Deltan was now receiving hugs from everywhere… and it was driving him insane. Even the Undyings around were giving him hugs whenever they saw him. And they didn't even know what for! He could read from their expressions that they were practically just going with the flow. He hoped his baby appreciated what he was going through for him!
For weeks now, he had been avoiding them, but then they seemed to get smarter and teamed up to hug him, so eventually, Deltan just gave up and reluctantly accepted his fate as a cuddle toy.
But try as he might to deny it, it was rather… nice. It almost pained him to admit it, but he had grown to somewhat enjoy this new form of greeting, but he would admit it over his dead body. He knew that the moment he ever made such admittances, the surge of hugs would only escalate from there. He hadn't been treated so affectionately since ever, and he couldn't help but notice that at the end of the day, something seemed to have loosened up in him, and he wasn't so tense all the time.
He heard his younger brother mutter something like edopines? Endorines? Well, whatever. He was sure that it would come to him sooner or later. He couldn't quite remember at this moment, because he had been preoccupied trying not to melt into the hug at that time! His body was a traitorous being that was no longer listening to his commands.
At the very least, he successfully started a fad where the first greeting that came to mind when seeing someone was a hug instead of a 'hi' so that he wouldn't have to suffer alone. After all, it was easier to hide in a forest than being a lone tree. At this thought, Deltan felt quite smug. If he had to suffer this indignity in public, then so should everyone else!
At this moment, Valerius came up to Deltan and hugged him for five seconds. Deltan sighed long-sufferingly, but obligingly patted the Undying on the back before letting go.
"Hello to you too," Deltan muttered petulantly.
"Greetings Eldest Prince!" came the enthusiastic reply.
Deltan eyed the other, wondering how someone could be so chipper all the time. He hadn't liked the other at first, mainly because he felt that the other had somewhat stolen away most of Lucien's time, when they were already so short-staffed, but he relented after a while, grudgingly admitting that the other wasn't so bad.
It was mainly because Valerius just had this sort of infectious energy in whatever he did. He was rather silly, and didn't always think things through, but he showed a remarkable enthusiasm for magic. Right now, he wasn't very good at it yet, but he was steadily getting better. Somehow, Deltan felt like this trait of his made him more endearing. Even for his paintings, he threw himself into it so wholeheartedly that the people around him felt their focus increase, as if they were competing in enthusiasm.
The other worked hard on his craft, but also sometimes took breaks when he couldn't understand. It was now a common sight for them to see Valerius painting wherever and whenever, it was just… why did his paintings never increase in quality! Obviously, they could all see that he was trying his hardest, but somehow, the end result was always completely devastating!
Deltan's lips twitched at this thought. He now owed a grand total of seven paintings from this Undying alone, and he couldn't bring himself to get rid of it. He placed them in a room in his residence where it was out of sight, but… just entering the room made him feel like he had seen something shockingly grotesque.
Aciel had jokingly called the other 'Painter Meister' once, and the nickname had stuck.
Valerius had happily opened his stat window one day and realized that he had achieved a title 'Painter Meister' from what the NPCs were calling him. He had never been as happy that day. The added stat bonus of people being sucked into his painting was a good effect as well!
With the way people couldn't rip their eyes from the paintings, Deltan silently thought that if they could weaponize those paintings, taking out their enemies would be a walk in the park… but they wouldn't tell the poor Undying that. Goodness knew how they could see the pride he took in his paintings.
If Deltan had to describe it, Valerius was sort of like… a dumb younger brother that he felt the need to take care of. Clearly, Nine outclassed him in every field, so he never felt the need to go around overprotectively, but Valerius inspired this feeling within him.
The day he saw the poor Undying get ripped off by one of those vendors, Deltan had given the other a proper lashing with how he hadn't went around to check the market price.
Valerius had just sort of murmured, "You can do that??" like it wasn't common sense. Deltan supposed that for the other, it really wasn't, but! Their 'world' should perfectly mimic theirs in this regard, so that was no excuse!
Just thinking about it got Deltan annoyed, so Deltan said to the Undying, "Alright, enough of that. Extra practical training for you today!"
Valerius immediately put on a wounded expression. "What! What did I do this time?!"
Deltan ignored him as he dragged the other to the training fields. All those years ago, he never thought he would be in this position where he was 'taking care' of someone else instead of his younger brother 'taking care' of him.
Deltan repressed a shiver at the thought of the 'training' and 'spars' he went through under Nine. "Just like with younger brother," he murmured under his breath.
Nodding at Valerius, Deltan limited himself to the same tier magic as the other, immediately casting a volley of spells at the other, not going easy on him at all.
"Focus!" he yelled as a spell clipped the other. "If you aren't able to dodge, then put up a shield! Better yet, have a shield up at all times! Even if you run out of magic, it's better than being dead on the battlefield!"
So engrossed were the two of them, that neither noticed when Nine watched their spar with intense focus.
A smile crept up on Nine's face, but it wasn't the nice type of smile that was reserved for when she was happy. No, this smile was the one when she saw something that had annoyed or enraged her. Her smile twitched slightly as the surrounding people backed away from her slowly, trying not to catch her attention.
By the time Deltan and Valerius finished with their spar, Valerius was flat on the ground, groaning. Even though the game company limited the pain percentile to 20, it still hurt! By now, the smile on Nine's face had only grown, everyone else having backed away in fear that they would catch her attention.
"Eldest Brother, looks like you've slipped in your training…" Nine trailed off, causing the poor prince to pale drastically.
Deltan jerked in shock, wanting to go back in time and slap his mouth a few times. He just had to say it out loud!
The eldest prince stiffened, but slowly turned around. He struggled to put on a smile when he saw the twitching smile on his younger brother's face.
"How could it be," Deltan tried to deflect. "I've been sparring with everyone else every day. I haven't been slacking off."
"Oh?" Nine said, tilting her head. The smile on her face maintained its terror-inducing state. "So, everyone had been going easy on you, huh? Looks like there's much to rectify."
The mix of students and fans behind her, who had long since backed away, felt like collapsing to the ground the moment they heard those words from Nine. Some inwardly cursed Deltan, glaring at him with tears in his eyes.
Deltan felt a mix of glee and horror when so many pairs of grudging eyes were directed at him.
"Haha," he laughed hollowly, making a run for it. This caused a chain reaction of everyone else running after him, tackling him… in a hug!
Deltan teared up.