Roy was staring down at the crib of Julius, with the same carefree smile on his face. But now he was wearing something a bit more—relaxed, like he was just woken from sleep. Simple woolen clothing was the go-to, from what it seemed.
"Hey, little man. You woke up, huh? Sorry you had to experience that."
Julius wanted to shove a stick down Roy's throat—since, after all, what kind of idiot makes a child talk with a demon? But he couldn't do that for now.
"Well, I'll be taking you outside for now."
A small grunt escaped Roy's lips as he lifted the chunky baby that Julius was, especially since Father Gregory was using some strange spell on him to keep him nourished.
"Aren't you a big boy, huh? Let's go now, before Maria follows us."
Julius let a small frown make its way across his face, since he definitely didn't want to be alone with Roy, since this guy definitely didn't care for anything.
'I can already tell this guy isn't one for rules or customs. Fucker. He's tryna copy me.... Bitch.'
Roy put Julius on his shoulders as he walked out of the church. The sun hitting both of them—the baby's sensitive eyes closing immediately.
"Kid, open your eyes. You need to see the world." Roy tried to get Julius to put down his hand
'How stupid is this guy—I'm a baby I can't understand shit right now.. But he's right, I need to open my eyes.'
Julius' eyes flickered open, and when they did. He saw paradise on Earth. Long gone are the high towers, the busy streets, the loud cars; everything was now peaceful.
The grass seemed to go on for eternity—a faint silhouette of a city off in the distance was there, but it was small. Barely noticeable.
"See that kid? That's where New York was, but after the Revelation. It was destroyed, now we call it Kark. After the guy who founded it."
New York. That was Julius' favorite place. And knowing it was destroyed kind of weighed down his heart.
'Forget it, Julius. It's been god knows how long since everything's been destroyed. But I wish I still had a good time with a woman before my death.'
A small sigh came from his mouth—piquing Roy's interest as the man narrowed his eyes just a bit, but he didn't say anything. For now.
"Alright, let's go."
Before Julius could even react, Roy's green eyes gleamed with ancient mana as he took a single step forward.
'Is this idiot gonna cover this distance manually? That's like fifty miles!'
Almost in an instant—they were in front of the city gates of Kark, Julius' hair was blown upwards, eyes were wide open. But Roy once again, noticed not surprise or fear, but intrigue and curiosity.
The city of Kark is exactly what one would imagine it to be—wooden stalls on wheels and people pushing them around. And best of all, actual two-story Victorian homes with half-decent designs and sturdy architecture.
They carried things like thick metal pans and utensils to ham and cheese sandwiches on wheat bread—even shabby rings and necklaces were around.
'Nice.. At least we still have a semblance of civility, we're comparable to the early 1800s, I have a base to work off of.'
One thing caught Julius' attention—and that was a man holding up a wooden sign with 'Sigil Seer' written across it in golden ink.
"Aren't you a curious one, huh? I brought you here so that I can test your Sigil more."
Julius frowned—no way. He wasn't going to experience that strange 'demon' again. And he knew exactly how to get out of this mess.
He started crying as loudly as possible, as loud as his lungs might allow him. Tears rolled down his cheeks and fell onto Roy's head, annoying the older man just a bit.
"Hey hey! Don't cry!"
Julius' plan wasn't to just cry so that Roy wouldn't test his Sigil out; it was so that he would attract the attention of some people, and boy, did he achieve that.
A group of men with rugged, hardened faces that seemed to have seen everything and heavy armor approached them both.
A pale, bald, stubby man with a heavy beard now stood in front of Roy, looking up at him with anger in his eyes.
"Hey, whose kid is that? And why is he crying?"
Roy looked down at the man calmly, tilting his head to the side silently—he didn't respond. First strike.
"Listen here, brown boy, I'm an adventurer, I'll have your whole family bought-"
The man was cut off—he crossed the only line Roy had, and now he was slammed on the ground with Roy's hand around his neck, crushing his windpipe.
"You all are dead."
Roy's eyes flickered towards Julius as once again—he smiled nonchalantly. He walked away towards a vendor, leaving the stunned men alone momentarily.
"Hello, ma'am, take care of this child for me. He likes eating, so please, anything he eats, just tell me."
As soon as Julius was handed over to the old woman behind the shelves of vegetables, Roy was struck in the back by an iron mace, but surprisingly, he was unharmed.
"Adventurer's right? I haven't fought monsters in a while."
Roy turned around, a smirk on his lips. He was definitely enjoying this a bit too much.
"Now come at me. All of you. Don't make this boring for me."
Julius, who was watching this from the older woman's arms. He was utterly fascinated with Roy's fighting style.
'This guy's very fast.. I can't even see his attacks. He's like using some variant of Capoeira but much less dancy... Gotta give it to him. He's good.'
Roy was a mere blur, a small green glow was emanating from underneath his shirt, around his shoulder—that's where his Sigil was.
"Oh boy! Roy's fighting, huh, Granny?"
A stout middle-aged man with a patchy beard was watching the fight with an entertained expression, scratching his chin as he did so.
"That guy was an amazing adventurer, but the poor guy sacrificed luxury for his wife."
The older woman sighed—rubbing her temples as she looked down at Julius. Who was laser-focused on the fight, observing it like a hawk.
"He's a bit chubby.. But he's definitely a lot smarter than other babies.'
'Shut your bitch ass up granny, let me watch this guy in peace.'
Julius frowned—he was learning a lot about Roy, and the fact that he gave up his life as an adventurer for his wife made Julius come to one conclusion.
'Simp. Considering his pokey ass ears, he's an elf. Wonder how they came into being, though.. Might have been a mutation from Compound EVE...'
Roy was standing above the unconscious men, beaten bloody—bones mangled and broken, armor shattered along with their pride.
"Next time you think about insulting my family, know we Elves can legally kill a human if any racism is involved."
He said this with an eerie smile while kicking the face of one of these men—but before he could possibly do anything else, he was stopped by the same middle-aged man.
"Alright, Roy, you don't have to kill 'em. Don't want your rep to be even worse, right?"
The man placed a hand on Roy's shoulder, but it was quickly pushed off as Roy walked back towards Julius and put him on his shoulder once again before walking away in silence.
"Poor kid. Elves are much better off in their own hidden kingdom, just like Dwarves."
Julius heard this from one of the passerby's and once again the fire of knowledge ignited in his chest, especially since a whole new branch of biology and the unknown was yet to be explored.
'Elves. They're usually pretty, and Roy is handsome as well. So.. Slave trade, nice. That's a way to become a hero. Goal number one set, grow strong enough to abolish slave trade... Abraham Lincoln I'm coming for your ass."