RD 7 Ch 25 (Patreon)

Zeus's palace was as opulent as I remembered. Servants ran to and fro, doing their best to keep it running smoothly. Many of them were very young and pretty while being openly obvious to me. Two of them moved simple things like a vase back and forth.

I blinked, before I wondered if people had simply exaggerated my propensity to collect beautiful women? Would Zeus really just have attractive women rushing about in my field of view in hopes I might collect them?

Shoving that from my mind, I walked through to where I knew Zeus would be.

"Ah, Bran," Zeus greeted me the second I stepped onto the massive balcony hanging over the sea. Servants brought out fruit and wine, but I waved off the offering, moving instead to the balcony to overlook the sea with a hopefully aloof expression.

I didn't want to give Zeus the idea I wanted to be at his palace.

"Now, Bran," Zeus gestured with his arms as if expecting a hug.

"Forgive me, I've felt myself become a little claustrophobic after traveling with Circe.” I smirked at her, and she lifted an eyebrow.

"You didn't show it." She told me.

"Well, that doesn't mean it isn't the case." I smiled and enjoyed the breeze on my face for a long moment before turning to assess the room again. "So, Zeus, what exactly is it I can do for you?"

The way his smile tensed brought me more joy than it had any reason to. I needed to keep things close to my chest and my Zeus work for every inch of the negotiation that had absolutely already started.

"Well, it's just been a while. You've come to visit so rarely, despite gallivanting around the globe, that I'd begun to wonder if we'd offended you. After all, as a result we're not included in the conversations. I mean, I would have at least liked a heads-up before you announced to the world that you could alter bloodlines." He rubbed his forehead. "You've created a great many troubles for me. Like it or not, you still hold the Heros name, and most people expect me to know something of your whereabouts." He swirled a glass of wine, watching me over the edge of his cup.

He laid out several debts that I owed him as an opening salvo.

Unfortunately, I didn't have much to give him, so he was going to try and bulldoze over me with his preferences.

"I think it might be best if you stayed back in the Heros Clan for a while. There are certain to be individuals with poor designs on you," Zeus said, dressing it up as helping me.

I smiled at him. "Are you able to protect me better than I can protect myself?" I asked, letting him have access to my stats.

[Name: Bran Heros - Hegemon of Rule

Level: 132

Class: Blood Hegemon SS

Status: Healthy

Strength: 13275

Agility: 14293

Vitality: 11467

Intelligence: 9371

Spirit: 32640

Skills:

Soul Gaze SSS 

Soul Resilience SS 

Blunt Weapon Proficiency S 

Endurance S 

Throwing Proficiency A

Blood Boil S

Blood Siphon S 

Sanguine Slash SS 

Bloodline Collection 603 

Immortal Body A 

Axe Proficiency B

Charge A

Bloodink Quality SS 

Stealth D 

Inscription B 

Swim D (Bracer) 

Last Stand C 

Blood Hex S 

Blood Transfusion S 

Bloodiron Blade SS 

Crimson Barrier S 

Sword Mastery SS

Worshiped A 

Sanguine Locking S

Drop B (Sword) 

Soul Absorption Arts B 

Bloodline Manipulation SS 

Powers of Blood A 

Training C 

Primordial Titan Bloodline M 

Bloodrage Ascension C 

Primordial Confluence Titan Physique E]

I paused, a slow smile of satisfaction spreading across my face as I watched understanding dawn on his face. Soul Absorption Arts on the Monkey King’s Soul as it left the world had bolstered my stats to new heights. My skills however had remained largely static. The demons we’d been slaying had been little more than small morsels of experience.

But I had raised both Soul Resilience and Soul Absorption Arts from consuming the Monkey King. I did lament that Soul Absorption Arts hadn’t been higher when I started that, otherwise the stat gain would have been beyond incredible.

"Heavens," he said, then cleared his throat.

Still, I held a hand up, and he respected it. "If there's a problem that me and mine can't solve, we both know it would simply cause more harm to the Heros Clan." I smiled and let him think through what I had said. If someone actually came for me with enough strength to do something, it would be enough strength to rip the Heros Clan apart. He had to understand that just as much as I did. The question now was whether he'd accept it, or find enough excuses in his own mind to justify that level of danger.

"I suppose, if you are unwilling…" he began, putting the onus on me.

I shook my head. "No. That's not how this works, Zeus. I'm here for several reasons, one of which is to make sure we're still on good terms. The last thing I need is you exaggerating my desire for independence as if it's a bad thing."

Zeus scowled. "I'm not taking away your independence."

"No, because you can't," I interrupted before he could go any further. "And I'm here to make that clear. As for what I'm doing with my abilities, I think I've earned the right to make those decisions myself, though you're welcome to share your opinions. I'd just rather there be no misunderstanding about one of us being above the other."

His eyes flit to something in the middle distance, the way people did when double-checking system screens, and he gave a slow nod. "Yes, I suppose we're well past either of us pretending to be less than we deserve to be." He puffed himself up.

I supposed being considered an equal to me at my current stats was now a promotion, though I kept any flicker of that thought off my face.

"Good. Well, then, I should talk openly. So far my meetings with the other clans and sects have been fairly slim, but I'm hoping more people will come to me in the future. As everything stands at the moment, my focus has been clearing demons piece by piece from the world." I said.

Zeus gave that a slow nod. "As you should. Now, it sounded like there was more you were here to talk about?" he asked, watching me carefully.

"Yes, well… I'm not certain how you'll take it. But I met the ancestor of the Wukong clan." I stated.

"I'd heard a rumor to that effect. Is it true you awoke the Monkey King?" Zeus squinted. 

"It is. We had several lovely conversations, including his request that I not consume his clan into my own organization." I snapped my fingers and shook my head. "It would have been easy, but in exchange, he gave me several items of value. One of which," I held out the key, "belonged to our ancestor. A vault somewhere that might need a key," I said, holding it out.

Zeus stared at it for a moment, then held his hand out. The second his fingertips touched the key, he jerked back. "What is that?" he said, a small note of accusation entering his voice as he turned to stare at me.

"Inscriptions. A lot of them." I told him. There were enough of them that the amount of magic running through it triggered the same reaction to touching something too hot or being shocked.

He nodded, grasping it more fully this time, his arm tingling as Circe laughed over my shoulder.

"What? Don't tell me you wouldn't do the same in my position," she said. "According to Merlin, it was just as amusing when Bran touched it for the first time too."

"Was it now?" I asked dryly, and Circe held her hands up.

"Merlin's words, not mine." She replied.

"I'll remember that," I said sharply, perhaps a touch sharper than I meant.

Circe shrugged, as if my words didn't bother her in the slightest. "The important part is that Bran did, in fact, meet the Monkey King and was gifted with that key. Aren't you curious what it might be for?"

"Oh, I'm deeply curious," Zeus said, holding up the key and shifting it in the light. "There are more than a few items left behind by our ancestor, but…" he hesitated, and handed me the key back. "I have no idea what this could go to."

"You aren't even going to hazard a guess?" I asked, taking the key back, feeling the enchantments run up and down my arm like I'd just stuck it in a light socket.

"I have no clue," he repeated. "However, our ancestor sealed himself in the instance here. If there's a sealed vault, I'd assume it's inside the instance. Then again if it was in there, why didn’t he use any of it? I assume you don't need my help to go through the instance," he said, a touch of heat entering his words.

I chuckled and ignored the venom in his tone. It seemed he hadn't gotten over the fact that I'd taken control of the clans’ instance. I supposed it was unlikely he'd ever forgive me for that. It was their legacy, after all, and no one would be happy at the thought of their legacy falling into someone else's hands.

"So, no thoughts at all?" I asked, giving him a suspicious tilt of my head.

"I really have no idea." Zeus handed it back to me. "Otherwise, I would have found a better way to separate you from that key."

I lifted my brow, at least marginally surprised at his honesty. "You know you aren't supposed to say those things out loud," I coached him, and he chuckled.

"Yu wanted to talk as equals," he said, and I smiled. If he was going to at least try, who was I to discourage him?

"Well then, if you don't mind, I'll take a peek inside the instance to see if there's anything there. But I'm concerned that our ancestor was good enough at inscriptions that it would be impossible to find unless I knew where to look."

Zeus gave the key one last lingering glance and shook his head. "I'm tempted to take it and ask for a chance to find it myself, but I have no leads any better than yours."

I took the key back, and instead of putting it in my spatial ring, I had the idea to keep it out, on the chance that one of those inscriptions might give me a clue if I kept it exposed to the world.

"It's a pleasure seeing you again, nephew," Circe said to Zeus. "Don't be a stranger, and come visit us sometime. No one likes being the only one making the effort to visit family."

"Of course," Zeus said, with a friendlier smile than he’d had since we had entered. "But I expect it's easier for you to travel than for me."

"That's a bad excuse," Circe wrinkled her nose. "Come for the holidays. I hear that the Mul Branova are trying to make Bran Day a new holiday."

I turned to Circe, an incredulous look on my face. "No," I said quickly.

"Yes," she retorted. "Bran Day is going to become a holiday whether you like it or not."

“I get no say?" I pressed, raising a brow.

"It's Bran Day… I suppose maybe Bran should get a say in when his own holiday exists," she said, then gave a sad shake of her head. "Not how it works, unfortunately. Especially given that the Mul Branova know that if you get a say, it'll never happen."

I opened my mouth to argue, only to snap it closed, realizing they knew me better than I knew myself if they'd already come to that conclusion. I let out a breath, reminding myself they were doing this because of how much they cared.

"Well, then, I suppose I'll just have to suffer through Bran Day, and whatever exactly that entails." I gave Circe a look, hoping she'd fill that in, but it seemed my curiosity would go unfulfilled for the moment based on the way she mimed zipping her lips. She gave me a smile that told me she was enjoying teasing me with this information.

"Well, perhaps Bran Day will be amusing enough that I'll have to take the trip." Zeus looked on with amusement.

"Oh, it'll be spectacular. The Mul Branova hope to make it the greatest holiday in the New World." Circe added.

"Of course they do," I murmured to myself.

"As they should," Circe continued. “It is a celebration of their Lord, Bran Heros.”

I stared at her blankly. "I swear, all of you are becoming more and more trouble the less I'm able to give you individual attention."

Circe just grinned. Enjoying this far too much.

"There's a lesson in there somewhere, but I'm not sure what it is." I told her.

"It depends how much you like our brand of trouble," she said.

"They aren't too bad," I admitted carefully.

Zeus chuckled, watching the two of us. "Ah, young love. Well… not so young, in your case, Circe," he said. The jab was paired with a charming grin and a slight flinch, as if he expected to be smacked over the head for it more than once by Circe.

"Something like that," Circe said slowly, as if deciding what her next move would be with the careful judgment of someone who could make it incredibly painful.

Zeus watched closely. "I do hope you're finding joy in each other," he said, nodding to Circe. "As much as I'd love to say she's a pain in my ass, and thank you for taking her off my hands — though she does need a firm hand to keep her out of trouble — it's been a long while of Circe being lonely in this world simply because few have been able to match her. Oh, and I do keep getting asked… is there going to be a wedding?"

"Not anytime soon," I said diplomatically, even as I felt Circe's eyes boring into my back with enough power in her gaze that I wouldn't be surprised if it could split mountains.

Circe gave up a moment later. "I suppose not. Come, Bran, let's go explore and see if we can't figure out the location of the vault. That way we can get you back to killing demons. That's so clearly your calling over being a wedding planner."

I wasn't oblivious to her feelings, but weddings weren't really a concept for me in the world after demons. At least, they certainly had not been in my past life, and it was not like I immediately forgot everything from that time. Weddings, by and large, were an administrative affair, an announcement to the world that two people were together. Although, I supposed, for my loves, I'd be more than willing to go through whatever pain was required to plan a wedding. There would certainly be plenty of people interested, and it would make them happy.

I looked at Circe's smile out of the corner of my eye. "Do you have any idea where the vault might be?" I asked, more to restart the conversation than anything.

"Inside the instance seems like the most secure place. And from everything you've told me about our ancestor, he was a very cautious individual." She thought through it aloud.

"The Wukong ancestor seemed to think him a coward," I said. "Which, I suppose, isn't inaccurate."

"It's just hard to think of something as powerful as the Leech being afraid of anything," Circe said, with a shake of her head. “But I suppose everything is afraid of something. Including you."

She watched me out of the corner of her eyes.

I wanted to deny her claim and opened my mouth to do so, but then shook my head in acknowledgement. "Yeah. Even me."

Her eyes practically glowed at that admission. "What could the great Bran Heros be afraid of?" Circe swayed her hips, nearly bumping them against mine.

I turned and kissed her on the cheek. "Losing all of you. I've gotten lucky in this life. Too lucky, if I'm being honest. Some days I wonder if that luck is finally going to catch up with me."

Circe gave me a sad smile, linking her arm in mine. "It'll have to get through me first," she said with a serious bite to her words.

I grinned at her ferocity. "Well, if that's the case, then I doubt it'll ever happen. No one's going to get through you, are they?"

"Nope," she answered with a smile that injected pure cheer into her face and into my heart.