I JUST WANT A PEACEFUL LIFE

"Hmm… That's new. Is it okay for us to know this information?" asked Angus.

"It's fine. Besides, I believe all of you will know about this in the future anyway." replied Darren casually.

Angus and the others didn't react to Darren's reply as they were also confident in their strength.

After finishing lunch, they decide to enter the Ancient Vault. The Honor Valley may be a village, but it also didn't provide any attraction facilities besides the beautiful natural scenery in the surrounding.

Unfortunately, this beautiful view didn't give Anna too much impression besides the first few minutes. Angus also finds a few things about this strange village.

Apparently, the spirits in this place have at least sixth-grade combatant strength. The spirit itself is unlike ordinary vengeful or restless spirits. It didn't have too much sentience or wisdom. In some ways, they are similar to artificial intelligence.

He heard from Darren that the spirit is actually one of the defense mechanisms of the Ancient Vault. It could never get tiring, never sleep, and has unlimited power.

The only problem is that the spirit couldn't improve their skills/spells. They also couldn't be commanded and bound to the Honor Valley. The most surprising thing is the spirit actually has a specific routine and shifts guard time despite never getting tired.

"What a peculiar way of defense mechanism." said Angus while observing the spirit around the village.

It is clear that the spirits are forced to guard the Ancient Vault for eternity. However, Angus also feels strange since it seems like the spirits get better treatment like ordinary living workers.

He also heard that a few Altras caretakers help the spirit become more comfortable in the village. At this point, Angus didn't know if he should pity these spirits or not.

"Don't overthink about it, Young Baron Angus. Besides, these spirits actually choose to become like this." said Darren while they walked down from the Honor Valley.

"They choose to become like this?" asked Angus in confusion.

"Like I said, these spirits have the power of sixth grade. Did you think ordinary people could reach this level? I imagine all these spirits are quite influential Altras during their life."

"You may not understand this now, but we old ones often like to leave something behind."

Living for a long time makes people wiser and want to leave some trace as a contribution or legacy. If I am not wrong, this should be their way of leaving their trace behind." explained Darren.

"I see…" replied Angus shortly and didn't ask anymore.

Like Darren said, he is still too young to understand this feeling despite having two lives. Since some people could live for a few hundred years in this world, Angus still looks like a child compared to these people.

Leaving the Honor Valley, they begin to move towards the Ancient Vault through a stony path. Along the way, they find a few Altras spirits sitting in meditation. Suddenly, Everyone could feel some sort of pressure released from all this spirit.

This pressure is enough to deter any fourth-grade combatant or kingdom's elite knights from kneeling on the spot. Fortunately, their group is too absurd. Initially, Angus is afraid the pressure will affect Jayna since her physical power is the lowest among others.

However, he finds his girlfriend is actually pressuring these bluish spirits back with her majestic phoenix aura. Some of the bluish spirits even run as far as possible from Jayna.

"Humph!! Puny spirits dared to make me kneel. They should be glad I don't burn them into nothingness." said Jayna proudly.

"Err… Jayna, are you okay?" asked Angus.

He was surprised as his girlfriend still had this ghost phobia just a few minutes ago and now she is completely fine with it. Hearing Angus' words, Jayna blinks for a few moments before suddenly buried into Angus' chest.

"Kyaaa… Angus, there is another ghost!!" said Jayna.

Seeing Jayna's shameless act makes everyone speechless. Fortunately, they immediately forget about this since Anna and Mira call them after wandering on their own.

"Angus, look!! It is a big flying box."  called Anna.

Suddenly, they find a humongous flying cube building chained by gigantic thorny chains on each corner. Angus and Jayna are surprised at this giant cube since they knew this building should not exist a moment ago. Yet, it somehow magically appeared in front of them.

Moreover, the cube building seems to exude a majestic presence. There is no way they will miss such an eye-catching building in this vast land. Then, they remember their aunt's explanation about one of the Ancient Vault's defense mechanisms.

"Hahaha… I also had that kind of expression when I found the Ancient Vault for the first time." teased Aunt Extalia after finding the couple having speechless expressions.

It takes them a few seconds before the couple gets their bearings and follows everyone to the Ancient Vault. The flying cube is connected to the stony stairs in front of them. Like the Ancient Vault, the stony stairs also magically appear in front of them.

While hiking the stony stairs, Anna and Mira fly around the Ancient Vault and explore the surroundings. Arriving in front of the Ancient Vault, they find a large open door. Behind the door, they could find a few people in queues in front of the blue-colored woman.

They also find a few blue-colored women all over the place. All the women have a similar shape, face, and form. They also find the interior of the Ancient Vault humongous.

Not only does the interior have a very high ceiling, but it also has a lot of complex pathway designs similar to some monumental buildings on Earth.

They find the area in front of them is a lobby area where they complete some documents before accessing the vault. Angus, Jayna, and Aunt Extalia walk towards the queue to register themself while letting the two girls wander on their own with Darren.

During the wait, Angus found he couldn't use any detection skills. Unlike inside the forest, he feels like his [Mana Echolocation] scanning an endless, boundless space without getting feedback. Similar things also happen to his heat sense.

Unless someone gets closer to him, he will only feel a boundless area while trying to sense the heat in the surrounding. This also affects his perception and his other Ancient Power perception.

All he could do was use his five senses to observe the surroundings like an ordinary human. He also finds there are countless doors with numbers on the wall.

He heard from Aunt Extalia that the blue-colored woman is some sort of artificial intelligence controlled by the Ancient Vault to guide the people.

While waiting, they could hear Anna's loud laughter while using the Flying Pillow with Mira to move from floor to floor and startle other people.

Hearing Anna's happy laughter, Angus only releases a heavy sigh at the naughty girl. However, he didn't worry about her since Darren promised to keep her out of too much trouble.

"You know I still don't accept that little monster. What's more, how you two treat her." said Aunt Extalia.

"The way we treat her?" asked Angus in confusion.

"Even a blind monkey will notice you two treat her like your own child. No matter what, you two are too young to have a child." clarified Aunt Extalia.

Hearing such a comment, Angus and Jayna blushed in embarrassment and were speechless. Deep inside, they know they already thought of Anna as their child. But they never openly express it or think about it. This is because Anna is too special for an ordinary child.

"Actually, I didn't care how you treated that little monster. But, as a high noble, you still need to follow some noble rules. You need to at least get married before you can adopt her and please restrain yourself from doing too much night activity." said Aunt Extalia.

Hearing this, Angus only gave a smile and didn't give a reply. Jayna also stays silent while communicating with Angus using their bond. They know their actions are against the noble's etiquette and could ruin their family's reputation.

The Heart kingdom's aristocratic system is not only based on merit or personal power. It is also based on reputation. Reputation and merit are often connected with one and the others.

One of the great ways to improve nobility rank is by increasing their reputation and leading to more merit.

A noble with a bad reputation will hardly get merit, connection, and even be shunned by everyone. However, Angus didn't care about this. If he wants, he could declare to the world that Jayna is his woman and Anna is their child. However, this will only lead to endless problems.

Still, it didn't mean they would abide by the noble etiquette and rules. They will just do what they want, like usual. Besides, if someone dares to force them to follow the rules, they will let them experience what real despair means, like a certain old woman noble.

Therefore, they just give a silent reply to their aunt. Aunt Extalia also notices their silent responses.

"I know you don't like this and you two will keep doing what you want. Personally, I rooted for both of you. You two did what Leon and I could not do in the past." explained Aunt Extalia.

"However, I want to know the huge consequences of your action. There will be a time when we can't just always protect you." added Aunt Extalia.