Chapter 407: Memories of Past

As the carriage traveled through the streets of Aquamia, Arthur sat inside it reading the files Ma gave him. It seems that no city lacked issues, as Aquamia wasn"t as peaceful as one would think. There were pirates finding ways into it, smugglers pa.s.sing through it without detection, and aqua monsters blocking their routes.

Arthur felt a familiar presence and raised his head. Through the carriage"s window and for the briefest second, his eyes met those of the princess. But then, she was gone.

They reached the marchioness"s mansion after a while, and it was lined with marble and filled with statues of dolphins. As he got out of the carriage, Arthur could see bubbles floating around it. Not even the Sea Deity had a place that looked this aquatic.

"Welcome, Lord of Hidden City," a woman greeted them at the front gate, and Arthur noticed she was a demi with fish scales on her neck and cheek. There were a pair of fins on each arm, and her eyes were glaring ocean blue. "My Lady was surprised about your sudden wish to meet her but happy nonetheless. Sadly, she is a bit busy, so I ask of you wait, humbly."

Despite how she bowed to him and said politely, her words weren"t so polite. The way she said it could either be interpreted as "I humbly ask you to wait" or as "I ask you to humbly wait," and there was quite the difference.

A n.o.ble might have thrown a fit of rage because of the disrespect, but Arthur"s ego wasn"t as inflated as theirs, so he didn"t care a lot. Ma seems to be different, as Arthur could feel him trembling with rage. Before his follower said anything out of place, Arthur decided to fire back.

"We are delighted by your humbleness," Arthur smiled at the woman, whose expression froze when she heard him. "I had my fears that the marchioness would refuse to see me on such a sudden notice, but I"m glad that she has the time. Waiting is no problem, and I"ll enjoy the scenery the city has to offer."

This wasn"t about who could be more disrespectful while hiding it, but a battle of wits to see if Arthur could be stepped on or humbled. Hearing Arthur"s reply, Ma grinned and straightened his back.

"Our Seika is busy, so he had to rush things. Nevertheless, we ask for your understanding of our circ.u.mstances, and we wish to settle this matter as soon as possible. There are also a few artifacts that our city provided that can strengthen your ships, but I guess we"ll have to wait until the marchioness is free."

Ma"s revelation made the butler tremble, and the few others behind her looked ecstatic. However, it was unwise to show such emotions, so the butler restrained herself and nodded with a smile.

They were led inside into a luxurious room full of pearls and shimmering colors. As he sat on the couch, Arthur realized that it was filled with water. The marchioness picked one theme and made it her whole personality.

Food was brought it in after a while, and there was a variety of sea creatures among it. Arthur didn"t like seafood, but it seems Ma was different but waited for him to dig in.

"You can eat ahead," Arthur gave the permission, not used to such devoted respect. Ma hesitated, but he was drooling and began to gulp down food unceasingly.

Arthur simply looked out of the window as he waited. But then, a sudden realization he had was that he still had his phone, so he took it out. But, of course, there was no signal.

"Hm? What is that, My Lord?" Ma wiped out his mouth as he leaned in to see what Arthur was holding.

"Something from the past," Arthur smiled. This was a phone that Master Ronin gave him before he left toward Jerano, but he never got to use it.

Alexie Linan was his name back on earth, and Arthur has almost forgotten about that ident.i.ty because of his hardships in Alva. His old phone had to be charged using electricity, but this one had a small artificial rune that converted mana into electricity.

His mana powered up his phone, and it was up and running again. Luckily, this was in his subs.p.a.ce when Arthur fought against the hybrid Ender. The phone was mostly empty, but he found photos taken by someone.

"Hm?" Arthur frowned as he didn"t have a habit of snapping pictures. Although to be completely honest, he didn"t have a habit of doing anything on his phone because they were banned in the Lime Agency to prevent slacking.

As he opened them, he found photos of his alter ident.i.ty, Alexie Linan sitting on a poker table. From the close-up angle, Arthur could tell that either Oliver or Jonah was snapping the pictures.

In the picture, Arthur was bickering with the aloof Rae about something. It might be their bet, or it might be something unrelated. However, it was clear that he was drunk.

"Heavens, this is embarra.s.sing," Arthur"s face reddened.

Arthur never saw himself behaving under the effect of alcohol, so he cringed at his face as he fought against Rae. Then there was a video, and Arthur"s stomach turned.

"Raise!" Arthur shouted in the video as he smirked at Rae. However, the camera zoomed in to reveal that someone was standing behind him. It was the Gorilla Teacher.

"Hey, freshmen. I"m alright with you enjoying yourselves, but you are getting a bit too noisy," Mr. Raymond walked up to them with a laugh. Arthur turned to him with a frown and looked him up and down.

"What is a gorilla-man doing here?" Arthur asked, slurring his words. He was drunk, but the crowd was stunned by his boldness nonetheless. Even in the video, Arthur could see Mr. Raymond"s veins bulge.

"What did you just call me?" the teacher crackled his knuckles, ready to send Arthur flying with a punch.

"Easy now, Raymond. He is drunk. Please be lenient," the camera swiftly turned to reveal the side face of the teacher dealing the cards.

"Old hag, hurry up and deal!" Rae slammed the cup to the table as she called. The teacher"s hands trembled as veins bulged on her forehead as well.

The scene turned chaotic as Mr. Raymond tried to stop the dealer from destroying the place instead of going against Rae. Then, Arthur called him gorilla again, and the dealer had to stop Mr. Raymond from beating Arthur up.

During the whole event, Jonah and Oliver laughed so loudly that Arthur could barely hear what was going on. Yurirl interfered to make sure Arthur wasn"t beaten up, and the video ended afterward.

The room was quiet now, and Arthur could feel Ma gaping at him with nervousness. There were no artifacts that could record videos in this world, so his shock was understandable.

Arthur sighed and tightened his hand around his phone. Memories of those times flooded back into him, where he didn"t have to fight against kingdoms just to survive. Despite being in danger as well, at least he had people with him.

"I miss everyone,"

Arthur missed everyone he knew from Earth: His mother, Oren, Yuran, Ori, Ellen, Hazel, Miko, Ivy, Reece, Li, Emma, Yurirl, Lilo, Oliver, Jonah, and even Rae. He never appreciated their existence when they were there, but now he does.

This world was full of terror and calamities, and he had no place to call his own. Hidden City was more of a boat that he had to steer to stay alive rather than a home.

"Seika, is that a new artifact?" Ma asked beside him with amazement. "There were sounds and moving pictures. I never saw anything like this. Are they people you know? They dress differently."

"Yeah, it"s from a place I called home, but it was also dangerous," Arthur said with a smile as he kept checking his phone. There were emails sent to him by someone, and there were pictures taken during the exams.

There were his fights alongside Jonah and against Rae. There were also his fights against Arlo and how he performed in the exams. Pictures from the parties and his fight alongside Rae.

Arthur had no idea who sent these pictures because there was no sender. Finally, however, he found a signature at the end: Rayxin. That monster was the guardian of memories, but Arthur didn"t think he could use emails.

"It must be difficult," Ma said, and Arthur turned to him with confusion. "Well, it"s just that I learned of your past from Lady Gala. She talked about you a lot before she went away."

"Oh?" Arthur placed his phone away. "What did she tell you?"

"How difficult it was for you before you came to Freda, and why you can understand the suffering of people around you better than other Lords," Ma scratched his head. "It must be hard to always be in danger."