A shabby house with a deep well in front of it was standing in the middle of a rundown town where one or two people lived within a mile. It was a rich town once but after a monster attack, the town turned into a ghost town. Now, it's a city of criminals where they hide their looted goods after stealing.
In the basement of the shabby house, a man was sitting in a corner with a key in his hand. In front of him, a girl was mumbling something from inside the slave cage. She was being imprisoned by his father.
"Daddy, don't you love me? I promise I will be a good girl. Please let me out."
But the father stayed silent. He even refused to make eye contact with her.
At that moment, he heard the door knocking.
"Daddy! I am sure my prince is here to save me. See? I told you that he loves me! Unlock the cage! I want to see him! Let me go!!!!"
The man walked upstairs by closing the door to the basement. She was left alone in the dark.
"Hello, uncle. How have you been?"
The man held his door lock with a strong grip and said "What do you want?"
Viktor smiled at the man and said, "To visit you." Without saying anything further, he made his way into the house and took a seat on a chair.
The man asked, "May I ask who you are?"
"Ah, sorry for my late introduction. I'm Viktor Harvort. A magician."
"Are you here to kill my daughter?"
Viktor laughed and told Adonis to give him the gift basket. The man opened it and saw the shiny gold coins with an expensive bottle of wine that only high nobles can get access to.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"This is my farewell gift for the lady. But the lady doesn't have any right to do whatever she wants. She's a criminal after all. But I'm showing some mercy on your child only for you. You have only two options."
The man looked at the floor and said, "What are those options?"
"You can start a good life with your daughter. Or, you can live on your own with that money."
"If you're taking responsibility of ours, there might be something you want in exchange right? There is no way you're offering us free money."
Viktor took out a paper from his pocket and gave it to him.
"Read those conditions carefully. Both of your lives depend on it."
I know he's not a good man. He sacrificed his whole family for money and took his daughter because she looked useful. But his conscience turned off after she used black magic on him. He lived 8 years like a sleeping zombie. And when he woke up, he regained those memories and locked his daughter inside the cage to figure out what to do next. He was left with no money or any powers because of his daughter.
"Think about it carefully. You can start a new life if you sign this paper. But your daughter will be mine forever. And if you sign the other contract, You will have this money and your daughter too, but the cost will be your memories. So, which one do you prefer?"
The man looked at Viktor's face and saw his unsettling smile. The man behind Viktor was gazing into his soul with his golden eyes. He looked as if he was ready to devour him.
"I.. I don't know…!"
"I never said you have a third option. Choose one, or just give up on life."
"Then, I'll…I'll choose the first one."
He gave up on his daughter.
"Well, congratulations then. I'll send you to Diltais Kingdom by teleportation right now. Do you want to talk with your daughter for the last time?"
The man held onto his money and signed the paper without hesitation. He simply refused to talk with his daughter and requested Adonis to send him off as quickly as possible.
So, Adonis made a portal and told him to walk through without looking behind. So he did just as he was instructed. He saved his life by selling her daughter to some unknown man.
"Master. Looks like he really hated his daughter. He's worse than my mother."
Viktor lit a cigarette and asked, " What about your mother?"
"She was a cruel demon. But she used to supply me food even after she abandoned me."
"My mom had no guts to face me as a mother. At least she fed you."
Viktor and Adonis looked at each other and burst into laughter.
"So, I'll give you something extraordinary gift today. Let's go downstairs."
Viktor opened the door to the basement and saw a rusty cage after they walked downstairs to check. In that rusty slave cage, a girl was holding onto the bars with wide animal-like eyes. At that moment, Adonis felt something and he fixed his golden eyes on her. He was gazing into his soul that lives deep inside her body.
"Master, is that for real?"
The lady inside the cage looked at Viktor and she quickly recognized his face. So she said, "It's all your fault."
"Yes, I know. But sadly, your father already sold you to us as a slave. So, you're not even allowed to die without my permission."
"Master, is her body real?"
Viktor knew what was triggering Adonis's interest in the female lead's body.
After the heaven's guardian took the demon guardian's life, the contract between them vanished. As a side effect, her body lost the ability to hold a drop of mana and became a blank body.
A blank body is rare and extremely valuable for magic and alchemy experiments. Also, a blank body can be used to make thousands of chimeras with one cell. She was a gem for Adonis's chimera study.
"This is my gift for you. Do you like it?"
Adonis's face became too bright from over-excitement that Viktor covered his eyes to protect them from getting blind.
Ugh! I still can't get used to his puppy eye flash.
"Master! Can I make whatever I want with her?"
"Yes, you can. Now let's go home. I have to finish something."
I sensed something extremely powerful coming towards my house a few minutes ago. Is that something related to the guardian I killed three days ago? That guardian was very powerful but sadly he fell for my tricks.
After Adonis put Elena into deep sleep, he put her into a dimensional pocket as an object and took Viktor back to his home before it's too late.
At 3 am in Viktor's rose garden.
I came here to talk with the intruder who came running into this house, but it's keeping a low profile in my garden now?
"Hey, do you think you can hide under a plant to hide your presence? I can feel your presence very clearly here. Come out now."
A small fairy with a tiny garden shovel on its back came out and flew in front of Viktor's face. Its eyes were green and its wings were filled with yellow glitter. It was a garden spirit from the guardian realm who was in charge of taking care of Elerous's garden.
"Nice to meet you after thousands of years. I am Tiki, a garden spirit from your home."
The spirit looked into Viktor's eyes and said, "Master is very different than he used to look before."
Viktor cast a barrier around them and took the spirit into his spiritual library to talk. Viktor made a tea table with his imagination and told the spirit to take a seat.
"You travelled a long way. How's everyone in the spirit realm?"
The spirit took a bite of a huge juicy apple and said, "The situation in the guardian realm isn't great. The water guardian kicked Astraeus again out of the realm. And they are looking for the person who broke his seal. The guardian of fire has already searched more than 40 civilized worlds. He won't take long to put his toe on this planet."
"So you're here to warn me."
"Yes, master."
I read all the records of my past life years ago. These are the fairies who were born with us to take care of us forever. My past self mentioned them as small, tiny hands and legs and they had wings like butterflies based on their jobs.
But, I didn't know they would be this adorable. They look like something straight out of anime. I really want to pat one's head now.
"Master, the reason I came here is to deliver a letter to you. It's from your fragment creator, the late guardian of truth."
The small fairy took out a huge letter from its small backpack and gave it to Viktor.
"The butler fairy said this letter was written when you were born. Late master told us to secure it until the young master reaches his 3rd reincarnation."
"So, my father knew everything."
"Yes, he's the guardian of the truth after all."
This wasn't recorded in my record at all. Is this the power of my fragment creator?
Viktor looked at the letter and saw some magic spells that has other fragments sealed into it.