Scarlet

“Bodyguards… you said…” I mutter, very much unhappy with the idea. Not only because it’ll make it hard to sneak away and hunt, but it’ll make it hard to go back to Earth when I feel ready to do so.

“I’m kind of surprised you’re not already planning to go to Earth,” Tar comments.

Well, they’re right in that this place is much better than Earth to grow stronger in. So I’ll be taking advantage of that for a bit before going.

“Yes, Your Highness,” the head maid says, the woman bowing slightly as she says so before she waves at the bodyguards, making five Nobles step out of the shadows, three of whom are women and two men. “These are your Royal Bodyguards, and they will stay with you at all times except when you need privacy in which case they will surround whatever area you’re in to make sure you’re safe from all harm. They were all taken directly from His Majesty’s Royal Guard.”

Or at least, I’d like to go back to Earth. But it’s starting to look like the chances of that are becoming rather slim…

“You wouldn’t have made it anyways,” Tar comment, briefly prickling at my pride before he explains, “you need another demon to help you through the Fractures to get back to Earth since you’re not a pure blooded demon. Not to mention the Fractures are all fiercely guarded, always with at least one Noble. And the Gates are even more well-guarded. So unless you somehow convinced a demon to help you through, making them risk execution for the very minimal chance you could possibly sneak by a Noble demon, I doubt you’ll be able to sneak back to Earth.”

Oh.

That’s… not really what I wanted to hear…

Still gonna try to sneak away so that I can hunt on my own though. There should be a hell of a lot of prey to hunt here, so I can tide myself over with that.

Then again, there isn’t anything pressing that I need to do on Earth anyways. So spending a year or so here can’t hurt, right?

And the headmaster of the Guardians University I go to is White in the first place, so I should be fine in terms of my time there.

Actually, I wonder if that was why she became the headmaster of a university? Because none of the other Knights have ever bothered with the other Guardians Universities for the most part.

Well, that aside, I focus on my bodyguards who have been stoically waiting as I conversed with Tar. Something that people seem to be used to on Tartarus.

Although I guess that makes sense, considering that most everyone here has a fae contracted to them, unlike on Earth.

Anyways, the bodyguards are all wearing the same type of armor, which if I had to guess is probably Grandpa’s Royal Guard’s armor. It has a lot of black, with some stripes of crimson running through it and armor plating over all of the vital areas, and some sort of leather and scale armor in the areas between the plates. Also, the armor seems to be mostly made out of Blood Metal.

The thing that stands out the most about these five is that they’re all, for one, kneeling right now and not raising their heads even to look at me despite not having said a word, and for two, they’re all blood lycans.

I wonder if Grandpa’s entire Royal Guard is just made up of blood lycans, or if he specifically chose only blood lycans for my bodyguards?

Either way, it makes things difficult.

Because how the hell am I going to escape when they have hearing and senses even stronger than my own? I can hear a damned bird flapping its wings from literally an entire kilometer away!

I blink as the sound of the bird flapping its wings goes away, being replaced with a splash of blood, a crunch, and another splash of blood.

Rest in peace bird.

“Please stand up,” I tell the guards, deciding to finally acknowledge their existence beyond simply wondering how to ditch them.

The guards immediately do so, and I almost flinch at the look they’re all giving me. Because it’s honestly rather creepy.

They’re all looking at me with absolute respect, awe, and for some reason I get the feeling they’d do anything I told them to as long as it didn’t clash with Grandpa’s orders. Even die.

And it’s really creepy.

Although I also get the feeling they won’t leave me even if I told them to.

“What are your names?” I ask, and the center guard immediately steps forward and salutes me, slamming his fist into his chest plate as he declares, “Vincent Lacroix de Argus, Your Highness!”

Then the one to his immediate right steps forward and does the same, introducing herself as Elizabeth Lacroix de Argus, his sister. And the two are followed by Juliette Argol de Argus, Seraphina Tempest de Argus, and Nickolai Valtar de Argus.

Overall, a lot of de Arguses.

“Looks like he didn’t just send you an all blood lycan team of bodyguards, he sent you a team of all branch family blood lycans as bodyguards,” Tar says, sounding slightly surprised by that. Then he turns to me and nods. “Yeah, you’re never gonna get away from them.”

I raise a brow at him.

Wanna bet?

He opens his mouth, only to close it again, seemingly remembering the last bet we had.

The one where he agreed to eat his tail if I ever get a mythic skill, which is likely to happen in the distant future if I keep my current progress.

Come on. Wanna bet?

“Uh, I think I’ll just stick to my words and say no more,” he comments while beginning to land on my shoulder just for a certain maid to pluck him off and coldly state, “I don’t care if you’re fae royalty. You are not to dirty Her Highness’s beautiful dress. Do you understand me?”

The tanuki meekly nods his head in her grasp before the frightening woman lets him ago and he immediately flies behind me, not daring to touch my dress but still using me as a shield despite his ability to vanish into the In-Between.

So about that bet.

I hear him groan in my mind.