"Someone's here."
"Hm?"
"Outside. I can sense humans."
In the middle of Xion and Ale's intense Q&A session, Xion's ears suddenly perked up and he stopped talking.
The next moment, he was looking at his right. Ale could feel it too after Xion pointed it out for him. There were people outside.
"Hmm.. At this hour?"
He wondered who they could be for a second. First of all, this was a restricted area. And normal people wouldn't come this far inside the forest so late at night anyway.
"Three of them. They're strong. Enemies?"
Xion's sharp nature came out unintentionally. The subservient, calm attitude he had shown with Ale all this time vanished in a second.
"Enemies? But I don't have any, not yet."
"...yet?"
"Mhm.. You wait here. I'll go check it out."
Ale erased his presence and jumped down the roof after strengthening his body once again. He was using his mana quite frequently nowadays.
"Wai-...!"
Xion tried to stop him but Ale was gone before he could even finish saying that one word.
From the moment he met Ale till now, there was one thing that bothered Xion to no end. It was Ale's unguared and careless attitude.
That man looked like he had no care for the entire world. And the way he jumped down without any hesitance only strengthened that opinion.
"Does he not care about his own safety? Or is he that confident?"
Xion couldn't figure out the answer to that question no matter how much he pondered over it.
In the end, he decided to stop thinking all together and go down to take a look at what was happening. He didn't like Ale's careless attitude. It worried him.
*RIIIP*
The back of his shirt tore apart as two pair of jet black wings unfolded under the bright blue sky. He flapped the wings a few times and dived straight down to where Ale headed.
Down there.
*Hup!*
Ale came down and landed right behind the three people who had seemingly invaded and disturbed his peaceful stargazing time. It wasn't everyday that he got to enjoy a view like that.
"Hm? You guys...?"
"Ah!"
"That scared me!"
"Did you just jump down from the roof?!"
The three of them showed their bewilderment as well as concern as they tried to approach Ale. But before they could cross the gap between them, something else landed on it's feet right in between.
*Wham!*
The sound it made was much louder than the time Ale landed, clearly showing a difference between the two.
"Step back!"
Xion had his back towards Ale as he stopped the three people from approaching Ale any further. His long arms and huge body accompanied by a pair of huge wings made him look scarier than it normally should have.
"Hey wait-"
Ale tried to stop them. But his words died down underneath the shouting voice of those three people.
"Who are you?!"
"Wings?!"
"Don't tell me- A DEMON?!"
*SHING!*
Sound of swords being unseathed could be hear loud and clear in the dark, quiet night. The three people, apparently shocked and alert by the sudden appearance of a Demon, took out their weapons and were ready to take it down in a moment's notice.
But that notice never came. No fight broke out. There was an eerie calmness all over the place. Both party were alert and ready to jump into battle at any moment.
But at the same time, something bigger, scarier, and more suffocating was pressing down on them, making them unable to take a step forward. It was Ale.
Since he couldn't get to them with his voice, Ale decided to suppress both party with his aura. It wasn't complete subjugation. Just a little bit of oppression to stop them from moving.
This was the power of a war veteran. The more his memories of the future merged with his current self, the stronger his aura became. And after spending decades in a future riddled with wars, demons and disaster, his aura was undoubtedly one of the strongest in the entire continent.
"Seath your swords, Phil, Gary."
*Chiiiik*
They did as they were told. It was almost like a reflex. After training under Ale for the past two years, they had grown a certain sense of subservience when it came to Ale's aura.
And the last of the three, Kevin, who had a small dagger in his hand, also followed suit and put it right back where it was.
"You too, calm down. They're my people."
With that one sentence, Xion's wild aura also died down and became almost non existence. The wings folded back in it's place and his body also shrunk a little, automatically.
"Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you people, trying to pick a fight with every chance you get-!"
Ale kept grumbling as he started heading inside the mansion once again. Xion quickly followed suit and started tiptoeing right behind him. The other three also obediently followed suit.
Once the five of them were inside the mansion, Ale finally deactivated his aura and plopped down on a nearby sofa. The four of them felt like they could finally breathe easily as Ale did so.
"Young master.."
"Quiet."
"...."
"Ale..."
"You too. Didn't I tell you to wait upstairs?"
The four of them quietly stood still as Ale pondered over how to sort this mess out. He had no intention of letting Xion meet any of his people.
And a part of Ale also wanted to hide the fact that he wasn't biased against the demonic race from his friends and family. He felt uncomfortable.
The frown on Ale's face made both party feel self conscious, sad and overly concerned as they looked at each other. While Ale was busy thinking of a way to make the two party forget today's incident, Xion and the trio came to a mutual understanding under the circumstances.
'Let's not fight.'
'Yeah, I don't care if you're a demon or not.'
'We shouldn't worry the young master.'
'His peace of mind comes before anything else.'
They conveyed those messages through their gazes and agreed with each other all the while Ale was busy trying to figure out a way to not make a mess of the situation.
"We'll keep it a secret, young master."
"Yes. Please don't worry about us."
"We'll listen to whatever you say."
"Yeah yep! Me too! Don't be mad, Ale."
The four of them started pleading Ale at the same moment, making him feel completely taken aback.
"What?"
"We apologize!"
"M-me too! Sorry!"
While the three of them apologized instantly, Xion also followed suit and kept copying them. From his years of experience at the Royal court, he knew sometimes people just needed to go with the flow.
"You're gonna do what? Keep it a secret? Not fight a demon? Follow me blindly?"
"Yes! Err.. I mean-"
"And you, you're a demon. Why're you complying with them and acting like that? Apologizing? To a human? Aren't you embarrased?"
Ale was so baffled by their sudden change in attitude that he didn't know what to say anymore. So he just started ranting and saying whatever came to his mind.
The four of them, on the other hand, listened quietly to all of Ale's ranting while keeping their heads down. It was truly a sight to see.
"Are you guys even listening to me?!"
Ale shouted in frustration, only receiving four obedient nods in reply though. They were listening. They were most definitely listening to everything he was saying, word by word.