《I Don't Know》


 Prologue

    Dark and chaotic. One can barely see anything within the storm. What was supposed to be an enchanting forest is now being ravished by menacing winds. But even with the forest''s current pitiful state, it was as if the heavens still haven''t punished it enough that the storm went on without signs of passing.


    In the middle of this hellish scene was an existence that seemed to be out place. Veiled by the raging winds and flying debris, is an image of a person. A young man stood there. Calm and unmoving. Neither a strand of his long black hair nor a single fabric of his clothes disturbed.


    "Master, I will miss you."


    His voice was buried within the sound of roaring thunders. But for the young man himself, it wasn''t the sound of thunder that is deafening him but instead the sound of his heart breaking.


    It was a sad goodbye. He was blessed with a good master. He was treated and loved like a son. With the absence of his real parents, his master was his most precious treasure. But now, what was once his greatest source of happiness turned into a horrifying curse of sadness.


    "Our path ends here. I have to do this. If it turns out to be a success then I, your master, will cease to exist and failure is not an option I can afford. Go to my homeland. I raised you to become a great Guardian and that''s the place where you belong. Go and shine more brightly like no one else ever did. Make your master proud. I held you up for far too long. It''s time to say goodbye now. For everything, I thank you."


    Those were the last words his master left him. That time, his master spoke in a very calm and soothing voice but to him, every word felt like a dagger piercing through his heart. He had a lot of time to prepare for the farewell but he never felt ready. Countless negative emotions surged within him. Sadness, despair, regret, anger, and doubt ate his heart out piece by piece. Sadness and despair for his grave loss. Regret for the things he has done wrong. Anger towards himself for being useless. Doubt for his future that suddenly seemed so dark. Brought by the chaos within him, the power sleeping within him kept on surging out. He''s actually the cause of the ongoing storm. To be exact, the storm is his magic that is going out of control.


    He remained lifeless in the middle of the storm for a few more hours before he finally regained his reasoning. The weather calmed along with his heart. He looked up in the sky witnessing the heavy clouds vanish into thin air, uncovering the sun that shone through the lands once more. He closed his blue-colored eyes as he felt the warmth of the sun in his pale skin.


    " Master, you just never cease to do as you please, don''t you? What else can I do but obey? Actually, aren''t you going too easy on me? Become a great Guardian? It seems like you''re mocking yourself. With everything you taught me, theoretically, no one can surpass me in my generation. Rather than doing such an easy task, I will become the greatest. By ''greatest'' I mean I will become even stronger than you, master. Watch me."


    As he imagined how his master would have reacted on such an arrogant declaration, he finally gave out a smile and opened his eyes.


    "Holy crap¡­"


    He stood there with a stupid look in his face. The fact that he just caused such a massive destruction has finally sunk in his brain. "Mass murderer", "Illegal logger", "homewrecker" and a couple more of nasty titles came into his mind. To be someone deserving of such titles, he burned with self-hatred. He took countless animal life and destroyed their habitat just because he wasn''t able to control his emotions.


    "Mother Earth, I''m really sorry. For now, this is all I can do to pay you back. Forgive me."


    A green light shone within the palm of his right hand as he cast a creation magic. In a matter of seconds, a magical seed was created in his hands and he carefully buried it in the wet ground.


    "I may not be able to bring back the lost lives but the forest will surely take back its former beauty within just a month."


    He let out a long sigh with a look of disappointment in his face as he despised himself for his mistake. How dare he declare that he will become the greatest Guardian when his first step towards such a noble goal is becoming a shameful weapon of mass destruction.


    *Slap!*


    He slapped his own face, not because of some sudden masochistic urges. It was to give himself a wake-up call because from now on, he can''t afford to make such mistakes. He is now alone. He has no one to clean up after his mess. To make his master proud, he wants to do everything right, as hard as it may sound.


    When he was about to slap his face a second time, he stopped his hand midway as he finally noticed a presence of something observing him from afar and two more figures flying towards him with great speed. Those two are still miles away but with his excellent vision and magic detection, their existence cannot escape from his eyes.


    "Guardians? Why are they coming for me?¡­Oh¡­right." When he realized why, he just felt stupid for his own thoughts.


    "Well, this works for me too."


    After a quick decision, he took out one of the two Guardian family emblems that his master left for him. He just readied it in his hand as he waits for the guardians to come.


    ___________________________________________


    It has only been a month since Nick and Bob graduated from the Guardian Academy and today is their first day as a Rank 1 Sentinel, the lowest rank and every new Guardian''s starting point. The two weren''t particularly exceptional in their batch of graduates so they were assigned somewhere appropriate for their level of skill.


    They were in joyous moods when they received their assignment. The planet Earth is a relatively peaceful place when compared to other planets. They were just told to assist the already existing two Rank 5 Sentinels on the planet. But things suddenly turned south for them and the smiles were immediately wiped out from their faces the second they appeared at the teleportation array in the Earth''s Guardian base. They were greeted by a presence of a monstrous magical disturbance. They weren''t even given the time to appreciate the beautiful scene given by their Guardian base that is hovering way above the clouds.


    "Is Earth really as peaceful as they say? If so, then why should we face something like this in our day 1? Does this occur regularly, or we just have rotten luck?"


    "Don''t ask me, Nick. I have no idea. A magical disturbance like this can''t be caused by regular demons. Our Rank 5 seniors couldn''t be capable of this either."


    "Right? The Rank 5 Sentinels we''ve seen before couldn''t be this strong, could they? Isn''t this magic in a level of a Captain? If it is a demon of that caliber, aren''t we doomed?"


    "Enough with the questions. Let''s just find our seniors for now and await orders."


    Bob may seem to be more composed out of the two but his legs aren''t shaking any lesser. They cleared their minds for a bit then finally stepped away from the teleportation array and walked towards a glass-like pathway. It was clear and transparent that they can see the clouds below them. The pathway led them towards familiar looking buildings.


    "So every Guardian base looks just the same. These buildings look just like hurriedly stacked cubes. Its squeaky clean, white and smooth appearance is awesome but can''t they think of better building designs?"


    Seeing a familiar scene helped them ease their minds a bit and so Bob even had the time to complain about architecture.


    There are 4 closely packed buildings in total and the pathway to the teleportation array was connected to the building with the most stack of cubes. As the newbie duo approached the building, a huge door appeared out of nowhere leading them inside. They are already accustomed to this kind of mechanism so they weren''t surprised. Inside is a huge cubical room with each side 50 meters long. The floor, the ceiling, and the walls are all glowing white so there was no need for any other light source to light up the room. Aside from the huge round table surrounded with 10 chairs at the center, the room was practically empty. There were people who occupied 2 out of the 10 seats and they just sat there with blank faces looking at a hologram projected from the table. They were the 2 Rank 5 Sentinels assigned to look after Earth.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    They have watched over the Earth for 10 years already and during those years, a magical disturbance like the one that they are currently witnessing has never occurred before. In fact, something like this never occurred in Earth''s history according to the data left behind by the Guardians who came here before them.


    Unable to think of a method to deal with the possibly impending calamity, they just decided to wait and kept on observing the images presented in the hologram. It was a terrifying magical storm and the drones they sent could only observe from afar giving them no hints on what''s the cause of all this ruckus.


    Nick and Bob saw the images presented by the hologram as they approached their seniors and they just gulped at the scene. Horrifying. One of Nick''s questions from before has been answered by the images they are seeing. Top grade Elemental Magic. That''s what the magical disturbance is. That kind of magic is something only existences of a level of a Captain can cast. And so just like their seniors, they got stuck in place with blank expressions on their faces, completely stupefied by what they are witnessing.


    It was perfectly reasonable for them to act like that because in the first place, what kind of concept is there behind a Captain? For sentinels, there are fifteen ranks in total. With mediocre aptitude, reaching that fifteenth rank is an impossible dream. In fact, reaching rank 10 is asking for a miracle. Guardians start out with developing their divine body. As they complete their divine body and become capable of cultivating magic, they can officially start as Rank 1 Sentinels. For those of ranks 1 to 9, they are only capable of flight and body reinforcement magic. Ranking up from 1 to 9 is just a matter of improving magic control and capacity. Rank 10 is a higher realm where one would be capable of casting simplified low-grade elemental spells and they rank up as they improve the number of elements they could cast and gain better control over it. Rank 15 Sentinels are already highly respected individuals but even with their notable power, they are still ants when compared to a Captain. Captains reign freely over all existing elements and their control over it is just synonymous to breathing. A single captain is capable of destroying a planet as large as Earth if he wishes to.


    The four Earth''s Guardians remained unmoving with stupid looks on their faces. If they were really about to face a demon of a Captain''s power level they would choose to bail out and leave this problem for the higher-ups to deal with but they are still clinging to a hope that it''s just a Captain who came out of nowhere.


    After a few hours of nerve-racking waiting, the storm finally started to die down. Looking like programmed robots, they all did the same action of leaning their heads closer towards the hologram while narrowing their eyes with great synchronization, as they noticed the changes. Their heavy breathing broke the silence in the room as they were filled with anticipation. As synchronized as ever, they all widened their eyes when the cause of the magical disturbance was finally revealed.


    "A Guardian!!!"


    No words can describe their joy when the image a long black haired young man was revealed. He was emitting an aura of a perfect divine body. There is no mistaking it. He is a Guardian.


    The two Rank 5 Sentinels jumped from their seats and hugged each other as they repeatedly jumped in glee. They were totally unaware of the presence of their juniors the whole time. Both of them are well built grown men with one man bald and the other one almost. It was such a sight to see.


    Bob, wanting to escape from this agonizingly awkward situation, deliberately cleared his throat in a loud manner to acquire their attention. The seniors finally noticed them and their reaction was far from what Bob expected.


    "My oh my! Hello there! I didn''t notice that you juniors are already here."


    "Me neither!"


    "Hahahaha"


    Both of the Rank 5 Sentinels laughed like idiots. The juniors looked at each other not knowing what to do. Should they laugh with them or should they just remain silent because they aren''t even funny? They don''t know what action will their seniors consider disrespectful.


    One of the seniors noticed their confused expressions and decided not to prolong their agony. With a smile on his face, he clapped once to get their attention.


    "How about you introduce yourselves my dear juniors."


    "Rank 1 Sentinel Nick Stone, reporting for duty."


    "Rank 1 Sentinel Bob East, reporting for duty."


    They executed the Guardian salute as they stated their names. It was a simple act of activating their insignia on their left chest by hitting it with their right fist containing the right amount of magic force. A rank 1 insignia will only light up when it is hit by a magic force signature of a rank 1 Sentinel. The same goes for other ranks. It is one way of confirming ranks and avoiding false claims.


    "I guess it''s our turn now. I''ll go first. I''m Rank 5 Sentinel Paul Bones.", said the square faced senior with a buzz cut.


    "And I''m Rank 5 Sentinel Steve Apple." The bald senior followed.


    "My oh my! It''s good to know these kids also have generic and uncool names like us. But yours is still the worst, Steve."


    "I know right?"


    "Hahahaha!"


    Both seniors went back to laughing like idiots, seeming to forget that they were facing a serious predicament just a few minutes ago. This time it was Nick who silenced them as he once again began firing a barrage of questions.


    "Sir Paul and Sir Steve, what shall we do with the captain? Are we going to go out and meet with him? Are there evil captains? Is he going to kill us if we approach him? What if he demands something from us and we cannot comply? Will he get angry and kill us? If we ignored him, will he get angry and kill us?"


    Nick''s weird train of thought made it seem like whatever they do, they''d be killed. Bob gave him an annoyed look. He is already used to Nick''s weirdness but for Nick to act like this in front of his seniors is something that never failed to make him cringe whenever it happens. Fortunately, these seniors seem to be like happy go lucky folks and they won''t take Nick seriously. And just as expected¡­


    "Hahaha! This Nick is an interesting fellow. Kid, you have nothing to worry about. Despite their monstrous power, they became Captains in the first place because their pure hearts were acknowledged by the Will of the Universe Itself granting them control over all elements. Aren''t these things taught in the academy?"


    "Forgive him for being stupid, Sir Paul."


    "Haha. It''s okay. I don''t mind. I''m fond of weird people."


    ".¡­"


    "Anyway, Bob, how about you and Nick go and greet the Captain. Ask him if you can serve him in any way. If by any chance you earn a Captain''s favor, it''s a blessing that only comes once in a lifetime. Consider this as our welcoming gift to both of you."


    "Here. Take this. It will guide you to him."


    Steve gave Bob a device that looks like a metallic ball with a diameter of a single inch.


    "You know how this works, right?"


    "Yes, Sir."


    "Then off you go!"


    Nick and Bob gave a quick salute then departed.


    With their incredible flight speeds common to all Guardians, it took them no time at all to reach the place where the storm occurred. Their jaw dropped now that they are personally witnessing the outcome of the terrifying storm. Within a diameter of 10 kilometers was just a scene of absolute destruction with the aura of death filling the air. Bob frowned from the thought of the countless animal lives lost from this disaster. Bob felt his heart ache and Nick was the same. The captain must have important reasons for causing such a storm. They comforted themselves with that thought.


    Soon they finally arrived close to the man they believed to be a captain. Nick was already fighting an internal battle as he did his best not to fire another barrage of questions. His rarely prevailing reasoning cried out that a Captain is just too scary to annoy. Bob was rejoicing deep inside for how Nick is handling himself. He gave him a thumbs up and a heartfelt smile.


    "Leave the talking to me, Nick"


    Nick just gave him a nod, still doing his best on keeping his mouth shut.


    "We are the Earth''s Guardians, how may we address you, senior?"


    "I go by the name Athos."


    Followed by his brief answer, he presented the emblem that he has with him. It is a shield-shaped, white colored emblem with an azure colored tree engraved at the center.


    Bob thought his day couldn''t get any more interesting but another surprise bomb just blew right in front of him.


    ''Am I imagining things now? There''s no way he could be¡­''


    "Azuriel family''s emblem?!" While Bob was deep in his thoughts, Nick finally broke out of silence, unwittingly answering Bob''s doubts with his question.


    As if they both agreed upon it beforehand, Nick and Bob fell to their knees with great synchronization.


    "We are deeply honored to be graced with your presence, Lord Athos. How may we be of service?"


    ''Is this emblem really that amazing?'' Athos thought to himself as he gave out a slight grin.


    "Oh please. No need for such formalities. Be at ease. Actually, I have a favor to ask from both of you."


    "As long as it is within the realm of our capabilities, we will absolutely realize your wishes, my lord." Bob answered with fervor. Nick and Bob''s eyes were burning with enthusiasm. They didn''t expect such an opportunity would really fall upon them.


    "Haha. Such great attitudes. I just actually wanted to use the Earth Guardian base''s teleportation array. I need you to guide me there."


    "As you wish my lord! We''ll depart at once." Nick and Bob''s eyes shone like lanterns. Gaining a captain''s favor by doing such an easy task is like a dream come true.


    "Your names?"


    "Rank 1 Sentinel Bob East."


    "Rank 1 Sentinel Nick Stone."


    "I will remember them."


    As they stated their names, they were already screaming inside. ''JACKPOT!!!'' They weren''t able to contain their happiness and they revealed a smile going from ear to ear. Their curiosity towards the Captains'' reason for destroying the forest was now totally forgotten. They excitedly flew off, heading back to base.


    Are they totally simple minded idiots by acting like this? No. They are idiots if they aren''t acting like this. The Azuriel family is in question here. The top. The Greatest. The Strongest family in the current world of Guardians. The family who sired the one who holds the title of being the current strongest Guardian - The Hero.


    ''Master, my journey is just about to start. When he wakes up, I''ll look after him. I promise.'' Athos took a step into the teleportation array and vanished into thin air.

 Chapter 1

    A masterpiece. A stunning piece of art. It''s an image of an outrageously handsome young man. A fair skin, perfectly smooth and unblemished. His fine gray hair is particularly eye-grabbing due to its peculiarity. Those things paired with his face, endowed with ethereal proportions, he doesn''t fall short when compared to a deity''s beauty. He sat in silence as he seemed to be immersed in deep thoughts. His figure exudes an aura of a fierce and mighty Emperor who is capable of toppling the world over, except he wasn''t sitting on a throne. He''s atop an expensive toilet bowl, sleeping.


    A sudden urge to take a dump woke him up. The lids of his eyes opened up and revealed its beautiful silver color but slightly bloodshot. His eyelids were also a bit puffy but nonetheless, he''s still drop dead gorgeous. He uttered a loud yawn and finally felt awake.


    "I''m in the toilet, huh? Well, that''s a first. And man, answering the call of nature has never been this easy. haha"


    "But seriously though, I''m never drinking again! Ugh! My head hurts. I''m glad I woke up here. If I would have been anywhere else, I would have taken a dump right then and there. I really don''t feel like moving. Should I just stay here for the rest of the day? Hmm... Well, too bad I can''t let the food delivery guy give me my order directly here in the bathroom, or can I? "


    "Argh! Whatever. I''ll just hope this headache won''t last that long."


    "I can''t believe some people like to do this often. Is it fun for them to suffer like this? Hangover, right? I think that''s what this is called if I remember it right. I thought it wouldn''t be that bad but experiencing it firsthand... ugh. I don''t wanna talk about it."


    He talks by himself, yes. And it isn''t just that. Everything he does, he does it by himself. He''s got no friends and at all. No family either. He''s got no one. With his way of life, the only human interaction he could possibly get is when he has to receive food or other things that he orders online.


    "Hoo! That was a good dump. Man, that was a lot. hahaha"


    "Disgusting things aside, If I''m not mistaken, they would release a bunch of chapters today! Crap! I have to move! You can do it, me!"


    "AAAAAH!"


    His weeb blood boiled and he summoned all of his willpower as he charged out of the bathroom with a loud warcry, forgetting to redo his pants properly. He successfully made it past the bathroom door before finally facing a calamity made out of his carelessness. His pants slid and fell past his knees and there he goes tumbling down. As if not wanting to give up a tough battle, adrenaline kicked in. In the heat of the moment, he just took and threw his pants away. He quickly stood back up again and started running with only his undies on. His destination was supposed to be his computer room but he took a detour and went to his bedroom instead. As soon as he saw his bed, he accelerated and took a long jump, landing face down on a fragrant cushion.


    "Woah! That was intense! I can''t believe I made it this far!"


    "Hahahaha"


    His triumphant laugh lasted for some time before he finally felt tired and stupid for doing for it so long. As a loner, this was his kind of fun.


    "Now let me sleep just for five minutes then I''ll start grinding on those chapters."


    With no one to wake him up, his sleep lasted far longer than what he has promised himself. Five minutes became five hours and finally, he woke up at the sixth hour. His eyes opened and gazed at the familiar ceiling for a while as it reminded him of something.


    "It has been 8 months already, huh? But I..."


    "I still can''t remember anything."


    He quickly discarded those depressing thoughts away. He got out of bed and went on with his daily routine, reading till the sun went down and sleepiness came knocking again.


    <hr>


    Even a person as weird and crazy as him still has his own fair share of problems. For his case, it is rather not a simple matter. He just woke up one day with a note in his hand. "Live", that''s what it said. Who wrote the note? He doesn''t know.


    Live.. As he started thinking about it...


    "How am I supposed to do that?"


    He realized he doesn''t know a single thing about life or how he lived his. The sound of his voice even surprised him. He can''t remember himself sounding like that. He can''t remember anything. Not his even own name. He stared at his hands with lifeless eyes. His hands were trembling as it traveled to touch his face. The thought that he doesn''t even know how he looks like was the last straw drawn before his mind totally broke down. Everything about himself feels so unfamiliar. It''s like he''s living in a stranger''s body.


    "Who am I? What''s happening? Where am I? Why..." His soft and shaky voice died down as if his brain just stopped working. He laid in his huge bed, lost and confused. His mind grew tired as he was lost in the chaos within him. He passed out and fell into a deep slumber once again.


    Deep inside him, in his pulsating soul...


    [Initiating Phase 1]


    [Activating Mortal Skill: Resolute Mind]


    [Mortal skill successfully activated]


    [Uploading World Data: Earth Year 2018 version]


    [Data successfully uploaded into brain database.]


    [Generating Phase 2 trigger]


    [Trigger successfully generated. Phase 2 will initiate when the trigger is activated.]


    [Phase 1 complete. Soul Program will now remain on standby.]


    Apparently, this soul program is also fond of talking by itself. The host himself is unaware of this mysterious phenomenon.


    It took him about 12 hours before finally regaining consciousness. His eyes are now glimmering with a brand new light. A bit of confusion was still apparent on his face but at least he looks more alive now.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "What is this? I feel different again. I feel strangely calm. Wasn''t I losing my mind just a while ago?"


    "Well, whatever. I feel a lot better now."


    "Live, huh? I guess I''ll do just that. I''ve got no ideas how but I guess I''ll start with looking for food. I''m starving."


    He is now oozing with positivity and he has no idea where he took it from. Now that his mind has finally started to work like a normal human being, he finally noticed his surroundings.


    "Porthault Jours de Paris. These sheets are expensive. A huge bed covered with expensive sheets... Whoever owns this house is someone wealthy."


    There were no signs of amazement or awe in his voice. He was just stating facts casually. In fact, he was more interested in how he got all these knowledge. He feels like he actually has a deep and broad knowledge about tons of different things in this world. He can''t verbally quantify how much he knows. He just has that feeling of being somewhat all-knowing. It''s a total mystery. He knows so much about the world but not a single thing about himself. Not wanting to spoil his mood, he just decided to ignore that problem of his. He got out of bed with a steady mindset: ''I''ll face what I have to face and ignore what I can ignore.''


    "So it was floating the whole time. A magnetic floating bed, huh? An overly expensive item. This place got to be the master''s bedroom. If this is my house, then I must be filthy rich."


    "If so, Where did I get all my wealth from?" He was lost in thought within just a matter of seconds. He immediately decided to throw all those thoughts at the back of his head.


    "I just hope I earned all of this legally."


    "Aside from my bed, I don''t have any more pieces of furniture so why did I have to make my room this big? Hmm... Well, I like it so I guess that''s that."


    "I guess that door is the way out of this room so what is that other door for?"


    He walked across the room with his eyes gleaming with a tinge of curiosity.


    The door slip open automatically when it sensed him approaching.


    "Clothes. Clothes everywhere. This is too much. I don''t think I can use all of this in my lifetime."


    It''s a huge dressing room. Even bigger than his bedroom. And just like any other dressing rooms, it''s not lacking mirrors.


    "I look good I guess." He stared at his reflection expressionlessly. He hasn''t established a sense of human beauty yet so he''s not that sure if he''s handsome or not. He just felt that his face is easy to look at. Even a bit pleasing.


    After satisfying his new found sense of vanity, he continued browsing the room and stumbled upon a wallet that was placed on a glass pedestal.


    "Now this must be either super expensive too or it contains a lot of important things.", he thought as he noticed how it is presented. He took the wallet in his hands to browse its contents. He found a bunch of cards and checks but what took his attention the most was an identification card. One glance and he was relieved that it really is his ID because he saw the image of his face in it. And with that, it was also confirmed that everything here really is his belonging. Most importantly, one of his biggest concerns is about to be answered.


    "So... I am... Garen Silvermoon." He doesn''t know how to react now that he finally knows what his name is so just shrugged off this awkward feeling and read the rest of the information written in his ID.


    "I was born on the 6th of March year 1997. So how old am I? Unfortunately, I don''t know what year it is right now. But just considering how I look, I guess I''m still young. Given that I''m still young, then how did I get this rich? I have a wealthy family and I''m just leeching off them is also a possibility."


    "Family, huh? I wonder if I really have one."


    He wasn''t particularly saddened by the thought of possibly not having a family. He doesn''t know what it feels like to have one so its absence means nothing to him.


    *growl*


    The sound of his hungry stomach pulled him out of his thoughts.


    "I forgot I was originally looking for food. I hope I can find something in the kitchen."


    He began his search for the kitchen. Thankfully, he didn''t get lost for too long in his huge mansion. His bedroom is located on the second floor and he found the kitchen downstairs. He found 6 dozens of donuts and 3 bottles of 1-liter cola in the fridge. That''s all it has in it. He decided not to question himself anymore for whatever he may find in the mansion because there''s no point to it. So he just shut up and ate his fill.


    After consuming 2 dozens of donuts and a liter of cola, he decided to continue his house tour. He wants to know what else his mansion has to offer. He spent 2 hours walking around and getting amazed before finally finishing the tour. It took him that long because first of all, the mansion is huge and secondly, he tried out the things he found interesting in each room. He had a great time and as far as his memory goes, this was his first time having fun. He went back to his bedroom with a satisfied and joyful expression.


    "This place is bigger than I imagined. Too big for a single man to live in." He sat on his bed as recalled everything he saw during the house tour. He''s living in a 3-story mansion plus a needlessly huge basement garage with a swimming pool in it. There he found 5 luxury cars he''s not even sure he could drive. Moreover, he has no plans of going out to see the world so he thought that those cars would pile up some dust for now. Just like his bedroom, the rest of the mansion isn''t filled with any decorative pieces of furniture too. That fact, paired with the mansion''s neat modern theme, he felt satisfied. He thinks that an almost empty room is much more pleasing to the eye. Maybe his past self just like clothes too much that it led to an over the top apparel collection. Aside from that, he has no issues. No, wait. There''s actually one. He met nobody during the house tour. If he''s living alone the whole time, then who''s in charge of maintaining the mansion? There''s no way he could do all the chores alone. Is he supposed to call someone over to do it for him? He''s aware that such services do exist but he thinks that he''s not yet ready for human interaction so just like his other concerns, big or small, he just threw it at the back of his mind.


    Just like that, he started his life alone. He found out that the day when he first woke up was actually his birthday but he didn''t think too much of it. He was never bored in his mansion because thankfully, this place has it all. He started playing some MOBA games in his high-spec gaming pc. He also gained interest in music and with the help of the internet, he started learning various musical instruments. Fortunately, his music room has enough pieces of equipment and instruments to form a band or produce music on a professional level so his new found goal of producing his own song can be realized in just a matter of time. He just found music as something so magical. Music made him feel various emotions he never felt before. He shed his first tears because of an emotional song. He didn''t know why but it just hit him hard. His love for music deepened day by day as he explored different genres and it kept him company in whatever he does. He also picked up dancing because some songs just make him want to move his body and lose it.


    If music is his first love then what comes second is the world of anime. He''s so glad that he randomly came across it on the internet. Anime introduced him to various worlds each having its own unique charm. A lot of anime may defy common sense and logic but he didn''t care about that. For him, what matters are the emotions it brought through its storytelling. Sooner than he imagined, he became addicted to it. There came the sleepless nights with him just binge watching. Then his anime addiction spread to reading manga and last but absolutely not the least, light novels. Reading a light novel while listening to a certain music that fits is just... Perfection. Now he''s just a weeb through and through.


    His first eight months of living went on peacefully.


    <hr>


    Present day


    It was already eleven in the morning but he''s still asleep. A sound that he doesn''t hear much often woke him up though.


    "What''s up with the door buzzer? Did I just ''sleep-order'' something? I can''t remember calling someone over."


    He was clearly annoyed because he''s used to waking up whenever he pleases. With a sour mood, he forced himself to get out of bed to attend to the guest downstairs. He simply doesn''t want to be rude and keep them waiting for so long.


    Before opening the door, he calmed himself down and readied his well-practiced welcoming face that he prepared for dealing with every delivery person.


    "Hello..." His voice slowly died down as he noticed that it''s not a delivery guy. In front of him stood a young man, clad in black.


    He barely managed to maintain his welcoming expression as he asked the guest a question.


    "How may I help you?"


    "It''s nice to finally meet you, Sir Garen Silvermoon. You can call me Athos. I''m sorry I''m late."