Emperor's Reckoning

Dawn was approaching fast, and the fresh wind of the first dew basked the hue of the adventurers that decided to take a rest at the first checkpoint.

Lyon's eyes fluttered before he got up and his eyes hardly made out what he was seeing before finding out that it was a wall. He glanced over his side and found no living soul inside the room where he had slept.

"They are still as early as before," Lyon smirked before sitting with his legs crossed. He furrowed his brows then closed his eyes. The moment he opened it again, he was ethereal.

Below him was a sea of memories and he was hovering in front of the closed door. The seal had been opened and no more chains were present. It could be open with a simple push, a simple conviction.

Lyon looked at the door with a smile before turning around, "Recuperate first, I will take care of this side of things for now."

"Lyon!"

"Huh?" Lyon snapped open his eyes before noticing Luna was there standing by the side of the bed. Her eyes showed a bit of concern and her chest was heaving up and down.

"What's wrong?" Lyon asked.

"Let's go outside, you have to see this!" said Luna.

"See what?" Lyon raised his brows.

"Just go!" said Luna as she started to frown.

"Alright, alright, hold on a sec," said Lyon as he got off the bed.

The two of them exited the cottage with Lyon walking right behind Luna, but the moment he saw the steppe from the corner of his eyes, they widened.

"What the..."

The previous adventurers that were about to extort him for a ridiculous price for an entrance were now standing facing him, split into two rows with a large gap between them. They all aligned perfectly, even the one that was bleeding from the temples joined in.

"What are you doing?" asked Lyon.

"GOOD MORNING, BOSS!" the adventurers bowed to their waist.

"Huh?" Lyon raised one of his brows as they were making a scene. "What are you guys doing?"

"Someone made a visit to the first checkpoint last night," Lumina said as she revealed herself by the side of the door.

Lyon turned, "Huh? Who?"

"You can guess who," said Lumina.

"Guess?" Lyon raised his brows. "It's in the morning, my luck is still charging."

"We are sorry for the trouble yesterday night boss!!" said all of them in sync.

"Did you guys practice this? It's too sync!" said Lyon.

"We did!"

Lyon's lips twitched, "Alright, who set you up for this? Was it Kesya?"

"Hey! It's not me!"

"Oh there you are," Lyon raised his brows the moment he noticed where the voice was coming from. Kesya was by the carriage with Assid addressing the horse's needs with her cheeks puffing, and her mouth pouting.

"No boss! We are doing this because we want to!" said one of the adventurers firmly.

"Did you meet Di?" Lyon raised his brows before the adventurers nodded in unison.

"We met Sir Di, last night," said one of the adventurers, "We told him what you told us to tell him."

Lyon sighed as he shook his head before he made a light chuckle after pondering about what transpired, "Alright, you did a good job."

The adventurers all smiled before the suffered one out of them stepped forward and dropped to his knees. "Please forgive me, Boss!!"

He shouted at the top of his lung and courted all attention. Other adventurers were hesitant to gather, but their eyes couldn't help but peek over and tried to understand what was going on.

"All is forgiven," said Lyon with a brief of radiant in his words.

"Ah! Thank you, boss!! No, saint! You're a saint!" the man immediately stood straight like nothing was wrong in his head. He smiled before staying out of his way.

"This is amusing," Lyon laughed to the sky as he walked past them with strides.

( He didn't even even flinch when being praised as a saint ) Luna had her lips twitching.

( Shameless, even when this is his old version ) thought Lumina as she did the same as Luna.

"Alright, let's go toward the second checkpoint," said Lyon as he put his hands by his waist. "We need to catch up for that banquet, hahaha!"

"Banquet?!" the adventurers raised their brows before one of them said, "Boss, are you joining the celebration of the return of Leviathan Party?"

"The return? Return from what?" asked Lyon.

"You don't know?"

"Do I look like I know?"

"Hahaha, of course! A man like Boss would never see Leviathan in his eyes," the adventurer made a weird forceful laugh.

"Hahaha! That's right, that's right!" Lyon laughed as his head got bigger.

"The Leviathan Party has been rumored to have slain a giant beast, the ruler of the sky Bahamut!" said one of the adventurers. "That's why the Guild Links are going to have a feast at the hall, rumoredly almost everyone is invited to the gala."

"Almost everyone?" Lyon raised his brows. "Is it a private party or something?"

"Not private, but we of lower ranks don't deserve to be there," said one of the adventurers. "But don't get us wrong, it is open to the public, but once you're there, they hardly talk to you."

"Yeah Boss! They all have their chins above their foreheads when they know that we are still under-ranked."

"You would need to be a minimum of Six-Stars Rank Adventurer for them to notice you and converse with you, but being Leviathan Party, I doubt that they would even need to breathe to be noticed by the others."

Lyon sighed, "Heh, it seems like the problem is always the same no matter which era I'm in."

"Huh?" The adventurers raised their brows.

"I can't fix that," said Lyon. "But that's just how the world goes, however, I'm sure that there are some of them that are willing to talk to you, just be shameless and join the gala, after all, it's open for all."

"T-That's... easy for you to say," muttered one of the adventurers.

"It is that easy," Lyon smiled. "You need to know your worth, then assumed that you're bigger than that, based yourself on what you will become, otherwise you will miss something that you might not expect, in my experience, not all will go according to the scenario in your head," he smiled before looking at Cecile and the others. "And that's what makes this life worthwhile."

The group of adventurers was dumbfounded by his words of wisdom.

"Hm? You need something?" asked Cecile as she turned her glance toward her husband.

"No," Lyon smiled.

"Boss! No, saint, you're truly a saint," said one of the adventurers.

"Heh, I know," Lyon nodded before giving out a peace sign, "See you guys there."

"Oh, by the way, we are the Rugrats Party boss!!"

"What?"

"O-Our party name, the Rugrats Party," the adventurer smiled wryly.

"Sure," Lyon waved his hand before he got inside the carriage.

"Was that necessary?" said Cecile who was sitting across from him.

Lyon smiled and cue to the window. The group of adventurers was waving at them as they left the first checkpoint. "What do you think?"

Cecile snorted a smile as she closed her eyes before seeing Lyon's smiling face. "Remember back then?"

"How can I forget?" Lyon smiled. "We were a bunch of nobodies."

"No, you were an adventurer with bad records already," Cecile squinted her eyes.

"You know those are just rumors being stirred up by that bitch right?!" said Lyon. "C'mon, you're the one that lobbed her head in the end."

Luna gulped as Lumina's eyes turned sharp. ( Wow, what was that? It seems like I've heard a crucial past that pivoted his storyline ) thought the former.

Cecile smiled, "I know, it's just a bit of fun seeing you getting flustered."

Lyon had his lips twitching before crossing his arms.

"Boss, errr, I mean, master, you might want to see this," said Graham with a grin.

"Huh?" Lyon raised his head before he turned over and peeked over the blinders. "That Di bastard, what the fuck did he say to make them do this?" he smirked.

Adventurers of the second checkpoint all bowed to their waist from each side of the road. Even those that were not tasked with guarding them all bowed deeply, not daring to look up as the horses pulled the carriage with proud gallant.

Luna and Lumina were fascinated by the long lines of people bowing at their carriage.

"Heh," Cecile smirked before she looked at Lyon whose face turned radiant. "Kind of like soft welcoming right?"

"Soft welcoming of who?" Lyon smirked.

Cecile took a cold breath through her lips before she smiled and then said,

"The Grand Adventurer..."

Kesya smirked, Graham smirked, and Assid did the same.

"Lyon Torga," Cecile smiled.

"Heh," Lyon smirked as he crossed his arms with his legs spread open.

Lumina's and Luna's pupils both shrunk at the same time before they saw a flash of Lyon's previous appearance in a silhouette.