****
Before long, the departure for Arthur had finally been set up and he got ready to return back to his home.
He said his goodbyes to Hilston, Maria and Lilith before finally stepping into the portal in the back of the manor.
****
Arthur stepped out of the portal and landed at some distance away from his home.
The portal couldn't open to his house as the house was covered in an anti-spatial dome that made it impossible to open a portal from outside to inside the house although the vice versa could be done.
Casting his gaze on the sheer size of his manor made him feel a comfy feeling, as if he was finally back home.
Arthur walked up the stony path to the manor gates where the guards were dutifully keeping guard.
As soon as the guards saw him, as an instinctual response they shouted.
"HALT!! YOU ARE ENTERING BL-"
Before they finally realized the identity of Arthur, both the guards quickly bowed 90 degrees and apologized.
"We are sorry young master!"
Even though they had been notified of his arrival by Arthur's parents, who were earlier informed by Hilston and Maria through a communication orb.
They failed to recognize Arthur, because although it had only been one night for them, it had been one day for Arthur in the labyrinth.
And although this one day period was nothing, it taught Arthur a lifetime of experience for a 10 year old like him.
His eyes were like that of a wolf, as if he had a face to face meeting with death and his whole aura was so commanding and authoritative.
It was to be noted that at the age of 10 years old, noble household kids like Arthur were getting pampered and spoiled right now but for him it was completely different.
Arthur walked past them before casually waving them off.
"It's fine, this happens I understand."
The guards immediately got back to their position stifling the fear that had bred because of his reaction they expected.
The guards never had an interaction with Arthur and although they heard much about him not being like those golden spoon fed noble kids, they still found it hard to believe.
Which was why they were fearing that they might just get removed just because of this small mistake because after all, the Blades were the most ruthless household of all.
Arthur entered the manor and immediately saw his mother and father rushing towards him, who had probably been informed by a maid or another guard patrolling there.
Arthur sighed as if expecting a tiring explanation now.
As soon as the breath left his lips, he felt the force of a tidal wave slam into him and immediately wrapping him in a bear hug.
"You idiot!! We were so worried about you!"
Arthur could feel tears streaming down her face and could feel the turmoil of emotions within her.
His father also came rushing and hugged him from behind, making him completely wrapped from all around.
"Your mother and me were so worried about you son. I'm glad you're safe."
Arthur, as an act of consolation started patting his mother assuring he was okay now.
'I'm good and safe now. See."
But it was all for naught as his mother kept hugging him, and Arthur tried to console her but could not help but feel as if a part of him had died from the inside.
Although he genuinely cared and loved his family, he was experiencing these emotions in a smaller amount than he usually did.
Maybe it was the part of his skill, he couldn't be sure.
His father stopped hugging him soon after and then saw his mother stop soon after as well, and finally they inquired about what had happened to him.
He could see it in their gazes, it was as if they were waiting for him to say the name of the person who had harmed him and they would hunt him down to the world's end for him.
But Arthur refrained from telling them the identity of the person for various reasons.
One, he could feel that that man wasn't an ordinary man and the part where he referred to him as the chosen one, even if he wasn't talking about Hades, only amplified this feeling more.
Second, he could feel that the man was very strong, strong enough as Omar maybe which made him wonder why he hadn't heard of person like this.
So he explained a false story to them as well, that he had killed the target but was ambushed by archers when coming back which prompted him to use the device which, rather than teleporting him back to the house had teleported him into a labyrinth.
Nolan's eyebrows arched in surprise at the malfunction of the device because it was a priceless artifact with pinpoint accuracy.
After assuring them of his safety and that the dungeon wasn't a hard one that he only got enough because of a suicide attack of the boss, did they finally let him go.
After having dinner with them, he retired to his room for sleep.
But unfortunately his luck wouldn't let him sleep on his first peaceful night as a huge explosion shook him awake.
He quickly ran to his window and saw a billow of smoke rising not far off into the forest with signs of a fire.
Quickly dressing himself, Arthur jumped out of the window and signaled some of the guards and mages to come with him to investigate the issue before his parents could intervene.
Arthur could feel that this wasn't something normal.
And with the guards, he quickly traversed through the forest while noting some of the beasts running away from the fire.
After 5 minutes, he arrived in front of the fire and quickly ordered the mages to put out the small fire.
The mages instantly got to work and after 10 minutes, the fire was fully extinguished while only leaving smoke behind in the small crater.
A wind mage, on Arthur's orders, quickly used a wind spell to blow away the smoke from the crater.
As the smoke cleared in an instant, a small crater came into their view with nothing in sight.
Arthur quickly spread out his senses to see for any ambushers or opponents while the guards did the same.
After 20 minutes of checking the surroundings out and finding no one, the guards returned to the crater where Arthur was standing.
The crater was perfectly normal, except for small silverish smoke billows rising out of the stone cracks in the ground.
With caution and his stigmata at the ready, Arthur started walking towards the crater with the guards in tow and the mages ready to fire a spell.
Soon he took his first step into the crater but nothing happened and he continued walking.
Nothing happened with each step and Arthur finally reached the middle of the crater.
But soon as he took the step into the middle of the crater, all the smoke immediately condensed into a type of silver slime and shot out for Arthur who tried to use his skills but the slime simply phased through it.
After a second, the slime immediately attached itself to Arthur's head and seeped into it.
Arthur immediately got assaulted with a severe headache causing him to grab his head.
As soon as the slime seeped into his brain, unknown memories started to flash through his brain.
Immediately his head went blank at the new information being revealed to him and a torment of emotions swirled in him ranging from confusion to shock.
"Argh...what the hell....what is this that I'm seeing!" Arthur thought with extreme pain but at the same time shock at the memories.
The new memories completely changed view of this world and what he thought it was and its people and things he had experienced.