"Perfect," said Aaron, and he immediately sprang up from the bed and went downstairs. As he had anticipated, he hadn't fainted, so he finished the procedure in less than five minutes. As for the Sacred Dragon Egg, he planned to deal with it later and keep it in his inventory. At the moment, there was a battle that required his attention, and he couldn't afford to expend his energy on an egg.
"You," Aaron said as he descended, addressing the blond-haired youth.
"Yes, my lord? Is it me? Please, go ahead," replied the blond-haired youth, turning around to face Aaron.
"That's right. Tell me your names."
"Very well, my lord," said the blond-haired youth, and he began introducing everyone in turn. "My name is Pule, and this red-haired girl is Adara. As you can see, she's my twin, and we're not the only twins in the group, as you've noticed. The names of the black-haired pair over there are Nicole and Hector. The trio over here are our schoolmates, June and April, with brown hair, and lastly, the third member and the eldest of our group is called Camelia," Pule respectfully stated while introducing their names.
After hearing each of their names and carefully observing them, Aaron looked at each one of them and spoke:
"Come here, all of you." Upon hearing this, the crew gathered in front of him, and Aaron continued speaking: "Look, I don't know how you know me or see me, but I'm not a good person. If someone harms someone from my family, even if I knew I would die, I would seek revenge. I hold grudges intensely, and I neither shy away from nor am I capable of shying away from killing people—it's necessary, in fact," he said and continued his speech:
"Moreover, it can't be said that I possess humane emotions. Since I was a child, it has been impossible for me to fully comprehend the emotions of others due to my inherent differences. Therefore, you may suffer a great deal in the future, and though I will do everything I can to ensure that this suffering is not physical, I cannot guarantee that it won't break you mentally," he paused, took a deep breath, and looked directly at the blond-haired boy.
"I don't think this conversation is necessary, my lord," Pule said when he noticed Aaron looking at him.
"I don't understand," Aaron asked in a bewildered tone.
"We... haven't had the best childhoods, my lord. We are all orphans, and none of us have even known our families—on top of that, Camelia lost her family when she was only nine years old and suffered more pain than any of us," Pule said.
"I understand," Aaron replied, as he couldn't muster the strength to say anything else at that moment.
"The bullying we endured at school, the terrible memories we have, the beatings we endured, and many more—we never managed to stand up against them. But when all these events occurred, we thought maybe we could achieve something and be ourselves," Pule said and continued his speech.
"I know that perhaps your strength is what impressed us and made us admire you. But not being able to do something on our own shattered us. If we say that we wanted to hold on to you and complete our family, we wouldn't be lying—because our only emotional void was running away from everything. We... have grown so tired of running," Pule added, concluding his speech.
Unintentionally, a hint of blue appeared in his eyes. Aaron knew all too well that there were many people in his previous life who were just like him. He knew the pain of losing his family—like these children, he too became an orphan. He knew how everything worked without his family looking out for him.
Not being able to have a shoulder to cry on, even when he was powerful, being looked down upon by everyone simply because he had no family...
Aaron had already experienced these emotions, but what hurt him the most was that he could never experience the value his family gave him after they were gone. Even if he thought he could regain that value by falling in love once, that love was buried in his heart. Furthermore, he had a group of people who valued him, but none of them could be equivalent to a mother saying "I love you" or a father saying "I'm proud of you."
These children were like him, each one an orphan, and only one of them had experienced the love of a family. Perhaps the only love they had ever tasted was the love they felt for each other.
Unable to keep his mouth shut any longer, Aaron spoke with a calm but sorrowful voice, "I understand, believe me, I know what you're feeling. I, too, have lost things I considered my family. I know how much it burns your heart, I know what it's like to be looked down upon and given those disgusting glances."
The entire group looked at him, while he kept his gaze fixed on the ground. Pule couldn't hold back any longer and tears began to stream down his face silently.
"I don't know what you've been through because I wasn't with you. But if you're following me now, I won't let you out of my sight. Of course, there will be times when I'm without you because my own development is just as important as yours. I've said it before, but don't forget my rules. From now on, you are my family, and as I said, I won't spare any living being that harms my family. I can take down entire countries, cause massacres, sell myself to the devil himself. Don't be afraid and don't run away because you have a brother standing right in front of you," Aaron said, with the utmost sincerity.
Pule was already consumed by tears, and now the other members of the group began to cry as well. Aaron noticed this and remembered what Nyx had told him. He smiled and said one final sentence to the group, "Cry. You deserve it more than anyone."
-----
After about 10 minutes, the young ones started to calm down, their tears subsiding one by one, and they sat quietly.
"Have you calmed down?" Aaron asked, accompanied by a short chuckle.
"Yes, my lord, please forgive us," Pule said, his eyes still red from crying.
"Good. That's enough. We have things to do," Aaron said suddenly. As soon as he spoke, all the young ones turned their attention towards him, looking at him with questioning eyes.
"I'm going to hunt down the other boss monster. I need your help in finding it."
"I understand," Pule replied to Aaron.
"What do we need to do, Lord?" Adara asked.
"We'll search for tracks. I've already killed one of them, but this one will be more challenging."
"More challenging? How exactly?" one of the April twins asked.
"I can defeat it, but if you try, I believe the only thing waiting for you is death."
All the children were momentarily shocked. They knew they were weak, but they didn't expect to be told so directly and bluntly that death awaited them. Unfortunately, Aaron had made it clear that death was what awaited them.
In that moment, they all made a decision. They would become stronger. As they contemplated all this, a notification appeared in front of each of them:
"Aaron Light Corbyn has invited you to join his team."
They all saw the invitation and accepted it. Then they saw that there were three more people in the team:
"Valerie Corbyn
Sean Corbyn
Dahlia Johanne"
"Who are these people?" Camelia asked.
"My family," Aaron said, and everyone's gaze turned to these individuals. When they looked at their profiles, they were even more shocked. Aaron noticed their surprise and touched the names to view the information:
"Valerie Corbyn Level 53
Sean Corbyn Level 57
Dahlia Johanne Level 61"
As Aaron saw this information, he smiled and quietly said, "Well done," and then stood up and spoke:
"Let's go. We have a boss monster to hunt."
The entire group nodded their heads and then armed themselves before leaving the safe zone. They moved forward with great caution. Initially, Aaron had considered splitting them up, but he realized that would be absurd. He hadn't trained them like he had trained his own family, and their lives could be in danger. He didn't want these young ones to face such a threat at the moment.
Although they appeared to have fought before, they were still delicate children who had never been separated from each other. What Aaron had in mind might be too much for them.
After scanning the children with his gaze, Aaron spoke out loud, "This will be your first time with me, so protect each other and don't try to protect me."
After saying that, he leaped to the top of a building and began carefully observing two areas he hadn't visited before, using the Eyes of God. After a few dozen seconds of observation, he said aloud, "Here," and swiftly started running in the direction he had pointed. The group momentarily hesitated at his sudden movement but quickly regrouped and followed Aaron with all their speed.
-----
It had been about 10 minutes since they started tracking the trail, and silence filled the group. No one made a sound; each one was pondering what the monster might look like and thinking about what they could do.
"Sir, what does this monster exactly look like?" Hector asked.
"It doesn't resemble anything," Aaron replied with a strange answer.
"What do you mean?" Hector asked again.
"It's a ghost, a monster that can shape-shift. Moreover, it has the potential for high-level fire magic. If it were not a small boss monster but a true boss monster, it would pose a danger as big as constellations," Aaron said in a depressive tone.
"Constellations? What are those?" Hector asked, even more curious.
"The future will show you, Hector," Aaron replied, recalling his painful memories. Just as this conversation was ending, they noticed a scream coming towards them.
"SYAAAAA!!"
"Cover your ears, quickly!" Aaron shouted to the group.
The group, including Aaron, covered their ears just as a powerful blast of air came rushing towards them.
"Well, look at you, not even a banshee, yet your scream is scratching at my eardrums," Aaron said and started looking at the woman-shaped monster between the buildings.