Chapter 353 - Return

Max looked at Mercury for a bit before he dropped the sword in his hand on the ground as he muttered

"Dad?"

Mercury nodded before he spoke with some amazement and a slight amount of sorrow clear in his voice

"Man, you've gotten big already…"

Max walked over before he silently hugged Mercury, Mercury showed a smile and hugged Max back, the Max that now only was a head's height shorter than him, Mars showed a smile when he saw the two of them, he was reminded of his own children, many of whom had already passed away, still, it made him remember the good times for a few moments, soon another group of people passed through the portal, it was Julia, Marie, and Asma, when they saw Max and Mercury they showed smiles, Kathrine walked over and hugged her daughter Julia and for a few moments a very moving scene of reunion happened in the courtyard, Chloe that had appeared next to Mars at some point asked him

"Don't you think it's time?"

Mars nodded, then after a bit, he shook his head and muttered

"I have to pay back Mercury for showing me that… Allowing me to remember the good times…"

Chloe looked over at the two, then after a bit, she nodded and showed a smile

"Yeah… That we do need to…"

Mars and Chloe waved at Mercury before they walked back through the portal that closed after them, Mercury looked over at the very confused looking demon siblings and patted Max on the back a few times before he asked

"Why don't you introduce me to your friends Max?"

Max nodded and before he broke the hug and waved the two of them over before he spoke

"This is Magnus and Annabel, they're my friends from the academy"

When Max introduced the two of them the two siblings showed smiles, then Max introduced his adoptive father

"This is Mercury, my dad"

Mercury showed a smile and nodded at the two of them, the rest of the day Mercury listened to Max's stories about going to the academy along with Julia, Marie, and Asma, though it quickly turned into a celebration that Mercury had returned and it wasn't until the early morning hours that the kids were too tired to continue after they fell asleep Mercury asked Kathrine

"So… How have things been since we've been gone?"

Kathrine showed a smile

"It's been stable ever since you ended the war with Cana, though most of the Superweapons still remain in their possession"

"That's quite bad, not that they have the Superweapons, but you said most didn't you?"

"Yeah… Some have been stolen and are currently in the hands of other kingdoms and smaller powers"

Mercury nodded, then he thought for a bit before he spoke

"The demon siblings… which clan are they from?"

Kathrine showed a slightly strained smile before she shook her head

"That's the problem, they seem to have appeared out of thin air here in the capital with enough funding to go to the academy… At this point, I can't verify their origins"

Mercury thought for a few moments before he nodded and concluded

"Then I'll need to have a chat with them tomorrow… But first, how's Albert?"

Kathrine sighed before she looked further back into the castle as she spoke

"He's just old, I am too… Truth be told we thinking of passing the crown onto our son"

"Oh..? Not to Julia?"

Kathrine showed a smile

"She's too free of spirit to be queen"

"Well, I agree with you there… What's your son like?"

Kathrine thought for a few moments before she spoke with a smile

"Loyal to our country and his friends, but brutal towards his enemies, perhaps a little too brutal"

"Sounds like some good traits for a king to have"

Kathrine nodded, then she stood up and spoke

"I'll head to bed, see you tomorrow, Mercury"

"Sure"

The next morning Mercury woke up around 5 am

'These habits sure are going to take a while to get rid off… Status'

Name: Mercury

Age: Error

Race: Draconix

Class: [Metal]

Class level: 21

Titles: [Last member of the ********* ** *** ******] [First of the ********] [Sinner of the ****** race] [Cursebreaker] [Iron ranked hunter] [Partially reinforced right leg and hand] [Savior]

Strength [52/1050] - Constitution [52/1000] - Dexterity [53/500]

Intelligence [53/100] - Wisdom [55/100] - Carisma [55/10] 

Class skills: [Metal assimilation, lv--] [Essence refining, lv--] [Essence consuming, lv--] [Essence shop, lv--] [Golem core creation, lv--]

Active skills: [Earth magic, lv10] [Lesser metal weaving, lv--] [Metal domination, lv--] [Blacksmithing, lv4] [Swordsmamship, lv3] [Forging blows, lv1] [Meditation, lv--] [Lightning magic, lv5] [Ice magic, lv5] [Instant movement lv2 NEW]

Passive skills [Cursebreaker, lv--] [Pain resistance, lv04 UP]

Mercury scuffed, all he had to show for 3 years of training was a new skill as well as an increase in his passive pain resistance skill, though he had received a whole lot of essence points as a reward from helping out Mars with various things... around 500.000 points in total which was nice

'Also this new skill [Instant movement] sure is handy, it was worth it spending all those hours in the suit of crying…'

Mercury stretched before he got out of bed and got dressed, he had not slept with the girls tonight so he didn't know what they were doing at the moment after he got dressed Mercury decided to go find Max and spend some time with him, problem was that he needed to find him first, Mercury closed his eyes and listened for a few seconds before he nodded and muttered

"Over there huh…'

After walking through the hallways of the castle he was closing in on Max's location when someone called out to him

"You there"

Mercury stopped walking and turned to the voice and saw a handsome man dressed in a uniform, he had some similarities to Julia and had short red hair and blue eyes, Mercury showed a slight smile before he greeted him

"Frist prince"

The man showed a smile and walked over

"You don't have the feel of a servant nor a guard… Are you perhaps my sister's man?"

Mercury showed a smile and nodded

"Yeah I am Julia's boyfriend, Mercury"

The prince showed a smile and reached his hand out, Mercury shook hands with him before the prince gestured for Mercury to walk with him as he asked

"Do you have some time?"

"Not really, though I'll make some time for you"

The prince showed a smile before he nodded

"I'll be brief then, perhaps you've heard from queen mother, but I will be made king soon… to that end I would like to officially employ you, Mercury as Golem craftsman of Juliantia"

Mercury nodded before he stated a condition

"As long as it doesn't restrict my freedom"

"Of course, it's more of an honorary position, though I will need you to make a few golems for the country though"

"Like the Sparrow?"

"Yeah, though I would like some of the bigger models too… I won't take any more of your time brother in law, we'll discuss this another day?"

"Sure"

Mercury said his goodbyes to the first prince before he made his way towards a courtyard where he found Max doing his morning training, he stood with a heavy sword and was doing practice swings, Mercury showed a smile as he walked over and picked up a training sword before he asked Max

"Do you want to go a few rounds, Max?"

Max showed a smile when he saw Mercury, though it quickly widened when he saw how Mercury was holding the sword before he asked

"What level is your swordsmanship skill again?"

"3, what about you?"

Max laughed before he spoke proudly

"I hit level 5 last spring, this won't even be a fight"

"No it won't, I'll beat your ass, if I lose I'll fulfill one of your requests, the other way around if you lose, deal?"

Max laughed before he spoke

"Deal!"

Then a pair of phantom red horns appeared on his forehead before he disappeared from view as the stone floor under where he had been standing cracked, Mercury sighed before he spoke

"Too much wasted energy, it has to be more like… this"

As soon as Mercury finish speaking his figure seemed to melt into the surrounding area, then a couple of clangs sounded out before Max suddenly was visible again, shock was visible in his eyes as the question flew out of his mouth

"How are you so fast!?"

Mercury's laughter sounded out from behind Max that hurriedly turned around and came face to face with the tip of Mercury's sword, Max sighed before he admitted defeat

"I lost…"

"What did I tell you? Don't underestimate your old man"

Max sighed again before he quickly asked

"How did you get so fast?"

Mercury showed a smile

"By training for the past 3 years under the guidance of the most spartan teacher you could think of"

"Ah… That guy…"

Max seemed to be burning with fighting spirit so Mercury showed a smile and spoke

"Now for my request, tell me, do you like that demon girl?"

Max looked blankly at Mercury for a moment before his face flushed completely red

"W-W-W-What are you t-t-talking about!?"

Mercury's smile widened slightly as he considered whether to pour it on thick or not