundings and sought to preserve its natural beauty, just as the elves did.

The territory was fairly large, at least a thousand miles across. Ahead in the distance, north from where they stood, was a giant mansion as if screaming, ‘The Lord of this territory lives here!’ It was the tallest building around the territory, despite how it looked cities away from where they stood.

Unbeknownst to them, the soil they currently stood upon was also part of the Silver Wolf territory, but hey, do they really care?

 

Riding on Ains and admiring the scenery, they quickly arrived at the first city away from where they landed, Virenford. They enjoyed the view of buildings coated in silver ornaments and interwoven tapestry. Who knew that werewolves like silver so much? It was everywhere. Weird!

Haha, dragons are obsessed with jewelry and rare ornaments, and werewolves are obsessed with silver to the point of having it everywhere. They also consider the theft of silver as a capital felony deserving of immediate termination. That’s how crazy they are about the mineral.

Allan went crazy with shopping, his just below average levels of werewolf blood stimulating his senses and letting him buy any rare oddity that he normally couldn’t get his hands on in his current home of Nephavion. It went on for a while when, out of nowhere, something happened.

A giant boulder suddenly loomed above from out of nowhere, ready to hit them.

“Master!” Ains notified of the threat above. Marcel nodded and the wolf transformed.

Transforming, he took on his Wispy Frost Wolf Beast form, an ice element form he achieved from fusing Marcel’s acquired Wispy Frost elven nature with Marcel’s natural ice affinity and Sigurd’s residual ice energy. Power-wise, it was ranked half-S class and made him unstoppable against fire and ice-type enemies.

Clad in icy armor in what seemed almost no different from his normal white form, he unleashed the fury of ice, creating icicle lances to intercept the giant boulder.

Intercepting the boulder, the lances began chipping away at the boulder getting closer when suddenly, Ains noticed that someone was attached to the boulder’s back.

“What’s that?!” Marcel and Allan also noticed the presence hidden behind the rock above them.

Ains stopped chipping away at the diminishing rock, “I’ll take care of it, master!” Ains was eager to please. He made his next move.

Quickly, he switched from his Wispy Frost Wolf Beast form to his Verdant Forest Wolf Beast form, a plant element form acquired a while ago from fusing the ‘Cauldron’s natural resources together, before he generated multiple vines with Marcel’s skill, [Grabbing Vines], which the wolf wove into a taut, giant net supported by the trees around them. The boulder, now much smaller in size, fell first atop the net then unto the ground.

With Ains having successfully done his part, came Allan and Marcel who rushed to the giant net to check on the person attached to the boulder. He was in an inactive state, almost dead.

Marcel froze the rock with Allan’s help, then he cut apart the boulder with Sigurd before they warmed up his body again with fire magic. The man began breathing normally soon after. Confirming that he was fine, they found a quiet clearing nearby to put him while waiting for his awakening.

 

Now, examining the man attached, they noticed that he had blue-grey hair and dark brown skin. He was a bit taller than Marcel and wore a furry coat and a pair of short pants; a furry coat, Marcel ruined by freezing and thawing it. The entire thing looked scruffy now. Whoever this man attached to the boulder was, he was going to be mad when he woke up to his ruined cream-colored fur coat.

From looking at him, the impression they got was that of wild beauty and Allan immediately recognized who he was from his aura.

“He’s a white wolf, a Silver Wolf clan member.” He said.

“Huh? How do you know? He has blue-grey hair. Isn’t he a blue-grey wolf?” Marcel asked, confused.

“Trust me, I can tell these things. Have you forgotten that I have werewolf blood?” Allan asked. Yeah, I did forget too.

Speaking of forgetting, did I forget to mention that General Lancel Archlen, Allan’s father, technically married into the Wolfram family, the Black Claw Clan leader’s noble house? Yes, let’s please not forget that if fate hadn’t duped Allan’s race lottery, he’d have been born a werewolf and not just be werewolf royalty in name only.

Now, back to the current situation.

“If you say so!” Marcel shrugged. No point arguing with what Allan said. After all, he’d never lied to him yet, at least, he hoped so.

***

After a while, the man’s eyes finally shuddered and he slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was Marcel’s face, and the instantaneous reaction startled the two.

“Hey— woah~,” He said in a sultry, absentminded manner as he got up, entering a sexy, one-sided starring contest with Marcel and completely ignoring Allan who sat next to Marcel, eagerly waiting for him to return to consciousness.

“Hello!” Marcel politely responded to him. He was getting uncomfortable. The man peered directly at him with no sign of blinking. He was both worried for the poor man’s eyes and also, getting creeped out by the blatant stares.

“Beauty, can you tell me what happened?” The man asked.

Beauty? Well, that was the first time Marcel had been called that to his face. It was giving him déjà vu of his conversation with Winter from two months ago and all the other times someone spoke of how he looked now. It was a bittersweet feeling.

Marcel was unsure what to answer, so he spoke what was on his mind,

“You tell me, strange man attached to a boulder? Why did you fall from the sky attached to a large boulder?”

The man grinned, “Hehe, care to listen? It’s a very long story.”

Here, we go again, “Do I?!” Marcel expressed interest in yet another person’s story and Allan sighed.

Why is Marcel like this, he wondered. Allan could swear that listening to a stranger’s story will be the reason he’s kidnapped in the future. He wasn’t looking forward to it.

“Well… like I said, it’s a long story. First, let’s begin with my name! I am Vantel Ashburn, twelfth son of Lord Leonard Ashburn, leader of the Silver Wolf clan.” Mentioning that, he confirmed Allan’s earlier words. Marcel really had good reason to trust every word of his.

“Now, Vantel Ashburn, how did you manage to get stuck to a boulder, then fall from the sky like you did?” Allan asked.

“Call me Vantel, just Vantel! Well, easy, I did something to offend my father again, so he stuck me to a giant boulder, cast me into the thermosphere to chill for a while. Sigh, I finally fell back down. It’s been about six months since I was thrown up there. I hope he still isn’t mad at me.” He explained, his expression skewed between worry and slight remorse.

Huh? What exactly did he do so bad that it’d require being almost literally cast off the earth forever by your own father?

“Get to the point! What did you do?!” Allan was harsh. Marcel thought he was being very impolite. It was so unlike Allan, but still, Marcel wanted to hear what got Vantel into satellite orbit for six months so…

“Hehe…” He laughed wryly, “I got another omega wolf pregnant again after the last omega came with news about more babies two months prior, which my father didn’t take so well. He thinks I’m a horndog. So mean!” He answered while scratching his head, laughing the entire time.

Allan’s eyes immediately went from mildly infuriated to straight loathing because he remembered who this man was. He was the flirt of the Ashburn family, infamous for breaking the hearts of werewolves everywhere. His specialty is welcoming new children into the Ashburn family via impregnating male wolf omegas and female wolves everywhere.

Marcel’s mind went blank. What? Pregnancy? He didn’t have the capacity to think about pregnancy or children, so he drew a big blank. Finally, his knowledge gap regarding pregnancy in the demon realms was being filled in. He really wanted to sit down and learn with Dragon Link too but now was not the time.

“I know you!” Allan whispered under his breath. He looked at this man with disdain.

“Continue!” Marcel urged.

“Anyway, I forgot to use contraceptive magic like usual while ‘doing it’ and so, now, I have a total of five kids to look forward to at the end of next year. My father got fed up because I bring in at least five to seven new kids every year and so, he sealed me with the giant boulder then launched me into orbit around the planet. I worked so hard~. I had to protect myself and the boulder with magic as not to be destroyed by all the other junk in space, but then, at the most unfortunate timing, the boulder started falling back down and I also run out of magic. You saved me!” He cried dramatically. Allan looked even disgusted with this man.

So, why was Allan so disgusted with Vantel?

Well, because he’s related to this man too. This fucker got one of his cousins from his mother’s side of the family pregnant around a hundred or so years ago. Yes, this fucker gave him another cousin. It was obvious why the very mention of this man left a bad taste in his mouth.

“Well, your entire situation is unfortunate, but… why do I have this strange feeling that you deserved your punishment?” Marcel spouted what was on his mind like usual. Allan, however, wished someone would snip off this guy’s dick to protect men and women everywhere. He’s a menace to werewolves everywhere!

“Thank you for helping me land safely without any injuries, unlike last time. I’m forever in your debt.” He grabbed Marcel’s hands and stared deeply into his eyes again, completely ignoring Allan.

Like last time? This punishment happened often and he still didn’t learn!!? Ah, how Allan wished he’d made Ains get out of the way so that Vantel got back up later with many broken bones. He would have never helped save him if he knew from the very beginning that he was saving this menace.

 

“So, are you headed home now?” Marcel asked after releasing his hands from Vantel’s hand prison. He was still getting uncomfortable with being blatantly stared at by him.

“Yes, first to Sheena, then Erhaden.” Vantel answered. His final destination was Erhaden, where the family mansion was located.

“By the way, beauty, what about you guys?” He asked.

“To Sheena too.” Allan cut in abruptly and answered. He looked annoyed with Vantel’s very existence. The other was finally getting the feeling that he was disliked, but he didn’t mind.

“What’s your name, beauty?” Vantel asked, brushing at Marcel’s hands with his while staring him in the eyes with a flirty gaze. Allan rolled his eyes.

Luckily, Marcel didn’t notice these kinds of these, even if he knew they were happening, so he answered earnestly with a smile,

“The name is Ma— Dave! Sorry, it really is Dave.” He answered almost too honestly. He almost gave out the name of the Demon Lord’s wife.

“Nice to meet you, Dave! When are you leaving? Shall we leave now or wait until tomorrow? It’s still noon, so I was thinking we should got a move on.” Vantel wondered. He already had plans.

“Sure, we can leave now and enter Sheena.” Marcel smiled. Vantel quickly looked down, away from Marcel. Allan knew exactly what was happening. He was blushing at the sight of Marcel’s smile. He was smiling too. He really…

Marcel got off the grass and wiped himself off before signaling Ains who rested in his shadow that it was time to leave. Allan also got up, as did Vantel.  

“Shall we?” Vantel thought they were walking to Sheena, the next city several kilometers from Virenford. He was rightfully shocked when a giant wolf jumped out from nowhere and Marcel and Allan got atop it.

Ains looked reluctant to let Vantel on, but he relented, not wanting this stranger that his master had met to think he was unreasonable. Also, that would make his master happier. His top priority was to always make the master happy, so he got a little bigger and they got a move on

And, just like that, ten minutes later, they found themselves at Sheena’s entrance, gated unlike in Virenford. Much to Vantel’s disappointment, they’d already reached their destination.

They noticed after entering the city that people stared a lot. It wasn’t only at the giant wolf brimming with power that made them want to welcome it inside their city but also, at the powerful man behind whom many of them recognized and resented.

The powerful man who terrorized both young and old werewolves everywhere was atop the wolf too. The city’s inhabitants and visitors who knew him wanted to transform and rip him apart, but they were aware that they stood no chance. They quietly watched as the three on the large wolf came in and booked rooms at an inn while two of the three eagerly explored the city and the last and very scary man stared intently at the silver-haired one of the two with an almost childish grin on his face.

 

In the end, they spent the night in Sheena together before they set off the next morning. The inhabitants and visitors who spectated the flirt’s strange behavior of staring intently at the silver-haired one felt pity for the young one whom they thought was about to become his next prey last night. They found it even stranger when, the next day, when they left, they still found him to be ‘pure’, the same as yesterday.

“Wait, was the flirt finally taking his time?” They thought. That man was always infamous for his skills in capturing and ‘devouring’ his first-timers in a single day. What the hell was going on?!

Yes, as usual, Marcel managed to deceive people with his pure aura, and when Allan told him the reason why the people stared while he was leaving, he felt even guiltier.

“Guys, I’m not a virgin!” He almost cried. He really didn’t want to deceive people like this. The guilt was crushing him.

***

 

Last night, Marcel and Allan had decided to go to Erhaden with Vantel, though it was mostly Marcel, being eager to see new places and all. They got on Ains and before they knew it, they had reached Erhaden, even farther away from Sheena than their journey yesterday. It was soon time for Vantel to leave.

“Hey, Dave beauty! For how long will you be staying in Erhaden?” Vantel asked, a heartbroken expression on his face.

Allan rolled his eyes again. Honestly, he hoped that they’d reach Erhaden already then probably just drop Vantel at the mansion, which they realized was the tallest one they’d seen from the distance, and be on their way. He’s been hating what was supposed to be a fun trip all because of this bastard.

On the way to Erhaden, Vantel had focused solely on Marcel with great interest, asking Marcel more about himself and ignoring Allan like he didn’t exist. Most of his morning was already ruined, so he wanted this to be over before afternoon. That way, his heart, and mind can rest. He’d been pushing his tolerance level for this bastard to the limit already. He’d like to freeze his soul and incinerate him with Ifrit’s flames but the bastard would probably survive, seeing his lineage. The last piece of mercy he could give Vantel was probably dropping him off at the mansion without incident and never hearing from him again, like what he did to his cousin after the child was born and taken in to be raised by the Ashburn family.

Marcel answered, “Not very long. We’ll just look around, then be on our way. We’re thinking of exploring as much of Bladethawl as we can handle. I want to see if I can make it to Wolfgang’s territory before I’m mentally exhausted.”

“You know Wolfgang?” Vantel asked, surprised.

“Yes, I’m also a hero like him. I met him some time ago with Vladimir.” Marcel replied.

“I see!” Vantel smiled, his eyes forming crescents too. It looked like they were smiling with him. He looked very elated for some reason.

Soon, they reached Erhaden and arrived at the giant mansion and dropped Vantel in front of it, then left to continue their exploration, but before Vantel left, he said,

“We will meet again!” He said to Marcel before waving at them as they departed. Allan, however, hoped that would never happen again.

Marcel smiled earnestly and waved back at Vantel who blushed once again upon the sight of Marcel’s smile. Allan grew frustrated as they left. Vantel had this happy grin on his face that told him all he needed to know.

“Yet another has fallen into the trap! That guy has definitely fallen for Marcel’s charms. The worst-case scenario is upon us! Note: Dangerous like Miguel Dunkelheit. Marcel must never see this person ever again!”

In that moment, Allan once again vowed to protect Marcel and thus, revised the list of dangerous people to protect Marcel from, like he had last when he finally met Miguel Dunkelheit. Those two, Marcel and Miguel Dunkelheit, get along way too well.

“I will protect Marcel’s pure heart!” He reaffirmed himself.

PS: He really hates Vantel Ashburn now, just like he dislikes Miguel Dunkelheit.

 

In the end, they never made it to Wolfgang’s territory because when they got to the Black Claw Clan’s territory belonging to the Wolfram’s, Allan’s relatives, after exploring the territory of the White Moon Clan. His relatives let them stay there until they drained all their willpower.

They had an especially hard time getting back home.

Family members are one of the most dangerous people around,” Allan learned the hard way.

In a way, Marcel was scary too because he managed to bear with everything they did and even actively engaged with them. He avoids going to his mother’s home like the plague but he had this strange feeling that sometime next month or a couple after that, he’d be going back there thanks to Marcel who was overeager while they were there. Just great!

 

Now, as for Vantel, let’s just say that to even intend to be with someone as ‘pure’ as the person who stole his heart, he had a lot to work on. Vantel’s father no longer had to deal with more babies because his son was busy, with his mindset regressing like a teenager’s for the first time in his life. Vantel was finally maturing, and he couldn’t be prouder but, what spurred this change in his son; he wouldn’t learn of the cause until two centuries later.

Let’s just say that by then, Vantel falls in love all over again for the second time in his life.

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