Otherworld Adventure

When he remembered what he just did last night, it caused him to pale greatly.

"W-what did I do?"

"...wafu..."

Cecil turned towards his partner and he couldn"t help but notice his bloodstained fur and claws. Silver"s mouth and fangs were also tainted with a crimson color red that reeked of blood.

The scent of blood didn"t only come from Silver, but also from him. In fact, it was even stronger on himself than his partner.

Cecil quickly spread his sense and tried to find a river or some water source in his surroundings. He found a small pond that was nearby and quickly rushed over.

When he arrived at the pond, Cecil jumped right in and began splashing the water onto his body. He scrubbed his arms and hands as hard as he could, but he couldn"t wash away the reeking stench of blood from his body.

"Silv! You come over as well! Clean yourself up!"

Silver responded with a low growl and entered into the pond as well. The pond wasn"t that big so he had to transform into his pet form. Cecil picked Silver up and began washing the blood off of his body.

He made sure the b.l.o.o.d.y smell was thoroughly washed off before he continued trying to do the same for himself, but no matter what he did...he couldn"t completely clear away the stench.

"S-s.h.i.t...s.h.i.t...s.h.i.t..."

"Wafu!"

"Huh?"

At Silver"s bark, Cecil snapped out of his delirium.

"Raah!! Rah, rah!!"

"..."

Cecil walked out of the pond and went towards the one thing near the pond that strongly reeked of blood.

The dark colored blade of the World Tree"s Thorn, Corruption, had a slight change on it. The once golden colored runes had turned into a crimson red and Cecil felt like it was pulsing as if they were blood vessels.

"...The Corruption...I guess its name was that for a reason..."

Cecil didn"t know what came over him last night. Even if he did have a vision of a detrimental event that could maybe happen to him in the future...there was surely no need for him to have taken out his frustration on the people he had killed.

He didn"t know why he couldn"t stop himself. That nagging feeling coupled with the inexplicable desire to vent pushed him over the edge and made him do something irrational.

"...I"m beginning to think that the World Tree"s "Thorns" have another meaning behind its name..."

Thorns, a particular part of some plants that would cause harm to a person if they were to touch it. There were many beautiful flowers that would have thorns on their stems and if someone were to carelessly hold it, they"d likely injure themselves.

The World Tree"s Thorns might also have some sort of consequence for their usage. Ever since he began training with Providence, he"s been having those weird future visions. He also started growing restless and battle hungry ever since he began using Corruption more and more as well.

Then there was the Perseverance. Cecil wasn"t sure if it was bad or not, but whenever he started having problems in his rune and magi-tech research, he would sometimes just stubbornly trudge forward knowing that maybe taking a break was the better idea.

Of course, there were times that this stubbornness of his would bear fruit and he"d make a breakthrough in his research, but most of the time he"d just exhaust himself and would be given an earful from Serilla and Lucia, who would find him collapsed in the study because he had gone days without any rest...or food.

Slowly, his personality was being influenced by the new weapons he had acquired without him being aware of it at all. The only safe weapon was probably the Serenity. Whenever he practiced with it, he"d always feel calm and at ease.

Whenever he finished practicing with the Serenity, he"d be able to clear up his mind and feel at peace. After that, whenever he continued with his research, he"d always suddenly understand a part of the problem that he previously didn"t understand. Because of this, the sword he had frequently used was Serenity.

Lately, he had rarely been using Serenity so maybe that was why his mind was so easily affected.

"This has to be the case...if not, I wouldn"t have felt so ill-at-ease these couple of days...I should have calmed my mind down with the Serenity...instead I went around patrolling the area with Corruption and practiced with the Providence whenever we got back..."

It was probably due to force of habit, but he would always train using the Providence first before using any of the other Thorns. As for why he used Providence first, it was mostly because that particular Thorn was his favorite.

"Haaahh...I should have known things wouldn"t have been that easy...I earned so many rewards from the World Tree"s Trial, but they all came at a price..."

His Thorns other than Serenity had problematic side-effects if he continuously used them. His magi-tech knowledge was being sought after by the Empire and now, he couldn"t even catch a break with people aiming for his life.

Cecil had grown much too complacent after exiting the trials. He had immersed himself in his research and magi-tech creation that he had neglected to properly investigate his rewards from the trials.

All these weapons, blessings, and power were all external factors until he could properly utilize them. He had just committed a serious crime that totally went against all of his morals and bottom lines.

"When we get back...I should put a halt to all the research and properly make this all my power...I don"t want something stupid like this to happen again...being controlled by my own weapons...pathetic..." Cecil berated himself.

He smiled depreciatingly and vowed never to let this happen again. Even if he was preoccupied with all the research and magi-tech crafting, he should have first properly examined all his earnings before doing anything else.

Could the magi-tech boost his power? Could it save him from his current predicament? No! Of course not! Instead, it was the source of all his current problems.

"I don"t care what the Kingdom thinks of me later...my own power should come first before their interests. If they think otherwise...I"ll just walk away. It"s not like my life is tied to the Kingdom." Cecil mumbled. He then stored the Corruption and decided to seal all his World Tree weapons except for the Serenity until after he gets back to the capital.

"Besides, I"ve contributed plenty enough...what more could they ask of me?"

With that, the boy nodded as if convinced of himself. He jumped onto Silver, who had transformed himself again, and the two quickly made their way back towards the Darkfang territory"s main city.

Cecil pulled out his trusty Adamantium Sword and placed in on his waist. He felt more rea.s.sured with his long-time partner once more on his side.

"...Lucia"s probably freaking out right now..."

Cecil looked up at the sky. It was the dawn of a new day, but he didn"t feel like appreciating the sight. He still reeked of blood and he felt very uncomfortable.

"What a horrible way to start the day..."

It didn"t take him and Silver to quickly arrive back at the Darkfang Estate with the speeds Silver was traveling at.

When he got there, Cecil expected a furious Lucia to come out and start berating him, but instead what he got was a bawling girl who had suddenly rushed into his arms. He was at a loss and could only hug her back tightly. Cecil had shared his future vision with Lucia and this had put the girl a little on edge.

Despite her not totally believing him, Lucia feared the worst when she couldn"t find him next to her early this morning. At first she thought that Cecil was simply outside training as usual, but after walking through the entire estate and not finding him, she finally panicked.

Lucia quickly woke up her friends and told them that Cecil was missing. She also told them about the weird vision that the boy had told her. The party grew worried and began a thorough search throughout the city. They had turned the entire city upside down in search for him.

Cecil felt relieved and he couldn"t help but thank his lucky stars that he had such good friends with him. Of course, this didn"t stop Lucia from giving him a powerful punch to the gut. Of course if she could choose, she"d rather have kissed him instead, but the urge to punch him overwhelmed that.

Cecil felt that it was a well-deserved punch and he accepted it with zero complaints.

He didn"t tell anybody about what he did the night before, but it was odd that not one of his friends could smell the horrid stench of blood reeking from his body.

When he asked if they felt uncomfortable with him around, his friends only gave him puzzled looks. He even asked them whether he smelled a little funny or not.

Lucia was the first to answer him and told the boy that he smelled just like his normal self. Then as if something had suddenly clicked in her mind, the girl suddenly smashed her fist into the boy"s gut one more time for no apparent reason. The girls however seemed to understand why, but Ainz and Lucius were just as clueless as Cecil.

He was gone for an entire night and then he began asking whether or not he smelled weird... this obviously caused multiple misunderstandings to happen.

"...idiot..."

"Wh-what did I do wrong?!"

"If you"re going to be like that Cecil... you better stay away from Lucia and Serilla from now on." Eli said.

"Y-yeah...you"re being pretty mean...and insensitive," Velicia added.

Only Fina was the one that tried to defend him.

"C-Cecil"s probably not asking for THAT kind of reason, right? Right? I mean...it IS Cecil after all!"

Her words once more puzzled the boy and he couldn"t help but exasperatedly yell out,

"What did I do?! I only asked whether I smelled weird or not!"

"Hmph!"

"Ahh come on... Don"t be like that Lulu!"

Cecil tried to appease the displeased fox girl, but she only huffed in annoyance and turned away. He also didn"t have the energy to continue their argument since the boy felt awfully sleepy. He didn"t sleep at all last night, but normally he"d be able to go at least a day or two without sleep.

He felt odd that only one sleepless night had left him on the brink of collapsing from exhaustion. His body didn"t feel tired, but his mind did.

"I...I gotta go sleep...I"m exhausted and I didn"t sleep a wink last night..."

"!?"

"!!!"

"Oh no..."

"I"ll be in my—"

Lucia who was just about to walk away suddenly flashed right in front of Cecil and...

"—GAHAACCCCKKKK!!!"

Sent a powerful kick straight into his gut; sending the poor boy flying away.

"ARRRGGHHHH!!!" Lucia screamed in frustration at him before trudging away in annoyance.

Eli, Velicia, and Fina sent Cecil complicated gazes before chasing after Lucia.

"Ainz...Lucius...what did I do?" Cecil asked while struggling to open his mouth.

"That..."

"Well..."

Ainz and Lucius were clueless as to how to answer, but it was Yuna who answered the boy instead.

"It"s because you said something stupid and it let your poor, little wife to misunderstand~"

Yuna picked Cecil up and placed him on top of Silver and said to him, "Bring your stupid Master back to his room...he looks like he"ll faint any minute now."

"W-wait—"