Lone: The Wanderer Rewrite

Lone smiled. 'Not when I wanted to do this, but fuck, what choice do I have? Didn't expect her to suddenly cry. Poor thing... I've not been good to her.'

He separated from Hazel who instinctively reached out, trying to maintain the hug. "Just a sec, 'kay? Don't want our catch up to be on the floor, of all places."

Still crying a little, Hazel sniffled, rubbed her nose, and slowly nodded. "Then where?"

Lone grinned. He waved his hand and a white sofa made of Exotic Urudian Tiger fur appeared. It was big enough to fit two people and was more comfortable than anything else Lone had plundered during his militaristic enlistment days. It must have belonged to a really rich dwarven household considering the mansion he'd nabbed it from.

Lone reached down and pulled his sister to her feet before lightly and gently pushing her onto the sofa. He quickly set next to her and hugged her with one arm. "Now you can cry as much as you want. If you've gotta make a mess of yourself, at least do it in comfort, right?"

Hazel leaned in to his hug and smiled at him. The two then sat in silence for a few minutes as Lone pulled out a tissue every 30 or so seconds for his sister to wipe her eyes and blow her nose with.

'Now how the fuck do I approach this? I think the hug is doing a lot of leg work already, but I'm not great with sensitive stuff. I usually try to cut through all of that bullshit with honesty... It works with Sofia and Breena, but this is Hazel... Hmm...' Lone thought.

"Is everything okay?" was his sister's first question as she stole the initiative from him.

He gave her a quizzical look. "Yeah, relatively speaking."

Lone stopped her from finishing that thought by covering her mouth with a hand before saying, "The walls have ears and eyes, and those ears and eyes also have ears and eyes. It's best to not discuss things like that out in the open."

"The entire tower is warded from stuff like that according to Lord Mezro'nan," Hazel replied after she removed his hand from her face.

"The thing after me is a little bit stronger than a warded tower belonging to an X-ranker. It's not important though. I have plans to deal with it and you guys won't be affected. You might have forgotten but you guessed it when we last met. The companion clause in our contract protects you. So, let's talk about you. What're your hobbies?" Lone asked, his interest being genuine.

Hazel looked worried but thankfully, she could tell he didn't want to talk about Arch Devil Zel so she tactfully moved on and said, "I like horses."

Lone nodded. "Y'know, I can see that. You with your longsword and tower shield atop an armour-clad war stallion, charging into battle. Very heroic. Inspiring, even. I should get a warmount."

Hazel chuckled faintly. "What would you even ride? A dragon?"

"Nah, Gilbert hates those. Maybe my aura? It's a big ol' golden fox. I just need to reach A-rank to be able to manifest it physically, then S-rank to manifest it into something useful. At least, according to this Shale guildmaster I met in the Farwinds. Shale are like, living golems. Very cool stuff," Lone rambled.

"Can I see it?" Hazel asked, sounding a bit excited.

Lone cringed. "Uh, can I say no? You'll see it soon. I'll use it on you guys so you can earn Aura Pressure Resistance. How does that sound?"

Hazel's disappointment quickly turned into joy as she replied, "Sure."

'Well, that's a bullet temporarily dodged. Hope I don't traumatise them when they see it later...' Lone prayed to no one in particular.

'I'm sure they'll love it. Your aura is quite the sweetheart, after all,' Darkness commented.

'Do you have nothing better to do than spy on me?' Lone complained.

Darkness chuckled. 'Your soul is my home and your life is my entertainment. I only tune out during sensitive moments. Like sex and shitting.'

'This ain't sensitive enough for you?' Lone replied.

'This is prime time drama. Resolutions to emotional conflicts are my favourite. Ignore me, Loney-boy. She's looking at you like you're acting strangely,' the Primal warned with a laugh.

"Lone?" she asked hesitantly.

"Sorry. Having a convo with one of my soul's guests. Remember I told you about them in passing when we first met. I have four Primals living rent free in my soul," Lone answered.

"Right..." she said. "That's why your tails, hair, and eyes are tinted with so many colours. What's the black though?"

"Unimportant and heavily sealed," Lone replied. Seeing that answer didn't satisfy her, he expanded with, "It's Void. Never mention it though. The Church of the Primals stuffed the fucker into a ball and erased its history. Very few people outside of the beastkin clans and the truly powerful know it ever existed. Even with the beastkin clans, only the higher ups are in the know, it seems."

"Huh. I... I don't know what to say. Does it hurt? Are you, uh, rapidly ageing?" Hazel asked, concern in her tone.

Lone waved with her hand dismissively. "Not a bit and Basic Regen keeps my skin fresh and supple. Now, back to horses... Should I buy you a stallion you can ride into war with?"

Hazel snorted. "I don't want to ride one to war. Still, I'd love to look after one, y'know, as like, not a pet... like, a bond? It's stupid."

Lone smiled. His sister was quick to change the topic when it was clear that was what he wanted. 'She's much more socially mature than me. I guess that makes sense. Knowing what everyone thinks at all times would lead to become either insane or incredibly good at handling people.'

"Nah, ain't nothing dumb about that at all. By the way, is that it for your hobbies? Just horses and having an incredibly awesome and handsome big brother? 'Cause that would be pretty fuckin' stupid, though you've accomplished the second one to a tee," he grinned at her to which she punched him softly in the ribs, obviously to no effect.

"Says the guy whose only hobby is skills and ignoring his sister," Hazel said with a roll of the eyes.

"Hey, that's not true. I like skills, yeah, but I also enjoy exploring, history, cooking, fighting, spending time with Sofia and Kyuubi, and I've recently gotten quite into drawing as of late. Ah! I do also have a habit of testing out the prison system of different countries, but I told Soph I'd stop that one, so I dunno if it could be called a hobby," Lone replied. "And I'm forgoing that latter hobby. It's bad for my mental health. Sophie makes fun of half of my drawings as it is. I'm moving on to painting, not that she doesn't take to piss out of my paintings too..."

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Hazel smiled widely and leaned further into his side hug upon hearing that. "Well for me, like I said, horses. But I also like reading, talking to people, and um... Hmm... Maybe fishing? It sounds relaxing though Mum never took me even though I asked a couple of times."

A distant look entered his eyes. "How is she, by the way? Did she care when I went missing?"

"Of course she did. She helped me make the missing person fliers I was spreading around town to find you. She never did it in front of me, but I think she cried a lot when you disappeared. We never really talked about you much before you became my homeroom teacher but she always seemed regretful. Y'know, about Dad and everything," Hazel said a bit awkwardly.

'Funny. She never called me or visited once since I left. Trying to say she cared now sounds like projection. You want her to care about me like you did. Considering she never once called CPS on that monster and never comforted me despite having years to do so makes me think if you ever saw her with red eyes, it was because she was crying over him, not me,' Lone thought.

He knew better than to allow such bitter thoughts to leak out into words. That would only serve to ruin the moment. He was trying to connect with his sister, not start a fight and widen the rift between them even further.

"Thanks for letting me know. Wanna go fishing?" Lone asked.

"What? Like, right now?" Hazel asked, confused.

"Sure. Why not? I have Fishing Mastery, though it's only beginner-level-four. We'll go to the guild first though. I owe you and the others a skill tutoring session for a skill of your choices, all expenses paid for by me. I also need to update 'the list' there. So we can make a date out of it," Lone suggested.

Hazel actually looked a little bit excited. "There's this shop in the merchant district that's like this huge beast catching experience. It has an indoor lake with lots of fish and everything. We could go there? Though, I heard it's kind of expensive..."

"Money is no object to your obscenely rich brother. Let's do it. I also wanna see how Soph and Master Mezro'nan are handling our guest," Lone said, getting up to his feet and pulling Hazel up to her before he stored the sofa.

'How're things going? The tower hasn't started shaking, so I don't think anyone's dead yet, right?' Lone telepathically.

Soph's reply came instantly. 'Her weird magic keeps trying to invade my mind. I'm almost certain she's trying to brainwash me, but she's not doing it to Master Mezro'nan. I've put a barrier around my brain but it's annoying. She's draining my MP since she keeps destroyed the barriers. Sophie really wants to murder her.'

'Fun. We'll be up in a minute,' Lone replied.

He looked down at his sister and said, "Want me to walk you to Emma and Alisa's room? Do they share a room? I don't know if you girls do but they should be waking up soonish."

"What? I-I can help you with the guest. Lady Carnation, right? I can try to read her mind to find out what she's up to. It'll be a training opportunity!" Hazel protested.

Lone frowned. "She's an X-ranker. You're an H-ranker. Not happening."

"But Sophie killed an X-ranker before, right? Effortlessly too. And you got attacked by one but survived. Could you apply Agility then?" she asked.

Lone shook his head. "I couldn't, no."

"But you can now! If she tries to do anything to me, you can stop her in time, right?" Hazel asked, some emotions welling in her voice.

"I don't know. Look, I'll take you to your friends then we can go on our little city adventurer, but right now, you need to stop being stubborn," Lone said firmly.

Hazel clenched her fists by her side and stared at the floor. "I... I want to be a part of your life. What if dealing with this Lady Carnation person leads to you leaving my life for several more months?"

"Better that than you ending up dead." Lone gripped her by the shoulders and forced her to look up into his eyes. "Don't fuck with X-rankers. Fuck, I don't even want to fuck with SSS-rankers. Fighting for skills is one thing, fighting to the death is another."

"But Soph-"

"Sophie got lucky. Olberic was obscenely weak for an X-ranker. The guy was a very old alchemist, nothing more. He also wasn't prepared. The next X-ranker she encountered she literally couldn't even scratch. That was War Leader Clari who almost cut my head off before she left me in a purely defensive position because she was also immune to my most destructive unique skill," Lone said.

"But your fight with Prince Kein-"

"The guy was going so easy on me. It's like if I fought a toddler and stood still as it bit my ankles. You can't afford to fuck with a C-ranker right now, let alone something even I fear. X-rankers are just on a whole different plane of existence. Your unique skill is amazing and I do want to use it to help me, but not now. Put blunty, you're too weak. Put nicely, I love you and I don't want you to die just so I can maybe use you to peer into the mind of a weirdo X-ranked mage who could probably kill you before I can even blink, let alone try to save you. Doesn't matter if Soph and Master Mezro'nan are there too. I have so many weird and crazy skills and I've barely been on this planet for just under two years. What tricks do you think a thousands, maybe tens of thousands of years old X-ranked monster would have?" Lone asked.

"... But you're always so cocky," Hazel pointed out.

Lone smiled. "Soph's too timid and Sophie's too bloodthirsty. I'm the perfect balance between the two. But seriously, if stuff needs done, someone's gotta do it. Better me with my near-immortality than my baby sister who's super squishy, huh?"

Hazel cracked an annoyed smile as Lone removed a hand from her shoulder to poke her cheek. "Fine. But I'll get strong enough to be by your side! We all will. I... I want to help you as much as possible."

"That's super swee-"

"Someone has to stop you from killing yourself via intense skill searching," she deadpanned, interrupting him.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"... You and Sofia are more alike than I had first assumed," Lone commented with a sigh.

"Besides," Hazel grinned, "if I'm not with you, then who will remind you to find a way back home? It's tearing Alisa up that she's here and not on Earth. Scott pretends not to care but I know he does, obviously. I'm happy I found you but I'm worried about Mum now. She must be distraught that we're both missing."

Lone didn't agree but he nodded nonetheless. "I'll decide a benchmark you have to reach if you want to travel alongside me later, during our outing."

"And you'll spend lots of time training us? Lord Mezro'nan is great, and don't get me wrong, you suck. You just hit us, but for some reason, you're a better teacher than him," Hazel replied.

Lone laughed at that. "Because I am a better teacher. I'm the fuckin' best."

'Soph did not want to interrupt so we have taken control. We only have 1,000,000 MP remaining. We are a couple hundred thousand away from attempting to murder her. We will not be brainwashed, so hurry up and come stop her,' Sophie demanded telepathically.

"That's my cue," Lone said before he kissed Hazel on the forehead. "Guess I don't have the time to walk you upstairs. You're a big girl though, you can do it yourself, right?"

"Oh, shut up," Hazel replied with a poorly concealed smile and a roll of the eyes.

Roughly 20 minutes ago, in the prince's primary training hall, Prince Keining halted his spear jab midway as he stilled. "They're here and in... Master Mezro'nan's tower?"

He supposed that made sense. It had become more challenging to monitor the hero children and their friends ever since they had fallen into the custody of that independant mage.

Master Mezro'nan was nothing special on his own. It would take no effort for Prince Keining to defeat the man in a fight, but he did have some pretty powerful backers considering his connection with an executive of the Continental Alchemical Association.

That made it somewhat difficult for his eldest daughter's agents to do their job.

He focused on the sun of magic in his city for a moment and nodded when it didn't focus back. 'Mother's enchantments surpass my own so significantly. To be able to hide my mana source from such a monstrous unique skill is well beyond my own realm of possibilities.'

"Seres," he called.

The lanky woman who was the closest to becoming an XX-ranker amongst his children appeared at his side.

"Lone Immortus and Sofia Vladimirovich have appeared in Master Mezro'nan's tower. I can feel Lady Carnation moving towards them. You mentioned she has been visiting almost daily with the assumed motive of learning more about the aura eruptions you turned her away from. Go there and introduce yourself formally to the two of them. Assist them in getting rid of Lady Carnation if needed and then take the chance to invite them and the three hero teenagers to the Extraterrestrial Alliance. You did arrange for a meeting, no?" he asked.

She nodded. "Of course. Everything is prepared. I'll handle it immediately, Father."

As soon as she had disappeared, Prince Keining raised his free hand to his stomach where the unhealing injury he had suffered from his spar with Lone Immortus still remained. "Even Mother couldn't cure this... It could be a roadblock for my ascension to triple-X-rank. Hopefully, the source itself can fix it, otherwise, I may need to kill him to vent my rage."

Nothing would get in his way to everlasting life. Nothing. If he had to act like an equal to Lone Immortus in order for him to undo whatever he had done to the scratch that had been left on his chest, then so be it.

What was the value of pride in the wake of evolving the order of his very being? After all, Perfection begets perfection itself. If that was stolen from him by this strange hero and it couldn't be undone, however, then the boy would have a far more pressing concern than a hypothetical Arch Devil.