The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 508: THIS MADE NO SENSE!

“I think this should be ok for now…” the supreme elder finally said after the elders finished nitpicking a few things on Lily’s report.

Thankfully, she answered everything perfectly… It was just that her situation seemed a little bad, with her face being very pale. This was expected as the girl didn’t get to rest a lot after the cleansing.

“Now… Lily, do you have any requests for the family?” the supreme elder asked.

“Yes…” Lily, who was standing with difficulty, said. “I want to participate in the coming Tournament!”

“WHAT! HOW DID YOU LEARN ABOUT THAT?” one of the elders quickly flared out.

“That pervert Victor told me about it… He said there would be an opportunity to grow very strong there… And I don’t want to miss it!” Lily said, keeping watch of her words.

“How much do you know?” another elder asked.

“I know that it is run every 300 years and that something very important would happen after… Also… That’s what Victor knows!” she dodged the question.

“I see…. But…”

“...”

“...”

“She can’t…”

“But…”

“...”

The elders seemed hesitant.

“We can’t let you participate… You can only come as an observer!” Is this ok?” the supreme elder, thinking for a moment, finally said.

“I don’t mind!” Lily nodded. It didnʼt matter; she was sure to enter the jade dungeon as long as she was in its proximity!

“Then it is settled… You can step down, and welcome to the Family!”

Lily quickly descended and left the hall, heading directly toward Yulian.

She was dead tired after using her skill, and her state was getting worse.

She needed to get that necklace as fast as possible, then go to sleep to connect to Victor ASAP!

There were a ton of things that she had to tell him. Things that could not wait!

***

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” the girls yelled in excitement as soon as Elise and Victor walked into the mansion. At the same time, all kinds of colorful balloons were released in all directions.

Margret, Mira, Monica, and Aria stood in the center with a huge cake in front of them. Hilda and the little maids stood to the sides, blowing party horns while others lit firecrackers!

“Ah…. “ Elise, acting surprised, quickly used the opportunity to hug Victor as if she were in shock. Then quickly let go and began to hug her sister one by one as they congratulated her.

Victor, who was behind her, also quickly began hugging his wives, who didn’t see him after his return.

“Victor, It’s been a while!”

“Why didn’t you call us yesterday when you returned?”

“I know Margret is pregnant and such.. You mustnʼt forget about us!”

“Ah… No… ”

“Later….”

“HUSBAND! Elise is here…”

The atmosphere was very warm, if not for a certain maid who stood far behind like a block of ice. Alpha! She could only glare at Victor hatefully as he got comfortable with his wives.

Beta and Gamma, who were the only alphabet sisters in the mansion at the moment, also stood back, sighing at their elder sister’s behavior. Margret had told them everything the moment they returned from their mission this morning. If Alpha listened to them and joined Victor’s harem willingly, she might have been one of his wives! They knew he was interested in her from the way he always looked at her. She must have known that too, but instead of trying to seduce him, she had to think highly of herself and try to subdue him, ending up far worse than she had been.

Victor, who sat to the side after greeting all his wives, just winked at them from af then turned and watched as the maids sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Elise as she blew out the candles on the cake and then began to open up the gifts everyone got for her.

All of them were girly stuff that he had no interest in. Thankfully, Elise seemed to really like them.

Ah, Right!

“I guess it is my turn now!” Victor said as a few of the little maids began to move the gifts to Elise’s room. He walked to sit opposite his wives and started taking out the things he brought for them.

“I will start with the birthday girl!” he said, taking two boxes and handing them to Elise. “The small one is something I brought for you as a souvenir, the big one is your birthday gift!“ he said.

Elise smiled sweetly as she grabbed the boxes. Hesitating for a moment, she first opened the small one.

The box had a red star-shaped pill in it.

“A pill?” Elise asked with a frown.

“Yup…”

“What does it do?” she asked.

“Guess…” Victor smirked. “It is something you want!”

“Make me grow older fast and enter your bedroom?” she asked, making the little girls all look toward the pill with interest.

“...” Victor paused for a moment. The girl was really ruined. “Sadly, no…” he said, turning to look at her as he glared at the grinning Margaret, then at Hilda, who just shrugged. She had a lot of little girls to take care of, so she wasn’t really keeping an eye on Elise’s education.

“Then?” Elise frowned in disappointment. She was not the only one…

“It’s a Starfall bloodline awakening pill. Your three-eyed golden Ermine bloodline has not been awakened yet. This thing can help you with it!” Victor explained. “This thing is pretty rare, and it has the effects of making you awaken all your bloodline skills!!” he said. This thing was stolen from that alchemist’s ring, and it was super expensive! He already took one by the way, but it didn’t work at all. His Chaos dragon bloodline was maxed out, and his demonic bloodline didn’t respond to it.

“Aha…” Elise nodded, “Thanks…I guess… ” she said. She didn’t really care about her bloodline, but at least it meant that Victor was keeping her in mind, so it meant something.

Putting it in her storage ring to swallow it later, Elise opened the big box. Hopefully, this one would be more interesting!

“Hsssssssssssssss………………..” The one who gasped was naturally Alpha, but everyone ignored her as they looked at the thing in the box. It was a pair of earrings, shaped like crystal balls, that had a strange flame burning in them. They looked absolutely otherworldly.

Victor raised one eyebrow, not inspecting Alpha to guess what those are. Her family must have a pair of those things, too! He got them from the otherworldly auction, so they were not that rare, just super expensive!

“This is?” Elise asked with interest, for some reason, she could feel a strange power in those things.

“....” Victor hesitated for a second, then came close and whispered a few words in the girlʼs ears.

“Oh… Then….” the smart girl got it immediately. “If…” she blushed as she realized why Alpha gasped.

SMACK! He smacked her little head. “If you dare to use them that way, I will spank your butt off!” he warned seriously.

“I know…” she pouted.

“What are those?” Margret, who watched the exchange, asked.

“If I tell you, they lose their purpose…” Victor smirked. Those earrings had one purpose: to copy someone’s looks and then turn into them. They were totally indistinguishable without any appraisal skill! They were of the same quality as Alexʼs gender swapping ring!

“BORING!” Margret pouted.

“There is one more thing…” Victor said, talking about a small pen case. And opening it. Inside it, there was what seemed like a big golden feather.

“This is?” Elise asked with a frown.

“It is basically a quill, bind it with your own blood, and it will be used at will… You can use it to write things from afar, or as a weapon… Explore its functions by yourself, and be careful, it can be very lethal!” he wanted to say as Elise began to look at the feather with interest.

Victor chuckled, turning to Mira.. “Now… It’s my little Mira’s turn!” he said, taking a square box.

“This is…” Mira blushed as she looked at it, then slowly opened it. Inside it, there was a necklace made of fiery red stone. It looked very ancient.

“It is a little magical thing… You will find its description in a paper in the box. Use it carefully!” Victor said. This necklace had the ability to release a fire that burned everything around the caster. It was mostly a self-protection gadget, but it looked really fancy! “And there is this too…” he said, taking out a long box. “It is a sword, try it later when you have time!” he said. This was an SSS-ranked weapon, but he was not going to say that now.

“Thanks!” Mira smiled, not caring about the sword as she began stroking the necklace with her fingers.

“Now Monica…” Victor said, taking out a large box. “Careful, it is heavy!” he said.

Monica caught it, almost fell to the ground, she quickly set it on the table, and opened it. Inside it, there was an egg!

“It’s a dragon egg… Sleep hugging it every night, and it will hatch into a mist dragon in about a year… It is not the strongest kind, but it can usually disappear, so you would be able to take it with you. For your class, this thing should be very helpful!” Victor said. Monica had a big problem; her class and skills were not leveling up, because she wasn’t really riding a dragon… Other than him.

“Ah…. Thanks…” Monica said, pouting a bit.

“Take this too… It is just a little hairband that I found, and it reminded me of you!” he said, throwing her a small box. “It can make you fly so you wouldn’t need the levitating necklace, and it has some charm effect, but you wouldn’t need that!”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Ehe… Thanks!” Monica smiled sweetly as she took out the hairband and inspected it. It looked really nice, black with golden trimming.

“Now… It’s your turn! Big sis…” he turned to Aria.

“So you really remembered me…” she said, trying not to appear excited like the little girls.

“I have two things for you…” He said, first taking out a sack and giving it to her.

“This is?”

“A whip made out of an earth Dragon skin! I thought this weapon would really suit you…” He said as Aria took the whip and gave it a look. “Don’t underestimate it… This thing can make even a dragon wail in pain!” he said. It was the same brand Lyra used. In fact, the little girl was the one who recommended it.

“What else?” she asked with disinterest. Did he really take her as some kind of dominatrix?

“This!” Victor said, taking out a wooden box with a pair of golden bracelets inside. Although simple, they looked really pretty with a strange, magical pattern etched on them. “Those are not magical weapons, but they are made from very rare minerals! I thought they would look good on you… ” he said.

“Ah… Thanks!” Aria smiled as she grabbed the box, totally missing Victor’s smirk.

Those bracelets were, in fact, magical. They had the function of being able to bind the movement of the one wearing them. Just something to make his nights with Aria less dangerous.

“What about me?” Margret asked with a frown as she noticed her depraved expiration. She seemed to have figured out something.

“I already gave you that technique book yesterday….”

“You mean that…” Margret frowned. “... Well, it is not bad… But that’s it?”

“Of course not!” Victor chuckled, taking out a small square box that he placed in front of Margret.

“This is?” Margret asked as she grabbed the box.

“Don’t open it!” he warned. “It is a set of magical portable bedroom furniture… Whenever you travel, you will be able to take all your room with you…” He said. “It’s a bit heavy, but you can put it in your ring!”

“Oh…” Margret nodded. “What else?” she looked at him.

“...” Victor chuckled. “Take this too… Only use it for personal protection… Don’t even think about using it for something else, it is very dangerous!” he said, giving her what seemed like a cylindrical object wrapped in a black cloth. “Bind it with your blood later, it is pretty high ranked!”

“Cool…” Margret nodded, picking the side of the cloth to look at the thing inside before quickly covering it back and nodding. It was an extendable spear with Thunder attribute… Yeah, it can also vibrate, so Victor had to give it to her with a warning! “I will use it carefully…”

“...” Victor rolled his eyes as he took two boxes and threw them to Beta and Gamma, who were feeling a little jealous. “Those are for you… Bind them later, and use them carefully!”

“Ah… Thanks, young master!” the girls quickly smiled. What he gave them were two very stylish elven storage rings with huge inner spaces.

Victor sighed, then took out two boxes. “Hilda.. The small box is for you, it is a phoenix youth pill, it will be very good for someone your age!” he said. This thing was cheap, as he had to fight for it in the auction. A person could only take one in their life, and it would slow down aging.

“Young master… I am in my thirties!” Hilda rolled her eyes as she grabbed the box, planning to take that pill later tonight.

“I know… It is tough being that old…” he sighed. “The other one contains health-enhancing pills, give one to each of the little girls, it will help make them grow healthy and become prettier!” he said. Those pills were used in the other world and were pretty famous among princesses. Although their effect was not great, it was not bad at all!

“I understand…” Hilda sighed, watching all the little girls look toward her like hungry wolves. “Aren’t you going to thank the young master?” she scolded.

“Ah…. Thanks, YOUNG MASTER!” all the little maids bowed and said at the same time.

“No need to thank me… There are also some fabrics that need to be worked on, but I will leave those in the warehouse for you to check later...” Victor chuckled, “Now, come on… Let’s eat some cake!” he said, making the little maids quickly hurry to start filling dishes for everyone. Even Alpha got to have a small weighted, shaped piece… Was that really chocolate cake or something else? Victor had no idea, but the little girls were definitely still holding a grudge against her!

Anyway, Victor really enjoyed the warm atmosphere around the mansion. This was something he didn’t get to enjoy a lot in his past life, with all the trouble of living in a post-apocalyptic world.

Not saying that his current situation was worry-free… But having a lot of money really made a big difference…

Right… As if remembering something, Victor operated his Fate eyes and began to inspect everyone.

Nope… In between the myriad of threads that filled his vision, Still, Only Alpha in this room had a golden fate thread!

Now that his Fate weaver class had grown stronger, he became more capable of differentiating the different fate threads connecting to each individual. He tried to focus more, making more and more threads appear. The thinner the thread, the more casual a fate was. He knew it instinctively.

The thick ones, like the golden thread, must have meant something big, but those myriad small ones represented things like chance encounters and passing relationships.

Feeling a little tired due to the overload of information, Victor quickly began to stop his thread as there was nothing here of…

He paused as he felt something wrong in his field of vision… He had to focus harder to finally spot it. Very strange fate threads surrounding two of his wives.

Mira and Aria

He couldn’t tell why… but those very thin fate threads seemed to have a strange blue sheen to them, vanishing and reappearing periodically; it was as if they were trying on purpose to be obscure, but this behavior made Victor take notice of them.

Thinking for a moment, he quickly focused on them.

Almost immediately, all the other myriad fate threads were filtered out, leaving those blue threads.

To his surprise, they were not just a few as he had first suspected. There were a lot of them, Millions! All were connected to both Mira and Aria, with just one similar thread connecting the two. If not for their sheer number, he would have missed them.

A network?

That was his first presumption, but he needed more of those threads to make sure…

Strange… Could it be some cult thing, or all the people who were in the same social network?

It could have been, but the way those threads were a little elusive made Victor suspicious. They seemed thin, but were not a normal connection.

“Vision Search… What are those blue threads?” he thought for a moment, then activated his Akashic Scholar class.

ANALYZING: 200 ORDER POINTS REQUIRED,

He pressed

HIGHER EXISTENCE NETWORK, X

“Explain… What is the HIGHER EXISTENCE NETWORK mentioned in the previous question?” This time, he activated his Akashic search.

ANALYZING: ERROR… DATA HAD BEEN DELETED

Oh… Victor paused; he expected the system to demand a lot of order points, but this was the first time he had seen this.

“Who created the previously mentioned HIGHER EXISTENCE NETWORK?”

ANALYZING: ERROR… DATA HAD BEEN DELETED

Again?

“Who deleted this data concerning the previously mentioned HIGHER EXISTENCE NETWORK?” he asked.

ANALYZING: 1 ORDER POINTS REQUIRED,

Eh… CHEAP! He quickly pressed .

LOCAL SYSTEM MANAGER: PLAYER ID ./0432808451Z211E05489891150xA8212A3443395768AA4461156489848441010/

DAMN IT! AND HOW THE FUCK WAS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE HELPFUL?

Should he waste another question to ask who that was? He still got two this month…

No…

Thinking for a moment, Victor looked at his own status.

He quickly disguised his own PLAYER ID as the one provided by the system.

Nothing happened.

He switched the status screen on and off a couple of times.

Nothing happened.

Well… He should have expected it not to work… That would have been too easy!

He sighed. “What is the name of the owner of PLAYER ID 0432808451Z211E05489891150xA8212A3443395768AA4461156489848441010?“ Saying that number carefully took some time.

ANALYZING: 10 ORDER POINTS REQUIRED,

He pressed .

RECORD NAME: QUEEVAL ARDANTLINK

“Hssssssssssssssssssss……….” Victor almost gasped out loud, looking at his two wives. Qeeval was a name he heard when dropping off the Lords using the rings. Although he was not sure, after hearing what Alpha told him, he suspected that she might be the Spirit empress.

It didn’t take a genius to add things up. Both Aria and Mira had the strange bloodlines, Death Spirit and Aqua Spirit, respectively. Aria, on top of it, had some strange memories in her bloodline, which Victor was still wary about.

“The name of the person whose sealed memories in Aria’s bloodline belong to?” Victor finally asked. This would be the last question he could ask this month. And although he was sure of the answer, he had to ask it!

ANALYZING: 1 ORDER POINTS REQUIRED,

Frowning, he was about to press before pausing. Shit, he almost asked the wrong question.

“Cancel… The name of the person whose sealed memories in Aria’s bloodline ORIGINALLY belong to?” He corrected his question. The memories were now Aria’s after all!

ANALYZING: 100 ORDER POINTS REQUIRED,

Hesitating, he pressed Yes. Damn, his order points were growing thin!

RECORD NAME: EMIRA

Eh… Victor had to pause.

He expected that Qeeval might have sealed her memories or something, but why were Emira’s memories in Aria? Was this Emira the same Loli he knew? THIS MADE NO FUCKING SENSE!

Wait… Aria did have a Death Spirit bloodline…

Although he was not sure, Victor began to get some idea what was going on, and he didn’t like it one bit! Especially with it affecting both of his wives!

“Victor… Are you ok?” Margret notices Victor’s pale expression.

“Nothing… Just a little tired…“ he said as he stood up, “It has been a long day, so I am going to take a shower then go to sleep… feel free to continue your party!” he said, deciding it was ok for him to leave now. The little girls seemed a little reserved with him around after all. And he had a lot of things to think about…

“Oh…” Margret felt that there was something wrong about him, but decided not to press it.

“Young master… There is something I need to talk to you about!” Hilda suddenly said.

“Oh…. Follow me to the study, then…” Victor, noticing her serious tone, walked out.

Moments later, he left.

“I need to go check on something…” Monica, as if thinking about something, quickly said before walking out of the dining room.

“Right… I have a script to review…” Mira sneakily followed after her.

“I… I have work…” Aria, blushing a bit, also followed them.

“...”

“...”

”Arenʼt you going to follow them…” Elise, who looked at them leaving, asked, turning to Margret, who was busy inspecting her ‘Gift’ with interest.

“Nah… I already ate my fill yesterday, let the girls have fun, he wouldn’t be able to enjoy himself to the fullest with me around anyway…” she sighed before turning to look back as if she just remembered something. “Hey! Stupid maid! Quickly go help your master bath!” She ordered Alpha.

Alpha shook for a moment, then turned and walked out while gushing her teeth.

DAMN IT!

***

“Is there anything?” Victor asked Hilda as soon as they entered the study. Usually, he left all things concerning the household to Margret to manage, so Hilda, wanting to speak to him privately, felt strange.

“Young master… I need a favor!” Hilda said. “I was planning to ask Axel about it when he returned, but thankfully you got her first!” she said. “This would make things easier!”

“What?” he asked.

“My daughter has just finished the family training, and needs to be drafted. I was hoping that you would make a call to let her come work here!” Hilda asked.

“Daughter…. HSSSSSSSSSSSSSS...... YOU ARE MARRIED?” Victor asked in shock. He had no idea!

“...Not exactly… I was a single mother…” Hilda sighed.

“Don’t tell me she is also my sister!”

“... Why would she be your sister?” Hilda didn’t follow through.

“Ah… Nothing… Who is her father?” he asked, with everything going around him, he felt he needed to ask.

“He used to be one of Master Theodoreʼs butlers; he was the one who assigned me here before, but he got into an accident and lost his life… You don’t need to care about that bastard!” Hilda hissed, clearly trying to hide some anger.

“Ah… I see…. Is she pretty?”

“...” Hilda sighed. “She is not bad…” She really hated for her daughter to be a plaything for some young master, that’s why she never mentioned her before, but now, after knowing that Victor was a good guy… relatively speaking. She decided to ask for his help. Servants in the family didn’t get to choose where to serve, but with Victorʼs Elite Heir status, he would be able to arrange the girl.

“...” Victor wanted to ask a little more, but looking at Hilda’s uneasy face, he decided to keep it professional. ”What is your daughter’s specialty?” This was what was important for now.

“She studied law… She is pretty good at it!” Hilda said proudly.

“Oh, can she manage a company?”

“I am not sure…”

“Well, we will figure things out!” Victor nodded. “Call Kai and tell him about it! Just make sure not to reveal any secrets to her before the girls test her loyalty!” he finally said.

“I understand!” Hilda nodded, squeezing her fist. “Thank you, young master…”

“Don’t worry about it… Now, if that’s all, I have a night duty to attend to!“ he said as he walked to the door. “Ah, Right…. Tomorrow, I am expecting Iris and my half-brother Roy to come in with a few of his sisters… Lara and the girls will be here too, make sure to prepare some refreshments!”

“I understand!” Hilda nodded as she watched him go.