Chapter 2: The Four Creed Brothers II
Creed Mansion. Located at Magic Affiliated, located on the southern hemisphere.
A large Mansion beside a mountain range with a paved road that led to such a luxurious house.
Paved road led to an estate below. In which the estate alone was meant for only a few—the rich.
And their mansion was a cut from those houses below.
And inside the house. Rather…
Inside the living room was a tan male, white hair that scattered across his frame.
Red fiery eyes that accompanied his somewhat wild looks. He looked not younger than eighteen.
He waa lounging peacefully on the chair while the television was left turned on playing.
Not that he was really focused on the television in the first place, but the noise was enough to just distract his senses.
The second was in the kitchen.
A male possessing pure white hair with an unsettling pair of purple, preparing lunch.
His eyes looked way more tired than normal, evident with the bags under them, but this was just how he was.
His normal looks after countless sleepless nights.
The last was upstairs in his own room, left to his machinations of whatever he was doing in his room.
The time was now 12:45 Southern Helia Standard Time. It was currently high-noon. Evident by the sun blazing outside.
"Yikes. The sun around here is no joke." The tanned male muttered as he ruffled his hair.
Contrast to his words. He laid lazily on the couch, despite looking like someone who had important things to do today.
CREAK!
CACHA!
The front door swung open, and in walked a boy with his hair tied back into a ponytail, glasses perched neatly on his face.
Behind him followed a visitor carrying several grocery bags.
"Guys, I'm home," the boy—who had just entered—called out casually.
He made his way straight to the living room, where the tan-skinned male with wild white hair—and streaks of black—suddenly snapped his eyes open, locking his gaze on his younger brother.
"Oh, Kaiden. You're back—"
The older brother's words faltered mid-sentence as his eyes landed on the figure behind his younger brother—Kaiden.
He…? or she? Whoever it was that looked like all of the above.
Afterall, the person had an androgynous look, effortlessly balancing both masculine and feminine traits.
They clutched a grocery bag—most likely what Kaiden had gone to buy for their oldest.
The tan-skinned male raised an eyebrow. "Hmm. Kaiden, who's this? Your girlfriend…?"
Kaiden, now taking the grocery bags from the visitor's hands, froze, his eyes widening in disbelief.
"Unfortunately, no. This is Lucas. I pulled him out of a dungeon outbreak—he's got nowhere to go, so I decided to bring him here."
The pink-haired... person—male? Female?—shivered slightly as Kaiden explained the situation to the person who looked like his older brother.
"Hah?" Damian's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "A dungeon outbreak, huh?" he muttered, leaning up from the couch he reclined upon.
"Suspicious. That sounds like illegal hunting to me. This guy could technically be classified as a criminal, and yet you're letting him stay?"
Damian tilted his head as his brow furrowed, trying to make sense of why his little brother would do this.
Kaiden on the other hand stood firm against him. Though, Kaiden knew his brother was being rational and they both knew this for a fact.
Illegal hunting can get one punished by the law. A result of illegal hunting can resort to one of many consequences: Dungeon Break.
And this was a fact, all three of them knew.
Lucas, on the other hand, stood awkwardly under their scrutiny, feeling the pressure build between the two brothers.
"—Haah. You're way too stiff, Damian."
Before Kaiden or the older one that was just called now could speak, another voice chimed in from above.
A figure leaned lazily over the upstairs railing, peering down at them.
"Not everything can be solved with that stiff thinking of yours."
He looked at the tanned-skinned male looking as if they had gone through this situation before.
"Shane."
Kaiden muttered under his breath, glancing toward the boy.
Shane's hairstyle mirrored Kaiden's, though his shorter ponytail had distinctive grey streaks at the ends.
They looked alike, other than this new person called Shane wasn't tanned-skinned like the other called Damian.
"Pipe it, Shane."
Damian retorted, brushing off Shane's comment without so much as a glance.
"I've barely said anything offensive to you today, Damian."
Shane quipped, arms spread, a sly grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.
As the brothers exchanged their usual banter, the fourth member appeared—not in the living room, but in the adjacent room.
"You guys are way too energetic—and too loud. Keep it down."
Enma sighed, dropping a tray of prepared food onto the table with little enthusiasm.
Damian shrugged, before reclining back onto the couch.
"I'm just saying—having a suspicious character like this show up here? That kind of thing only happens in stories."
Shane, his immediate twin brother crossed his arms, looking straight at his older twin.
"Do you have anything against the poor guy? He hasn't done a thing to offend you. Besides, look at him—he seems harmless."
Lucas looked about two years younger than the others at most.
And, as Shane had pointed out, he did indeed appear harmless...… to them.
"Even if he's suspicious, it's not like it'd affect us, right?" Shane added with a shrug.
Damian, clearly having heard enough, rolled his eyes and shifted his attention to Enma—the eldest brother, who seemed unusually interested in the pink-haired stranger.
"Enma? What's your take?" Damian asked, arching a brow.
Enma's gaze lingered on Lucas, his eyes narrowing slightly.
It was almost eerie, the way his dark irises seemed to swirl in thought. "He looks… interesting."
Enma murmured, his tone slow and deliberate.
The rare hesitation in Enma's voice made the three siblings exchange quick glances.
If their eldest—easily the most difficult one among them—had said something like that, it only reinforced Kaiden's belief that he was in the right.
Truth be told, they had already sized Lucas up the moment they saw him.
Damian, however, just found the whole situation a nuisance.
He'd follow along with Enma anyway—he always did. Enma's word was law, after all.
Shane, on the other hand, was the most unpredictable. Everything he did was driven purely by whim.
And yet, even in his unpredictability, Shane never acted without purpose.
When he did indulge in something, it was either to satisfy his twisted idea of fun or for some hidden motive only he found amusing.
"Haah."
Kaiden exhaled a sigh.
Lucas didn't join in, but a fleeting sense of relief washed over him—for the moment, at least.
That moment wouldn't last.
"Damian, I want you to help me train him to fight," Kaiden said, his tone calm but unwavering.
The words hit Lucas like a brick. His expression twisted almost immediately, panic welling up in his chest, and tears threatened to spill from his eyes.
An instinctive fear gripped him—something primal. Damian radiated a menace unlike anyone Lucas had ever encountered before.
Kaiden was calm, composed like the steady surface of a lake.
Enma, on the other hand, carried a presence that felt infinite, like a bottomless pit.
But Damian? Damian was something else entirely—something dangerous.
And the last one called Shane. His instinct told him that guy was a stay away from.
"Then Shane would teach him mana control."
""Huh?""
Both Damian and Shane looked at Kaiden, then at Lucas, then back at Kaiden.
"What a drag."
Shane was the first to give up, he wasn't the type who knew how to teach things.
He was the type to just do things as long as he tries. If his brother asks him: 'How the heck did you do that?'
Shane's reply would be: 'I just did.' in the most infuriating way possible. To which his brothers are now used to it.
Damian, on the other hand, didn't object outright—though he had zero enthusiasm for the idea of training Lucas.
"Are you sure? He might just die…"
"Hiiiii!"
Lucas felt a chill down his spine seeing Damian's darkened facial Expression.
"Don't scare him. Damian."
Enma lightly scolded Damian who then raised his hand in mock surrender.
"Then, I guess I'll make him work for the house."
"Uhm—wait, I…"
Lucas tried to protest, but his words trailed off as the brothers continued planning his fate without him.
This wasn't exactly what he'd signed up for. In fact, he was starting to regret his decision just a little…